Sulfur Smell

i had this same thing with my 140, it was a draft issue,both times the COs went off, Great little things they are, just not so good when its -0's.. I found my exhaust pipe had some buildup in it once cleaned same thing, Then I needed to adjust my baro till it stayed closed at this point all was fine, I usually only burn 1 stoker, but when really cold -0s, I then do a cleaning and reset the baro before firing, You may find that you need a power vent or something like it to compenstae for both your stokers firing/ Good luck, I've been there, not a fun spot, better safe than sorry..

Well I'm back to running one stoker. I did change things from last year, and that's the addition of the coal pilot and the chimney cap. This post is actually from last year and I was getting the smell then too. I haven't found a restriction in the exhaust anywhere, but I haven't actually done more that shove a shop vac up the tube as far as it can go. Before I had the chimney cap on, I always had dead birds in there to clean out so one might in the exhaust, but I would've thought he'd be burned up by now.

To answer a question though...the stove has a 8" round pipe and the chimney is 8" square (larger cross section than the round).

Can you or did you drill a hole in the stove to see what the draft is over the fire?



Eric

sorry if you did this already did not feel like going through previous posts

Have you actually checked to see if the chimney is clear from top to bottom? How is the stovepipe configured? You can have draft but not enough flow...

Any chance your stovepipe is pushed into the chimney too far?

pconn171 wrote:I always had dead birds in there to clean out so one might in the exhaust, but I would've thought he'd be burned up by now.

When i first moved in my house 21 years ago,the entire top of the oil burner had at least 20 dead starling carcases some still had feathers on. No wonder i couldnt get heat out of it. If they are in there it will block your draft. Safer to check and clean. Dennis

Coalfire wrote:Can you or did you drill a hole in the stove to see what the draft is over the fire?



Eric

sorry if you did this already did not feel like going through previous posts

Yes I did, but I didn't pay attention to the actual value. I know that it was pressurized though, because it crossed the zero mark and went to the opposite side. I checked this on ilde and full burn. On full burn it was basically zero and I don't smell any sulfur, but when it's on idle, it moves to the pressurized side.

Rob R. wrote:Have you actually checked to see if the chimney is clear from top to bottom? How is the stovepipe configured? You can have draft but not enough flow...

Any chance your stovepipe is pushed into the chimney too far?

I have not checked the chimney from top to bottom. I checked the clean out and there wasn't any signs of concern based on the amount of fly ash laying in there, but that doesn't mean something else isn't blocking it. I can't really check this very easily due to the way it's built without getting on the roof. This might have to wait until a warmer day when the snow and ice are gone.

The stove pipe is definitely not pushed in too far. I probably have another foot before it would become a problem.

I don't think your statement about the draft is accurate. In order to create draft, you have to induce a pressure difference. The flow would be directly related to the cross-sectional area of the chimney and pressure difference which is what we're measuring and calling draft. That's why I'm kind of arguing that if Reading Stove says that the draft is correct then the amount of air exiting the stove should be correct. I may be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure about this as I work with vacuum systems all the time at work and that's all this is.

Rob R. wrote:Have you actually checked to see if the chimney is clear from top to bottom? How is the stovepipe configured? You can have draft but not enough flow...

Any chance your stovepipe is pushed into the chimney too far?

pconn171 wrote:I don't think your statement about the draft is accurate. In order to create draft, you have to induce a pressure difference. The flow would be directly related to the cross-sectional area of the chimney and pressure difference which is what we're measuring and calling draft.

After reading my post again I realized it didn't come across the way I wanted. What I should have said is that you can have sufficient chimney draft but not enough over-fire draft if the flue collar/pipe is restrictive. Assuming the pipe is clean, the two obvious ways to overcome that are more draft at the flue collar, and/or less air blown into the firebox.

pconn171 wrote:I have not checked the chimney from top to bottom.

Call your local chimney sweep and have the flue brushed from top to bottom.