I have quite the snarly venting for my stove. Straight up off the stove, double 45's for an off-set, a few more inches of vertical before it goes to a 30, then a straight shot about 6ft. to another 30, then straight up for about 8-10 ft. So- up, back-up-forward-and up. Nasty, but it's been working fine. I was away for close to a week, returned late Thurs. Had trouble getting the stove to light-off, but figured it was the moderate temps. combined with wind. Same thing yesterday and huge smoke spill-out when trying to get it to light off. Worse this morning @ 2am when re-loading. Hmmm... something is amiss. Checked for obstructions = nothing. Cap is clear. Start a small fire, crawl up into attic- class A is leaking at the joints. No signs of danger, but this has to be fixed. The connecting bands are tight, nothing looks "wonky", but I'm getting smoke leakage. Inside, Sat. night, the DVL was spurting smoke from the seams, had to open windows. Ideas? I'll be burning propane until this is corrected, I hate that.
My fathers stove clogged up above the fire bricks that are over the secondaries, maybe look there? Does your stove have a bypass control, and if so does it stop smoking when it's open?
I don't see how minor leaks like you describe could affect the draft enough to make starting a fire difficult. What do you mean when you say you checked for obstructions? How recently have you actually run a brush through the entire chimney?
I think I'd run that sooteater up thru there. Sounds more like a draft issue than anything else. Cap screen? Cold flue?
I'm hoping draft is the issue also, been warm and really windy. I stuck a mirror in the stove and shined a light up the flue with the by-pass open- nothing but a little black fluff. I got up on the roof, checked the cap, and looked down the pipe. Some buildup but not enough to cause blockage. I'll give it a scrub tonight, then check all the seams again.
But with all those crooks and curves, you can't be seeing the whole picture. Hope you get this corrected quickly. Better than buying propane. Get it fixed and then you can watch the Broncos play in the Super Bowl.
OK- the pitched area of the flue had substantial blockage, couldn't see it but it was there. 'Facepalm !!' Now- Sooteater'ed up and down, brushed down for 12', air blown up, shop-vac'ed, hand scrubbed, chiseled the corners, etc., etc., ....the damm thing is clean. And burning like it should. Plus- colder tonight and no wind, Jabba took off like a rocket and the glass is clean- I'm happy. ...and now I have to make things on my lathe, not so happy, it's too late but... OH YEAH!!!- BKK owners! To clean out the interior side(s) and back shield- Simpson Coiled Strap- 18g.- "CS18-R"- Been using this since I had my stove, you'll scuff your knuckles but you'll get all the crap behind the shields out. The rear shield is the biggest pain, but if you work it with a piece of that strap, it breaks up pretty easy. Shop-Vac the remains, the smaller the nozzle the better.
Good find. Glad it's all cleaned & working. May try to give mine a good cleaning this summer. Will try the strap. You burn a real hot fire before cleaning ?
