We keep getting a very unpleasant sulphurous odor - to me it smells exactly like driving past a paper mill - that seems to be coming from our woodstove. I kept thinking it was a dead mouse somewhere but it only seems to occur when the stove is burning. Also ruling out the dead mouse theory is that it has been going on for two months and hasn't gotten any better. It's not all the time while the stove is burning though... it comes and goes. But it's never present when the stove is not lit. It's driving me crazy... any ideas??
sulphur odor from woodstove
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Thanks for the replies!
The stove is a home made job... no bells or whistles. Basically a double walled metal box on legs with a door & damper. It has a blower which we've never used. The pipe coming out the back does make two 90 degree bends. We used it all last winter with no problems, and brushed the chimney out just a couple months ago.
As for wood, we're burning a mix of locust, apple, birch, a little pine... I don't think it's the wood.
The stove is a home made job... no bells or whistles. Basically a double walled metal box on legs with a door & damper. It has a blower which we've never used. The pipe coming out the back does make two 90 degree bends. We used it all last winter with no problems, and brushed the chimney out just a couple months ago.
As for wood, we're burning a mix of locust, apple, birch, a little pine... I don't think it's the wood.
Are the stove pipe clearances all the way to the roof okay? It may be heating something that fell near the pipe.
Ed
Ed
I suspect it is the home made nature of the stove - that certain parts of the wood are not burning correctly and therefore distilling, causing all kinds of compounds to be formed. Wood contains hundreds of such chemicals, but proper combustion will end up burning most of them for fuel.
Some of these compounds are really aromatic. I remember an entire house getting stuck up by the amount of creosote as small as my fingernail.
Also, could be some kind of chimney situation - is the chimney just a single flue? Smoke can go up one flue and then down another - or even re-enter the house through attic vents, etc.
Some of these compounds are really aromatic. I remember an entire house getting stuck up by the amount of creosote as small as my fingernail.
Also, could be some kind of chimney situation - is the chimney just a single flue? Smoke can go up one flue and then down another - or even re-enter the house through attic vents, etc.
Thanks again for the replies!
There is only one flue.
Wood having distilled into something smelly sounds plausible... Any ideas on how to fix/prevent the odor?
There is only one flue.
Wood having distilled into something smelly sounds plausible... Any ideas on how to fix/prevent the odor?
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