Viessman Vitodens 100 Propane Boiler, exhaust gases smell like propane?

[Claythrow]

As the title says...it's a direct vent style boiler, & is supposed to be extremely efficient. But when outside yesterday putting in new basement windows I noticed the exhaust gases smell like propane. It's unmistakable...to give you an idea of "how much" it smells like propane.

Is this normal?

If it helps, it was about 9 degrees yesterday, don't know if that matters.

When it was installed about 4 years ago, someone from Viessman came to "calibrate" the boiler with these special tools & probes (iirc) As he was running through the tests, a few times he ran into a result & said, "Oh, something must just be off there with the tools" & moved on.

It didn't really seem like he fully knew what he was doing. & our propane bills were not as low as calculated either. I'm wondering if something is not right with the system & instead of re-burning any exhaust gases with propane in them it's just exhausting them outside?

To give you a better idea of the smell, I would say it seemed just short of flammable. My propane grill does not smell that strongly of propane.

 

[Jac04]

If the exhaust smells that strongly of propane, shut the unit down and calling the propane company immediately. Unburned fuel in your exhaust (enough to be 'unmistakable') is not good at all.

It's my understanding that you will get some slight exhaust odor from a propane boiler, unlike a propane grill which typically has no detectable odor. I just went outside and sniffed the exhaust from my Navien CH180 LP, and it has an extremely slight odor, but it is not a gas odor. It is hard to describe, but it smells slightly 'soapy'.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Claythrow]

Why call the propane company & not the boiler company? The smell is only detectable in the exhaust?

 

[Jac04]

Why call the propane company & not the boiler company? The smell is only detectable in the exhaust?

The exhaust smells that strongly of propane and you're still running the boiler, debating who to call? Either way, shut it down and call somebody, anybody.

My propane company installs/services all propane equipment and they have a team of service technicians. They have told me to call them for any propane smell concerns, no matter how minor. You can try calling the boiler company, but they are only going to tell you to shut it down immediately and refer you back to the installer or a competent professional.