Gas fire smells of soot

happyhero

Hi , I had one of those gas stoves fitted in our lounge with fake logs in it, about 4 years ago. Before they would fit it I had to have the chimney swept and a liner fitted that goes from the stove to the house roof, 1 long run of I suppose about 8 to 10m as a very rough guide.

When we turn it on it starts to smell sooty for a  little while before we don't notice it anymore.

If we have a liner and it's gas and only 4 years old why would we get the smell of soot , any ideas?

I did have it serviced after the 1st year which just seemed to involve a clean of the stove .

Surely the liner can't be sooty.

stuart45

Have you got a Carbon monoxide detector?

Bendy_House

Hi hh.

If the fire is unused for longish periods, then it could simply be a small buildup of house dust. That can be smelly - musty, pungent - on start-up as it's burnt away.

BUT, do you have a CO alarm as Stuart asks?

And when was the stove last serviced?

This is a conventionally-flued fire? Ie, it draws in air from the room, feeds the fire, and this goes up t'flue? In which case, I think this means there will be a steady current of air passing through the fire from the room at all times, and this will have dust in it.

If this is the cause, then you do know what you are actually smelling, don't you?

happyhero

Thanks guys, yes I have a new CO alarm (bought in September) on the ceiling in the hall just outside the door to the room. Its a posh one that shows you a figure for CO levels.

I think it must be the dust as we only use it on average over the winter months, once or twice a week, and that's an average as sometimes it could be 2 or 3 weeks without use and then 4 days on the trot.

Servicing, well we had it  fitted 4 years ago and then got it serviced 3 years ago. I was thinking I will get it serviced again but not yet as it doesn't seem worth the cost to do it so often for how little we use it.

I was able to open it and clean it like the guy who last serviced it. I will probably have a professional do it again eventually with the hope that he will do more than clean the inside of the stove.

Probably worry you but of the models we looked at there were some that didn't require the fitting of any vents in the walls, the one we have was classed as a medium or large stove, definitely not small, and ours did not require a vent which I thought was odd but it was a highly recommended installer that fitted it for us so I have confidence in what was done. Coming from an engineering background though it did confuse me a bit that no vent was required after what little I knew about the subject in the past.

The stove serves a big 3 reception areas joint lounge/dining room/extension and its a 1930's house so never quite draft free so I'm not really worried of being starved of oxygen

FreeBear

happyhero said:

Thanks guys, yes I have a new CO2 alarm (bought in September) on the ceiling in the hall just outside the door to the room. Its a posh one that shows you a figure for CO2 levels.

No, you will have a CO (no 2 in there). It should be in the same room as the gas fire, not out in the hallway.

Carbon Monoxide (that is CO) could build up in the room to dangerous levels, and if the door is closed, the alarm out in the hallway will not go off.

shiraz99

happyhero said:

Thanks guys, yes I have a new CO2 alarm (bought in September) on the ceiling in the hall just outside the door to the room. Its a posh one that shows you a figure for CO2 levels.

Not much use being in the hallway. It needs to be in the living place where you and the fire is.

Bendy_House

Please read the instructions for that CO monitor and see what it says about placement.

There are a number of different flue types, from fan-assisted, to 'balanced' (it draws all its air from the outside, and expels the flue gases out too), and 'conventional' flues which is what yours appears to be. These draw their air from the room, and it expels via the chimney, which has been lined.

Could you post the make and model of your fire on here, please, and folk might be able to have a look at what the air supply requirements are? I am not going to over-egg the 'risk', and most likely there isn't any at all - your fitter was almost certainly competent, and you do have a CO alarm (albeit perhaps not in the best place...   )

(Of course, if you tell us you moved the CO alarm to the hallway because the darned thing kept going off, then...)

Thinking about your 'smell' issue, I got my understanding wrong, but still think it's most likely to be that. It won't be house dust drawn in with for the fire's air supply, because that would burn straight up the flue. Instead I suspect it'll be the 'conventing' part of your fire; the inner casing will be heated up by the flames, and room air will be drawn in under the firebox, heated by this inner casing, and convected out the top to heat the room. So, it's likely a layer of dust building up on that inner-outer void. Pure guesswork, of course

Anyhoo, make and model, please?

happyhero

Product Code:  8617LUC

Product Desc:   MEDIUM STOCKTON CF NG LOG BLACK

CO instructions said the following

Don’t place the detector near a fireplace, or any appliance that produces flame
Put a detector in a central location, such as a hallway or a landing.

But Googling placement I see a ton of conflicting advice. I just went with what it said on the one I bought and my interpretation but perhaps I'll leave that one alone and get another one for the actual room that the stove is in.

shiraz99

All CO alarms should be placed in the room that has a carbon fuelled appliance, in fact if you're in Scotland the new law states this to be the case.

In fact it states the following:

"CO detectors to be fitted in all rooms where there is a fixed combustion appliance (excluding an appliance used solely for cooking) or a flue."

kdotdotdotdot

happyhero said:

Product Code:  8617LUC

Product Desc:   MEDIUM STOCKTON CF NG LOG BLACK

CO2 instructions said the following

Don’t place the detector near a fireplace, or any appliance that produces flame
Put a detector in a central location, such as a hallway or a landing.

But Googling placement I see a ton of conflicting advice. I just went with what it said on the one I bought and my interpretation but perhaps I'll leave that one alone and get another one for the actual room that the stove is in.

You keep writing "CO2" (carbon dioxide). You're aware that everyone here is asking about "CO" (carbon monoxide) and not "CO2"?  It sounds like you might be thinking of smoke detector, not a carbon monoxide detector?

Bendy_House

4. Ventilation
IMPORTANT: Ensure any national ventilation
requirements are taken into account during installation
of the appliance.

Helpful, eh?!

It does have a flue sensor that should shut it down if it isn't drawing well enough. Do you have the above booklet? Is the commissioning checklist completed fully?

https://www.stovax.com/download/Technical Documents/1. Stoves/Traditional/Gas/Stockton2/Stockton2 Conventional Flue User & Installation Instructions.pdf