Petroleum Smell When Burning Alaska Stove

We are new to coal stoves. Just got a new chimney with clay flue. Had the gaskets on the doors replaced and doors painted.
Have been running the stove for about four days and there is a distinct non sulfur smell when it burns. We have a ranch house built into a hillside. The stove is on the lower level. The house is well insulated and has central heat and air.
It's like a petroleum smell more so on the second floor of the house. I can just about taste it.
If I am home and indoors all day I am dizzy and stuffy headed and nauseus by the end of the day.
The CO detector is new and has not gone off.
The stove was here when we bought the house. Pipes are not rusty.
Any ideas suggestions would be appreciated!

Your describing a paint curing smell or flue gasses. It doesn't always smell like sulfer. It sounds like one of two things is happening. First, they may have painted the stove and it's "curing" or cooking in. Second, your house may be too tight. Open a window part way preferably in the same room, as the stove and you should notice a change. If it's paint curing it will clear out in a couple of hours. If that doesn't cure the smell right away then shut down the stove and get someone in to check out the chimney draw.

Check the draft, at the flue pipe and also over the fire. If everything checks out fine, it may just be fumes from the fresh paint.

Once you verify that the draft is correct, open the windows and crank up the thermostat to give it a good hard run and cure the paint.

Thanks
We have been running it with the external box temp around 400 degrees since the weekend. So we are thinking the paint has cured by now. Coal is a mix of two fresh bags and what was leftover in the coal bin. Having a coal guy come tomorrow morning. Could it be that the new stove gasket is not air tight or there's a vent clog?

I do not believe it's paint.
1. I have had the stove to 460 f and the smell increases. It's been burning for 4 days so the door paint should be cured
2. If it burns low I get a sulfur smell
3. When I keep it above 375 the sulfur smell dies off but a petroleum smell takes its place.
4. Does the stove need to be completely air tight
5. And correct me if I'm wrong but there should be no smell in the house correct.
6. I assume the quality of the coal will affect the odor.
,

I think that you have a draft issue. There shouldnt be any smell with the door closed.

I also think your paint could still be curing.

Like stated, crank her up--my HITZER IDLES around 400--you got more paint to cure. Let us know what the "stove" guy says. No--even crappy coal will not smell if the stove is tight--if it burns well, it's not the coal. It's not like it gets to old. Just cause a detector is new, don't mean it's working properly--get another one!

If your CO alarm is the smoke detector type, get a digital CO monitor that displays a numeric value so you can see what the level is instead of waiting for it to hit an alarm value.

If the fly ash wasn't cleaned out there could be a blockage. Is there a horizontal run of flue pipe going into the chimney thimble and was this cleaned? Was the inside of the stove well cleaned of all fly ash before firing up?

I recommend you get a manometer to measure the draft on your stove. A magnehelic or Dwyer Mark II will work, whichever is available and less $, they can be found on fleabay. They are easy to install and imo an important thing to have with any solid fuel appliance. You want to make sure you are not blowing more combustion air into the fire box than can be exhausted out the flue pipe or the exhaust will look for other places from the stove to exit...like the hopper or around the glass on the door.

There should be NO smell in the house when burning coal. What paint was used on the doors?

Can you post a picture?

My guess is that the overfire draft is not correct and you are pushing gasses up through the hopper.

I agree with all the others.

Until you heat the stove up to maximum temp of the stove to get the paint to that same maximum temp, you will have a paint curing smell. As long as you do not exceed that max temp previously reached, you will not have the smell return.

Ditto on the draft gauge. you will never know the true draft until you can accurately measure it. Just doing an incense stick or burnt match is only an indicator of "some" draft.

Rick

model of the alaska stove? There should be a plate attached to the stove with this info, any idea the age? When was the vent pipe last cleaned?

Pick of the fire at low burn would help, is it burning up far on the grate near the hopper and above the holes in the grate?

Your location

Sounds like a draft issue. Also, are you using "oiled" coal? Sometimes they'll spray it down with a light coating of oil to help control dusting during storage and transport. This combined with a draft problem could be leading to the odor.