That is not a spark arrestor just a screen and a pretty large one at that. If you have that clogged already there is something wrong
BK Ashford 30 Install
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Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Any screen is a restriction. Remove it unless required by local code.
Shut the bypass as soon as the cat meter climbs to the “active” line. Continuing to burn after that can start chimney fires and melt your bypass gasket retainers requiring cutting and welding to repair. Yikes! Once you repair your door gasket problem you can burn per the manual. After the bypass is closed you can go take a shower.
Shut the bypass as soon as the cat meter climbs to the “active” line. Continuing to burn after that can start chimney fires and melt your bypass gasket retainers requiring cutting and welding to repair. Yikes! Once you repair your door gasket problem you can burn per the manual. After the bypass is closed you can go take a shower.
Or if you have birds or squirrels that like to make nests in chimneys. We install them on almost all liners we do and the vast majority of the time they are fine. He has had trouble with this install from the start I seriously doubt it is the screen. I am betting more height will fix it.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Animal/bird screen, and I don't leave home without it.
There are a couple here that rail against it..probably more prone to clog on their BKs.If you can't climb up there right now, go out in the yard with a pair of binoculars, you should be able to see how bad it is.
Thinking more about your weak draft, I'd say chances are pretty good that it may have been a back-puff; Box filled with wood smoke and some creo smoke burning off the box, then it ignited and pushed acrid smoke out of the stove. I agree with bholler, get that chimney section up there. Once the leaves come in you'll barely be able to see the missile silo strapped to your house.
Yes, the issue is for reload. Since our draft is poor, sometimes it can be in the top of "low" cat temp range and it takes 5-10 minutes to heat up and light the new logs after a reload. So we can close it immediately going forward if it is active.
I was concerned about getting the chimney warm with no flames going and getting smoke in the house. In this case I watched it about 1 or 2 minutes and realized it would take at least 5 more minutes for the logs to light. I'm not sure it is as much of a problem with our low draft situation that leaving the damper open will cause excessive draft. When it is inactive it can sometimes take 15-20 minutes of flames with the bypass open before it is active, so this kind of heat does not sound unusual. I usually close it immediately when it hits active (just out of impatience).
-->How would we know if the bypass gasket retainers are damaged? Can that be inspected easily?
\Animal/bird screen, and I don't leave home without it.
If you can't climb up there right now, go out in the yard with a pair of binoculars, you should be able to see how bad it is.
Thinking more about your weak draft, I'd say chances are pretty good that it may have been a back-puff; Box filled with wood smoke and some creo smoke burning off the box, then it ignited and pushed acrid smoke out of the stove. I agree with bholler, get that chimney section up there. Once the leaves come in you'll barely be able to see the missile silo strapped to your house.
I took a peak driving up the driveway this morning, the screen is very clear. Once I got 100' away it almost looks completely transparent. There is large hill at the top of the driveway and it is easy to see. It is certainly a missile silo already. It will be upgrading to a full out Saturn V with the extension
. With that said, I agree that is very likely a backpuff incident. It's the first time we've seen that with the air set to "high" during a startup. All other incidents have been setting the air too low or too quickly. I did mention we had very high wind yesterday right?I will repair the door tension as well this evening before the next burn. Maybe I need to wait until the wind is low? Or do I need to buy a backdraft proof cap before I relight the stove? My wife is very concerned about getting any more smoke in the house. How confident are you guys that the draft will fix the problem? Do most people with adequate draft have no backpuffing with any amount of wind?
Sucks to be missing out on this nice cool weather
Hey guys.
So on Saturday I crawled up and added the 3ft. A little interesting lifting 5ft+cap on the edge of the roof 25ft up.
It has made a tremendous difference in draft! The 20° nights are helping too I'm sure. I've run several loads on 50% air setting and kept downstairs around 70°F all night with about 8lbs of maple vs barely staying active with 25lbs. I've had practically no creo smell even when it damps out the flame. I can see there is a nice white glow from the blast of air on the coals. The startup is much more of an aggressive blast on high and starts a flame after 5-10sec.
We had a very faint burning smell when keeping the air on high for about 1hr (bypass off). I couldn't smell it with the flu but my wife noticed. Now I'm being careful to keep the bypass closed whenever possible and I'm damping down the air on a large reload to keep flue temps cooler. The air is much more predictable and consistent.
Last night it started on low and looks to have burned through 6lbs even on 50%, likely it could have run lower than 50% if the stat is cooler.
Crossing my fingers but waiting to see how it performs in 40°F and up.
Thanks for all the tips guys.
So on Saturday I crawled up and added the 3ft. A little interesting lifting 5ft+cap on the edge of the roof 25ft up.
It has made a tremendous difference in draft! The 20° nights are helping too I'm sure. I've run several loads on 50% air setting and kept downstairs around 70°F all night with about 8lbs of maple vs barely staying active with 25lbs. I've had practically no creo smell even when it damps out the flame. I can see there is a nice white glow from the blast of air on the coals. The startup is much more of an aggressive blast on high and starts a flame after 5-10sec.
