2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[BKVP]

Even on full blast you can see the major heat maker is the cat. Cool pic.

And the glass door.

 

[sequoia]

With the air velocity of his words?

It went completely over my head.

 

[dh1989]

With the air velocity of his words? After supersizing the blower on my NC30 and adding a convection deck I can agree that forced air "cooling" of the stove can cause a significant loss of stove temp which corresponds with a high heat transfer to the air. The princess blowers seem weak in comparison.

Nothing is free either. I'm sure stripping the heat away with a blower means more wood burned, unless you turn the stove down and it's a wash. I have enough ceiling fans here I'm not sure a blower would be that useful just to move the air around.

 

[Highbeam]

Nothing is free either. I'm sure stripping the heat away with a blower means more wood burned, unless you turn the stove down and it's a wash. I have enough ceiling fans here I'm not sure a blower would be that useful just to move the air around.

That's the point, to strip more heat from a fixed size firebox you blow on it. To keep the firebox hot you need to increase the burn rate. It's like having a larger stove, another tool to increase the range of available output from our stoves.

As ashful said, the heat transfer increases with the square of the velocity of air passing over the stove. So you blow on the stove twice as fast you will strip off four times as much heat and increase the burn rate to match. There is a limit to this stripping of heat which is why wood furnaces cycle their blowers based on the temperature of the air being stripped from the firebox. To much stripping and you get cold and snuff the draft, flame, cat, etc.

 

[Highbeam]

And the glass door.

I thought that the FLIR was taking a direct shot of the coals. Didn't know if the glass was the same temperature as the coals (and giving up that radiant heat to the room) or not. The glass and wood fire doesn't provide nearly as much heat as the stove top above the cat during a low low burn. Would be cool to see a flir shot at low low burn to see if the apparent glass contribution goes away.

 

[dh1989]

The Flir usually gives the temperature of a glass surface. It doesn't shoot through glass so you're not seeing the coals, but glass itself.

I will snap another one tonight when I have it on low.

 

[Poindexter]

Keep in mind the Flir only shows radiant heat, which of course is #1 off glass and #2 off cat, with stove at full blast. The convection profile is driven by radiant surface temps, but it may not be an exactly linear function, as there's a square-law relationship between air velocity and convective heat transfer coefficient.

What I hear you say is turning the fan up results in less transfer of heat to each air molecule passing by, but there is more of them.

I wonder how strong a convection current has to get (mass x velocity) to make a significant difference on radiance. That could help both in your stove caves and the solar wood drying kiln my wife approved yesterday.

 

[Poindexter]

Umm, the way I learned it back before the wall came down, FLIR stood for "Forward Looking Infra Red". We used to bolt those on the front of Navy aero-planes looking for communist operated submarines. "Forward Looking" because you had to roughly point the aero-plane at the thing you wanted to see in the IR.

What does FLIR stand for now?

 

[mwhitnee]

Side note please. If you see "pool in my chimney" post I'm having some issues with moisture condensing in the chimney.

I have an Inferno stove top gauge and I know it's not accurate due to the design of the stove. It's placed at around 3 o clock, beside the right side of the stove pipe on the stove top.

Can someone give me an idea of the max stove top temp reading on this gauge I should get to? I'm going to periodically do a high burn with the damper open to burn off moisture.

 

[Highbeam]

Can someone give me an idea of the max stove top temp reading on this gauge I should get to? I'm going to periodically do a high burn with the damper open to burn off moisture.

Start the load, close the bypass when the cat goes active, leave it cranked up to high and let it burn for 30 minutes. According to BK, you can't damage the stove this way. It'll get hot and that's the point. Do not operate this stove based on a temperature gauge (other than the cat active/inactive indicator which is nothing more than an on/off swtich).

That should burn off the ugly creo accumulations from inside the firebox and heat up the chimney as much as the BK can.

I read your other thread and before I tried a burnoff like this I would want to verify that your chimney is not needing to be cleaned.

