Keystoker 90

 
snuffy
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Post by snuffy » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 6:50 pm

I'm getting a strong sulfur smell from my Mom's Keystoker 90. The odd thing is the strong smell is usually on the opposite end of the home upstairs about 50 feet away. The door seals are tight and a new masonry chimney was installed recently and I had the same smell last year in the old chimney. Best as I can tell it must be coming from the hopper but close up I can't smell it in the hopper. The pipes are tight and sealed as I did the sniff test on them as well.

I have attached a few pictures of the fire.

Does it look like it's to close to the hopper?

In my recent post "Wholly Smoke" where the secondary holes are located and also smoke upon lighting the fire when cold, I am wondering if the odor could be coming from there.

As I read in a few recent post, the fine should be closer to the end of the grates. Hope these pictures help diagnose.

Snuffy

Attachments

Keystoker 90K (3).jpg
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Keystoker 90K (1).jpg
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Keystoker 90K (2).jpg
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titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 7:04 pm

Is a Manometer reading available? Is there a lid on the hopper and is there condensation on the underside of the hopper lid? Does she have CO monitors that could give a numeric reading?

 
snuffy
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Post by snuffy » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 7:24 pm

We have no manometer but does have a barometric damper that seems to work OK and there are multiple CO detectors on each level but none have gone off.

I have a lid for it but keep it off as I figured it didn't make a difference because it has two 3" vent holes in it.

Snuffy

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 7:41 pm

Snuffy,

The smell is combustion gasses coming out of the hopper into the house. This usually happens because the gasses are not going out the chimney. This could be caused by a blockage in the chimney (flyash) or just a loss of chimney draft.

Check to see if there are an blockages in the chimney. If you can lay your hands on a manometer, check the draft. If no manometer, crank that fire up for a little bit to put some heat in the chimney. This will give it some draft, only do this if there is no blockage.

-Don

 
snuffy
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Post by snuffy » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 8:15 pm

Hi Don,

The chimney is completely open all the way through and the chimney is only about three weeks old. We had the same problem last year when we had the old chimney which was still clean and clear just deteriorating externally and that's why we replaced it with a new one. In the 28 years we have the unit it is only in the last few years this problem has cropped up intermittently.
Snuffy

 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 9:45 pm

Seems as tho everything points to issues with the stove itself,UNLESS you have a tree that grew up near the house & has finally reached the point where it is messing with the draft.??

 
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Stoker6268
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Post by Stoker6268 » Wed. Oct. 21, 2015 10:48 pm

You sure your not pulling exhaust in from outside through a drafty window or vent? The fact that you say its at the far end of the house away from the stove, may point to negative draft pulling outside air in. The negative draft would be caused by your stove most likely.


 
snuffy
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Post by snuffy » Thu. Oct. 22, 2015 11:41 am

The chimney meets code and is in open air with no restriction around it. Although it's hard to see because of the dimensionality of the picture, the blue flames do seem awfully close to the hopper so maybe a gasket is worn away in that area and gas is escaping back up the hopper. It does seem odd that it smells the worst at the upstairs opposite end of the ranch home and not in the same area of the basement.
Snuffy

 
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blrman07
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Post by blrman07 » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 8:06 am

snuffy wrote:The chimney meets code and is in open air with no restriction around it. Although it's hard to see because of the dimensionality of the picture, the blue flames do seem awfully close to the hopper so maybe a gasket is worn away in that area and gas is escaping back up the hopper. It does seem odd that it smells the worst at the upstairs opposite end of the ranch home and not in the same area of the basement.
Snuffy
Exactly when did you start noticing the smell? Had you made any changes to the house? We have a small trailer sized propane cook stove. The stove is obsolete with no parts available. We have to keep the grill sized propane bottle outside turned off when it's not in use otherwise you get a smell of propane but only at the bottom of the steps going to the second floor. That is where the air flow in the house swirls by to get to the second floor.

Try opening a window in the basement part way and see if that helps . If it does it's air flow related because something changed.

 
snuffy
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Post by snuffy » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 7:33 pm

The suggestion by titleist1 may have solved it for me. I put the lid back yesterday and so far today there was no odor. We always kept the lid off since we got the stove back in 1987 as it didn't appear to do anything except hide the coal in the hopper and with the two vent holes in it I didn't think it mattered (ever since we got the stove we kept the lid off and it never smelled until about two or three years ago).

I'll watch over the next week and see if keeping the lid on solves the problem.
Snuffy

 
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cntbill
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Post by cntbill » Sat. Oct. 24, 2015 2:51 am

Snuffy,

The pic's of the fire look like mine when it is just idling, so looks good to me. But one question, how well do you clean the inside? I have to clean the fly ash out of my Keystoker at least 3 times a season, as I use the top flue and the fly ash builds up between the top and bottom flues... just a thought...

 
snuffy
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Post by snuffy » Sat. Oct. 24, 2015 7:32 pm

I've cleaned it annually at every annual shutdown for at least the last 15 years and surprisingly it doesn't get much fly ash buildup in the upper exhaust tubes . I do scrape and cleanout the fly ash in the ash pit a couple times a year. For the second day now it hasn't had an odor anywhere except the hopper so it seems that keeping the loading lid on somehow prevent the odor. Hope it keeps holding.
Snuffy

 
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Stoker6268
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Post by Stoker6268 » Sat. Oct. 24, 2015 7:42 pm

If the stove is drafting correctly, you shouldn't be getting sulfur smell even with the lid off. Should be producing a negative pressure and not allowing any backup of fumes.

 
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Post by Olllotj » Sat. Oct. 24, 2015 8:16 pm

How tall is the chimney? How high above the peak?

 
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cntbill
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Post by cntbill » Sun. Oct. 25, 2015 1:01 am

Snuffy,

While your fire does look fine, are the pics at idle ? The reason I ask is what I am thinking is that perhaps your combustion blower motor is starting to fail, wearing out, and running at a lower rpm and decreasing your draft. I suspect you do oil the motor at least once a year, but if not give it a bit of oil and listen close to see if there is any change in sound...


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