Chinook 30 not heating the house
- Thread starter Bambi W
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I have been running for 2-3 weeks straight. I load at 6am, noon and 530 when I get home home. Burning threw the wood fast. Full loads. It doesn't help. I have 5 people in my office with blaze king stoves. No one else has this problem. I had a guy from work come over last night. He spent 1.5 hrs trying to figure it out with no luck. He has the king version. He was stumped.
It's a brand new air kit. Sealed good. They do have similar size houses. They have the blaze king model.
Good that you had an experience user come in and check.
Not sure what you mean by "temperature gun" for the flue. It's double wall pipe, an external IR gun won't give you useful data.
You need something like this:
Can you provide a pic of the top of the firebox, taking from the inside?
I asked about the pic from the right hand side, I'm asking about a flue probe because if it's burning well with a good load I wonder if all the heat goes up. Now BK's quality control is good as far as I can see (from the number of complaints on here, so a rather incomplete picture, but still), yet even with good QC, something "wrong" could slip through. I.e. is there a hole/big gap, etc. between the firebox and the space behind the cat? Does the bypass close (visibly from the inside)?
You make heat when you burn a full box. If it doesn not end up in your home, it goes up the flue. Somehow. No other way.
Not sure what you mean by "temperature gun" for the flue. It's double wall pipe, an external IR gun won't give you useful data.
You need something like this:
Can you provide a pic of the top of the firebox, taking from the inside?
I asked about the pic from the right hand side, I'm asking about a flue probe because if it's burning well with a good load I wonder if all the heat goes up. Now BK's quality control is good as far as I can see (from the number of complaints on here, so a rather incomplete picture, but still), yet even with good QC, something "wrong" could slip through. I.e. is there a hole/big gap, etc. between the firebox and the space behind the cat? Does the bypass close (visibly from the inside)?
You make heat when you burn a full box. If it doesn not end up in your home, it goes up the flue. Somehow. No other way.
And on the larger load in the second pic, the cat gauge did not go beyond what you showed in the initial pic?
Also I see one new split on a lot of coals, which is a bit odd (and not how to best run the stove) - though your morning noon, and early evening reloading sounds good (even if the interval is short).
Also I see one new split on a lot of coals, which is a bit odd (and not how to best run the stove) - though your morning noon, and early evening reloading sounds good (even if the interval is short).
premature cat failure? Does the temp come up with lower stat settings? Could be strong draft sucking all the heat up the chimney and not giving enough time for the cat to do its job?
Even with premature cat failing, running wide open should give plenty of heat - unless it's going up the flue indeed.
Barring a (exceptional?) cat failure, the fact that there's no heat and the cat temp is so low suggests gases bypass the cat imo
I suspect a bypass fail.
Barring a (exceptional?) cat failure, the fact that there's no heat and the cat temp is so low suggests gases bypass the cat imo
I suspect a bypass fail.
When you refill to the roof each time three times a day has the previous load burned down to nothing or are you just topping up a few splits above a big pile of coals?
3400 SF with masonry and 12 foot ceilings in a climate that is currently staying well below freezing is tough to keep warm and even tougher to warm up from 59.
3400 SF with masonry and 12 foot ceilings in a climate that is currently staying well below freezing is tough to keep warm and even tougher to warm up from 59.
Not masonry, but veneer, inside wall.
And new construction! - I would hope new construction has a proper thermal insulation and tightness that the stove would do better than this.
This stove is similar to the BK Boxer, which I have. If indeed the stove top is decorative it isn’t going to radiate much heat. In my opinion, stoves
Iike the boxer and chinook, trap too much heat between the stoves firebox and outer shell. Remember, air is a great insulator. At least the chinook has a few holes punched into the sides to let some heat escape. Most wood stoves put out the majority of their heat on the stoves top. This is not the case with this type of design. The heat has nowhere to radiate too.
Look at the photos below I just took. How many people would dare to place their hand on the top of their wood stove like this. The sides give off even less heat.
Iike the boxer and chinook, trap too much heat between the stoves firebox and outer shell. Remember, air is a great insulator. At least the chinook has a few holes punched into the sides to let some heat escape. Most wood stoves put out the majority of their heat on the stoves top. This is not the case with this type of design. The heat has nowhere to radiate too.
