There is a strange burning smell in the house when using the fireplace

mateo-salvadore wrote:

I had such a plan to first cut a hole in the current buildings, remove all the wool thoroughly and vacuum the interior, put back a provisionally cut piece of plasterboard and light the fireplace to confirm the diagnosis. If it still smelled - I would replace the entire insert with pipes, and if not - I would cover the whole thing with silicate plates.

It's a thought! Thanks for the hint :)

Regards

I think that in this way it may even be possible to replace the insulation without having to demolish the entire fireplace.

good luck!

We have the same smell problem. The fireplace enclosure after 1.5 years of use was dismantled, the insert was cleaned. The fireplace has not been built yet, it has been burned several times and the smell was still present. After replacing the tubes, it seems less intense but still noticeable. The hands are down. Could someone who had similar experience say what brand of pipe they recommend to make the smell disappear completely? Roman, unfortunately, does not respond to messages ...

If it is a problem of paint covering the smoke pipes and the fireplace, the solution would be to give the whole thing to the so-called sandblasting, i.e. sanding off the paint from the fireplace insert and pipes with a stream of sand, with prior removal of the glass or door so as not to dull the glass.

99% of it is wool. I burned my pipes with a solder lamp and nothing smelled. And the approach of the flame to the aluminum tape caused it to ignite and stink.
But there is no need to guess - you have to check it out.

But the predecessors wrote that they do not have wool and this self-adhesive aluminum tape. This is just paint on the fireplace insert and on the smoke pipes. The fireplace can heat up above 550 degrees, at least for me, this is probably the limit of heat-resistant paint, not to mention the self-adhesive aluminum tape (350 degrees). In addition, the fireplace modules are connected with a fiberglass rope and possibly 300 degrees silicone, which also burns out at higher temperatures.

Tommy2022 wrote:

I have an Arysto contribution, GK construction from the inside of the wool plate on the joints of the aluminum tape

Hello, I also have the same problem with the stench when burning in the fireplace, although the fireplace was made 4 years ago in silicate-lime building and there is also black dust after each smoking, I have the impression that it was soot from burnt paint which was painted the insert fireplace and an elbow together with a pipe that discharges flue gases into the chimney. Interestingly, the fireplace was burned dozens of times and the stench and the amount of this crap in the form of black dust, despite the contractor's assurances that it must burn out the same, 11 thousand thrown into the mud for this stink!!! What's the current idea for this problem? Well, I'm going to break this housing and light it a few times and see if it still smells and syfi or not, if not, I have an idea to build it with a chamotte brick that I have, and if not, I throw this junk for scrap and an additional cost of about 5 you are a new floor after this stink!!! My good advice is, think carefully before you decide on your fireplace because you may be very disappointed and, by the way, slimmer by several thousand, even though your fireplace will be made by a reliable company recommended for the whole of Poland, because after the warranty period they have you out!! and if you like fire? at home and it's warm then buy yourself a decent cast iron goat and you'll be heppi, I wanted to buy a beautiful K9 goat wife fireplace and my consent to this stinky was an expensive mistake and today my wife says that I was right, oh those women? my question is what do you think about building a contribution with chamotte brick??? I wish you a nice day and wise decisions regarding fireplaces that will not be used in a moment.

And have you checked the tightness of the fireplace insert, the standard clean glass system in the inserts is simply the lack of a sealing cord on the glass, sometimes at the top and bottom of the glass. I put a new cord around the perimeter of the glass in mine because it was impossible to adjust the size of the flame, the air supply is from the bottom of the fireplace insert, plus a damper. The fireplace insert was supposed to be tight, because I have mechanical ventilation, and it was as usual. The test for a tight insert is to close the combustion air supply, the flame should be strongly extinguished. During the construction of the fireplace, a specialist told ... how he painted the silicate plates with acrylic primer, he claimed that it would get less dust from the plates. He used the painted ones for the outer layer of the casing. Chamotte brick housing is not a bad idea, but as usual, the devil is in the details, first of all, what is imitation in supermarkets is said to be the best magnesium inserts from electric storage stoves, weight, whether you have a strong enough foundation for the fireplace, price.

