2019-20 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)

[Highbeam]

Technically speaking, Western Larch is not Tamarack, but has been nicknamed as such.

Western larch - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In western Montana, it is highly desired as firewood though.

So what are you trying to say? Tamarack is just a non technical nickname for larch? Or that they are not the same thing?

 

[MTASH]

So what are you trying to say? Tamarack is just a non technical nickname for larch? Or that they are not the same thing?

Western Larch is not the same species as Tamarack (Eastern Larch), but is commonly referred to, or nicknamed, as such in the northwest. Presumably by easterners as they migrated west, as the trees have similar deciduous characteristics, although Western Larch are much larger. As you can see, it is limited to growth within the Pacific Northwest:

As a native of the fine state of MT, I myself did not realize this until a few years ago when I was involved with a forestry project. I probably split nearly a hundred cords of "Tamarack" when I was a kid to feed our hungry Earth Stove. Some of which required a 36" Husky to cut. So I still call it that, despite the hair-splitting. The main point of my post was to differentiate it with the species that the poster inquired about.

I wish I had easy access to it for firewood, but now I live just outside the area and it's not practical to get. So I have to burn primarily Lodgepole and Fir instead.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Hack may be small where you live,... I have many that are over 20" on the stump and 70' tall. When I do my next tree harvest that will make up 10% of the logs removed. I have had may board feet sawn out it makes indestructible lumber but has to be pre drilled before you try to nail it or you may end up with a 20d spike back in your face.

 

[Alpine1]

If I can grab some, I happily burn larch (Larix decidua for us here in Europe) but it’s a rare tree where I live, and the forest management rules are very strict and conservative about larch. It’s almost as good as beech.

 

[MTY]

Just a heads up. Stove is a BK King.

When I got home this evening, the stove was near out and the cat thermometer was in the lower third, barely above active . I pitched in two prestologs, set the thermostat about 2.5 and started my evening routine. About an hour and a half, maybe two hours later I heard a loud woof and smoke exited around the door gasket. The cat thermometer was pegged. I closed the intake, turned the fan and a box fan on to cool the stove. When the cat temp started dropping, I shoveled most of one prestolog into a metal bucket and took it outside.

I have almost a full pallet of prestologs sitting in the drive, but lack the balls to use any more in the stove. Be darn careful if you choose to use prestologs.

 

[kennyp2339]

Just a heads up. Stove is a BK King.

When I got home this evening, the stove was near out and the cat thermometer was in the lower third, barely above active . I pitched in two prestologs, set the thermostat about 2.5 and started my evening routine. About an hour and a half, maybe two hours later I heard a loud woof and smoke exited around the door gasket. The cat thermometer was pegged. I closed the intake, turned the fan and a box fan on to cool the stove. When the cat temp started dropping, I shoveled most of one prestolog into a metal bucket and took it outside.

I have almost a full pallet of prestologs sitting in the drive, but lack the balls to use any more in the stove. Be darn careful if you choose to use prestologs.

With that burning technique that would have happened with any wood in any stove you would have used, not just a compressed log and not in just a BK.
What you experienced was called a back puff, these occur when a fuel rich environment is created then it finally lights off, this rapid light off creates an explosion in the firebox, some users have experienced loud thuds, top plate coming off the stove, and even one report (2) years ago if I remember correctly of broken stove glass. When fueling up the BK, if the cat meter is below active the by-pass needs to stay open, the air should be adjusted so the load doesn't smolder, it should re-light with relative ease, the by-pass should be closed once the cat is active and a good char should occur to the wood load or compressed brick load before closing back the t-stat air control to prevent a fuel rich environment. IE: make sure you have flames in the firebox with an active cat before dialing the air back.

 

[SpaceBus]

Hack may be small where you live,... I have many that are over 20" on the stump and 70' tall. When I do my next tree harvest that will make up 10% of the logs removed. I have had may board feet sawn out it makes indestructible lumber but has to be pre drilled before you try to nail it or you may end up with a 20d spike back in your face.

That's small for a 70' tree, and they don't get much bigger than that from what I've heard. A 70' Maple would be much larger.

