DVC 500 direct vent coal stove

We have orderd a dvc 500 direct vent coal stove. Someone told us they let fumes and smoke in the house. Does anyone have this stove and what can you tell me about it. Thanks.

I just installed and started using mine.

I would say under most conditions, you would never have fumes in the house.

But... In my installation I detected a faint sulfur smell in the house. It turned out that my exhaust was being drawn back into the fresh air intake. From there, the combustion blower leaked enough of that "smelly" air to get noticed in the house.

I think under normal circumstances this would not happen often enough to get noticed. As usual, my install was not normal. My stove is in the basement and the vent is located between a walk out bay window and a stoop. Exhaust gases were pooling by the combustion air intake.

I did two things to solve my problem.

Plugged the bottom of my vent tee with a cap ( actually I used my wife's smallest mixing bowl - fit almost too well) - this immediately stopped the smell.

The second thing I did was to seal the combustion blower mounting flange to the stove body with high temp silicone. ( blower mounts with two bolts, 5 min job)

The interesting thing is that I almost think Harman wants you to smell it if exhaust is being drawn into the intake. There is a round 1/8" hole on the combustion blower housing that I sealed as well.

Problem solved.

The DVC is an amazing stove. Had it all apart getting it into the basement. Most everything inside is all USA overbuilt, off the shelf industrial. Set it on room temperature mode and it self regulates from basically the output of a hair dryer up to what seems like a blast furnace. All automatic, very pleased, worth every penny.

Hope this helps

Mark

Had a few repairs just done on my 2 year old DVC. Apparently I had a bad year for these stoves. Still under warranty so that was good. Other than that I love this stove. Incredible heat output. I have had no smell issues and no problems with the exhaust at all.

CoalBin wrote:I just installed and started using mine.

I would say under most conditions, you would never have fumes in the house.

But... In my installation I detected a faint sulfur smell in the house. It turned out that my exhaust was being drawn back into the fresh air intake. From there, the combustion blower leaked enough of that "smelly" air to get noticed in the house.

I think under normal circumstances this would not happen often enough to get noticed. As usual, my install was not normal. My stove is in the basement and the vent is located between a walk out bay window and a stoop. Exhaust gases were pooling by the combustion air intake.

I did two things to solve my problem.

Plugged the bottom of my vent tee with a cap ( actually I used my wife's smallest mixing bowl - fit almost too well) - this immediately stopped the smell.

The second thing I did was to seal the combustion blower mounting flange to the stove body with high temp silicone. ( blower mounts with two bolts, 5 min job)

The interesting thing is that I almost think Harman wants you to smell it if exhaust is being drawn into the intake. There is a round 1/8" hole on the combustion blower housing that I sealed as well.

Problem solved.

Mark

Hi Mark,
I just got my DVC-500 (after waiting for it for 8 months ). After a successful and easy install, I too, smell a little smoke. But I'm just "testing" the pot with a couple handfulls of wood pellets. Not sure if that makes a difference, but I don't think it should. One thing the dealer told me was I did not need all of the external stove pipe shown in the instructions, just a vent cap. So I installed the horizontal vent cap from DuraVent, directly to the Harmoan Termination. I will take your advise on sealing the conbustion blower housing, and if I still smell any smoke during more 'tests', I will definately install the external vent pipe as per the instructions, with the "T", then straight pipe, then 90, then the cap I just bought. Thanks for the info.

Chris

brbrcron wrote:We have orderd a dvc 500 direct vent coal stove. Someone told us they let fumes and smoke in the house. Does anyone have this stove and what can you tell me about it. Thanks.

We are in our first season with the same unit. Upon first fire there was a smell like burning paint. I posted a concern on the forum, was assured it was new paint smell and we have had zero smell since. What a great unit. Our two story Colonial, 2100 sqft has never been warmer. The upstairs used to be about 2 degrees cooler then the lower level. we recently had our attics insulated. Both levels have evened off and we can keep the DVC at a lower level.

Good luck with it!

Is the bottom part of the outside T supposed to be open? Or just vented?

DVC500_at_last wrote:

CoalBin wrote:I just installed and started using mine.

I would say under most conditions, you would never have fumes in the house.

But... In my installation I detected a faint sulfur smell in the house. It turned out that my exhaust was being drawn back into the fresh air intake. From there, the combustion blower leaked enough of that "smelly" air to get noticed in the house.

I think under normal circumstances this would not happen often enough to get noticed. As usual, my install was not normal. My stove is in the basement and the vent is located between a walk out bay window and a stoop. Exhaust gases were pooling by the combustion air intake.

I did two things to solve my problem.

Plugged the bottom of my vent tee with a cap ( actually I used my wife's smallest mixing bowl - fit almost too well) - this immediately stopped the smell.

The second thing I did was to seal the combustion blower mounting flange to the stove body with high temp silicone. ( blower mounts with two bolts, 5 min job)

The interesting thing is that I almost think Harman wants you to smell it if exhaust is being drawn into the intake. There is a round 1/8" hole on the combustion blower housing that I sealed as well.

Problem solved.

Mark

Hi Mark,
I just got my DVC-500 (after waiting for it for 8 months ). After a successful and easy install, I too, smell a little smoke. But I'm just "testing" the pot with a couple handfulls of wood pellets. Not sure if that makes a difference, but I don't think it should. One thing the dealer told me was I did not need all of the external stove pipe shown in the instructions, just a vent cap. So I installed the horizontal vent cap from DuraVent, directly to the Harmoan Termination. I will take your advise on sealing the conbustion blower housing, and if I still smell any smoke during more 'tests', I will definately install the external vent pipe as per the instructions, with the "T", then straight pipe, then 90, then the cap I just bought. Thanks for the info.

Chris

kevin63392003 wrote:Is the bottom part of the outside T supposed to be open? Or just vented?

Hi Kevin, the instructions says it should be open, so fly-ash can fall down thru it. I left it capped, so exhaust fumes don't get sucked back into the intake vents. They are just inches away. I will remove the cap at end of burning season to remove and clean all the built-up fly-ash.

Chris F.

Great. Thanks again for all of the info. You've been a big help. My dealer knows abousolutely nothing about the dvc. I got my door gasket back on last night. Hopefully it stays put this time.

kevin63392003 wrote:Great. Thanks again for all of the info. You've been a big help. My dealer knows abousolutely nothing about the dvc. I got my door gasket back on last night. Hopefully it stays put this time.

No problem Kevin. Glad the gasket was a simple fix for you. Yeah, my dealor is also kinda useless to ask questions about the DVC-500. But they are close to us, so we ordered from them. They are a pool store, that decided to branch out into Harman stoves, just this year. I have been getting most of my questions answered here, on NEPA. Theres a bunch of helpfull, knowledgeable people here, willing to help out.

Chris F.

Glad you found your problem. I have not modified my cleanout Tee and my vent is in the normal direct wind direction up my valley. The only thing I have learned is a good strap wrench is handy to clean the Tcap out. I have only had minor fume problems if cleaning too long with stove still hot. Good luck and keep warm.