I'd lean towards the thermometer. I don't think they are exactly precision instruments. Mine acts the same. I compared it to the new one I got for my sister, and hers reads a lot hotter.
Do you ever pull it out and clean it?
2012-2013 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)
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I'd lean towards the thermometer. I don't think they are exactly precision instruments. Mine acts the same. I compared it to the new one I got for my sister, and hers reads a lot hotter.
Do you ever pull it out and clean it?
Not the thermometer, I have two and also clean them off now and then. I just took the t-stat cover off to monitor it. Maybe it's sticking a bit and needs some lube?
Anyone ever notice that the butterfly valve doesn't open past about #2.5 with the cover on? I've been running mine with the cover off to watch it and this morning when I tried to put it back on with the stat fully open at #3 the cover didn't line up with the screw holes and I couldn't get the cover on without closing the stat. Then when it's on you can feel that it closes right around 2.5 when it hits that screw stop. Even if I take the screw stop out the butterfly doesn't open all the way and will hit the top of the cover before it hits #3.
With the cover off the butterfly sits straight up and down vertical at #3, with the cover on it sits cocked at about 45 degrees. Maybe they made it this way on purpose because it was getting too much air? Something doesn't seem right.
With the cover off the butterfly sits straight up and down vertical at #3, with the cover on it sits cocked at about 45 degrees. Maybe they made it this way on purpose because it was getting too much air? Something doesn't seem right.
Mine doesn't have the screw to stop the movement. It's been speculated the stop screw was added to stop the butterfly from going straight up and getting hung up on the cover.
Wonder why they didn't make the cover a little larger so the butterfly can go full range? That extra air makes a difference with cold starts and reloads. May also help with some people's smoking problems.
Was your stove still warm Todd? The coil spring will tighten(or loosen) when the stove is cold and #3 would actually be the same as 2.5? I can hear the flapper click open at full throttle and that click happens at different stat settings depending on stove temperature.
It would suck to be hard of hearing and trying to operate this stove without being able to hear the clicks. Cleaning and then oiling the butterfly's pivot points seems to have made mine work better.
It would suck to be hard of hearing and trying to operate this stove without being able to hear the clicks. Cleaning and then oiling the butterfly's pivot points seems to have made mine work better.
Stove was cold, but either way the butterfly won't open full, it will either hit the stop screw or the cover. Do you have that stop screw in the back of the cover? That's what it will hit when you open her up and hear that click. There's also a stop on the rod that keeps the butterfly from going to far but it doesn't hit it if I have the cover on.
You can do a crude calibration of the thermometer by loosening the locknut and setting the "zero" when it's dead cold.
Yes, I have the screw. So you're saying that your flapper hits that full throttle screw at low stat settings (2.5)when the stove is cold? As the stove warms up, the flapper will close by itself, and then to get the flapper to hit the stop screw you would have to turn it farther. Maybe to 3, maybe to the rod max stopper at about 3.5.
I think it is working properly. Cold stove, stat clicks shut at 1 but a hot stove it clicks shut at 1.75 so the stat coil can easily eat up .75 units of stat rotation.
What I'm saying is that screw and even the cover is keeping me from full throttle no matter if the stove is cold or hot. Yes, when it's hot the t-stat tightens up and doesn't go much past that screw setting but when you reload or want to burn down some coals it makes a difference having that extra air.
I've been running it without the cover the last few days and she's not as sluggish on start ups and my reloads are smoke free and quicker to come up to light off temp just because I can give it more air than with the cover on.
Take your cover off next time it's cold and crank the t-stat up to 3 and try to put the cover back on, I bet those two cover screw holes won't line up unless you bring the stat back down to 2.5.
Today I was thinking that I still don't know how to use my princess insert because I loaded 3/4 full last night at 10 and set it on the second dot and woke up at 5 with just a little coals left and the stove top under 200 degrees. It was real cold last night, but I don't think that has anything to do with how the stove burns, only with the temps inside. I have been disappointed this season and it may be due to the wood I had to buy to get me through since I don't have aged stuff yet. The guy I bought it from said it was aged and I checked moisture and it was 15-20%. He also said it was a mix of hard and soft wood. But not being a wood expert yet it is hard to tell. When everyone talks about 24 hour burn times, I am assuming that they mean they have coals after 24 hours??? I did get 1 burn like this, but just because I got this amount of burn, it didn't keep my house warm that whole time (I am sure my house is not tight enough and I do plan to better seal windows, etc. this summer). I plan on investigating the flapper problems rusty has mentioned and I have already begun aging my wood for next season. Hopefully things will be better next year.
After 24 hours I usually have a stove top around 300, after 30 hours it's 200ish. For my stove the biggest thing that affects burn time is blower or no blower. With the blower on low with the t-stat on 1 3/4 it'll burn 18 hours or so on a full load, same type of load with the blower off and same t-stat setting it will burn 30 hours. With the blower off I don't gain much going below 1 3/4 on the t-stat.
Really?!? Wow I never turned the blower off all season and most of the time it was on high! Could that explain my lower burn times? Also if you don't use the blower then you just use fans to move the air? Typically I would lose 2-3 degrees in my house when the blower was not on (which was VERY little).
