Unusual Smell from the Stove say the neighbours!

[jrobbo]

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone can help us with a problem we are having at the moment with a new wood burning stove.

We had an Aga Much Wenlock fitted a few weeks ago now and have used it 3 times. Our house is joined on to another house and their chimney is right next to ours. We do know that upon testing our chimney with a smoke bomb before we fitted the stove, smoke did seep through their fireplace into their living room which obviously means that their fireplace isn't completely sealed.

We had someone round to fit a chimney liner and we also had our chimney swept. The first time we used our stove, our neighbours said they were experiencing a strange odour in their living room which wasn't a smoke smell. We were all rather puzzled as there was no smell in our living room where our stove is sited.

The second time we used the stove, they said again that they were having a strange smell in their living room. We were still puzzled but did notice that the bedroom which is above our living room (it has an open fire in it) also had a strange smell in it.

The third time we used it, yet again they said there was a strange smell in their house. We went into every room in our house and the only room where we noticed a slight smell was the bedroom above our living room.

Any ideas?

The installer did use a heat resistant spray paint on the register plate. Could it be this? This was the first thing we thought of but as we're not experiencing the smell in our living room we are unsure.

The chimney has never been lined and as we live in an old house, we were wondering whether it could be old soot up the chimney getting hot and therefore giving off an unusual odour? This would explain why the neighbours are experiencing the smell rather than us as their fireplace isn't sealed properly.

There is not smoke smell anywhere so we presume the liner isn't leaking but are completely baffled with this unusual odour. Even more puzzled that the neighbours are experiencing it alot more than we are and if it wasn't for the one room above the living room, we wouldn't be experiencing it at all!

Any ideas would be very much appreciated!

 

[pen]

Does this have an OAK (outside air kit) installed on it? If not, you might not be experiencing as much smell because your stove is sucking in fresh air through every crack / crevice in the house and the air in the house will be replaced w/ outdoor air at a higher rate.

I also would imagine it has to do w/ heating up an old structure which hasn't seen heat in a very long time potentially. Every year I turn on my baseboards for testing I get some smell as the dust is burnt off for the first time. So long as the liner installed fits the clearances necessary for that chimney to be safe. It should cease after a few good fires.

Also, welcome to the site!

pen

 

[BrotherBart]

Smoke from your flue is being drawn down the adjacent flues. Usually the solution is to increase the height of your chimney above the adjacent ones. Chimney toppers are a good way to do that.

 

[Jags]

Yep, a chimney topper or poke a couple of extra feet up in the air. It gets your stack high enough that any smell should be carried away. If that doesn't work, then you are looking at a negative pressure situation at your neighbors place that is actually "pulling" the smell in, or possibly some other breach of the system.

Edit: another possibility is if you are experiencing any kind of wind action that would bring the smoke smell to the exterior of the home (instead of up and away) and it is infiltrating though windows, door, vents, etc.

 

[jrobbo]

Thanks for all of the replies.

When we carried out the smoke bomb test on our chimney prior to us fitting the stove, our neighbours did see smoke seeping through their open brickwork of their fireplace in their living room. They haven't lived there long and they did say that the builder who did the fireplace hasn't done the cement work properly and there are gaps in the fireplace.

Do you think this could be the reason why they are getting the smell from the chimney? Can it go through the brickwork and as their fireplace isn't sealed properly, it is therefore seeping through their living room brickwork?

Alternatively and sorry for acting abit thick, would I need to put a chimney topper on my stack or would it be better for them to put one on theirs?

Thanks so much - it's very much appreciated!

 

[Jags]

Can it go through the brickwork and as their fireplace isn't sealed properly, it is therefore seeping through their living room brickwork?

Alternatively and sorry for acting abit thick, would I need to put a chimney topper on my stack or would it be better for them to put one on theirs?

Thanks so much - it's very much appreciated!

If you saw it with a smoke bomb, there is no reason that wood smoke wouldn't do the same thing.

YOUR chimney needs to be above theirs. That way the smell is above all and should be carried away.

 

[SnapCracklePop]

If the neighbors are not smelling smoke, is it possible there's a dead critter somewhere in the chimney. Now, THAT would make a strange odor, for sure.

Nancy

 

[jrobbo]

There could well be! In our fireplace, there was a gas fire which we have had removed and a wood burning stove put in. Do you think it could be the gas fumes from the chimney stack?

As you probably have guessed, this is completely not my area of expertise and has me completely baffled!

