Blaze King smoking cat

[cannon]

Hello everyone,I'm a newbie but have been reading posts since 2010.I bought a princess in Oct. 2012,was very impressed with the long burn times and the heat out put but I had to keep adjusting the thermostat.It wanted to go closed as the fire died down.Several times it closed all the way and I lost my draft. I called blaze king and was told it was operating properly.I didn't like that answer so I bought a new thermostat and that fixed the problem. 2 months into burning the cat started smoking,called blaze king, was told it was my wood.I told them I am burning black locust with a moisture content of 10 to 15%. I was told my moisture meter wasn't of good quality and wasn't accurate so I wanted to take the wood out of the equation so I bought a $100 moisture meter and it gave me the same results as the cheap one. Called blaze king, they said check gaskets and glass in the door.The gaskets were good but the glass was loose and wouldn't tighten up.Blaze king sent me a new door,sent old door back.Three days later smoke coming from around new door,door gasket wasn't sealing against flange on stove.Called blaze king, they fixed my old door and sent that back.Told them the cat was still smoking,They reluctantly sent me a new cat, sent the old one back.Installed new cat in Feb.2013, burned stove through March,24hr. burns no problem.Fired up stove in Oct2013 burnt great until the last week of Dec. 2013 and cat started smoking a little.I let the fire go out last week and checked all gaskets all were tight including the bypass damper gasket.My flue is 23ft triple wall Dura Vent and I'm still burning the same wood.The stove has never been over fired, the cat has never been above 1400 deg.and now it smokes constantly.Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Skidooer]

What do you mean by a smoking cat? Blue smoke out the chimney or? Did you have a look at the seal around the cat? My King is less than a year old, and already the centre honeycomb square of the three making up the cat, is tipped back in towards the bypass. Check that out. And my door has leaked since new also, and iv called them 12 times or more to complain and they wont do anything!

 

[cannon]

Blue smoke out the chimney,I cleaned everything when I let the fire go out and inspected the cat and gasket,everything looks good.It's not water vapor coming from chimney,the water vapor disappears a short distance from chimney.My stove was new in 2012 and this is the 2nd cat that went bad.Ive have a total of 4 months of good burning on 2 new cats.On your door look to see where the flange of the stove meets the gasket on the door,if the indentation from the flange isn't in the center of the gasket and is hitting at the top of the gasket you might have to add some washers to the hinge posts.W

 

[cannon]

When blaze king sent me the new door it hung down to a point where the flange on the stove just caught the very top of the gasket.

 

[Skidooer]

Nice, high priced junk! I cant believe the hasstle these ppl give us after handing over all that cash! On mine the gasket at the top left is all pushed and piled up at the top of the door frame, sometimes its seals, sometimes i get a light smoke smell in the room. The smoke... dunno, check and tighten the bypass gasket. Maybe the rope ends have seperated and you have a gap? I noticed the same smoke out mine thursday... it was burning pretty hot on Elm splits.

 

[cannon]

Bypass damper fits so tight you can't pull a dollar bill out. Gasket is completely intact.Last fall I had to weld up a new latch for the stove because the one that came on it was bent to close to the threads and the nut was stripped and couldn't be adjusted. Shortly after I bought the stove the thermostat knob broke in half and fell off. I think I got a lemon.Check the glass on your door when its cold,put one hand on each side of the glass and see if you can move it side to side, their shouldn't be any movement.If there is movement you have to lift the door gasket up and snug down the nuts on the trim that holds the glass.

 

[rdust]

My princess door didn't fit the best, I put some simple spacers on the pins to lift the door so it centered the gasket in the channel.(simple fix) You can see them in the attached picture.

 

[Skidooer]

Cool, wow nice wood placement! Nice and full

 

[RustyShackleford]

One - fairly unpleasant - way to check for leaks is (if you have one) to turn on a whole-house fan, without first opening any doors or windows. It WILL suck smoke out of your stove, as I've accidentally discovered on a few situations. I suppose you could use a block of dry ice in a cold stove, but probably better to check for leaks when the thing is at operating temperature. Maybe video the smoke test so you just do it for a few seconds and not smoke up the house too badly, then study the video at your leisure.

 

[begreen]

My princess door didn't fit the best, I put some simple spacers on the pins to lift the door so it centered the gasket in the channel.(simple fix) You can see them in the attached picture.

Wow, those are not small shims. It looks like the door is out a full 3/16". If so, that is a huge difference.

 

[rdust]

Wow, those are not small shims. It looks like the door is out a full 3/16". If so, that is a huge difference.

I can't remember how much it was off but it was pretty substantial. It rides at the top of the gasket without them, just about centered with them. Mine never seemed to leak the way it was but I personally feel better with the edge centered in the gasket.

Here is a link to my original post about it. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...read-everything-bk.93182/page-29#post-1391180

 

[cannon]

The door blaze king sent me to replace the one that leaked was so far off that I didn't have much hinge pin left after shimming.Could the loose glass on my door be the cause of the failure of my first cat? Is there somewhere that the smoke could be getting by the cat besides the damper door gasket and the cat gasket?

 

[rdust]

The door blaze king sent me to replace the one that leaked was so far off that I didn't have much hinge pin left after shimming.Could the loose glass on my door be the cause of the failure of my first cat? Is there somewhere that the smoke could be getting by the cat besides the damper door gasket and the cat gasket?

From my experience these stoves smoke. If I have active flames I usually get a little smoke, if the stove is dark I have no smoke if the t-stat opens and the fire comes to life I'll get some light smoke for a bit. Seems to me the cat can't eat all the smoke that goes through it on higher burns.

 

[Skidooer]

Me also

 

[cannon]

rdust, I agree that they smoke some but when I turn mine down for the long burn,there is steady smoke out the chimney and my stove top temps and cat temps are way below where they should be at the 1.5 thermostat setting.When the cat was new and it was 35deg. out it would be 77deg. in the house on 1.5 setting I couldn't believe how much heat the stove put out over a 24hr. period,now at 35deg. the furnace kicks on and that is set at 70deg.

 

[Highbeam]

I also had to shim my door but only used regular machine washers so a fat sixteenth or so. It made a big difference. The evidence is that suddenly the door latch is much tighter. Surely they use a jig to weld the hinges onto the stove and to make the doors. One of those jigs need to be adjusted.

It's my biggest gripe about the stove.

 

[rdust]

rdust, I agree that they smoke some but when I turn mine down for the long burn,there is steady smoke out the chimney and my stove top temps and cat temps are way below where they should be at the 1.5 thermostat setting.When the cat was new and it was 35deg. out it would be 77deg. in the house on 1.5 setting I couldn't believe how much heat the stove put out over a 24hr. period,now at 35deg. the furnace kicks on and that is set at 70deg.

Obviously the steady smoke over the long burn is no good! I can see the temps from the stove changing over time though. When the cat is new it is super sensitive, once the cat settles in it loses some heat output.

I've also noticed my t-stat has changed slightly over time(3rd season) I'm figuring it has something to do with the bi-metallic coil "relaxing" some.

Anything from wood type to outside temps can change the way my stove burns.

 

[HotCoals]

I'm on my 4th season and if anything i do notice that the cat quits early on the down side of peak more and more at a low t-stat setting to where it is closed.

 

[cannon]

I also had to shim my door but only used regular machine washers so a fat sixteenth or so. It made a big difference. The evidence is that suddenly the door latch is much tighter. Surely they use a jig to weld the hinges onto the stove and to make the doors. One of those jigs need to be adjusted.

It's my biggest gripe about the stove.

One thing I did notice about the door blaze king sent me was the hinges on the door were 3/16" shorter than the one that came on the my stove.