Sirocco getting ready to burn! Maintenance questions.

[Tjm]

Got a blaze king Sirocco 25 is went last year and have loved it ! Now just waiting for our chimney sweep so we can start burning again.

1) for cleaning in the manual all I see is to open the bypass. Does the flame shield below it need to be removed during chimney sweeping?

2) Found an old thread but wasn’t open for replies… someone mentioned checking the bypass door seal but I don’t see it in the manual. Could someone give me the rundown?

3) Also I remember there being a particular nut or bold that gets frozen over the years and if you ever have to serve ice something in the stove it might break off if not careful. I remember someone suggesting breaking it loose and re tightening each year. Help with that?

Chimney sweep no call/no showed last week. Still trying to contact him but tempted to just start burning… new install including liner last year but our first year using a catalytic stove so would like to see how we did before starting as well.

Thanks!
Tj

 

[kennyp2339]

Flame shield can stay in place, along with the cat, by-pass open so some of the junk can fall through the stove, vacuum out the stoves firebox, take the smoke pipe off the flue collar and vacuum out the upper chamber, paying attention to the combustor area, but be careful that you dont hit the combustor with the nozzle. Test the by-pass plate seal (can be looser then the door gasket, but not sloppy) cam shaft bearing can get hit temp grease (never did mine because it works fine)

 

[Tjm]

Followed most of this.
Is this geared toward a freestanding stove? Instead of pulling smoke pipe and coming in from the collar ( outside?) maybe I have to remove the cat and vacuum from the front/inside?

Not sure bypass plate is accessible to test unless I pull the flame shield below it or the cat and come in from the side. And i think it follows a u- channel so not sure dollar bill test would work because it would just push the bill into the channel?

I don’t think mine has a cam shaft bearing? Bypass is a strait bar out the front. And I think it might be a bolt on that people suggest making sure is not frozen?

 

[kennyp2339]

Don’t pull the cat unless you have another gasket to re-wrap it

 

[stoveliker]

I think for an insert you'd have to have a flexible tube to vacuum thru the bypass behind the cat. And a plumbers acrobatic body...

After sweeping I would simply feel if the gasket is okay and clean with your fingers, test its closing and be done.

What is left in the space behind the cat will burn off with a high burn,.I think.

 

[Tjm]

To vacuum through the bypass I’ll have to pull the flame shield. I have to check how many screws hold it on. Also, apparently there’s a particular screw that has a captive not and if you don’t realize it you break the screw off. Hope that’s not this flame shield lol.

 

[Tjm]

I might wait till next year on checking the bypass gasket because it feels good on the handle and it’s only second year of burning

 

[stoveliker]

Okay. Apparently I don't know the inserts enough - I have no flame shield in front of the bypass. Only in front of the cat. And that one is gravity-held (no screws). On my freestanding BK.

Then the only thing I suggest is that after sweeping, carefully feel if the bypass closes as it did before. If not, junk may be on the gasket. A leaking bypass will put a lot of heat up the flue, so if you feel something different, it's good to take the screws out etc. and have a good look/feel/cleaning there.

 

[Tjm]

Upper perforated plate is in front of the catalyst. In the middle of the pic is the perf plate below the bypass.

Looks like the solid flame shield below the cat might have warped a little. Hope that doesn’t affect anything.

 

[Highbeam]

View attachment 304601
Upper perforated plate is in front of the catalyst. In the middle of the pic is the perf plate below the bypass.

Looks like the solid flame shield below the cat might have warped a little. Hope that doesn’t affect anything.

Bummer of a design. I reach up into the bypass a LOT to wipe the bypass gasket clean. Like every burn. Those screws holding the bypass filter on are the kind of screw that like to break off if you're unlucky. As I recall, the flue connects to the top rear of the insert at an angle so maybe less junk will sit on the gasket daily but after a sweeping you need to be able to get that debris out. Maybe that bypass filter is there because they didn't have room for the log bar that lies in front of the bypass opening on a freestander.

What I do like is seeing those bolts that appear to hold the bypass gasket retainers on. I was helping another lady deal with melted retainers recently, they are still welded in place on the freestanders.

Broken cotton ball brick already? I have a bunch cracked like that on mine too. Still in service.

 

[Tjm]

Yea broke a brick in the fist month. Hasn’t shifted any so haven’t swapped it yet but prob will when cleaning chimney.
Think I should break those screw loose and retighten?