Blaze King Ashford Combustor life

[sonofheadchuck]

Hi all,
This is my first post, so not sure how it will come out. I have been lurking on this site for about 6 years. Been burning wood for 40 years in various burners, but learned ALOT since I've been on the site.; thought I knew about burning wood and what is dry wood.. I didn't. Have had some older type smoke dragons, had a couple Lopi's, then an Energy King zero clearance fireplace in the house I'm in now. In 2018 I tore that out and installed a Blaze King Ashford 30.2. So I have 5 Years burning on it, burning 6 months each year 24/7. Towards the end of last burning season, I burned some Ash that was 20-25% along with some other stuff that was between 15-20%, and on some reloads combustor dropped out of active, and after fire got going good I'd close bypass before it active zone. I started to notice I did not have good draw. When my burning for the year was done, I did my maintenance, found combustor plugged with ash, and top of chimney had lots of black creo build up. Never before had either situation occurred.

House is 1750 sq.ft. ranch, 2003 build. Chimney is 15.5 ft. top of stove to Cap, straight up no elbows. I burn about 2.5 cords per year, so I am burning low and slow, house insulated well easy to heat. So........I have 20,000 hours on the original CAT. figured it was EOL. But, I thought I'd do the vinegar bath. Followed "Highbeam" (i believe) instructions. Fired stove up this morning, (34 degrees). Cat was 100% glowing, no smoke from chimney, Cat temp gauge is at about the 2:00 position, Stovepipe (DBL wall) gauge at 425. air control at about 4:00 position. So my hope is the Cat is still reasonably working, hope to get another year out of this. Sorry for this long post. took me a long time to finally post something. If this turns out ok, Have another story about the Ashford door/ front cast piece, that with the help from Blaze King and post by MTASH, improved the door gasket seal. I really like this stove!!

Scott

 

[begreen]

Is there smoke showing out of the chimney when the cat is engaged? At 20,000 hrs. I would get a replacement cat now. It would be a bummer to need it during a bitter cold snap and to have to wait days for a replacement.

 

[sonofheadchuck]

No smoke, have a new combustor if needed. The way its performing now, with Cat gauge at the 2:00 position, small load in stove, isn't that a sign its working??

 

[begreen]

Sounds good. If there is no smoke then yes, the problem might have just been that the cat needed cleaning.

 

[Highbeam]

Hi all,
This is my first post, so not sure how it will come out. I have been lurking on this site for about 6 years. Been burning wood for 40 years in various burners, but learned ALOT since I've been on the site.; thought I knew about burning wood and what is dry wood.. I didn't. Have had some older type smoke dragons, had a couple Lopi's, then an Energy King zero clearance fireplace in the house I'm in now. In 2018 I tore that out and installed a Blaze King Ashford 30.2. So I have 5 Years burning on it, burning 6 months each year 24/7. Towards the end of last burning season, I burned some Ash that was 20-25% along with some other stuff that was between 15-20%, and on some reloads combustor dropped out of active, and after fire got going good I'd close bypass before it active zone. I started to notice I did not have good draw. When my burning for the year was done, I did my maintenance, found combustor plugged with ash, and top of chimney had lots of black creo build up. Never before had either situation occurred.

House is 1750 sq.ft. ranch, 2003 build. Chimney is 15.5 ft. top of stove to Cap, straight up no elbows. I burn about 2.5 cords per year, so I am burning low and slow, house insulated well easy to heat. So........I have 20,000 hours on the original CAT. figured it was EOL. But, I thought I'd do the vinegar bath. Followed "Highbeam" (i believe) instructions. Fired stove up this morning, (34 degrees). Cat was 100% glowing, no smoke from chimney, Cat temp gauge is at about the 2:00 position, Stovepipe (DBL wall) gauge at 425. air control at about 4:00 position. So my hope is the Cat is still reasonably working, hope to get another year out of this. Sorry for this long post. took me a long time to finally post something. If this turns out ok, Have another story about the Ashford door/ front cast piece, that with the help from Blaze King and post by MTASH, improved the door gasket seal. I really like this stove!!

