Carbon Monoxide Detector Went Off Last Night, Need Advise

Im new to this site and have a question. I bought a Alaskan Channing Stoker this summer and installed it in my basement. I've had to clean fly ash out of the elbow a few times since starting it back in December to rid the house of the sulfur smell. Last night the Carbon Monoxide Detector went off around 3 am. The house really smelled bad. I just ran downstairs pulled the plugs opened some windows, closed off the basement and went back to bed. I have a New born baby in the house and this problem concerns me. What would have caused this to happen? I cleaned the pipe about three weeks ago. Coal was not wet. Doors were closed tight. The stove is only 6 month old. The only thing I did that was different is turned it down a little lower because of the warm front that came in last night. Could a drastic change in Temp and humidity cause this? Im ready to sell this thing right now . Im hoping someone can change my mind. Ive had Gas and Pellet stoves for years and never had a Monoxide detector wake me up before. This is a huge concern with a newborn in the house. Thanks in advance for your advise guys.....tight lines, Foulhook

I have the same stove and the same problems. I am using a power vent. I have noticed that I need to clean the power venter at least once/month. I also have to take my stove pipe apart and clean out the fly ash every couple months. Wet coal in my hopper also seems to make the problem much worse.

The biggest factor in reducing the problem I think, was cleaning the fly ash from the flue pipe.

From my experience of many many years of burning coal and wood, it sounds like you have some type of blockage in your chimney. Something is restricting your exhaust. Start with the easy stuff like open your clean out in your chimney then take a mirror and look up the chimney to make sure something isn't blocking it. As far as related issues with your particular stove I cannot help you there.
Tom

Sounds like it may be a power vent problem. I have an Alaska Kodiak Stoker stove plumbed into a reg. masonry chimney and never had a carbon monoxide or ash buildup problem because of draft. I don't have to clean the stove pipe/chimney till the end of the season and I regularly run the stove in warmer temps, like we're having now - 60 degrees - with the stove turned all the way down.
I have, however had problems when I changed out my combustion blower with one that had the same dimensions but had a lesser rpm motor (didn't notice specs on motor). CO detector went off and house smelled of sulfur - all of this because of a difference of about 200 rpm.

Reducing the burn temp in the stove combined with the warm outside temps would result in much less draft from your chimney. You don't mention a powervent system, only that you have installed it in your basement. So I'm assuming it is vented to a chimney.

So when the outside temps go up, you need to either shut down the stove or leave the burn rate alone so it will have enough heat to create enough draft to keep the smell and Carbon Monoxide levels down.

I notice a big difference in draft from my chimney when the temperature goes from the 20's-30's up to the 40's. There just isn't much draft because of the lower temperature differential between the flue gas temp and the outside temp. A flue liner only helped a little in my chimney.

Hope this makes sense and helps. Greg L [LsFarm]

LsFarm wrote:Reducing the burn temp in the stove combined with the warm outside temps would result in much less draft from your chimney. You don't mention a powervent system, only that you have installed it in your basement. So I'm assuming it is vented to a chimney.

So when the outside temps go up, you need to either shut down the stove or leave the burn rate alone so it will have enough heat to create enough draft to keep the smell and Carbon Monoxide levels down.

I notice a big difference in draft from my chimney when the temperature goes from the 20's-30's up to the 40's. There just isn't much draft because of the lower temperature differential between the flue gas temp and the outside temp. A flue liner only helped a little in my chimney.

Hope this makes sense and helps. Greg L [LsFarm]

This senario make the most sense to me. I do have it vented to a chimney. Only one 90 elbow and into the chimney 6' pipe total black pipe only about 4 ft. Have a weighted damper as well. Because I cleaned the pipe and checked the chimney 3 weeks before and after opening the pipe this mornind and not seeing an excessive amount of ash this makes sense. Im gonna try to run her again tonight at a higher temp and see what happens. Thanks for all the feedback guys. I really appreciate it. If anyone needs any boat advise feel free to ask so maybe I can return the favor.......Thanks, Bob

What is your outside temp?? I have the harman magnum stoker vented into a 40' ss liner.Temps hit 65 yesterday.The stove was still running.Very very low fire still need heat at night.Today will be the test hit's suppose to hit 70 today so i want to c if the stove will still stay burning yet with out the co alarm going off.