St. Croix pellet stove

[Nebraska native]

Have a St. Croix pellet stove, Prescott EXP model, that has begun emitting a very acrid smell after
startup. The dealer who sold me the stove, he no longer carries this brand, came out as a courtesy and checked the stove and said all was good. However, when I fired up the stove 16 Dec the acrid smell became so bad after 1.5 hours that I had to shut it down. I could not find any visible leaks and am at a loss as to what the problem is. Stove starts up as advertised and flame is fine. Any thoughts on what my problem may be?

 

[heat seeker]

Maybe something got in the heat exchanger or room blower and died - it happens. Does it smell like smoke, or something organic, or...

 

[Nebraska native]

Thanks for your reply. I checked again and the smell is definitely smokey. Unfortunately the nearest dealer to me now is 60 miles away and I don't know if he travels that far for trouble calls. Do you know if there is some sort of leak detector spray on the market to help pinpoint the problem spots?

 

[heat seeker]

One way to look for smoke leaks: in a darkened room, start the stove, use a flashlight to look for the source of the smoke. Check all the seams, thimble, rear of stove, etc. The smoke should be visible in the flashlight. A leak detector solution (such as soapy water) probably wouldn't work well because there isn't much pressure involved, and the hot pipes would just evaporate it. No harm in trying, though. Don't forget to look inside the stove, around the combustion blower, etc.

 

[Bioburner]

The odor sounds like creosote. Leak in the exchanger or close to the exhaust venting where low temps could get a collection going and a good firing starts to volatize it. TOL

 

[adam.k]

The flash light trick is the way to go. It doesn't take much of a leak to make a big stink. Any whisp of smoke needs to be sealed up.

I actually just finished installing the same stove in my basement and it took me a while to track down all of the exhaust leaks. If the leak is a joint in your exhaust pipe, stretchy silicone tape is a good way to seal it up. Stretch it out as you wrap and go around a few times. The tape only bonds to itself.

Note that with the flash light trick you only have about a minute to look for the leak before all of the smoke clears out.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

[Nebraska native]

Thanks to everyone for the tips. We are lucky that the temps for the Christmas week are in the upper 40s with a high on xmas day of 60. Will keep you posted on what I discover.

Jerry