Smoke in the House!

From what I could tell you live about the middle between Allentown and Reading. You have a Keystoker 90 which I assume only has a combustion blower since you said it goes directly into a masonry chimney. You said your getting smoke, sulfur smell, and condensate on the hopper lid. These are all classic symptoms of not enough draft. The chimney has to be able to pull all air out that the combustion blower is putting in the stove.

Post some Pictures of your stove and piping

1. Shut the stove down and let it cool for about 30 minutes or until the fire on the grate goes out.

2. Put down some plastic sheeting and then get a bucket ready to catch the fly ash from inside the pipe..

3. Pull the smoke pipe from the chimney and start disassembling the smoke pipe. Any section that is veriticle will have a lot of ash.

4. Check the opening where the smoke pipe goes into the chimney and make sure it's clear.

5. Lite a stick of incense or a cigarette and hold it close to the opening in the chimney. It should pull the smoke into the hole. If it doesn't you have an obstruction in the chimney. Call a chimney sweep and make an appointment. Don't use the stove until it's clear.

6. Check the connection on the stove where the smoke pipe attaches. Make sure it's clear.

7. Put everything back together and fire it up.

Report back on your progress .

So I spoke with Aaron again tonight around 11 P.M.

When he got home he immediately dove into checking the pipes. And lo and behold, they were clogged a bit. He estimates close to 70 % closed off in some spots. So I forgot to tell him to wear a dust mask but he still got them cleaned out. Claims he may have smoker's cough all night but he now understands fly ash. And why you should pull the pipes a last once per season depending on the coal source.

He did say that he noticed a sight draft from the open chimney flue pipe. But we discussed the need for a manometer to actually get a reading on the amount of draft. Not just some feeling that it is adequate. And how it will be his guide to monitoring the ash accumulation. He will be looking for a Graingers store tomorrow.

He will be calling me tomorrow to tell how well it did after the cleaning and refiring.

And I've got to compliment him here. We see so many first time posters come here telling about a problem. We offer solution or ask more questions, and then we don't hear from them again. He has followed through. Hopefully tomorrow I can post the pics of his ailing pipes and the accumulation of fly ash.

Rick

Good news Rick! You're right about first timers disappearing. I immediately think of the recent poster from Palmerton with an EFM 520 spewing sulfur smells into the house for a year and burning 20 tons a year for a 1200 or so square foot house. Last we heard he was going to have someone check it out. Never heard back from him. It's been 3 weeks or so. Hope he's doing better,.....and not dead.

I'm On Fire wrote:Damn, C12 beat me to it.

I think he may have a draft inducer. Since you never cleaned the stove out or chimney I'm also going to assume you didn't disconnect the pipes. Are you positive the draft inducer is even doing anything anymore? Sure, the motor may turn the shaft but if the impeller still there to move the air? Ash plus moisture are not friends. The impeller on the draft inducer is very thin, I wouldn't be surprised if it's rotted out and gone.

As for smoke billowing out the doors and hopper, are the gaskets good?

It really makes me think you have no draft or a reverse draft. Do you have a manometer? Do you know what your draft is?

Im agreeing with ImOnFire here... clearly no or little draft is occurring, either impeller is broke off shaft or rotted OR the inducer could be fine but the pipe is clogged in front of or behind it so its not pulling any draft even though its spinning! You seriously CANNOT use this stove/chimney until you let her cool, take it all apart, get a nice hepa vac and start cleaning this baby completely! Now you can check everything out from grate gaskets to dollar bill tests to draft inducer to each hole in grate and inside grate after you remove it to behind interior baffle plate to pipe, etc. (i bet its NEVER been cleaned!)

Rick 386 wrote:And I've got to compliment him here. We see so many first time posters come here telling about a problem. We offer solution or ask more questions, and then we don't hear from them again. He has followed through.

Good Job Rick with the follow up. And I agree with complimenting AZiggs too. His feedback on what the issue was and its fix will help others in the future if they come on here and do some research on an issue they are having. Too many times advice is offered and we never hear back if we were on the right track or not. Even if we were not on the correct track and there was another issue they discovered it would be great to know that for future use.

It's good he now realizes the little bit of maintenance pays back big in safety and also allows him to continue to save big $$ using the stoker.

Texted with Aaron tonight.

No moisture under the hopper lid, no smell, and no smoke today either.

Imagine that..... A simple little thing like cleaning out the flue pipe fixed everything !!!!

Sent him the link to the Keystoker manual so he should be dialing it in real soon.

Rick

Epic resolve partner! Nice work...

That's How 'Ya Get It Going In The Right Direction!

Threads like this should be pinned for future newbies.

Nice Job, Rick