I have the princess set in boring mode, no visible flames, black glass, active cat only.
Thoughts?
Well, my ashford started acting sluggish. Got some smoke smell too! Figured my chimney needed a sweeping. I got my Ashford in Jan last year and had it swept in April to see what was there. It wasn't much. Sweep said once a year seems like would be OK. Now he and I dont think so.
Boy. Was I surprised... And concerned. There was creosote all over my cap and the mesh. The top foot or so was clogged up pretty good too. What bothered me most was there was some light fluffy creosote on the cap (indicating fire on the cap?)
Only got maybe 2-3 cups out 24 feet of pipe in the end.
I guess at a minimum I will sweep 2x a year now. Wood is dry 2-3 year old mixed hardwood. Woodshed kept. My hearthstone was every 2 years... And even then it was less than 1 cup of ash. No creosote to speak of.
View attachment 156294
Thoughts?
I rarely see a dirty flue with a hearthstone. I completely agree, they waste tons of heat up the chimney! The stone can only release heat a certain rate, while the rest of it goes out the top.Yep, what Rick said.
You got so much less with your hearthstone because the higher flue gas temps and velocity took anything that could make creosote right out the top. Along with a bunch of heat that could have been in your house.
Well, my ashford started acting sluggish. Got some smoke smell too! Figured my chimney needed a sweeping. I got my Ashford in Jan last year and had it swept in April to see what was there. It wasn't much. Sweep said once a year seems like would be OK. Now he and I dont think so.
Boy. Was I surprised... And concerned. There was creosote all over my cap and the mesh. The top foot or so was clogged up pretty good too. What bothered me most was there was some light fluffy creosote on the cap (indicating fire on the cap?)
Only got maybe 2-3 cups out 24 feet of pipe in the end.
I guess at a minimum I will sweep 2x a year now. Wood is dry 2-3 year old mixed hardwood. Woodshed kept. My hearthstone was every 2 years... And even then it was less than 1 cup of ash. No creosote to speak of.
View attachment 156294
Thoughts?
That is normal. Expect the cap, and the top foot or so to gunk up like that on a BK. Crunchy black stuff. Farther down it is usually sooty black stuff. The BK will leave much more junk in you flue than a hearthstone. I too had a hearthstone before the BK on the same flue and had a big increase in debris with the BK.
any concern about all the smoke out the stack? thats normal? webby's stack was much cleaner.
Describe your smoke. Is it blue, white, light, heavy, intermittent, constant, does it dissipate or linger, etc. I have found that 20% moisture wood smokes a lot more than 12% wood. My smoke is blue and light, intermittent when cruising. Most of the burn is smoke free but the majority of the first two hours the smoke is obvious.
Why is that? I find that our stack is clear from about 15-20 minutes after starting and stays clear. I only see wispy white steam on very cold days. When in DC at the stove decathalon there were 12 stoves burning including a couple hybrids and there was no smoke showing at all, except for two stoves. One was being adjusted and the other was not working right.
I wish I knew. Cat temps are always way up, glowing cat, very low teens MC doug fir, it just smokes and always has. Cat stoves are not clean burners based on my experience with this BK. Flues are much dirtier, smokier stacks, and smoke roll out but the tradeoff is vastly superior performance WRT home heating.
I use the same fuel in a non-cat and have the same experience that you do with no smoke at all within minutes of light off from your non-cat.
I don't want to smoke, especially when trying to burn in stealth mode.
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