Newbie Question: Smoke Odors & Ash In The House

[fdegree]

OK, some of you may have followed a recent thread where I was persuaded to reconsider my approach from an emergency, backup wood stove to a primary heat source wood stove. After more contemplation, because I'm a wood stove virgin, I have a couple of new questions.

Will the house, furniture, clothes, etc. smell of smoke?

Will there be more dust from the ashes floating and settling around the house? I realize there will certainly be more dirt than I'm use to from bringing the wood inside...I'm just wondering if the burning of the stove itself will generate additional dust that I am currently unaccustomed to?

 

[edthedawg]

the answer to both should be something like "ever so slightly, if at all, unless you're doing it wrong."

good luck! it ain't hard to keep things clean, but yeah there'll be a bit of ash on horizontal surfaces...

 

[fdegree]

Thanks...I appreciate the feedback

 

[Pagey]

We've never had a problem with a smoky smell inside the house using our Endeavor. Our chimney draws well, so I could count on one hand the number of times I've had any smoke "puff back" in the house, and those times have always been on a fresh fire in a cold stove that's just getting established.

 

[pilot-werx]

I have a Summit as kind of the focal point of my kitchen and I have never had any sort of smoky smell in the house. Yes, you will get more dust than you are used to just due to the nature of the beast. The dust is a small sacrifice for the feeling of wood heat.

 

[Pagey]

Yes, I too can say that I do notice more dust in the room with the stove during heating season. I dust weekly anyway, so any added dust is taken care of at that time, which keeps things under control. I can also say that burning wood has had no negative impact on my allergies.

 

[fredarm]

The best way to keep smoke out of the house is not to open the stove door too often. Get your fire going, let it burn down to coals, reload and repeat. Don't "poke" the fire periodically like you would in a fireplace. I'm a fire-poker by nature and it took me a while to learn just to leave the stove alone and let it do its thing. To minimise ash issues, get an ash vac with a HEPA filter.

 

[fdegree]

So, it sounds as if:
Smoke is really not an issue as long the stove is set-up and maintained properly, and after the fire is started leave it alone (I still have everything to learn about all of that)...there will be additional dust, but not quite enough to make an issue over.

Thanks folks...it's much appreciated.

 

[Dune]

Figure out how seldom you can empty the ash, depends on the stove. When emptying ash, move very slowly and be careful not to bump anything with a shovelful of ash.

 

[fdegree]

Figure out how seldom you can empty the ash, depends on the stove. When emptying ash, move very slowly and be careful not to bump anything with a shovelful of ash.

Yeah...I can hear my wife now..."you're gonna clean that up aren't ya? "

 

[firefighterjake]

Fdegree . . . sounds as though you're really starting to give this heating with wood idea a try . . . I think you may become one of our newest wood converts.

Smoke smell . . . a non-issue . . . if you have a properly installed and drafting woodstove you should have little to no smoke spilling into the room. Every once in a blue moon I will have a bit of smoke spill out . . . but it's usually my fault since I opened the firebox door too early or I was screwing around with the start up fire. So far this year, I think I've had it happen twice . . . and honestly you can't even tell this happened since so little came out . . . no tell-tale signs on our white ceiling to give me away.

Sometimes I read of folks describing the smell of the smoke and how they enjoy it . . . but to be honest . . . I never smell it inside and when I'm outside about the only time I smell the smoke is when the stove is being reloaded by my wife when I'm outside and she's inside . . . or in certain weather conditions when the smoke is pushed lower to the ground. My clothes and furniture do not smell like smoke . . .and trust me on this . . . my wife has a wicked sensitive nose . . . if the place smelled like smoke there would be an issue here.

In fact, this morning our house smelled like apple pie . . . since I had put some cinnamon spice potpourri into my steamer . . . darn it . . . now I'm hankering for a piece of apple pie.

This is not like my old Shenandoah . . . which to be truthful did not have a good draft . . . every time I opened the firebox door the camp filled with smoke and as a result my camp, clothes, furniture, etc. all smelled smoky.

Dust . . . a little bit of an issue . . . but not so bad. Our TV is located 5-6 feet away and I really haven't noticed any real significant build up in dust . . . at least no more than in the days pre-woodstove. There is some fly ash and dust that gets kicked up when I clean the stove (most goes up and out the flue due to the draft, but some settles on to the stove and hearth) . . . and there are the usual bits of woodchips, sawdust, dirt, etc. that get on the floor and hearth near the woodstove from reloading the stove and bringing the wood in . . . but that's why I keep a little whisk broom and dust pan near the hearth so I can quickly sweep it up and toss it into the fire.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Here is a little tip concerning ashes. First, yes, they can be awful if you aren't careful...but do not need to be awful. When handling ashes, picture emptying a feather pillow and spreading them about. Now what would happen if a draft or slight breeze hit those feathers? The same thing will happen with ashes unless you know what you are doing.

When scooping out a shovelful of ashes, don't just dump them into a bucket. Handle with kid gloves. VERY GENTLY, let the shovel down (without dumping) into the ash can or bucket. When the shovel reaches bottom, then VERY GENTLY slide the shovel out from under the ashes. You can do this without raising any dust as long as you move slowly and gently.

