2021-2022 BK everything thread

[Highbeam]

Mine fell apart after about 6 cords. My two previous cats did not fall apart and lasted 2 years and 10,000 hours. My door seal appears to be tight, I do a lot of hot reloads but the bypass is always in the correct position and I wait a few minutes before engaging and disengaging. I think I had a severe case of flame impingement.

I would expect your hot reloads to be a more likely problem than flame impingement due to your description of the damage and since this is a BK that is designed to prevent flame impingement damage.

Dry pine can be a volatile fuel. Since it doesn't coal much you can really blow some BTU through this stove in a hurry. The pitch load can also add to that. The cat really has lots of fuel to munch in a hurry so it's a tougher life than a guy burning hardwoods.

 

[Ashful]

Flame impingement will usually cause cratering at the inlet face only. Thermal shock is more likely to cause cracks that propagate all the way thru.

I suppose that with high draft, flame impingement becomes more likely, and with high draft could propagate further into the structure than the face alone. This can muddy the evidence, when trying to determine the causes.

Thermal shock can be caused by opening door on a hot cat, or loading wet wood, which hits the cat with relatively cooler steam. It sounds like you think these are unlikely, and your pipe is on the taller side, so I'd agree that a draft measurement is likely in order.

I actually keep a manometer (magnehelic type) mounted on the wall behind my stove, and plumbed into my 30 foot tall pipe. This way, I can always see what it is doing. Measurement is only valid at high setting, vacuum will always increase as you close down the inlet. In any case, BK spec's 0.06" WC maximum, and my 30 foot pipe was pulling over 0.20" WC, before I added the key damper. Unfortunately, I was running a steelcat before I added the damper, so I don't have any good data for you on what high draft will do to a ceramic cat, but I'd bet @BKVP does.



PS - The "wet" spots on top of the stove are where crumbs/dust from a SuperCedar had just landed less than an hour earlier, as I keep them in a cubby hole in the wall above the stove, and their make-up being half wax. They disappear after a day.

 

[TheElementalCashew]

Over this summer I installed a new key damper that should help get my overdrafting issues under control. While I was doing that I replaced the interior single-wall piping with double-wall. It's kind of weird to be working on a wood stove when it's ~100 degrees outside.

 

[BKVP]

I would encourage a close examination of door glass gasket/fitment. As you all know, I won't address the issue of dampers.

 

[TheElementalCashew]

I would encourage a close examination of door glass gasket/fitment. As you all know, I won't address the issue of dampers.

It's all been examined, the stove is a year old and is tight. I am using a manometer.

 

[stoveliker]

It's all been examined, the stove is a year old and is tight. I am using a manometer.

Does that include the gasket for the window? Now (100 F outside) is the ideal time to look at that as you have to put flat hands on both sides of the window, and see if you can move the window a bit inside the door frame. If so, that gasket seal is not sufficient.

 

[TheElementalCashew]

Does that include the gasket for the window? Now (100 F outside) is the ideal time to look at that as you have to put flat hands on both sides of the window, and see if you can move the window a bit inside the door frame. If so, that gasket seal is not sufficient.

Yep, window is tight as well.

 

[begreen]

The beat goes on...

2022-2023 BK everything thread

And we are off to the races... at 1925 local on 08-09-22

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