2013-2014 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)
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It does a pretty good job of maintaining a fairly constant temp. Unless pushing it, mine will get to 550-600 on a fresh load, then taper off. On a low setting, I will still see close to that, but it is just a small area over the cat. At higher settings with active flame, the whole stove is hotter. Stove top temps aren't exactly a good indicator of output with this stove.
I had a Lopi Endeavor before the Princess and you really can't compare the two. The Princess is bigger but even with a similar sized load the Endeavor couldn't hold a candle to the BK. To be fair my chimney is tall and the unregulated secondary air in that stove made it hard to lock a reasonable temp in, the stove liked to run one way and that was hot.
shoot-straight
Minister of Fire
Another question. Cold wx coming...there will be more.
Seems 1.5 or so is the "glow point"? Meaning lots of glow on the fuel above that. Pretty much just dark under. Normal? I know my wood ain't perfect so I'm keeping it a bit helps higher than I would like.
Over 2 I start to get some flames. I suspect I will need more heat starting tomorrow. I'm guessing the start of flames means a significant decrease in burn times? Up near 3, the whole firebox is full of flames.
Seems 1.5 or so is the "glow point"? Meaning lots of glow on the fuel above that. Pretty much just dark under. Normal? I know my wood ain't perfect so I'm keeping it a bit helps higher than I would like.
Over 2 I start to get some flames. I suspect I will need more heat starting tomorrow. I'm guessing the start of flames means a significant decrease in burn times? Up near 3, the whole firebox is full of flames.
If i get the stove way up to temp,like maybe 450-550 all over the top I can then run at 2.5 with just a little flame. I think 2.5,right at the end of the normal sticker.
I do this when it's real cold. That way into the burn when the gasses and the wood are getting down there the t-stat will actually open to help clean up the coals..works well. But you have to get the stove up to higher temps first so the t-stat won't be so far open.
I have my cover off so I can see what's going on..I'm not advising anyone to do that though.
Your results may vary. Cheers!
I do this when it's real cold. That way into the burn when the gasses and the wood are getting down there the t-stat will actually open to help clean up the coals..works well. But you have to get the stove up to higher temps first so the t-stat won't be so far open.
I have my cover off so I can see what's going on..I'm not advising anyone to do that though.
Your results may vary. Cheers!
I have found that it makes a big difference in extended stove temperature if you turn the t-stat to high for about 20 minutes after a putting in a load, creating an even bed of coals in the entire area of the firebox. It definitely helps the wood to burn evenly, creating more smoke over the next 20-30 hours. The more smoke, the higher the cat temp. If I don't do that, the burns are concentrated more to one side or at the center so the smoke is just coming from a smaller portion of the load and there is less heat coming from the cat.
I've only had our Princess insert about 3 weeks now and am still experimenting, but this seems to be a consistent pattern I've found.
A fun story to tell..........one night last week I loaded our firebox full at about 7pm, let it burn hot for 20ish minutes and closed it down for the night. The next morning there was still plenty of wood in it. At lunch there was still plenty of wood in it. I didn't add any wood till 8pm that night and there was still wood to burn. lol The far end of the 1800sq/ft floor never got below 69*. That's 25 straight hours. Love it! This is not a huge firebox either! My wife, whom doesn't share my love for burning wood, has been quite impressed with our purchase, to say the least.
Heck, it was 26* this morning when we awoke. The far end of the house was 73*. I'll check to see if wood needs to be added at lunch. Never needed to add wood this morning from the load last night.
One just gets a rewarding feeling from getting the most heat for the longest time from the work you put into cutting/splitting/stacking the wood. Thanks Blake King!
I've only had our Princess insert about 3 weeks now and am still experimenting, but this seems to be a consistent pattern I've found.
A fun story to tell..........one night last week I loaded our firebox full at about 7pm, let it burn hot for 20ish minutes and closed it down for the night. The next morning there was still plenty of wood in it. At lunch there was still plenty of wood in it. I didn't add any wood till 8pm that night and there was still wood to burn. lol The far end of the 1800sq/ft floor never got below 69*. That's 25 straight hours. Love it! This is not a huge firebox either! My wife, whom doesn't share my love for burning wood, has been quite impressed with our purchase, to say the least.
Heck, it was 26* this morning when we awoke. The far end of the house was 73*. I'll check to see if wood needs to be added at lunch. Never needed to add wood this morning from the load last night.
One just gets a rewarding feeling from getting the most heat for the longest time from the work you put into cutting/splitting/stacking the wood. Thanks Blake King!
I live in southern Indiana and have added a 2200 sq. ft. addition on my 1500 sq.ft. house. Thinking of going with the BlazeKing any thoughts from anyone who has one ?
