2013-2014 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

[weatherguy]

Your raised hearth looks nice, is that a damper coming off your stove? Do you use it?

My oak dumps into a crawl space as well, does anyone know if insurance will care that it only goes to the crawler? I ask cause I'm supposed to call insurance and have them inspect my install

Its not dumping its sucking fresh air into the stove, don't see why they would care if it's in the basement.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Basically my air inlet pipe (oak) is just dropped into a hole to the crawler

I cut a hole and dumped the pipe in

Bart and I were following. We were just acting like children. Post about seamen or Uranis and I'll giggle like an idiot, also.

 

[Highbeam]

Your raised hearth looks nice, is that a damper coming off your stove? Do you use it?

My oak dumps into a crawl space as well, does anyone know if insurance will care that it only goes to the crawler? I ask cause I'm supposed to call insurance and have them inspect my install

When I installed the BK I discovered that I needed an appliance adapter and could not just shove the end of the double wall pipe into the flue collar as was done with my hearthstone. I had a damper equipped appliance adapter and used it since I had it. I never used the damper and replaced that section with a new non-damper appliance adapter very soon which makes sweeping the chimney much easier and makes for a more ideal chimney.

Your OAK goes into a basement or into a ventilated crawlspace? Which is it, you've written both. Basement is not so good, but into a vented crawl is excellent. A screen over the end is a good idea but not required. Into your basement is not good since that is the living space and the reasons and benefits of the OAK are lost.

Anybody want to buy a used double wall damper equipped appliance adapter?

 

[Quentin2]

When I installed the BK I discovered that I needed an appliance adapter and could not just shove the end of the double wall pipe into the flue collar as was done with my hearthstone. I had a damper equipped appliance adapter and used it since I had it. I never used the damper and replaced that section with a new non-damper appliance adapter very soon which makes sweeping the chimney much easier and makes for a more ideal chimney.

Your OAK goes into a basement or into a ventilated crawlspace? Which is it, you've written both. Basement is not so good, but into a vented crawl is excellent. A screen over the end is a good idea but not required. Into your basement is not good since that is the living space and the reasons and benefits of the OAK are lost.

Anybody want to buy a used double wall damper equipped appliance adapter?

It is a vented crawl space, I did not realize that this can not be considered a basement as I have usually referred to it as such.

 

[BrianN]

Do you have the fans and are they running? I find that the fans make this stove really pump out the heat.

Nope, no fans on the stove. Only fans I have are blowing cold air from the laundry room down down the hall, past the stove room door, and a ceiling fan at the top of the stairs.

 

[BrianN]

I think I would fix some of those leaks in your house so you don't have to run the stove so hard. In the mean time I wouldn't worry too much about the probe going over the active range occasionally, I don't think these cat probes are that accurate at higher temps due to the stoves radiant heat affecting the spring coil in the probe. I bet if you stuck a thermocouple in there it would be much cooler.

I calibrated mine at 500 with my Primo grill thermocouple. Had to move the dial just a bit since it was reading about 60 degrees too low. Wish I had a higher temp thermometer to compare and see where my probe is at higher temps but I know my light off or stall temp is accurate.

The leaks are not drafty type leaks. We don't feel a draft in the house, but, in certain areas, in the dining room, where we have french doors and 4 small windows, it does feel colder. I am considering calling in a company to do a home efficiency test to see where the cold spots are. I have a feeling, when they replaced the windows, they did not insulate around them.

 

[Rickb]

Fans on my stove make a huge difference. With them off the stove room runs almost 5F colder. You may want to try a box fan blowing on the stove and see what kind of difference that makes.

 

[Quentin2]

Nope, no fans on the stove. Only fans I have are blowing cold air from the laundry room down down the hall, past the stove room door, and a ceiling fan at the top of the stairs.

It was a bummer for me to pay the 330 for the blower kit after all the other expenses, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. Stove just pumps tremendous heat off it like a furnace with them running.

Like others have said it does seem to have a direct cooling effect on the cat probe temps.

I think You said the stove room is hot but some rooms are 68 in the morning, this is what I experience, my bedroom farthest away from the stove is often 68 while the rest of the house is between 70 and 80. I kinda figured that's the nature of the beast when solely heating with a singular wood source

I'm gonna put some cellular blinds on my bedroom windows as those do a good job of keeping the cold out in my living and dining room windows.
Good luck

 

[BrianN]

I think I may have an idea of how to distribute the heat better.
With our bedroom directly above the stove room. I am thinking of putting an airway through the floor of the bedroom. That way, the hot air can come upstairs, and we have a ceiling fan at the top of the stairs to blow the cold air down. Other than that, there are two door ways in the stove room, and only one way to get air up, or down stairs. My thoughts are this would create a more circular path for the air to move more freely.
Any thoughts? I am considering trying to draw a house layout, but, just do not have the time right now.

 

[Highbeam]

I think I may have an idea of how to distribute the heat better.
With our bedroom directly above the stove room. I am thinking of putting an airway through the floor of the bedroom. That way, the hot air can come upstairs,

Along with that hot air will come smoke and fire if something goes wrong in the stove room. That's why I believe it is illegal in the US.

 

[aansorge]

Set a large box fan 2 to 3 feet away from the stove pointed right at it. It'll do the same thing as a fan kit.

 

[Highbeam]

So we were in the teens last night and the stove had to be worked hard to not only warm the house up but to also keep it warm through the night.

I bumped the fans on to low/medium speed and moved the stat up to the o in normal which is still under 50% throttle. Cat meter was near the top of the range and I am burning doug fir with MC very low, barely in the teens. Cat was glowing brightly.

