2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)#2

[Poindexter]

Someone asked for a pic of my door glass at the end of the last one. Its attached.

Joining the discussion about fan settings and thermostat settings and so on, let me describe a framework first and then get into what I think I have found.

At the extreme ends of heating season we have the shoulder seasons. Do I have lower temps and better insulation than many, and a pretty short stack; yes, but we all know what shoulder season is, even though we are thinking of different local conditions and installs when we picture it.

To me shoulder season is when I can put two really big splits in the Ashford, light a fire in the valley in between those two splits, run the Tstat wide open, have a clean burn with active cat and not run myself out of the house. The (relatively) small surface area that is on fire at any given time keeps the total heat output into the house (relatively) low per minute, but it is enough to keep the cat active and the house warm.

Next, for want of a better term is cool weather, stove is running pretty much 24/7. I can load it with about anything, get 12 hour burn cycles with the cat pretty much active all the time, and moderate the temp in the house with the Tstat knob on the stove.

I personally don't much care what the fan setting is, but I do want it on. It seems, at least in my install, that if the fan kit is running the heat coming off the stove is better distributed both in the main room and to the distant rooms. With the stove mounted fans off, air temp varies with distance from the stove and pushing cold air towards the stove - at least at my house- doesn't make much difference.

I think what I am observing is running the factory fan kit on the Ashford, at any speed, breaks up the air flow near the stove so the box fans pushing cold air along the floor towards the stove have an opening instead of running head on into the radiated wall of heat put out by the stove - and bouncing off. I am confident this varies quite a bit by installation, stove location in the room and so on, but I have concluded I don't care what the fan speed is, as long as the fan speed is not zero.

So 1) shoulder season, 2) cool weather, category three and last is cold weather. Looks like we are all (relatively again) having a cold snap this week. If you would rather name the three phases of stove season shoulder, cold weather and OMG I am fine with that.

The first thing I tried in cold (OMG) weather last time I had a cold snap here was stuff the Ashford full of the smallest driest splits I could find of the highest BTU wood I can lay my hands on. I let that thing rip. If the stove couldn't handle the heat at "3/3" I am sure the knob would only go up to "2/3". It can handle full throttle just fine. Once the house was warmed up I turned the Tstat down, and woke up to the sound of my oil burning furnace kicking on shortly after the stove went out. It was not an hour normally associated with household chores.

What I have noticed is I get a better burn at higher Tstat settings. On say 2/3 it burns pretty good for a good long while, but leaves some charcoal stacked on the back wall. On 1/3 it burns pretty good, doesn't put out as much heat per minute, burns longer than it did at 2/3, and leaves a bigger stack of charcoal on the back wall.

I don't really care too much one way or the other about charcoal. I do care about ash buildup, and I do care about the oil furnace kicking on at 0300. I also care about keeping the cat in the active range. At lower settings I can open the door just as the cat is about to flicker out to inactive, stir the charcoal around, break up the chunks and have the cat halfway back up to an overfire condition in a matter of minutes.

This tells me the charcoal is capable of putting out cat food, but on a slow enough burn it is putting put cat food too slowly for the cat to feed.

So I have been fiddling with loading technique. My goal is to load the stove so I can leave the Tstat on full throttle for most complete burn possible, maintain my target house temp as long as possible, and then drift as slowly as possible back to the set point on my oil thermostat while keeping the cat active as long as possible for lowest emissions.

So I have been loading one enormous split in every load, and pinning it against a sidewall. Like an 8" round split once, or a 12" round split into three pieces. These pieces do take at least two years to season.

I have been taking a lot of night call lately, I don't have "numbers" to go with my observations, haven't been home for much except to load the stove and eat. I think what I am observing is the big chunk on the side keeps putting out cat food long enough for the cat to be feeding while the smalls all burn away to just ash. Then I can shovel out some ash, whack the big piece a couple time to restore my coal bed and reload. If I don't get numbers this weekend, Jan 10-11, my next day off work is January 31....

If you got some bigguns and don't want to feed the stove in the middle of the night during cold (OMG) weather this is the best idea I have had so far that you might try.

I do moderate the thermostat setting between getting the house warm after work and going to bed, but at bedtime I take it back up to 3/3.

