2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

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Now if it drops big time just into the burn after a 1/2 hour or so then maybe the cat stalled from lack of smoke. Then yes open the air/t-stat back up get her going good again then shut it back down in stages till you find the sweet spot.
I think most can shut the t-stat right down to the lowest setting and be ok. I know I get away with it. But In have stalled the cat a few times by not charring the wood enough before doing that.

I've been doing this for awhile and reading about these stoves for even longer. I have only ever heard of one person able to run their stove with the stat set to zero, and that's hotcoals. Everybody else, including me that wants max burn times, has to run their stat at settings above 1. No harm in trying but be prepared to bump the stat back up to your low limit. BK, I think BKVP, told us any setting between 1 and 3 is "safe". The normal range on the freestanders is even a narrower range.
 
36 outside this am, started up the stove cold and she's up and running smelling like pancakes again. Making me hungry I'm gonna go eat some breakfast now that I have fed the cat==c

I remember that pancake smell. I get it a bit every year when burning off the summer's dust.
 
Congrats Rossco. My wife and I have a two month old so we're in the same club. Only probable difference is I'm 51 and also have two older kids, ages 28 and 23. My wife didn't have children of her own so this one was for her. But now that he's here, it's amazingly wonderful. I'd forgotten how much one's heart opens to a baby.

Is this your first or are you an old hand?

Ah Iam just a nipper in comparison.

Good for you guys. Greatest gift you could have ever given to the wife.

We have a 2 1/2 yr old as well.

The BK was still warm last time I checked an hour ago or so. Not gonna fire her back up till the evening.
 
I've been doing this for awhile and reading about these stoves for even longer. I have only ever heard of one person able to run their stove with the stat set to zero, and that's hotcoals. Everybody else, including me that wants max burn times, has to run their stat at settings above 1. No harm in trying but be prepared to bump the stat back up to your low limit. BK, I think BKVP, told us any setting between 1 and 3 is "safe". The normal range on the freestanders is even a narrower range.

Well the last few hours of a burn I have to turn the the t-stat up.
I have left it around 1.5 and then the t-stat will open some on its own but usually I have to turn it up more yet to burn down some of the coals.

My flue is straight up through two story's and I'm on a decent little hill so maybe that's why I can get away with just the air from the idle hole.
 
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That small 6 split or so load is still going from 8am. I came home around 5:30 and the cat probe was right at the inactive/active mark. I said to myself, hey 9 hrs on a half dozen smaller splits ain't too bad. 5 min ago I just looked and now its 1/4" into the active zone! :oops: Barely anything left in the box, I don't know how it does it but it does!
 
I've been doing this for awhile and reading about these stoves for even longer. I have only ever heard of one person able to run their stove with the stat set to zero, and that's hotcoals. Everybody else, including me that wants max burn times, has to run their stat at settings above 1. No harm in trying but be prepared to bump the stat back up to your low limit. BK, I think BKVP, told us any setting between 1 and 3 is "safe". The normal range on the freestanders is even a narrower range.

I run mine at the lowest setting. Its well below 0.
 
That small 6 split or so load is still going from 8am. I came home around 5:30 and the cat probe was right at the inactive/active mark. I said to myself, hey 9 hrs on a half dozen smaller splits ain't too bad. 5 min ago I just looked and now its 1/4" into the active zone! :oops: Barely anything left in the box, I don't know how it does it but it does!

The t-stat must have opened some.
The stat is a little slow and to me really does not move much like I thought it wold but it does work.
My cover has been off for 3 years so I can see what is going on easier.
i have not been arrested to date over it yet but i would not advise to do the same.
 
CAT just lit off. Had no trouble lighting it up tonight. It ain't cold out either but new borns need heat (Especially sick ones) no forced air is money in the bank.

Must have some positive pressure in the basement.
 
Yep so nice not to have to listen to fans from my forced air heat pump and the big toaster in the basement!
 
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Hope the newborn gets better soon, Rossco! You guys are getting me even more excited. I was waiting for this thread to pop up this year. My BK Ashford arrives and gets installed this friday and the temps are dropping too! My wife and I cannot wait to fire it up. Somebody just asked in here but I saw no reply, roughly how long does it take for the paint curing smells to stop?? I'll probably be posting some photos on friday/saturday of the new stove. Last year I struggled to get our house above 64. This winter is going to be much different :)
 
Yeah I don't like the forced air. Noisy flipping thing.

