Blaze King Ashford Owners- Chimney Clean Out Question

[Calentarse]

So, with the Ashford 30, is there anything I should know when I clean out the chimney for the first time? Been burning since November and have been inspecting and finally feel like I should pull out the Sooteater. Not really all that much build up but I want to run over it.

Does the creosote just fall directly down into the firebox or is there an area where I should clean around the damper opening? With the old VC, there were many areas to inspect and I'm wondering if it's the same with the Ashford.

 

[webby3650]

After you sweep it, just pull the pipe up and vaccum the debris around the bypass. Just be careful not to suck up the bypass gasket.
If you are just doing a mid season sweep, I wouldn't take it apart though.

 

[Calentarse]

This is just a mid-season sweep and I'm very impressed that there really isn't all that much creosote (the VC would have the chimney loaded by now!)

 

[Calentarse]

After you sweep it, just pull the pipe up and vaccum the debris around the bypass. Just be careful not to suck up the bypass gasket.
If you are just doing a mid season sweep, I wouldn't take it apart though.

It's kind of difficult to pull my pipe; the single wall is chimney cemented around the top to keep any leaking of smoke (you know I have smoke smell problems). Any way I can reach up through the stove and accomplish the same?

 

[blueguy]

Without pulling the pipe, the only other way to vacuum around the bypass is to pull the cat and go at it from the front.

 

[Calentarse]

Without pulling the pipe, the only other way to vacuum around the bypass is to pull the cat and go at it from the front.

From the pic you just saw, any reason why I should do this? Will it harm it if I don't?

 

[Highbeam]

You run the risk of a pile of creo setting up against the back of the cat and blocking it. You will have the bypass open when you sweep and most of the junk will fall into the firebox or in the accessible portion of the cat chamber. Some of the junk will fall between the opened bypass and the cat. No way to guarantee 100% removal of that junk except by removing the flue or cat.

It's a total PITA to remove the flue but on the BK cat stoves, it appears you are stuck doing it to gurantee 100% removal. No, this is not in the owner's manual and I'd bet that most folks do not do it but the best method is to clean that junk out.

Incidentally, there is always junk falling down the flue and landing in that cat chamber from above so even if you don't sweep the chimney I'd suspect that there is already some debris there behind the cat.

 

[Calentarse]

You run the risk of a pile of creo setting up against the back of the cat and blocking it. You will have the bypass open when you sweep and most of the junk will fall into the firebox or in the accessible portion of the cat chamber. Some of the junk will fall between the opened bypass and the cat. No way to guarantee 100% removal of that junk except by removing the flue or cat.

It's a total PITA to remove the flue but on the BK cat stoves, it appears you are stuck doing it to gurantee 100% removal. No, this is not in the owner's manual and I'd bet that most folks do not do it but the best method is to clean that junk out.

Incidentally, there is always junk falling down the flue and landing in that cat chamber from above so even if you don't sweep the chimney I'd suspect that there is already some debris there behind the cat.

Awesome info, thank you. I'll pull the cat (haven't touched it ever) when the stove cools off. Hopefully that's not a PITA...

 

[Highbeam]

Whoa now, you need a new gasket when you replace the cat. It expands in place and is a one time deal.

 

[bholler]

You should always pull the pipe unless it is a tube stove and it is a straight shot up and you pull the baffle. On yours you need to pull the pipe. You really should not need cement at all either there are other problems if you are getting smoke leakage there

 

[Poindexter]

+1 on replacing the cat gasket, my manual reads the same.

I sweep mine with the lever in bypass, use a paint brush to clean the crud off the gasket the moving door seals to and move on. If there is any crud in the area above the firebox it won't be very near the cat if you are getting your cat good and hot with any regularity.

I sweep mine by lifting the pipe off the collar and working from inside the house, it isn't too bad but i don't have any elbows to deal with.

 

[Quentin2]

Definitely do not pull the cat to clean this out. I would guess from experience that 80% will fall into the stove with bypass open. 20% will fall into the cat area, but you can sweep brush or vac 10% of that off the ledge by reaching up in there. What's left gets burned and blown away from the back of the cat. Pull the pipe and clean back there at end of season or before start of new season.

This is of course is my experience only and what I would do in your shoes with a tough pipe to pull.
Good luck!

Here's a pic of what was behind my cat. The previous 3 times I swept I did not pull pipe. Everything you see was only from the most recent sweeping, basically whatever dropped back there from before was long gone without having to pull pipe.

Webby, would you recommend lightly blowing some compressed air through the cat? I can't remember if that was recommended or frowned upon.

 

[Dieselhead]

If one were to make a 180 degree (or more/less) adapter for a shop vac to get into that space through the stove with the bypass open would it be possible? I don't think I made a mental note what it looks like from looking in the top with the bypass open.

 

[blueguy]

There's not much room to get around the bypass plate. It spans almost the entire width of the chamber, at least it does on my Sirocco.

 

[Highbeam]

It's pretty tight up there. I regularly shop vac out the cat chamber from the firebox with my shopvac to keep the gasket clear and since so much junk is up there. I have never been able to touch the back of the cat from the firebox.

What about this... can you blow the junk off of the cat with compressed air or even suck it through the cat with the shop vac hose? I have certainly sucked on the face of the cat and I by listening to the shop vac motor I know that I was getting full flow through the cat element. Not sure how compacted or heavy that little pile of junk is.

