First time poster, long time lurker. After hours and hours of research and countless forms read, I decide to purchase a blaze king princess insert. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake. Here is my setup:
I'm in S.E Pa. 25 ft 6" ss liner, "almost" straight shot up. (One adjustable 45 elbow off the stove to hook up into the liner as the outlet on the stove is at an angle) The elbow is adjusted to be almost straight, not even close to 45 degrees. Masonary chimney on exterior of house, clay liner is 12x12 and the space between clay liner and SS liner is filled with insulation. Perlite or vermiculite, I can't remember. Wood is 2-3 year old (split and stacked) oak (3 years) and ash (2)with consistent MC of 13-18%. My brother is an arborist so I'm lucky enough to be able to get premium wood for free. It to toot my own horn, but my dealer was very jealous of my woodpiles, my wife is still not that impressed. I digress.
Stove was Installed 3 weeks ago. Average night time temps: 30-40 daytime is 50-60. Issues are:
Smoke from chimney
Lousy burn times/inactive cat
Whistling/sucking noise coming from right (temperature control) side of stove.
-Dealer has been out and said the smoke issue is due to loose door, so we adjusted the door for a tighter seal, however I'm not sure why that wasn't addressed when stove was installed. He checked out the stove and cat and said everything should be fine now. Anyway, that issue seems to have been corrected.
-I'm loading the stove up fully at 20:00, allowing fire to get established with bypass open, close bypass only after cat is active and fire is ripping. Burn on high for 20-30 min, then over the course of the next 1/2hr throttle the stove to its lowest temp setting. At 05:00 when I wake up, the stove is consistenty in the "not active" zone, however there is still plenty of fuel in the stove and stove is fairly hot. What's the deal with that? Still having the issue after the dealer serviced the stove.
-The whistling noise coming from the stove is going to make me shoot myself it's so anoying. The dealer said it's just the sound of the stove drafting, but it sounds like old farmhouse windows leaking air during a windstorm. That's the best way to describe it. Not supper loud, but can certainly be heard across the room. Adjusting the thermostat ever so slightly will alleviate the noise for a few moments, but it soon returns. I havent read anyone complaining about this issue, which makes me assume it's not common.
I've been heating with wood for 10 years now, and understand there is a bit of a learning curve with these stoves, but I'm getting a little nervous I just blew close to $4k. I've called blaze king 2 times to address the issues, first time they told me to contact the dealer, which I did. The second time they played the "ill transfer you game" until finally getting the VM box of "Chris". I left a message, but have yet to hear back. In all fairness the message was left today, but I'm hoping someone here can help!
Thanks boys.
