Trying to decide on what new stove to get

I get that for sure. My grandparents had a place we went to during the summer growing up and I can still smell the salt air. Miss it for sure.

Catskills are awesome for sure. Only passed through but really enjoyed the trip.

 

So, last night I tried out the blower on the NC30 for the first time and as soon as I turned it on I could smell smoke. I let it run about 30 seconds and it just kept getting worse. Haven't had any smoke in the house with this stove yet. Anyone else had this happen?

 

Might it be a hot dust smell?
Was the stove door open?
Was there an entry door open?

 

Nice set up Bret Hart how's it doing now it got cold.

Eric nostalgia translates too it was never as good as you remembered it!

 

It was definitely smoke smell. The stove door was closed and I was about 2 hours into a good hot burn. House was closed up tight.

The stove is doing great. Much longer burns. It was 25 out last night when I went to bed and 7 when I got up this morning. It was 70 in the room furthest from the stove and 82 in the stove room after 7 hours on a full load of oak with 15% MC and lots of big coals left for a refill.

 

That sounds about purrfect glad it's working out for you

 

Single wall or 2x wall pipe? I had a slight smell from my 1x wall, and ended up using some hi-temp caulk on the joints.
Looked pretty crummy, but no more smoke smell.
I think I have a very small leak where my 2x wall enters the stove, as I've got a little brown soot buildup. Takes a while to get that way. Might end up using ESW stove adapter or some caulk there.

 

It's single wall pipe but the joints all look pretty good and no buildup that I can see. I'll look again and double check.

The smoke smell you had, was it only with the blower running or all the time?

 

All the time.
Use a flame or incense stick near the joints when the stove is choochin. You'll see the flame/smoke pulled into the joint if it's loose.
Everything should go up and out, though. Weird, I know.

 

I've done the flame test before and it doesn't pull in anywhere. The only time I've smelled any smoke in the house with this stove is a very little on a cold start when the door is open for lighting and now when I kicked on the blower.

 

Well, you must be doin' something wrong.
J/K
This is the kind of stuff that'll drive ya' crazy.
For a while, I would lay in bed and wonder why I was smelling smoke.
Kept checking the stove....nope, that's not it.
Finally figured out the windows in that room were just leaky enough, and the old stove burned just smoky enough, that some of it was getting sucked back into the house.
No pics, but it did happen.

 

Sorry, a little OT - this is compared to what stove and what results previous?

About the smoke, perhaps pull the blower off and look for signs of overheating?

Greg

 

The other stove was a VC 0028 and most of the better burn times I got with it were 4ish hours burning low MC oak.

I did the flame test after the first week of burning and it wouldn't pull in a flame at all. Just checked it again a few minutes ago and it's pulling the flame in very slightly. Going to get some high temp sealer/cement and take care of it and try the blower again. I'm confident I haven't overheated the stove and the blower has less than 2 minutes of run time since I've owned it. The smoke smell was from wood and not electrical if that's what you meant.

 

I get smoke smell with if I close the damper on the pipe too far, this is on single wall. I've got no sealant on the pipe connections. I kind of use it as an indicator that the damper is closed too much.

 

Thanks, Dave. I don't have a damper in the stove pipe.

 

Any chance that it could be something like a kitchen or bathroom exhaust fan running and fighting the stove for makeup air? Dunno why you would notice it only with the blower on though...unless things were just right on the borderline and kicking the blower on was enough to "suck" a lil smoke out of one of the stove pipe joints when the air blew past (venturi effect)(SP?)

 

No exhaust fans running in the house. I also have an outside air kit hooked up.

I've got it cranking pretty good right now so maybe I'll give it another try.

 

Are you getting enough draft to pull the smoke up and out ? I saw in your early posts that you have oversized chimney at a low total height. You may need to run hotter to get more velocity up the chimney. It may not be sucking the incense in if there isn't good negative pressure in the chimney.