2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[webby3650]

Checked out the BK King and Princess models at a dealer not too far away. Was hoping to get a look at an Ashford 30, but they did not have any on the floor. Was able to play around with a demo version of the auto damper and to look over the stove internals (well, at least what you can see from the firebox). Took a few pictures, but they did not turn out. The King model makes my stove seem almost toy like in comparison. Really like the deep firebox and the front loading would make N/S loading nice. Dealer confirmed the great long burn times but pointed out that one really needs to balance the duration to heating needs. I told him I was heating 2400 sf and he suggested the King over the Princess for this size home (of course he pointed out every home is different). Asked him about customer experiences regarding burn times and he said most used a 12 hour burn cycle during the bulk of winter to get the needed heat but could do 24 hour burns when less heat is needed.

He showed me a Regency stove that he said was built to compete with the King. It is a hybrid version as it has burn tubes in addition to cat. Said it was rated for up to 30 hours vs. the King's 40. Most of the other stoves he had could not come close to burn times. He said one manufacturer's idea of burn time was when the stove body was at least 1 degree warmer than the surrounding air temperature (not sure which stove and did not ask).

What interested me most about the stove was the air supply tubes at the top of the fire box of the Princess. It wasn't at all clear to me how these functioned; would like to understand how they distribute the air between the cat chamber and air wash of the stove. Would love to see an "alien autopsy" of the internals of the stove to see how it all works. For those with King and Ashford models, do they all share the same air distribution internals (two tubes at top of firebox leading from center air intake) as the Princess?

If you do a quick search on the Regency 5100 burn times, I think you'll find out which manufacturer considers 1 degree more than room temperature still burning...

 

[Highbeam]

I find this all very interesting. My old Hearthstone Harvest had a bimetallic controlled air supply for the cat and I know the WS IS has some kind of bimetallic controlled air supply for the cat, yet my WS Fireview and the BKs do not have a separate air supply mechanism for the cat. Makes me wonder why one group thinks it is needed and the other does not.

The old harvest was really a low performance heater. The WS IS is a hybrid and so does all sorts of odd things for various reasons. The fireview, as I recall, does have a cat air supply. Just a fixed hole. The VCs have cat air supply too.

Heck, even BK's cat equipped furnace has a cat air supply so it is not a company philosophy but a stove specific design decision.

 

[kennyp2339]

cleaned the chimney, took out the telescoping liner cleaned the upper cat chamber, dollar bill tested the gaskets, took the shop vac and cleaned the front of the cat, took the old ash out, said what the hell,

 

[goldenheart]

I have a princess insert with a noisy rattling blower. I was going to remove the left cover to look at it, and removed the few screws and the cover is still firmly in place. I pulled the blower knob off and with the cord hole it looks like it should be able to be moved. What do I need to do?

 

[Scoutin Wyo]

I finally go the new to me princess installed and had a cool enough night to fire it up. I loaded it about 2/3 full with lodge pole pine splits all running around 15% moisture on fresh interior split and dialed it down to 1.75 on the dial. The cat probe raised nice and quick and stayed about at the "2 o'clock" position. I was a bit concerned with how much smoke I saw coming out of the stack and how only about half of the cat was glowing orange. I tightened the bypass and loading door, both of which will hold on to a dollar bill tighter than my depression era grandparents. I will have to load some pictures once I get a chance. Thanks to all of the folks that post the great info on this site!

 

[kennyp2339]

Burning a pine load last Monday I noticed more smoke coming out the pipe than I liked to see, My cat was faintly glowing orange, also the cat probe like yours was in the 2 o'clock position, I think real dry evergreens off gas so fast that the cat cant eat it all, its just the way it is when you burn pine real hot.

 

[drz1050]

Had the first burn in my Ashford last night.. ran it full blast for a little to get the flames going, then once the dial read active, closed the bypass. Ran it at 3 for a while there, then turned down to 2, then 1.5 later on. Cat was glowing pretty bright this whole time. Woke up this morning and still had a bunch of fuel left with the cat still in the active zone, but no longer glowing. The wood in the center and right side of the firebox was almost gone, but there were still large chunks on the left side. Is this normal? There was also more black buildup on the glass on the bottom left side than the right.. none in the center. Potential small air leak on the right side?

 

[drz1050]

Oh, also noticed when the cat first started glowing- was only glowing on the center and right side first, then the left side slowly caught up.

After a semi chilly night, the girlfriend was complaining about how hot the house was this morning when I turned the dial back up a little. Made me smile

 

[blueguy]

Had the first burn in my Ashford last night.. ran it full blast for a little to get the flames going, then once the dial read active, closed the bypass. Ran it at 3 for a while there, then turned down to 2, then 1.5 later on. Cat was glowing pretty bright this whole time. Woke up this morning and still had a bunch of fuel left with the cat still in the active zone, but no longer glowing. The wood in the center and right side of the firebox was almost gone, but there were still large chunks on the left side. Is this normal? There was also more black buildup on the glass on the bottom left side than the right.. none in the center. Potential small air leak on the right side?

