Blaze King smoke in house

[Hobbs]

I have a Blaze King Ashford 25 insert I had installed last year. I have a very bad creosote smell that comes in the room. We burned for two months and my wife finally said she is done with the smell. It’s very bad and to the point it burns your eyes. After a couple $500 power bills I got motivated to get the stove working again. I tried tightening up the door. I added 4 feet of chimney, putting us at 21’ of double wall pipe. This did make for a more active and easier start up. Although did nothing for the smell. I get great heat out of the stove, my wood is around 8% live oak. I can have the glass to 750 degrees in 30 minutes. The air control also works fine, I can throttle the stove down no problem. No matter where I run the stove I always get the smell.

I have another Lopi insert on the other side of my house that burns incredible. I was just looking for something I could do 12 hour reloads with.

The dealer came out last week and checked over the stove. They pulled the cat out and it looked perfectly clean. They thought I could be getting some smoke from the existing creosote build up in old chimney that the liner runs through. I did sweep the chimney and clean everything prior to the insert being installed. When the dealer came out they insulated above the stove where the old damper was, their thought was that should stop the smoke from coming down the chimney and into the house. I just had my first fire after the dealer installed the insulation. The smell is ten times worse now! We had the windows open and fans running for 10 hours and the room has a permanent creosote smell. Is there any idea where the smoke is coming from? I am thinking about ripping this insert out!

 

[begreen]

These stoves depend on a good door seal. Check to see how the door gasket is sealing. Examine it closely for leakage. Do the dollar bill test. Also, make sure the door is properly aligned so that the knife edge is centered in the gasket channel.

Have you seen this thread?

Blaze king Ashford 25 insert door problems

Hi folks. I just had a brand new Ashford insert installed and all in all I'm impressed with it. However, I seem to be seeing a few issues with the door. After the first couple of burns there was a lot more staining on the glass than I'd expected. I was not burning very low. It also seemed...

www.hearth.com

 

[Hobbs]

Yes, I did see that thread. My door gasket looks pretty good. It passes the dollar bill test and the door latch is adjusted pretty tight. It seems prior to the insulation the dealer installed it would take 45 minutes or so to get the smell.

 

[stoveliker]

See the above.

The smoke being 10 times worse after insulating the opening to the flue could be the insulation off gassing upon first heat?

 

[begreen]

Where was the insulation placed? Can you see any of the insulation? What does it look like? (pink fiberglass, white kaowool)?

 

[Hobbs]

It’s the white Kaowool. It looked like he insulated about a foot above the stove where the old fireplace damper was. I can see a little insulation in an air vent above the stove. I don’t have a clue if insulation can off gas, I guess that could be part of it. The smell I am getting has been the same creosote burnt smell the whole time. It just came on much quicker now with the insulation.

 

[spudman99]

Two ways I can think of to get rid of any small in the room (not from the fireplace). One would be an ozone machine that will neutralize the odor. Such a machine might run a $100 and you can't be in the room when it runs. Effective but not used often (i use it in my tenant spaces when they turnover to get rid of stale odors). Other way is to purchase a bottle of Odo-Ban from home depot. Mix and spray everything. It also neutralizes rather than mask odor particles and can be very effective. I also use that on sports equipment and sweaty sneakers throughout the year.

 

[stoveliker]

I would indeed be very cautious about ozone generators. It wreaks havoc on lung tissue. "You can't be there while it runs", but what is the half-life of ozone, i.e. how long after switching it off can you be there? Your use case is perfect for that. Here, I'm not so sure.

 

[Todd]

Could it be a negative pressure issue? Does it smell when you have a nearby window cracked open?

 

[begreen]

It’s the white Kaowool. It looked like he insulated about a foot above the stove where the old fireplace damper was. I can see a little insulation in an air vent above the stove. I don’t have a clue if insulation can off gas, I guess that could be part of it. The smell I am getting has been the same creosote burnt smell the whole time. It just came on much quicker now with the insulation.

That is unlikely to be the issue. Kaowool is quite high temp insulation. Was the chimney thoroughly cleaned, including the smoke shelf, before the liner was installed?