So a couple of hours into the burn we went outside for about an hour and the whole time I had an ugly stream of smoke blowing out the chimney. Not steam, it was smoke that didn't evaporate in the night's dry air.

How do you folks burn these hot without making a smoke factory? The manual says fill'er up, cat engaged, and match fan setting to stat setting. I did that and from inside everything looked good. Maybe smaller splits? I am using fairly large splits and filling the firebox.

I also started a fire in the NC30 to make sure the shop didn't freeze and the chimney emissions on that thing were awesome. We had a nice moon roll up over the horizon and the 600 degree NC30 was emitting about a 6 foot stream of steam that disappeared after the 6 feet. Nice and clean but the stove was dead cold by morning.

 

[johnstra]

I posted that I've observed smoke intermittently during burns. During a given burn, after it's settled in and chugging along, I will sometimes see some smoke and other times there will be nothing at all. It's 16* here now and snowing and we're headed for 5* above zero tonight. It's my first chance to run the stove in cold weather. I'll keep an eye on the stack and let you know how it behaves.

btw... I'm 16 hours into last night's not quite full load of lodgepole pine and the central part of the house is 72*. Next load will be 3-4 year old oak and honey locust.

 

[rdust]

How do you folks burn these hot without making a smoke factory? The manual says fill'er up, cat engaged, and match fan setting to stat setting. I did that and from inside everything looked good. Maybe smaller splits? I am using fairly large splits and filling the firebox.

I'll have a little smoke early in the burn if I have an active flame, after the flame is out the smoke is gone. Did you have an active flame when you seen the smoke?

 

[Highbeam]

I'll have a little smoke early in the burn if I have an active flame, after the flame is out the smoke is gone. Did you have an active flame when you seen the smoke?

No, flame out, smoke level pretty high. I think I was at that point where there was too much smoke for the glowing cat to eat but not enough to support flame in the box.

Tonight we are down into the 20s again and I am aiming for a 12 hour burn by running fans at 50% and stat at exactly 50% which is quite high for me. Flames in box and no smoke after about an hour. Flue temps are up to 500 though.

I'm thinking there are going to be two settings with this stove. No f'n around 12 hour burn at half throttle, and 24 hour burn low and slow.

 

[BurningBrutus]

No, flame out, smoke level pretty high. I think I was at that point where there was too much smoke for the glowing cat to eat but not enough to support flame in the box.

Tonight we are down into the 20s again and I am aiming for a 12 hour burn by running fans at 50% and stat at exactly 50% which is quite high for me. Flames in box and no smoke after about an hour. Flue temps are up to 500 though.

I'm thinking there are going to be two settings with this stove. No f'n around 12 hour burn at half throttle, and 24 hour burn low and slow.

Do you completely fill the box to the rim everytime? About how many splits do you think you put in?

 

[johnstra]

What is your stove top temp at 50% throttle, HB? It's cold tonight so I pointed my stat at the 'o'. I'm about 4 hours into the burn and my stove top is 595 according to my digital thermometer. That's with the fans on low.

 

[Highbeam]

Do you completely fill the box to the rim everytime? About how many splits do you think you put in?

Yes, full to the top every time. 6-8 splits.

 

[Highbeam]

What is your stove top temp at 50% throttle, HB? It's cold tonight so I pointed my stat at the 'o'. I'm about 4 hours into the burn and my stove top is 595 according to my digital thermometer. That's with the fans on low.

I removed my stove top meter and only have a flue meter now. Internal temps run just under 600 at 50% throttle.

I had a stove top meter but moved it to the shop stove since the stove top temp never really seemed to matter much. It's right on top of the cat and I do have a cat meter.

 

[weatherguy]

Along with that hot air will come smoke and fire if something goes wrong in the stove room. That's why I believe it is illegal in the US.

You can do it in the US if you install a fire damper, I have one in my house and the vent made a huge difference on air distribution, I think the damper cost $60.

 

[Todd]

Yes, full to the top every time. 6-8 splits.

When I did 12 hour burn schedules in my Princess I couldn't fill the box full or it would leave too much fuel. It would also smoke more with a full load at higher settings. Try a 3/4 load at #2, that's what worked for me last year and had clean glass and a pretty good flame show for a couple hours.

 

[Highbeam]

When I did 12 hour burn schedules in my Princess I couldn't fill the box full or it would leave too much fuel. It would also smoke more with a full load at higher settings. Try a 3/4 load at #2, that's what worked for me last year and had clean glass and a pretty good flame show for a couple hours.

Okay I'll do that today. We're in the low 20s this morning (cold for the PNW) so I'll make the most of the lab time.

 

[rdust]

Getting cold here tonight, thermometer shows 14* already. Windy today and temps never got out of the 20's, I loaded last night around 9 or 10 and added three splits around 3 this afternoon to get me until the evening load. Been pretty much burning silver maple and cherry up to this point, tonight my top layer of splits was ash.

 

[aansorge]

Getting to -2 here tonight. Decided to fire up the Enerzone tonight just to try it out again (the blaze king seems to heat the house plenty good by itself). Man does that stove seem small now! Maybe even worse is the lack of depth. I can see the ash spilling out the front already! Sure is pretty though and it does heat decent. I'm heating the basement with it because we're having a birthday party for my daughter tomorrow and they will play down there.

 

[privatejoker75]

This has already been covered a 100 times, but what are the burn times in your Chinook? Or anyone for that matter?

Our first fire was October 3rd...we're still on that fire lol. I telecommute and wife doesn't work so we're always here. I let it burn when we go out shopping or whatever too