2012-2013 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

[jeff_t]

The load tonight went together so well I figured I'd take a picture.

Dang, I had one of those too, and thought about a pic. Nice when you have a bunch of good straight splits to work with. Only looking like about 18 hours, though, considering the 30+ mph wind and 74 degrees in here

 

[Todd]

Today I let the BK burn down and cleaned the chimney after a little over a cord of wood burned so far this year. I ended up with a lot more creosote than I thought I'd get, about 1 gal of flakey powdery black soot. Most seemed to be down low from what I could feel pushing the brush. I'm chalking this one up to learning a new stove.

Also saw some signs of air leakage near the crock where the double wall pipe connects to my single wall homemade thimble. I installed some gasket rope in there for a tight seal.

 

[rdust]

Today I let the BK burn down and cleaned the chimney after a little over a cord of wood burned so far this year. I ended up with a lot more creosote than I thought I'd get, about 1 gal of flakey powdery black soot. Most seemed to be down low from what I could feel pushing the brush. I'm chalking this one up to learning a new stove.

Also saw some signs of air leakage near the crock where the double wall pipe connects to my single wall homemade thimble. I installed some gasket rope in there for a tight seal.

I typically get about a quart of powdery stuff after a cord of wood with the BK.(27' liner) when I clean after the slow burning shoulder season. I get more from the BK than I did from my Lopi, I attribute it mostly to the low flue temps when I'm burning low all the time.

Didn't you have issues on that same chimney with Fireview due to pipe leakage?

 

[Todd]

I typically get about a quart of powdery stuff after a cord of wood with the BK.(27' liner) when I clean after the slow burning shoulder season. I get more from the BK than I did from my Lopi, I attribute it mostly to the low flue temps when I'm burning low all the time.

Didn't you have issues on that same chimney with Fireview due to pipe leakage?

Yeah, but it was different pipe, cheap single wall. I thought I had a pretty good seal with this new pipe but you could easily see where it was sucking air. It should be good to go now with that gasket but I'll check it again after another cord.

 

[rideau]

Hem/fir = hemlock. Not as many BTUs a doug fir. EPA tests all the stoves with Doug fir packed tight. You should be fine burning the cut offs packed tight. Just watch temp/air. Could also simply mix in with other wood.

 

[Highbeam]

Today I let the BK burn down and cleaned the chimney after a little over a cord of wood burned so far this year. I ended up with a lot more creosote than I thought I'd get, about 1 gal of flakey powdery black soot.

I swapped out the appliance adapter today, total PITA BTW, and had a chance to inspect the flue. In just under one cord burned I have built up more of the black fluffy stuff like todd pictured than I would have the entire season in the non-cat heritage. The non-cat made brown crunchy creosote. The new appliance adapter has no damper in it and I am burning hotter now but I am a little worried that I may need to sweep mid-season.

Do you folks sweep right into the stove and then vacuum the creo out of the bypass chamber?

Oh and lumber scraps burn just fine. Gotta be careful to pull off the little stickers on the ends of the boards though.

 

[HotCoals]

Make sure the bypass is open when you brush!
Then you could pull the pipe and clean around in there.
I did it with my shop vac and what a mess it made in the room in just a few seconds..won't do that again.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

I swapped out the appliance adapter today, total PITA BTW, and had a chance to inspect the flue. In just under one cord burned I have built up more of the black fluffy stuff like todd pictured than I would have the entire season in the non-cat heritage. The non-cat made brown crunchy creosote. The new appliance adapter has no damper in it and I am burning hotter now but I am a little worried that I may need to sweep mid-season.

Do you folks sweep right into the stove and then vacuum the creo out of the bypass chamber?

Oh and lumber scraps burn just fine. Gotta be careful to pull off the little stickers on the ends of the boards though.

Don't forget to yank the lil' galvanized staples also. Can't be too careful.
I clean my flue on average of 3 times a season, Sept. to June when I usually stop burning. Top down cleaning, just let it fall into the by-pass area and clean that after the flue is swept. Since the stove is cold, I combine the interior cleanout at the same time. That creo build-up inside the heat shields bugs me, so I'll scrape that out at the same time. Start to finish, 1-1.5 hrs if I get really determined.
1 gallon out of the flue alone seems normal to me. Low flue temps. do have their drawbacks.

 

[Highbeam]

So I don't want to pull my pipe apart anymore. It is not fun since the pipe is all vertical and many holes must line up properly to reassemble. Open the bypass, brush down from the roof until the brush goes into the stove. Then does anybody just vacuum out the creo through the door? With my fingers I can feel around and verify that the bypass rope seal is clean so I don't see why I couldn't just use my vacuum to suck out the chamber instead of messing with the pipes.

My vacuum seems able to keep the ashes in the vacuum. I don't get the dust bomb. I do put the vacuum out in the middle of the shop for a few days just so I don't have to worry about flame up.

I did a serious cleaning of the firebox today since I had the flue off. I was able to check for a broken weld on the bypass plate and suck out the whole bypass chamber from above. Also lightly scraped and cleaned off the loose accumulations on the interior of the stove. Cleaned out all ash as well since I didn't want the smoke from any coals going into the house when the flue was removed.

So here's the new look. No key damper. 30$ delivered for the new simpson section. The new section didn't jamb down into the collar as far meaning none of my holes lined up and I had to redrill for the condar probe meter.

