Update on smoky smell during start-up on my Quad Mt Vernon...

[PelletGirl]

So my husband went to the stove store and spoke with the owner and basically ripped him a new one. The smoky smell is probably our biggest issue, but we have several others that have made this a less than acceptable install. He is coming over Saturday to inspect and look at all the issues we complained about. Says we may have to go to a four inch pipe (really? didn't I suggest that in the first place?) He also has a different installer he uses that will come to fix it since we told him we don't want the other guy in our home again. Fingers crossed he makes good on all this...

 

[JDenyer236]

Make sure they test fire it after reinstalling, that way you can hold their feet to the fire so to speak.

 

[PelletGirl]

Now that we know how to use it, we will definitely make sure they turn it on before they leave. A slow process, but hopefully the outcome will be a perfectly working stove.

 

[gfreek]

Hope it all works out to your satisfaction.

 

[DMKNLD]

Thanks for the update, PelletGirl. Been wondering how things were going for you. Is he going to make good on the swap to 4" pipe if that's what he decides your stove needs to run right?

Not a solace to you guys, but unfortunately it sounds like your install experience is more often the norm rather than the exception in this day and age of 'on to the next sale' versus support for the sales they've already made.

But if he 'makes it right' and gets you dialed in, 'better late than never', then that's at least something to be said for.

Keep us in the loop.

 

[PelletGirl]

So the owner of the stove shop was here Saturday. We had several issues that he is going to address. He agreed with us that the vent pipe should not be sealed with cement and is going to reseal with silicone as well as leave us some to use if we need it. He is also adding a clean-out T which they failed to install initially. He is providing an ignitor so we have a spare for winter. He is ordering another top for the stove as the workers got cement on it and it won't come off. All this, of course, at no cost to us. He is trying to make it right and hopefully no smoke odor once he's done. It's odd though - when it was extremely cold, rainy and windy we did not smell anything. When it is warmer (40's - 50's) and calm, we smell it a lot. We shall see!

 

[DMKNLD]

Hi Pellet Girl,

You have indeed been on a pellet stove ownership 'odyssey' no doubt ! At least it sounds like the shop owner is being responsive to you.

Rutland stove cement spilled onto your beautiful porcelain MV? I hope the shop owner had 'less than three positive thoughts' for the installer, hopefully perhaps his 'ex-installer' ? Did the owner say anything about 4" vs 3" vent pipe ?

Low vs high atmospheric pressure, and prevailing wind direction can create 'convection loop' air flow issues in your house that can affect draft / smoke leak issues, especially if you have, like me, a drafty 1870's farm house !

Thanks for the update PG - hopefully by X-mas, you'll be finally 'good to go' with your stove !

 

[PelletGirl]

Not a lot of cement on the stovetop, but yes there are two smudge marks that of course are noticeable. We did tell the owner we don't want that installer in our home again and he should have someone else come for the work.

The owner said he called Quad and spoke with them several times, and they assure him the 3" is fine. He said if the silicone and T don't help the smoke issue, we will revisit the 4".

I thought it might be "convection loop" air issues, but it is not a constant odor. It is only there upon startup, when the blower moves to high. I specifically smell it at the elbow that leads outside the house - it is strongest there and then dissipates. If this is the case with the loop, is there anything that can be done?

At least the stove works and is keeping us toasty. I would, however, love to be done with this by Christmas. On a positive note, I just won a local auction for Oakangan pellets for only $303 including delivery - great price in my neighborhood!

 

[DMKNLD]

At least the stove works and is keeping us toasty.

Shweet - Oakies are great ! Inexpensive Oakies are even better ! Now if they're the Douglas Fir 'edition', you scored way big !!

Convection air flow in a house is a weird thing. When I start my vintage almost 40 y/o Vermont Castings wood stove up, which supplements our pellet stove in the farthest away 'L' room of our "big house, middle house, back house, barn" connected floor plan farmhouse. I have to crack a specific window in the wood stove room to get it to draft and keep from smoking up the house, but only when the non-prevailing wind is blowing from the south or east.

It must create some sort of 'eddy flow' of air current, either through the house walls and / or over our multi-directional roof line and down the external chimney, that then downdrafts the stove. Turning on the bathroom or kitchen exhaust vents, which are the rooms on each side of our wood stove room, will also back draft the wood stove (but not the pellet stove) when it's starting up and the chimney is cold, but then there's no problem once the flue warms up and drafts better. Go figure....

Walk around your house on a 'blowing like stink' day with a lit incense stick and a toilet paper streamer and you will be amazed at where the drafts and convection air currents are going, even in a relatively new tighter house than mine certainly is. Try cracking a window in different places in the room that your venting goes through, and the room the stove is in, to see if it helps clear or at least minimize your smoke start-up smell, at least until it gets definitively fixed.

Knowing our houses natural air flow patterns is what helped me to better figure out where to put floor fans to move the cold air back towards the stove rooms, and how to best use ceiling fans to augment the natural air flow and better equalize the house temps.

Alternative bio-fuel burning seems to require 'eternal tinkering', but that's at least a good bit of the challenge and satisfaction of it !

Regards, and stay in touch.