Blaze King Sirocco 20.2

[ScottSteel]

Hello looking for advice/ help.

Last March we moved into our new house 1200sqf rancher with a Sirocco 20.2 installed from day 1 we had smoke and co2 leakage. I added on more pipe now at 16' came factory installed with 12' added on a directional wind cap, I have fresh air intake and blower; my wood is a fir 2 years seasoned. The stove is still leaking co2 sounding off my alarm in the middle of the night ( super unsafe )Blaze king is so far doing nothing. My question is if a air tight wood stove is banked down at night why isnt the inside air going up? Im located on Vancouver island Canada the king came straight from factory installed in my house by professionals. Ive had a wood stove the majority of my adult life last one was an Enviro had zero issues with that one. By banked down I mean im at 2-3 on a clock.

Thanks in advance
-Scott

 

[Smolder]

Is it a super-tight house? I’m guessing with a small stove it is. You could be pulling in CO from one furnace or hot water tank?

 

[ScottSteel]

It is an " air tight " home but furnace and hot water tank are electric and the co2 only comes on when the wood stove is on i should add its a straight vertical pipe no 45 or 90s

 

[ABMax24]

When you say it came straight from the factory like this, is it a new pre-built/modular home. Or was the stove just installed in an older house the day you moved in?

Sounds to me like either an issue with the stove gaskets or the chimney. But as mentioned it sounds like the house it too tight and fresh air isn't being allowed back into the house.

 

[ScottSteel]

Its a new pre fab house/ modular installed in factory. I made sure to add a fresh air intake for the stove.

 

[Smolder]

Its a new pre fab house/ modular installed in factory. I made sure to add a fresh air intake for the stove.

So you have an OAK, no smoke smell?

i think your OAK is broke. If you were getting CO you would smell some smoke.

 

[Sailrmike]

What have your outdoor temps been when the co alarm goes off? If it's still pretty mild where you live, you may be losing draft at the later points of the burn cycle. I would try using a higher thermostat setting to keep your flue gasses a little warmer.

 

[Smolder]

What have your outdoor temps been when the co alarm goes off? If it's still pretty mild where you live, you may be losing draft at the later points of the burn cycle. I would try using a higher thermostat setting to keep your flue gasses a little warmer.

that is an interesting idea, but with an OAK it should backdraft out the wall somewhere.

 

[moresnow]

Very likely you are turning the stove down way to far. I have the same stove. I can reproduce those problems by turning the stat (knob) down to far for my setup/atmospheric conditions.
Start over. Following the factory startup directions, run a full load at 5pm position. See what you get. If your issues are gone...... Drop to 430 on the next full load. Still good? Drop to 3 on the next full load. Etc., Etc. You will find your sweet spot as every BK owner does. My sweet spot for extended burn is roughly 315 ish. Somewhat depends on outdoor temps/conditions and whether the stove/pipe was hot from a previous load or a cold start. The wide range of setting on your stat knob means zero. You need to find your stove setups happy spot. It takes time. You have a wonderful stove. Be patient!
After you get a rough safe low set point ironed out you can work out the fine details on your start up later. Best of luck. Let us know if any of my chatter helped

 

[Smolder]

Very likely you are turning the stove down way to far. I have the same stove. I can reproduce those problems by turning the stat (knob) down to far for my setup/atmospheric conditions.
Start over. Following the factory startup directions, run a full load at 5pm position. See what you get. If your issues are gone...... Drop to 430 on the next full load. Still good? Drop to 3 on the next full load. Etc., Etc. You will find your sweet spot as every BK owner does. My sweet spot for extended burn is roughly 315 ish. Somewhat depends on outdoor temps/conditions and whether the stove/pipe was hot from a previous load or a cold start. The wide range of setting on your stat knob means zero. You need to find your stove setups happy spot. It takes time. You have a wonderful stove. Be patient!
After you get a rough safe low set point ironed out you can work out the fine details on your start up later. Best of luck. Let us know if any of my chatter helped

Do you have an OAK?