 

[mwhitnee]

Start the load, close the bypass when the cat goes active, leave it cranked up to high and let it burn for 30 minutes. According to BK, you can't damage the stove this way. It'll get hot and that's the point. Do not operate this stove based on a temperature gauge (other than the cat active/inactive indicator which is nothing more than an on/off swtich).

That should burn off the ugly creo accumulations from inside the firebox and heat up the chimney as much as the BK can.

I read your other thread and before I tried a burnoff like this I would want to verify that your chimney is not needing to be cleaned.

I cleaned it myself around 2 weeks ago and posted a picture. Post is "hows my flue" if i recall correctly. It looked quite clean and others agreed.

I just shut the damper, stove top temp was only at 450 max.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Princess window question, my window is pretty black and I really don't see a need to clean it as it will be black again in 2 days probably . We cant see it anyway it is in the kitchen so my question is if I wait till next fall and clean the galss then will waiting that long be an issue? I have heard it said that a hot fire will clear the glass . I let her run about 20 min every day wot damper on 6 but it never really cleans up any. Just wanted some thoughts. I can see a lot of hours cleaning glass that will be dirty again in 2 days.

 

[BKVP]

If the stove is hot and combustor is active, close the by pass please. If you expose the by pass retainers to excessive heat, you will find yourself replacing them.

Chris

Even on full blast you can see the major heat maker is the cat. Cool pic.

And the glass door.

Princess window question, my window is pretty black and I really don't see a need to clean it as it will be black again in 2 days probably . We cant see it anyway it is in the kitchen so my question is if I wait till next fall and clean the galss then will waiting that long be an issue? I have heard it said that a hot fire will clear the glass . I let her run about 20 min every day wot damper on 6 but it never really cleans up any. Just wanted some thoughts. I can see a lot of hours cleaning glass that will be dirty again in 2 days.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

If the stove is hot and combustor is a tive, close the by pass please. If you exposure the by pass retainers to excessive heat, you will find yourself replacing them.

Chris

QUOTE="Highbeam, post: 1992591, member: 1382"]Even on full blast you can see the major heat maker is the cat. Cool pic.

And the glass door.[/QUOTE]
Thanks BKVP but I am kind of lost ? I thought you were supposed to run the stove with the damper open for 20 min after each fill up? I run the stove till the dial is in the very beginning edge of the active zone, then close the bypass. Then the thermostat / damper is already wot / on 6 so I leave it there for 20 min ? am I doing something wrong please tell me cause I spent a small fortune here and don't want to ruin anything Jeff

 

[mwhitnee]

Princess window question, my window is pretty black and I really don't see a need to clean it as it will be black again in 2 days probably . We cant see it anyway it is in the kitchen so my question is if I wait till next fall and clean the galss then will waiting that long be an issue? I have heard it said that a hot fire will clear the glass . I let her run about 20 min every day wot damper on 6 but it never really cleans up any. Just wanted some thoughts. I can see a lot of hours cleaning glass that will be dirty again in 2 days.

Put a log close to the front of the stove with damper shut and with t stat wide open. Make sure it won't fall out of the stove. That should help some.

When my stove cooled the other day i used Easy Off oven cleaner at a forum members recommendation (fume free) and let it set 10 minutes. It worked great- wiped right off.

 

[Woody harrelson]

Thanks BKVP but I am kind of lost ? I thought you were supposed to run the stove with the damper open for 20 min after each fill up? I run the stove till the dial is in the very beginning edge of the active zone, then close the bypass. Then the thermostat / damper is already wot / on 6 so I leave it there for 20 min ? am I doing something wrong please tell me cause I spent a small fortune here and don't want to ruin anything Jeff

nope, your not doing anything wrong. what he is saying is don't do that without the cat being engaged

 

[Woody harrelson]

I just did a reload, engaged the bypass and ran it wide open for about 40 minutes. It was cranking real good and cleaned most of the glass off.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I was gone a moment had to lug 2 50# bags of potatoes down cellar
Ok all thanks for the responses !! I will try the wood close to the door trick too.
Maybe when I said damper at wot he thought I was talking about the by pass door ? I use the word "damper" or "thermostat" as interchangeable I guess... sorry. I use the word bypass to describe the door close to the cat controlled by the lever on the right. So my nomenclature may have caused the bkvp to think I was leaving the bypass open for 20 min,... not good I don't do that.
I just cleaned out the stove for the first time Sunday am so I missed my chance to clean the glass. I took out about 3 gallons of coals / ashes had to do something I was loosing fire box room. I have a hoe I built to use in the old mill so I used it to " hill up" the coals and ran the thermo at 6 for a couple hours to burn them down some but in the end they had to go , after all coals are cheep to make !!

