Wood Smoke Smell

[PistolPeets]

Hello again all. I recently posted a thread looking for advice on running my PE Summit insert more efficiently. I've taken this advice and can now get higher burn temps and more heat, but now I'm noticing a wood smoke smell. I'm mostly burning ash at this time and never noticed this smell with the mystery wood that came with the house. Is this a wood issue? A door seal issue? (Never tried the dollar bill test) I have an excellent draft. It's just funny that all of a sudden this is happening. There is no visible smoke in the house and I have two carbon monoxide detectors that haven't gone off. It's also -2 F right now and this is the coldest it's been since I've started burning wood.

Any advice?

 

[PistolPeets]

I should also mention that even on a smokey start up, no smoke leaks through the door. The smell only occurs when getting up to temp. Once at temp, the smell dissipates after an hour or two.

 

[HomeinPA]

I should also mention that even on a smokey start up, no smoke leaks through the door. The smell only occurs when getting up to temp. Once at temp, the smell dissipates after an hour or two.

Your brain will adjust to the smell of something and disregard it after a while. If you think the smell is completely gone try going outside for a while, kind of like cleansing your olfactory palette so to speak, and come back in the house and see if it's still there. If you're smelling smoke it has to be leaking in somewhere. Maybe when loading and the door is open? The chimney and/or chimney cap may need cleaned.

 

[PistolPeets]

It's really bad now. I just went outside to shovel some snow and came back on and wow. We can feel it in our throats and noses! And I have a bunch of black soot in the firebox Something must be plugged. Couldn't see anything coming from the pipe outside but it's a whiteout anyway... I'm done burning for the day until everything cools down and I can pull the baffle out and probably run my soot eater up there... Disappointing since it's 0 and I'd like the heat

 

[Mnpellet]

Sounds like you just started using a different batch of wood? What’s the moisture content of new wood?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Sounds like you just started using a different batch of wood? What’s the moisture content of new wood?

I would say regardless of how wet the wood is, you should not be smelling anything when door is closed.

 

[Mnpellet]

I would say regardless of how wet the wood is, you should not be smelling anything when door is closed.

Maybe but it could be causing the problem if the chimney is plugged.

 

[PistolPeets]

I moved into this house on Dec 29th but closed on it Oct 31st and had a couple of months worth of work to do inside. Somewhere around the end of November, I had a chimney sweep come for a sweep and inspection of the liner. He determined that there was about 4 solid feet of hard packed bird nest material inside and couldn't get through it with the equipment he had. Said he'd have to reschedule and bring another guy back and possibly a manlift... (he also stated there was NO creosote buildup). My DIY father went up on the roof and I was down at the stove and we were able to remove the nest material and run the sooteater through a few times clearing the obstruction.

Is it possible after a thorough cleaning just two months ago that I could have the pipe plugged somewhere? The only difference between these past two days of smoke in the house and the previous burns was the environmental conditions. It's 0 out and snowing with whiteout conditions and VERY windy.

How can I have a draft issue during a burn that wouldn't present itself when starting a fire? I use the top down method to establish a draft or the house fills with smoke. But the draft is VERY strong sucking air and smoke up out of the stove. I'm questioning my baffle plate. maybe it got knocked on a reload, or maybe it's gummed up somehow...

 

[HomeinPA]

I moved into this house on Dec 29th but closed on it Oct 31st and had a couple of months worth of work to do inside. Somewhere around the end of November, I had a chimney sweep come for a sweep and inspection of the liner. He determined that there was about 4 solid feet of hard packed bird nest material inside and couldn't get through it with the equipment he had. Said he'd have to reschedule and bring another guy back and possibly a manlift... (he also stated there was NO creosote buildup). My DIY father went up on the roof and I was down at the stove and we were able to remove the nest material and run the sooteater through a few times clearing the obstruction.

Is it possible after a thorough cleaning just two months ago that I could have the pipe plugged somewhere? The only difference between these past two days of smoke in the house and the previous burns was the environmental conditions. It's 0 out and snowing with whiteout conditions and VERY windy.

How can I have a draft issue during a burn that wouldn't present itself when starting a fire? I use the top down method to establish a draft or the house fills with smoke. But the draft is VERY strong sucking air and smoke up out of the stove. I'm questioning my baffle plate. maybe it got knocked on a reload, or maybe it's gummed up somehow...

Odds are that there was not creosote where he was looking because whatever was in the nest cleaned out that area. Did you get through the nest or remove it? Very different. I've started to clean lots of them where the brush and rods went through an opening in the nest and left the majority of it in there. Unless you ran a brush that is the same size as the liner itself, it's very possible that some of the original blockage still remains.

