2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[Ashful]

Thats some seriously random chit right there! Even more amazing is that I read it all.

How old was your cat?

He'll be back in three minutes.

Wife is dressed fetchingly, have to go now.

 

[Highbeam]

So we've been getting around 11-13 good hours on fir before I reload, usually with plenty of coals. Tonight I tried out first batch of madrone. Goodness.

I don't know what the burn time will be but on low with for we were running the house around 68-72ish. Right now it's 79. This stuff definitely burns hotter. I'm assuming it's the wood. Weather has been approx the same for the last week or so temp wise. Might save this for the really cold days!

Cool. Madrona (you say madrone) is about the holy grail of PNW wood species. Baby butt smooth thin bark, ultra dense, but hard to find. If you have a source, don't waste it. It's harder to get started but has way way more btu per split. 23.7 vs 17.4 MBTU/cord for Madrona vs. doug fir so almost 36% more heat per split. If you burn 10 cords of fir a year you would only need 6.4 of Madrona. Madrona actually beats out the black locust that so many eastern folks seem to cherish. Our bigleaf maple is also good at 17.9. Heck, people don't realize it but even plain old lodgepole pine is 14.3. For reference, cottonwood is 12.6.

(broken link removed)

 

[begreen]

So we've been getting around 11-13 good hours on fir before I reload, usually with plenty of coals. Tonight I tried out first batch of madrone. Goodness.

I don't know what the burn time will be but on low with for we were running the house around 68-72ish. Right now it's 79. This stuff definitely burns hotter. I'm assuming it's the wood. Weather has been approx the same for the last week or so temp wise. Might save this for the really cold days!

Definitely save the hardwood for cold days. We have a stash of madrona, cherry and locust for the very cold days. I love burning that stuff. It puts out a lot more heat and the fires last longer too, especially locust which burns with a ghostly purple/blue flame. It's like burning coal.

At current temps we may not burn any hardwood this year.

 

[Highbeam]

So I am back in the saddle from #1137 above.

With the telescope lifted my pipe looked freaking great. I left work early enough today to catch sunlight at the top of the stack from below and looked around real good with my tacticool 600 lumen light.

I stuck a 500W halogen light in the cold empty firebox and confirmed the bypass gasket makes a light tight seal with the bypass door on all four sides.

The back side of the cat had a narrow band of fly ash along the bottom edge, but I couldn't see most of the back of the cat because of that huge piece of steel welded to the roof of the firebox hanging down into the cat exhaust. I bet I recover a bunch of heat from that structure.

I lifted the cat shield off the front for the first time ever, my BK dealer put it in place as part of the stove install in May 2014. A BUNCH of fly ash on the front face of the cat.

I put the lamp shade tool on the vacuum cleaner, did the back side first and then the face. I was real gentle to not screw up the cat, but a hemispherical chunk, about the same diameter as a penny fell out of the front face anyway. Then I shined my light into the face of the cat, couldn't see jack doodle for light coming through the cat body and got my dealer on the phone.

The guys at the shop weren't overwhelmed with the green on the back, though they noticed it. Once they pointed it out I could see significant cracking in my cat foils. They said if it was ceramic it would be "burnt out" but they don't have a lot of experience with steel cats coming back in.

I had a private moment with one of the senior employees and asked him straight up if he was giving me a new cat because I spend a lot of money there, or was this a legit in warranty cat exchange. I pointed out that my wife was going to ask what I need to differently in the future.... He was all about legit cat exchange.

So I came home with a new cat and a new gasket. Holy press fit Batman!! I was worried the stove was going to start scooting across the hearth, but it didn't. If you get to do one of these the key seems to be once you have it oozing into the dome keep on pushing, because when you stop you have to start all over applying enough force gently to get it oozing again. Much easier to keep it oozing into place than to get it started oozing.

.

Shine that bright light through the cat to verify that all cells are clear. A healthy blow from your lungs can actually help but a shop vac across the face, use the lampshade brush head, can clear them out too. Just be sure to verify that there isn't a pile of junk in the cat chamber to be sucked through the cat.

Ignore the color and don't worry about lead or copper. You had cat cloggage, pretty common on the other brand and especially so with the smaller cells of the steel cats. I bet it has to do with your full throttle operating style as the WS guys have found that turbulent fireboxes stir more ash which flies up into the cat easier. I can't believe that a chunk of steel cat actually fell off.

To prevent cloggage with your apparently clog prone burning style, you should be cleaning that cat frequently. Lamp shade vac at least. I bet that cat would have worked fine if somebody could have unclogged it but with the cracks and spalling, a new one is the best bet.

