Hearthstone Heritage - Sudden change to secondary burn

[Kurt Kenya]

I've been running my Heritage all winter, the 11th winter for this stove. Something changed 3 days ago. I noticed that I had some trouble starting the (cold) stove in the morning. As I normally do, I kept the side door cracked until the kindling and small splits were burning aggressively, at which point I would normally shut the door (primary inlet is wide open). The fire slowed a lot more than normal, so I reopened the door. Assuming that maybe I split up a log that could have been damp, I continued to build the fire, but in general it took longer to heat up the stove.

After the same thing yesterday, this morning I did a couple things to the cold stove. I put the shop vac on the dog house (nothing obvious came out) and removed and inspected the ceramic baffle, which seemed fine. I reassembled and lit the stove. Again, it just felt starved for air. Once above 450, or so, I did start to get some secondary combustion, but it was different. Normally the holes in the tubes look like gas jets at this point. They didn't, so I'm concerned that the secondary inlet is blocked.

My stove is partially in a fireplace, so I can't see the back of the stove right now. I did a test with an incense stick, seeing around back as much as I could. I could see the behavior of the primary inlet, which seemed to be normal as I opened and closed it, but I'm not sure where the secondary inlet is and the incense smoke just seemed to waft away from the stove when the primary was closed.

Any suggestions?

 

[jeff_t]

Do you have a screen on your cap? Have you swept it lately? Sounds like a draft issue.

 

[Kurt Kenya]

Do you have a screen on your cap? Have you swept it lately? Sounds like a draft issue.

No screen. I have a masonry chimney with a beehive top and a SS liner all the way up with no cap. The chimney was swept in October, about 2 cords ago.

I was thinking that a chimney inspection was the next step. If it looks OK, I'll pull the stove out and inspect the inlets more thoroughly.

 

[tcassavaugh]

yeah, you might need to have it cleaned again. october was a long time ago.....sounds like its starting to plug up. jmho.

 

[Kurt Kenya]

yeah, you might need to have it cleaned again. october was a long time ago.....sounds like its starting to plug up. jmho.

This thing burns so clean that I can typically go 5 cords between cleanings (on advice of my sweep). I always burn well seasoned hardwoods at good temperatures. This year my wood was especially good - mostly hickory, followed by black locust and red oak, with just a bit of cherry and maple mixed in.

Whatever happened, happened suddenly. I'm wondering if something seeking warmth got stuck. It's been a long cold winter in CT.

 

[osagebow]

Long cold winter may have caused quicker buildup. I have to do a sweep, have noticed poorer draft, swept back at Xmas. Should have made it to end of season, especially after upgrading insulation. Not this year!

 

[1750]

I don't know what a beehive top is, but without a screen could you have a large squirrel or raccoon or something stuck in the chimney?

 

[Highbeam]

The heritage only has one air inlet, that big hole inthe bottom rear towards the loading door. It is not plugged, something else is causing your problem.

 

[Kurt Kenya]

I don't know what a beehive top is, but without a screen could you have a large squirrel or raccoon or something stuck in the chimney?

Here's a picture of a chimney top similar to mine, which the mason described as a beehive top. I recognize that there is some risk of pest ingress, but in 11 years it is yet to happen.

Back to the original issue, I did pull the cap off of the bottom of the liner last night and found quite a bit of ash. I had used a creosote remover and I'm guessing that caused the sudden ash accumulation. After cleaning it out, things have returned to normal.

My sweep is scheduled to come out this week, just to be safe. Thank you to everyone for your input.

 

[begreen]

Good to hear you got it resolved and that a sweep is coming out soon.