Yes, depending on what you're burning for wood and how you burn it is completely possible to plug up a chimney in 2 months.

 

[PistolPeets]

Dad had a broom handle with a bent coat hanger up top removing the nest. After he romoved all of it, we ran the soot eater trimmed for the 6" liner through several times with it attached to a drill. I'm confident we cleared the obstruction that day. The wood is ash that was cut and split two or three years ago. I split a split and measured 12.5% on my moisture meter. I've been burning around 600 degrees measured on the face of my insert and 400 degrees read on the pipe collar on the top of the insert.

 

[xman23]

Stoves and chimneys are full of small leaks. The draft creates a slight negative pressure in the chimney. So air should be flowing into the stove from the room. Most of it through the air control. So if you get a positive pressure in the stove / chimney you'll smoke up the house. One, very common issue is a plugged up cap screen. The hotter the burn the worse it gets, as more stove gasses need to go out the top of the chimney. There are other issues that can create downdrafts. The experts here can comment. Occasionally on windy days we will open a window on the other side of the house from the stove, and get a slight wood burning smell into the house from the window. But normally there is no smell of the burning stove.

 

[mark cline]

I have experienced this a few time with 2 different stoves in the same position in the same house . All my wood is stored under cover for 2+ years and is 18% MC. On windy , cold days especially colder and windier than normal, I will get a puff of smoke , like a back draft that will puff a little smoke out past the door into the room . Like I said, 2 different stoves , same position in the house , 32 ft of 6" class A double wall insulated pipe . Only way I can help but not totally eliminate the smoke, is to burn it with more draft and more flue temp. After the wind dies a bit or changes direction the problem alleviates it self. I have changed door gaskets , sealed anything possible and when the conditions are right it will puff a small amount . It doesn't take much smoke for it to smell. Hope this helps.

 

[moresnow]

Did this start with the heavy snowstorm or before? Burning 24/7 or letting the stove go out? Id guess your restricted at the cap/screen.

 

[Ben Stark]

I moved into this house on Dec 29th but closed on it Oct 31st and had a couple of months worth of work to do inside. Somewhere around the end of November, I had a chimney sweep come for a sweep and inspection of the liner. He determined that there was about 4 solid feet of hard packed bird nest material inside and couldn't get through it with the equipment he had. Said he'd have to reschedule and bring another guy back and possibly a manlift... (he also stated there was NO creosote buildup). My DIY father went up on the roof and I was down at the stove and we were able to remove the nest material and run the sooteater through a few times clearing the obstruction.

Is it possible after a thorough cleaning just two months ago that I could have the pipe plugged somewhere? The only difference between these past two days of smoke in the house and the previous burns was the environmental conditions. It's 0 out and snowing with whiteout conditions and VERY windy.

How can I have a draft issue during a burn that wouldn't present itself when starting a fire? I use the top down method to establish a draft or the house fills with smoke. But the draft is VERY strong sucking air and smoke up out of the stove. I'm questioning my baffle plate. maybe it got knocked on a reload, or maybe it's gummed up somehow...

Hi Pistol Peets,

Please check everything out thoroughly before you start the fire again. When you smell smoke strong enough to irritate your throat during a high burn, that is a warning sign. Better to err on the side of safety. Double check all your clearances.

Does your insert have a ceramic fiber blanket directly on top of the baffle? Maybe the wind dislodged it and it’s partially blocking your flue. A strong draft could suck the insulating blanket up against the flue, so most have some kind of weight to keep them in place.

 

[begreen]

I'm questioning my baffle plate. maybe it got knocked on a reload, or maybe it's gummed up somehow...

The odds of this being the issue are very slim, especially if the baffle is pinned in place. The baffle does not get gummed up. The most likely issue is the flue or cap screen is getting plugged up. A puffback is also a possibility, if the flame died down and the wood was smoldering.

 

[jatoxico]

Couple thoughts not yet mentioned;

Have you pulled the shroud to make sure the liner didn't get dislodged?

With the heavy wind are you noticing the fire getting blown around in the fire box? This can happen to me with heavy wind but only at start up when draft isn't really up to full vigor.

Every now and then someone reports smoke smell that can be attributed to smoke getting back into the house. Does the chimney exhaust anywhere where you could consider this as possible? Usually very leaky house that is replacing a lot of air, or an open window...

