We've had our woodstove for about four years now. Late last year, we
started noticing a "plastic" smell when we are using the woodstove. It
seems to be most noticeable when we have a hot fire going. If I damper down
the fire, the smell goes away.

I assumed it was just the paint on the woodstove or chimney pipe, but the
smell never seems to burn off. And it's strong again the next time we use
the woodstove.

I've cleaned the chimney, vacuumed all dust on and around the stove,
cleaned the door, etc. I've checked the walls around the woodstove to make
sure it isn't coming from an external source, but they rarely even get warm
to the touch.

We burn only clean dry wood (fir, pine, cedar, and alder mostly), NEVER
garbage or other material that might produce the smell. In fact, we rarely
even smell smoke unless I've opened the door to load wood or something.

Our wood stove (Lopi Patriot model) also gets it's combustion air from an
external source, not from the living space.

I've checked everything I can think of. What am I missing?

Thanks,

Anthony