Wood stink in house from stove

[PingSpike]

Hi, we just got our wood stove this year, its a Jotul Oslo, we've got it attached to an exterior masonry chimney...not ideal, but the hearth pad and seperate chimney were already there when we bought the house.

I think we're done with the break in fires and the chemical stink. But I'm still kind of figuring out how to run the stove. On sunday night we lit up a fire and I dropped the damper all the way down before bed. When we got up, there was still a charred log in the firebox and the fire had gone out...and the house stinks. Not exactly wood smoke...maybe its a creosote stink? I cleaned out the ashes when I got home but the house still stinks, and I even took out the charred log. The house still stinks this morning.

I'm not how or why this stink is coming in. I kind of figure the furnance is pulling some air back down the chimney and into the house when the chimney is cold. And in fact there has always been a little bit of this smell after a fire since we got the stove. But it was greatly reduced by closing the damper all the way when not in use. But its all the way closed and still stank pretty bad last time.

Anyone have a similar problem and know how they solved it? I'm sure my wood could be drier, but it has been stacked since June and suppossedly was "seasoned" when I bought it. What is this stink anyway?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Not certain, but it sounds like you have a creosote problem. That certainly will penetrate the house!

I'd highly recommend cleaning the chimney first and you may have to also clean some of the inside of the stove.

It also sounds like you close the damper way too far and that is why the log didn't burn all the way. This also will tend to create more creosote.

Finally, check your wood. What kind of wood is it? Some wood requires longer seasoning time. Was it split before being stacked in June?

Finally, do not believe wood sellers when they tell you wood is seasoned. Most just say that but the wood is not really seasoned or seasoned very little time.

Good luck.

 

[hookspacken]

You could have had some back puffing going on overnight as well. I know sometimes if it is a bit warmer outside and I turn the stove down for the night i wake up to a smokey smell in the house. Just an idea.

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, I can't seem to figure out how the damper goes on the stove. I had one fire last week that got away from me and with the damper all the way down it finally settled down at almost 800 degrees so I'm a little unsure of it. Granted that was a full load of wood. I may not have closed it all the way down last time...instead sent it to a quarter, I can't remember.

The wood was split, I got it from a local guy. I know seasoned means anything from 6 months to 2 weeks, but it did arrive split. I don't seem to be getting any sizzling and I haven't really noticed any bubbling.

I was kind of hoping not to have to clean the chimney this often! I don't have any cleaning implements yet and frankly I'm a little afraid of heights!

It was warmer that night, which is why I didn't load the stove up before bed. And I don't think I had any stink problems during the week last week when it was pretty cold.

I was thinking of starting a fire tonight to try and blast out any build up in there...is that a stupid idea?

 

[Chettt]

Ping your original thought is correct, your central furnace return is pulling the stink back through the flue. Even a clothes drier will pull the smell out if you are not using the chimney. Once you are burning 24/7 you won't smell it at all.

 

[Jags]

I was thinking of starting a fire tonight to try and blast out any build up in there...is that a stupid idea?

Not stupid at all. Build you a nice fire, and run the stove at the upper end of the "safe zone" for awhile. This will help get rid of any potential build up from the last smoldering fire and may take the stink with it.

Next - do you have more than one flue or pipe in that chimney? If so, be aware that there needs to be an offset in heigth from one flue to the other. This will help in stopping one flue from introducing nasty stuff to the other.

 

[jbrown56]

Ping,

If you're exhausting into a chimney flue larger than 8"x8", your draft will probably be sluggish and may cause creosote buildup. The Oslo is made to run with a 6" chimney. I ran my old stove for 26 years in an 8"x12" flue and always had a creosote odor problem, not bad but you could smell it. When I changed stoves last fall, i ran it into the 8"x12" chimney and the draft was sluggish. After a month, I installed a stainless 6" rigid liner and the draft and stove performance greatly improved. Once you get through the learning curve, you'll really enjoy your stove. My stove has a damper "sweet spot" and it's just a little right of being closed all the way. It doesn't burn well closed all the way. You'll have to find your stove's "sweet spot".

Jim

 

[PingSpike]

Thanks for the ideas and thoughts guys. Actually, now that I think about its probably the furnace...I remember the basement stank worse...so it was probably drawing the stink down there.

The chimney is standalone...the furnance runs on a chimney that runs through the center of the house and the wood stove is on its own seperate one on the side of the house. I'm pretty sure its an 8" flu, there's a adapter on the 6" stove pipe to expand it before it gets to the flu opening. It seems to draft good most of the time...except when the wife fills it with newspaper and it fills up with smoke. I'll give the liner some thought for next year though...this chimney has a clay liner, but it was never used since the house was built and I had a guy look at it and he said it was in good shape. I'm feeling a little tapped out with all the wood stove purchases this year!

