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Old 10-18-2011, 07:59 PM
 
Location: Interior AK
4,731 posts, read 9,924,682 times
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if you're not getting a big puff of smoke rolling out, just don't like the little bit of wood fire smell, you can try hanging a few dry vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and a dried orange peel stuck with whole cloves near the stove or off the warming shelf (if your stove has one). Those will pretty much overpower nearly any smell in the house and don't need to be simmered to work like some of the green herbs do, just the warmth near the fire is usually enough... replace when they dry out enough that the aromatic oils have faded.
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Old 10-19-2011, 04:13 AM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,764 posts, read 18,050,478 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by galee View Post
Thank you all for your responses. Just to clarify, we do have central heating, but we want to use the wood stove on especially cold days.

Really, I was wondering if there's any kind of air purifier that could eliminate the wood smoke smell. I will have the chimney checked out as you have recommended.

Thank you.

Galee
Many of us have burned wood for many years. Yes; we have become accustomed to some smoke and smell. However; we are not having your experience. We don’t know how bad or good your unit is performing. We also don’t know how sensitive you are to smoke.

You could suffer from one other problem. You say that you only want to burn the stove when it is very cold. Cold flues and chimneys don’t draft well. Everything performs better when it gets hot. When you first light a fireplace or wood stove that is the time that you are most likely to have smoke come back into your house.

Sorry that you are having a bad experience. Good luck correcting your problem.
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Old 10-19-2011, 04:07 PM
 
Location: CasaMo
15,972 posts, read 9,360,300 times
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When you open the door to add wood or check the fire, slowly open the door to about an inch and that creates a draw from the air inside the room into the stove and up the chimney. It just takes a few seconds and once that's done, you should be able to open the door all the way. Opening the door quickly can create a reverse draw and suck smoke into the room.
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Old 10-20-2011, 07:28 AM
 
1,472 posts, read 2,400,301 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TabulaRasa View Post
For me, the sole reason for heating with wood is for the wood smoke smell.
I was thinking the same but don't smell ours unless outside.

brushrunner
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Old 10-21-2011, 08:03 AM
 
2,401 posts, read 4,673,537 times
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I love the "woodsmoke" smell too...
Till I get my own woodstove installed, and I do have tons of free wood.

Don't need a woodstove at all at my place though.
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Old 10-29-2011, 09:30 PM
 
Location: Nebraska
4,176 posts, read 10,667,898 times
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OK, these are the problems and the fixes we have had with our woodstove.
1) Dry, seasoned wood is always better. DH tells by the color, I tell by the weight. Seasoned wood is lighter by weight, and when dried, changes color from a bright healthy fresh wood-look to a dull color. Also drier seasoned wood normally has hairline cracks on the cut face.There should be no wet sticky sap oozing. Not only does dry wood smoke much less, it catches fire more quickly and puts out more sustained heat than wet or fresh-cut wood.

2) wind. Oh, the problems we have with wind! We got a wind-beater chimney top, and it cuts down on the straight-line winter north winds from blowing smoke back down the chimney by diffusing that straight 'blow' across the top. Still, it isn't perfect. Different winds require different adjustments. A "fast hot fire" to heat the stove and chimney will initially pour heavy smoke into the house. The cure we have found for this is to leave the damper wide open and SLIGHTLY open the feed door. While this causes the fire to burn more quickly, it will also raise the heat levels more quickly, and forces the house air pressure to force the smoke up the chimney. After about 20 minutes - when your draw is established - you can close the damper half way and the door completely - then if no smoke puffs out, close the damper all the way.

3) We rarely open our front doors to view the fire. Not only does this alter the draw and occasionally force the smoke back into the house, it also increases the burn rate of the wood while putting out less heat. We prefer to use the woodstove as more of a slow-ember-burning "hot box" than something picturesque.

4) We have a big old cast iron pot we leave on the cast-iron top of the woodstove, and keep it filled with water. I will put a few drops of scented essential oils in the water. As the water heats from the stove, the smell of the oil permeates the room, often the whole house. We use sandalwood or cinnamon for daily use, and eucalyptus for when we have colds. This also puts more moisture into the air, which the woodstove alone removes. AND - you don't have to worry about the pot boiling dry. Just, if it does, DO NOT pour water into it while it is still hot - you might crack it. If you look online, you can find really nice cast iron stovetop pots or humidifiers made specifically to be used on your woodstove - even ones you can use to boil water for coffee or tea.

