Blaze King Princess Cat Questions

6 months on the spruce might be starting to dry, but even still a year would be better.

As far as the birch, with it been drying for only 3 months that is still quite wet.

The birch and spruce I burn has been drying for over a year and while it's dry I think another 6 months would only benefit it.

Figure anything out?

I think an OAK is definitely in order here. However I'm not sure just running it into the craw space is going to cure the negative pressure. You may end up having the same problem with smoke entering the craw space if the h-vac is running when the stove is. 1 or both of them might end up starving for air. If it were me I would run the OAK outside through the crawl space.

The black ooze might be the sealant on the t-stat oozing down. Pop the cove on top of the air intake off and take a look. Just make sure to close the t-stat before reinstalling the cover.

You're worried about wind affecting the OAK? Seriously? You must have read that silly woodheat.org article. You need an OAK and you need it plumbed to the outside. You can use your ventilated crawlspace if nothing else uses your crawlspace, that's what I do and it is ideal.

Curious to see what sort of blockages the sweep finds. Creosote bad enough to leak out the intake usually means a big problem in the flue. There should be no liquid creosote anywhere.

It gets windy in Palmer. Even with 70mph winds it doesn't effect the stove very much... just wish it wouldn't make the house feel like it's about ready to blow away though!