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Ping,

I agree that your source of chimney (not the nice smell/fragrance of burning wood) is due to a back-draft down the chimney into the house. More than the furnace running, it should be circulating air inside the house with very minor sucking air from outside...oops, well the fire in the furnace needs air if you not electric heat, and then the cloths dryer and any range hoods that exhaust to the outside need air coming in.

We always open a window a "crack" in the laundry room when the dryer is running. We have a geothermal heat pump, so it doesn't draw much from the outside when running.

We had a lot of trouble after running a slammer in our masonry fireplace for about 20 years. Cleaning, even rotary cleaning, and a "Locktop" sealing damper at the top of the chimney didn't fix the problem, not immediately. We did all that and then installed a new Quadrafire insert with the SS 6" liner ut the 30' chimney. We now seem to be odor free.

Not sure I helped much, but I do support some tips already given and I caution that you should not expect a "brush" cleaning of the chimney will cure the problem.

 

[drewboy]

I have had a similar Creosote smell at certain times (today, for example)- I think the warm weather today contributed. I also have an exterior
masonry chimney but I know it's clean because I did it myself just a few weeks ago and I've only been burning dry wood/hot fires since...maybe
even a couple too hot. My guess is that my chimney has a substantial downdraft on certain days and my stove is also in the basement which might
also be part of the issue. In my case, it seems to go away on it's own, usually only happens on damp, still, days every once in a while.

I think that even a clean chimney stinks and if you have air coming down the stack for whatever reason, it smells foul...

 

[PhysicsNerd]

I have a Jotul stove that began to emit a cresote smell more and more after the first year, especially in warmer weather after the fire dies down. My chimney setup is not the best. The stove pipe from the back of the stove goes back into a fireplace and curves up into triple wall uninsulated pipe that goes up an uninsulated chimney cavity (6' x 2') on the ouside of the house. Here are a few work-arounds.

First, check the secondary draft channel on the back of the stove, because it works itself loose. Mine is a cast iron U-shaped plate bolted to the back of the stove. To get to it, you can easily remove the sheet metal heat-reflector plates on the back of the stove. The channel on my stove is attached with a single bolt that goes all the way into the fire box. The heat/cool cycle from day to day use will loosen this bolt allowing flu gases to escape. The channel must be in good thermal contact with the stove, so tighten it.

Secondly, if you have an outside fireplace chimney like mine, you should improve the draft by insulating the the chimney shaft, but with great care to prevent a fire hazard. Your best bet is to replace the stove pipe with a more modern insulated pipe. However, I went the cheap route. I took off the the 6' x 2' sheet metal cover on the top of the cavity and placed fiber glass insulation, which can't burn, across the 2' x 6' opening. Simply staple a wire screen across the cavity and aroung the stove pipe to hold the fiber glass in place.

Finally, if you still have problems, you can place a small fan or blower pointed up the secondary draft channel behind the stove. I bought a small 12 Volt DC blower for only a few dollars from one the online surplus sites. Mine works well at only 9 Volts so its more quiet. The blower helps keep a positive pressure on the seconday draft so flow is always into the stove, and not out! Look for a 9 Volt DC wall plugin power supply. Instead you can probably use a small 110V AC fan which can be plugged into the wall directly.

 

[LLigetfa]

I kind of figure the furnance is pulling some air back down the chimney and into the house when the chimney is cold. And in fact there has always been a little bit of this smell after a fire since we got the stove. But it was greatly reduced by closing the damper all the way when not in use. But its all the way closed and still stank pretty bad last time.

I think you're right, that your chimney is reversing. You need to fix the pressure deficit issue. Find where air is escaping through the building envelope and seal up what you can. Provide a bit of makeup air to the furnace cold air return and/or to the furnace room. Consider adding a dedicated OAK for the wood stove if one is available.

 

[fossil]

OP's a year old, and I don't recall seeing PingSpike around. Rick

 

[LLigetfa]

OP's a year old...

DOH! Hope he has his problem solved by now. Why do people dredge up year old threads?

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Well h-ll he had three posts, how much does it take to satisfy you guys?

Good to "see" you all again. The Golden Retriever in my avatar had to be put down last Tuesday, so it is good to see something to cheer me up.

 

[DavidV]

tinct on the smell....and the solution.....burn hotter. I used to get the smell in the house but as I have become more confident with burning hot I have experienced less smell issues.