2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[tarzan]

had my chimney swept for the first time since buying my ashford. i got it around the first of the year last year. about a coffee can amount of creosote up where my liner pokes out my masonry chimney. a little more than i was hoping for, but my sweep thinks a once a year schedule should work out ok, especially since it seems im getting the hang of how to run the stove and my wood quality is better.

my hearthstone was once every 2 years sweep stove...and even then it was a coffee cup of creosote at the top lip. thats was it. but i guess thats because it sent so much heat up the flue!

my chimney is a difficult and dangerous one to sweep. i simply wont make the "leap" off my roof peak to it. however i think i reach the cap and get a altered brush to the top to knock that buildup at the top down. another option is to build a "leveled" ladder that will allow me to clean it. its on a 10/12 roof.

With the Lennox Country tube stove I swept once after 2 1/2 seasons and that was litterally for the hell of it. Nothing in the tube but a thin layer of brown dust.

With the BK I excpect to clean annually but I'm not sending near as much heat out the pipe, so I'm good with it.

 

[Highbeam]

Here is a question for everyone, how does log size affect burn time on low settings? Lets assume same weight of wood for both loads, one load is small splits, the next load is several much larger pieces. If using the same thermostat setting how will burn time be affected? Am I right in assuming that even though its thermostatically controlled, the small wood will be consumed faster?

I have the same gut feeling as others that a load of kindling would burn faster. Unlike hotcoals, my thermostat is very active and works well but the thermostat only controls intake air. When the load of kindling is outstanding rapidly it is doing so whether the intake is open or not. The cat will try and eat the smoke as the kindling load pumps it out in the fuel rich firebox.

Classic woofing recipe.

 

[HotCoals]

I have the same gut feeling as others that a load of kindling would burn faster. Unlike hotcoals, my thermostat is very active and works well but the thermostat only controls intake air. When the load of kindling is outstanding rapidly it is doing so whether the intake is open or not. The cat will try and eat the smoke as the kindling load pumps it out in the fuel rich firebox.

Classic woofing recipe.

How do you know how well your t stat works..you have had the cover off to watch it?

 

[NinjaTech]

On the freestanders can you not see the thermostat normally? On the inserts you can see it right though the slots on the right side without removing anything. I watch mine pretty frequently and it moves around quite a bit. On low where I normally run it the flapper is about an inch and a half open when cold, once warmed up it will close all the way down and just be open a crack. As the fire dies down it will slowly open all the way back up.

 

[Highbeam]

How do you know how well your t stat works..you have had the cover off to watch it?

Yes, I've opened it up to lube the shaft and watch it. Don't tell BKVP. I also removed all of the stickers and that stubborn glue.

I see the stat function all the time from the fire getting brighter and darker as well. The thermostats work well. You have mentioned your tall chimney and excellent draft, and your setup seems to require you operate the stat slammed shut all the time which means the thermostat is not able to work. Just being able to run the BK with the stat at "1" is a great clue of your problem. You know, there is a maximum draft spec for these stoves. Maybe if you weakened your draft so that you could operate your stat in the "normal" range, you would be see that your stat can be very effective.

Don't all the freestanders have that normal range in "gold" on their stats?

 

[HotCoals]

Yes, I've opened it up to lube the shaft and watch it. Don't tell BKVP. I also removed all of the stickers and that stubborn glue.

I see the stat function all the time from the fire getting brighter and darker as well. The thermostats work well. You have mentioned your tall chimney and excellent draft, and your setup seems to require you operate the stat slammed shut all the time which means the thermostat is not able to work. Just being able to run the BK with the stat at "1" is a great clue of your problem. You know, there is a maximum draft spec for these stoves. Maybe if you weakened your draft so that you could operate your stat in the "normal" range, you would be see that your stat can be very effective.

Don't all the freestanders have that normal range in "gold" on their stats?

mine don't.


I dunno I still get super long burn times no problem.
I do have a damper if i need it but rarely use it.
The t stat can't be really reactive because then it could open to far on it's own. Kinda of hard to explain my position on it.
Some actually have a governor bolt going through the cover to try and prevent that.