Or just forget about it and run the stove without cleaning the junk out. Verify that the entire cat glows red so you know that there are no blocked ports.

So you folks think that this debris would be incinerated by high cat temps? Maybe that's why the owner's manual doesn't tell you to remove the flue with each sweep.

 

[webby3650]

It's pretty tight up there. I regularly shop vac out the cat chamber from the firebox with my shopvac to keep the gasket clear and since so much junk is up there. I have never been able to touch the back of the cat from the firebox.

What about this... can you blow the junk off of the cat with compressed air or even suck it through the cat with the shop vac hose? I have certainly sucked on the face of the cat and I by listening to the shop vac motor I know that I was getting full flow through the cat element. Not sure how compacted or heavy that little pile of junk is.

Or just forget about it and run the stove without cleaning the junk out. Verify that the entire cat glows red so you know that there are no blocked ports.

So you folks think that this debris would be incinerated by high cat temps? Maybe that's why the owner's manual doesn't tell you to remove the flue with each sweep.

The owners manual doesn't address this because it's always a good practice to remove the pipe for cleaning. No, the cat will not burn this junk away completely, ash is always accumulated right behind the cat.

Stove pipe should never be installed in a way that makes it too difficult to remove. I know it happens, but it should not be this way.

I remember a time where I was about to be tared and feathered for suggesting this on here. I see dozens of these a year, that pipe needs pulled periodically to access the area behind the cat.

 

[Woody Stover]

What I've read says not to use an air compressor or you can blow the wash coat off the substrate of the cat. Canned air should be OK, or air compressor if you can control it with the nozzle to blow gently.

 

[Quentin2]

What I've read says not to use an air compressor or you can blow the wash coat off the substrate of the cat. Canned air should be OK, or air compressor if you can control it with the nozzle to blow gently.

I don't think I would want to vacuum the face of cat after brushing as you might end up pulling and lodging more junk into the cat.
I'm sure most moderately skilled people could manage to use compressed air gently enough to blow the junk off the back of cat without stripping coating. It wouldn't take much air.

 

[bholler]

I'm sure most moderately skilled people could manage to use compressed air gently enough to blow the junk off the back of cat without stripping coating. It wouldn't take much air.

If you turn the air way down it would be ok but i am talking about 20lbs maybe i wouldn't go much higher than that.

 

[Highbeam]

What I've read says not to use an air compressor or you can blow the wash coat off the substrate of the cat. Canned air should be OK, or air compressor if you can control it with the nozzle to blow gently.

I've read this before and then I thought to myself, self, canned air is just air compressed in a can. I'm not sure what it would look like when the coating gets blown off but I've only ever blown on the cat with as much air pressure as a shop vac would have when sucking. I didn't get anything so I just use the vacuum now.

I do not agree with the blind statement that the flue should be removed from any stove as a matter of SOP. These things are not meant to be removed over and over. The screws can strip, the paint is damaged, you can dent the pipe, etc. The BK cat stoves are built in such a way that the only guaranteed way to get 100% of that junk out of the stove is to remove the cat or remove the flue.

The real question is, does it hurt anything to have a little pile of debris near the cat? We all know it happens, we all know how to remove it.

 

[bholler]

I do not agree with the blind statement that the flue should be removed from any stove as a matter of SOP.

I agree it is not necessary for every stove but there are many that it is either because of the pipe layout of the stove design. That is why i have to agree with webby all pipe should be installed in a way that it can be removed with out to much trouble.

 

[BKVP]

It's kind of difficult to pull my pipe; the single wall is chimney cemented around the top to keep any leaking of smoke (you know I have smoke smell problems). Any way I can reach up through the stove and accomplish the same?

SINGLE WALL?

 

[Quentin2]

Those three thread pipe screws definitely can be a pain, have to be oh so careful as not to strip the pipe. Plus my slip pipe scratches when I slide it up. The biggest reason I don't like to pull mine up is the amount of weight I have hanging off my 30 deg elbows, haven't found a good way to brace it when I have it lifted.

If your creosote is real light and fluffy like mine usually is I bet the first time you activate cat with a full load on high it's not up against it for long.

 

[Poindexter]

I'll look again before the season is over, but I am not seeing nearly as much crud in the top of my stove as you guys are talking about.

I do have a short straight pipe, no elbows and I am not burning anything wetter than 16%, but Quentin has as much sweepings in the picture as I got out of my whole flue after burning one cord. Only mine was mostly light gray-brown with just flecks of shiny black.

I guess if mine looked like Quentins I would get in there with a shop vac and suck up the worst of it, but I am not seeing that much. Sometime in Feb 2015 I will have burnt two cords since the last sweep and I'll take a look.

 

[Poindexter]

I found a archive pic that I took on 10-20-2014, should have been first in-season sweep after I burnt the first cord in the stove, probably 90% of it spruce at 12% MC, maybe 10% of it birch at 16% MC.

I lifted the pipe off the collar, and had a trashbad on the open end to catch the sweepings coming down, but with the bypass open just in case.

After I had the trash bag off and the brush back out I closed the bypass door to see the back of the cat - and took this picture.

I would rather leave that little bit of ash than risk damaging the cat by sticking the business end of a shop vac down in there....