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

[Joe dirt]

Another question that I feel would be best answered by the Blaze King owners. My chimney installation is not the most ideal but what I'm wondering is how long can I run my horizontal piece through the thimble. If I do 18" I'm going to have to cut into my roof. I was thinking of using a 36" section instead and I'd only need to cut into the gutter. How much would using a 36" section effect the draft? I'm not looking for scientific numbers just if its a good idea or bad.

Recap on my inside pipes.
Double wall with two 45's
18" and a 24"

Not the most ideal but that's the best I can do.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

Another question that I feel would be best answered by the Blaze King owners. My chimney installation is not the most ideal but what I'm wondering is how long can I run my horizontal piece through the thimble. If I do 18" I'm going to have to cut into my roof. I was thinking of using a 36" section instead and I'd only need to cut into the gutter. How much would using a 36" section effect the draft? I'm not looking for scientific numbers just if its a good idea or bad.

Recap on my inside pipes.
Double wall with two 45's
18" and a 24"

Not the most ideal but that's the best I can do.

I have at least 36" of horizontal. Most of it on the inside with 2 45's leading too it all my verticals are at BK suggested minimum and mine drafts like a pro. I'm also using the outside air adapter. Hope that helps. For some reason I can't get these pics turned the right way. But, hopefully you get the idea

 

[Joe dirt]

View attachment 160492
I have at least 36" of horizontal. Most of it on the inside with 2 45's leading too it all my verticals are at BK suggested minimum and mine drafts like a pro. I'm also using the outside air adapter. Hope that helps. For some reason I can't get these pics turned the right way. But, hopefully you get the idea

That's where I got the idea from actually. I was reading the posts and saw your picture and thought hey that might be an option for me. I'm also going higher with the outside pipe to help with the draft.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

That's where I got the idea from actually. I was reading the posts and saw your picture and thought hey that might be an option for me. I'm also going higher with the outside pipe to help with the draft.

Since I was concerned about draft as well I went Selkirk double wall insulated all the way from inside through the wall, as you can see in the pic. It's a bit....well....unorthodox, but it works like a champ. I rarely get any back draft into the house and cold starts aren't bad at all. I credit the cold start success to the outside air kit.

 

[Joe dirt]

Since I was concerned about draft as well I went Selkirk double wall insulated all the way from inside through the wall, as you can see in the pic. It's a bit....well....unorthodox, but it works like a champ. I rarely get any back draft into the house and cold starts aren't bad at all. I credit the cold start success to the outside air kit.

What's the cold air kit consist of for the blaze king? I had a cold air kit for my Napoleon and it was just some duct work made up that went through the wall. The installer made it up himself. Just wondering if the kit is a MUST buy or can be fabbed up with some duct work.

I also have the Selkirk insulated pipe. I just had to order a 36" pipe for the through the wall piece. I bought the chimney used and it's all in 2' lengths. I would of rathered it was 3' sections but finding used 8" was not that easy.

 

[jeff_t]

What's the cold air kit consist of for the blaze king?

It's mostly the adapter to hook the tube to the bottom of the housing where the air is drawn in. You could probably fabricate your own, but I don't think they're too expensive.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

What's the cold air kit consist of for the blaze king? I had a cold air kit for my Napoleon and it was just some duct work made up that went through the wall. The installer made it up himself. Just wondering if the kit is a MUST buy or can be fabbed up with some duct work.

I also have the Selkirk insulated pipe. I just had to order a 36" pipe for the through the wall piece. I bought the chimney used and it's all in 2' lengths. I would of rathered it was 3' sections but finding used 8" was not that easy.

I bought the kit. It was cheap in the grand scheme. But, it could certainly be fabbed by someone with rudimentary skills

 

[Missouri Frontier]

we burn our stove almost non stop from late October to early April. I'm cleaning the stove pipe today to get ready for fall. This is all I got out. Volume wise about equal to A half coffee can. I left the sweeper in the pic for reference. That's what's left in the pipe after 2.5 to 3 cords of non stop burning for 5 months. This is the only stove I've ever run myself but I grew up on a pre epa smoke dragon. Back then we were cleaning twice that much at least once a month. Amazing. At least to me

 

[Tavery]

Okay Blaze King owners, why should I go with this Cat stove (Ashford 30) over a hearthstone or Jotul oslo? I can find plenty of non-cat stoves at dealers in mid missouri. but no cat stoves ( they frown about them when asked).
I am planning a new home build 1400sq. ft. of open floor plan, heavily insulated on a slab. Stove will be centrally located in living space.
I will need a softer heat, not a searing,"can't get within 5 feet of the stove" heat, due to the proximity of stove to dining/living area.

