Blaze King Ashford Issues

[wyoung9074]

Hey All,​

Anyone in here very familiar with cat stoves, particularly blaze kings?

Ive had two small chimney fires and I'm terrified of this thing. I clean the chimney once a month. Its a double wall pipe to double wall stainless. Roughly 16 feet straight up. I remove the inside pipe and clean above the bypass too.

Wood is all hardwood, under 20% moisture per my meter. It seems to happen when I drop out of the active zone and reload when it's still warm. Cat is old but still working well, new door gasket. Bypass gasket is in need of replacement but isn't bad enough its not functional.

I reload by opening the air and the bypass, waiting a minute, slowly opening the door, filling the box, and leaving the bypass open until it reaches active again.

However, before it reaches active again I get loud crinkling noises from the chimney. I walked outside, saw white smoke, heard two pops, and saw a splash of orange at the chimney cap. I shut the bypass and air. It settled down and the I kept bypass shut and turned the air back up to get it burning and it worked completely fine.

Again this morning from cold startup, I put a few pieces of wood in the stove and lit it. Before going active, I got the creosote burning smell and crinkling in the chimney. I took some photos. This can't keep happening or I'm going to burn my house down. I'm terrified of this stove. The installer wants 265/hr from the time they leave their shop over half an hour away and until they get back to talk to me. Please help.
I have a 3 year old and two dogs. I need some advice on this thing if possible.

 

[begreen]

The first thing is to verify the wood is dry inside. Is the moisture content being tested after being re-split and tested on the freshly exposed face of the wood? If testing just the end grain, the results can be in error. Wood dries from the outside in. It takes longer to dry the interior of the split. Testing the end grain can often be 5-10% lower than the inside of the split if the wood is not fully seasoned.

When testing, bring a few thick splits indoors for several hours to warm it up. Then, re-split. Test in the middle of the freshly exposed face of the wood, with the pins parallel to the grain. Press in the pins firmly.

 

[stoveliker]

Did you bring the wood in the home, let it warm up for 24 hrs, then resplit it and measure on the freshly exposed surface in the middle?

If not,.your wood is not 20% but far far too wet.

Second how do you know the cat is working?
How old is it (and how many days do you burn in a season)?

 

[wyoung9074]

Wood is split and check in middle, top, and bottom of splits. Usually 12-15%. I dont usually bring them in for 24 hours first, although the last few I checked did come from inside and were there over 24 hours.

Cat still stays active long term. It doesnt have trouble keeping temp, but I did just talk to blaze king on the phone and I think they're going to warranty the cat. Maybe that was the problem?

I'm curious if the black glazing of creosote is normal in the flue. Should I be concerned with trying to have that removed? I'm not sure this is a cat issue because it occurs when the cat is bypassed.

 

[stoveliker]

The issue is glazed creosote.
In bypassed mode, flame enters the flue and starts burning that creosote. Aka a chimney fire.

You are depositing creosote and that is either because your cat is not doing its thing or because the wood is too wet.

Are the pins deep into the wood when you measure?