Stove Recommendations for Wood Smoke Sensitive Persons

[Otters_Home]

Greetings,

I have a Sequoia used as an insert in my home.

It came with the house and is ~18 yrs old. It gets used infrequently now, but with the cost of oil and all the wood my lot produces, it would be nice to get it going. In the second year, I had the large masonry chimney lined and insulated, and installed a VacuStack. The draw is now very good even in warm temperatures and winds. The catalytic converter still works, since it gets to an very light orange color at full heat.

The problem is the smoke that makes its way into the house from the stove. My wife is very sensitive to the smoke and simply cannot tolerate staying in the room. It becomes hard for her to breathe. Yes, I am careful when charging the stove and still the stove seems to "sweat" smoke from its pores.

After reading previous postings and the FAQ's about the Sequoia and smoke incursion, my guess is this is not the best stove for us. I have no idea how stoves have evolved to solve this problem.

It would be very helpful if others could offer some ideas how to deal with this problem.

Best Regards,

Juan
Harvard, MA

 

[begreen]

Greetings Juan. Something sounds wrong. Do you notice any smoke? Does the stove trigger any smoke or CO detectors sometimes?

I would pull the surround and examine how they connected the stove. Make sure they didn't use silicone or RTV adhesive as a sealant. That will outgas constantly and should not be used in this location, yet we see it here occasionally.

 

[joefrompa]

Hi Juan,

A properly installed modern stove with a good strong draft (from a good chimney/liner setup) will have almost no smoke enter the house. However, it would still have a bit come in when you open the front door.

What I'd recommend is looking at catalytic wood stoves - mainly because they allow much longer burns in between loads. So you may be able to go 5-6 hours between the average stove load time. Check out the Blaze King line of stoves, especially the Blaze King Princess.

Nonetheless, a proper wood stove with a good draft should have very little smoke entering the house even during door openings. Combined with a good air room purifier, you shouldn't have any annoyance for you or your wife.

 

[jimbom]

I learned how to build a top down fire on this forum. Never heard of such a thing before. When I light the newspaper, I don't have to open the door again until I am down to flame-less combustion. Never have smelled smoke since using this method.

 

[Otters_Home]

Thanks for the quick replies.

As far as the potential for RTV, etc. outgassing, that is not what it smells like. But it does have a "hot metal" characteristic.

I don't have a CO detector, but do have smoke detectors and they remain silent. When I come upstairs into the warmth of the room, the overall scent of fire comes with it. Even when I burn single load of wood in the stove, (only open the door to light) it still smells in the room.

I have thought about doing/having the Sequoia re-sealed and re-built. However, that could be a reasonable fraction of the cost of a newer, better designed stove, and then I would still be stuck with a 20 year old stove.

What is different about the Blaze King line from the Vermont Castings? Is it welded together or still an assembly of castings?

Thanks,

Juan
Harvard, MA

 

[joefrompa]

I brought up Blaze King simply because they have outstanding very long burn catalytic stoves.

I will say that the smell of wood burning permeates my house as well, even on the most smokeless of nights. I can't explain it and my CO detectors never go off.

You definitely NEED a CO detector (or 2) - but I will say that you wouldn't be able to personally tell if it was leaking CO right now anyway.

How big is your house? Do you try to heat the whole thing with a stove or just provide some heat? What are your goals?

 

[HollowHill]

I'm a newbie to wood stoves and don't yet have my stove, but I have similar concerns in that my son is allergic to trees and I'm worried that the wood stove will cause him trouble. I am getting the new Woodstock stove, the Progress Hybrid, partially because of what I read on their blog about how they have reduced emissions. Their hybrid system utilizes both catalytic and secondary burn technology and they are aiming to significantly reduce emissions. You might want to check out their blog: http://woodstocksoapstoneco.blogspot.com/ Also, give them a call, they are very helpful.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the quick replies.

As far as the potential for RTV, etc. outgassing, that is not what it smells like. But it does have a "hot metal" characteristic.

I don't have a CO detector, but do have smoke detectors and they remain silent. When I come upstairs into the warmth of the room, the overall scent of fire comes with it. Even when I burn single load of wood in the stove, (only open the door to light) it still smells in the room.

I have thought about doing/having the Sequoia re-sealed and re-built. However, that could be a reasonable fraction of the cost of a newer, better designed stove, and then I would still be stuck with a 20 year old stove.

What is different about the Blaze King line from the Vermont Castings? Is it welded together or still an assembly of castings?

Thanks,

Juan
Harvard, MA

My concern is that a new stove will not help anything. If this is dust burning off the stove, a new stove will have the same issue.

 

[colebrookman]

Yes you really do need CO detectors at least on every floor, also in the bedrooms would be great. Small price to protect your love ones. Be safe.
Ed

 

[fredarm]

I have wood and smoke allergies/asthma and with some care I can pretty much avoid any allergy issues. I bring only one one log carrier of wood in at a time and don't store wood in the house. I burn a 50/50 mixture of cord wood and wood bricks (Bio/Eco/Geo Bricks). If you're really sensitive, burn all bricks--they are compressed scrap wood and sawdust, very dry, with no mold issues. Only reload the stove when there are coals left. Open the draft wide and wait a minute before you open the door sloooowly. If you open it like a refrigerator it will pull smoke into the room. Reload and close the door again. Don't poke the fire, and don't add wood partway through the burn. If you do it right, very little to no smoke should get in the house.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And of course, realize if your wood is not good and dry, you will get more smoke and it will smell. Get 2-3 years ahead on your wood supply and then you'll be burning dry wood. With that, you'll burn less wood to get the same amount of heat, your stove and chimney will stay cleaner, you won't have any problems with lighting fires, etc.

 

[leeave96]

One of the big surprises we had when we installed the Woodstock Keystone last year was just about zero smoke. No backdraft smoking - no smoke, amazing. The only time I got smoke was when I started a fire and left the door cracked. For what ever reason, I got smoke going out the damper - not the door. I think that has happened twice and was my fault for not paying attention. Other than that - no smoke.

Over the years I have been around other stoves that were so loose that if you got a down draft or poor draft, smoke would pour out of every seam. Even my Dad's Vermont Castings Defiant Encore would sometimes smoke with the top load. I don't know if the side door on the Keystone is just low enough that smoke doesn't spill out - but smoke ain't one of the problems we have with this stove.

As others have said, the cat makes for a nice long burn too - regardless of manufacturer.

Good luck,
Bill