Smoke seeping in from a door

Hi Guys... My son has a Jotul F600 in the living room. A small amount of smoke has been seeping in by the left door hinge area. Any thoughts.. Stove is 12yrs old....He burns it at about 425F consistently. My thoughts were either wood is slightly damp or it has been very windy lately and we have a hot air/cold air battle going on in the stack...Thanks

 

How is the door seal ?
When was the last time the seal was replaced?
When was the last time the stack was cleaned ?

 

Don't know if the door or more specifically the hinge are adjustable but if they are, seems you're only providing a temporary fix.

12 years old? Probably time for a gasket replacement on the door.

 

Maybe needs a new door gasket. They do wear out with regular use. I was shown the dollar bill test. Take a dollar, close the door and latch. If you can easily remove the bill it needs a new seal.

 

Sounds like a clogged chimney to me , it should be sucking air in not pushing smoke out.
my cheap azz tractor supply stove has a nice crack in it and the crack draws air in.

 

x2

 

I must be doing something wrong. The dollar bills keep burning up before I get them pulled out! When the bank opens on Tuesday, I'm going to pick up a hundred dollar bill and try that. Assuming they're thicker and will take longer to burn.

 

Quick update to everyone: The stove was installed in the Fall of 2011. Never have had any gaskets changed out. The stove pipe in straight up and is cleaned every other season. It will be cleaned in May.

 

Smoke weeping from left door upper left hinge area

 

It would probably a good idea to start with replacing the seals on both doors and see if that cures your problem

 

This stove actually has 4 doors. The 2 in front, side door to the right and the ash pan door... I may do all 4 at the same time...

 

Begin with the culprit door.......

 

Could be the hinge pins/pivots worn too...but likely just an old hard compressed gasket...make sure when buying gasket that you get not only the right size, but the correct density too...if that stove uses a high density gasket, and you go to the store and pick up what they have in stock, it will very likely be low or maybe medium density, and not seal right.
Sometimes if the gasket is not too hard, you can take your fingers and pinch it to make it pucker up and get a little better seal for a while...maybe get by until spring.
Also, make sure if you have a bird screen on the chimney cap that the holes aren't getting plugged up, that's pretty common...sometimes, when it gets real cold, they'll even start to ice over from the steam that comes off of new loads...especially if not running the stove too hard, and the stack temps at the top drop too far.

 

does it smoke into the room when you open the door?

 

If it has a clear flue with good draft, it should be sucking air in through any openings, not blowing smoke out. I'd start with checking & cleaning the flue.

 

As stated above, if the chimney is drawing well all the smoke will go up the chimney and air will be drawn into the firebox if there is a gasket leak.

Is the chimney partially blocked? Is the chimney too short? Is the room that the stove is in too airtight, so that fresh air cannot be drawn in?

 

Or if they’re using a pipe damper is it closing the pipe off completely?

 

That's correct, I forgot all about those danged chimney cap screens! In all my decades of burning I have only used a cap with a screen once. Didn't like it all although it did keep the bats/birds out of the flue.