Wood burning stove – how long to burn off the paint smell?

Evening guys,

First couple of burns took it easy with low temp as per the manual.

Now i’m heating it up to 350 *F and once things get hot in the room, the most hideous fume/smokey/chemical smell begins.

Carbon detector is peaking at 23, which is ok apparently, no physical smoke in the room, so i’m guessing this is the paint curing/burning off?

One night should do it – has with my two (Clearview) but obviously the paint may be different.

Edit: 350f is a bit on the low side – you want to be hitting 200c (about 400f) for an efficient burn.

More fuel going on tonight if thats the case 😆

carbon detector… do you mean CO?

ours took a good few burns before it stopped..

Probably a week here before I stopped noticing.

@scotia yeah carbon monoxide sorry

I’m home this weekend so may give it a long run, so far its only been on in the evenings after work.

After the first couple light burns to set the sealant – 1 long hard hot burn and the smell was gone,

Careful with the paint, I managed to rub off a patch of paint by brushing it with the supplied oven glove when shutting the door during the first few burns!

ok, i was just wondering.. with our CO detector the list of numbers shows 10-24 to be possible health effects with long term exposure.. 9 is the max recommended indoor level..

maybe check this?!

CO is not smoke..

our detector is showing 0, has done since it was installed even with the burner being used. I did test it with sth that gives off CO (incense or cigarette) to check that it functioned!

Similar to Trailrat; Ours took about 3 or 4 small fires and then 1 longer fire for it to go. It did stink a bit to start, but no smells anymore.

Don’t have a full blown fire for the first few fires. Just light small ones and let them burn out (that’s what our installer told us anyway).

Took a few days for ours to settle down.

Mrs f was beginning to get quite negative about it as it was affecting her eyes.

Thankfully it settled down, as I’m running out of space for patios…..

Thanks all, had it on for the longest stretch so far today, and its still there but definitely not as potent 😀

Four days to let everything dry out then go for it with a normal fire. I’ve had no smell and nothing on the alarm. Also nothing in my instructions about taking it easy for the first few fires.

The light burns are not for the fire …they were for the sealant fire cement , if you dry it too fast it cracks /fails.

Your installer probably did the first burn to set it all nicely and test for leaks .

Or used the proper heat resistant silicon which seems very good.

We never use fire cement or silicone near the stove, it’s the bodgers hallmark.
Should be able to give a steel stove a good blast straight after fitting, cast iron needs a couple of small fires before using in anger. If a co alarm goes off, do not ignore it, your life could depend on it.

So that leaves fire rope which looks shite or hopes and dreams of “draw” to stop the flue joints leaking. . So ill stick to my “bodger” hall mark of high temp silicone in the flue joints.

OP – have you checked that CO reading?

Looks neat enough to me trail rat, probably because i didn’t make the mistake of using a metric flue pipe in an imperial collar, problem with high temp silicone it is combustible, if you have a chimney fire the flue pipe could reach in excess of 1000*c it will burst into flames, it has even caught fire in normal stove use.

very good – and your spigot connections are they all oversize to get rope in ?

The fire cement that the installers used to do that very job above ^^^ has all cracked and is needing repaired, is that fire rope method an effective alternative then?. I have some fire rope that would do the job if so….

Yes, the installer just burnt some bits of packing paper in there for a grand total of about five minutes.
The four day wait was to let the adhesive used on the backing boards dry out otherwise there was a risk that the boards would pop off if they got too warm.

scotia – Member
OP – have you checked that CO reading?

I reset the meter and its reading 23 a day later. I may buy another as a comparison, its a Kidde one I currently have. Instructions seem to suggest below 30 is ok?

“Although the peak level feature will display levels below 30 PPM,
these levels will not result in an alarm no matter how long the
device is exposed to these levels.
The peak level feature is helpful in identifying CO occurrences
below 30 PPM. Although the unit will not automatically display
levels below 30 PPM, it will detect and store these readings in
memory. By pressing the peak level button, concentration levels
as low as 11 and up to 999 PPM will be displayed.
Concentrations of CO between 0 and 30 PPM can often occur in
normal, everyday conditions. Concentrations of CObelow 30 PPM may
be an indication of a transient condition that may appear today and
never reappear. Just a few examples of conditions and/or sources
that may cause readings blow 30 PPM are heavy automobile traf-
c, starting a vehicle in an attached garage, an appliance that
emits CO when starting up, a re in a replace or charcoal in a nearby
barbecue. A temperature inversion can trap CO generated by trac
and other fuel burning appliances causing readings of CO.”

@twinw4ll i’ve got a black hard looking compound around my stove top where is joins the black flue pipe, fire cement?

Took ours about a week.

You people know what temperature your stoves burn at?!? 😯

I keep mine at ‘hot’ or ‘flipping hot’. It’s always worked for me.

@saxon these are a great buy, still need to give mine a 6-8 hour at weekend to cure the paint once and for all 😆

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stovax-Stove-Thermometer-Temperature-Gauge/dp/B00465NFQQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1424817351&sr=8-3&keywords=stove+thermometer

@ OP:

ours is a fire angel, and i’ve just checked the online instructions…it states that:

35ppm The maximum allowable
concentration for continuous
exposure for healthy adults
in any 8 hour period, as
recommended by the
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA).

seems like yours is relatively high but ok..

twinw4ll » never use fire cement or silicone near the stove, it’s the bodgers hallmark

Sadly I bodged mine when fitting and have to re-apply the cement around the flue/stove junction on a yearly basis.

Don’t suppose you have any tips for removing said hardened cement from that area so I can set about stuffing some rope in the gap. More aesthetic than necessary but it’d be nice to get rid of the ugly band of the stuff. The flue’s enamelled so I’d rather not attack it with an abrasive wheel if I can avoid it.

Old screw driver, just chip away at it, gently does it. 😕

Gah. I was hoping for some strange liquid known only to the trade that would magically soften the shit.

Thanks anyway…