Sulfur smell

Hey guys. I'm new to coal burning and installed a Alaska Channing III in my new house that we built and should be finishing up everything to move in this weekend. We have had the stove inside burning for about a month now (had to heat the place for the sheet rockers and tapers and paint and all that). The stove seems to be burning good and heats the house great. I have a direct vent on the stove and my only question is that there is a very strong sulfur smell outside the house. It's obviously coming from the vent and you can smell it very easily depending on which way the wind is blowing. Is this normal? If it is that's fine I can live with it but if there's something wrong I will correct it right away. Thanks for your help guys! I will post some pics of my set up after I get home from work.

Good morning and welcome to your board. It might be helpful if you can can us where you live in your profile and pics of the stove install. The short answer is I very much doubt if this is normal but first search the term on this board as the topic has come up before and someone more familiar with the Channing will advise you.

I've got a direct vent Keystoker. The exhaust coming out of the vent pipe outside the house smells like I just lit a match; the sulfur smell you're experiencing. It's normal.
-Len

If you had a chimney and got up on your roof and sniffed the chimney outlet you would get the same smell. That is the telltale odor of burning coal. Some coal will smell more than others depending on the sulphide content.

You have my vote for normal also.

The only problem with a sulfur smell from coal is if it is INSIDE your house!!!

Thanks for the help guys. I figured it was probably normal but I wanted to be sure. I'll try snapping some pics tonight of our new house and set up. Will be alot easier if the electrician finally gets there tonight to finish hooking up all the outlets and wire it all into the box! Been waiting on him for 3 weeks now and he's holding everything up and it sucks having only 2 functioning outlets in the entire house and having to drag work lights around to do the things I can do in there lol. Especially when I leave at 4am and come home and its already dark so it makes it hard to get things done. But with any luck we will be moving in over the weekend...lord knows I could use some luck for once! Haha

Ok finally got around to taking pics of my setup. The electrican came today and got all the lights running in the house so I was able to snap pics finally. It's set off in the corner of the house and just sitting on bricks for right now. I'm planning on laying brick all underneath it but just haven't had enough time right now to do it.

Nice set -up down stairs you got going on. Hope the move goes smooth for you.

Concur with the rest of the guys...normal as long as it's outside you get the smell.

BTW, when you get a chance, update your profile so we know which part of the country you reside. Just makes it the family here more familiar, and you never know how close you may actually be to a member here.

Thanks we are almost completely moved in now. Just a few more things I have stowed in my in-laws basement.

Ya the smell is only outside not inside at all so we are good to go. Stove is heating the house great. It's warmer than I even want it to be lol. But the wife likes it real warm. Even the upstairs is perfect temp. Only a couple degrees cooler but not much. I think the heat might level out between the floors after a few days of being moved in once the house soaks up the heat and we stop going in and out opening the doors up from moving things in. Now it's time to get to work on all the trim work...fun fun haha

Updated my profile. I'm in Delmar, NY. Right outside Albany. Anyone else close by?

Hello,
I live in Greenwich but work in Selkirk. I also have a Alaska Channing 3, but I have a power vent, I see you have direct vent. And yes you do detect the smell of sulphur in exhaust outside, thats why in a perfect world a chimney is a better setup. Welcome aboard!

Lee1 wrote:Hello,
I live in Greenwich but work in Selkirk. I also have a Alaska Channing 3, but I have a power vent, I see you have direct vent. And yes you do detect the smell of sulphur in exhaust outside, thats why in a perfect world a chimney is a better setup. Welcome aboard!

I'm not far from Selkirk at all. I'm actually closer to there then Delmar. I'm out in the country just on the Delmar line. Almost in Clarksville. Who ya work for in Selkirk? Is the power vent better then the direct? I thought about getting it but that was a few hundred more so I passed on it for now. I would have liked a chimney but it would have been a pain to build due to the layout of the house.

Hello,
I work for Selkirk Cogen, (Plastics Plant), its a matter of preference on power vent versus direct vent. The power vent is located outside the house (pulls vacuum), direct vent inside (positive pressure). I do believe with a variable speed power vent you can control exhaust a little better (little less noise). Also you would need a barometric damper on stove pipe before it exits wall (some do come calibrated to -.05 vacuum). And required maintenance also (oil, clean out, pull in the spring and store in dry environment.)