2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[Stump shot]

So was measuring my chimney pipe this morning for insurance and whatnot, and it ends up the pipe only reaches 20" above the peak, so I'm going to be adding another section of class A.

Current height is 15'6. How tall should I go/ if this was you, what would you do?

18" section to bring my total to 17'?
4' section to raise it to 19'6?

At what point would I have to start worrying about too much draft?

Also, I don't have a flue probe thermometer yet, and don't really see the need.. but then again, I don't know. How useful are those?

I'm running 17' with of chimney on an Ashford 30. Also have a probe thermometer. During start up/ reloads on cold days you can easily exceed a 1000 degrees operating temp in the pipe.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

The cat doesn't really keep the wood hot, by the time your stove is up to temp to close the bypass, the wood is burning. When the tstat closes, your wood essentially starts to smoulder, which creates the smoke to feed the cat. When the stat opens, it burns like any other combustible with the cat eating the smoke and gas.

That's the simple version.

That's what I like simple thanks

 

[Rossco]

Akin to cooking the wood.

Got mine snuffed down and Iam just cooking working in the stair well.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Our weather has taken a nasty,... turn back to warm ? wth I got this fancy riggin and its 66* out there argggg ha ha.

 

[Woody harrelson]

Our weather has taken a nasty,... turn back to warm ? wth I got this fancy riggin and its 66* out there argggg ha ha.

73 here. This sucks

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I have a district forester coming tomorrow to talk over the possibility of some cutting . At least it will be a good day to walk in the woods I guess.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

News paper ink question. In the manual I think I read where you were not supposed to burn glossy colored paper. I have just built my second fire and I picked a couple newspapers apart to find some with just black ink no colored ink. My question is can I burn colored ink like you see in a news paper ad? Like a red car for sale ad sort of thing or just black and white paper? I find that our paper has 1 sheet per section that does not have colored ads in them so I have to go through each section to get 1 sheet of burnable paper. Thanks Jeff,... P.S. 36* today

 

[Woody harrelson]

News paper ink question. In the manual I think I read where you were not supposed to burn glossy colored paper. I have just built my second fire and I picked a couple newspapers apart to find some with just black ink no colored ink. My question is can I burn colored ink like you see in a news paper ad? Like a red car for sale ad sort of thing or just black and white paper? I find that our paper has 1 sheet per section that does not have colored ads in them so I have to go through each section to get 1 sheet of burnable paper. Thanks Jeff,... P.S. 36* today

I don't burn the glossy ones, like the flyers for stores. I use the comics etc. I go by feel of the paper

 

[jeffsk7]

Okay after reading an unrelated thread many said they really benefited from an oak even in drafty houses. Anyone have experience with this on a blaze King? Has anyone noticed a big difference if u went from not having an oak to having one?

 

[blueguy]

Has anyone had one of the Durafoil cats fail? I've run the stove two nights this fall and the cat probe won't go above the 12 o'clock position with the bypass closed and the stat set on 3. Both the cat probe and flue probe have a black glaze on them. Using hardwood that has been css for over 2 years.

The face of the cat has a brown soot on it, and was clean prior to the first burn. I cleaned it with a soft brush attachment on a shop vac and there was no sign of the coating coming off or anything out of order.

Stove was purchased in Feb 2013. Nearest dealer is a couple hours away.

Thoughts?

Edit: added in the stat setting.

Well, I guess I needed to refresh myself on proper stove operation after a summer of outdoor fires [emoji3]

Ran the stove full out for about 90 mins to try and clean the cat and then reloaded with a couple small splits and turned it down. All is good.

Although, I think my cat probe is going to need to be replaced next season. It doesn't seem to be reading right and still has not gone over the 12 o'clock position, even with the stove on high for the 90 mins and a bright glowing cat. Oh well.

 

[kennyp2339]

Well, I guess I needed to refresh myself on proper stove operation after a summer of outdoor fires [emoji3]

Ran the stove full out for about 90 mins to try and clean the cat and then reloaded with a couple small splits and turned it down. All is good.

Although, I think my cat probe is going to need to be replaced next season. It doesn't seem to be reading right and still has not gone over the 12 o'clock position, even with the stove on high for the 90 mins and a bright glowing cat. Oh well.

pull the cat probe out and gently clean it using a wire brush, damp paper towel, crud builds up on it over time.

 

[blueguy]

It was cleaned at the end of last season.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Based on reading through last year's performance thread, it sounds like I should use double wall pipe to maximize the draw.

Possibly not. If your draft is good enough, like mine, you can get by with single wall; simpler, and you'd get additional heat from the single wall. If it's not good enough, you'll notice smoke coming out the door and cat stalls at low burns (any of the above could be caused as well by jerking the door open quickly, incompletely dried wood, etc).