It is very hard for non-cat people to understand just how much wood and time they're wasting tending a stove that requires reloads every 8 hours. The most common response.... you must not be getting any heat off of that thing for it to last 25 hours. Pfft.
BK just got the news from EPA.... #1 AND #2 most efficient stoves in the world. Bam!
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Yes you will cut down on burn times, that's how I'm burning now with the frigid weather back, no more 12+ hour burns except for the over night. Depending on how I fill the box I get 6-8 hours in this weather. I have a lot of shorties and uglies that I burn when I'm not going for a long burn time so the box is at best 75% full and I turn the t-stat up periodically to keep the heat up.
Blaze King King, for sure. Or two. Nearly 4000 sq ft is a lot to ask from any one stove, unless very tight and well insulated.
I am putting in 2 in. foam board seeled with Great Stuff at the seams and R-19 over that . Would the King be to much stove ?
How much of the space are you looking to heat? The whole thing? The addition? Is it open to the rest of the house? High ceilings?
I would expect the King to be a good choice. The range of btu output is very broad.
The addition is 20 ft. high ceiling to an open loft that is 1200 sq.ft. all together the add. is 2200. Two open 4 ft. doorways to the rest of house wich is approx. 1500 . Just don't want to get more stove than I need. I looked at the BK Ashford but don't know if that would be to small. Leaning strongly towards the King
You still want the king. By the time you realize it is cold enough to start a fire the stove will have a lot of work to do. The king is bigger than the little stoves but has nearly the same low output setting. In other words, if you are looking for a stove that makes a certain low btu then the king can do just as well as any other plus it has the cajones to kick out more heat if desired.
No drawbacks.
shoot-straight
Minister of Fire
Another question. Its cold. I have the stove set on 2.25. Its been burning for maybe 2 hours. At peak, cat temp was at the 1:00 position, pipe temp was 400 and cast plate (not true stove top since it suspended over steel top) was 400. Now cat temp, pipe temp, and stove top temp are beginning to fall slowly, but noticeably. I am resisting the urge to go and turn it up... isn't the stat supposed to keep temps constant? Plenty of fuel left in the firebox.
In short, its acting like my old tube stove a little.
In short, its acting like my old tube stove a little.
Please change your signature so that we know what stove you have.
2.25 on the princess is cranking pretty good. Higher than most of us run ours but you can certainly go to 2.5 to see what happens.
First thing is to ignore that cat temp, that guage is only of value as an on/off switch on when the cat is active.
You can pretty much ignore stove top temp too since not only are you measuring a double wall stove but also, the top temp is influenced by the cat and is only hot in that one spot. The portion of the stove that is at 400 varies more than the actual temperature of that one spot.
The stat does not open and close based on stove top temp but on stove body temp, it could be satisfied. If there is still plenty of fuel and none of it is burning at 2 hours then the stat is satisfied and has closed. If you want more heat, then bump up the stat.
Are you running fans?
I'm a little concerned that the t-stat isn't going to act right in the alcove. On the insert BK had to move the t-stat to the front of the stove due to the radiant heat screwing with the t-stat. As the stove is cooling the t-stat should open up a little to maintain the temp, if t-stat is heat soaked it's not going to open when it should.
The t-stat isn't really sensitive, it's kinda lazy but it gets the job done. My stove can be warmed up with no active flame for hours. Once the stove cools enough for the t-stat to open some I get active flames for a half hour or so until the stove is warmed back up and the t-stat cuts the air down again.
I got an Ashford 30 installed and I'm having a little trouble understanding how to operate it properly.
All I can manage is about 3 hours of consistent heat output on high and with that an increase in temperature of about 3 degrees an hour in the 200 sq ft room the stove is in.
Eventually the room gets to a good temperature but I have to keep shoving wood in because the temperature drops if the stove is not packed full of wood and I end up with coals up to the door. When this happens there is not really much heat being produced and I have to wait almost an entire day for the coals to burn down enough so I can empty the ashes.
I was really hoping to have it heating constantly as our main source of heat but I do not understand how to do this with the way it seems to operate.
Door is tight.
I do not think any extra air is getting in because if I do turn the thermostat down the fire die down and there is no visible flame. But then it is too cold.
Chimney is approx 15'
It was suggested that my wood was wet. I have tried three different stacks and compressed sawdust logs from tractor supply. The compressed logs burned longer but made a lot less heat. Still no where close to 10 hours on high. All burned well in the old Jotul that broke as well as the other stove and fireplace. No hissing.
Stove is in a 200 sq ft room with standard 10 ft ceiling.
Upstairs is approx 1,300 sq ft but the air only circulates moderately by itself. Would really like the Ashford to heat the whole upstairs because it is where we spend time.
Had to fire up the 40 year old VC in the basement which is currently heating the whole 2,600 sq ft home adequately while I wait for the coals in the Ashford to burn down.
