2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[Poindexter]

Payment required in advance.

delivery required before scheduling medical procedure in hospital.

 

[tarzan]

Anybody here run there BK without the blower?

I've been running without the blower a lot with this stove since I got it at the beginning of this season.

Problem is sometimes with the thermostat shut completely down. Not opening at all. The cat probe thermo will creep up to pegged, my stove top thermo will get over 700*F, and I end up turning the fans on to cool things down.

It doesn't seem to matter the outside temps (just turned the fans on and it is 37*F now) or if I let the load burn in a while before shutting it down in steps or shut it down quickly after cat goes active.

The door gasket passes the dollar bill test and it only does it once every week or two so I really think if it was a leak it would happen more often. if anybody knows what I'm doing wrong here I would appreciate some advice.

 

[rdust]

I promise if you haven't run a load or three of 12%MC wood in your cat equipped BK you have no idea what this stove is really capable of.

How are you measuring the full load to know it's at 12%MC? Are you splitting each piece and checking it with a meter before loading the stove? Are you correcting for temperature and wood species? That's about the EMC for your area, how many years did it take for the wood to reach that point?

For me I've never noticed a bit of difference from stuff in the mid 20's to my best stuff which was css in 2009. Mid 20's on a meter is 20% wet basis which is fine for an EPA stove.

 

[rdust]

Anybody here run there BK without the blower?

I've been running without the blower a lot with this stove since I got it at the beginning of this season.

Problem is sometimes with the thermostat shut completely down. Not opening at all. The cat probe thermo will creep up to pegged, my stove top thermo will get over 700*F, and I end up turning the fans on to cool things down.

It doesn't seem to matter the outside temps (just turned the fans on and it is 37*F now) or if I let the load burn in a while before shutting it down in steps or shut it down quickly after cat goes active.

The door gasket passes the dollar bill test and it only does it once every week or two so I really think if it was a leak it would happen more often. if anybody knows what I'm doing wrong here I would appreciate some advice.

You're making a lot of smoke for the cat to eat when it's shut down so the temp climbs. Try opening the air a touch so the t-stat works a little and see if it helps. Is the stove new this season? If so the cat is still pretty sensitive and will settle over time.

I usually run mine on the edge of the normal line(1 3/4 ish) and use the fans to regulate the temp. I usually have to use the fans when it dips below 30, above 30 I usually have them off.

 

[kennyp2339]

Tarzan, I have the princess free stander w/ out the blower..I have noticed higher temps, my cat probe is always in the 2-3 o'clock position, my thermostat is set at 1.75 plus / minus. I was experimenting a little today because it was 45deg outside, I turned the knob all the way down to setting 1, you could hear the click of the t-stat close, but what happened was the stove box was still very warm, all my flames died out but there was a lot of smoke in my fire box (from the load smoldering) the cat was eating most of it up thus keeping the cat probe running high - the heat has to go somewhere, I looked outside and there was just a little smoke coming from the chimney. If your going to do a low burn and if the cat probe is in the active position, keep the t-stat in the lower setting, don't let all the wood catch fire and then turn it down, it might help you with keeping the stove from getting to hot by limiting the amount of off gasing from the initial load up.

 

[firefighterjake]

Will you trade your right testicle for another beer? On a serious note, I travel extensively and make the same offer of a drink to anyone that accepts.

This site is a community of wood burners that failed as stand up comics but have a genuine interest in seeing other wood burners successfully and SAFELY heating their homes. If anyone accuses any BK owner for being a shill for our company, no beer for them!

So now I will expand my offer, when I travel I post it here often. If you own Any wood stove and contribute to these forums and I am in your area, send me a pm and if he can sinc, I'll buy them a beer as well...must be over 18!

What if the legal drinking age is 21 in the state?

 

[tarzan]

Thanks for the replies.

Guess I just assumed the cat would have already settled.

Rdust, I run my stove almost exactly as you describe in your last paragraph. I find it neat that with the thermostat controled stove I can get more heat by simply running the blower faster and stove top temps remain relatively steady.

I've tried not burning the load in thinking less smoke and tried burning it in quite a bit thinking off gassing it some would help.

As I said, it's not an every load thing by any means. Just that when it happens it's usually but not always in cooler outside temps, ( thus the reason for running without a blower) and it gets the house a little warmer than we like.

Probably right about giving it a little air so it will smolder less. will give that a try next time.

 

[Poindexter]

How are you measuring the full load to know it's at 12%MC? Are you splitting each piece and checking it with a meter before loading the stove? Are you correcting for temperature and wood species? That's about the EMC for your area, how many years did it take for the wood to reach that point?

For me I've never noticed a bit of difference from stuff in the mid 20's to my best stuff which was css in 2009. Mid 20's on a meter is 20% wet basis which is fine for an EPA stove.

