First time posting here. I discovered the forum while trying to troubleshoot an issue with my wood-burning sauna, and every search led me to previous posts from this forum. If anyone can solve this issue, I am confident you all can.
In short, I built a wood-burning sauna building and I am getting a strong, almost chemical, plastic smell shortly after firing up the stove. It starts to stink after about 10-15 minutes of burning, last for about 45 mins, and then slowly dissipates. After an hour, the sauna is hot (about 200 degrees) with no smell.
At first, everyone I asked chalked it up to breaking in the stove and stovepipe. Burn it hotter, they said. I did that. After 30+ strong fires over several months, I am still getting the smell.
I thought maybe it was something near the stove off-gassing, as I have cement board painted with high temp stove paint, then covered over with stoveboard with 1" air spacers. But this doesn't make sense, as the smell starts when the walls around the stove are cold to the touch (and the stove/stovepipe are still relatively cool). If that were the issue, you would think the smell would start when the temps rose higher and get worse with higher temps; it is almost the opposite.
The smell is very strong in the sauna room, and once in a while you can smell it outside as well. I can't tell if this is wafting out of the open door, or coming up the chimney. I am not getting smoke in the room, and I seem to have good draft. The stove produces very faint white smoke when I first start the fire, and within a short time, no smoke--only clear heat waves from the chimney.
As for my setup: I have a Kuuma sauna stove, Selkirk double-wall telescoping stove pipe, connected with a stovepipe adapter to Selkirk double wall Class A chimney pipe. I transitioned the stove to chimney pipe in the sauna, installed a cathedral support box to maintain clearances, and ran the chimney pipe straight up through the ceiling, attic space, and through the roof. I have the recommended chimney length above the roof line, and the chimney doesn't have any buildup in it. I checked a few weeks ago.
Any ideas why this is happening? It is getting really frustrating.
In short, I built a wood-burning sauna building and I am getting a strong, almost chemical, plastic smell shortly after firing up the stove. It starts to stink after about 10-15 minutes of burning, last for about 45 mins, and then slowly dissipates. After an hour, the sauna is hot (about 200 degrees) with no smell.
At first, everyone I asked chalked it up to breaking in the stove and stovepipe. Burn it hotter, they said. I did that. After 30+ strong fires over several months, I am still getting the smell.
I thought maybe it was something near the stove off-gassing, as I have cement board painted with high temp stove paint, then covered over with stoveboard with 1" air spacers. But this doesn't make sense, as the smell starts when the walls around the stove are cold to the touch (and the stove/stovepipe are still relatively cool). If that were the issue, you would think the smell would start when the temps rose higher and get worse with higher temps; it is almost the opposite.
The smell is very strong in the sauna room, and once in a while you can smell it outside as well. I can't tell if this is wafting out of the open door, or coming up the chimney. I am not getting smoke in the room, and I seem to have good draft. The stove produces very faint white smoke when I first start the fire, and within a short time, no smoke--only clear heat waves from the chimney.
As for my setup: I have a Kuuma sauna stove, Selkirk double-wall telescoping stove pipe, connected with a stovepipe adapter to Selkirk double wall Class A chimney pipe. I transitioned the stove to chimney pipe in the sauna, installed a cathedral support box to maintain clearances, and ran the chimney pipe straight up through the ceiling, attic space, and through the roof. I have the recommended chimney length above the roof line, and the chimney doesn't have any buildup in it. I checked a few weeks ago.
Any ideas why this is happening? It is getting really frustrating.