 

[kennyp2339]

We bottomed out at 12 last night, inside bottomed out at 68 (up stairs) I would say very successful setup with proper blower, I cleaned the stove on Sunday so I really don't have an ash base down, when I woke up this morning I had just a few coals left from loading at 8 lastnight and I was at setting 2, again the only weird thing is the higher exhaust temps, when I get home tonight I'm gonna keep the blower off and record the flu temp then turn the blower on and see what it does, all in all very happy so far, thanks for the blower recommendation

 

[Shane Collins]

Success. Loaded at 11 it's now 7:15. I reckon there is still another good 3-4 hours left of wood. I set the t-Stat to 2.5 and fan on 9oclock and went to bed. Woke up to 63 degrees which isn't bad considering our pretty drafty house. We even have ice on the inside of quite a few windows, new windows this summer! So I turned the t-stat up to 3.5 and fan on high. 25 minutes later it was 68 in here. I turned the stove down to 2 now and fan on low. Without the fan it would have taken me a good hour or two to get a 68 reading where the thermometer is located. I'm very pleased and it didn't seem to use up any more wood or shorten burn time.

 

[kennyp2339]

Ok, I just got caught up reading the other posts, never mind the higher stack temps, Im gona play with the t-stat, I hope to get it dialed in, maximum heat with the lowest setting for a longer burn.

 

[aansorge]

Poindexter,

I don't think it is a good idea to run it at 3/3 all night. I'd be worried about over firing my stove. Back her off to 2/3 and add some furnace heat would be my suggestion.

 

[aansorge]

My fans won't run this morning. Stove is heated up, the plug is good, is there a reset button somewhere or is my motor fried?

 

[aansorge]

Scratch that, they are working now!

 

[aansorge]

Now they aren't working again! Any ideas?

 

[BKVP]

We bottomed out at 12 last night, inside bottomed out at 68 (up stairs) I would say very successful setup with proper blower, I cleaned the stove on Sunday so I really don't have an ash base down, when I woke up this morning I had just a few coals left from loading at 8 lastnight and I was at setting 2, again the only weird thing is the higher exhaust temps, when I get home tonight I'm gonna keep the blower off and record the flu temp then turn the blower on and see what it does, all in all very happy so far, thanks for the blower recommendation

Kenny,

Using the blowers increases the burn rate. I have posted about this in the past. The increased burn rate will increase flue temps.

As the air movement across the top surface of the stove helps pull heat out of the steel and as others have observed, spreads it around the room/home, it makes room for more heat the stove burn rate increases. Essentially the blowers increase the absorption/release rate of the energy being stored in the top surface of the stove.

I am glad you are staying warm! If any neighbors are not able to, just invite them in from the cold!

 

[kennyp2339]

Kenny,

Using the blowers increases the burn rate. I have posted about this in the past. The increased burn rate will increase flue temps.

As the air movement across the top surface of the stove helps pull heat out of the steel and as others have observed, spreads it around the room/home, it makes room for more heat the stove burn rate increases. Essentially the blowers increase the absorption/release rate of the energy being stored in the top surface of the stove.
I am glad you are staying warm! If any neighbors are not able to, just invite them in from the cold!

Thank you, I read that also from another poster and it makes sense, my neighbors all ready come over and hang out all the time lol, I'm that house, always something going on and its funny the age groups that come over, I've got my friends down the road that are my age in mid 20's and then I've got my direct next door neighbors that are in the 80's and we all get along great, we did a large home made pizza party this past Sunday, and I have to say the 80 year olds were more rowdier than us young people..lol

 

[BKVP]

Now they aren't working again! Any ideas?

There was at one time a snap disc with the fans mounted on the RH side (as you face the stove).

Although this is a gasket seal to prevent air from entering and cooling the snap disc, it can happen.

If your blowers came with a snap disc arrangement, simply unplug the fans and remove the side that has the rheostat. This involves removing the two screws at the top of the fan assembly. Lift up after removing the two screws and the assembly on that side will come free of the stove.

You will see a bracket with a metal dime-sized metal disc sticking through the bracket. Either by pass this feature by connecting the two wire securely (wire nuts, interlocking male female couplers and then wrap with electrical tape) or try to make certain the gasket is sealing tightly to back of the stove.

There is a metal tab on the bottom of the stove the fans engage when housing is reinstalled. Make certain that tab is just barely far enough away from the back of the stove and reinstall. If the tab appears to be too far away, just give it a gentle tap with a rubber mallet to make the fit tighter, which will improve the gasket performance.

