Problems w/ getting fire/mor smoke with new Blaze King

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Frustated

New Member
Jan 21, 2023
4
Albuquerque
We had our Blazeking insert installed about 6 weeks ago. It worked well for about 3 weeks. Now we cannot get a fire started without immense smoke. Now we cannot get it hot enough to maintain. Our house fills up with smoke and fire (we try to restart the fire) but it ultimately goes out. I have to clean glass every day because it gets so black you can’t see the fire at all. Have tried bottom up and top down stacking . Bought a moisture reader and wood dry. Used a small amount of fire starter. Bought kiln dried wood. . Used a blow torch to try and heat flu. Cleaned it out and shop vac’d the inside including catalytic. I have watched so many videos, I cannot count. The insert was installed into our fireplace. They took out flu and used oval vent connector. Fireplace is on outside wall and chimney rises about 6-7 feet above roofline of one story home. I am at a loss. I just want to pull it out except now we would have to fix what they removed. Has anyone had the same issue? Any success in finding solution? I really want to like this again but my life nags and furniture can’t take it anymore.
 

kennyp2339

Minister of Fire
Feb 16, 2014
6,948
07462
Time to clean your chimney, more then likely your cap has crud on it and restricting flow, this happens when burning sub par wood or not letting the unit heat up after closing the bypass and automatically burning low. The cat will glow, but you should on a cold stove once the cat probe is active, close the by-pass and burn close to high setting for at least 15min then turn the T stat down.
Sub par wood - room temp split - resplit and test fresh face you’ll want 20% or lower ideally 14-18%
 

bholler

Chimney sweep
Staff member
Jan 14, 2014
32,852
central pa
We had our Blazeking insert installed about 6 weeks ago. It worked well for about 3 weeks. Now we cannot get a fire started without immense smoke. Now we cannot get it hot enough to maintain. Our house fills up with smoke and fire (we try to restart the fire) but it ultimately goes out. I have to clean glass every day because it gets so black you can’t see the fire at all. Have tried bottom up and top down stacking . Bought a moisture reader and wood dry. Used a small amount of fire starter. Bought kiln dried wood. . Used a blow torch to try and heat flu. Cleaned it out and shop vac’d the inside including catalytic. I have watched so many videos, I cannot count. The insert was installed into our fireplace. They took out flu and used oval vent connector. Fireplace is on outside wall and chimney rises about 6-7 feet above roofline of one story home. I am at a loss. I just want to pull it out except now we would have to fix what they removed. Has anyone had the same issue? Any success in finding solution? I really want to like this again but my life nags and furniture can’t take it anymore.
When you say vent connector did they run a full liner the length of the chimney or just a connector through the old damper area?
 

Frustated

New Member
Jan 21, 2023
4
Albuquerque
When you say vent connector did they run a full liner the length of the chimney or just a connector through the old damper area?
They ran a full liner the length of the chimney. The installer had to stop first day because they needed to get a different liner to fit. Thank you all for feedback. Installer coming back out tomorrow so wish me luck.
 

Frustated

New Member
Jan 21, 2023
4
Albuquerque
Time to clean your chimney, more then likely your cap has crud on it and restricting flow, this happens when burning sub par wood or not letting the unit heat up after closing the bypass and automatically burning low. The cat will glow, but you should on a cold stove once the cat probe is active, close the by-pass and burn close to high setting for at least 15min then turn the T stat down.
Sub par wood - room temp split - resplit and test fresh face you’ll want 20% or lower ideally 14-18%
Thank you! Will follow up and report back. I have installer coming back when we started we could get fire hot and burn on active for at least 15 minutes. We had cedar and piñon but are ordering oak. I am hoping it’s a cleaning issue but we had it for such a short time. I need to know how I can avoid it again so fast.
I had split wood to test but did not have at room temp. Thank you for all the insights and suggestions!
 

EatenByLimestone

Moderator
Staff member
Why didn’t it fit? What was different about the new liner vs the old liner? Was it the same size and insulated?
 

gzecc

Minister of Fire
Sep 24, 2008
5,117
NNJ
Truly seasoned wood is absolutely necessary for all stoves/inserts. Unfortunately truly seasoned wood, 90% of the time can not be purchased. It has to be split and stacked by you for 2 + years for hardwoods. You'll learn not to believe sellers talking about "seasoned" and "kiln dried" wood.
 

GrumpyDad

Minister of Fire
Feb 23, 2022
1,174
Champion, PA
Truly seasoned wood is absolutely necessary for all stoves/inserts. Unfortunately truly seasoned wood, 90% of the time can not be purchased. It has to be split and stacked by you for 2 + years for hardwoods. You'll learn not to believe sellers talking about "seasoned" and "kiln dried" wood.
truly kiln dried wood near me is 680 a cord. YIKES. For that kinda money I would just operate the old oil furnace.