Some say to place a damp cloth over the bucket while dumping and that will work but is entirely unnecessary. Just move slow and gentle and all will be well.

Good luck.

 

[fredarm]

I keep a Dustbuster near the stove for clean-ups. No matter how careful you are you will get a little ash on the hearth and bits of wood on the hearth rug.

 

[LLigetfa]

Smoke and ashes are usually the result of pilot error. I'll take the blame for most of the ashes as I'm the one that takes it out. The wife however is partially responsible as some ashes fall out when the stove is opened carelessly.

As for the smoke, I blame her 100%. She fiddles with the damper on the HRV fresh air inlet and she often leaves an upstairs window open. This causes a bit of negative pressure downstairs. If I open a window in the hearth room before opening the stove, I can usually counter it but not always. She on the other hand, never opens the hearth room window and just flings the stove door open. She's also impatient with the fire and will reopen the stove to adjust a recent load rather than give it time to get going.

I removed the damper from the HRV fresh air register but then I found her stacking books in front of it to block it. She cracks the HRV to remove cooking smells but then doesn't like the inrush of fresh cooler air. Finally had to sit her down and explain to her how it works.

 

[fdegree]

Thanks guys...all of this truly helpful

The more I think about this, the more my head hurts. ;-) I'm sure, I'll be back soon with some more questions

 

[fredarm]

Thanks guys...all of this truly helpful

The more I think about this, the more my head hurts. ;-)

You'll get the hang of it quickly. And you'll make some mistakes too. It's a learning process. A year ago, I was in the same situation as you are, head spinning from all the information here. Now I'm on here contributing to the head spinning of others!

 

[Pagey]

I think that due to some of the older, non-EPA certified "smoke dragons", smoldering fires, and cobbled together chimney/venting setups back in the day, a lot of people assume that because you heat with wood, you'll: a.) smell like smoke, b.) have a terribly dusty house, c.) have a terribly dirty house, and/or d.) never be able to breathe again due to allergies.

But, with a modern stove and a proper venting installation, I think most of that is a thing of the past. When you light a cold stove, put some newspaper on top of that fire to warm the chimney and start your draft. If you're using a masonry chimney, line it and, if necessary, insulate the liner. When you get ready to open the stove door, open the primary air all the way for about 30 to 60 seconds to allow any smoke to clear. Crack the stove door for a few seconds rather than just swinging it wide freakin' open (WFO). When you establish a fire, maintain a nice, active secondary combustion - don't cram the air shut and smolder the fire for hours on end. When emptying ashes, don't bang the shovel into the ash lip, and once you place the shovel in your ash bucket, gently slide it from underneath the ashes - don't ever just dump the ashes into the bucket.

Edit: I store about a day's worth of wood inside in a medium size Rubbermaid tote. This keeps bark/dirt off the floor to a great extent. Also, once I load the stove and leave the door slightly ajar to ensure a quick light off, I take that opportunity to grab the broom and dust pan. I "babysit" the stove's ajar door while I'm sweeping. That way I don't feel bored but rather feel like I'm killing two birds with one stone.

Little things like these can make all the difference in how your total wood heating system performs! Happy burning. :coolgrin:

 

[Bobbin]

Every once in awhile we would get a backpuff on our our stove (usually when the temperature was above freezing and there was a low, very still overcast) and we'd get a blast of woodsmoke back into the house. But now that we know ehen condition are ripe for such an occurence we simply crack a window to increase draw in a tight house and it's not an issue. IN fact, we will often open windows to "air the house out" when the stove is really cookin' right along.

You will develop a technique for cleaning the ashes out of the stove. Think before you shovel! and make sure you have a good recepticle for the ashes and you don't shovel ashes the way you'd shovel manure or loam. Our ash bucket has a lid on it and with caution there's nearly no mess.

Yes, the house is probably dustier. But I reverse the vacuum cleaner in mid October, blow the dust off the baseboards and clean thoroughly before firing up the stove for the season. It's on my list in the next week/two. I find that if you keep after the dust it's not that bad. It's right in the same category as cleaning up the debris trail bringing in the firewood leaves; keep on top of it.

We joke that accumulated dust and pet hair simply bolsters our immune systems. No 'flu shots for us!

 

[fossil]

I'm consistently disappointed by both of my wood stoves because I can't smell the wood burning...especially Juniper, it has a wonderful smell. If I want to smell what I'm burning, I have to go outside and downwind of my chimney, and I can sometimes get a whiff. Combustion air enters the stove, either directly from the living space in which it's installed, or through an outside air kit (OAK), goes through the firebox, enters into an agreement with the fuel to react to produce heat, then, having been forever changed, but not yet completely spent of energy, proceeds up to where it meets the secondary combustion air and goes through another amazing transformation, releasing even more heat, then out it goes up the stovepipe and chimney to daylight. Properly installed and operated, the appliance will put out no appreciable combustion products into the living space that you can smell, other than the very occasional previously mentioned puff while tending to the fire with the door open. Now, moving the fuel to the stove and removing ashes...those are skills that only experience can teach and hone to minimize impact. Rick