I have this system of clean glass, it's ok, the asbestos cord near the door is also ok, the fireclay in the hearth is qualitatively different from the one from which I plan to make a new housing, it is about 40-year-old fireclay brick obtained from the first-class steelworks and I think it will eventually be used, although the plans were to have a decent brick grill, as of today I am glad that although the hut is new, we do not live in it yet and when it is very cold, the mother-in-law sets fire to the stench to relieve at least a little gas heating. I think that in the spring I will take care of this problem and maybe I will be able to figure out something smart, although you asked me the bug about the foundation because the stench stands in the living room on an 8 cm screed reinforced with a thin mesh, and closing and opening the air intake from the outside works correctly, and one more question can this heat-resistant silicone stink under the influence of high temperature? because the specialist probably shoved it into my knee in the chimney without using any mortar or glue, he just gave me this black silicone.

rycho4013 wrote:

and one more question, can this heat-resistant silicone stink under the influence of high temperature? because the specialist put it on me, probably the whole tube at the point of insertion of the knee into the chimney without using any mortar or glue, he only gave this black silicone.

It can stink with prolonged smoking, put some silicone on the wood and set it on fire, you'll know if it's the same smell. I have a "so-called high-temperature wadding" on the sealing of the pipe with the chimney, a white and very soft heat-resistant material. The point is that this connection works under the influence of high temperature and nothing hard should be put there, e.g. fiberglass rope, etc.

Thanks for the info, before the possible demolition of this stinker, I will do a fire test of this supposedly heat-resistant silicone, if it's this smrut, it's screwed because the fireplace probably needs to be demolished.

I made an additional grid to reduce the temperature in the flue. In addition, I installed a silicate plate from the inside from the gel face, which was too close to the wool insulation. The stench settled down.

And for me, the construction is made of silicate boards. The insert is a hit, but unfortunately, it stinks. Earlier, when I was smoking on a construction site without any buildings, there was also a smell, which would indicate a pipe, reading the above. I thought that the one that was burning on the pipe was getting fried, but now it's clean. As soon as it gets a little too hot, the smell comes back and spreads throughout the houses. First under the ceiling, then as it heats up, it reaches lower. I'll see if the heat recovery will help when we turn it on finally.

A burning smell from the fireplace chamber is usually the smell of burnt dust. It is located in the room and enters the fireplace chamber through air circulation. The walls of the fireplace casing, the flue gas pipe or the casing ejectors should not come into contact with any insulating elements. The best solution is to thoroughly dust the fireplace's heating chamber from time to time.
I heat the entire apartment with the fireplace. And at the beginning, after starting it, there was a burning sensation. After a thorough cleaning, everything changed. Although after not using the fireplace for a long time, a burning smell appears at first. There is probably some residual dust burning. Which is difficult to remove from the chamber.

JurP wrote:

And I would start with wood, if it has been stored for 3-4 years.
Too fresh means black paint in the chimney.

The material burned in the fireplace has no connection with the smell in the heated room (you can even burn plastic and there is no smell). It's a completely different air circulation that must [b] be completely isolated from exhaust gases. The causes of the undesirable odors we are talking about are the used insulating materials, seals, paints and adhesives found in the warm air circulation space. [/b]

I came across this thread after a long and fruitless search and wanted to report my success.
Thanks to the suggestion of my friend @mateo-salvadore, I removed the sticky foil as much as I could, and at the same time I vacuumed up all the mess that was within the reach of the vacuum cleaner. After lighting the fireplace, there is no smell! And I fought with this plastic-like smell for good 7 years.
In my case, the foil right next to the exhaust pipe looked like this:



Thanks again, I'm going to the bricklayer to promote this thread because people there are also struggling with the smell.

Thanks.

I can generally confirm - the foil and wool used for insulation is a source of stench.

The best way to get rid of the problem is to cut a hole in the plasterboard enclosure and get rid of the wool insulation along with the foil. This can be replaced with rigid insulation boards.

I have an update on the matter and unfortunately no good news...

New property, new fireplace by the Polish company K...i, without wool, without aluminum tape, made of thick fireplace boards (I don`t know exactly what type) and the smell is the same... Less intense than the previous one, but it`s still the sweetish one a chemical, throat-scratching stench that comes out of the building`s ventilation grilles/DGP after the fireplace is heated up (there is no distribution in my case).

