Seeing quite a bit of smoke with my new CAT stove (BK Princess)

[Robert C.]

Hi all,

This morning I had a nice bed of coals from last night. I put on 3 large pieces and let them blaze up on High. I then closed the bypass and set it on medium and went outside. I could see quite a bit of smoke coming from the chimney. Later, as the smoke subsided, I could still see heat rising. I may be mistaken, shouldn't the CAT be burning mostly everything? It was definitely in the high active zone. Also, I thought that very little heat should be escaping the chimney. Has anyone else experienced this? Could it be that my bypass is no closing all the way? Or is this normal operation? I don't remember seeing this previously, but I haven't been paying much attention to the chimney. It's just that this morning I could smell the smoke, so I glanced up.

Thanks!

 

[Todd]

My Princess was similar, it seemed to smoke for awhile at higher settings, usually 2 or above then after the smoke goes away you either see heat waves or white steam. I think the higher settings cause too much flow through the cat for it to handle until the t-stat kicks in to slow it down.

 

[Highbeam]

The BK is many things but a clean burner it is not. Depsite cat temps well into the active zone I always get smoke for the first part of the burn. Once past that initial stage and into the cigar burn stage there is very little of anything coming from the stack unless it is bitter cold outside and then I get steam. I have never been impressed with the cleanliness of the BK's stack effluent, the non-cats seem to more easily produce gobs of clear exhaust.

 

[Robert C.]

I see, so BK's claim of 2g/hour is for the low burn only?

 

[jharkin]

I dont have a BK, but Ive never seen the magic clear heat waves out of my catalytic stove either. usually at least some steam.

 

[rdust]

Mine will typically smoke a little until the flames are out. That's usually a little less than "2" on my T-stat. I'm usually to that point in about 15-20 minutes on a reload. I've never had to burn mine with active flames to keep the house warm.

 

[rdust]

I see, so BK's claim of 2g/hour is for the low burn only?

I "think" the EPA calculates that on an overall output, high/medium/low. I'm sure someone will know for sure.

 

[weatherguy]

That's typical, I thought mine maybe had a leaky bypass too but others brought it up, I think what HB said is what's happening, the cat can only eat so much. Its only at the beginning of a load, I never timed how long but for the majority of the burn there's nothing but waves coming out of my flue.

 

[mellow]

This was the reason why hybrid stoves have made a come back.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I have 3 different models of NON.cat stoves. I get a lot more smoke from the Englander 30 and the CH 2000, both of which are top of the interior air tube stoves than i do with the harman which is a downdraft stove.

 

[webby3650]

With my King I rarely every saw anything at all coming from the flue after 15 minutes or so after a reload. This Ashford is shaping up to be the same way.
I snapped a pic on my way to the chicken coop a few days ago. It was within 15 minutes of a reload, bypass closed and the T-Stat on 2.

 

[Highbeam]

I see, so BK's claim of 2g/hour is for the low burn only?

Actually 2.42 grams/hour but that number is pretty meaningless anyway. If you define clean burning as the least visible smoke then BK ain't it. A non-cat sends many times more exhaust volume and heat up the stack so is able to dilute the emissions to a less visible product.

The cat stoves do many things right but the color of their smoke, though a small amount, isn't really a good thing.

Beware, your chimney will be dirtier than it would have been in a non-cat as well.

 

[webby3650]

The cat stoves do many things right but the color of their smoke, though a small amount, isn't really a good thing. Beware, your chimney will be dirtier than it would have been in a non-cat as well.

I haven't experienced either of these things with my cat stoves.

 

[webby3650]

I never see any smoke once the cat is engaged, no matter how low I turn it down. My non-cats had no visible smoke after a time unless it got turned down too low. After a while on low, the secondary burn mostly goes out and it will start smoking a little. Not a big deal, but my BK's and my Cod never started smoking even on their lowest setting.

 

[rideau]

Never have had any visible smoke in either of my Woodstocks. Smoke = non-burned potential fuel. The cats should burn all that stuff, if the air isn't going through the cat too fast. That's the whole point of the cat. On a cat stove, visible smoke should be a signal to you that either you need to clean or replace your cat, or your cat is not engaged.

 

[webbie]

Lots of steam in smoke too - if it happens fairly soon after new wood, it could be steam which tends to be white as opposed to smoke which often has brown tints.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Different stoves burn at different internal temps. My harman burns everything to a fine powder. The ashes in my burn tube stoves leaves more volume,coarser with a lot of unburned coals. The after burn in the harman keeps the large ceramic re-burn chamber cherry red for hours at a time,indicating high internal burn temps. In my tube stoves only small portions of the refractory material on top of the air tube glows cherry red occasionally. Possibly why i seem to get more smoke over longer periods from the burn tube stoves.

 

[tom dee]

nothing but joy with my progress hybrid and chimney by selkirk 4 3 ft joints up a chaise interior of house in center of dwelling.. Im old and kinda not suited to alot of cutting n moving of wood ive a Saw mill 2 miles from hse and I get beautiful hardwood seasoned ends for like 85 bux a real cord brought to me in 3.5 cord load in a big dump truck I might burn a cord a season If im lucky n its real coooold so a load lasts 3 yrs then some..

 

[Bster13]

If "smoke" that may be steam... how old is the wood?

I have no visible smoke (but at times a hint of smell) out of my BK Insert when I check, but I keep the bi-metal thermostat as low as possible in order to keep the thermostat steady (not dropping out of) in the CAT range. I bump the bi-metal thermostat up as I increase the blower if I see it dropping.

 

[Robert C.]

If "smoke" that may be steam... how old is the wood?

I have no visible smoke (but at times a hint of smell) out of my BK Insert when I check, but I keep the bi-metal thermostat as low as possible in order to keep the thermostat steady (not dropping out of) in the CAT range. I bump the bi-metal thermostat up as I increase the blower if I see it dropping.

I don't think it was smoke, it smelled pretty strong. I'll keep my eye on it in the next few days.

 

[BKInsert]

Actually 2.42 grams/hour but that number is pretty meaningless anyway. If you define clean burning as the least visible smoke then BK ain't it. A non-cat sends many times more exhaust volume and heat up the stack so is able to dilute the emissions to a less visible product.

The cat stoves do many things right but the color of their smoke, though a small amount, isn't really a good thing.

Beware, your chimney will be dirtier than it would have been in a non-cat as well.

I just cleaned my chimney for the first time after two seasons of 24/7 and 5 cords/season, I had only maybe one full medium size coffee mug worth of ashes. I was very surprised that this was it, I thought for sure I would have a lot more ashes.
My last stove was a catless Quadrafire 3100i and no matter how clean I tried to burn with it I had much more ashes in one season. I do see smoke coming out of the BK stove especially at the beginning and at the end of the burn cycle.
Is it possible that because the liner is not as hot, due the better efficiency of the stove, that the ashes do not stick to the liner walls?

 

[BKInsert]

I don't think it was smoke, it smelled pretty strong. I'll keep my eye on it in the next few days.

If I recall correctly the manual says to keep the blower setting similar to the stat, I am usually able to run the stove with the blower a little higher than the stat settings with good results. I guess it depends on the wood and the chimney setup.