As previously mentioned, Chris (BKVP) had my Ashford shipped back to the factory last summer. They went through the stove, replacing parts and analyzing what likely had gone wrong last year. The stove is now back in my home, re-installed and running great. We no longer have too much smoke out the stove pipe. There's no back-puffing and we're getting nice long burns. My wood supply is way better (around 17%) and I know to burn everything in for a while before throttling down. The only issue with which I'm still dealing is a small amount of smoke in the house. It's less than last year, when the door wasn't sealing. Now the gasket looks perfect. Having done pressure tests on the stove, Chris is pretty sure the problem isn't with the stove but rather the draft (or, rather, the lack thereof) on the stove pipe.
I think he's right for several reasons. One is the house its in a dip, with a hill on one side and surrounded by woods on three. Also, the glass gets black unless the stove run at high. If I crack a window that's right behind the stove, most but not all of the smoke smell goes away, which would seem to indicate negative pressure in the house. It's newer construction that was well done so this doesn't surprise me. I think everything gets drawn up to the second floor skylight over the vaulted front entry, the high point of the home, which is acting like a secondary chimney.
Chris suggested re-attaching the air intake. The dealer installed it when the stove first went in but we removed it last year when we were flailing in our search for solutions. The way it was originally installed, a four inch pipe was just shoved up into the back of the stove. It didn't seem to do much because, when it was taken off, nothing much happened.
This time, Chris sent me the adapter that seals snugly to the back of the stove. This morning I managed to hook it up (which was not entirely easy given that the sheet metal at the bottom rear of the stove had been bent some by the dealer's efforts to shove the pipe into that space). But with a bit of bending, everything went together and the damage was covered over nicely by the adapter. So far, so good.
But then I was left with what you see in the photo: the need for a really tight elbow turn given where the dealer had punched the hole through the wall. The former elbow was properly placed if the plan was to shove one end high up into the stove. But with the adapter, the elbow is in the wrong spot.
I'm wondering if a tighter elbow can be fabricated. I've sent an e-mail to the dealer to see if there's anything he can do. Another option would be to drill a hole through the hearth pad and the floor, runing the air pipe straight down and out through the crawl space. But if a tight elbow could be created or a flexible but adequately heat resistant flexible pipe could be found, that would be my preference. I'd rather not make holes in a hardwood floor. When I pulled the cap off the pipe coming through the wall, there was plenty of cold air flow.
Please let me know if you have thoughts on how best to handle this. Thanks.
I think he's right for several reasons. One is the house its in a dip, with a hill on one side and surrounded by woods on three. Also, the glass gets black unless the stove run at high. If I crack a window that's right behind the stove, most but not all of the smoke smell goes away, which would seem to indicate negative pressure in the house. It's newer construction that was well done so this doesn't surprise me. I think everything gets drawn up to the second floor skylight over the vaulted front entry, the high point of the home, which is acting like a secondary chimney.
Chris suggested re-attaching the air intake. The dealer installed it when the stove first went in but we removed it last year when we were flailing in our search for solutions. The way it was originally installed, a four inch pipe was just shoved up into the back of the stove. It didn't seem to do much because, when it was taken off, nothing much happened.
This time, Chris sent me the adapter that seals snugly to the back of the stove. This morning I managed to hook it up (which was not entirely easy given that the sheet metal at the bottom rear of the stove had been bent some by the dealer's efforts to shove the pipe into that space). But with a bit of bending, everything went together and the damage was covered over nicely by the adapter. So far, so good.
But then I was left with what you see in the photo: the need for a really tight elbow turn given where the dealer had punched the hole through the wall. The former elbow was properly placed if the plan was to shove one end high up into the stove. But with the adapter, the elbow is in the wrong spot.
I'm wondering if a tighter elbow can be fabricated. I've sent an e-mail to the dealer to see if there's anything he can do. Another option would be to drill a hole through the hearth pad and the floor, runing the air pipe straight down and out through the crawl space. But if a tight elbow could be created or a flexible but adequately heat resistant flexible pipe could be found, that would be my preference. I'd rather not make holes in a hardwood floor. When I pulled the cap off the pipe coming through the wall, there was plenty of cold air flow.
Please let me know if you have thoughts on how best to handle this. Thanks.
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