Scott

For sure get your next cat ready. You are way over the rated lifespan for that cat and the vinegar bath only got me a few more months of full time burning. By all means keep using the old one until it fails again. They definitely accumulate more junk on the catalyst when they fail. Partly because the stove thermostat has to run at a higher intake air setting to maintain the desired stove temperature.

Wood is very expensive. A functional cat will save you wood. It's very easy and relatively cheap to pop in a new cat and get back the lost efficiency so there's no good reason to resist.

 

[BKVP]

Very, very often the debris you cleaned off the cap is to blame of the ash accumulation in the cat. Simply put, the lack of sufficient draft allows for the residence time to slow below a desired level and accumulation can begin.

I might suggest, with the maintenance you have performed, run a couple of good hot fires. After 20-30 minutes of lighting the stove, begin to make observations of the emissions coming from the stack. You may also wish to turn the stove down over a period of 20 additional minutes, in increments before making any observations.

I'll look forward to your observations.

BKVP

 

[sonofheadchuck]

I will follow your (BKVP) recommendation's next time I fire up the stove, and report back the findings. I usually don't start burning this early but did have my first fire this past Monday because i was very curious how the combustor would perform after I had done the vinegar bath. It seemed to do well because after the stove was going and combustor was active, I had no smoke from the chimney. The combustor temp gauge was operating around the 2:00 position and at times the whole combustor was glowing red. As I mentioned in original post, this combustor has 5 years of use; about 20,000hours on it. I am just bit confused as some state combustor life is 12,000 hours, and then should be changed; others have stated that they get 6-8 years when they are full time burners like me, getting 20,000 hours plus??

 

[BKVP]

I will follow your (BKVP) recommendation's next time I fire up the stove, and report back the findings. I usually don't start burning this early but did have my first fire this past Monday because i was very curious how the combustor would perform after I had done the vinegar bath. It seemed to do well because after the stove was going and combustor was active, I had no smoke from the chimney. The combustor temp gauge was operating around the 2:00 position and at times the whole combustor was glowing red. As I mentioned in original post, this combustor has 5 years of use; about 20,000hours on it. I am just bit confused as some state combustor life is 12,000 hours, and then should be changed; others have stated that they get 6-8 years when they are full time burners like me, getting 20,000 hours plus??

Just keep going!! So long as you have no visible emissions and combustor activity, you're good to go.

 

[Highbeam]

I will follow your (BKVP) recommendation's next time I fire up the stove, and report back the findings. I usually don't start burning this early but did have my first fire this past Monday because i was very curious how the combustor would perform after I had done the vinegar bath. It seemed to do well because after the stove was going and combustor was active, I had no smoke from the chimney. The combustor temp gauge was operating around the 2:00 position and at times the whole combustor was glowing red. As I mentioned in original post, this combustor has 5 years of use; about 20,000hours on it. I am just bit confused as some state combustor life is 12,000 hours, and then should be changed; others have stated that they get 6-8 years when they are full time burners like me, getting 20,000 hours plus??

Oh goodness, I would never advocate swapping at 12,000 hours just because of the 12000 hours but that just happens to be when mine typically fail. Only when they fail should they be replaced.

The cat warranty from the aftermarket I use (same manufacturer as oem) also expires at 12,000 hours or 5 years, whichever happens first.

I agree with BKVP, run it until it smokes.

 

[Hoytman]

@BKVP do you mean 20-30 minutes after lighting the stove start turning it down a little at a time every 20 minutes? I found your instructions there just a little confusing and would like you to clarify. Thank you!

 

[BKVP]

@BKVP do you mean 20-30 minutes after lighting the stove starting turning it down a little at a time every 20 minutes? I found your instructions there just a little confusing and would like you to clarify. Thank you!

Yes, perfect...

 

[Hoytman]

Yes, perfect...

Thanks for the clarification.