 

[kennyp2339]

Storm blew in Thursday night, temps crashed with upper 40’s for highs and mid 20’s for lows, I lit the stove and getting 18hr burn cycles while keeping the upstairs right at 70. No blower being used, and I’m burning a mix of ash and maple with a few red oak pieces, couldn’t be happier with the performance of the stove so far.
i did a basic tune up on the Bk, cleaned the chimney, adjusted the door latch 2nd time in 5 years, and adjusted the by-pass lever, both adjustments were ever so slight, I made sure the area behind the cat was clean after sweeping and hit the front of that cat with the shopvac. I suppose next year I’ll replace the cat, new door and window gaskets and it should be good to go for another 3 years.

 

[Alpine1]

Just a heads up. Stove is a BK King.

When I got home this evening, the stove was near out and the cat thermometer was in the lower third, barely above active . I pitched in two prestologs, set the thermostat about 2.5 and started my evening routine. About an hour and a half, maybe two hours later I heard a loud woof and smoke exited around the door gasket. The cat thermometer was pegged. I closed the intake, turned the fan and a box fan on to cool the stove. When the cat temp started dropping, I shoveled most of one prestolog into a metal bucket and took it outside.

I have almost a full pallet of prestologs sitting in the drive, but lack the balls to use any more in the stove. Be darn careful if you choose to use prestologs.

The suggested procedure for reloading is to open the bypass, set the thermostat at max, open the stove door a little and wait a few minutes tho establish some more draft.
Then you open the stove door, reload and close the door. Note that the bypass is still open and t-stat still on high.
If the cat is active, shut the bypass closed but let the t-stat on high for at least 20 minutes, in order to “char” the load, then set the t-stat where you want it.
If the cat isn’t active, you must wait for it to go in the active zone keeping the bypass open.
From your description, seems that you have skipped the load char phase, thus engulfing the stove with fuel that the cat can’t eat. Once the temp got high enough... boom. I find load charring essential for long burns.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

That's small for a 70' tree, and they don't get much bigger than that from what I've heard. A 70' Maple would be much larger.

Glad we got that cleared up

 

[lsucet]

Just a heads up. Stove is a BK King.

When I got home this evening, the stove was near out and the cat thermometer was in the lower third, barely above active . I pitched in two prestologs, set the thermostat about 2.5 and started my evening routine. About an hour and a half, maybe two hours later I heard a loud woof and smoke exited around the door gasket. The cat thermometer was pegged. I closed the intake, turned the fan and a box fan on to cool the stove. When the cat temp started dropping, I shoveled most of one prestolog into a metal bucket and took it outside.

I have almost a full pallet of prestologs sitting in the drive, but lack the balls to use any more in the stove. Be darn careful if you choose to use prestologs.

You should let it burn for awhile before shut the thermostat down to you low setting after reload. I guess it can happen either way.

 

[MTY]

The cat never went inactive. I have been burning the thing since 2009 without issue. I probably have at least 20 years of burning cat stoves under my belt. What did happen is that when the the prestologs expanded to over three feet long, the entire length of them lit off.

How many of you experts are burning prestologs? Charring prestologs is not going to make them not expand. It will only make them expand faster. Try to grasp that once they have expanded it can be as if you just pitched in a full stove of kindling. Expanded they have many many times the surface area of any comparably sized piece of wood. Furthermore, it takes heat as in an overfire, not smoke to overdrive a cat.

My evening routine consists of sitting in front of the stove, watching the fire, keeping the dog from eating the cat, reading and once in a while having a cup of tea. The prestologs never smoldered. They lit right off, the cat started warming up and I went about my routine. They became a roaring fire upon expansion producing more gas than the stove could handle. The flames were burning well above the prestologs. That was due to the gas given off by the prestologs burning not the logs themselves.

I had been burning one prestolog at a time for the last two to three weeks. The error was in putting two in and not cutting the thermostat back. One gave off considerable heat, clean glass and about a 3 hour burn with a thermostat setting of 2.

If the smoldering smoke theory was valid, cutting oxygen to the stove would have caused more smoldering smoke, not shut the fire down. After shoveling the one prestolog out of the stove, the remaining one burned as red coals with considerable flame for close to two hours with the thermostat turned all the way down.

I posted originally to let people know that an overfire can happen easily and quickly with prestologs, and I return to see advice to burn them hotter.

 

[kennyp2339]

How many of you experts are burning prestologs?

So your first post only had partial info, you left a lot out of it and thats why I assumed that its was an overly smoldering load, the cat was trying to eat as much smoke as possible, the inside of the fire box lacked enough oxygen to lite off so it just stayed fuel rich, eventually the off gassing of the presto logs either started to reduce, or the t-stat opened allowing air to enter the firebox and once the mixture of air and smoke hit the already hot cat it lit of like a backdraft.
As far as the expansion, never had that happen when burning compressed wood logs, while never using the presto logs exclusively, I have used tractor supply red-stones (big and small bricks) and another brand that's no longer made.

