Hello, please help!! We have a wood burning stove which has been emitting a strange odor. We have not been able to identify where it might be coming from. The wood stove was spray painted but has been in use for about 3 weeks since then..plus, the odor went away for about a week. We had been using particle board to start the fire and then discontinued this, had no smell for about a week, and now it's back again. Could using MDF or plywood cause this--if used strictly for starting the fire? Thanks in advance.

-- Kathleen Kelly (kathykellyis@hotmail.com), February 06, 2001

Answers

Response to fumes-I'm pregnant

Any type of plywood or particle board used in the stove makes me sick. The fumes from the glue I assume. Possibly you have some residue in your flue that once it is heated up is creating these fumes. I would have SOMEONE ELSE totally take apart and clean your stove and clean the flue. The starter logs you can buy also make me sick. If I were you I would err on the side of caution in your condition. The way I start fires is to gather a bunch of little dry twigs and light them with some paper for starter....they catch quickly. Hubby still insists on using the starter logs and I can tell the moment he lights one. I can even tell the difference several hours after the fire has been burning if it is started with one of the starter logs. Make sure your chimney is drawing properly so that a minimum of smoke/fumes enters the house.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), February 06, 2001.

Response to fumes-I'm pregnant

Do they really use famaldehyde to make pressed board? Those fumes may be toxic. I don't know where I heard that......I have also heard that treated timbers have arsenic. Were they just blowin' smoke, so to speak?

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 06, 2001.

Response to fumes-I'm pregnant

Yikes! I would strongly advise agains burning particle board or plywood in your house! A family around here who heated entirely with wood burned up scrap from his construction site job and the whole family wound up losing their hair and having all kinds of health problems as a result of it, chemical allergies and sensitivities so severe that they had to move out of their house and could never go back inside, not even to get belongings. Admittedly, they probably used more than you did in using it as a firestarter, however, many of these chemicals are cumulative, and your body doesn't get rid of them. Like Arsenic! Burning it up and putting it into the atmosphere means that you inhale it, and it is just that much easier for your body to absorb. In your position, I'd think about getting rid of the particle board and plywood.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), February 07, 2001.

Hey Kath! Nan is right! The chemicals used in most processed woods are deemed safe to use but experience from others have proved that to be untrue. Mandy has the right idea. Use twigs or even corn cobs soaked in kerosene [if your a homesteader you probably have corncobs] to start the fire with. Half dozen cobs is sufficient when preparing the starter mix properly. I think the system wouldn't have to be cleaned by taking apart. A nice big fire will take care of a lot of that mess. Cleaning the ashes outta the stove totally will help a bunch. Be careful and PLEASE GET A CO DETECTOR! Wood burners do emit carbon monoxide in deadly amounts at times. Check for cracks/leaks in the stove and chimney. We don't wanna lose ANYBODY to CO and certainly don't want any little tykes harmed before OR after they're here! hoot. Matt.24;44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), February 07, 2001.

Hoot, you took my answer! Get a carbon monoxide detector!!!!!!!! There are some that aren't much more expensive than a smoke alarm and ours is both in one!

-- Novina in ND (lamb@stellarnet.com), February 07, 2001.

We heat entirely with a woodstove, we do have a natural gas furnace but hasn't run in to winters. I read somewhere not to burn, plywood, partical board, treated wood or anything other than kiln dried wood, like 2x2, 2x4 etc. We use our firewood only split into kindling pieces, crumple up some paper and set the kindling in an upright way all around the paper( like a teepee) and light and watch it burn adding alittle bigger pieces until it's going full steam ahead. I would be worried about fumes from not only the starter logs but from cob soaked in kerosene as well. I would do one of two things, get the pipes cleaned by someone or your husband or you leave the house for a while and let your husband burn a HOT fire to maybe burn any residue out of the pipes. A CO detector is a must with a wood stove or anything with a flame. Hope this is of help and you take care of that precious gift from God.

-- Kelle in MT. (kvent1729@aol.com), February 07, 2001.

Yes, particle board, treated wood, plywood and everything else used in building except plain old yellow pine, cedar, etc., boards have noxious chemicals in them that include arsenic (I wouldn't be surprised to learn that even those plain old boards have some sort of chemicals added). They say they are "safe", but... And when the manufacturers say they're "safe", they're talking about when the boards are used for building a home, not when burning. Burning changes the whole ball game.

