Ashford 30

[Swil977]

I’m new to the newer catalyst wood stoves. I have an Ashford 30 and last night I left for work, it was in the active zone, and when I got home in the morning my CO2 alarm was going off and the house smelled Smokey. I checked the fire and it look like it died out mostly leaving large coals. No visual smoke in the house. I’m burning well seasoned wood and have not had this problem. Been burning with this stove past two months. All pipes were just checked and cleaned with no issues. Any idea what could cause this ? And should I have disengaged the catalyst and let it burn out without it?

 

[EbS-P]

Do you have moisture meter? Stalled cats happen if you are not running hot enough. How tightly sealed is your house ?

 

[stoveliker]

No need to open the bypass when fire is burning out.
Exhaust gases (note CO alarms, not CO2, the former kills you far quicker than the latter) in your home are due to draft reversal. Not much you can do about that other than avoiding exhausting fans (bathroom, kitchen), and air sealing upstairs.

 

[begreen]

I’m new to the newer catalyst wood stoves. I have an Ashford 30 and last night I left for work, it was in the active zone, and when I got home in the morning my CO2 alarm was going off and the house smelled Smokey. I checked the fire and it look like it died out mostly leaving large coals. No visual smoke in the house. I’m burning well seasoned wood and have not had this problem. Been burning with this stove past two months. All pipes were just checked and cleaned with no issues. Any idea what could cause this ? And should I have disengaged the catalyst and let it burn out without it?

How is the stove vented? Describe the flue system in detail from stove to chimney cap.

 

[moresnow]

One possibility is you need to figure out where your normal "low set point" is. Sounds as if you may have turned it down to far on the way out the door to maintain an active burn. Normal error until the new operator figures out this set point.

You will eventually use only a relatively small portion of the entire available dial range to effectively control/run the stove. The rest of the available dial range is unused.

A partially plugged cap screen can give a similar result. Some cap screens plug quickly.

A few things to contemplate if you have not already! Good luck.

 

[stoveliker]

I think there are two issues here.
The left over fuel is one. Could be what moresnow says, or what ebp-s says.
The other one is the gases exiting the stove into the room.

These two are not necessarily related.

 

[Swil977]

Do you have moisture meter? Stalled cats happen if you are not running hot enough. How tightly sealed is your house ?

Yeah I check moister all the time. I’m burning all 2+ year old split wood. Oak, maple, ash and cherry. Wood tests at 15% and below, most of the time it’s testing at 10% or below. And the home is pretty tight. All new remodel construction within the last 5 years. Minus opening doors all the time for dogs and going outside, it seems fine.

 

[Swil977]

How is the stove vented? Describe the flue system in detail from stove to chimney cap.

So that black single pipe goes up off the stove top, two foot, then 90s out through a basement wall. I have about 8 foot of horizontal pipe before it 90s again and goes up 18 foot. The pipe through the wall is all triple wall and so is the pipe going up 18 feet.

 

[begreen]

The draft is stalling or reversing. If something that competes with the air supply comes on during the night, like an oil or gas furnace or boiler or hot water heater, a radon fan etc., it may be competing for combustion air.

Some small improvements that may help are changing the stovepipe to double-wall and changing the 90º turn to a pair of 45º elbows to reduce draft resistance.



Stoveliker covered other conditions to consider in post #3.

 

[stoveliker]

Also, check your manual for flue height. 8 ft horizontal is the most I ever heard.
Your flue is far too short.
BK advised 15 ft. For every foot of horizontal run, you need to add 2 ft of vertical to that. For every 90 degree elbow too.

So with 8 ft horizontal and two elbows, you need to add 20 ft to the 15 recommended...

8 ft of horizontal run is going to be beast to start anyway.

The draft reversal does have to do with this.
I would advise to rework the flue to go straight up instead.
It's no joke to have carbon monoxide ("the silent killer") leaking into your home.

So I take my words back ("not much you can do about it").

 

[begreen]

Yeah, that is a serious issue. What is the 8' horizontal traversing? Is it chimney pipe? Long story short, this really should be eliminated.

 

[Swil977]

Yeah, that is a serious issue. What is the 8' horizontal traversing? Is it chimney pipe? Long story short, this really should be eliminated.