We had a very faint burning smell when keeping the air on high for about 1hr (bypass off). I couldn't smell it with the flu but my wife noticed. Now I'm being careful to keep the bypass closed whenever possible and I'm damping down the air on a large reload to keep flue temps cooler. The air is much more predictable and consistent.
Last night it started on low and looks to have burned through 6lbs even on 50%, likely it could have run lower than 50% if the stat is cooler.
Crossing my fingers but waiting to see how it performs in 40°F and up.
Thanks for all the tips guys.
Nope, so above 30°F I'm still getting creo smell. I've been trying 2/3 air setting, might have to bump it back up to 75% to be smoke free. It's certainly a bit better, but getting plenty creo smell. Not sure if this is just a failed install or what. Emailing BK and seeing if they have any other suggestions. Maybe I need to cut a second hole to switch to 45's inside . Either way this install got f'd up for sure. So disappointing.
Should be drafting nicely on Sunday night at least. Calling for 4°F overnight.
. Either way this install got f'd up for sure. So disappointing. Should be drafting nicely on Sunday night at least. Calling for 4°F overnight.
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
Sorry to read about your trevails, VCS.Nope, so above 30°F I'm still getting creo smell. I've been trying 2/3 air setting, might have to bump it back up to 75% to be smoke free. It's certainly a bit better, but getting plenty creo smell. Not sure if this is just a failed install or what. Emailing BK and seeing if they have any other suggestions. Maybe I need to cut a second hole to switch to 45's inside
Should be drafting nicely on Sunday night at least. Calling for 4°F overnight.
I'd definitely go with the two 45's, and while you are at it, get some thin gasket and gasket cement to clog up any gaps you see in the pipe junctions. Had to do that myself last month on a stove I installed. I'd also take a short length of the gasket and tie a knot at the base of the temp probe that you described as having slop.
Thanks for the empathy
. My stove pipe is very leaky. Its selkirk DSP with corrugated connections. I bet if you have too many leaks coming in from the DSP that can't be good for the draft. For the probe I basically just need some type of thin high temp shim material to seal the gap. It was much better with some aluminum foil tightly wrapped but I think that could have burned and could have caused that bad chemical smell.What do you recommend for gasket cement? Something like Rutland black? Hopefully nothing that smells bad, we can't take any more chemicals polluting our house!
I'm looking at getting new DSP. Do you guys have any idea what they did here with the stove to chimney adapter? How are you supposed to go between a male dsp and male dsp adapter?
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Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
The knot of thin fiberglass gasket is to replace the aluminum foil job. It won't fail like the foil did, when it gets hot.Thanks for the empathy
What do you recommend for gasket cement? Something like Rutland black? Hopefully nothing that smells bad, we can't take any more chemicals polluting our house!
I'm looking at getting new DSP. Do you guys have any idea what they did here with the stove to chimney adapter? How are you supposed to go between a male dsp and male dsp adapter?
The Rutland stove cement I used didn't smell at all.
What is dsp? Doesn't Seem Perfect?
I don't like the way the pipe fits in the stove. First picture of that I noticed. Hopefully experts will weigh in.
DSP: Dual-wall stove pipe? That's what Selkirk calls it. I'm not sure what you mean by a knot. There is maybe 1/16" of slop. Needs to be something tapered that can slowly wedge in. Could I just wrap a bead of Rutland cement around the firebox probe hole?
"Pipe fits in the stove" are you talking about the last picture I posted? That is the entrance to the thimble. They were supposed to bring Duravent DVL and showed up with all Selkirk.
Nigel459
Feeling the Heat
There is supposed to be a finishing band around the crimped part of the pipe at the top, if I recall correctly... mostly aesthetic but still, if they missed that detail...
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
Yes, thanks for pointing that out, it's the thimble connect. Doesn't look right to my eye. Male to male might be fine in some circles, but for stovepipe, should be male to female.
By knot, I mean just tie an overhand knot or a cinch knot (my boyscout training is failing me, the one that you pull on the long end and it gets tighter) in a short piece of small round gasket and stuff a little of it into that 1/16" gap. Some stove cement might be ok too, in combination with the gasket.
There's a finishing band between the 90 and short pipe section. They just cut some pipe to get the right length and mostly covered it up with that. It doesn't really fit tight enough though and it certainly would be too loose around that last section. If I order two 45's I'm not sure if I need to buy a new chimney adapter or something with them? I don't see another female dsp version. Don't understand why they would make a male dsp to male chimney.
It did great last night. Loaded full with N maple with 1/3 coals, set to 75% and 8hrs later it was 1/2 full of coals, 69 downstairs, 4 degrees outside. There was still some tiny amount of creo smell some point when we turned it down earlier in the evening.
I also hooked back up my central air fan and it did great spreading the heat around upstairs. Thinking of a way to have it come on intermittently.
I also hooked back up my central air fan and it did great spreading the heat around upstairs. Thinking of a way to have it come on intermittently.