 

[moresnow]

Do you have an OAK?

No

 

[ScottSteel]

I do appreciate your feedback and I get what both are saying and I have tried a bunch of different thermostat settings, I have noticed a sweet wood smell previously back when we first had our stove but has since been absent. But my main question is if its an "air tight" unit made for air tight home/ pre fab as it states in the manual how is the co able to come into the house. One night I had the the thermostat at 3 but it was out before the morning loaded up at 1030 pm out before 6am fire box still warm but no coals and ive never gone past 2. The temperatures are mild just using to take the chill out at night as we dont use our furnace as our primary source for heat. My inlaws live in our same area have had there insert on since sept 1st older home and they dont get this type of issue ever( enviro ).

 

[Smolder]

No

OP has an OAK, so they should not be able to get any CO in the house.

 

[moresnow]

OP has an OAK, so they should not be able to get any CO in the house.

Thats questionable. I've reverse drafted/stalled my stove in shoulder season a time or two that resulted in visible smoke escaping the door seal! Not sure the OAK is sealed all that well in many cases as well. May be worth a photo or two of the setup. Most importantly the OAK connection setup.

 

[moresnow]

I do appreciate your feedback and I get what both are saying and I have tried a bunch of different thermostat settings, I have noticed a sweet wood smell previously back when we first had our stove but has since been absent. But my main question is if its an "air tight" unit made for air tight home/ pre fab as it states in the manual how is the co able to come into the house. One night I had the the thermostat at 3 but it was out before the morning loaded up at 1030 pm out before 6am fire box still warm but no coals and ive never gone past 2. The temperatures are mild just using to take the chill out at night as we dont use our furnace as our primary source for heat. My inlaws live in our same area have had there insert on since sept 1st older home and they dont get this type of issue ever( enviro ).

No stoves are truly "air tight". If setting 3 burns completely out in 7.5 hrs I would start there and reduce in very, very small increments. Guessing there was not a problem at 3? Very very small changes in the stat position can drastically change the burn rate/time. Post a few pics of your setup. Importantly show the OAK connection and describe the routing.

 

[MissMac]

is your pipe a straight shot up from the stove, or are there offsets in it? maybe a combo of the setup, your well-insulated house, length of chimney, outdoor temps/vs indoor temps and the fact you're dialing it right down could all be contributing? 16ft of pipe i think i just about the bare min for these stoves. there are some really knowledgeable BK guys on this forum that can help you

 

[MissMac]

Also - have you called BK Canada? I have found them to be very helpful if you give them a call. Ask for Jeff

Blaze King Industries Inc
Valley Comfort Systems

1290 Commercial Way
Penticton, BC V2A 3H5

Office: 250 493 7444 x103
Fax: 250 493 5833

 

[Sailrmike]

is your pipe a straight shot up from the stove, or are there offsets in it? maybe a combo of the setup, your well-insulated house, length of chimney, outdoor temps/vs indoor temps and the fact you're dialing it right down could all be contributing? 16ft of pipe i think i just about the bare min for these stoves. there are some really knowledgeable BK guys on this forum that can help you

Nice edit @MissMac. why did you change what you wrote?

 

[ABMax24]

I do appreciate your feedback and I get what both are saying and I have tried a bunch of different thermostat settings, I have noticed a sweet wood smell previously back when we first had our stove but has since been absent. But my main question is if its an "air tight" unit made for air tight home/ pre fab as it states in the manual how is the co able to come into the house. One night I had the the thermostat at 3 but it was out before the morning loaded up at 1030 pm out before 6am fire box still warm but no coals and ive never gone past 2. The temperatures are mild just using to take the chill out at night as we dont use our furnace as our primary source for heat. My inlaws live in our same area have had there insert on since sept 1st older home and they dont get this type of issue ever( enviro ).