 

[moresnow]

My evening routine consists of sitting in front of the stove, watching the fire, keeping the dog from eating the cat, reading and once in a while having a cup of tea.

Sounds like a nice relaxing routine!

 

[TheIglu]

Looking for a bit of advice (especially since BKVP is on here) regarding a new Blaze King stove.

Short background: Current Harman TL-300 owner. Starting to form cracks on the top load opening after 8 years of use. VERY careful to never over fire. Harman/local dealer is all crickets when calling in the 10 year firebox warranty. Still waiting to hear back. Either way, I'm done with this stove. WAY too temperamental to keep happy.

We have a 2400 square foot fairly modern home. Stove is located centrally on the first floor, not basement. 19' of triple wall stainless 6" chimney straight up, with a 2' 45 bend in the double wall stove pipe. In New England (north central MA), so we win the lottery on temp variation during the year. Current Harman has no issue keeping the house nice even during the -10's. Burning all hardwood. 4" outside air kit already installed.

I was looking at a Princess Ultra (quoted $3099) with convection deck ($?), fan kit ($300), and outside air kit ($150).

Would it be worth considering the King Ultra as well? From what I've read here, my setup is nearly perfect if using a King on a 6" flue with a reducer.

With a less labor intensive stove, I'd be looking to burn more often than I currently have been. Babysitting the stove for 2-3 hours before trying to get it to burn on it's own for 4 means I haven't burned as much as I'd like. Hoping a new stove will change that. Will the larger firebox be worthwhile to get it to burn for longer times? Since the convection top is included on the King Ultra, I'm wondering what the actual price difference would end up being vs buying the Princess with the convection deck.

Advice welcome.

 

[lsucet]

I will go with the princess. It will save you trouble for sure. I have same setup as you on one of mine, 19' with 2 45s. I have 3ft double wall, one 45, 1ft, another 45 that connects to the support box adapter.the rest is class A. No problems with that setup. I also have almost the same sf as you with a weird layout, and unless gets real cold I handle my heating needs with this setup. I fire the other one once or twice a week normally. Is rare that I burn 24/7 on that one.

You have everything set for the Princess and it will be a plug and play deal with minimum changes if any. Just my opinion.

 

[Highbeam]

Looking for a bit of advice (especially since BKVP is on here) regarding a new Blaze King stove.

19' of triple wall stainless 6" chimney straight up, with a 2' 45 bend in the double wall stove pipe.

I was looking at a Princess Ultra (quoted $3099) with convection deck ($?), fan kit ($300), and outside air kit ($150).

Would it be worth considering the King Ultra as well? From what I've read here, my setup is nearly perfect if using a King on a 6" flue with a reducer.

With a less labor intensive stove, I'd be looking to burn more often than I currently have been. Babysitting the stove for 2-3 hours before trying to get it to burn on it's own for 4 means I haven't burned as much as I'd like. Hoping a new stove will change that. Will the larger firebox be worthwhile to get it to burn for longer times? Since the convection top is included on the King Ultra, I'm wondering what the actual price difference would end up being vs buying the Princess with the convection deck.

Advice welcome.

No, you can't put the 8" king into a 6" chimney. I wish it was allowed! Your chimney sounds perfect for a princess which is a great performer.

The new princess has a sort of convection deck built in. They have made changes for the 2020 regulations.

 

[bholler]

Looking for a bit of advice (especially since BKVP is on here) regarding a new Blaze King stove.

Short background: Current Harman TL-300 owner. Starting to form cracks on the top load opening after 8 years of use. VERY careful to never over fire. Harman/local dealer is all crickets when calling in the 10 year firebox warranty. Still waiting to hear back. Either way, I'm done with this stove. WAY too temperamental to keep happy.

We have a 2400 square foot fairly modern home. Stove is located centrally on the first floor, not basement. 19' of triple wall stainless 6" chimney straight up, with a 2' 45 bend in the double wall stove pipe. In New England (north central MA), so we win the lottery on temp variation during the year. Current Harman has no issue keeping the house nice even during the -10's. Burning all hardwood. 4" outside air kit already installed.

I was looking at a Princess Ultra (quoted $3099) with convection deck ($?), fan kit ($300), and outside air kit ($150).