I was wrong I just checked it’s about 5 foot from the 90 off the stove to the vertical section outside

 

[Swil977]

Also, check your manual for flue height. 8 ft horizontal is the most I ever heard.
Your flue is far too short.
BK advised 15 ft. For every foot of horizontal run, you need to add 2 ft of vertical to that. For every 90 degree elbow too.

So with 8 ft horizontal and two elbows, you need to add 20 ft to the 15 recommended...

8 ft of horizontal run is going to be beast to start anyway.

The draft reversal does have to do with this.
I would advise to rework the flue to go straight up instead.
It's no joke to have carbon monoxide ("the silent killer") leaking into your home.

So I take my words back ("not much you can do about it").

I was wrong I just checked it’s about 5 foot from the 90 off the stove to the vertical section outside.

 

[EbS-P]

You have lots things working against you. Basement, two 90s and 5 ft horizontal. You will have a hard time without changing your venting. If this happens again I would not consider this safe enough to use in my home.

 

[stoveliker]

So you have 2+18=20 ft, but two elbows and 5 ft horizontal.
The stove would work best at 15+14=29 ft per BK.

5 ft is still long, and it'll stall draft.fsr sooner than I'm other flues.
If your wood is then too wet or you dial the thermostat too low,. it'll stall, leave half burned wood, and you may end up with gases in your home.

 

[begreen]

I was wrong I just checked it’s about 5 foot from the 90 off the stove to the vertical section outside

We need more information. 5' is still very long for a horizontal run. Can you post a picture of this run?

 

[Swil977]

We need more information. 5' is still very long for a horizontal run. Can you post a picture of this run?

 

[begreen]

Thanks. That helps a lot. Definitely change out the single-wall 90º to a pair of 45º elbows with an offset to shorten the interior horizontal section as much as possible. Do this with double-walled stove pipe. Also, check the clearances in the manual, but it looks like the stove could be closer to the wall.

Has the horizontal run been checked for creosote accumulation recently? Long runs like that often accrue sote rapidly.

 

[Swil977]

Thanks. That helps a lot. Definitely change out the single-wall 90º to a pair of 45º elbows with an offset to shorten the interior horizontal section as much as possible. Do this with double-walled stove pipe. Also, check the clearances in the manual, but it looks like the stove could be closer to the wall.

Has the horizontal run been checked for creosote accumulation recently? Long runs like that often accrue sote rapidly.

Ok thank you for that information! And yeah just took it apart and checked / cleaned couple weeks ago. Did not see any real build up, normal amount.

 

[EbS-P]

Ok thank you for that information! And yeah just took it apart and checked / cleaned couple weeks ago. Did not see any real build up, normal amount.

How much is normal in the horizontal section. I think you can get this running well. Switch to double wall- Two 45s, mov the stove back.

Pay attention to air flow into and out of the basement. Basements can be low pressure zones. Any other mechanical ventilation in house? Make sure you have the uppers floors well air sealed. (As the hottest air escapes it’s replaced with warm basement air. And the basement can become a low pressure zone that competes with the chimney draft.

 

[Swil977]

How much is normal in the horizontal section. I think you can get this running well. Switch to double wall- Two 45s, mov the stove back.

Pay attention to air flow into and out of the basement. Basements can be low pressure zones. Any other mechanical ventilation in house? Make sure you have the uppers floors well air sealed. (As the hottest air escapes it’s replaced with warm basement air. And the basement can become a low pressure zone that competes with the chimney draft.

There was just a small amount of dust after cleaning it, not even 1/4 a handful from that horizontal. Some small flake build up on the sides of the pipe but didn’t really appear to be sote

 

[begreen]

There was just a small amount of dust after cleaning it, not even 1/4 a handful from that horizontal. Some small flake build up on the sides of the pipe but didn’t really appear to be sote

That's a good sign that the wood is well seasoned. How many cords had been burned before cleaning?

 

[Swil977]

That's a good sign that the wood is well seasoned. How many cords had been burned before cleaning?

Hard to say because I pull it and check every couple weeks. This last time I probably had half a cord (1 1/2 face cord) burned. And honestly the stove has been working super well until the event last night/this morning. It put me into a spin because of the CO alarm going off. The smoke smell I don’t care about, I grew up heating with normal fire places so the smell is what ever.

 

[begreen]

There should be no smoke smell either. That's a sign the draft is weak.

 

[John E. Law]

Stop using the cat bypass and you will be fine. They clog too easily.