Still Getting Burnt Paint Smell, Second Season

[John K]

Hi,

I have a Blaze King Ashford 30, with DuraVent double wall stove pipe. I dutifully followed the instructions to cure the paint, and when the burnt paint smell continued, have run the stove very hot, many times, with and without the cat engaged, to try to burn off whatever it is.

I'm still getting the smell. It seems to occur while the stove is heating up, and to be less of an issue after the stove is hot.

I assume the smell is paint, but it could be metallic. Very unpleasant, whatever it is.

I spoke with the Blaze King folks, and they thought it might be the stove pipe. I spoke to DuraVent, and they shipped me replacement stove pipe sections to try.

Before I swap the stove pipe - which means letting the stove get cold in January, curing the new paint, hoping the problem is with the stove pipe and not the stove, and hoping the new product actually cures - I thought I'd check whether anyone has experience with this or any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Happy Stacker]

I can't imagine the paint not being cured on either the stove or pipe by now. When was the last time you had your chimney swept? I am wondering if it is burning creosote you are smelling which has a much different odour than just wood smoke.

 

[jetsam]

Curing paint smells every time you hit a new high temp, not while the stove is warming up.

There's some Ashford owners out there who have a smell issue, and have been troubleshooting it for some time. I think they've got it narrowed down to excessive draft and gasketing issues. One member fixed his smell with a damper, forget who. I remember BK asked @aaronk25 to swap out his whole stove so they could test his old one at the factory! I think he took a Princess as his replacement though. How tall is your stack?

@Ashful has two of this stove installed and has probably read every thread on the subject.

There is LOTS of discussion around this on hearth if you want to search for it.

 

[John K]

Happy, thanks for the response and suggestion. I used the stove somewhat last year while building the house; this is the first full season, so no chimney clean out yet. It's hard to describe a smell, but this is acrid, like paint or metal. I don't think it's a product of combustion, and the stove has excellent draft. The smell arises when the fire is ripping and the door closed, so it's hard to imagine how creosote could get into the house. Thanks again.

 

[jetsam]

Some people have creosote smells for a while prior to discovering that their stove pipe is installed upside down. They tend to show up here saying, "What's this black stuff running down my stovepipe?".

I am not sure what painted surface would produce more of a curing-paint odor during warmup whan during high temperature operation.

 

[John K]

Jetsam, thanks for the thoughts and contacts. I haven't read everything, but did read about the other smell problem, and as far as I could gather, it was a wood smoke smell, that showed up when the stove was on low, and seemed to be associated with a gasket and hinge. Mine is a paint or metallic bitter smell, nothing like wood smoke, that shows up when the fire is cranking.

And as near as I can tell, my smell seems strongest near the collar at the base of the stove pipe. Which means the smell could be coming down between the walls of the stove pipe, or up from the space under the cast iron skirt around the stove.

The stack is DuraVent, 26 feet, with two 15 degree bends. The double wall stove pipe is one telescoping section, 5 feet installed. I'm not sure what excessive draft is, but the draft seems to be great, and I rarely get smoke when the door is open.

 

[John K]

jetsam, one of the service people I spoke with (can't remember if DuraVent or Blaze King) mentioned the new standards for paint and coatings, and explained that the new paint formula was less toxic, but actually burnt off more quickly than the older formula.

And I'm not completely sure that the smell correlates with temperature rise, as opposed to high temperature - it could be that warm-up is when I notice it (and turn the stove down, and turn on the bathroom exhaust fan). But my impression is that after the stove has reached a certain temp, it smells less than while it was getting there.

The DuraVent rep suggested running the stove hot with the cat bypassed, sending more heat into the stove pipe. This produced a hellacious amount of fumes, but after that, much cooler stack temps still produce the odor.

I just double checked, and the stove pipe isn't upside down. Good thought though.

 

[jetsam]

You have got me, then. My BK took a few fires to cook off, not a few years.

Cat fumes (the exhaust from a properly operating cat) smell pretty acrid and unlike woodsmoke. Is it possible some exhaust is re-entering the house somewhere? Chimney cap level with an eave vent or a poor pipe connection maybe?

 

[John K]

That's another good thought, but when I ran the stove with the cat bypassed, the smell was fierce. More heat in the stack made the smell worse. Which does seem to implicate the stovepipe...I'm starting to lean toward the idea the stovepipe had a flukishly defective coating.

But I really appreciate the brainstorming!

 

[73blazer]

Mine smells if I hit a new high temp, that's mostly stopped over the last 7 years.
But mine also smells at the first fire up of the season, it's that same smell it smelled the very first time I used it. It's not as potent, but enough to cause me to usually fire it first time of season on a day when my wife is going to be gone most of the day, she's super sensitive to smells.

 

[black smoke signals]

John any chance you could run a Soot Eater up your pipe? How about a picture of your setup!

 

[John K]

Here's the setup:

As of a few minutes ago I was starting to get the smell, with the gauge at this level:

Here is the stove pipe. You can see the paint burn-off that happened when I ran the stove hot with the cat bypassed:

 

[John K]

73blazer, I know what you mean about the smell at the first burn of a season. I always thought it was a bit of dust, rust, degraded paint etc.

bss, I don't have a Soot Eater, but you think that might help the cause?

I ordered a new stove top transition and chimney transition from DuraVent, to go along with the new stove pipe, so the whole system will be new (all covered under warrantee with absolutely no hassle - the service at DuraVent has been excellent).

 

[jetsam]

I would inspect the inside of the pipe when you take it down to replace it. See if you can spot any signs of creosote in the pipe joints, maybe.

 

[begreen]

I would inspect the inside of the pipe when you take it down to replace it. See if you can spot any signs of creosote in the pipe joints, maybe.

And also for integrity. I'd inspect the flue system carefully, including the framing for the support box. The stove pipe and attachment collar look like they have been much too hot, possibly well over safe design temperature.

 

[MAD MARK]

I was about to write the same question. I have an Englander 30 that is a few years old already 2009, and figured it was just the new pipe burning off paint.

But after about 6 hot fresh from cold fires I expected it to be gone by now, but it's not. So, I am following.

 

[MAD MARK]

Wanted to add too that i was worried about creosote buildup already as well, so today I took off the top 2 pieces of triple wall and looked down in. Clean as a whistle.

 

[John K]

I can definitely do those inspections.

Mad Mark, do you happen to know the the brand of your stove pipe?

 

[MAD MARK]

I can definitely do those inspections.

Mad Mark, do you happen to know the the brand of your stove pipe?

Duravent single wall 84" worth into the duravent ceiling support box into duravent triple wall 6'.

 

[Mark8]

Don't know if it's related but after I had my liner installed, DuraVents DuraLiner. My whole house was filling up with a chemical smell and we were wondering if the paint was never cured because it was a slammer without a liner. But my suspicion is that the liner was putting off this chemical smell not the insert. When I rebuild my insert and install the same liner I will be able to determine where this chemical smell is coming from. It was so bad I needed to open all the windows just to breath.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/smoke-in-house-country-elite-e260-insert.165761/

 

[John K]

Thanks for the info and link.