Hearthstone Heritage 8024 dust issue

[Bpd80]

I have been running the Hearthstone Heritage IV 8024 since 2020. This last season (October through April) we had much more dust in our house than in previous years. The door gaskets all appear intact and the loading door shuts tightly. The chimney pipe and all of the joints between the stove, chimney pipe and wall appear to be intact as well - no smoke in the house. As soon as we stop burning at the end of the season the dust goes way down. I'll be replacing the baffles (again) this year and cleaning out the cats, which I do once a year. I burn 4-5 cords of seasoned hardwood each year. My chimney is below the level of my roofline and my dealer said that this is my problem but I get what I think is a good draft and never have a problem getting my fire lit or running it as hot as I need. I can't figure out the source of the dust though. Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[stoveliker]

How much ashes fly out when you reload?
Do you rake the coals/ashes?
How often do you take the ashes out, and how is that done?

That (ashes) would be my first "suspect" for dust.

Or if you have a humidfier running (more) when the stove is running, they can create a lot of dust, especially if it's a cold (ultrasonic) version and you have hard water.

 

[stovelark]

Was curious if you have the stove's convection blower kit? A wood stove does create air movement in the house, maybe that is what is contributing to the extra dust. The ashes being moved/taken out seems plausible too. I notice more dust in the winter from my stoves too, I just thought it was the increase in air movement and the dryness of the air. The Heritage is a very aesthetic stove BTW. Good luck.

 

[Highbeam]

Stove mess can almost always be explained by careless fuel delivery or by careless ash management. Dust throughout the house, if caused by the stove at all, would be from ash management.

Do you use an ash vacuum? Scoop ash into a bucket?

 

[Bpd80]

Thank you everyone for the responses. I clean the stove by scooping ashes into a bucket, once every week or two during the burning season. I don't have the blower kit but I do run a nearby wick-type (with fan) humidifier most of the time. This year I burned a lot of ash as opposed to red oak, what I normally burn. Ash is plentiful now due to the emerald ash borer infestation. That is the only difference I can see. But I do agree that ash flying out when the side-load door is open either for cleaning or loading wood could be a likely culprit