Long time scroller second time poster looking for some help with my BK Ashford 30 installed 9/2018.
Through the years and learning curve of a cat stove i started noticing a few years back that it wasn't holding long burns and every season I would notice what I felt were breathing issues.
We burn 24/7 from end of Oct/beginning Nov to April. Our wood is 15-17% and clean front of cat every 4-5wks. With chimney sweep every 2 months maybe 2.5 months.
So last burning season as with every sweep over the past few years i would voice concerns with how it's breathing and asking if I need a new cat yet as it's the original. Always told everything look good and as long as cat is still glowing with some red it's still good and BK is known to smoke.
For years ive gotten this same response and that chimney good compared to many others they service.
Well back in Feb late at night I had just reloaded and as the load began to burn after closing the loading door I began to hear loud snapping/popping like bubble wrap coming from the top bend in the flue before it goes out the ceiling box. Next thing I know i start seeing red flames (not outside the flue) glowing. It continued to get louder so I turned thermostat to 12 o'clock, put a wet hand towel inside to stop load starting to burn, closed bypass, called 911 and woke family and pup up getting everyone outside. We live in the country so FD took 20min to arrive, we enjoyed not enjoyed the red burning stuff coming out the top of the chimney and were able to call off the pumper trucks from surrounding agencies as i was luckily able to shut it down like I remembered in the manual and not have the freight train roaring chimney fire. Scared the hell outta me and honestly im still dealing with the high adrenaline this season on every start/reload.
So started burning this season Nov 3 and had a pre-scheduled sweep for last Monday the 24th. At that appointment on the 24th I again shared the issues of breathing, bypass closing not sounding right and feeling stiff as well as asking they NOT remove the cat i would clean myself as it was a new cat i put in back in March. As usual I was told everything looked good, chimney wasn't bad compared to others they service etc. At the sweep Monday it was rinse repeat again with the all good.
I had run about 8-10 loads through since Monday to Friday when I finally decided to shut it all down. She was needing loading door open longer to start reload, bypass felt worse on close, cat wasn't showing more than spotty red, stinky smoke like a freight train.
Yesterday I started working on what's really going on here. My loading door is tight everywhere and would tear the dollar if I'd pulled it harder. I went to pull the cat and they had taken it out, put it back in without a gasket and it was upside down with metal tabs on top instead of bottom. I then realized I should also dollar bill test the bypass which failed badly. Not only could I effortlessly pull the bill out it also slide side to side not resistance. So I put my phone up in cat space and snapped some pictures and felt terrible when I found the whole area with a thick coat of brownish ash and the bypass screw is literally holding on by a thread and leaning almost ready to fall out. I truly feel that it's been breathing badly because the bypass appears to have never been cleaned, adjusted or greased. Which made it impossible to lock down the thermostat, making it smoke and causing creosote by the stinky smell after a few days burning after sweep.
Sorry for the long story but I have a couple questions now that ive gotten everything I need to fix this and do my own maintenance but also wanted to give as much info for any help and/or maybe help someone else from having to have a scary experience! Besides the fact it's now down into the low 30's at night and we're cold. I also have contacted my dealer to get a new BK cat and extra gaskets but my dealer doesn't have anything in stock, said they haven't ordered any since 2020 and BK is a couple weeks on back order for cats. So I'll re-gasket the Midwest Hearth i put in Fed. And replace when I get BK's.
So my questions...
1) im gonna have to take that bypass bolt out. How far do I screw it back in once I get it cleaned up? I will try and put nut back where it is when I put back together.
2) Do I have to take the entire flue down or can I just push the 2 small sections of the telescope pipe up?
3) Should I be concerned with creosote build up in the flue/chimney from the 5 days of smoking fires or once it's all fixed and more than likely running like it should with out the leaking around the cat without the gasket and the bypass being properly seated. Will a few fires dry anything built up?
Thanks in advance for any help im very appreciative!
