2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[drz1050]

Are you packing your stoves super full each time? I've had a couple 24+ hr burns, but there was nothing left afterwards... I'm also not burning white oak like you though.

Perhaps you can stick with your original plan of 12/ 24 by leaving a few splits out..

 

[rdust]

Simple, load less wood.

 

[claybe]

Does anyone know how many CFMs the blowers on the princess insert blow?

 

[Poindexter]

I need to ask some advice of the group. I'm figuring I can get roughly 40 hours on low, 20 hours on medium, running all oak and ash. These burn rates keep the house 71 - 74F, which is actually warmer than I need, but I'm not complaining. Saturday will be for burning down the coals, I guess. Not a bad problem to have.

Welcome to the dark side Bwana ;-)

 

[Ashful]

Are you packing your stoves super full each time? I've had a couple 24+ hr burns, but there was nothing left afterwards... I'm also not burning white oak like you though.

Perhaps you can stick with your original plan of 12/ 24 by leaving a few splits out..

I'm actually not loading it full. When I load full, it will go 40 hours. Most of the time I'm only loading 3 - 4 splits. Firebox maybe 60% full.

Weather has been real mild this fall. 40'ish overnight, and 60'ish at night. Will be interesting to see how that changes when winter gets here.

 

[Highbeam]

I'm actually not loading it full. When I load full, it will go 40 hours. Most of the time I'm only loading 3 - 4 splits. Firebox maybe 60% full.

Weather has been real mild this fall. 40'ish overnight, and 60'ish at night. Will be interesting to see how that changes when winter gets here.

Check back once it gets cold. I've been tossing in 4-5 splits as a hot reload twice a day instead of full load full cycles which aren't quite enough heat.

 

[Stump shot]

Soft woods are a BK's best friend!

 

[dh1989]

My Sirocco 20.1 has been running on a 12-15 hr cycle. I ran a calc on my oil BTU use per heating degree day and converted to wood lbs. I use a bucket and hand scale to measure out the wood at 1.5 lbs / degree day. That means on a cold night I load the stove full and hot reload the rest of the load the next morning. House has stayed 65-70 which is perfect for me.

On another note, these stoves are true smoke dragons with the bypass open. I had a full firebox burning with bypass open waiting for the cat temp to climb and ran outside to check my mail. It looked like a coal locomotive stack coming off my roof with gray smoke pouring out. Went in and closed the bypass. Checked the stack and the big smoke cloud broke off and turned to puffs of white steam. Amazing difference.

 

[Highbeam]

My Sirocco 20.1 has been running on a 12-15 hr cycle. I ran a calc on my oil BTU use per heating degree day and converted to wood lbs. I use a bucket and hand scale to measure out the wood at 1.5 lbs / degree day. That means on a cold night I load the stove full and hot reload the rest of the load the next morning. House has stayed 65-70 which is perfect for me.

On another note, these stoves are true smoke dragons with the bypass open. I had a full firebox burning with bypass open waiting for the cat temp to climb and ran outside to check my mail. It looked like a coal locomotive stack coming off my roof with gray smoke pouring out. Went in and closed the bypass. Checked the stack and the big smoke cloud broke off and turned to puffs of white steam. Amazing difference.

I share the smoke Dragon opinion. When burning in stealth mode that warm up plume is a real problem. Cold, heavy, thick, and lingering smoke during a fairly long warm up. In contrast I can have a large noncat burning smoke free in half the time. It's tolerable in exchange for the next 30 hours of smokeless burning.

 

[drz1050]

I've found it smokes a lot less out the chimney with the door slightly cracked to create a bit of a forge effect/ windblown fire... can't leave the stove like this for long though, it heats up FAST. Actually burns slower with the door fully open. Not entirely sure why or how that works, but it does.

 

[mwhitnee]

Can anyone comment on the ash plug on the King and how the ash pan works? I haven't used mine yet, just shoveled but it does get a little dusty, although the draft from the stove will suck most of the ash back in.

