2012-2013 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

[Heftiger]

Lesson learned. Small fires don't pay off.

It's getting cool in the evenings here but warm during the day. I decided I would start a small fire just to last the night. Put 3 splits on at 8pm. Woke up at 5 and just had coals, house was 71 (wife likes it warmer). Put another split on and went back to sleep. Woke up at 7, that split was still going, house was 71, but the cat was barely active. I just put 2 more splits on to get the cat well into the active range. If I would've put 6 splits on lastnight, I would have gotten at least 18 hours out of it.

 

[Mr. Jones]

All you BK guys have illegal installs and your insurance won't pay off, so be careful. Those wooden handles are violating the "clearance to combustibles" specs for the stove.

I love 'em, though...

Funny, mine burned/broke off years ago. Use decorative over mits now. As far as the insurance goes, they didn't have a problem when it was installed decades ago. So if they do now, (I haven't checked), then maybe they should open up their pocket book and purchase me a new "legal" stove to be on the safe side, lol.

 

[Mr. Jones]

I sure wish bk still made a king insert. Wondering why they don't anymore? All that wasted space in my masonry fireplace. Maybe even make a "super king" so I could just load it once a week, lol.

 

[jeff_t]

With the side shields, mine doesn't even get warm. My sister's stove didn't have shields when we bought it, amd the handle was charred and split down the middle. New ones are like 5$. Or less.

 

[weatherguy]

I sure wish bk still made a king insert. Wondering why they don't anymore? All that wasted space in my masonry fireplace. Maybe even make a "super king" so I could just load it once a week, lol.

If they had a king insert I would have one burning in my family room right now. Maybe they didnt sell that many since they're so big, my family room FP accomodates a pretty big insert.

 

[Highbeam]

Speaking of handles, my front door handle is very easy to close. It bottoms out with very little effort even though the door passed the dollar bill test four weeks ago. So how much effort is required to latch your front door and does the latch bottom out on the catch?

We are so warm outside in WA that I can't do full loads. I get a big kick out of rdust's photos since that is how I want to be burning this thing but it just gets too hot in the house. We are still in the 50 low to 60 high daily temp swings and rain. Just enough for a four split/12+ hour fire.

I emptied the ash during one of my warm periods and this stove holds a lot more than the heritage. Cripes, a couple inches of depth filled my ash can. No wasted chunks of coal or klinkers.

I've been "selling" this stove to my buds now. I expect to help install the insert model later this year to replace a homemade monster.

Oh and a straight razor blade is the cat's meow for removing the gunk on the glass. I tried ash on a wet paper towel, no dice, bought that rutland cleaner stuff, no dice, then busted out the brand new box blade blades and the stuff just scrapes right off. Needs to be a sharp blade and it goes fast. Even with a clean window, there's not much to see inside. The dirtiness is down low in the corners so you can still see the cat glow which is about all there is to see.

In the corners of the firebox I am getting the most awesome black tar creosote building up. Super glossy and thick but can barely dent it with my fingernail. Truly nasty stuff if I wanted to clean it or if it was in the flue.

 

[jeff_t]

My door still takes a pretty firm hand to close. If the gasket does the job, I wouldn't worry too much. Might not be a bad idea to get it tight before you really need it. I think it was rdust who broke his latch last winter, and Hiram made him a new one. The latch isn't a strong point (literally, I guess) of this stove.

I actually burned my glass fairly clean last night. That rarely happens for me.

 

[rdust]

My door still takes a pretty firm hand to close. If the gasket does the job, I wouldn't worry too much. Might not be a bad idea to get it tight before you really need it. I think it was rdust who broke his latch last winter, and Hiram made him a new one. The latch isn't a strong point (literally, I guess) of this stove.

I actually burned my glass fairly clean last night. That rarely happens for me.

Mine didn't break yet but I had a heck of a time getting it to move last year though. I worked it very carefully after reading stories of the latches breaking. Hiram mentioned he'd make me a new one but I haven't hit him up for it yet.

 

[jeff_t]

Mine didn't break yet but I had a heck of a time getting it to move last year though. I worked it very carefully after reading stories of the latches breaking. Hiram mentioned he'd make me a new one but I haven't hit him up for it yet.

He broke his and made a new one, right?

 

[rdust]

He broke his and made a new one, right?

His neighbor has an insert that broke so he made his neighbor one. I can't remember what my wife said to me yesterday but I can remember stuff typed on this damn forum from years ago.

 

[Todd]

Speaking of handles, my front door handle is very easy to close. It bottoms out with very little effort even though the door passed the dollar bill test four weeks ago. So how much effort is required to latch your front door and does the latch bottom out on the catch?

My door failed the dollar bill test last week so I tightened the latch 1 full turn and it sealed right up. It's a little more snug than it used to be, it was similar to how you stated yours.

Now I'm wondering about the bypass seal? The BK video says it may need tightening after awhile and I'm thinking they don't account for gaskets flattening out after a month or so.