 

[Highbeam]

So I took some photos of the reason for the cleanout burns and the temps I see. We all like pictures anyway but the first one shows the glossy creo from a week of long and low burns on the cold parts of the firebox. The top and cat are brown indicating the cat heat keeping the creo from condensing there. After an hour, my gauges say this. Oh the flue temps never get too hot, maybe 800. This same flue was run well over 1000 on a regular basis with my old hearthstone. After the cleanout burn, that glossy creo dries out and mostly flakes off. Hopefully I'm doing what I can to keep the stove healthy.

 

[Highbeam]

Here she is loaded up with fir. 2.5 hours into the burn and the STT is sitting at 400 where it should cruise for the next 20 hours.

If you look closely you can see the washers in the hinges to boost the door up for better gasket alignment.

 

[HotCoals]

I think some of the creo deal in the box is from air turbulence from the air coming in above the window and trying to go down into the stove.
I wonder how things would be if the air came in from below the window? Probably not practical in application. Glass might stay cleaner if the air wassh went up instead of down?

 

[Highbeam]

mine don't.


I dunno I still get super long burn times no problem.
I do have a damper if i need it but rarely use it.
The t stat can't be really reactive because then it could open to far on it's own. Kinda of hard to explain my position on it.
Some actually have a governor bolt going through the cover to try and prevent that.

My stat's normal range is labeled from about 1.7 to 2.3. I also have that max range screw on the stat cover to prevent stickage in a full open scenario.

Try killing your draft with the key damper so that you need to operate the stat at 2 (50%) in order to maintain the same stove top temp as you currently get with the stat slammed shut (defeated) at setting 1. Once you are using the stat in it's operating range you just might see it doing the job it was intended to do. Now, I know that the stat isn't going to be as active as the draft control on a wood furnace but you should see a more even output as the BK designers intended.

 

[HotCoals]

My stat's normal range is labeled from about 1.7 to 2.3. I also have that max range screw on the stat cover to prevent stickage in a full open scenario.

Try killing your draft with the key damper so that you need to operate the stat at 2 (50%) in order to maintain the same stove top temp as you currently get with the stat slammed shut (defeated) at setting 1. Once you are using the stat in it's operating range you just might see it doing the job it was intended to do. Now, I know that the stat isn't going to be as active as the draft control on a wood furnace but you should see a more even output as the BK designers intended.

I leave mine at 1.75 at times and it will open some after the stove cools down some no doubt.
It does work some but to me the stove really does not need it.
I don't think my draft is overly strong.

I have the normal scale also but its not in gold.
When I was using the cover I went as far as to replace that bolt with a adjustable set up even.

When I'm in cruise i want as little air as possible to be going into my stove.
Now it it's really cold out the flapper might need to be open a crack and I have seen it close from there at a setting of 1.75. Seems the t stat likes to close better then open.

 

[BKVP]

I put my snowmobile clutches in there once..lol.

I once forgot to pull out a bear skull before the wife got home..my wife got a new Bosch as a result.

 

[HotCoals]

I once forgot to pull out a bear skull before the wife got home..my wife got a new Bosch as a result.

(broken image removed)

 

[NinjaTech]

I once forgot to pull out a bear skull before the wife got home..my wife got a new Bosch as a result.

You sir, just won the "oddest use for a dishwasher" competition.

And I bet you could hear that scream for miles.

 

[tarzan]

I think that screw in the thermo cover also prevents us from getting flapper stuck.

If you have the cover off you can see its possible to turn the draft setting up fast enough that the flapper flips over center without that screw in place as a stop.

On mine, if I do it a few times it will get stuck there at least once so even turning the knob will not bring it back

 

[RustyShackleford]

Anyway, wouldn't the larger splits need to be off gassing at about the same rate as the smaller splits on a given thermostat setting in order to hold the same temp.

Yes, but what I'm saying is that the stove may fail to hold the same temperature, due to cat stall - which, I believe, is due to not enough wood gasses (mostly methanol, aka. "wood alcohol", I believe) to keep the cat running.