5) We occasionally get that "smoky" smell when the fire has died down to mere ashy embers and the wind picks up, 'pushing' the scent through the house. The best ways to stop that are to keep your firepit cleaned out (we have a large metal bucket we use in case of small embers), open the damper to its fullest and encourage a fast 'burn-off' of those embers - or to build another fire. We also keep a small spray bottle of water handy by the stove to douse little embers and "pop-outs" when we open the door.

Every summer, the stove gets a thorough cleaning, inside and out. After I scrub it down on the outside, I take common cooking oil on a paper towel and rub it heavily all over the exterior of the cast iron. (When it heats the first time, you will smell the oil burning off.) I do this for the same reason I "season" my cast iron pans - it helps maintain the luster, retards rust or "cooked" things sticking to it, and will help with the longevity.

Whn we first bought this house with the woodstove, the woodstove was not only filthy but heavily rusted in spots. The previous owner had no idea how to clean it or take care of it. Our insurance man took one look at it and said, "You have GOT to be kidding - that looks like a fire hazard!" He came back a week later - I had replaced the pipe, scrubbed it with a wire brush, oiled it than fired it off and heated it, and it shone like brand new. He passed it.

Last edited by SCGranny; 10-29-2011 at 09:39 PM..
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Old 10-29-2011, 11:21 PM
 
Location: The Cascade Foothills
10,942 posts, read 10,233,135 times
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Thanks for the tip about the cooking oil. I have lots of cast iron cookware (and am always buying more ), and Iam very familiar with the seasoning process, but it never occurred to me to do the same to my wood stove.

The only thing is that I use lard to season my cast iron. Would there be any reason that I couldn't use that on my stove?
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Old 10-30-2011, 05:52 AM
 
Location: Nebraska
4,176 posts, read 10,667,898 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinebar View Post
Thanks for the tip about the cooking oil. I have lots of cast iron cookware (and am always buying more ), and Iam very familiar with the seasoning process, but it never occurred to me to do the same to my wood stove.

The only thing is that I use lard to season my cast iron. Would there be any reason that I couldn't use that on my stove?
I don't see why not...
I save my lard for cooking, but it would smell much better heated than cooking oil - kinda bacony!
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Old 10-31-2011, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,359,217 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by galee View Post
Hi Everyone,

My husband and I live in Upstate New York and decided to get a wood stove to reduce our heating costs. The problem is that I don't like the smoky smell that the wood stove makes. What can be done about that smell?

My husband has been boiling some aromatic spices in a big pot in the kitchen, and that does help a little, but I don't like the idea of leaving a pot on the stove for a long time. Is there anything we can buy to take away the smell.

Thank you.

Galee
My only advice is to:
1. Get a few carbon monoxide detectors to keep in sleeping areas. They're not 100% accurate as yet, but may be helpful if there's an issue.

2. Have the stove installed by a licensed professional and professionally maintained each year. The company should check for proper venting and emissions among other things.


I know that's unsolicited advice, but if you're smelling smoke in the house, there are at least some byproducts being released into the environment...and CO is probably one of them. It is only lethal in high doses, but why take chances?

Ok, in response to the original post:
My house is full of plants...I am not sure how effective they'll be but houseplants do help to clean the air. Maybe you can get a a few "low light" ones.

if you do, be sure to put them in natural containers (terracotta etc) w/ a drainage hole and saucer and not let them sit in water. The plants can also use up some of the CO and CO2 produced by the burning.
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Old 11-07-2011, 05:51 AM
 
41,815 posts, read 50,920,524 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eyewrist View Post
Ecoquest Air Purifiers but they are expensive but works very well. The house smells like a rain storm has past. It is self contained 8X6X10 inch box and filters have to cleaned once a month and replaced so you don't have to buy filters.
Considering saving money is the reason for burning wood you'd have to carefully examine whether this is worth it. These devices are listed at $500 to $600, then you'd have to factor in the cost of the electric to run it and finally the expected lifespan. It may or may not be worth it if the goal is to save money. Along a similar topic they make those heat reclaimers for the flue pipe on wood stoves, this works well for wood because you have very high stack temps. It doesn't work with coal because the stack temps are very low and the gases much more corrosive. You don't recover enough heat before it's going in the trash to justify buying it.
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