Thank you,
Chris

 

[BKVP]

Thank you, I read that also from another poster and it makes sense, my neighbors all ready come over and hang out all the time lol, I'm that house, always something going on and its funny the age groups that come over, I've got my friends down the road that are my age in mid 20's and then I've got my direct next door neighbors that are in the 80's and we all get along great, we did a large home made pizza party this past Sunday, and I have to say the 80 year olds were more rowdier than us young people..lol

Good on you all! Watch us old guys...not much for pizza, but your beer will disappear fast!

 

[Poindexter]

Got through the night just fine again. I don't know what time the cat went inactive or the last of the charcoal crumbled to ash. I do know I turned the stat back up to 3/3 right before I went to bed.

1. Kept the house warm enough the oil burner didn't kick on at all overnight.
2. Didn't burn the joint down.
3. Plenty of coals in the ash bed for easy restart this morning, no remaining charcoal above the ash bed.
4. Did not wake up in a puddle of sweat.

Your Mileage May Vary of course.

 

[kennyp2339]

Threw in a full load this morning at 5am, just got home, 14 deg out, prob didnt make it to 20 today, house was 65deg, absolutely nothing left in the stove except a few tiny coals that I raked forward into a pile to light the next load, cat was very inactive, just lit off and active again, going to run at 2.75 with medium fan till upstairs hits 70 then back down to 1.75 and leave the fan on medium, suppose to get down to 3 tonight

 

[kennyp2339]

Good on you all! Watch us old guys...not much for pizza, but your beer will disappear fast!

You have to have east coast pizza, whole different world, my sister has lived in the Seattle area for ten years, every time she visits the east she always asks for pizza, Chinese, and oil ring potato chips, she says its a different world over there as far as pizza.. Lol

 

[Rossco]

I only Run the fans on high. On or Off as the stove is a basement princess.

I would maybe turn them down if the stove was on the main level, couldn't hear the dam TV.

Oh yeah I solved the negative pressure problem, I had a spare 4" Outside air feed above the stove, so basically feed 4" gally pipe down behind the stove, the cool air is drawn into the fans and is blown over the top nice and hot, we may have slightly positive pressure now and no more drafts.

Great

Only temporary tho as I dry walled over the original OA feed as per my stove dealer. This will be rectified in the summer when I XPS the entire basement.

 

[jeff_t]

Hot spots on my stove today. Considerably hotter than the 400° over the cat. It had a really deep coal bed when I got home this afternoon, and I cranked the knob wide open. This is about two hours later.

New batteries in the ir made the display really bright

 

[rdust]

Next day or two will be fun, low tonight is supposed to be 5*, tomorrow a high of 6*, tomorrow night a low of -1*, high on Thursday 8*. I'm in the mood to push whatever amount of wood through this stove to keep all of the house comfy since my wife and daughter are sick. I usually don't burn it much above the "n" on normal, I think I may crank it up a little to see how it does. I have a bad habit of overloading at night so this way maybe I'll have less coals to burn down in the morning.

 

[NinjaTech]

Getting down to zero the next few days here too, my only worry is not being home in the day to feed it.

 

[aansorge]

-31 windchill here at the moment. Both stoves going now!

 

[jeff_t]

Front of the stove is definitely the hot spot when burning up coals. Well over 600 at the moment, while it's barely 350 on top. Can't get much behind the shields, but what I can is around 500. Maybe because the steel is thicker on top?

Please forgive me, first time I've had my IR here this winter

 

[tarzan]

Well, it's 14* here right now and headed toward -2* according to the local weather man. This is about the temp that our old stove would start to need constant tending. Tonight will be the first real test but so far so good.

Yes I know -2* would be welcome to some right now but that's close to about as cold as it gets here. Last winter I can remember -10*.

 

[Quentin2]

Wife told me our gas bill was only $60 last month. I do keep a 24'x36' garage at about 55 deg with gas and all my appliances are gas. It's cool to see real savings, Im sure the gas company is confused.

 

[NinjaTech]

8 this morning, its pretty neat being able to see how the outside temp changes draft. Suckin like a hoover this morning though. I'm curious to see what it says tomorrow morning when its 0

 

[Highbeam]

When it's real cold and draft is particularly strong I like to be able to hear that jet engine like roar of air sucking into the stove. Even with my OAK I can hear a distinct sucking sound from the rear of the stove.

Jealous of you guys with winter temps. We are seeing daytime highs in the 50s, barely freezing overnight.