Vermont Castings Resolute - next day smoke smell

[OldGregg86]

Hi everyone - I have a Vermont Castings Resolute from the early 80s, but I can't be sure of the exact year. It came with the 50s era house we purchased 2-3 years ago. It's the Resolute version that has the drop down main door (oven style), so maybe that helps to pinpoint the year.

The issue:
The stove burns great, but the next day i find that it leaks a smoky smell. There's no issue with smoke while it's burning; and I replaced all gaskets (main door, glass, and griddle). In one instance, the wood burned up so completely that the next day no smoke smell was visible. When there are remaining pieces of burned wood in the main burn box, smoke-smell is present in the room the next day and forward.

Any ideas about what's going on and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any advice and knowledge offered here.

 

[DAKSY]

Have you tried to check it for leaks WHILE it's burning?
An incense stick or a cigarette or something that gives off
smoke, held near and moved around the stove will tell you.
You will see the smoke being sucked into the stove.
New gaskets are good, but the seams in the stove body
may need to be resealed with furnace cement...

 

[coaly]

Sounds like when the chimney cools and exhaust gasses stop rising, the house may have a lower pressure than outside atmospheric air pressure. The chimney then becomes the intake of air into the home.

You may be able to verify this with an incense stick. When burning you’ll find any leaks at pipe joints, stove and air intake draws smoke into stove or chimney. This is normal due to rising gasses in chimney causing a lower pressure area in the chimney flue, pipe and stove. This is what causes air to flow into stove with oxygen to feed the fire.

Try the incense smoke test with the system cold. Smoke pushed away from air intake or pipe joints shows a higher pressure pushing down chimney.

Many causes can be mechanical fans exhausting air out of the home, another chimney in use with an oil burner or other fossil fueled appliance such as boiler, water heater, or power vented appliance. Radon blowers, dryers, bath and kitchen exhaust fans can all use the chimney for an intake. Air leaks from an upper level or anywhere above the stove such as attic hatches or windows open on upper levels allow heated air to rise away from stove. Leaking out, it depressurizes the building allowing cold outside air to drop down chimney using it as the air intake.

 

[coaly]

If you find the smoke test shows air coming in through the chimney vent system, cracking a window gives the atmospheric pressure less resistance coming in than through the stove, so the smell will stop. To correct the problem find the source of the air leak or cause of the low pressure problem. Dust around cracks or openings shows airflow leaking out of the building . If an appliance on another floor such as in a utility room or basement is found to be using indoor air, an outside air intake for that appliance is needed. All fossil fuel burning appliances should have an air source close by so they don’t affect indoor air pressure.

Tell us more about the house. Primary heat and hot water? How many floors, attic, other appliances vented outside, has it always done this since you bought it, and any changes made since the problem started.

 

[OldGregg86]

I just tried the incense test as advised and there is strong indication this has something to do with high pressure outside, lower pressure inside. The best evidence of this is the attached picture, which shows the incense smoke being forced down where the main vertical stove pipe connects to the 45 degree pipe ( (if you look closely, smoke is being blown down beneath the glowing tip))

The house is natural gas furnace, natural gas hot water heater and natural gas oven/range. The furnace has its own dedicated vent to draw from the outside. The wood burner is in the basement on the same level as the furnace and hot water tank. It's a 1000 sq foot bungalow (approaching 2000 including the basement) with an attic. One bathroom on the main floor. What else could be vented?

I'm up here in Canada where we're staving off the final stages of the polar vortex, so cracking a window for any length of time isn't really an option.

Appreciate the thoughts here. Any further advice for next steps?

 

[MDH33]

I just tried the incense test as advised and there is strong indication this has something to do with high pressure outside, lower pressure inside. The best evidence of this is the attached picture, which shows the incense smoke being forced down where the main vertical stove pipe connects to the 45 degree pipe ( (if you look closely, smoke is being blown down beneath the glowing tip))

The house is natural gas furnace, natural gas hot water heater and natural gas oven/range. The furnace has its own dedicated vent to draw from the outside. The wood burner is in the basement on the same level as the furnace and hot water tank. It's a 1000 sq foot bungalow (approaching 2000 including the basement) with an attic. One bathroom on the main floor. What else could be vented?

