It's been a year since the Chinook has been installed, last year it was incredible. Way beyond everything I imagined, and surpassed everything people here said it can do. (40 hour burns on a load of pine? Wonderful!)
Starting out this year, it's been terrible.
I snapped a soot eater rod during my chimney sweep 2 weeks ago, waiting for a replacement yet so I haevn't been able to sweep the last 2-3 feet of my chimney + cap.
It can't maintain a burn below 1.5, the stack temp will drop to about 100 and eventually sputter out.
After it sputters out, the cat is packed tight full of ash. As far as I know BK says the best way to clean it is a good hot fire. So right now I'm burning the dickens out of the stove. Obviously a burn on 2.25 for 30-40 mins isn't their idea of a "hot fire"... So we'll burn it with a 1000F stack temp for an 30-45 mins and see what happens. Chimney is rated at 1k for 60 mins, so I don't want to push it too far.
I don't know if the tiny bit of creosote in the chimney in the last 2 feet is restricting flow or not. The temps are colder than before when I used to run the stove on 1 with no problems.
I'm not trying to bash BK by any means, since I assume this is an operator issue right now.
The wood I'm burning is leftover wood from last year... So if anything it's a year more seasoned then last year.
Anyone have any thoughts?
If this hot fire doesn't clear it up I'll give BKVP a PM to see what's up.
Starting out this year, it's been terrible.
I snapped a soot eater rod during my chimney sweep 2 weeks ago, waiting for a replacement yet so I haevn't been able to sweep the last 2-3 feet of my chimney + cap.
It can't maintain a burn below 1.5, the stack temp will drop to about 100 and eventually sputter out.
After it sputters out, the cat is packed tight full of ash. As far as I know BK says the best way to clean it is a good hot fire. So right now I'm burning the dickens out of the stove. Obviously a burn on 2.25 for 30-40 mins isn't their idea of a "hot fire"... So we'll burn it with a 1000F stack temp for an 30-45 mins and see what happens. Chimney is rated at 1k for 60 mins, so I don't want to push it too far.
I don't know if the tiny bit of creosote in the chimney in the last 2 feet is restricting flow or not. The temps are colder than before when I used to run the stove on 1 with no problems.
I'm not trying to bash BK by any means, since I assume this is an operator issue right now.
The wood I'm burning is leftover wood from last year... So if anything it's a year more seasoned then last year.
Anyone have any thoughts?
If this hot fire doesn't clear it up I'll give BKVP a PM to see what's up.