Whifield Advantage smell in house problem

[Iceshack2]

Hoping to get some advice on why my Whitfield advantage 3 emits a smell of smoke in the house. the stove has been operating normally all winter, recently replaced fire brick and more recently have detected a smoke or exhaust smell in the house. 1st step was to clean this already well maintained unit inside and out. I removed the exhaust blower motor which was in fair shape (although when I "spun tested it it stopped revolving in about 7-8 seconds - I think its the original motor in this great old 1993 stove). When I put everything back together...smell still there. door gasket - check, all pieces in properly - check - Noticed cold air coming from the exhaust side of the stove and after removing the strip of lengthwise insulation, determined that quite a bit of incoming blower air was escaping at the seam identified in the attached picture. After replacing the insulation and running the stove again - definitely cold blower air escaping still. Any help appreciated!
2 questions - would you replace exhaust blower motor at this stage and should I seal the seam in the attached with high heat silicone?

 

[Heat me]

I would check your venting. Sometimes after moving the stove around while cleaning small gaps or cracks can appear in the seams of the pellet stove pipe. I use high temp foil tape to seal all the joints. Hope this helps

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Wait till it\'t dark
Fire the stove and use a small led light to look around all the joints while the area is dark.
Smoke will show up right nicely in that bright led light.

Sounds like a leak all right.

Leaks on these are usually beyond the draft fan exit in the back of the stove or at the aluminum adapter piece.
Normally leaks don't come from the low pressure side of the draft fan. (Fan back to the fire box)

The foil tape is great stuff.
Tape every place in the pipe where is has a joint, even the spots that are in elbows that don't come.
apart.
I single wrap with a 1 inch overlap will do it.
Wipe the pipe with a rag with some alcohol on it to remove any oils or dirt that will stop the tape from sticking.

If the leak is at the adapter, cool the stove and remove the adapter from the fan housing and clean off all old silicone.
Apply new high temp silicone and re-attach adapter and the pipe (seal with silicone well)

Good luck

 

[Iceshack2]

Thanks for the advice to date. Although I have a bit of an S curve in my exhaust pipe before it exits the house I have been cleaning it diligently and currently have tape on all the seams (including the ones where it doesn't come apart) so feel I am pretty well covered there. Having said that I'm going to remove the tape and dismantle the joints inside the house and reconnect from stove to wall with new high heat silicone and tape and then perform the test suggested.

Having said that......I'm still perplexed on why I am getting significant blower air pushing out the longitudinal seam that is just behind my door hinges on the exhaust side of the stove - I tried to illustrate how this seam looks like its tight at the bottom and top but widens out to at least a quarter inch at about the half way point. (hopefully my attempt to attach a picture worked!)this on the pic I attached. I feel like I should seal the length of this with high heat silicone before replacing the long piece of insulation on that side of the stove. The insulation has "blackened" a bit on this side but the same piece of insulation on the blower side of the stove is nice and yellow like the day it was purchased. Any more thoughts on this appreciated

 

[Iceshack2]

Whoops...should have said an eighth of an inch - not a quarter inch