Blaze King Princess input blocked ?

[RustyShackleford]

My BK Princess is exhibiting behavior that suggests the input is somehow blocked. I just started a fire the way I normally do, with the door slightly propped open (by not engaging the latch properly) and then waiting till the fire seems to be raging pretty well, and then closing the door - with the input wide open until the cat gets hot enough.

But right now, as soon as I close the door, it's wanting to snuff the fire. Nothing else is different. I've checked the butterfly valve on the thermostat and it looks fine. I've actually never bothered to figure out how the intake air gets from there into the firebox, but it seems like somehow those channel(s) are blocked. This is the stove's 16th winter, so I guess it wouldn't be surprising - although it seemed to come on fairly suddenly.

Could be my imagination, I suppose, just a poorly arranged configuration of logs. But seems like clogged intake could be an issue in a stove this old.

 

[kennyp2339]

Flue cap clogged? Is the T-stat control knob in the correct orientation?

 

[stoveliker]

Indeed, the fact that it works with the door open may not mean the flue is clear - the impedance to air flowing into the stove with the door open is far, far lower than through the air intake. If the cap or flue is partially clogged, draft (suction) on the stove is going to be lower, and as a result it could not be strong enough to overcome the air intake impedance but okay for the door open.

Any more smoke roll out recently?

 

[RustyShackleford]

Nope, nothing is different. I think I just had the logs arranged spastically. But still ... how does the intake air flow between. the butterfly valve and the firebox ? Is cleaning that out something that needs to happen on a 16-year old stove ? Or does the fire burn off any deposits ?

 

[stoveliker]

There should not be any deposits in there, because the air flows the other way.

From the butterfly valve, the air splits to the left and right, goes through the big tubes near the top of your firebox to the front on both sides, where they connect to the air wash that you see through the window.

At least if it's the same as mine and others I have seen.

 

[BKVP]

Very unlikely it's on the intake side. More likely the chimney is not pulling air into the firebox. Is there a F/A intake line or burning room air?

BKVP

 

[RustyShackleford]

Very unlikely it's on the intake side. More likely the chimney is not pulling air into the firebox. Is there a F/A intake line or burning room air?

Room air. But what does F/A mean, forced air ? Anyhow, it was my imagination I think, I just had my logs arranged poorly.

 

[BKVP]

F/A= Fresh Air