Big, black, hard, crusty chunks of 'stuff' in the bottom of my BK Princess

[erice]

I'm getting seriously thick accumulations of a deposit on the fire bricks on my new Blaze King Princess.

I originally posted this topic as 'Accidentally Displaced Fire Brick in New Blaze King Princess'. Please see the beginning of that thread for background and discussions.

Because the problem is persisting and may be of interest to others I've reposted it below.

Further Details:

This stuff has a density nearly like concrete, and some of it actually adheres to the bricks. It can be partially, carefully, partly, removed using a hammer and screwdriver. But eventually the bricks would need to be replaced.

I've been trying to burn what should be really dry firewood. Raking the coals to the front and letting the stove burn lighter pieces of wood at high airflow hasn't made any difference.

I've been heating with wood for over 20 years in NW Washington using a Dutch NW Vermont Castings catalytic stove and kind of think I know how to recognize damp wood. I realize the BK is an entirely different creature than the VC. I ordered a moisture meter today since what I've been trying isn't working, and I need some hard data.

I look forward to hearing from others who have had or are having this issue, and how they dealt with it.

Eric

 

[shoot-straight]

Sounds like clinkers.

 

[Highbeam]

Clinkers. Especially common with doug fir in our area. The bark seems to be most of the cause.

 

[Highbeam]

Ignore them and remove them with the ash.

 

[erice]

Most of the hard crusts don't just float around in the ash. They form a hard layer.

Ignoring them will result in a buildup of the stuff on the bottom of the stove, which in a short time (weeks) would result in a significantly shallower fire box.

 

[ThunderMedic]

Hmmm. I've seen this with loblolly pine, mind you, I'm on the East Coast, but pine species tend to leave residue.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[lsucet]

Previous years with different stoves including BK I used to burn a mix of soft and hard wood. Since last spring and this winter the stove is burning just pine. I don't miss nothing about hardwood and just, I understand the differences between them and burn time etc. At each reload minimum 20 hrs later the bricks are white in color and clean. The creosote sticking on the metal piece parts burns off with a hot fire once a while or with a simple scraping. Pine is no problem at all. Something else is happening here.