 

[Highbeam]

I looked at the bypass mechanism when I installed the stove to see about this adjustment. I decided that so long as I can still feel that over center cam-lok type thunk at the end of the closed range that no adjustment is needed. That cam-lok feeling is the plate being smashed tight. I have felt up around the gasket to be sure that creo isn't accumulating there. Has anybody adjusted this?

The door latch is pretty loose. I could easily bottom the latch by setting a full pop can on the handle. The black glass is even and burn times long so I don't see any symptoms.

 

[jeff_t]

Now I'm wondering about the bypass seal? The BK video says it may need tightening after awhile and I'm thinking they don't account for gaskets flattening out after a month or so.

After about 6-7 weeks, we had a warm spell, so I let it burn out and brushed the chimney (waste of time, BTW). I had noticed that the bypass didn't close as firmly as when it was new, and with the pipe off I could reach in and rattle it up and down a bit. The stove was still functioning well, and the bypass damper is a substantial piece, meaning the weight of it probably makes a decent seal. I did tighten it up, though. Takes two 7/16" wrenches and about 30 seconds.

 

[Lanningjw]

His neighbor has an insert that broke so he made his neighbor one. I can't remember what my wife said to me yesterday but I can remember stuff typed on this damn forum from years ago.

I broke my latch and made a new one. I called BK and with a complaint saying the latch was the weak link on the stove.The latch seems to break when you try and make an ajustment.
BK said they made it that way so the average guy could make a new one for the stove and keep it working. They did send me a new one, it took 10 days to get it in the mail.

 

[Woody Stover]

the handle was charred and split down the middle. New ones are like 5$. Or less.

My Dutchwest has a "fall-away" handle that you insert in the door latch to open the stove. It comes with a porcelain sleeve. After dropping the handle and breaking a couple of those, I just took a piece of Red Oak, drilled out the center for the long bolt, and trimmed it down to size. Still intact after quite a few years.

 

[jeff_t]

I think that's why they make the bypass handle removable.

 

[smokeater]

Since we have a bunch of new BK owners this year I figured I'd start a thread to discuss everything BK. This may help limit the amount of BK threads and give us one convenient place to ask questions or just boast about our burn times without ruffling any feathers.

Anyway I'm on my second season with the Princess and it continues to impress me. I getting ready to load after 25+ hours, the load was a pretty full load of scotch pine and elm that was standing dead for years.(some pieces punky) Our overnight temps were in the 30's and our daytime high was 41, we've had 30+ mph north winds all day. House is still a comfy 72 at this point.

If I understand correctly the Princess uses a six inch stove pipe,would there be any trouble using single wall pipe with this stove?After years of using inferior stoves ,the burn time with these bk stoves make owning one a must.Thanks for any info.

 

[jeff_t]

If I understand correctly the Princess uses a six inch stove pipe,would there be any trouble using single wall pipe with this stove?After years of using inferior stoves ,the burn time with these bk stoves make owning one a must.Thanks for any info.

The Princess does use a 6" pipe. BK recommends the use of double walled pipe because of already low flue temps, but if you have the single walled pipe, you can certainly try it. Changing to double isn't a huge expense, if you need to.

 

[Todd]

If I understand correctly the Princess uses a six inch stove pipe,would there be any trouble using single wall pipe with this stove?After years of using inferior stoves ,the burn time with these bk stoves make owning one a must.Thanks for any info.

The manual recommends double wall pipe and I'd have to agree with that. These stoves are throttled down so much and run such low flue temps at low burn rates you really need that double wall to keep the flue gases as warm as possible to maintain good draft. Maybe if it was a taller straight up install it might not matter as much?

 

[Todd]

For a change of pace today I loaded up with a load of Pine. They say Pine is fine.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Nice, Todd. I'll check in Thurs., see how far it's burned down by then.

 

[rdust]

For a change of pace today I loaded up with a load of Pine. They say Pine is fine.

I find pine burns nearly as long as hardwood in the shoulder season. Probably doesn't generate the same heat but still really good burn times. It sure makes me look at the half acre or so of dying scotch pines I have a little differently.

 

[Rickb]

Does no one have the Sirocco? Or know someone with it? Looking at getting this if our new home builders ever get our new house done.

 

[HotCoals]

I'm not sure what year mine is, but it looks similar to this. It's an insert though, with the jet air, so the ceramics on the side have diamond shaped holes. It doesn't have the fan exhaust under the top of the stove with blaze king on it. It just has a crack above the stove top about an inch high, where the air is blown from the back of it, inside the fireplace, and across the very top of stove. Wondering what year it is. I'm thinking it's like an 81 or 82.

Mine was a 87 and looked a lot like that one.
It had dual fans also.


On the subject of single wall or double.
I'm still using the single wall from 87.
I like the extra heat coming off it when its really cold.
I see no prob with 4 or 5 ft of it.

 

[Waulie]

What kind of flue temps are you guys seeing on a low burn?