Wood stove smell

[gutlo]

I'm considering buying an Engalnder 13-NCHM. Is there any wood smoke or odor that comes out of the door when you open it to load wood? I will be careful to open the flue before opening the door. My wife is extremely sensitive to wood smoke odor. It would be very bad to go through the expense and hassle only to find out there's an unavoidable smell.

 

[begreen]

Smoke spillage may not be the fault of the stove. Weak draft can cause smoke spillage with the best of stoves, especially in milder weather. a straight up flue in the house can help avoid this issue.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Smoke spillage may not be the fault of the stove. Weak draft can cause smoke spillage with the best of stoves, especially in milder weather. a straight up flue in the house can help avoid this issue.

Yes, and some stoves spill smoke easier than others, all else being equal. But I have no idea how the stove in question fares in this regard.

 

[begreen]

Shallow firebox stoves seem a bit more prone than fireboxes that are deeper. This can be exacerbated by rear venting, especially with longer horiz. stove pipe runs. The 13-NC is top vent only and has a deeper firebox. With good draft it should be ok. @Dix has one that burns regularly in winter.

 

[Dix]

You rang, BG?

I'll be going into season 7 with the 13, and can honestly say that smoke has come out the door less than a handful of times, usually on very damp, warmer winter days where draft is an issue until you get the the chimney to start to draw. Think weather like we have this morning, only in winter when temps are cooler. Clears up quickly with a hot start to the fire.

Love my 13, it's an awesome heater. You'll get 6 hour burn time max, with primo firewood.

Hope this helps !

 

[sportbikerider78]

For my 30NC, typically, no smoke comes out. If I stick to the rack coals, load, let burn down and rake...normal cycle there is almost zero smoke or smoke smell. People come into my house and I have to point out that I burn with wood, they can't tell.

What does allow smoke to enter the room is if I disturb the cycle for whatever reason. Say, it is shoulder season and I load the fire for a 4-5 hr burn with a few splits, then we change plans and decide to leave for 10 hrs. I will want to add some more wood to a partly burned load. Then smoke will come out if I'm not careful...but it can be done.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Also, open the door slowly and keep it open only about 2 inches and hold it like that for a few seconds, then slowly open it the rest of way. Don't just whip it open like a car or refrigerator door, open it slowly so it allows the draft to pull up the chimney a bit, if you open it fast the smoke will come out.

 

[double-d]

There is also an AD 1 Auto-Draft fan that is sometimes used when there is smoke spillage. There is a little modification to install it into one of the stove pipe, but after that there is an on off switch or variable speed control, so when you go to open the door, switch it on and it will give you a positive draft and will not allow the smoke to to escape out the door

Overview
With Auto-Draft your hard starting stove draws immediately. No smoky back up even with moist or hard to ignite types of wood. Once the fire is burning, adjust the variable speed control knob on electrical box for maximum efficiency of your stove. Auto-Draft provides for total utilization of your wood, leaving only a fine ash residue in most cases.

Auto-Draft fits most wood or coal burning stoves. It can be installed on any wood or coal burning stove pipe from 5" to 8" in diameter. Designed to solve draft problems without increasing height or diameter of the chimney.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Auto-Draft provides for total utilization of your wood, leaving only a fine ash residue in most cases.

All the woodstoves I've ever had would burn ashes down to a fine powder (without an electric fan in the flue). Of course the wood has to be properly seasoned.

 

[jetsam]

Smoke spillage is going to be caused more by the flue than by the stove (unless it's just a badly designed stove, which do exist, but you can research that in advance).

Tell us more about how the stove will be vented (flue length, number of bends, stack height, etc). Also, is your house in a valley or other area subject to inversions?

Offhand, if your wife really doesn't like the smell of woodsmoke, heating with wood may be doomed from the start. I usually have zero woodsmoke odor (which is too bad), but you can see the fire burning...

Maybe pick a stove with no glass, put it in the basement, and dig out a secret underground bunker for wood storage?

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Tell us more about how the stove will be vented (flue length, number of bends, stack height, etc). Also, is your house in a valley or other area subject to inversions?

While those are all factors affecting the amount of draft pressure differential, there are others that are even more difficult to quantify. Every joint in the stovepipe and metal chimney robs at least a tiny bit of draft (and some much more than others). All flue leakage not only steals draft pressure through the obvious means but, if that leakage is cooler/more dense air than that in the flue, it's a double-whammy. This leakage, which is cumulative from the stove collar to the last section of chimney, is the true vampire draft theft that many fail to consider and is much, much larger than typically recognized. It is very short sighted to dismiss all those small leaks as insignificant and yet I've heard people do just that many times.

Offhand, if your wife really doesn't like the smell of woodsmoke, heating with wood may be doomed from the start. I usually have zero woodsmoke odor (which is too bad), but you can see the fire burning...

I like a good campfire as much (or more) as the next guy. But I don't want any wood smoke spillage in my home. And it's rare when I get any. So I'm confused why you say "which is too bad". If you want more wood smoke spillage indoors, certainly you know how to make it happen?

