Blaze King Ashford 30 BackPuffing

A side note, not to go off topic - Am I correct to assume that you work for Blaze King, BKVP ? If so, I want to thatnk you for joining the forum, it is always good to see the smart folks here, trying to help out!

Back to the regularly scheduled programming ...

 

Correct. Smell is associated with opening the door.

By F/A connection, you mean outside air intake? If so, no.

Stovepipe is single wall.

 

However, you said that you tried it with the window open, and smoke still rolled out so that seems to point to the draft..

 

Yes I work for Blaze King...about 25 years at this point. As for "smart", well my wife might dispute that!

 

Alright. So, your manual highly recommends the use of black double wall. It does so in multiple locations in the manual to drive home the importance of maintaining stack temperatures. With older wood stoves or less efficient models, single wall can act as a heat exchanger and move heat to the room. Highly efficient wood heaters need to maintain stack temperatures. Switch to double wall. This should be the first, least costly step to resolving smoke spillage in your installation. Hopefully this will help so you can avoid the costs associated with replacing your 8" with a 6" system. I'm afraid just adding to your 8" will result in more particulate accumulation in the chimney furthest from the heat source. Also, if your cap has a spark arrestor screen, consider a different cap...without a screen.

 

So what you're saying is, I should have RTFM? My wife also questions my smarts.

Thanks so much for the help. Very much appreciated.

 

Comments for the BK man.

What’s the temp “range” of the catalyst when engaged?

Would be interesting to see a temperature reading at the top off the chimney?

Pipe matching stove top is optimum. Does BK make accepting to that rule? I know at least manufacturer that allows three times the size of the stove outlet.

Probably not in the BK manuals, but I have to wonder if BK has technical info on actual draft operating ranges, via a manometer, for their stove models that they’d be willing to share. If they gave draft parameters it would have to help installs be more successful resulting in less complaints for many manufacturers. I am not aware of any wood stove manufacturer that offers these ranges in their manuals. Perhaps there’s a reason why.

 

My wife will tell you that I'm far short of "smart," and much closer to "wood stove crash dummy."

The cat generally runs 1000-1500, ideally. You don't want it much higher..damage may start to happen around 1800.

I think some manuals do list draft ranges, but I don't know which ones.

 

The precious metals begin chemical reaction at 550F. Precious metals are adhered to the substrate with a washcoat. At 1600F, the was coat flattens out, looses surface area and will often peel from the substrate. Regardless of what temps the substrate can withstand, the washcoat is what must not be converted from gamma alumina to alpha alumina as a result of the 1600F threshold. This applies to all (100%) of combustors used in wood stoves. The bypass should be closed at 550 or "active" on many cat therms.

Pipe matching stove top is not ideal. There are 3 ways to reduce particulates. Chemically, thermally or a hybrid, using both aforementioned techniques.

Cat stoves should have lower stack temps as most combustion moisture in seasoned wood burning never makes it past the cat....when operated correctly. It's that moisture combined with particulates that form creosote.

We advocate the simple line "go out, look up". If you see smoke after a period of time, say 20 minutes or so of reloading any stove, do something. Smoke billowing from a stack makes our future as wood burners more perilous.

As for menometer readings and various burn rates, I will build a publicly available database....but it would only apply to a specific installation. Draft is vastly influenced by multiple variables.

 

If you "google" flame or metal and color temps you can see what a typical orange glow cat temp is.

One can also download just about any new stove manual for free and then you don't have to utilize straw mans in arguments or quests for knowledge.

 

I think you meant to say that pipe matching stove top IS ideal right? 6" stove on a 6" chimney seems ideal.

 

No sir. He said matching temps.....

 

I read that as pipe sizes not temps being asked about. Regardless, we agree that pipe size should match stove outlet size for best performance.

 

Ok. Ordered the materials to convert the 6" single wall to double wall. Will update with results.

 

Perhaps that could have been taken both ways depending on mood I suppose.

I was talking about matching stove outlet size to chimney diameter. Temperatures never crossed my mind.

Surely BK would have some draft parameters set in place , both low and high....an optimum range.


Thank you for the reply.

 

Hope that's all you need.

 

I think a little bit differently on this subject than most but here goes: I believe the door openings on modern stoves are really too large in many cases, and opening such a big "hole" in the side of a stove is bound to let some smoke (and fly ash) spill out of an active, burning stove with <most> chimneys. With door sizes in the 180 sq. in. range and large, all trying to feed, along with the wood smoke, into a ~30 sq. in. outlet (a 6" diameter stack), some smoke is bound to spill out. All of the usual suggestions help, longer chimney, fewer or no bends, letting the fire get going pretty well before opening the door, opening the door slowly, etc., etc. but all together they are not really a solution. The solution is a draft inducer, a mechanical, powered fan, mounted either in- line in the smoke pipe or on top of the chimney. Throw one of those into the mix and it is just amazing how much smoke and ash does NOT get into the house. Best aide for the wood burner since the match IMO.

Brian