I find plenty of nay-sayers on cat stoves but obviously you folks are all about it in these Blaze Kings.
concern #1 - Will an Ashford 30 run me out of the living space before I ever get the 2 bedrooms warm?
concern #2 - Are they really so easy to load and leave every 12 hours they are boring? a good thing imo, or is this just over zealous
BK fan talk.
concern #3 - do I 'have' to run a fan kit ? few other Co. even make a fan kit these days, letting natural convection of the space do that job. I am sure time will tell and the location/floor plan/etc will have a lot to do with this answer given all the variables.

thanks for the input, it is an important decision, and one I hope to get right the first time

 

[Ashful]

Okay Blaze King owners, why should I go with this Cat stove (Ashford 30) over a hearthstone or Jotul oslo? I can find plenty of non-cat stoves at dealers in mid missouri. but no cat stoves ( they frown about them when asked).
I am planning a new home build 1400sq. ft. of open floor plan, heavily insulated on a slab. Stove will be centrally located in living space.
I will need a softer heat, not a searing,"can't get within 5 feet of the stove" heat, due to the proximity of stove to dining/living area.

I find plenty of nay-sayers on cat stoves but obviously you folks are all about it in these Blaze Kings.
concern #1 - Will an Ashford 30 run me out of the living space before I ever get the 2 bedrooms warm?
concern #2 - Are they really so easy to load and leave every 12 hours they are boring? a good thing imo, or is this just over zealous fan talk.
concern #3 - do I 'have' to run a fan kit ? few other Co. even make a fan kit this days, letting natural convection of the space do that job. I am sure time will tell and the location/floor plan/etc will have a let to do with this answer given all the variables.

thanks for the input, it is an important decision, and one I hope to get right the first time

I just traded three Jotul Firelight stoves for two Ashford 30's, so this response is based on several years of burning multiple Jotul Firelight stoves, and a few weeks of burning one of the Ashfords at the end of last season.

The Ashford 30 (actually, all BK's) can burn remarkably lower and slower than any other stove on the market. Stretching a 2.8 cu.ft. firebox for a 30 hour burn time really opens up the range of heat output like no other stove you've ever operated. I'd venture a guess that the Ashford 30 can run at a lower heat output than even the smallest 1.7 cu.ft. stoves.

North-south loading, deep firebox floor, and large front door. Yes, it's very easy. Rake out your coals, load the box full, get it going and wait for cat probe to hit active range (eg.20 minutes), close bypass damper, wait a few minutes, then set your desired heat output on the automatic thermostat. It's much easier to run than my Firelights ever were.

Fan kit is not necessary. I ordered them because I have my stoves stuffed back into large fireplaces, but they roll out some nice natural convection without the fans running. In fact, not having fans is easier, if it works for your situation. If you run fans, you'll find you have to shut them off and wait 5 minutes to get accurate cat probe readings, since the fans do cool the probe shaft (it penetrates the convective deck).

As to "soft heat", they're a convective design, and because they can burn so slow (with no flame in the box), you can even eliminate the searing radiation you get off the glass of stoves that burn with flame in the box. So, yes, they can give off a very low gentle heat, if that's what's desired. Turn up the thermostat, and they can also sear your eyebrows, if that's what you need. The beauty of a catalitic stove is that you have both options.

 

[Highbeam]

Okay Blaze King owners, why should I go with this Cat stove (Ashford 30) over a hearthstone or Jotul oslo? I can find plenty of non-cat stoves at dealers in mid missouri. but no cat stoves ( they frown about them when asked).
I am planning a new home build 1400sq. ft. of open floor plan, heavily insulated on a slab. Stove will be centrally located in living space.
I will need a softer heat, not a searing,"can't get within 5 feet of the stove" heat, due to the proximity of stove to dining/living area.

