Shoulder season burn in Ashford 25 causing smoke?

[burntsienna]

I had an Ashford 25 installed about 2 years ago but haven’t had much chance to use it due to a renovation. I’m now getting it spun up and have been trying some overnight burns the past few nights. A few nights ago our fire alarm went off at 3 in the morning, but I couldn’t tell which smoke detector triggered it.

The stove had been on low (air handler at maybe @3:00 or so) and was just coals by that point, it had probably been burning for 9 hours or so, single load of maple splits, cat engaged.

Is it possible that the low burn + temperate weather outside contributed to a bad draft, that kicked out smoke in the middle of the night, enough to trigger the fire alarm? There is a smoke detector in the same room, probably 10-15 feet away. That said, I didn’t notice any particular strong smoke smell when I went to check after the alarm went off.

 

[begreen]

It sounds a bit like a draft reversal. Is the insert in a potential negative pressure zone, like a basement install? Is there a CO detector also in the room?

 

[burntsienna]

It's in the living room, center of the house; is it possible that is a negative pressure zone? There is a smoke/CO ~15 feet away from the fireplace. The CO detector has not gone off as yet. How could I determine if there was a draft reversal? What are the other symptoms?

 

[Highbeam]

Smoke rollout when you open the door on a burning fire?

 

[burntsienna]

in this case, the alarm went off at 3am, so it wasn't due to that. I'm just wondering if there's some combination of factors that could have caused this. it's possible the alarm went off spuriously, but since I had only recently started making fires, the stove is suspect.

 

[begreen]

It's in the living room, center of the house; is it possible that is a negative pressure zone? There is a smoke/CO ~15 feet away from the fireplace. The CO detector has not gone off as yet. How could I determine if there was a draft reversal? What are the other symptoms?

Is there a second story? If so, is there an open ceiling vent to the attic, or was there a slightly open window on the 2nd floor?

 

[burntsienna]

Yes, there is a second story, as well as an attic, the attic has a door but it's not super well sealed. The attic itself is vented - i.e. there is a roof vent and soffit vents. No open windows however.

 

[begreen]

Definitely seal the attic door. Leakage on the second story can cause the house to act like a chimney creating negative pressure on the floor below. Also, check the chimney cap, especially if it has a screen that's starting to plug up.

 

[burntsienna]

Ok will try that. I don't think the chimney cap has a screen but will get up there and double check.

 

[woodheatguide]

I'm having the same issue with my Jotul since last season. I added a fresh air intake from the outside and cleaned my chimney pipe to see if it would help but I got 0% improvement. Is it possible that the catalytic element is toast and causing obstruction? My stove is only in it's 4th season I believe.

 

[Tron]

When I light the stove and forget to open a window with the bathroom fan running, I've experienced that negative pressure issue. And believe me, the smoke will be very noticeable in the room way before the smoke detector goes off.
I can't imagine that happening on a stove in cruise, especially almost burned down. My money is on a glitch in the detector.

 

[begreen]

I'm having the same issue with my Jotul since last season. I added a fresh air intake from the outside and cleaned my chimney pipe to see if it would help but I got 0% improvement. Is it possible that the catalytic element is toast and causing obstruction? My stove is only in it's 4th season I believe.

This is better posted in the Jotul forum for a more targeted response. The first thing to try is to brush off ash from the face of the cat, then blow air thru the cat. A can of air is good for this.

 

[woodheatguide]

This is better posted in the Jotul forum for a more targeted response. The first thing to try is to brush off ash from the face of the cat, then blow air thru the cat. A can of air is good for this.

I removed the cat and used an air compressor to blow out as much as I could. It fixed it 100%

 

[Highbeam]

I removed the cat and used an air compressor to blow out as much as I could. It fixed it 100%

For next time, be sure to crank the regulator down to like 30 psi. The canned air is supposed to be near 60 psi. High pressure can supposedly blast the magic plating right off the catalyst.

 

[woodheatguide]

For next time, be sure to crank the regulator down to like 30 psi. The canned air is supposed to be near 60 psi. High pressure can supposedly blast the magic plating right off the catalyst.

Good to know, thanks. I think I'm ready to get a replacement based on the looks of the thing. I'm not sure how much will be covered by the lifetime "warranty". Instead of looking like corrugated cardboard, parts look compressed and stretched out of shape and the metal strapping around it is broken and curled.