Check your door gasket and make sure its not leaking, maybe it was defective or not adjusted right from the factory (I'm not very familiar with BK's so not sure if/how the door is adjusted). But you could do the "dollar bill test" on it to check. But short burn times could indicate a leaky seal.
After that it could be coming out of the chimney pipe connections, they aren't perfectly sealed either, a draft reversal could cause CO to come back into the house.
Again not 100% sure on BK stoves, but with my stove the outside air connection isn't perfectly sealed, underneath, there are small gaps in the sheet metal that could allow intake air into the room and vice versa, or smoke into the room in the case of a draft reversal.
The other option is what are the weather conditions like when this happens? Is it possible that the stack exhaust is swirling around the house and going in another intake setting off the alarm? I do find it hard to believe you'd suck enough back in to set off an alarm but it's possible.

Basically I'm not convinced it's drafting correctly, due to the warm outside temps this time of year the draft in a chimney is usually weak. Depending on wind direction and how the chinney is mounted on the house it's possible that just a small gust of wind could cause a brief draft reversal, enough to set off the CO alarm. I'm quite surprised that the factory only put on 12' of chimney, I thought min for a BK was 15'? Can you post a pic of the chimney setup?

 

[ScottSteel]

My air intake goes down into my crawlspace has a slight bend then straight out 3-4 feet away from the stove. I have a wind cap as to stop the cross wind issue as Jeff from Blaze King suggested.

 

[ScottSteel]

@ABMax24 just did the dollar bill test the bill doesn't move at any point around the door

 

[ABMax24]

Looking at your chimney I don't see why that would be causing issues. I would think you have reasonable height to sustain draft.

The only other thing I can think of is there something else in the house pulling a vacuum? An HRV not hooked up correctly, or a fresh air intake that was plugged for transport down the highway? If you crack a window while burning overnight to equalize inside and outside air pressures does the CO and smoke smell go away?

That's really all I can think of, maybe the stove is seeing outside air pressure from the OAK and the chimney sees it as well, but if the house was under a slight vacuum maybe you'd get a small amount of leakage from the stove pipe connections.

I'm definitely no expert on this, particularly with BK stoves, maybe someone else has some ideas?

 

[ScottSteel]

I have a fan on a D-stat in my crawlspace but after the first time it happened I turned it off and it was still happening that was the first thing I thought of.

I appreciate all your feedback.

 

[armanidog]

Does your local fire department have CO monitors? Maybe call them and have them check for CO when you have a fire going. It could be your detector is faulty.
Or buy a new CO detector and see if it alarms as well.

 

[kennyp2339]

Head scratcher here, at first I was thinking that this was the classic case of negative pressure causing a reverse flue issue (still might be)
Time for some simply tests before winter sets in, first things first, make sure there is no blockage for the fresh air intake, that means getting into the craw space and checking the line, make sure there is no inline valve or flapper that is closed off, no kinks in the pipe, ect..
Next, time to go back on the roof, take the cap back off and tape a plastic shopping bag to the top of the chimney, see what the bag does, does it just lay there, is it trying to get sucked back inside the house?
Next while the bag is still taped to the chimney, turn the furnace on, does the bag want to get sucked in? Turn the D-stat on for the crawl space to, each test should run for at least 20min before adding another test, this allows the house to adjust to the different compression, also make sure all your windows & doors are closed, you want the house to build its pressures to mimic the pressure at night when everyone is sleeping and no one is opening doors or windows.
To answer your question about the stove being air tight or not, no stove is air tight, they are marketed that way to describe the use of gaskets, meaning no smoke leakage when under a vacuum (draft) there is still ways for air to escape (under a reverse draft circumstance the air would leak through the tiny hole out the t-stat then into the living space, also a compromised gasket could leak also (highly doubt you have a gasket issue)
Co detectors only have a service life of 5 yrs, after that the sensor becomes clogged with debris and the accuracy of the alarm is no longer within tested parameters, hit the alarm with some compressed air outside and clean it, wont hurt anyway.