Would it be worth considering the King Ultra as well? From what I've read here, my setup is nearly perfect if using a King on a 6" flue with a reducer.

With a less labor intensive stove, I'd be looking to burn more often than I currently have been. Babysitting the stove for 2-3 hours before trying to get it to burn on it's own for 4 means I haven't burned as much as I'd like. Hoping a new stove will change that. Will the larger firebox be worthwhile to get it to burn for longer times? Since the convection top is included on the King Ultra, I'm wondering what the actual price difference would end up being vs buying the Princess with the convection deck.

Advice welcome.

The princess is a great stove and much easier to use than your current Harman. But it will not produce near the peak BTUs of the Harman. I really strongly dislike harmans but they crank out massive amounts of BTUs. The bk will be much lower but much more consistent heat. If you think that will work well for you they are great stoves. I love the one I am running about 60 to 70 percent of the time. But I wish it had a bit more output at times

 

[Highbeam]

I see it as a tortoise and hare situation. The princess specializes in making a steady lower output rate for a long time like 24 hours but the harman is the same size firebox and specializes in dispensing that same amount of btus in a short timeframe like 12 hours. In my application I much prefer the comfort of a constant output.

Every once in a while I come home after a vacation and the house is like 55 degrees and that is when I would prefer the high output short burn of the harman.

 

[bholler]

I see it as a tortoise and hare situation. The princess specializes in making a steady lower output rate for a long time like 24 hours but the harman is the same size firebox and specializes in dispensing that same amount of btus in a short timeframe like 12 hours. In my application I much prefer the comfort of a constant output.

Every once in a while I come home after a vacation and the house is like 55 degrees and that is when I would prefer the high output short burn of the harman.

That depends on the house. And location. When we don't have high winds the princess does fine. But we are ontop of a ridge and when the wind starts howling the princess is being pushed pretty hard to keep up. I used allot more oil last year with the princess even after adding a foot of insulation in the attic than I did with the regency. Simply because there were many more times the bk could not maintain temps in the house for the time I needed it to.

 

[spudman99]

Since @bholler monitors this thread, I was curious if you switched back to the Regency or will be running the Princess again this year. Not trying to revive that old "you will never go back after a BK" argument, just curious to hear from a respected industry user and your personal experience with both stoves.

 

[bholler]

Since @bholler monitors this thread, I was curious if you switched back to the Regency or will be running the Princess again this year. Not trying to revive that old "you will never go back after a BK" argument, just curious to hear from a respected industry user and your personal experience with both stoves.

I am trying the princess again this year. Last year's wood was 20% or less and I tried a skid of compressed wood bricks. This year I built a solar kiln and everything I have checked is 15% or less. So I want to see what difference it makes. It is not that I dislike how the princess works at all. Just that from last year's experience it just needs a bit more power for my house in it's current state. With more work sealing and insulating it will probably be good.

 

[jetsam]

I screwed up my woodstove operation yesterday- I was letting the stove warm up a little on high after a couple days of burning real low- and forgot about it, and went to work with the stove full of oak on wide open throttle.

Because it's a BK, this story ends with "everything was ok because the thermostat is awesome like that", but I still feel pretty dumb. Imagine if it was one of my old stoves I just left with the air wide open... I'd be posting "does this look warped to you?" instead.

Moral of the story: Take care of your gaskets, and your thermostat will take care of you. (Or possibly "don't operate a wood stove if you have no short term memory", but I like the first one better.)

Thanks again, BK!

 

[Highbeam]

I screwed up my woodstove operation yesterday- I was letting the stove warm up a little on high after a couple days of burning real low- and forgot about it, and went to work with the stove full of oak on wide open throttle.

Because it's a BK, this story ends with "everything was ok because the thermostat is awesome like that", but I still feel pretty dumb. Imagine if it was one of my old stoves I just left with the air wide open... I'd be posting "does this look warped to you?" instead.

Moral of the story: Take care of your gaskets, and your thermostat will take care of you. (Or possibly "don't operate a wood stove if you have no short term memory", but I like the first one better.)

Thanks again, BK!

So had you engaged the cat or did you blow a whole load of oak at full throttle through the bypass? Have you checked the gasket retainers for failure?

 

[Diabel]

After using the Princess for one season, I have zero negative comments. I bought the stove 100% based on the positive comments here. It is not a blast furnace, but low and slow performer.