Any other tips ?

Gte your wood really dry ! I used to cut wood in the winter and early spring, and burn it the following winter. I've added another year in there, and it makes a big difference. And after one catchup year, I don't spend any more time cutting wood than I did before. You can only take full advantage of the BK's amazing performance with the best firewood.

 

[Ashful]

I think my cat probe is going to need to be replaced next season. It doesn't seem to be reading right and still has not gone over the 12 o'clock position, even with the stove on high for the 90 mins and a bright glowing cat. Oh well.

Got your blowers running?

 

[Poindexter]

Re cat probe stuff, emcouragement for new owners.

My first blaze king season i obsessed on monitoring the darn thing, stack temp probe, what color is the cat at various settings, how long does it take to reach whay temp, on and on.

All a waste of time. All we need to do is flip from bypass to engage when the cat probe reaches active and go back to snuggling with the wife on the couch.

Its fool proof teally.

 

[blueguy]

Got your blowers running?

Nope. To be fair, even when it was brand new in Feb 2013, it never went above the 2 o'clock position on the same type of burn. I half wonder if I got a dud right out of the box as I've heard most of the end up in the high end of the active zone as the cat breaks in. It's not that big a deal, I can use my stack temps and how the fire is burning to know when to flip the bypass until I get a new one - which, knowing me, will be next season [emoji4]

 

[Nebraska Woodrat]

I have a Princess Ultra, used all of last year. I just installed a convection deck and fan kit on it. I'm looking for any advice the experts on here have as to the best way to use the fans. When, how long, time of year, etc. Thanks!

 

[BKVP]

It was cleaned at the end of last season.

Lay it on a counter and let it get to room temp. Then make note of where the needle is pointing. It should be pointing at the first index mark (about 7 or 8 o'clock). There is a small nut under the dial that can be loosened to correct the needle starting point.

 

[blueguy]

Already done before lighting the first fire of the season [emoji6]

 

[Highbeam]

Okay after reading an unrelated thread many said they really benefited from an oak even in drafty houses. Anyone have experience with this on a blaze King? Has anyone noticed a big difference if u went from not having an oak to having one?

Absolutely an oak is better in all cases. It's about not sucking out your heated, humidified, draft free air to be replaced with ice cold, super dry, drafting outside air.

Mine pulls air from a ventilated crawlspace under my house. No worry about snow blocking the intake.

 

[Highbeam]

I have a Princess Ultra, used all of last year. I just installed a convection deck and fan kit on it. I'm looking for any advice the experts on here have as to the best way to use the fans. When, how long, time of year, etc. Thanks!

Run fans as needed. The owner's manual tells you to match your fan setting to the stat setting as a guideline. The fan's are pretty quiet on low but on louder settings they really move some air.

 

[jeffsk7]

Absolutely an oak is better in all cases. It's about not sucking out your heated, humidified, draft free air to be replaced with ice cold, super dry, drafting outside air.

Mine pulls air from a ventilated crawlspace under my house. No worry about snow blocking the intake.

Might have to install one!

 

[shoot-straight]

Nope. To be fair, even when it was brand new in Feb 2013, it never went above the 2 o'clock position on the same type of burn. I half wonder if I got a dud right out of the box as I've heard most of the end up in the high end of the active zone as the cat breaks in. It's not that big a deal, I can use my stack temps and how the fire is burning to know when to flip the bypass until I get a new one - which, knowing me, will be next season [emoji4]

i have experienced similar- in the end, less heat than expected/needed

 

[buddachoppers]

New blaze king owner last winter , never seemed to get as long of burn times, then at close to the end of the season turned off blowers an burn time went up noticably. Got thinking an I believe the blowers on a blaze king are designed wrong. Thermostat is mounted on my classic inbetween the two blowers and gets its referance temp off back wall of stove , With the fans on they cool the metal on the back wall thus making thermostat adjust and open up more. I think this year i am going to put a blower under the stove and blow the air under the stove and out holes under base which should not bother thermostat and burn times . Just a thought

 

[webby3650]

New blaze king owner last winter , never seemed to get as long of burn times, then at close to the end of the season turned off blowers an burn time went up noticably. Got thinking an I believe the blowers on a blaze king are designed wrong. Thermostat is mounted on my classic inbetween the two blowers and gets its referance temp off back wall of stove , With the fans on they cool the metal on the back wall thus making thermostat adjust and open up more. I think this year i am going to put a blower under the stove and blow the air under the stove and out holes under base which should not bother thermostat and burn times . Just a thought

Just learn to run the stove on a lower setting when the fans are in use. Putting a blower under the stove isn't gonna be very effective, there's very little heat under the stove. Also it's been found that blowing air directly at the steel can cause metal fatigue in certain situations. So be careful