 

[Ashful]

I've found it smokes a lot less out the chimney with the door slightly cracked to create a bit of a forge effect/ windblown fire... can't leave the stove like this for long though, it heats up FAST. Actually burns slower with the door fully open. Not entirely sure why or how that works, but it does.

Narrow aperture of door being just cracked creates air velocity. With door open, there is plenty of air, but no velocity to fan the flames.

 

[webby3650]

Can anyone comment on the ash plug on the King and how the ash pan works? I haven't used mine yet, just shoveled but it does get a little dusty, although the draft from the stove will suck most of the ash back in.

Pull the plug with the tool provided, rake ashes down the hole. Dump the pan.
It works very well and anyone who isn't using it is really missing out on a nice feature in my opinion.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Pull the plug with the tool provided, rake ashes down the hole. Dump the pan.
It works very well and anyone who isn't using it is really missing out on a nice feature in my opinion.

I agree. I don't get the people that would rather shovel out the ashes. More work. And it creates a lot of dust in your house; with the ashpan, that dust is completely contained.

 

[Highbeam]

Can anyone comment on the ash plug on the King and how the ash pan works? I haven't used mine yet, just shoveled but it does get a little dusty, although the draft from the stove will suck most of the ash back in.

What they're not telling you is that you had better be careful about overfilling the ash pan. It is pretty small. NOT big enough to hold more than a couple of inches from your stove which has a 9" ash belly. When it overfills you will really have a mess.

It is for this reason that many folks refuse to use the ash pan system on the BK.

 

[begreen]

Not just on the BK, the ash hole system doesn't suit me on the T6 either. You get a 3" square pile of ash directly under the hole. If that is not spread out it will quickly reach the ash hole. Spreading it out means ash dust because the ash pan is below the stove. And the capacity is only good for one or at the most two cleanings. Pull the uncovered ashpan out and more ash dust in the room. I get better, quicker results carefully shoveling it out of the stove. Our ash pan is clean and makes a good bun warmer.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. I don't care for ash holes either.

 

[aansorge]

My stove is currently in 24 to 36 hour cycles but when the cold snap hits in Minnesota it quickly changes to a 12 hour load cycle. I honestly don't do anything different with the air control I just run the fans. With the fans running and the stronger draw through the flue the burn time quickly drops to an easy to manage 12 hour cycle.

 

[HarvestMan]

My stove is currently in 24 to 36 hour cycles but when the cold snap hits in Minnesota it quickly changes to a 12 hour load cycle. I honestly don't do anything different with the air control I just run the fans. With the fans running and the stronger draw through the flue the burn time quickly drops to an easy to manage 12 hour cycle.

That sounds pretty ideal to me. Do you have the coaling problem as some in very cold climates?

 

[robk]

New guy here. What's a coaling problem?

 

[HarvestMan]

New guy here. What's a coaling problem?

I've read that some of the modern EPA stoves build up coals over time and have to be burned down. As this is my first winter with a modern EPA stove, I have not yet experienced it. Some talk about it some don't. Not sure how much of a problem it is, that is why I asked.

 

[webby3650]

What they're not telling you is that you had better be careful about overfilling the ash pan. It is pretty small. NOT big enough to hold more than a couple of inches from your stove which has a 9" ash belly. When it overfills you will really have a mess.

It is for this reason that many folks refuse to use the ash pan system on the BK.

Ya but it takes no time at all to figure out how much ash it can handle. People can complain all they want about it, what they don't know is that it's as good as it gets! An 8" deep ash bucket built into the pedestal is way better than most! If somone prefers to shovel a king or princess rather than use the pan it's because they never took the time to figure it out I'd bet.

 

[Rossco]

Only need to remove ash a few times during the entire season.

One ash removal will happen during a sweep. The other removal operation usually happens if I let the stove go out or leave town for a few days.

 

[robk]

I burned a full load of fir today. Loaded around 5am and set it on low. My wife said it was still active at 1pm but off by 3pm. Is that a normal burn for something soft like fir?

 

[begreen]

Seems short for a BK. What stove robk?