Strong chemical smell in upstairs flat

[Chris Forecast]

Hello

2 weeks ago i had a log burner installed in our ground floor flat - we live in a converted Victorian house which is now 2 flats - ours and upstairs. The burner was second hand used a couple of times by some friends of ours before they had some major chimney problems which resulted in them not being able to use it any longer.

We fired up the log burner with no problems, was drawing beautifully and got a good burn going - then upstairs who have their living room directly above ours complained of smoke coming into their living room via their gas fire place - we resolved this problem by fitting an anti down draft flux which then stopped this.

We then fired up the burner again and the neighbors are still complaining of a strong chemical smell in their living room - not coming from the fireplace this time - we have been told by our fitter that it expected to get some smell from the chemicals on the exterior of the flux burning off in the initial few burns - this smell however is VERY strong and gets to the back of your throat and makes your eyes itch.

What i would like to know is this smell to be expected and if so should it be this strong. If it is that then is it simply a case of getting the burner really hot to burn it through?

Is there anything i should be worried about? We have CO detectors in both our flats and neither of them register an issue.

Your help would be greatly appreciated - our neighbors have been very understanding till now but need some peace of mind that they aren't getting fumigated.

Thanks

Chris

 

[kennyp2339]

CO is colorless and odorless, the chemical smell is probably from the paint and liner coating curing, you need to run the stove on high, get the stove top to 650deg to have the smell cured.

 

[Chris Forecast]

CO is colorless and odorless, the chemical smell is probably from the paint and liner coating curing, you need to run the stove on high, get the stove top to 650deg to have the smell cured.

Cheers Kenny - everything i've read seems to point towards this but should it be so bad that their throats and eyes are affected? We have had 7 or so fires in there now 3 of which i'd say were up a high temperature for 5+ hours but the smell persists.
The neighbour has become very stubborn and is refusing to let us light another fire... any advice?

 

[Squisher]

If it was offgassing from the stove paint it would be worse in your flat I would think then theirs. Also after seven fires it should be gone or greatly diminished.

 

[Ashful]

Between a rock and a hard place, here. Yes, I believe with a few hot fires the issue will be resolved, but how to get there from here?

Do the neighbors go away for the holidays? Could get it resolved with several hot fires then, if they do.

 

[Chris Forecast]

Between a rock and a hard place, here. Yes, I believe with a few hot fires the issue will be resolved, but how to get there from here?

Do the neighbors go away for the holidays? Could get it resolved with several hot fires then, if they do.

Unfortunately they never seem to even leave the house

Having done A LOT of research on this matter now i believe that it might well be that liner may be the cause or it might be resting up against the brick work (Victorian house - so almost certainly has a lot of Parging Failure) - would a good solution be to insulate the flue liner?

 

[Ashful]

Unfortunately they never seem to even leave the house

Having done A LOT of research on this matter now i believe that it might well be that liner may be the cause or it might be resting up against the brick work (Victorian house - so almost certainly has a lot of Parging Failure) - would a good solution be to insulate the flue liner?

If that's the cause of it, it may be a good option. It certainly isn't difficult or expensive, and is always recommended in older chimneys, which may fail to meet exterior CTCs. How big is the old flue? A blanket-wrapped 6" liner will measure more than 8" OD.

 

[bholler]

Having done A LOT of research on this matter now i believe that it might well be that liner may be the cause or it might be resting up against the brick work (Victorian house - so almost certainly has a lot of Parging Failure) - would a good solution be to insulate the flue liner?

Honestly it should have been insulated to begin with

 

[Chris Forecast]

Being a bit ignorant on this, it's a 2 skinned flue that he put in - is it normal to insulate this?
And with insulating - is using a 'blanket style' insulation or back filling with vermiculite best?
We are getting the installer out this week to advise and I would like to know what to go armed with... I know every chimney is different!
Should he have insulated it in the first place?

 

[Ashful]

Being a bit ignorant on this, it's a 2 skinned flue that he put in - is it normal to insulate this?
And with insulating - is using a 'blanket style' insulation or back filling with vermiculite best?
We are getting the installer out this week to advise and I would like to know what to go armed with... I know every chimney is different!
Should he have insulated it in the first place?

Not familiar with the term "2 skinned flue", but if you mean a clay tile liner in a masonry stack, then insulation is often not necessary. Reasons to insulate include a compromised clay tile liner, questionable clearances on outside of chimney, and a desire to keep your new liner warmer, which reduces creosote and promotes stronger draft. If you are sliding that liner into a good chimney, then there is no requirement to insulate, and with block-off plates above and below, it can stay quite warm and draft pretty well.

As to insulation types, the blanket wrap is usually seen as the most complete protection, in cases of clearance to combustibles issues. Vermiculite works, to an extent, but there is always the likelihood that some portion of the liner will be against the old flue, unless they have some means to keep it centered as they pour.

 

[Woody Stover]

Is this "two-skinned flue" some kind of double-wall painted steel with no inulation, and not stainless Class A with insulation between the layers?