Through the years and learning curve of a cat stove i started noticing a few years back that it wasn't holding long burns and every season I would notice what I felt were breathing issues.
We burn 24/7 from end of Oct/beginning Nov to April. Our wood is 15-17% and clean front of cat every 4-5wks. With chimney sweep every 2 months maybe 2.5 months.
So last burning season as with every sweep over the past few years i would voice concerns with how it's breathing and asking if I need a new cat yet as it's the original. Always told everything look good and as long as cat is still glowing with some red it's still good and BK is known to smoke.
For years ive gotten this same response and that chimney good compared to many others they service.
Well back in Feb late at night I had just reloaded and as the load began to burn after closing the loading door I began to hear loud snapping/popping like bubble wrap coming from the top bend in the flue before it goes out the ceiling box. Next thing I know i start seeing red flames (not outside the flue) glowing. It continued to get louder so I turned thermostat to 12 o'clock, put a wet hand towel inside to stop load starting to burn, closed bypass, called 911 and woke family and pup up getting everyone outside. We live in the country so FD took 20min to arrive, we enjoyed not enjoyed the red burning stuff coming out the top of the chimney and were able to call off the pumper trucks from surrounding agencies as i was luckily able to shut it down like I remembered in the manual and not have the freight train roaring chimney fire. Scared the hell outta me and honestly im still dealing with the high adrenaline this season on every start/reload.
So started burning this season Nov 3 and had a pre-scheduled sweep for last Monday the 24th. At that appointment on the 24th I again shared the issues of breathing, bypass closing not sounding right and feeling stiff as well as asking they NOT remove the cat i would clean myself as it was a new cat i put in back in March. As usual I was told everything looked good, chimney wasn't bad compared to others they service etc. At the sweep Monday it was rinse repeat again with the all good.
I had run about 8-10 loads through since Monday to Friday when I finally decided to shut it all down. She was needing loading door open longer to start reload, bypass felt worse on close, cat wasn't showing more than spotty red, stinky smoke like a freight train.
Yesterday I started working on what's really going on here. My loading door is tight everywhere and would tear the dollar if I'd pulled it harder. I went to pull the cat and they had taken it out, put it back in without a gasket and it was upside down with metal tabs on top instead of bottom. I then realized I should also dollar bill test the bypass which failed badly. Not only could I effortlessly pull the bill out it also slide side to side not resistance. So I put my phone up in cat space and snapped some pictures and felt terrible when I found the whole area with a thick coat of brownish ash and the bypass screw is literally holding on by a thread and leaning almost ready to fall out. I truly feel that it's been breathing badly because the bypass appears to have never been cleaned, adjusted or greased. Which made it impossible to lock down the thermostat, making it smoke and causing creosote by the stinky smell after a few days burning after sweep.
Sorry for the long story but I have a couple questions now that ive gotten everything I need to fix this and do my own maintenance but also wanted to give as much info for any help and/or maybe help someone else from having to have a scary experience! Besides the fact it's now down into the low 30's at night and we're cold. I also have contacted my dealer to get a new BK cat and extra gaskets but my dealer doesn't have anything in stock, said they haven't ordered any since 2020 and BK is a couple weeks on back order for cats. So I'll re-gasket the Midwest Hearth i put in Fed. And replace when I get BK's.
So my questions...
1) im gonna have to take that bypass bolt out. How far do I screw it back in once I get it cleaned up? I will try and put nut back where it is when I put back together.
2) Do I have to take the entire flue down or can I just push the 2 small sections of the telescope pipe up?
3) Should I be concerned with creosote build up in the flue/chimney from the 5 days of smoking fires or once it's all fixed and more than likely running like it should with out the leaking around the cat without the gasket and the bypass being properly seated. Will a few fires dry anything built up?
Thanks in advance for any help im very appreciative!
![[Hearth.com] Ashford 30 bypass/cat maintenance](/talk/data/attachments/342/342896-19df2f6bfa3939890bc6adf575461c4f.jpg?hash=BIJnT90KeH)
