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.

Hey guys I realize Im way late to the party but we have lopi endevor
have had it for 4 years last couple it has been making a plastic
chemical smell, I was wondering if any of you have nailed down a true
reason. Im wondering about the incorrectly cured paint. When we first
bought the stove I had trouble burning it exactly the way they
recomended be our wood ended up not being seasoned enough for this
stove. Everything I burn now is two years seasoned and I only burn
hedge. I have burnt junk mail with some plastic on it but I would
think a couple 600 degree fires would deffinently make the smell go
away. would love some feed back the local stove shop were we bought it
thinks were nuts.

I never figured out the exact cause but I find I can mostly eliminate the
plastic odor if I give the wood stove a good cleaning inside and out before
firing it up each fall. Scoop out the ash, then scrub down the vent pipes
at the inside top of the stove making sure the vent holes are all open.
Also, wipe everything down on the outside of the stove, top, sides, and
back. I pull the heat deflector off ours so I can clean that area well.

I don't know if it has something to do with dust that collected over the
summer, or residue left inside from the previous winter. I still get a
minor odd smell the first time I fire it up, but it is much less than
before I adopted the super cleaning each fall.

Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

replying to HerHusband, yooper wrote:
i have had the same problem for over a year since replacing my chimney from
clay tile to stainless steel. any more ideas?

James Schultz

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On Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 11:44:07 AM UTC-6, yooper wrote:
replying to HerHusband, yooper wrote:
i have had the same problem for over a year since replacing my chimney from
clay tile to stainless steel. any more ideas?

James Schultz


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I knew as soon as I saw the date of the original post it had
to be one of the village idiots at HomeMoanersHub dragging
this 9+ year old thread back up.

Hi James,

i have had the same problem for over a year since replacing my chimney
from clay tile to stainless steel. any more ideas?

I'm not sure what would cause the smell in your installation.

In my case, it seems to be due to dust that settles on the heater over the
summer. It will burn off after a warm fire or two and the smell goes away.
However, if I take the time to clean the heat shields and wipe down the
woodstove, I can start my first fires without any smell.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com

replying to HerHusband, Mmj wrote:
We are havintgthe same problem! So bad that we cannot start a fire! The smell
is overpowering andgives us a headache and smells awful! Very plastic burning
smell! My son changed the woodstove because we thought it was the stove.. No
Luck! We now have a Waterford Erin - then sealed all the openings in the
brand new liner... No luck! Replaced and sealed all the gaskets! No luck! The
smell is worse than ever once it gets really Hot! This is so annoying,
frustrating anddisappointing! It's snowing out! We want a fire! HELP!!!!!

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replying to jeepnutt, Bobby wrote:
Any odor from the wood should be going up the chimney and out. If not the
stove, it could be the stove pipe. I sometimes get a little odor the first
fire of the season, but then anything on the surface is burned off. Try to
narrow down where it is coming from and perhaps post a photo. Open the
window, turn on a fan, crank up the stove as hot as practical.

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On 2019-01-20 5:44 p.m., Bobby wrote:
replying to jeepnutt, Bobby wrote:
Any odor from the wood should be going up the chimney and out.Â* If not the
stove, it could be the stove pipe.Â* I sometimes get a little odor the first
fire of the season, but then anything on the surface is burned off.
Try to
narrow down where it is coming from and perhaps post a photo.Â* Open the
window, turn on a fan, crank up the stove as hot as practical.


check around the damper

replying to Mmj, Fireking wrote:
I sealed the flue connections from the INSIDE of the stove pipe using fire
cement if possible. This fixed my plastic/creosote mild smell in room. Clearly
the joins on the flue were jaded and it was leaking. Might of been chimney
sweeps ramming brush up there disjointed connection slightly as well.
Also fire doesnt over draw now clearly was problem wish had sorted it
sooner....

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This thread has been ongoing for 11 years with no definitive answer? I have a Lopi Leyden wood stove with plastic smell once unit gets hot. Actually see some black tar like substance in the crease of the top door. I need answers!!!!!! Please

On Thu, 20 Feb 2020 22:16:01 -0800 (PST), wrote:

This thread has been ongoing for 11 years with no definitive answer? I have a Lopi Leyden wood stove with plastic smell once unit gets hot. Actually see some black tar like substance in the crease of the top door. I need answers!!!!!! Please
Creosote? What kind of wood are you burning and how hot is your
stack?? If it is creosote it could be dangerous - anf you need to get
better wood and let it burn instead of banking it too much.