All I can manage is about 3 hours of consistent heat output on high and with that an increase in temperature of about 3 degrees an hour in the 200 sq ft room the stove is in.
Eventually the room gets to a good temperature but I have to keep shoving wood in because the temperature drops if the stove is not packed full of wood and I end up with coals up to the door. When this happens there is not really much heat being produced and I have to wait almost an entire day for the coals to burn down enough so I can empty the ashes.
I was really hoping to have it heating constantly as our main source of heat but I do not understand how to do this with the way it seems to operate.
Door is tight.
I do not think any extra air is getting in because if I do turn the thermostat down the fire die down and there is no visible flame. But then it is too cold.
Chimney is approx 15'
It was suggested that my wood was wet. I have tried three different stacks and compressed sawdust logs from tractor supply. The compressed logs burned longer but made a lot less heat. Still no where close to 10 hours on high. All burned well in the old Jotul that broke as well as the other stove and fireplace. No hissing.
Stove is in a 200 sq ft room with standard 10 ft ceiling.
Upstairs is approx 1,300 sq ft but the air only circulates moderately by itself. Would really like the Ashford to heat the whole upstairs because it is where we spend time.
Had to fire up the 40 year old VC in the basement which is currently heating the whole 2,600 sq ft home adequately while I wait for the coals in the Ashford to burn down.
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shoot-straight
Minister of Fire
Running fans.
I guess I am confused about the cat temp. Your assessment is different from what I am reading. I thought the cat is what produces most of the heat on this stove. And its associated hotspot, and the fans directed at it are what really puts out the heat. So there is a huge difference in the top end on the cat thermometer and the mid point, at least in terms of available heat.
shoot-straight
Minister of Fire
I have felt all around the back of the stove. Nothing is particularly warm, some parts are quite cool. Nothing is really hot. Not sure what else to say. This is my dealer's first Ashford, so I may have to go elsewhere for specific advice.
Zanimal, something is not right. If you are following the manual on how to run the stove, when to have the bypass open, and when to close the bypass, and then start turning down the air control thermostat Then I would be checking the moisture content of the wood with a moisture meter. It sounds like it might have more moisture than you might realize.
Are you watching the cat probe thermometer making sure it is rising to the active level before shutting the bypass, and when you shut the bypass is the thermometer rising as the cat burns the smoke? Then as you shut down the air control, the cat thermometer should settle in to a relatively stable temperature above the active line. To burn down the coals, you should only throw a couple of sticks in, and open up the air to let it burn a bit hotter than normal, you might find some pallet wood or some scrap dry lumber, it should burn pretty hot for a short time. With higher moisture wood, you will have to leave the thermostat up higher than with dry wood, to get it to burn right better.
Could be your stove thermostat is defective or air is blocked, it does happen but not frequently. It could also be a bad cat, again doesn't happen often, but does happen. I would be calling the dealer that sold you the stove for support.
Might be easier for you to keep track of reply's if you start a new thread, it will get lost in this one pretty quick.
That Ashford should be a good stove, don't give up on it, we'll help you through this.
Are you watching the cat probe thermometer making sure it is rising to the active level before shutting the bypass, and when you shut the bypass is the thermometer rising as the cat burns the smoke? Then as you shut down the air control, the cat thermometer should settle in to a relatively stable temperature above the active line. To burn down the coals, you should only throw a couple of sticks in, and open up the air to let it burn a bit hotter than normal, you might find some pallet wood or some scrap dry lumber, it should burn pretty hot for a short time. With higher moisture wood, you will have to leave the thermostat up higher than with dry wood, to get it to burn right better.
Could be your stove thermostat is defective or air is blocked, it does happen but not frequently. It could also be a bad cat, again doesn't happen often, but does happen. I would be calling the dealer that sold you the stove for support.
Might be easier for you to keep track of reply's if you start a new thread, it will get lost in this one pretty quick.
That Ashford should be a good stove, don't give up on it, we'll help you through this.
Daleeper,
I was instructed to open the bypass for about an hour and burn the fire before closing it after making sure the cat probe is in the active zone.
I do not really turn down the thermostat. If I do it is only to about 2.5 out of the maximum of 3.
The moisture meter i purchased indicates all wood sources at or below 14% and I did try the compressed logs which did not make much difference.
The cat probe thermometer raises up and then starts to decline if I do not add more wood. It is only stable for a relatively short period of time.
I was instructed to open the bypass for about an hour and burn the fire before closing it after making sure the cat probe is in the active zone.
I do not really turn down the thermostat. If I do it is only to about 2.5 out of the maximum of 3.
The moisture meter i purchased indicates all wood sources at or below 14% and I did try the compressed logs which did not make much difference.
The cat probe thermometer raises up and then starts to decline if I do not add more wood. It is only stable for a relatively short period of time.
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