With regards to make my chimney stack higher, both mine and my neighbours chimney stacks have cowls on them, would that not prevent a funny smell going down theirs?

I would say the smell is like a pungent hot soot smell hence why we thought it was the heat smelling out the chimney and the smell seeping through their chimney stack and through the bricks in their fireplace that aren't sealed. Does that make sense?

Think I'm confusing myself now

 

[madrone]

I would say the smell is like a pungent hot soot smell hence why we thought it was the heat smelling out the chimney and the smell seeping through their chimney stack and through the bricks in their fireplace that aren't sealed. Does that make sense?

That was my first thought. I get a strange smell from hot dust the first few times I burn my stove in the late fall. I wonder if the heat from the liner is releasing an odor from the years of soot on the bricks. If so, I'd think it would eventually lessen.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I would say the smell is like a pungent hot soot smell hence why we thought it was the heat smelling out the chimney and the smell seeping through their chimney stack and through the bricks in their fireplace that aren't sealed. Does that make sense?!

That was my first thought. I get a strange smell from hot dust the first few times I burn my stove in the late fall. I wonder if the heat from the liner is releasing an odor from the years of soot on the bricks. If so, I'd think it would eventually lessen.

After reading the posts on this thread I'm leaning in the same direction as Madrone for the time being...There was another thread simular to this one recently with what we considered to be steam coming through brick gaps and the top plate of a chimney. I wasn't totally sure of the official out come but it seemed to be built up moisture in the original flue that steamed off (burned off) when the stove was starting up. He has an uninsulated SS flue, the heat transferred into the old flue cavity and steam, voila!

Do you have an uninsulated SS flue running in your old flue? I remember you said you had the old chimney swept before the liner was installed. It may just be the same kind of issue with the loose remnants of the sweep getting hot from an uninsulated SS liner and creating the smell that seeps into your neighbors living space. I would think the smell would eventually go away in time.

The only other concern was already mentioned, flue gases coming back down the neighbors chimney.

 

[BrotherBart]

The telling thing is that it is occurring in your neighbor's dwelling and in yours. Both places that have open fires with chimneys in close proximity to yours. It is down drafting into them. It is a very common problem.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

The telling thing is that it is occurring in your neighbor's dwelling and in yours. Both places that have open fires with chimneys in close proximity to yours. It is down drafting into them. It is a very common problem.

So their second floor fireplace is also recieving a downdraft as well as the neighbors? I'm with you now. My mind was visioning a universal shared brick stack with several flues running through it. I was thinking the smell was seeping through into the neighbors but then how would it get down to the same level unless, as you say, it's a downdraft issue. Got it. Thanks BB

 

[pen]

I was imagining 2 flues in a shared chimney, w/ one side opening into the original posters dwelling, and the other open into the neighbors.

pen

 

[jrobbo]

Thanks so much for the replies. It really is useful!

We have a chimney stack which serves our living room and a bedroom which is above the living room. The neighbours chimney stack is next to ours (to the left to be precise). Both of us used the same guy to install our liners and we both have the normal ss liners down our chimney stacks. We both have the same cowl on the top of our chimney stacks as well.

The smell that the neighbours are experiencing, we can smell in the bedroom above our living room so it's obviously something up the chimney stack.

The neighbours haven't lit their stove yet so we are unaware if we will get a smell when they light theirs. I don't think they use it that much.

If it is drawing back through their chimney, am I correct in presuming that when they light theirs, the smell from their chimney could draw back through our chimney as well then?

I really am confused with it all but really do appreciate everyones help!

 

[jrobbo]

I just thought I would update with what has happened to the unusual 'odour'.

We had several hot fires and noticed that the odour was disappearing and after about a week, the smell has completely disappeared. We can't smell anything in our bedroom upstairs and the neighbours no longer have an unusual smell in their living room.

It was obviously to do with the newness of the stove or the hot soot up the chimney which I think is the most likely suspect. The chimney hadn't been used for years and now it's been used frequently so I guess it was just a case of 'dusting off the cobwebs'!

Anyway, thanks everyone for your advice and we're just pleased it's now disappeared!

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Smoke from your flue is being drawn down the adjacent flues. Usually the solution is to increase the height of your chimney above the adjacent ones. Chimney toppers are a good way to do that.

BB, this is like the UK thread we saw a couple of weeks ago. I was confused it may have been something else until you cleared it up.

question related to this; if both flues are being used will the odor not be present?