On 2/21/2020 1:16 AM, wrote:
This thread has been ongoing for 11 years with no definitive answer? I have a Lopi Leyden wood stove with plastic smell once unit gets hot. Actually see some black tar like substance in the crease of the top door. I need answers!!!!!! Please


The black tar substance is creosote. You may not be burning it hot
enough to keep it clean. Twice a day I would load up my stove and burn
it very hot for at least 15 minutes and then damper it down.

The plastic smell is just burning off some of the gunk that built up.
It certainly is not plastic.

Be sure you wood is dried out too. It contains a lot of volitiles that
will build up as it burns.

On 2/21/2020 9:21 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 2/21/2020 1:16 AM, wrote:
This thread has been ongoing for 11 years with no definitive answer?Â*
I have a Lopi Leyden wood stove with plastic smell once unit gets
hot. Actually see some black tar like substance in the crease of the
top door. I need answers!!!!!! Please


The black tar substance is creosote.Â* You may not be burning it hot
enough to keep it clean.Â* Twice a day I would load up my stove and
burn it very hot for at least 15 minutes and then damper it down.

The plastic smell is just burning off some of the gunk that built up.
It certainly is not plastic.

Be sure you wood is dried out too.Â* It contains a lot of volitiles
that will build up as it burns.

Â* The ideal moisture content for firewood is between 15-20% and
moisture meters are cheap now . The OP doesn't say what kind of wood
he/she's burning but if it's pine ... I burn mostly oak and the moisture
content (of what I'm burning eight now) is a little over 20% so if I
don't let it burn hot for a while every few days I get some creosote
buildup .

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

Yes it is paint. Sure it could be loads of other issues, but the paint is distinct. We had a log burner for years and kept it barely on tick over to avoid the paint smell. We now have a new burner and the smell is so horrendous that I am seriously allergic. At best I am sure it is quite toxic. Some people cannot smell it at all. Last night I thought I was heading to A+E. I really need to know what the toxins are so I can get allergy (LDI) treatment for it. No one seems to be acknowledging the toxicity factor...yet.

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I have done some more research re toxic fumes from paint on log burners (and anywhere else for that matter). Air purifiers with activated charcoal filters will take out the toxins from the air. The Blueair with smoke filters will take out dozens and dozens of hideous chemicals from the air, including gases from plastics and much more. Most people are not aware how poisonous our atmosphere is from "cleaning" materials, dyes, carpets, fire proofing... which all can also cause allergies and asthma. But these really good air purifiers will clean most of it out.
Of course it is best to check out the safety of the chimney and fireplace first, but believe me- paint fumes are distinguishable from smoke. I am surprised some health and safety executives haven't gotten on to this yet.
After only a few minutes of burning the fire I have been airing our living room for 3 days now while it is windy outside, and still the smell lingers and my skin starts to sting...it seems to stick to everything.

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Could it be creasote burning off ,

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Set a blueberry-sized piece of Limburger cheese on a hot part of the stove. It will hide all the odors in the room.

Yan75 wrote

Could it be creasote burning off ,

Unlikely he still cares after 13 years.

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On Sun, 2 May 2021 07:04:59 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

Unlikely he still cares after 13 years.

But very likely that YOU trolling senile asshole will comment on EVERY
SINGLE such post!

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Richard addressing senile Rodent Speed:
"**** you're thick/pathetic excuse for a troll."
MID:

Hi Anthony,
It sounds like you haven't missed anything from your check list. I am sorry to say that it really is the chemicals from the log burner paint.
I have a couple of suggestions. which may or may not work well for you. I have chemical sensitivity, which means getting totally chemical free is essential. I found that airing the house for a week with all doors and windows open was not enough to remove the chemicals totally, and doing this undermines a couple of hours of log burning to heat the house. In our last house we tried lighting the fire at high temperature with all the windows open to burn off what ever the problem was, and it didn't work. The fire was a major contributor to heating the house. We ended up keeping it at minimal temperature to just keep it alight, and that way we avoided the fumes. It doesn't work so well on this new fire, but you could try that. If that does not completely avoid the fumes for you, this technique could be combined with the use of an air purifier. It would need to have a specification which removes chemicals as VOC's, not just dust particles. My purifier has an activated bamboo charcoal filter, but there are other methods of removing toxins from the air. Unfortunately THESE ARE TOXINS. The purifier will also remove toxins which you are not aware of, so a minor bonus.
Why health and safety hasn't yet got around to controlling the substances used on these I do not know, but it really should be in their in tray. I was affected so badly that the second time I went through the room (only access to bedrooms) all my skin was burning. For days I had to wear fabrics over all exposed skin, plus face mask. I enquired about getting the chemicals included in my desensitisation program, and was told that it was too toxic to do this. That means it is very toxic indeed : ( A good air purifier to over match your room size should cope, but do check the spec before buying.

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