I find plenty of nay-sayers on cat stoves but obviously you folks are all about it in these Blaze Kings.
concern #1 - Will an Ashford 30 run me out of the living space before I ever get the 2 bedrooms warm?
concern #2 - Are they really so easy to load and leave every 12 hours they are boring? a good thing imo, or is this just over zealous
BK fan talk.
concern #3 - do I 'have' to run a fan kit ? few other Co. even make a fan kit these days, letting natural convection of the space do that job. I am sure time will tell and the location/floor plan/etc will have a lot to do with this answer given all the variables.

thanks for the input, it is an important decision, and one I hope to get right the first time

1) They will not run you out of the room unless you try. When burning the BK you will keep the thing running on a low output so the bedrooms stay warm. You don't have to recover from a cold stove/cold house situation very often. When you have no choice but to let the house get cold then you will want to crank up the stove and during that warm up period, the stove room will be much warmer than the back rooms until everything evens out. This is an inescapable quality of wood stove heating.
2) No, they are really so easy to load and leave every 24 hours. As in, once a day.
3) No. You don't have to have the fans. They are helpful and effective but the stove will still heat your space. I use the fans to actually strip extra heat off the stove. In an effort to get maximum output when I've allowed the house to get cold. Most of the time, the fans are off.

 

[Stump shot]

Heating 1440 sq ft with an Ashford 30. My stove, house combination can go 24 hours on a full reload down to about zero. Then I need to switch to reloading every 12 hours.

 

[Isaiah53]

I was faced with a similar dilemma on my downstairs 400 ft2 recreation room with two adjoining 160 ft2 bedrooms. I had two stove suppliers tell me that any stove would probably put out too much heat and make the rec room uncomfortably warm. I thought the BK 20/30 series gave me the best chance of success and went with Ashford 30 for appearance.

I have run it for one season. I never run it on more than the lowest settings and it keeps the rec room at about 73 F and the bedrooms at about 66 F with outside temperatures generally between -10 and 30 F. I like having the bedrooms colder than the rec room for sleeping. No fans on the stove, but there is a ceiling fan that I keep running. I can generally hold my hand against the outer cast iron jacket for several seconds. It is a soft convective heat.

I run it on 12 hour cycles with mostly lodgepole pine and spruce . The cat never goes inactive and there are plenty of coals remaining so reloading is easy. I can't do 24 hours. but I can believe it is possible on low thermostat settings with good hardwoods.

I think other smaller non-cat stoves would probably work for your situation, but not with the long burn times. I do think the BK's may be more sensitive to poor draft (don't skimp on the chimney) and they are pricey. There were a couple of threads on this site about smoke smell in some units, but I don't think it is common and it appears BK is addressing these folks problems. Otherwise, I think it is unlikely you would ever regret the choice.

 

[Poindexter]

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

BK performance thread, winter of 15-16, volume one will be getting started in the next 14 days I think.

My oil burner is running a little bit longer than required for DHW, and my wife has worn long pants around the house two evenings this week.

Now back to our regular programing...

 

[Poindexter]

I am heating 1200 sf with an A30 now and loving it just fine. The stove is at one end of the 30x40 footprint. I use the fan kit any time the stove is running. I also have a box fan on the floor of the central hallway drawing cold air from the bedroom floors and pushing same down the hall towards the stove. Works great on a suboptimal floorplan.

IIRC the 30 can run at both a higher high and a lower low btu output, making it on paper the more versatile stove.

 

[Poindexter]

Late autumn upon us
The old man's bones lead
But the leaves haven't turned
The younger one said.

With a sigh and a nod
They both headed round
To the edifice of cord wood
Stacked up off the ground

One key to staying warm
Is to never get cold
When your bones say its time
Light up that stove

Frustrated with his android
The cat ready to engage
They set down their phones
To recall the day.


August 20, 2015

Week earlier than last year the old man mused, I wonder bad this one will be.

 

[Tavery]

I thank you each for thoughtful and well seasoned reply to my inquiry about the Blaze King Ashford stove. There is no replacement for real world experience and hands on usefulness. I thank you again for taking your time to help make my decision much more informed. (going BK Ashford 30.1) Travis

 

[Poindexter]

Loving my extra two feet of pipe, went from 13' 6" + 2 feet to 15'6" total collar to cap and its made quite a noticeable difference on the draft.

Haven't done a hot reload yet this fall, but we have run the thing four of the last five nights, just sampling different parts of the wood pile and taking the chill off.

My mm broke again, Im without hard data; judging by how the stove is running I split small enough again.

 

[Poindexter]

Loving my extra two feet of pipe, went from 13' 6" + 2 feet to 15'6" total collar to cap and its made quite a noticeable difference on the draft.

Haven't done a hot reload yet this fall, but we have run the thing four of the last five nights, just sampling different parts of the wood pile and taking the chill off.

My mm broke again, Im without hard data; judging by how the stove is running I split small enough again.

 

[webfish]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2015-2016-blaze-king-performance-thread-everything-bk.145814/

New thread for season.