I'm up here in Canada where we're staving off the final stages of the polar vortex, so cracking a window for any length of time isn't really an option.

Appreciate the thoughts here. Any further advice for next steps?

It will help if you get those stove pipes assembled correctly. The sections above should always fit into the sections below and should be snug without gaps. If the pipe is sealed and the stove is sealed, outside pressure is less likely to find its way in.

 

[coaly]

Vented fuel burning appliances are probably the culprit.

How are the gas appliances vented? Unless they are direct vented appliances, normally a gas furnace and gas water heater will have an air intake at the chimney vent connection. This allows inside air to mix with the exhaust gasses. This is called a diverter or diverter hood on a furnace. If the water heater is a commonly vented heater, the
intake is right at the pipe connection. The pipe will not be connected directly to heater, it will have an open air space between exhaust pipe and heater. This also allows heated indoor air to escape up the chimney vent and act as an air intake in a negative pressure event such as you’re describing. If so, that’s the indoor air being exhausted to the outside. Same with a naturally vented furnace. The connection of exhaust connects on the top of the diverter box and the bottom is open for indoor air to mix with the rising exhaust. If so, the appliances should be in their own unit room with their own air supply.

Retired gas man here, and I installed what I called “elephant trunk” air supply. A utility room housing gas burning appliances, pool heaters, or even any area supplying atmospheric air pressure to an appliance such as your wood stove. A pvc pipe through wall, elbow down outside with insect screen, elbow upward inside. As close as possible to air using appliance. This prevents heated indoor air from dropping out the pipe, but atmospheric air pressure pushes in as needed to balance pressure in home. I found a few customers would plug them up in the winter when feeling the cold air come in. I explained the pressure outside will leak into every crack it can anywhere else in the home causing drafts through the home, so it’s better to have the incoming air close to the appliance using it than causing drafts elsewhere. That is the kind of intake a utility room with those appliances should have.

The test when installing a gas appliance is to light burner and shake out a match at the diverter air intake to make sure the smoke is drawn into the vent. For the first few seconds many dump hot exhaust out of the diverter intake until the heat rises and starts the draft. This is called spillage. A spillage switch which is a themo disc senses temperature shutting the burner down to prevent CO from entering building. Gas stoves (not ranges) have the same thing at the diverter intake. They are in effect, a draft prover.

The water heater without an outdoor air intake uses indoor air through the burner, exhausting indoor air outside. Any clothes dryer exhaust depressurizes the home as well. Central vacuum systems, range exhaust fan, bath exhaust fans are other causes.

 

[coaly]

If your water heater uses this type connection, the opening around bottom is the air intake for the vent that vents indoor air up the stack.

(broken link removed)

Your furnace probably has an opening all the way across the back under the exhaust outlet doing the same thing, depressurizing the area it’s in.

 

[Rob E]

Consider another possibility. If the combustion chamber is clogged then once you turn off the bypass level (right top), to initiate reborn, the pressure will build in the stove. This will eventually burst through any weak point even if it appears sealed. I would first try thoroughly cleaning (vacuuming) the back of the stove making sure combustion chamber holes are open and clear. Be careful not to damage the box. I did and that is how I found my problem. A new hole created in the box (which now requires reparation) released pressure and now no more smoke smell, no more ash dust and clear ventilation under any weather conditions. The problem is that without the restraint of the chamber (now that there is a bypass hole punched out), it’s harder to control temperature. That will be resolved once the chamber is either repaired or replaced. The latter being most likely.

 

[defiant3]

Rob E, sounds like you have a Resolute Acclaim, quite different from the OP's older Resolute 3.8