 

[Highbeam]

At current temps we may not burn any hardwood this year.

No kidding, I've been burning a full load every other day since this warm up. This is even warm for the shoulder season.

 

[begreen]

Our thermometer just hit 58F. Definitely unseasonably warm and heat pump territory.

 

[Poindexter]

Ignore the color and don't worry about lead or copper. You had cat cloggage, pretty common on the other brand and especially so with the smaller cells of the steel cats. I bet it has to do with your full throttle operating style as the WS guys have found that turbulent fireboxes stir more ash which flies up into the cat easier. I can't believe that a chunk of steel cat actually fell off.

To prevent cloggage with your apparently clog prone burning style, you should be cleaning that cat frequently. Lamp shade vac at least. I bet that cat would have worked fine if somebody could have unclogged it but with the cracks and spalling, a new one is the best bet.

Don't doubt you. I would have rather had a princess, but our old stove had a low enough grams per hour rating that I would have had to pay for a Princess or get reimbursed by the Air Quality Authority for an Ashford 30. Plus the wife said Ashford 30 only, or we look at stoves not made by Blaze King. Done.

Traded a couple emails with BKVP and my local BK dealer today. I have no idea how long a combustor autopsy takes or where the thing needs to be shipped to.

I dunno about the frequent cleaning, I suspect it varies with how dry the wood supply is. The factory cat chewed through a bunch of wood last year, 9 cords green shrunk 18% to 7.38 cords of seasoned, burnt all of that plus a cord of biologs and came into this season running like a champ. It's like it tripped over a wire last month, running good one day, the next day I was scratching my head.

BK owns the cat now, they gave me a new one. If BKVP posts autopsy results here, that's his business, his combustor and his choice.

My hypothesis is the combustor got poisoned, but my experience is BK picked up the tab for a new combustor.

Yessir, a chunk fell out of the face of my cat. A hemispherical piece about the same diameter as a US or Canadian penny. I was being super super gentle with the bristly wand tool of the vacuum cleaner.

 

[hotjava66]

Quick question for everyone running the 30.1 firebox, what seems to be "enough" chimney height? About to finish install on my Sirocco 30, manual says 12' minimum, I keep seeing on here they now recommend more than that. I have everything in place just need to set stove and hook up chimney. Have 8' above ceiling box and apps 5.5' stove pipe below, all double wall, straight up no bends. Is this enough or should I put another couple feet on right away before I fire things up? Don't want to go any more than another 2' unless absolutely needed don't want t have 2 ugly roof supports one is bad enough...

 

[Poindexter]

I found 13.5 feet total was fine on my 30.0 box last year with wood that averaged 12-16% - at below freezing temps. Stove was a bit fussy above freezing.

This year with my wood pile at 18%MC and 15.5 of pipe the stove settles down at warmer temps....

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Well I learned today that the Princess I have been running since the end of October has never had the bypass closed. Let me explain a little, this morning when I closed the bp door (it always stops at the 4 O'clock position) well today it went clear down to the like 5:30 position it moved easily another 3 inches lower.
I had to leave so while on the road I called the stove shop in Bangor after a little phone tag I got a fella on the phone. He told me that yea that lever I supposed to go all the way to the 5:30 position. Mine has always stopped at the 4 position when it moved the additional distance there was a lot of squeaking .
So is it possible... , that my bypass door has never really been closed ? at the least closed tightly? The book says make sure you hear /feel an audible click / clunk to let you know the door is closed.

I think the book should have said " The lever that operates the bypass door may stop at a position that may indeed not be fully closed. Be sure to apply some firm pressure to this handle to be sure it has moved as far as it can,.. approximately the 5:30 position. Failure to do this will not only affect the length of burn times but will create possible temperature's so high they may damage your Catalyst.
Further more you may increase flue temperatures to such a point that this may be dangerous if the stove is left unattended. ~~Just a thought,~~ Kinda glad it did not burn my house down,.. that would have sucked a bit ! My chimney is always in great shape and clean and I watch the stove closely so I doubt this would have ever happened to me but someone new to wood heat altogether this story may not have had such a happy ending.
Now my question is I wonder if this has affected my cat life?

 

[blueguy]

Now my question is I wonder if this has affected my cat life?

It's doubtful. If there was any high heat damage, it's most likely to the bypass gasket retainers that are known to warp when the stove is burned at high heat with the bypass open. That being said, the bypass door is actually closed with the handle not rotated all the way over (the weight of the door holds in closed), the additional rotation to the stop locks the door closed and compresses the gasket slightly ensuring a tight seal. If you're worried, let the stove cool and do a dollar bill test on the bypass. For added piece of mind, you could also do a light test on the door to check for any warping. The best way is to pull the pipe which will also give you a chance to watch the bypass mechanism in action and lube the bar to bracket area for smoother action.

