Blaze King 40 Smoke Smell Near Stove (No Visible Smoke) on Low Burn

I honestly don't recall your overall length of pipe? Have you considered adding a section? Potentially boosting your draft may clean this up.
Considering the somewhat unconventional 6" vent setup (no offense)
Maybe trot on down to the hardware store and grab a cheap section of snap together single wall. Pop your cap and slide the single wall down into the Class A far enough to stay safely for a performance test.
If it works, add a section of Class A

Should help alleviate potential siphoning back into other vents as well. A thought.

 

I'm currently 19', straight up to cap.

 

Ok, I believe I can say with near 100% certainty, my "smoke smell" issue has been resolved. After changing bypass gasket, cat gasket, and tightening door (although it was already passing the dollar bill test), I bit the bullet and bought / installed a new cat. Holy cow! Immediately on first break in fire, no smoke smell. Now, several days into the new cat, not even a hint of smoke smell. I'm totally baffled by this whole thing, because, the old cat seemed to perform in a manner that the manual and all of you seasoned cat owners told me it should. Cat would easily come up to temp, easily stay in "the zone" throughout the burn, and smoke exiting the chimney was substantially less between checking with bypass open, and then checking with bypass closed. Cat would glow bright orange while engaged (See pictures posted earlier in this thread).

Following the install of the new cat, the performance difference was remarkable. Though the stove was heating in a manner that seemed to be appropriate and sufficient with the new cat, at the same stat settings, it was running us out of the house (outside temps in the mid 30's the last couple days). This turned into quite a journey and learning experience. I should have listened earlier when some of you were telling me it could be time to change the cat! I'd be lying to say I'm not severely disappointed in BK for producing a cat that only lasted through 2 seasons. At $385 for the new cat, that's a ridiculous expense to simply maintain the stove in top working condition. It shocked me when earlier, it was said here that it's been two years, and likely time to replace. So, moral of the story, crisis averted, now I've a lesson under my belt. Thank you again to all of you who contributed in helping me make the decision to change the cat. I can honestly say, without your input, I would not have done it, at least not yet. So, stove is back pumping out ridiculous amounts of heat, and I'm utilizing more of the "low and slow" feature than I did in the past. And yes, this problem was solved without installing the 8" pipe, continuing to exceed all my expectations on the 6" as it has since day one. On a side note though, I actually almost did install the 8" pipe before changing the cat. My wife suggested I try the cat first as the 6" worked fine in the past, and the cat was the cheaper of the two evils. Glad I did!

 

But...IF the pipe size is part of the issue, and changing it would allow you to use the cat for another year or two, it would pay for itself eventually.
Glad to hear you are back in business though!

 

My wife and I were discussing that literally 45 minutes ago. As Highbeam stated earlier in this post, "I usually get 2-3 years, 10-12 k hours, the one metal cat didn't even last two years."

At roughly $3500 for the 8" from stove to cap, I'm looking at a 20 year break even if, like Highbeam suggests, I my be on a two year cycle.

Something I'll have to give some thought to. Adding the 8" may not add any life to the cat if Highbeam's scenario is similar to mine.

 

I asked my BK dealer about the ceramic cat, said he'd never heard of it for the BK King, and it wasn't an option in his order catalog.

 

Warranty - Blaze King

6 year pro-rated warranty on the BK cats.

claim the warranty on the old cat and have one on the shelf.

 

Pyromaniac my opinion on cats; I have Woodstock cat stove, is they are like snow tires. They are good for xx miles and warranteed for such. However, if your driving in a blizzard you can tell if their new or getting ready to be replaced. Old one still “work” and pass safety tests BUT..

So just plan on replacing on schedule that makes you comfortable

 

Perfect analogy. That's my new "plan", unfortunately.

 

Ahhh, thanks for the info. I'll let you know how this pans out.

I'm not going to lie. I had to kinda chuckle when I read the "warranty" conditions. In the end, they usually don't amount to much.

This must be what my dealer was referencing:

"In addition Blaze King offers an additional, 100%, 10 Year Extended Warranty on all combustors in our catalytic wood stoves and catalytic wood fireplace inserts."

 

Well, at least my stove has a unique built in notification system to let me know when it's time to change the cat.....Smell smoke, swap cat.

 

That's only if you fill out some warranty card with a unique number and mail it in.
Should have come with your stove.

 

, Yep, got em on that one!

 

It's like going to an auto parts counter and they can't sell you anything unless you tell them whether it's 2wd or 4wd.

Here's the ceramic king cat.

Catalytic Combustor Blaze King Classic, Parlor, Ultra (5

The wild card you are dealing with is the 6" pipe on an 8" stove so we can't be sure how things are supposed to work or that our experiences directly apply to yours. You're kind of the trailblazer.

 

I've been through 2 full hard winters, and the BK King ran flawlessly through them. My struggle this year with the smell of smoke has now resolved with the new cat. Still blows my mind that it was caused by that, but undeniably was.

 

So, here's a question my wife just asked me:

Has anyone burning a BK Princess (or similar cat stove) ever experienced the same problem of randomly smelling smoke as we are? The Princess was designed around a 6" pipe, so if any have, that could be an interesting twist to this.

 

Not me, after 5 seasons with a BK 30.2 model.
But what has not happened might happen in the future...

 

Let's just hope not.

 

Well, off and on today, my wife has said she's been getting whiffs of smoke.

I guess problem isn't solved. Crazy thing, I haven't. She's said it's really strong at times and I don't get a hint of anything. Now I'm just plain baffled.

I told her she's just looney, she disagrees. But then again, if a person were nuts, would they actually realize it.