We have a draft coming in through a back bed room. I might have finally sealed it up with some silicone & paper towel. Now you can feel the temp starting to rise. I have the stove running @ 1.25 so its pretty dead. My friend runs his BK completely closed down but only during -20 to -30C. The draft is voracious at them temps. I will experiment when Jack Frost comes knocking.

Shane: Thanks. Took me a whole day to cure the paint. That's progressive, hot fast burns. I still get a little wiff now and then when it's cranked.
 
You will get that smell each time your stove reaches a new high temperature.
Yes, and once you get it real hot for a long, cold night that should be the end of it.
 
Yeah once I got it warmed up I ran the P155 out of it. I think I had 450C on top with actual smoke coming off the stove. Don't think I will see that again. Also I had a new 12" and two 45* DWP sections that need to be baptized with fire.
 
Hope the newborn gets better soon, Rossco! You guys are getting me even more excited. I was waiting for this thread to pop up this year. My BK Ashford arrives and gets installed this friday and the temps are dropping too! My wife and I cannot wait to fire it up. Somebody just asked in here but I saw no reply, roughly how long does it take for the paint curing smells to stop?? I'll probably be posting some photos on friday/saturday of the new stove. Last year I struggled to get our house above 64. This winter is going to be much different :)

We just had our Ashford installed this past June. Smell was way worse than I expected; the whole damn house filled with smoke. We ran it with the windows open. My wife has a very sensitive nose but within a few days it was fine.
 
Does the brand of firebrick matter?
I just cleaned my Ashford and there were a couple bricks in the back that had cracked. I got some from tractor supply to replace them but they are very dense and not at porous like the ones that came in the stove.
The manual does not say anything about using a certain type of firebrick.
It does say that there is a ceramic blanket that they sit on. Mine are just sitting on the steel bottom of the firebox.

Now I just need a polar vortex.
 
well folks here it is, another burning season upon us and hey, nobody else started one of the more popular threads so I figure I might as well.;)

I've read along for the last 2 seasons about all the hocus pocus, Tom foolery, etc. and now have become part of the pack. I installed my BKK ultra over the summer and woke her up for the first time this morning and now will see what all the voodoo magic is about. I loaded about 30 lbs of wood to do my break in fire, cats engaged, cruising right along around 500 stovetop right above the cat, 300-400 elsewhere.

View attachment 140372 I got the windows open, letting the first burn stank out. Smell reminds me of well done pancakes on the griddle :cool:44 degrees overnight last night, about the same for tonight. I'm gonna attach a few pics, let's have some good chatter over a nice warm catylictic fire. Stay warm folks, DH
Great looking install. Every once in awhile someone posts an install that just gets it all together. Form, style, color, texture.... you nailed it!
 
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On my Ashford, I can't see the cat. At least I've not found it yet.
Have you looked up into the top of the stove? Especially when it was new, it was hard to miss! Over time it gets more stable, at first its a little over active. Here's what I see.
 

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Do you have a photo of you themo set at 0 and was wondering what temps your getting and is it with or with out the fans.?

My princess stat doesn't even have a 0 setting. I looked last night and the only numbers are 1,2, and 3. Further, we all know and expect to hear the clack of the stat closing somewhere around 1 on a cold stove. This means that if you are trying to run at a setting below that cold temp clack point of 1 or so, that your stat will never open. It's out of the game. Do you suppose a leaky door gasket would be the source of combustion air allowing you to defeat the stat this way?
 
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Have you looked up into the top of the stove? Especially when it was new, it was hard to miss! Over time it gets more stable, at first its a little over active. Here's what I see.

Same on the princess. Once of the great things about all of the current BK cat stoves is that you can watch that cat glow.
 
Same on the princess. Once of the great things about all of the current BK cat stoves is that you can watch that cat glow.
I wish I could it dosnt stay lite very long If it dose. Buying kiln dryer wood, Eco bricks. Stove has 2 winters under its chimney. Ever so flustrated
 
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Does the brand of firebrick matter?
I just cleaned my Ashford and there were a couple bricks in the back that had cracked. I got some from tractor supply to replace them but they are very dense and not at porous like the ones that came in the stove.
The manual does not say anything about using a certain type of firebrick.
It does say that there is a ceramic blanket that they sit on. Mine are just sitting on the steel bottom of the firebox.

Now I just need a polar vortex.

If you type 'pumice fire brick' in the search box, you'll come up with a bunch of reading.

My sister's King Classic has the blanket on the bottom. I have no idea about my stove, never any bricks out.
 
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