 

[bholler]

There is also an AD 1 Auto-Draft fan that is sometimes used when there is smoke spillage. There is a little modification to install it into one of the stove pipe, but after that there is an on off switch or variable speed control, so when you go to open the door, switch it on and it will give you a positive draft and will not allow the smoke to to escape out the door

Overview
With Auto-Draft your hard starting stove draws immediately. No smoky back up even with moist or hard to ignite types of wood. Once the fire is burning, adjust the variable speed control knob on electrical box for maximum efficiency of your stove. Auto-Draft provides for total utilization of your wood, leaving only a fine ash residue in most cases.

Auto-Draft fits most wood or coal burning stoves. It can be installed on any wood or coal burning stove pipe from 5" to 8" in diameter. Designed to solve draft problems without increasing height or diameter of the chimney.

Those are simply bandaids that cover up the problem and not very well at that.

 

[RobbieB]

The only time I get any spillage is when I'm getting the fire started. Newspaper and little kindling first and then the bigger kindling is when I get the smell. The fire is not hot yet, and the draw is low and I'll get just a little odor when I open the door to add the large kindling. After that the draw is so good that nothing comes out.

 

[gutlo]

Thanks for all of the replies.

I intend to burn oak pallet wood exclusively. I will seal all pipe joints with high temp sealant. The flue is straight out the top. It will be used to supplement a Harman P38 during the coldest weather, My house is on top of a mountain, 1000 feet above sea level. I gather from all the replies that I shouldn't get any wood odor.

 

[Hogwildz]

Small pallet wood, even Oak, may be nuclear. Might be ok if you pack it tight. Better experiment a lil bit.

 

[gutlo]

Hogwildz, what do you mean by "might be nuclear?"

 

[Dix]

He means that you could get one helluva lot more of a fire than you want. That stuff burns real hot.

 

[blades]

Only over fire I ever had was a full load of pallet wood packed tight, scared the living xxxx out of me.

 

[gutlo]

If I mixed pallet wood with compressed sawdust fire bricks, would that avoid over firing?

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Thanks for all of the replies.

I intend to burn oak pallet wood exclusively. I will seal all pipe joints with high temp sealant. The flue is straight out the top. It will be used to supplement a Harman P38 during the coldest weather, My house is on top of a mountain, 1000 feet above sea level. I gather from all the replies that I shouldn't get any wood odor.

I've found a proper woodstove install generally makes the inside air more fresh. At least if it doesn't have an outside air intake kit installed. The stove is like having a bathroom vent fan running all the time. It's always venting room air to the outside and drawing fresh air into the structure via infiltration.

One question, how could your house be on top of a mountain if it's only 1000 feet above sea level? I thought, by definition, mountains were big. The smallest mountain range in the world is 2060 feet above sea level:

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2013/04/11/smallest-mountain-range-world-sutter-buttes/

I think if it's only 1000 feet it's called a hill or a mound. Or a foothill if it's in the vicinity of a mountain range.

 

[gutlo]

I can see mountain tops at eye level from my home. Just assumed I was on a mountain top.

The 13-C has a fresh air input. If I connected it to the outside, would that make downdraft smells less likely?

 

[Manly]

I can see mountain tops at eye level from my home. Just assumed I was on a mountain top.

The 13-C has a fresh air input. If I connected it to the outside, would that make downdraft smells less likely?

That's a butte! Very funny. Anywho, fresh air input should promote better combustion which theoretically should reduce opportunity for smell. My wife is also sensitive to odor, but as long as the stove doesn't smell worse than me she is ok with it. Manly

 

[Hogwildz]

If I mixed pallet wood with compressed sawdust fire bricks, would that avoid over firing?

You're going to have to experiment. Start with a small load and work your way up. A ton of small stuff is going to burn hot & fast. The firebricks may also help cause a same situation. You'll have to play around with what you have to see what works best for you.

 

[jetsam]

You're going to have to experiment. Start with a small load and work your way up. A ton of small stuff is going to burn hot & fast. The firebricks may also help cause a same situation. You'll have to play around with what you have to see what works best for you.

If I was burning that stuff, I'd rig up a way to restrict the intake air well below the stove's normal minimum so if it took off too fast I could put the brakes on. Make sure it's a method you can use when the stove is very hot.

I'd also be uncomfortable burning it unattended in most stoves. (I would worry less about mine, because I know that it can and will shut the air down to near-zero by itself.... but I would be burning it low on the thermostat to make sure that "shut" was within the flapper's range of motion.)

That's not to say that you can't make it work. If I had unlimited free pre-split pre-dried wood, I promise I'd figure something out to let me burn it. Like Hogwildz says, start small and see how it burns.

Also consider getting in some big splits of whatever you can get your hands on to help tame the beast. Less than perfectly dry wood would probably be fine for this application, unless the pallets were stored outdoors.

 

[gutlo]

Here's my takeaway from this discussion:

1. Start small with the pallet wood, work up to a manageable level.
2. Install the separate air intake.
3. Open the door slowly when loading.

I'll try pallet wood at first because it's plentiful and free. If it doesn't work out, I'll buy some firewood and mix it with the pallet.

Thanks one and all for all the great info and advice.