 

[PistolPeets]

Thanks everyone for the information. I do not have a cap screen at the top of the pipe. I really didn't try to burn with more draft. I got the stove up to 500 or so, then cut the air way back and watched it climb to around 600. Air control was mostly in the closed position. I should mention that this is new to me and prior to reading/joining this forum, I was burning with the air control around 60% to 70% closed and never had any smell.

This issue started yesterday afternoon. The morning burn was fine, started around 6am - didn't run the stove too hot, kept the temperature around 450 (didn't produce much heat though...), reloaded around noon - tried to get the temps up higher than the morning and that's when I first noticed the smell. Yesterday was pretty windy (but I've burned on windy days prior to this with no issue). Today was snowing heavily and very windy/swirling wind.

There is no ceramic fiber blanket on top of the baffle. It's just the steel baffle. The pin has also been missing since I've moved in here.

The wood was not smoldering really, but was quite black with lots of soot and not much active flame actually. I may have cut the air too much because the temps were getting high (650 or so).

I did not noticed the fire being blown around and when I checked the chimney outside, I couldn't see any smoke (but it was a total whiteout so I couldn't see clearly).

The smell definitely was coming from the stove and not from getting back into the house from outside. I shined a light around every area of the stove and could see no visible smoke, but the smell was strong from the front of the stove.

 

[PistolPeets]

Update:

The issue has been resolved. I removed the baffle plate today after work and discovered some of that bird nest material sitting on top of the baffle. It must have blocked enough of the area that it wouldn't allow smoke to vent out. Have a nice fire going now. No smell.

Thanks everyone!

 

[HomeinPA]

Update:

The issue has been resolved. I removed the baffle plate today after work and discovered some of that bird nest material sitting on top of the baffle. It must have blocked enough of the area that it wouldn't allow smoke to vent out. Have a nice fire going now. No smell.

Thanks everyone!

I'd just like to point out that I was obtusely correct, the nest in the chimney wasn't completely removed. Glad you got it figured out but how in the hell did you run your brush up through it without removing the baffle to begin with? Lesson learned here? Insert cleaning 101 - remove the baffle to make sure the top of the stove is cleaned out and isn't blocked.

 

[PistolPeets]

I did remove the baffle when I swept it, but somewhere up in the pipe, there must have been a little bit of nest left that the brush didn't get. It eventually broke free and fell down on top of the baffle.

 

[PistolPeets]

Well, the issue is not resolved at this time... Noticed a wood smoke smell yesterday. During yesterday's fire, I heard something raining down the pipe that sounded like sticks or dirt or something, then the smell started again. I assumed it was more bird nest material. Took the baffle out this morning and found nothing! I even ran my sooteater all the way to the top and all I got down in the firebox was about a tablespoon of creosote or less. I don't have a pipe cap screen. And of course, it was another crazy snowstorm/wind storm but I could faintly make out some white whispy smoke... Anyone have any more ideas?

 

[ShawnLiNY]

Well, the issue is not resolved at this time... Noticed a wood smoke smell yesterday. During yesterday's fire, I heard something raining down the pipe that sounded like sticks or dirt or something, then the smell started again. I assumed it was more bird nest material. Took the baffle out this morning and found nothing! I even ran my sooteater all the way to the top and all I got down in the firebox was about a tablespoon of creosote or less. I don't have a pipe cap screen. And of course, it was another crazy snowstorm/wind storm but I could faintly make out some white whispy smoke... Anyone have any more ideas?

Dude go to Home Depot or ace and buy a chimney brush Now , You are going to cause major problems ( possibly setting your house on fire ) by half asking this , normally a chimney fire can be simply dealt with , But in your case you are knowingly operating without a cap or screen if the sticks,hay and nest material ignite and escape the pipe they could land and ignite your roof

 

[HomeinPA]

Ok, so I looked up what a sooteater actually looks like....it's a little whippy thing like a weedeater. That will go through and around stuff all day long. I have a similar tool but it's not for these types of situations. You need a BRUSH. Maybe they make one that will attach to the rods you have or you have to get something different but a 6" brush is what you need. Something that fills the entire area of the flue. Or most of it at least. .

 

[PistolPeets]

Thanks for the tip. I called to schedule a local chimney sweep to perform a thorough sweep and total inspection. Hopefully that'll take care of the issue. Maybe he'll also find something out of the ordinary.

 

[Hogwildz]

Since you are just getting the stove up to higher op temps, keep in mind you're also curing the paint more with each higher temp reached. That will cause eyes, nose & throat burning.