You have an insert, which pretty much requires the fans. rdust has a freestanding stove.
Coals after seven hours of hot burning isn't that far out of line. I'm not sure where the second dot is on the insert. The dial on the stoves are closed in the 12 o'clock postion. I think the insert is opposite.
The type of wood is going to have an effect as well. Lower density woods aren't going to last as long. When you checked it 15-20%, was that on the face of a fresh split? It sounds like it burned well, so it must be fairly dry.
Coals after seven hours of hot burning isn't that far out of line. I'm not sure where the second dot is on the insert. The dial on the stoves are closed in the 12 o'clock postion. I think the insert is opposite.
The type of wood is going to have an effect as well. Lower density woods aren't going to last as long. When you checked it 15-20%, was that on the face of a fresh split? It sounds like it burned well, so it must be fairly dry.
I see what you're saying now. The stat has nothing to do with it, the problem is that you can't get full throttle with that cover on and getting full throttle makes a significant difference.
When removing and installing the cover I paid special attention to haveing the intake closed to prevent damaging the open flapper. BK must have decided that preventing a stuck flapper at full throttle was more important than allowing the user to run the stove at full throttle.
Wife loaded the stove Sunday morning before church with some ash and cherry. I opened it up yesterday morning to pull the stuff in from the sides, and burned it on 2.5 for a bit to warm the house up. I shut it down and didn't touch it again until now. The stove top was around 250 all day yesterday, though we didn't really need any heat. We won't need any heat for a few days, but I was curious this morning. This is what is left 47 hours later. Certainly enough to light off another load.
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privatejoker75
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Thanks for this thread. I'm currently trying to narrow down my list of stoves and the Sirocco 30 is on my short list. Just have to find a time when the "dealer" is open in town. The only dealer here is a propane company and the office is never opened when i drive by
Two fires under my belt w/ my new King Ultra. So far so good.
First fire was for break-in and paint curing. I only loaded it to just below the door with smallish pine splits. I started the fire using the top down method. The pictures show the progress at start, 10 minutes in, and 20 minutes in. Top down starts only for me... no smoke at all. I closed the bypass when the combustor read active and turned the t-stat on 2.5 and let the fire burn till the combustor was basely in the active range. At that point I turned the t-stat to 3, opened the bypass, and loaded just 3 splits. When the splits charred I closed the bypass and turned the t-stat down below 1 (by a pretty good bit) and went to bed. When I got up at 6 the next morning the stove was cold and 2 of the splits were unburned. I guess with such a small load the cat didn't have enough to feed it on such a low setting.
Second fire was last night. Top down start again with a bigger load - still nowhere close to full, though. I let the fire get going good and for the combustor to get into the active range and closed the bypass. I let it run wide open for a few minutes then slowly (over the next 10 minutes) gradually dialed the t-stat back to 1. At this point, the cat probe was pegged over in the active range. Even on 1 I had a fairly active fire (small flames and lively coals). So I cut it back to about half way between 1 and all the way closed. The fire slowed way down but the cat probe stayed very high in the active zone for a couple of hours. 12 hours later the cat was inactive but the stove was still hot. I opened the t-stat and the coals came to life. I could have started another load easily.
Everything was good except for the fact that the cat ran so hot on me and I couldn't reign it in? Suggestions for how to manage that? Dollar bill test says my door seal is good and the bypass gaskets look good.
-john
First fire was for break-in and paint curing. I only loaded it to just below the door with smallish pine splits. I started the fire using the top down method. The pictures show the progress at start, 10 minutes in, and 20 minutes in. Top down starts only for me... no smoke at all. I closed the bypass when the combustor read active and turned the t-stat on 2.5 and let the fire burn till the combustor was basely in the active range. At that point I turned the t-stat to 3, opened the bypass, and loaded just 3 splits. When the splits charred I closed the bypass and turned the t-stat down below 1 (by a pretty good bit) and went to bed. When I got up at 6 the next morning the stove was cold and 2 of the splits were unburned. I guess with such a small load the cat didn't have enough to feed it on such a low setting.
Second fire was last night. Top down start again with a bigger load - still nowhere close to full, though. I let the fire get going good and for the combustor to get into the active range and closed the bypass. I let it run wide open for a few minutes then slowly (over the next 10 minutes) gradually dialed the t-stat back to 1. At this point, the cat probe was pegged over in the active range. Even on 1 I had a fairly active fire (small flames and lively coals). So I cut it back to about half way between 1 and all the way closed. The fire slowed way down but the cat probe stayed very high in the active zone for a couple of hours. 12 hours later the cat was inactive but the stove was still hot. I opened the t-stat and the coals came to life. I could have started another load easily.
Everything was good except for the fact that the cat ran so hot on me and I couldn't reign it in? Suggestions for how to manage that? Dollar bill test says my door seal is good and the bypass gaskets look good.
-john
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thanks for the feedback. I'm happy that I don't have any trouble with smoke spillage on startup and reloads. So far this beast is as advertised. I have a cool wet period coming at the end of the week... a perfect opportunity to load it full and set it for low heat.
That's odd. I have always heard the opposite, that the King was more prone to spillage. This was due to the additional turbulence that was created from the extra large firebox.
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