The lions share of my wood winter 2014/15 was felled by me in Sep/Oct 2013, split over the winter and seasoned on pallets on cinder blocks over the entire summer of 2014. It was split and stacked before "break up" and moved off the racks onto the shed after freeze up. Freeze up is when you can go barhopping on a snowmachine on the river without driving a car on the street. Break up is when the spring melt is far enough along for the ice to break up and flow downstream.

I bought a new weedwacker this year and trimmed the grass around the woodpile more often than I mowed the lawn. My sunny side medium birch splits and shady side small birch splits measure 16% pretty consistent at 70dF. The few medium birch splits that ended up on the shady side measure 20% at 70dF and have earned another summer in the sun. All of my split pretty small spruce made it down to 12% in one summer, though some of the splits on the shady side with 180 degrees of bark on them from only being split once hung at 15%. All per electronic gizmo, uncorrected. I have the yellow one with the LED rainbow that says "Blaze King" on the front.

I have a smallish cache, a cord or two, of wood that was split three years ago. It was stored on a porch, about 8' back from the roof line. What happened was a friend of mine sold his house with a wood stove, bought a new house with a pellet stove and let me have his extra dry extra cold winter stash off the porch. I have it on pallets on asphalt and tarped. I brought in close to half a face cord of it, let it warm to 55dF ambient in the garage and found 10-11% ~ ought to be about 12% corrected for temp. These splits were noticeably lighter per apparent volume than the 16% and 20% stuff I handle regularly. I did split two of them open, I did not open them all.

I don't correct for species. My local to me BK dealer is happy and will warranty the cat as long as the electronic gizmo reads 16% or less, corrected for temp but not correcting for species. It might be in the future my local BK dealer is going to be looking for "13%" per gizmo to honor warranties. I don't know, but I intend to be there before he updates his policy. Owners manual for the Ashford 30 calls for 13% or less per electronic gizmo, and it does make a noticeable difference to me compared even to 16% per gizmo.

At my house 20%PG (per gizmo) is usable but needs to be burnt with the stove running wide open hot and makes a lot of ash.

16%MC-PG is good, but burning down the coals and dealing with the ash is a time consuming chore every Saturday.

12%MC-PG birch and spruce is the good stuff.

I am working hard to find nothing wetter than 16% MC PG autumn 2015, I think it's worth it.

 

[claybe]

Do not make that assumption! His PI may not get as hot due to fuel, draft and other factors. My King handle is 13 years old and has discoloration. I have marginal draft but a female occupant that runs the poor King hot all the time! (House is 80F)

This is correct! I had some well seasoned fruit wood that I was reserving for smoking meat but decided to fill the insert and see what would happen. It went 24 hours. It is very expensive to get hardwood here, but it makes all the difference. I burn pine and tree service cuttings. It is NOTHING like the fruit wood I burned. Also the hard fruit wood was at least twice as heavy. The type of wood makes all the difference.

 

[Highbeam]

What if the legal drinking age is 21 in the state?

In his state, and mine, the drinking age is 21.

Perhaps he is trying to make sure to only invite adults over the age of 18. I would expect that he will buy those underage folks a soda instead.

 

[Quentin2]

Here's some pics at 23 hours into a burn. Last pic is after I spread the coals. I Have realized I can moderate my home temps a little better by not running the blowers, especially in these mild temps 32deg. I assumed I had to keep them on for the heat to travel up the stairs but not the case.

As others have stated I am getting longer burn times without blowers. I still have a few hours of heat from these coals if I choose not to load now. On a low fan setting long shot guess would be 2-6 hours less heat.

It feels good I haven't let it go cold for over 3 weeks.

 

[alforit]

Awesome ! ..... Gotta love it

 

[claybe]

So I was wondering how you guys don't stall out the cat? I usually fill her up around 9:30 at night and by 5:30 in the morning the cat is not active. There are still coals but the cat is not active. It keeps the house moderately warm, but not as toasty as it could be. Just wondering how to avoid this. Should I just turn it up?!?

 

[R'Lee]

So I was wondering how you guys don't stall out the cat? I usually fill her up around 9:30 at night and by 5:30 in the morning the cat is not active. There are still coals but the cat is not active. It keeps the house moderately warm, but not as toasty as it could be. Just wondering how to avoid this. Should I just turn it up?!?

 

[R'Lee]

I just turn it up on high and maybe add a small split for about an hour; then add more wood, wait a few minutes before I turn it back down before I go to work. I RARELY fill it up fully. Not cold enough yet here in MI If it bothers you waking up too slightly lower temps; yeah turn it up a tad or use lower moisture wood; mine is rock maple at about 8%.

 

[Quentin2]

I find that the dial is pretty sensitive. An 1/8" down can sometimes be the difference in it stalling or not. As many have said there's tons of variables. I kinda know where I can't go any lower (around 1.5) and even in large heating needs I don't leave it past 2.25 typically. That's not a lot of turning of the knob to have drastically different burns. maybe you can stuff the wood in a little tighter and get some longer burns.

