Ashford smell

[tabner]

My Ashford 20 is now giving me the smoke/creosote/barbecue smell whenever I run it on medium/high. Especially if the blower is on.
My chimney is lined and tall, and it’s in the low teens here, I have good draft.
I know there have been a lot of threads in the past about Ashfords and the smell - is the general consensus in those situations that it’s generally a door/gasket adjustment?
The stove turns down fine, so I assumed the door gasket was OK, but perhaps there could still be some minor misalignment or compression of the gasket?
After this cold snap passes I’ll do a dollar bill test, but I just wanted to see what the usual/common culprit ended up being with these Ashford smells?

 

[tabner]

I meant to put this on the blaze king page. Please feel free to move it.

 

[Dieselhead]

It is my belief the gasket gets creosote soaked and when ran hot the creo bakes out of the gasket and that is the sweet bbq smell. Under certain conditions I get it in my king, it’s not exclusive to the Ashford.

 

[tabner]

It is my belief the gasket gets creosote soaked and when ran hot the creo bakes out of the gasket and that is the sweet bbq smell. Under certain conditions I get it in my king, it’s not exclusive to the Ashford.

That makes a lot of sense and seems to fit the context of what I’m experiencing.
I have almost never run the stove on high, and I am right now, and it’s definitely most pronounced during these hot burns, in the middle of the burn cycle, and with the blower on.
Perhaps I just need to run the periodic hot fire a little more frequently.

 

[BKVP]

Also, the Ashford conversations have been mostly (99%) theAF30 & AF30.1 models. AF30.2 models have had few smoke smell related concerns.
BKVP

 

[tabner]

OK, cool, thanks. And I should edit/correct my first post - it gives the impression that a lot of Ashfords had this issue - which isn't fair. I understand it's an over-represented, or self-selecting group coming on forums for help. Overall my Ashford is an awesome piece of engineering and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend BK to anyone.
I also noticed that I hit a batch of subpar moisture wood on the bottom row of my woodpile. Today I'm burning dryer wood, with the blower off, (and the temperature is no longer single digits creating intense draft) and I'm having NO smell.
So I'm thinking everything is fine. I'm also due for a quick vacuum/brush of the catalytic combustor, that may help.
Not sure if it's the blower, the subpar wood, or the strong draft, but I don't think it's anything inherent to the stove.

 

[stoveliker]

I wonder though if it's not inherent to the air flow of the stove, why we heat predominantly about Ashfords and not about (to name a random example) Chinooks.

There are likely more Ashfords out there,.but the Sirocco might be near that number and we don't see much (any?) complaints from those models.

Just an anecdotal thought without having any data...

 

[BKVP]

The air wash system and same design has been used in our designs for over 35 years. As you know, most of the issues centered on AF30 and AF30.1 models. Of those posted here over time those models were made, nearly all were addressed with meeting the manufacturers required instructions in the manual. There are just a couple that remained a challenge and candidly have me stumped.

Since we made our manuals more specific and introduced the 30.2 model, concerns are almost non existent.

BTW, UL1390 has been published and will go into effect later this year. UL1390 requires a metal liner in all solid fuel installations that use a masonry chimney. This includes inserts and hearth mounted installations. Unfortunately, although I was on the Standards committee, I am unable to post the standard here. It is available for purchase from U.L.

BKVP

 

[tabner]

Thanks, I do have a metal liner.
Status update - in addition to the smell - i was also having trouble getting the stove to operate at full/usual force with the thermostat on high. Specifically i would close the bypass and the fire would slow right down (much different than normal operation). I double checked wood moisture, seemed to be acceptable. I knew i was due for a catalyst brush/vacuum, but hadn't had a chance in a while due to the sustained cold temps. I let the stove cool down on saturday, and gave the catalyst a very thorough (but gentle) clean out with my shop vac and a paint brush on its face - stove is running like a champ again. Smell is gone, flue temps rocket up, stove rips if i leave it on high.
I think maybe the serious cold we had (negative temps multiple mornings in a row) got some fly ash on the cat face. But clearly the cat was not firing like it should. Perhaps this contributed to some unburnt fuel and/or creosote creating the smell. Especially because i was running the stove wide open with the blower on to try and compensate - maybe it was overloaded with gases. or maybe the flue was not drafting properly due to lower temps in there.

Anyways - back to my blaze king heating the whole house, and being an incredible piece of engineering!
and just for anyone researching in future - my Cat did not appear to be clogged, it just looked dusty on the face, and i noticed it was not glowing orange across the whole face like it normally does. I'm surprised it was so impacted by some fly ash buildup, but it certainly was.

 

[Tron]

I'm surprised it was so impacted by some fly ash buildup, but it certainly was.

Interesting. I've never had that issue in now six years of operation, but then again, we don't see negative temperatures here.