2012-2013 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

[webbie]

No. Especially with the feature of jumping to the first new post I would not have noticed. Thanks for trying new stuff though. I visit a few forums and this one is the very best since the upgrade. Love the alerts, thread perviews, and jump to first new post features.

Ok, so you don't notice or use it. Thanks!
Hopefully some others will chime in.

Note that we (mods) would set it only for certain threads - it would not be default.
Also, I can improve the styling so it make it very clear that it is a copy of the first post.

BUT, I don't believe in fixing things which are not broken so I am looking for lots of opinions. I think I will post this over in the forum suggestion thread....

 

[jeff_t]

BTW, not to go too far off-topic, but do you (dear readers) find it useful that this thread shows the original post at the top of each page? It's an add-on I'm trying out.

Not so much for this 30 page thread that involves so many different topics. This is a just a catch-all BK thread. If it was a longish thread about a specific issue, I think it would be useful.

 

[steviebam]

I as well would say it is not needed, since the title says it all. The first few times I thought I was on the first page, so I would click again on page 30.
But thanks again on the great forum and its members.

 

[PapaDave]

Would be useful if you've forgotten the original post, which I do quite often after a couple days. Just as a refresher to remind us how the thread began. The title doesn't always reflect the whole first post in a thread.
Leave it for a while and maybe it'll grow on us.
I love the alerts for previously read threads.
I also really like that you're trying out new ideas.
I too, frequent quite a few other forums, and some are downright archaic.

 

[ohlongarm]

Here's my Princess burning at #2 with 8 splits of Oak. Nice lazy flame and clean glass. Once I dip below #2 the glass starts to darken up on the sides. I have found this setting works best for me most of the average Winter days and give me a good 12 hour burn with plenty of coals for reload. View attachment 95407

Amen,I really only look for a 12 hour burn which I can maintain even on a day when its single digits,now this is stovetop at at least 500*and a warm home in 70's,no need to ask any more of the King even though there's more HP if needed.

 

[phatline]

Im not sure what phatline has or if it is the same pipe/configuration. But his problems are mimicing mine exactly.

Sounds like you have 7" double-wall insulated while I have 7" single-wall. In my case it overdrafts when the stove is pumping a lot of exhaust gases through, and under-drafts when the flow is lower. My hypothesis was that this is because so much heat is bleeding out through the single-wall.

I installed a manometer to verify this... the draft is excessive whenever the stove looks like it's overfiring. Just after starting a new load, with tstat on 3, the draft will generally be in the 0.07-0.08" range. Once I get it under control using the "turn down the tstat until flames slow down", and wait a bit, the draft will generally settle in around 0.05". After hours running at tstat #1, the draft will be as low as 0.02".
I tried to combat the weak draft situation by making a poor-man's double-wall with tin-foil. Crumpled tin-foil wrapped, in two layers, around the stove pipe for about six feet of the rise. This does seem to help keep the draft up when the flue temps are very low. I've never had the stove stall out since I made that change.
I had some luck combating the excessive draft by reducing the aperture of the air intake on my stove. I was planning to install a damper above the stove, but that's another knob to futz with and, if left partially closed, would probably cause even more smoke spillage when I open the door. I applied some aluminum foil over the air intake at the back of the stove. Probably covered 2/3 of it. This really seems to help prevent the stove from over-drafting when it's on a high setting, while not affecting the draft noticeably when on a lower setting. It also allows full drafting when the door is open (but I still experience the dreaded smoke spillage on occasion).

I think having a double-wall pipe would mean that the draft would be more consistent across tstat settings for you. How did the damper solution work out for you? You may want to try the intake cover. Here's where I got the idea:

"Florida Bungalow Syndrome"

 

[phatline]

Just an update on my Princess experience. Been burning 24/7 for 4.5 months now, generally on a 12-hour load cycle. I've put just over 2 cords of wood through the stove, or about 1/2 cord per month. That's probably 70% softwood (mostly cedar) and 30% hardwood (oak).

I was initially having problems getting 24-hour burns. I can now achieve this easily. The trick was twofold:

1. Have to be aggressive turning the tstat down once the fire is well established. Otherwise my excessive drafting causes a lot of the load (25% or more) to be burned up in the first hour or two--with a good bit of that exiting unburned through the chimney. (See my older post.)

2. Have to use a hardwood, or at least something denser than the cedar. The best I could get with cedar was about 16 hours. Had a little lodgepole and that could go 18-20 hours. Neither softwood will leave enough coals for an easy restart.

Keeping those two points in mind, I can easily get a 24-hour load cycle by loading the stove full--and at least half of it hardwood. I then run for about an hour with a moderate tstat setting, until all the wood in the box is either burning or fully blackened and cracked (indicating it has dried out completely). I then aggressively turn the tstat down to the overnight setting (generally 1 or 1.25). In the morning I may turn it up a bit for some extra heat, then down to about 1 again for the rest of the day. Turn it back up to 3 for a while before reloading. No kindling necessary, as there is plenty of heat and coals left to restart the fire (hardwood also helps with this because it leaves big chunky coals, as opposed to the cedar which just burns down to ash).

