Carbon Monoxide

Had an odd situation this morning. Loaded up the insert pretty much like normal the evening prior but when I came down this AM around 6:15ish I noticed a bit of a smoke smell. I get this smell sometimes when there a bit of a back draft back into the house and the stove door is cracked while loading up. Not very strong but noticeable. I got up close to the stove and stuck my face right in front of the air the blower was blowing out and I could smell it a bit. At first I thought perhaps it was the blower shorting out but it was more of smoke smell.

Not long afterwards the carbon monoxide detector at the base of the stairs went off. We cleared it, cracked a window nearby to be safe, it went off again. Went off several more times until I pulled it down checked the batteries and opened another window which then it finally stopped.

This morning is very overcast, a bit rainy and thick thick fog. I can't recall if I ever burned in fog. This morning was in the low 40's headed up to mid 60's today. Not sure what is going on, never experienced this before or had this happen and a bit concerned. Has anyone had this happen or experienced something similar? Just trying to keep us all safe, thanks in advance!

 

I've noticed a weaker draft pull in certain situations w/ heavy fog. We have a pond within 1oo yards of our house so when I say heavy fog, I'm talking can't see about 30 yards. It's usually when the coal bed is very low. Out CM detector has never gone off though.

 

It was very hard to get a good draft a couple days ago when there was thick low clouds/fog.

 

60s during the day is tough to burn in. At least with my setup.

The closer the inside and outside temps are the less the draft is. Couple this with bigger splits that smolder towards the end of the fire cycle or a fire that fell apart as it burned instead of falling in on its self.

In weather like that i have to load the stove very loosely or use small splits. It helps keep a flame going that way.

Edit: add fog and it's usually worse here.

 

Thanks for the replies gang, I figured it's something with the mild weather and this heavy fog this AM. I was chilly last night as it was damp out but temps were up close to 50. But like I said I was chilly and hate hearing the furnace kick on especially how expensive it's all gotten so I loaded her up.

Carbon Monoxide stuff scares the crap out of me which is why I was concerned. I'll keep and eye out, this yo yo weather isn't helping.

 

How old is your unit?

I ask because I had a failure on an old Suburban furnace and had smoke literally coming out of all the house vents. Burn chamber was compromised by corrosion and allowing smoke to draw into ducting.

 

How's your chimney cap ? Not clogged at all ?

 

Curious, is your chimney interior or exterior? Mine is exterior and does back draft, CO, since the external chimney can cool rapidly. I normally run with either lots of draft or no draft and no coals, i.e. I relight frequently.

Fog air density is heavier than normal air because of the weight of the moisture. The high air density of fog should increase chimney draft since the density difference with lighter hot gas drives draft. But... heavier air, fog, can cut both ways if chimney draft is low enough to allow the extra fog weight to "fall" down the chimney. Fog would also have extra cooling capacity to reduce the chimney temperature and so lower draft

 

Interior

I have a solid cap, sealed pretty good with a metal screen. I cleaned liner out back in Oct, haven't burned as much this season but I first thought of that and planned on cleaning it out just to make sure there is nothing clogging it. You never know, stranger things has happened!

Everything is fairly new at 4yrs old, stove, liner, etc..


I burned last night with zero issues/smell, it was much cooler and a bit windy. I truly believe it was the fog & warmer weather. Just was concerning I never experienced it before. Something learned going forward. Thank you ALL as always for the help!!!

 

I think you are right...I've been burning for 12-13 years now, and its rare, but I have had a few times where I've experienced a similar event...and it has always been on warmer days, air heavy, or at least damp/wet out...an odd wind direction can factor in too.
One of the worst was just last fall...it was cold in the morning but was supposed to warm up throughout the day, so I made a small fire...we left for most of the day a few hours later, fire seemed like it was down to hot coals when we left...stove was still warm so I left the blower run on low speed. When we got home many hours later the house was warm, but the CO alarm was going off...it read 143, the highest I've seen, by about double! It was late so I ran in and opened the windows and grabbed the kids stuff to get ready for bed, out in the van. It soon cleared out and I built a new fire, everything was fine...looked like one of the "ugly" pieces I put in for the morning load wasn't as dry as I thought, and since I built a small fire, it just kinda smoldered, and then when the draft reversed it filled the house with smoke/CO...smelled like an old lag cabin with an open FP for a week too!

 

I have found with low barometric pressure/clouds/fog etc that sometimes my stove will draw better with the draft half open instead of wide open.

 

Good stuff, thank you! Makes me feel better I am not losing my mind, haha.....

 

Totally agree without everyone’s assessment, I had the same situation happen back in the fall as well. When you have warm temps, heavy damp air this can happen. I have notice putting more air to the stove and not trying to smolder the fire eliminates this problem. Definitely a good topic and something to warn new wood burners to. CO is a deadly silent killer.

 

Resurrecting this thread, had this issue pop up at least two more times over the past month at 3AM in the morning, not fun.

All conditions were the same, rain, dreary, a bit on the warmer side. We burn just to take the chill out of the house. I think when conditions are like this going forward I will forgo burning. Safety concern and lack of sleep concern, lol.

I guess I just don't understand how the hec its back logging/seeping back into the house?

 

Don't lable me! Lol. Maybe someone's trying to talk to you?

7 Spiritual Meaning Of Waking Up At 3Am: Law Of Attraction!