Yes, 9) close the window! 10) place your palm against the window glass. 11) feel the pane.
Puffing Princess, p'd partner.
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Yes, 9) close the window! 10) place your palm against the window glass. 11) feel the pane.
This morning, there were some 3 - 4" coals left glowing hot. As I said above, I was heading to work so I went ahead and loaded. Tonight, there was almost nothing left but enough that the fire took off right away with 2 - 3 pieces of kindling and 4 medium sized splits.
Please try again some time with a partial load still burning to see if the method you describe still works.
LOL - Guess I would take a different approach... if the wife wants to move out over the smell of a little wood smoke, 1) pack her bags and set them by the curb, then 2) go shopping for a set of new locks for the house. 3) go shopping for new, improved wife. Plenty of girls out there who love the ambiance of a fire and a slight hint of wood smoke*.
* This assumes you aren't burning crap wood, pine, elm or something else which has an acrid smell. If THAT is the case, maybe try a bit more fragrant wood like oak, hickory, ash, etc!. I would think 30 feet of flue would be enough to vacuum the floors with. Any chance the chimney cap is too restrictive, plugged with gunk, or small flakes of creosote have built up on top of the stove baffle?
* This assumes you aren't burning crap wood, pine, elm or something else which has an acrid smell. If THAT is the case, maybe try a bit more fragrant wood like oak, hickory, ash, etc!. I would think 30 feet of flue would be enough to vacuum the floors with. Any chance the chimney cap is too restrictive, plugged with gunk, or small flakes of creosote have built up on top of the stove baffle?
ridemgis
Feeling the Heat
Sounds good! Looks like more than it really is when it's typed out like that.
Glad it's working better, lets hope the trend continues. 
The biggest thing is getting the stove down to coals which will have little to no smoke in them. These stoves take a long time to coal out without some interaction from the user since the splits on the sides will resemble charred splits for a long time.Long burn times that produce heat make us over looks some things.
With the cold we have now I have no issues with smoke spillage, 40's and 50's I can have some issues.A lot of stoves will spill smoke with loads still having active flames. The problem is we can have active flames for almost the full burn if we turn up the t-stat. Active flames with a cold chimney lead to our problems along with some design flaws.
Good thing I only have to open the door once a day when I have to deal with smoke spillage.
Is your stove in a basement? Mine is and the negative pressure was giving me smokey reloads as well. I open a nearby window about half way and give it a minute or two to equalize the pressure then I don't get any smoke. A little fresh air is good for you anyways.
BillWS, glad it's working so far. You'll be able to narrow down "your" steps as you get to know the stove. As far as smoke,-
Smoke from MY stove smells a whole lot better, than the diesel fumes from the propane truck filling up my neighbors tanks.
Ask your wife to think on that one.
edit-When kidded about my wood, my normal response is-
"That's not wood, that's propane I don't have to buy."
Smoke from MY stove smells a whole lot better, than the diesel fumes from the propane truck filling up my neighbors tanks.
Ask your wife to think on that one.
edit-When kidded about my wood, my normal response is-
"That's not wood, that's propane I don't have to buy."
Sounds like you have it down pat now, wouldnt hurt to check the cap to make sure theres no crud restricting the draft, I have to clean mine once during the year or it gets built up, then I get smoke spillage.
simple.serf
Feeling the Heat
Our stove (not a BK, I will admit) has always spilled a little smoke since day one. Neither of us notice unless we are out of town and smell it on our clothes or jackets then.
I don't like the smoke smell in the house, so I open windows when I reload. My stove (not a blaze king) is in the finished basement. When I reload I close the door leading upstairs and open a window on each side of the house, opening into the stove room. I generally get a good cross breeze in the stove room so any small puff of smoke that escapes the stove cannot get upstairs and is flushed out the windows. In a couple of minutes I can close the windows and have a room without any smoke smell at all, albeit a little colder than it was before reload. Then I can open the door leading upstairs and go about my day for a few hours. As others have suggested, I never reload until the previous load is down to coals so there isn't a lot of smoke left to escape the stove.
This might seem like a waste of heat (and it is) but it isn't nearly as bad as you might think. When the room is warm there is a lot of heat in the walls, floor, furniture, etc., so letting some warm air escape isn't letting out much of the heat. When I close the windows the room is warm again within a few minutes.
This might seem like a waste of heat (and it is) but it isn't nearly as bad as you might think. When the room is warm there is a lot of heat in the walls, floor, furniture, etc., so letting some warm air escape isn't letting out much of the heat. When I close the windows the room is warm again within a few minutes.
Update: As an experiment, I did all the steps I listed with active flames and about 1/2 burned splits just to see "how good" the method was. Not good enough. I ended the experiment right away with the first signs of smoke dumping out. However, it IS working fine when things are burned down to coals. Not a whiff then. I am in a basement, but it is a walk out on two sides, so not really down in a hole. I am still opening the window as part of the process though.
As far as a plugged chimney cap, I dont' think so. All was new this year and I am only part time burning and this has been the trend from the start.
Cory, I like your comment "with 30 ft. of pipe should be enough to vacuum the floors." As I was doing the install, I thought for sure I'd need a damper above the stove with that much flue. I am surprised it doesn't seem to draw more than "nornal". And I am burning mostly maple.
As far as a plugged chimney cap, I dont' think so. All was new this year and I am only part time burning and this has been the trend from the start.
Cory, I like your comment "with 30 ft. of pipe should be enough to vacuum the floors." As I was doing the install, I thought for sure I'd need a damper above the stove with that much flue. I am surprised it doesn't seem to draw more than "nornal". And I am burning mostly maple.
A lot of stoves/flue set ups will smoke up the room with an active flame. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
With all the great things about this stove Rick, a little learning curve to tweak things to my liking is worth it. I am greatful for the advice I got here that allowed me to solve the problem. I would have never figured it out on my own. And I really do want to keep the wife, she is a keeper - 25 years so far - just getting warmed up. Her dad told me the first 100 years are hard, then it gets easy.
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