Blaze King (BK) Princess Insert Cat Crumbling

[SeattleRider]

Folks,
This would be my second season firing up the beast, so I figured might as well give the insert a good cleaning and per the manual I decided to clean the dust from the CAT screen with a toothbrush. Now as I was cleaning the dust I realized that pieces of the honeycomb were also falling off and seems like the entire honeycomb structure has multiple cracks in it.

I have never burned anything besides wood in there.

So is this normal to have these cracks and pieces falling off or do I need to call BK customer service? Any advice/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Were all the cells intact and did it look ok before you started cleaning it? I would think a toothbrush bristles too short and stiff for cleaning a cat. The ceramic is pretty fragile after a season.

 

[SeattleRider]

Some of the cells might have had cracks and pieces missing before I started cleaning and I was careful to be very gentle with the brush as not to apply too much pressure. Don't know if a picture would be helpful in this case.

 

[begreen]

The cat is warranteed for several years. It should not have failed after one season. Contact BK and your dealer. Also, check your door gasket doing the dollar bill test all the way around. If the bill pulls out without resistance air may be leaking.

 

[SeattleRider]

Got it, I will contact BK and also do the door test ASAP. Thank you for the info.

 

[webby3650]

Out of curiosity, how tall is your flue?

 

[SeattleRider]

If I remember correctly it is about 24 feet.

 

[webby3650]

Contact the dealer for starters, not BK. contact BK if your dealer won't make good on the warranty. Either way, BK will make it right.

Check your glass as well as the door gasket. Make sure the glass doesn't move at all when you try to move it back and forth.

 

[SeattleRider]

Just checked the glass and no issues there and same with the dollar bill test. I will contact the dealer in the morning and see what they say.

Is this normal for some of the combustors to crack only after a season or did I just get a bad one?

 

[webby3650]

I've seen a couple inserts that blow out cats in a year or 2. I have been unable to find the reason..
The one similarity that they share is the flue height, both are in excess of 25' and they draft like crazy!

I think both of these stoves get left on high for the most part, that combined with crazy strong draft is what I believe is the issue.

 

[Highbeam]

Is this normal for some of the combustors to crack only after a season or did I just get a bad one?

Cracking and even some chipping of a ceramic cat is normal. As long as the cat doesn't fall apart. My last cat was ceramic and all three of the major cells had diagonal cracks all the way across. It was still tight in the stove and smoke was passing over all that catalyst. Don't expect the cat to remain "as new" looking. Color change and cracks are normal.

 

[mellow]

Thermal shock does wonders on cats, how dry was your wood?

 

[SeattleRider]

Last year the wood I burned was mostly between 16% - 20%. I will talk to the dealer and see what he has to say as well, hopefully we will get some low temps soon so I can start a fire and see how it goes.

 

[webby3650]

Are you just scrubbing the flame shield with the toothbrush? Have you taken the flame shield down and gotten a good look at the cat?

 

[SeattleRider]

Webby,
I took the Flame shield off and then gently scrubbed the cat with the brush. That is what I noticed the crumbling and cracks, I will try to take a picture so hopefully that will help in gauging how good or bad it looks.

 

[Highbeam]

The word "scrubbing" is troubling. The cat is relatively durable to mechanical touching like from a paint brush but I would not recommend anything which could be described as scrubbing. What was the goal? Was there some ash cloggage that you were trying to remove?

 

[SeattleRider]

Highbeam, it was more like a gentle brushing action than a hard scrubbing just to clear the ash cloggage

 

[mellow]

Last year the wood I burned was mostly between 16% - 20%.

Was that reading taken from the middle of a fresh split piece of wood?

 

[Highbeam]

Was that reading taken from the middle of a fresh split piece of wood?

Meh, 95% of cat failures in BK stoves are from a leaky door gasket. According to BK. Wet wood, not so much.