I was a fire fighter with the local VFD for 10 years and have seen all colors of smoke and flame coming from burning houses, most often a pea-soup (or "baby poop") yellow and it's STICKY. Yes, the SMOKE is STICKY. A lot of that is from the furnishings, plumbing, etc., but how much? The smoke stays predominantly yellow long after the couch and drapes burn up, until the house burns to the frame (especially trailer houses), so I'd say it's the particle board and plywood causing the yellow smoke at that time.

I agree wholeheartedly with the advice to have your stove cleaned thoroughly. If you still have the smell, replace the stovepipes. Then use small twigs stacked on newspaper to start the fire. I've lived with wood heat only for over 10 years and it's really not that hard to start a fire that way. I prefer it. First of all, it's free ~ I have to pick up the sticks from the yard before I mow, so I just put them in a pile by my wood stack. I read the newspaper from time to time, so I have that on hand (our newspaper is printed with soy ink and made from regular old recycled paper wood pulp ~ maybe not fool proof, but better than any alternative I can find ~ don't use the glossy inserts). Second of all, I find that starting a fire that way is more of a sure-thing-on-the-first-try than anything else.

Good luck! And may you have a healthy baby in a few months!

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), February 07, 2001.

I work for a woodstove dealer and your question is one fo the most common that i hear Kathleen. The first question I would ask is your stove an airtight model. Almost all modern stoves are and if that is the case I would ask why you are smelling any combustion products in the house. A proper installtion should result in no smoke being spilled into the house. Are all the joints tight in the stovepipe tight with 3 screws in each joint ? Did you keep adequate clearances between the stove and pipe and all combustibles? Is the top of the flue 3 feet above above any part of the roof within 10 feet of the pipe ? If everything is installed properly and you have an airtight stove ,the only other things that usually cause odors are dust and animal hair landing on the stove. Did you use a high temp paint on the stove? Does your home permit adequate combustion air through leaks etc. or did you hook up outsside air to the stove? If what you smell only occurs when you openthe door to feed the fire,I would almost bet its a dirty chimney. When we have stove installations that have worked fine for some time and all of sudden they dont draft properly or smoke when the door is open,99 times out of 100 it means a dirty chimney. When burning other than good dry firewood, it is suprising how quickly creosote can accumulate in a flue. Thats probably more info than you wanted but I hope something solves your problem. Good luck

-- jz (oz40us@yahoo.com), February 07, 2001.

Kathleen, I just wanted to add that my father-in-law goes to his local lumberyard and gets pine scraps for us to use to start our fires. They are usually the perfect size, get the fire going good and hot, fast and the lumberyard likes the fact that they have less to pay for removal. Our lumberyard also has a scrap bin for free.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), February 07, 2001.

jz, those are all good ideas; however, there is one other possibility. I built the house I'm in three years ago, and had to buy a new stove to meet DEQ particulate requirements. The instructions in its owner's manual said to burn a hot fire, with the damper wide open for a half hour to cure the paint, and to get rid of the smell. I did this, yet for about two or three months I had to be very careful to remember to turn the damper down before the stove got real hot, or the smoke detectors would all go off, with ear shattering results! This was accompanied by a bad smell, which I would guess was the paint still curing.

I finally decided to really give the stove a good toasting, and loaded it up with lots of kindling, and a few sticks of manzanita, which is a type of wood which burns extremely hot. I let it burn full blast for a couple of hours, with all the windows and doors open downstairs where the stove is.

I've never had the problem since.

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, unless you are very confident in your stove's flue and chimney, and have proper clearances to flammables, etc. And don't leave the area. I don't want to be responsible for your having a flue fire, or losing your house.

For that matter, be especially prepared if you do this, to be able to extinguish a flue fire, if you have any doubt that your flue is clean.

Careful, and good luck, Kathleen.

dee, since we're talking about kindling, and fumes, I'd like to warn you about a potential problem with any wood, but pine in particular.

I'd have never known this, except a friend of mine was a welder in a local lumber mill. He designed and built a machine which was able to pick up an entire unit of pine lumber, and dunk it into a big vat of Penta. The other employees loved him, because they had previously had to spray all the pine lumber with Penta by hand, wearing rainsuits, and they were always puking afterwards.

My point is, ALL THE PINE was treated with Penta, which kept it from "bluing", something which happens to sugar pine, and especially Ponderosa pine.

Since learning this, I never burn pine boards for kindling.

Maybe you would do well to check with whoever milled your pine to see if they also use Penta.

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweeb.net), February 07, 2001.