So if I wait to clean the glass will that be an issue?

 

[Woody harrelson]

I was gone a moment had to lug 2 50# bags of potatoes down cellar
Ok all thanks for the responses !! I will try the wood close to the door trick too.
Maybe when I said damper at wot he thought I was talking about the by pass door ? I use the word "damper" or "thermostat" as interchangeable I guess... sorry. I use the word bypass to describe the door close to the cat controlled by the lever on the right. So my nomenclature may have caused the bkvp to think I was leaving the bypass open for 20 min,... not good I don't do that.
I just cleaned out the stove for the first time Sunday am so I missed my chance to clean the glass. I took out about 3 gallons of coals / ashes had to do something I was loosing fire box room. I have a hoe I built to use in the old mill so I used it to " hill up" the coals and ran the thermo at 6 for a couple hours to burn them down some but in the end they had to go , after all coals are cheep to make !!

So if I wait to clean the glass will that be an issue?

I think the glass will be less of an issue as it gets colder out and we are running the stoves harder

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I goggled bk clean glass yada yada and some folks say put in a load of kindling near the door and run her on "3 " that will burn her clean? Well my stove is almost closed up tight at 3 / well 2.5 or so is closed I think. Now I have to go look. so in my case I guess 4 would be more to my liking.

yea I was wrong 2 is closed so I am running it on 3 and I never see many flames. My door glass looks like a big ole "woman's butt" bent over to get me some more wood . It is black on the left, black on the right and a little crack of clean in the middle.

 

[blueguy]

The easiest way to clean the glass in a BK is to use a straight razor blade in a scraper. Scrape in one direction, and the black crust comes right off. No cleaner fumes, no getting pissed at ripping paper towels - I have mine clean in about 1.5 minutes from start to finish.

And no, the blade won't scratch the glass a long as you're using a new blade and scrape in one direction only [emoji4]

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I thought of that myself I also have a wire brush with brass bristles in it. For now though I will be very careful how I clean it maybe next Sunday I will let he cool down some and see how it goes . Thanks all.

 

[rdust]

So if I wait to clean the glass will that be an issue?

On my 5th season, I've only cleaned the glass a handful of times. When it gets cold more flames and "cleaner" glass will come.

 

[Highbeam]

I goggled bk clean glass yada yada and some folks say put in a load of kindling near the door and run her on "3 " that will burn her clean? Well my stove is almost closed up tight at 3 / well 2.5 or so is closed I think. Now I have to go look. so in my case I guess 4 would be more to my liking.

yea I was wrong 2 is closed so I am running it on 3 and I never see many flames. My door glass looks like a big ole "woman's butt" bent over to get me some more wood . It is black on the left, black on the right and a little crack of clean in the middle.

You're getting confused with your lack of numbers on the stat dial. If you had a factory numbered stat like folks did when they wrote about burning hot on 3, then you would know that 3 is almost 100% open. It sounds like you are saying 3 o'clock which is only 50% open. There is no "6" on any BK dial unless you put it there yourself.

Leaving the glass dirty is fine. I choose to clean it every month or so to see a pretty fire but it never stays clean long, even in the cold part of winter when I can be in the single digits outside. The glass seldom (never have seen it) becomes 100% blocked, usually you will get the bottom corners black but the center and top will be clear enough to see fire. I have never been able to burn the glass clean. A razor blade scrapes it clean very well followed up with some rutland glass cleaner for lube.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

so what your saying is embrace the deep freeze sort of hua.