 

[Usernamemustbeunique]

Quick question for everyone running the 30.1 firebox, what seems to be "enough" chimney height? About to finish install on my Sirocco 30, manual says 12' minimum, I keep seeing on here they now recommend more than that. I have everything in place just need to set stove and hook up chimney. Have 8' above ceiling box and apps 5.5' stove pipe below, all double wall, straight up no bends. Is this enough or should I put another couple feet on right away before I fire things up? Don't want to go any more than another 2' unless absolutely needed don't want t have 2 ugly roof supports one is bad enough...

My SC 30.1 manual calls for 15'. I have 12.5'. Its been really warm out since switching from the SC20.1 so I have not had a chance to see how it will be during cooler weather. At these tempertures I get a bit of smoke rolling out the door which reloading and have to open the door slowly. I have one set of braces....I will likely add 2-4ft of height soon. Just have to make sure the supports I have will work.

 

[jeff_t]

Well I learned today that the Princess I have been running since the end of October has never had the bypass closed. Let me explain a little, this morning when I closed the bp door (it always stops at the 4 O'clock position) well today it went clear down to the like 5:30 position it moved easily another 3 inches lower.
I had to leave so while on the road I called the stove shop in Bangor after a little phone tag I got a fella on the phone. He told me that yea that lever I supposed to go all the way to the 5:30 position. Mine has always stopped at the 4 position when it moved the additional distance there was a lot of squeaking .
So is it possible... , that my bypass door has never really been closed ? at the least closed tightly? The book says make sure you hear /feel an audible click / clunk to let you know the door is closed.

I think the book should have said " The lever that operates the bypass door may stop at a position that may indeed not be fully closed. Be sure to apply some firm pressure to this handle to be sure it has moved as far as it can,.. approximately the 5:30 position. Failure to do this will not only affect the length of burn times but will create possible temperature's so high they may damage your Catalyst.
Further more you may increase flue temperatures to such a point that this may be dangerous if the stove is left unattended. ~~Just a thought,~~ Kinda glad it did not burn my house down,.. that would have sucked a bit ! My chimney is always in great shape and clean and I watch the stove closely so I doubt this would have ever happened to me but someone new to wood heat altogether this story may not have had such a happy ending.
Now my question is I wonder if this has affected my cat life?

The bypass door is a hunk of steel about 1/2" thick. The weight of it alone is enough to provide a decent seal with a good gasket. And if you pull the pipe up and take a look, you'll see that the last bit of travel of the lever actually only pulls the door towards the cat a bit and puts a little downward pressure on it. It's already closed at that point.

I doubt there's any harm done.

 

[Ashful]

Mine both stop at 4 o'clock. I think yours was working fine, but just broke today.

 

[jeff_t]

Mine went to 5:30. Though I guess we are talking about three different stoves.

 

[Ashful]

Good point. Having only ever had cat stoves (now on my fifth), I'm just used to feeling the mechanism cam over when the door is locked. If I don't feel that, I know it's not locked. As others have said, door weight alone will probably block it 95%+, but it'd be a good idea to pull the pipe and watch it work to see what's going on in there.

 

[Dieselhead]

330-400 here too

 

[webby3650]

Mine went to 5:30. Though I guess we are talking about three different stoves.

Maybe we should lobby for a "swoosh" label or would some numbers be better? Hmm, "o'clock " references seem to work fine.

 

[jeff_t]

Lol. Never thought of it that way. I guess that would be about 3.25 then.

 

[BKVP]

I love this family!

 

[claybe]

I love this family!

Which side of the family??? The "o'clocks" side of the family or the in laws....the "swooshers"?

 

[BKVP]

Which side of the family??? The "o'clocks" side of the family or the in laws....the "swooshers"?

All of them!

 

[BrotherBart]

Ten years here and I have never seen anything like this numbers vs. swoosh thing. If the stove is that boring then you really need to get a non-cat to keep you busy.

 

[Blazing]

I find myself counting things on a regular basis. Maybe some nice detents could solve all our problems with this numbers vs swoosh debate .

 

[Ashful]

Ten years here and I have never seen anything like this numbers vs. swoosh thing. If the stove is that boring then you really need to get a non-cat to keep you busy.

I will agree that these stoves are too boring to run. So much so that I've flat-out forgotten that I hadn't loaded one, on two separate occasions. That never happened with the Jotuls, since I was always watching them.