I don`t know how you can be so unlucky, but it`s definitely not a matter of my "bad smoking" - I go on vacation to places with old and new fireplaces, which I use in the same way and this problem has never occurred anywhere...

However, we have established in this thread that the cause is definitely NOT:
-Bad burning/Wet wood
-Smoke reversal
-Ventilation of rooms
-Supplying the fireplace with fresh air

The smell comes from the fireplace casing, so potential causes include:
-Insulation - wool, aluminum tape and their adhesives clearly do not withstand the temperature
-Paint used for "hot" elements
-Paint/building primer
-Some preservatives burning off on the above.

Burning the fireplace properly is not a solution - I have only burned the new one a few times, but I burned the old one so much that I thought I would burn the house down and it didn`t help.
The only element that shows signs of overheating is the ventilation grille of the building, but without it it also stinks. I`m planning to add a second one to lower the temperature inside the building, but I admit that I`m not enthusiastic... I`m tired of the issue of smelly fireplaces and before I solve it, they`ll probably ban their use...

Real bad luck, as I see it :/ After the modifications, it no longer smells in my house, and right after construction we were burning in the fireplace like crazy (it was winter and the cottage had no heating yet). What was supposed to burn out certainly did, but what smelled (the foil glue) continued to stink for the next 7 years until this shit was thrown away.
If there is no foil and glue, I doubt it is paint from the fireplace, maybe some oil from the gasket or some other crap?
The paint on the air grilles smells completely different, I know because my parents had this problem, they took out the grills and replaced them with chrome-nickel ones, the problem disappeared.

Or maybe you have something stuck somewhere deeper but you can`t see it?

Well, there`s not a single piece of foil anywhere.

The fireplace is made of the following boards:


Inside it looks like this (it got dirty when I was taking photos - I already vacuumed the chamber and it didn`t help):


I tried to locate the source of the stench in a drastic way by heating the elements with a lamp:


And the effect is that heating the pipe does not generate any stench, but heating the building boards causes the mesh they are covered with to burn and the smell of burning plastic burns. It`s a different smell than smoking, but that`s the only thing that stinks. Maybe that`s it?

For now, I plan to cut another hole in the building to improve the removal of warm air. If it doesn`t help, I`ll take it all apart and rebuild it... but whether it will help - I don`t know.

Hello,

mateo-salvadore wrote:

I have read a lot of similar topics, but I would like to seek advice from someone with experience .

posts on two pages, and no one came up with the idea that someone with experience in such matters is a master chimney sweeper?
The chimney sweep not only performs inspections, but also advises, shows how to smoke, explains daily maintenance, and also performs some of the construction works in his specialty.
The problem is that you have to pay? And isn`t the safety and ease of everyday smoking worth it?

Regards

You read two pages and came to the conclusion that no one asked anyone for advice? Think again...

This isn`t the only thread on the Internet about this problem. And no - the problem is not that you have to pay, the problem is that you can endlessly pay "specialists" who have no idea what the cause of the stench is, even if they have "master" in their title...

Speaking about myself - I consulted my previous fireplace many times and either no one wanted to diagnose or repair it and, without knowing the reason, it was proposed to completely cover the new fireplace (so what guarantee that this will solve the problem, when it turns out to be a common one?), or - because my fireplace was built with stone, they put the responsibility on me: "if it breaks, gets dirty, or gets bad, it`s not my fault" (seriously - I pay the "master" and it`s my fault anyway - why do I need such a master?), or you safety experts claimed that the fireplace "must burn out" and could not determine how long we would all have to inhale this stench.

I have asked you before and I am asking you again - refrain from making nonsense comments, because I will close this topic and it will remain unresolved. And if anyone has clear and reliable knowledge to share, please join me!