 

[claybe]

I find that the dial is pretty sensitive. An 1/8" down can sometimes be the difference in it stalling or not. As many have said there's tons of variables. I kinda know where I can't go any lower (around 1.5) and even in large heating needs I don't leave it past 2.25 typically. That's not a lot of turning of the knob to have drastically different burns. maybe you can stuff the wood in a little tighter and get some longer burns.

I agree with you about the dial being sensitive! Guess I am still looking for the "sweet spot" after 3 seasons Wood is dry but I don't have hardwood like a lot of you do.

 

[Rossco]

I find that the dial is pretty sensitive. An 1/8" down can sometimes be the difference in it stalling or not. As many have said there's tons of variables. I kinda know where I can't go any lower (around 1.5) and even in large heating needs I don't leave it past 2.25 typically. That's not a lot of turning of the knob to have drastically different burns. maybe you can stuff the wood in a little tighter and get some longer burns.

Yeah I agree with the 1/8 turn theory. I also don't go lower than 1.5 or higher than 2.25 either. Middle of the 'Norm' is my upper heating practice.

I find between 1.5 and 2 works great 90% of the time.

 

[claybe]

Yeah I agree with the 1/8 turn theory. I also don't go lower than 1.5 or higher than 2.25 either. Middle of the 'Norm' is my upper heating practice.

I find between 1.5 and 2 works great 90% of the time.

Please translate into princess insert speak. Can you tell me in percentage what these numbers mean?!? Also can you describe what the flame or glow is doing at these numbers?

 

[Quentin2]

I agree with you about the dial being sensitive! Guess I am still looking for the "sweet spot" after 3 seasons Wood is dry but I don't have hardwood like a lot of you do.

You might notice that a large percentage of blaze king owners are located in softwood areas. Northwest, bc, ak etc. part of that is they're based in the northwest, but some of that is you can stretch long burns out of softwood in cold climates with these stoves.

Another trick is to not char the wood as much on startup. If your reloading on hot coals with real dry wood and it takes off right away I feel comfortable activating cat before it crosses the line. I think there is a little lag time before that probe reads accurate temp and I just read the burn and wood and not the probe. When it's not as hot a reload and I can see it's taking longer I defer to probe. My cat probe almost always shoots up real quick when I do this.

Anyways, just my experiences and thoughts.
Good luck man!

 

[Quentin2]

Please translate into princess insert speak. Can you tell me in percentage what these numbers mean?!? Also can you describe what the flame or glow is doing at these numbers?

I'm commuting bumper to bumper right now but if nobody gets you I'll snap a photo of the dial all the way down and up.

Once it's settled not much flame if any on lower settings 1.5 and very light blue flames and brighter coals at the the 2 stage With occasional flare ups.

Edit: not my turn to drive, shotgun hearthing!

 

[Rossco]

Please translate into princess insert speak. Can you tell me in percentage what these numbers mean?!? Also can you describe what the flame or glow is doing at these numbers?

Ah cannot help with The insert sorry.

I have infinite 0 then 1. The norm burn zone has 2 right in the middle.

Some people let ther BK Go full wack for an hour or so. No chance I could do that. Would be chimney fire material.

Edit: I have an intense orange glow @ 1.75 burning Tamarack. I've now turned it down to 1.5, it will staiblize and burn through till 12:00 noon tomorrow. I have a voracious draft if I heat the chimney up.

 

[Quentin2]

Here's where my dial sat for the last 20 hours. I'll reload in 4 more hours. I get uncomfortable going much lower then this. Cat at 600, stove top 300 right now. Full high knob stops at 3.5 used only on startups. Looks like they know what their doing with the normal range. I can't really see the knob too good, I'm at minimum clearance plus an inch if memory serves.

 

[Rossco]

Here's where my dial sat for the last 20 hours. I'll reload in 4 more hours. I get uncomfortable going much lower then this. Cat at 600, stove top 300 right now. Full high knob stops at 3.5 used only on startups. Looks like they know what their doing with the normal range. I can't really see the knob too good, I'm at minimum clearance plus an inch if memory serves.
View attachment 147864

That's a real good setting @ 24hrs. I won't get that long during the cold.

The larger firebox is defo an advantage. Dam my 6" flue

 

[Quentin2]

Pretty warm here, 29 deg. It still trips me out I can heat this whole house with one stove for 24 hours on mostly cottonwood and a couple sticks of birch. When I had my builder install a chimney I was kinda pissed initially when I went stove shopping and 95% of stoves were 6". I knew zero about stoves and chimneys and thought the builder kinda screwed me with the 8" pipe. I was planning on installing a stove to have some fires on weekends and emergencies only. Two years later I'm darn near off of gas heat and real glad he "screwed" me with the 8". (Wow that sounds bad)

How's the winter in bc and what town you by? I would love to go snow machining down there.