MissMac
Minister of Fire
If you get a smart thermostat like a Nest or Ecobee, you can program your furnace fan to come on x-minutes per hour (5 minute increments for options). So say that you set it to run 35 minutes of every hour, if your furnace kicked on for 20 minutes, the fan would run an additional 15 minutes in that hour just circulating the air in your house. If the furnace didn't come on, it would cycle on and off for 35/60 minutes. I have one, and it's super slick.
@MissMac
Nice. I have the Sensi WIFI. Unfortunately there is no separate scheduling for the fan. I was looking into jumping it to the heat signal which basically turns the hallway into a forced air furnace . As long as the fan only runs 1hr or so per night it should be efficient.
I'm crossing my fingers they will release a patch with fan scheduling.
Nice. I have the Sensi WIFI. Unfortunately there is no separate scheduling for the fan. I was looking into jumping it to the heat signal which basically turns the hallway into a forced air furnace . As long as the fan only runs 1hr or so per night it should be efficient.
I'm crossing my fingers they will release a patch with fan scheduling.
Nigel459
Feeling the Heat
It looks like a “male” but it’s only a male outer wall, made to slide into a female outer wall above. The inner pipe is all male-down per standards. To connect to a chimney, you either use a chimney adapter, which has a female-down and is necessary for some chimneys-to-DSP; or, no adapter and a finishing band.
I did one this summer with no adapter and the finishing band tidied it up nicely.
It’s all laid out in the installation instructions that comes with most DSP sections/parts.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I think @webby3650 has posted about a particular adapter (appliance connector) at the flue collar that is supposed to seal very nicely, but I don't know how you assure that it would work with the brand of pipe you have..?
Man, it is smoking strong right now. Not sure what's different. I filled it up and it's running about 85% air setting. It was producing creo smell all startup with a nice strong draft. I feel like I might need to shut this thing down. We can't be breathing so much smoke. Especially the baby.
BK called me and said they think I need a chase and it is getting too cold. Sounds like a complete guess to me. Doesn't make sense based on how it's running. I could see that happening over a cold night when it is running on a low setting. How could I tell if that is the problem?
This morning I just stuffed a bolt in there lightly about a thread in, the cat was well active. Practically no smell with that. It really doesn't seem like exhaust smoke, because I can smell that outside when I'm running on high. It's more like there is some creo deposit on the cat probe and when it heats up it radiates out of the hole unless the draft is perfect and is pulling air in. I'm going to look for some stainless foil that can widthstand the heat, maybe see if the chimney installer will come and seal up the pipe adapter or switch it to the flush version (its a little bit wedged in there weird and ovular with no screws to tighten it down).
Will also investigate the 45's (though the BK rep now didn't suggest that). It will be a pain to have to recure them.
BK called me and said they think I need a chase and it is getting too cold. Sounds like a complete guess to me. Doesn't make sense based on how it's running. I could see that happening over a cold night when it is running on a low setting. How could I tell if that is the problem?
This morning I just stuffed a bolt in there lightly about a thread in, the cat was well active. Practically no smell with that. It really doesn't seem like exhaust smoke, because I can smell that outside when I'm running on high. It's more like there is some creo deposit on the cat probe and when it heats up it radiates out of the hole unless the draft is perfect and is pulling air in. I'm going to look for some stainless foil that can widthstand the heat, maybe see if the chimney installer will come and seal up the pipe adapter or switch it to the flush version (its a little bit wedged in there weird and ovular with no screws to tighten it down).
Will also investigate the 45's (though the BK rep now didn't suggest that). It will be a pain to have to recure them.
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So it still has smell with the bolt plugging the cat probe hole. It is 25°F out. After warm up, I switched to the bolt, threw in half a load and slowly turned it to 75%. I got my new STT thermometer and it nicely is holding at 425°F. But after about 1hr the flames died and the smell increased. I foolishly increased the air and ignited the gas, which released more sweet creo smell but a little smokier and stingier.
I called the chimney installer and they will come out 2/1, said "you shouldn't install any cement in the pipe". Hope they actually do something.
I called the chimney installer and they will come out 2/1, said "you shouldn't install any cement in the pipe". Hope they actually do something.
Yes. Yes. Just got a new smoke+CO detector because old one was out of cal. We have some type of detector in every room upstairs. I've never triggered any of them. It seems like it is just slow and steady. Luckily not enough to build up and trigger either alarm. It would have to be serious smoke spillage it seems.
Edit: Just filled the box with it's first 2yr seasoned white oak. I'm keeping it set ~85% and the STT is sitting nice at 600°F. No smell (tiny bit of paint maybe). Last load I think I set it too low for half a load with the stove cold and it stalled. It really heats up the wall because it's not getting good air intake with the stove warm. With the stove at 600°F now the wall is maybe 100° instead of 125°F +. Just really sensitive with this setup. Nice when it works...
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I've been experimenting with E-W loading and that has helped. I can load it in the middle or back E-W and it will slow down the burn quite a bit without turning down the air. So I'm trying about 30lbs of oak tight in the back and drop one or two smallies on the front coals to start it up. Got too eager last night with it barely active and woke up to a cold stove...
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