I have also been struggling with this problem for a long time. The "experts" made the fireplace casing out of silicate boards, but they put wool on the ceiling and behind the wall insert (they probably ran out of boards).
Initially, it wasn't so noticeable, but for about 2 years now there has been a very irritating smell (the scratchy throat that my colleague mentioned above is characteristic).
Of course, all forums have been reviewed and analyzed. First, I peeled off the aluminum tapes as far as I could reach with my hand through the exhaust grilles. Of course, it didn't help.
I've been struggling with my thoughts for a year and last week I made two changes to the casing and threw out all the wool. Instead of wool, I replaced the insert with silicate boards. Above the flue (20 cm) I made a ceiling of silicate boards. In general, today there is a typical housing made of Varmsen silicate boards without wool. On Saturday evening, I temporarily installed the search engine and started...
After 40 minutes, when it was hot, I felt the smell again (although much less, I think). Well, I'm really pissed off.
There's nothing burning inside right now, so where's the smell coming from? Maybe from the exhaust pipe... maybe from the insert (Romotop dynamic - expensive and reputable)... it's hard to say. Now replacing this pipe (it's terribly tight), and even more so the insert, seems pointless.
In my opinion, heating it with a flashlight makes no sense because it generates temperatures above 1000 C and you will never experience such temperatures.
Interestingly, when I approach the exhaust grille, I don't really feel anything, I feel warm air, and in the living room where there is a fireplace I don't feel the smell much either. It is most noticeable on the first floor, where the warm air flows.
I lost any idea what to do next because I was sure that removing the wool would solve the problem. Replacing the exhaust pipe is also very unreliable in my opinion because they are all the same. My ones look really solid and you don't feel any of them when they're inside (not while smoking, of course). ). It is not certain whether replacing the pipe will do anything, and by chance, you can finally replace the entire house, which, as you can see in the example of my colleague, did not help much hehehe (I feel sorry).
The only option is to add another grille at the front (from the decompression chamber). I don't know what it will do, maybe it will slightly lower the temperature inside, but I don't smoke, I don't know how, because the insert is small, I just add 1 piece of wood at a time.

I have an update and... well...
I replaced the grilles in the building with larger ones, with a larger active surface, adding both "suction" grilles, i.e. under the insert, and exhaust ones, I added a thermal fan (Powered by a Peltier cell) and the temperature in the building dropped noticeably, but the smell is still there. So that`s not it.
I`m tired of this fireplace. Or it`s time to destroy the whole thing and build a new insert in a new way - but who can guarantee that this will solve the problem? Or I`ll kick him out of the house because he`s cluttering up the space and there`s no use for him anyway...

Added after 2 [minutes]:

And to add - just like in the case of my friend above - you can`t feel anything near the exhaust grille, I don`t have any wool at the moment either, so it`s probably the fireplace insert that stinks, not everything else around it... I don`t know.
In fact, the stench is felt most strongly on the first floor, and in my case, for some reason, in the corridor downstairs.

>>21031485 .
Successful diagnosis ? Identical situation for me

@mateo-salvadore

Have you managed to diagnose where the smell is coming from?

And yes and no... I'm not actually sure, but supposedly once overheated the material will always smell afterwards.... And in my case there were too few vents, which caused high temperatures in the fireplace surround. So I've currently got the whole fireplace taken apart, on Monday it's going to the manufacturer for shotblasting (£800), and when it comes back I'll rebuild the whole build-up with Varmsen/Skamol boards. I'll let you know if it has helped.

Hello colleague. I've recently moved into a house with a fireplace + DGP, so I don't know the history and construction of the build too much, but I'm having a similar problem with a strange smell from the upstairs air vents. There is no smell downstairs. Usually the stench occurs when there is heavy smoking (if you can call it that - it's more a case of "long smoking", i.e. for 8 h for example). As a first step, I knocked out the alu tape in the fireplace surround, as much as I could reach with my hand + cut the wool around the flue pipe in the surround. Unfortunately no change. I have a question, when burning did you try to pull the exhaust pipe off the turbine and see if the smell is already there? Because it wants to narrow down the search field.... Greetings.

.
Take a look at the photograph. Should the flue pipe go into the elbow or the elbow into the pipe, "against the hair" of the flue gas? There are two such connections. The latter is even sort of burnt - you can see it on this beautiful gold piece. Under the influence of a slight temperature difference between the two elements, the dimensions change and a gap appears, maybe a fraction of a millimetre, but this is enough for the stench of combustion to escape from the chimney. Secondly, adjustable elbows are never 100% airtight. You can see this in photo 2 under the screw.
In photo no. 5, the yellow flame may indicate fumes escaping at this point if the fireplace was lit. This used to be the way to look for leaks in a car's exhaust system. Nowadays, the components are replaced rather than welded.
If the fireplace was not lit, the burner flame may have burned off the soot that had accumulated in this area.