Some may recall my struggles last year with a Blaze King Ashford. We had smoke leaking into the house, smoke constantly emitting from the chimney, inadequate draft, backpuffing, etc.
When the season ended, Chris (aka BKVP) offered to have the stove shipped back and either inspected and fixed or replaced (my choice). My wife and I chose to have the stove inspected and repaired if possible -- for a couple of reasons. First because we didn't want to go through the burn-in process again (though Chris offered to have that done for us before a new stove was shipped back) and also because we hate to waste resources.
When the technicians inspected the stove, they found tons of ash that was like concrete. It was all over everything. In addition, the cat was clogged and some part or parts that normally does not need to be replaced had been eroded away. They removed all the crud, replaced all the bricks, replaced the cat and other damaged components, rehung the door with a new gasket, burned it until they were satisfied it was working and also ran a pressure test to ensure there were no leaks.
The stove was returned and re-installed. This year has been great so far. It's producing long, hot burns with no smoke leakage and, once each burn settles in, nice clean emissions with no visible smoke. Our house is more than warm enough, though we've not hit any real cold weather just yet. But we're also more familiar with the limitations of the stove than we were last year and are prepared to supplement when necessary. We have radiant heat and I've experimented with turning it on in just the upstairs zone. That seems to work efficiently because the heat radiates both upward and downward with little loss. We also have a gas fireplace that can put out quite a bit of heat. Our propane consumption last winter was very low. Our 500 gallon tank was down to 70% at the height of summer, one year after it had most recently been filled. This year, adding in a bit for radiant heat and for the gas fireplace, there should still be more than enough to get us through the year, to the next season when propane prices fall. We paid just over $1 a gallon to refill a couple of months ago.
Looking back, it seems there were a few problems last year. One was the door gasket, which had never been right. That's why we had the leakage. Took forever to figure out it was coming from the door. Second was inadequate draft, which was addressed adequately but not perfectly when the dealer increased the chimney height from 22 to 26 feet. We're in a saddle between hills and, with tall trees on three sides, the draft is still not great. The stove's glass gets dirty and we have to be really careful not to get smoke during reloads. But it's no longer so bad that we can't make manage it. I reload with great care and occasionally run a higher initial burn to get rid of some of the glass soot.
Part of the problem last year was our wood supply. It just hadn't had time to adequately dry. Now it's running at about 14%. Apparently fir dries fast. I'm making a point of getting and staying well ahead. This summer, a friend cut down 16 trees, almost all of which I got. It's maple and alder. Plus we still have about six cords of fir that's not yet been cut up. Our woodshed is full, there's tons more to split and stack, and yet more to cut, split and stack.
Part of the problem last year was user error. I was turning down the stove too soon. Now I'm letting the wood char quite a bit before turning things down. Between that and the dry wood, we're having consistently great burns.
Part of the problem was those pressed logs I turned to when our wood supply proved too wet. Blaze King ran an analysis. I couldn't make heads or tails of it because I'm not a chemist and they provided no written summary of findings. My guess is those fake logs are designed for stoves that run hotter. I believe the company's claims that there were are additives. I just think they weren't designed to smolder. That's probably the source of the crud in the stove, though burning wet wood could not have helped. I've discarded all remaining pressed wood.
As for the corrosion, Chris was wondering if some of my wood I used last season might have been contaminated. Perhaps it was cut driftwood. The first wood I burned last year had been purchased from a neighbor. It was good and dry but it might have had other hidden problems. If there's a simple way of checking for contaminants, I'd love to know.
Alas, thanks to the efforts of Blaze King and our local dealer, we seem to have turned the corner. At some point, I may try hooking up the OAK again. This time, I would get the adapter rather than just shoving the pipe into the back of the stove. In another month or so, if all goes well, I'll see if I can buy the adapter.
Many thanks to Chris and to Blaze King for standing strongly behind their product. It is a fantastic stove. Could not be more pleased with its performance.