 

[RustyShackleford]

had my chimney swept for the first time since buying my ashford. i got it around the first of the year last year. about a coffee can amount of creosote up where my liner pokes out my masonry chimney. a little more than i was hoping for, but my sweep thinks a once a year schedule should work out ok, especially since it seems im getting the hang of how to run the stove and my wood quality is better.

my hearthstone was once every 2 years sweep stove...and even then it was a coffee cup of creosote at the top lip. thats was it. but i guess thats because it sent so much heat up the flue!

my chimney is a difficult and dangerous one to sweep. i simply wont make the "leap" off my roof peak to it. however i think i reach the cap and get a altered brush to the top to knock that buildup at the top down. another option is to build a "leveled" ladder that will allow me to clean it. its on a 10/12 roof.

I clean mine every two years. Oddly enough, since it's a vastly superior stove, I think the chimney gets a little dirtier than with my Dutchwest, where I was comfortable with cleaning every 3 years - it's probably because I burn a LOT more wood with the BK, because it's so effortless to keep a fire going 24/7.

My chimney is also on a 10/12 roof, but I have the advantage that it doesn't drop straight to the ground, but rather onto a 5/12 gable on each side. I didn't worry at all when it was composition shingles, but I had a metal roof done recently, and it's scary up there now (even a little on the 5/12). I got these shoes called Korkers (with the foam rubber pads) and they work pretty well. Being a climber and comfortable with ropes, I strung an old climbing rope across the big 10/12 gable, and attach my harness to that with a prussik, which I can then slide along the rope. I still actually use the rope (pulling on it with my hands) to get up the 10/12 part (as good as the Korkers are, they will not stick to 10/12).

But mostly, I just clean my chimney from below now.

 

[RustyShackleford]

I think that screw in the thermo cover also prevents us from getting flapper stuck.

If you have the cover off you can see its possible to turn the draft setting up fast enough that the flapper flips over center without that screw in place as a stop.

I think the same effect that allows the flapper to get stuck, also prevents the flapper from flipping over center. I know mine does not have the screw in the thermo cover, and I've never had mine get stuck or flip over center.

 

[tarzan]

I think the same effect that allows the flapper to get stuck, also prevents the flapper from flipping over center. I know mine does not have the screw in the thermo cover, and I've never had mine get stuck or flip over center.

It's not exactly easy to flip it over center and get it stuck but doable without the stop screw. You just have to turn the knob up at the right speed for it to flip and stay. Even then, unless you turn it back down slowly it will flip back when you turn it down.

This is on my stove of course but I wouldn't think it to be very different than others.

 

[Rossco]

Well it's -9C out, 22C in the house and rising once the fresh reload gets established.

The wife near let it go out (I've been sleeping for Nightshift)

Coldest day of the season and near let the Stove go out tut tut tut.

Wasn't a happy bunny.

On the flip side it seems my house is holding heat rather thank leaking in & out.

 

[tigger]

No fire in the stove yesterday or last night.......the wife says "it's cold in here can we have a small fire"....... It's 73 in here?.....

 

[tarzan]

No fire in the stove yesterday or last night.......the wife says "it's cold in here can we have a small fire"....... It's 73 in here?.....

Hold on.... The Polar Vortex is on the way!

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Because of Work and Family and falling out of a shag bark hickory tree I haven't been visiting the Forums sense last Year.

I would just like to Publicly say that
BKVP is an absolutely stand up individual and I truly Appreciate him taking the time address and fix my 1107 Ultra problem. Thank You for Your Help and kindness.

Hiram

 

[BrotherBart]

Wondered where you had been. Haven't seen ya since January.

Welcome back.

 

[RustyShackleford]

BKVP is an absolutely stand up individual and I truly Appreciate him taking the time ...

Amen. And you know what else, he's SMART. It's amazing how many companies (most) in this modern internet age, where people discuss most every product in detail on forums like these, completely ignore what's going on in those forums (or at least don't acknowledge it). That's just dumb.