I have no doubt it would go 30+ hours if I left it on 1 the whole time.

My glass smokes up pretty bad. Two bottom corners are blacked out most of the time. It will clear up if I burn a load on setting >= 1.5, but it's rarely cold enough here to do that!

 

[HotCoals]

left my air on 3 to long and the top was like 725..shut er down and time I got the camera it was below 700.
Man it was throwing some heat..my legs got really hot just taking the pics..lol.
yeah..I know it needs painting..again...oh well small price to pay for having this stove.
A kid sat the temp gun on the stove and walked away. a few weeks ago...was a few mins before we noticed the smell and we were in the room!

 

[SolarAndWood]

I'm out of junk wood and have resigned myself to 36 hour burn cycles. The trials and tribulations of heating with a BK.

 

[jeff_t]

That's rough.

I too am stuck burning nice straight splits of decent quality. Looks like ash and cherry for a while. Still doing 12-24 hours, but that might change soon.

 

[SolarAndWood]

We've been getting a lot of solar gain the past couple days. Without it, I'd probably be running 24 hour cycles. Being able to fully load a 4.3 cu ft box and not overheat the house this time of year rocks.

 

[Patapsco Mike]

Being able to fully load a 4.3 cu ft box and not overheat the house this time of year rocks.

This is the real beauty of the BK. It has got to be the best stove out there for shoulder season.

 

[Highbeam]

I've been zapped a few times by the burn times being too long, really my poor planning. You know the drill, it's 78 in the house at 9 pm and the fire is down to coals but it is too hot to reload and you know that the house will cool off overnight.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

We've been getting a lot of solar gain the past couple days. Without it, I'd probably be running 24 hour cycles. Being able to fully load a 4.3 cu ft box and not overheat the house this time of year rocks.

Did You get your drywall up?

 

[Rickb]

Welp, just picked up my stove pipe and hope to get it installed this weekend and put my new sirocco 20 on hold. My local dealer gave me a price of $1800 with legs, ash pan, and back shield. Seemed like a good price.

 

[Highbeam]

Welp, just picked up my stove pipe and hope to get it installed this weekend and put my new sirocco 20 on hold. My local dealer gave me a price of $1800 with legs, ash pan, and back shield. Seemed like a good price.

Was the scir30 even available? Seems like you got a good price.

 

[Rickb]

not sure if the 30 was available, but I think the 20 will better serve my use.

 

[rdust]

Loaded this morning with enough coals for full size splits after 31+ hours. The stove top was still almost 200*(195*). Had temps in the 20's the first night and got down to 30 last night, daytime highs yesterday were around 50. Stove room was 72 and hallway where the t-stat is was 68 this morning. Gotta love these stoves this time of year.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Did You get your drywall up?

last set of trusses should be up by the 4th of July

 

[Heatsource]

Welp, just picked up my stove pipe and hope to get it installed this weekend and put my new sirocco 20 on hold. My local dealer gave me a price of $1800 with legs, ash pan, and back shield. Seemed like a good price.

good price, looks like $450 below retail to me (20% off)

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Loaded this morning with enough coals for full size splits after 31+ hours. The stove top was still almost 200*(195*). Had temps in the 20's the first night and got down to 30 last night, daytime highs yesterday were around 50. Stove room was 72 and hallway where the t-stat is was 68 this morning. Gotta love these stoves this time of year.

How much different is Your wood consumption the last 2 years, compared to Your old stove?

 

[PapaDave]

Good ? HM.

 

[Todd]

I still get 24+ hour burns but my temps are well below the active zone now after about 16-18 hours. I use to still be above that active zone in that time frame earlier in the season. Maybe the thermometer is off or the cat has just settled in? Still no smoke out the chimney so I'm guessing everything is still working fine?

 

[rdust]

How much different is Your wood consumption the last 2 years, compared to Your old stove?

HUGE difference, two years prior with the Endeavor I used slightly more than 5 cords each season, with the BK last year I used almost three on the button and this year I'm through slightly over 3 cords of hardwood(oak/ash/cherry) and a 1/6 of pine that I started the season with. I figure I'll use another 1/3 cord tops for this season. This year has been colder than last but I'm running the BK a little better now that I'm more familiar with it.

That's not even the full picture. The house temp is darn near flat start to finish on a load and the furnace hasn't ran unless I wanted it to.(holiday travels) I honestly can't see it being easier to heat this place with any other stove.

 

[rdust]

I still get 24+ hour burns but my temps are well below the active zone now after about 16-18 hours. I use to still be above that active zone in that time frame earlier in the season. Maybe the thermometer is off or the cat has just settled in? Still no smoke out the chimney so I'm guessing everything is still working fine?

What t-stat setting are you on? Do the stove top temps still seem ok? I the stove is consuming all the wood without the chimney smoking and the stove top temp seems normal you're probably ok.