Look at the photos below I just took. How many people would dare to place their hand on the top of their wood stove like this. The sides give off even less heat.
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![[Hearth.com] Chinook 30 not heating the house](/talk/data/attachments/335/335304-3adea775ea39038276cac18929472151.jpg?hash=2s47dSbuie)
![[Hearth.com] Chinook 30 not heating the house](/talk/data/attachments/335/335305-af292acdc52afb7395831776f4a2901b.jpg?hash=A2RdM6ZdFO)
BKVP
Minister of Fire
All,
99.9%, not the cat. If bypass is closed and locked, it isn't the bypass. Only leaves draft and fuel. Let's see cat thermometer picture with firebox full, on high and fans off for at least 10 minutes.
NIELS are 7%, and 2 of those mixed with seasoned cordwood should rock....unless the stack isn't pulling in enough air. F/A new, but anything blocking it? Does it run to outside or take air from crawlspace?
As we recently learned with an AF30, the clean out on liner wasn't installed. Something is wrong but my hunch is insufficient draft.
BKVP
99.9%, not the cat. If bypass is closed and locked, it isn't the bypass. Only leaves draft and fuel. Let's see cat thermometer picture with firebox full, on high and fans off for at least 10 minutes.
NIELS are 7%, and 2 of those mixed with seasoned cordwood should rock....unless the stack isn't pulling in enough air. F/A new, but anything blocking it? Does it run to outside or take air from crawlspace?
As we recently learned with an AF30, the clean out on liner wasn't installed. Something is wrong but my hunch is insufficient draft.
BKVP
But he says he's able to run a full load down in 6 hrs. At least he reloads in 6 hrs.
That doesn't suggest draft imo?
That doesn't suggest draft imo?
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Bambi: For $25, you could answer most of these recent posts with authority, and have a handy tool around for future use:
I have one permanently mounted behind one of my chimneys:
![[Hearth.com] Chinook 30 not heating the house](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/335/335307-8a247d17a0cdd96dc20301abe000a3f3.jpg?hash=vFVeRDCUPa "[Hearth.com] Chinook 30 not heating the house")
![[Hearth.com] Chinook 30 not heating the house](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/335/335308-4c8ca875a0db1eeaa32812938f840dac.jpg?hash=UcN2Jh9aHj "[Hearth.com] Chinook 30 not heating the house")
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I have one permanently mounted behind one of my chimneys:
BKVP
Minister of Fire
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Red fir is a resinous fuel with anywhere from 8,500 to 9,500 btu's per lb. The 30.2 fire box can easily hold 45 lbs of fir. or using 9000 x 45 = 405,000 Btu's. 405,000/6 hours = 67,500 btu/hr Not possible in this stove. Even if it did generate that amount of heat, where is it going (especially with bypass closed).
Internally, we always require pictures for tech support. Something is amiss here for certain.
BKVP
We’ve had folks before claiming insufficient heat from a BK but it turned out that they were not loading to the top and were just throwing in a few splits. A full load of fresh fuel, not a pile of warm coals, has a lot of potential energy.
My guess is that in an effort to try and heat this giant home from 59 up to 70 they are coaling up the stove so topping up the load is not the same as filling the stove with fuel.
Niels are awesome. Very dense and dry.
My guess is that in an effort to try and heat this giant home from 59 up to 70 they are coaling up the stove so topping up the load is not the same as filling the stove with fuel.
Niels are awesome. Very dense and dry.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
The thing is, the OP had a friend who's an experienced BK burner come over and have a look at things. You'd think that if the friend were there to help or witness a reload, something as simple as "not enough wood" would have been caught right then.
True But, my buddy is an experienced f400 burner (4 years at least) burns everyday. But he burns his with the door open. Uses it as a fireplace, burns wet wood even if it's just been rained on, AND get this, his draft lever is broken. There is no draft lever. He says it's set in pretty good setting.
Yup it's true no BS. And he's an active volunteer firefighter so he knows better.
Oh and he also boosts burns with the ash pan door on the rare times when the door is closed.
I told him he's gonna crack the base but he's like it's been fine.
So "experienced" can mean many things.
We have to remember that we are stove nerds and able to identify and fix most problems. Especially with a BK. I’d sooner trust the folks here than 99% of dealers or experienced normal neighbor burners.
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