 

[HotCoals]

You could pull the cat also if you really want to clean in there..course that would require a new gasket every time you do that.

 

[rdust]

Do you folks sweep right into the stove and then vacuum the creo out of the bypass chamber?

I don't see any problem with sticking the vacuum up the bypass to clean up the mess that doesn't fall through. If your hands aren't huge you should be able to feel up there pretty good and pull through anything that the vacuum may miss.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Hit my all-time high stove top temp., 680 with fans on. Cat @ 1700. Full load of bone dry Aspen.
Just had to share.

 

[nate379]

That is generally where mine runs everyday when it's cold out.

Lot of creosote for some??? I cleaned mine twice last year, got about a cup each time. Probably wont bother this year till springtime.

 

[Todd]

Stove's running a little different since I cleaned things up and sealed the air gap yesterday. Flues temps were up slightly and my burn time was down by a few hours. I guess I made the draft a bit stronger and will have to set the t-stat a little lower. Going back to 24 hour burns with the Princess and a little help from the Keystone in the evenings.

 

[Patapsco Mike]

That much creosote seems off to me. I get a bit more than a quart after a full season, and it's almost all from the very top of the pipe near the cap. My cap is always a mess though, that seems unavoidable. I need to clean the cap itself mid-season.

I don't disconnect the stove, it's way too much of a PITA. I just clean with the bypass open, then reach up and clean it all out with my hand. Works fine and saves me a lot of time.

What I need to figure out is how to clean out my fans. The fan is blowing maybe half the air it used to, I'm sure the fans are a mess from dog hair. But I don't see an easy way to get at them. Anyone have any tricks??

 

[Todd]

Seems like all my creosote is down lower in the chimney. The cap and top 1/3 is always clean. I might have a leak down near the clean out somewhere?

 

[weatherguy]

That much creosote seems off to me. I get a bit more than a quart after a full season, and it's almost all from the very top of the pipe near the cap. My cap is always a mess though, that seems unavoidable. I need to clean the cap itself mid-season.

I don't disconnect the stove, it's way too much of a PITA. I just clean with the bypass open, then reach up and clean it all out with my hand. Works fine and saves me a lot of time.

What I need to figure out is how to clean out my fans. The fan is blowing maybe half the air it used to, I'm sure the fans are a mess from dog hair. But I don't see an easy way to get at them. Anyone have any tricks??

Just take the left side panel off, you need the square driver (#1?) and it'll be right there, I clean mine every year, when I had the labs it was always filled with hair, cleaned it mid winter and end of year, now its not too bad so I'll just clean it in the spring.

 

[corey21]

Got a question. What do you guys do when the house gets to warm can you just turn it down and still have it burn clean?

 

[rdust]

Got a question. What do you guys do when the house gets to warm can you just turn it down and still have it burn clean?

It's not often the house will get too warm. The combination of fan/no fan and the t-stat help to keep the temps pretty even. My stove on one will burn clean(no smoke from the stack) for the entire burn. I find mine burns cleaner on low than it does when flames are in the stove. I believe others have also noticed this.

 

[corey21]

It's not often the house will get too warm. The combination of fan/no fan and the t-stat help to keep the temps pretty even. My stove on one will burn clean(no smoke from the stack) for the entire burn. I find mine burns cleaner on low than it does when flames are in the stove. I believe others have also noticed this.

Thank you.

That would be amazing for me to not over heat the hose.

My guess with no flames the cat has more smoke to eat then with flames.

 

[Highbeam]

Got a question. What do you guys do when the house gets to warm can you just turn it down and still have it burn clean?

Yes. I have been known to run the stove a little hotter just to look at the flames and to boost the temp in the stove room quickly but then to set the stove output back so that I don't overheat the room but also so that I can get the full 24 hour burntime. The cat stays active and burns clean so long as it lights off in the beginning.

These stoves have such a low output in the lower temp ranges that you can set it and forget it. Really, if you are overheating on the low settings, it is probably too warm outside for a fire. You can then resort to the "pulse and glide" style of burning where you let the stove cool between fires like you would with a non-cat except the glide periods will be a day or two since it will be so warm outside.

 

[corey21]

Yes. I have been known to run the stove a little hotter just to look at the flames and to boost the temp in the stove room quickly but then to set the stove output back so that I don't overheat the room but also so that I can get the full 24 hour burntime. The cat stays active and burns clean so long as it lights off in the beginning.

These stoves have such a low output in the lower temp ranges that you can set it and forget it. Really, if you are overheating on the low settings, it is probably too warm outside for a fire. You can then resort to the "pulse and glide" style of burning where you let the stove cool between fires like you would with a non-cat except the glide periods will be a day or two since it will be so warm outside.

I love the idea of set it and forget it since there wont be no wild temp swings like non cats.

 

[jeff_t]

This should keep the dogs happy until we get home tonight. Not much wasted space in there.

Merry Christmas

 

[ohlongarm]

This should keep the dogs happy until we get home tonight. Not much wasted space in there.

Merry Christmas

View attachment 86355

Easy to tell from the pics that your wood is 100%,it matters in these stoves.

 

[jeff_t]

Easy to tell from the pics that your wood is 100%,it matters in these stoves.

Apparently, mushrooms don't matter . That oak has been thru four summers in the stack. The big round and the huge split next to it were way dead ash that I put up last fall.

I may have overdone it, actually. I hope I can load it before midnight.