All normal. You can check for an air leak on the latch side, but I think it has more to do with the air flow in the firebox than anything else. I get more black buildup on the left side of my glass than right too.

 

[jeff_t]

All normal. You can check for an air leak on the latch side, but I think it has more to do with the air flow in the firebox than anything else. I get more black buildup on the left side of my glass than right too.

Yep. I think it has more to do with where the load starts burning first, and that hotter part using what little combustion air is available. I noticed more at lower burn rates.

The glass on my stove was pretty much symmetrically dirty.

 

[Poindexter]

I am accustomed to seeing more crud on glass left than glass right. My door gasket is tight as a drum all the way around.

 

[kennyp2339]

I am accustomed to seeing more crud on glass left than glass right. My door gasket is tight as a drum all the way around.

judging from my pic posted above, I'm fairly even with glass crud, I did tighten my door last spring

 

[Highbeam]

My princess burns very symmetrically. The glass ends up with Dragon eyes.

 

[Dieselhead]

Any trick to cleaning the flue on a king ultra without pulling the pipe? I imagine leaving the bypass open some will fall into the box but a lot will end up in the cat chamber. I recall this being talked about but don't remember the outcome.

 

[jeffsk7]

Always enjoy this thread! I bought a siracco 30 last year and love it. Consistently get 14 hours of good heat burnning fir! I still might add a section of pipe for more draft but think I'm doing pretty good. One thing I would really like blaze king to do is make a t stat conversion that faces towards the front of stove. It's a pain to reach back there when the stove is in an alcove. Bkvp can you make this happen? I know someone else was wanting this last year too! Oh and after burning a full winter I only had at the most three cups of creosote!!

 

[webby3650]

I have a princess insert with a noisy rattling blower. I was going to remove the left cover to look at it, and removed the few screws and the cover is still firmly in place. I pulled the blower knob off and with the cord hole it looks like it should be able to be moved. What do I need to do?

The cover slides into a slot on the front, nearest to the door. It can take a good amount of wiggling and banging on it to get it out the first time.
You most likely have a motor that is out of balance, even possibly from dust or pet hair in it. They are rubber mounted so there is not much you can do with it, but I'd look in there if it was me. Make sure the screws are all tight.
I often find that it's not the blower that's rattling but the panels or shroud rattling. These can either be shimmed or tightened.

 

[goldenheart]

The cover slides into a slot on the front, nearest to the door. It can take a good amount of wiggling and banging on it to get it out the first time.
You most likely have a motor that is out of balance, even possibly from dust or pet hair in it. They are rubber mounted so there is not much you can do with it, but I'd look in there if it was me. Make sure the screws are all tight.
I often find that it's not the blower that's rattling but the panels or shroud rattling. These can either be shimmed or tightened.

Thanks, we've had a massive storm, and power outage so the blower is at the bottom of the todo list. We took the deck off and are using the ecofan for now. Last season, I would give the top tube a push through a slot for a brief respite from the racket so it is with the fan. The cover isn't flush with the stove body. There is a much larger gap at the bottom than the top. Probably jammed on there real well from our rocky installation. The right/air knob side looks good. Thanks again.

 

[BKVP]

I do think Poindexter is one of the 10,000 residents withou power in Fairbanks. Google Fairbanks Daily Miner for update on huge snow storm!! Stay warm Poindexter!!

 

[begreen]

Ugh, wet snow can really be a pita.

 

[goldenheart]

Ugh, wet snow can really be a pita.

Its really ugly. 33 rain/snow mix at my house now. We only lost power for 24 hours, but it could go back out anytime with all the u-shaped trees bent everywhere. Luckily, we only have a couple bent, and have been keeping the ornamental trees cleared best we can. Next door neighbor had an aspen fall across their side of the driveway. Water saturated non frozen ground plus snowy trees are a bad combination even when they stay straight.

bk content: princess keeps the house warm power or no power.

 

[Poindexter]

Damn it Chris, my Ashford 30 is too easy to operate. Ive cleared 17 inches of snow off the driveway in the last 6 fays.

Wed classes were cancelled at UA Fairbanks because of snow for the first time like ever. So my wife had the day off.

I reloaded the a30 at 0530 and had the cat engaged two minutes, because i had a metric ton of coals left from loading tue night. So i didnt have to come back in the house and take my boots off to engage the cat after pulling another four inches of snow off the driveway.

I left the tsat on high, the wife got up to turn the tsat down when she felt "hot", probably about +92dF in the house.

After work i got my studs (hakka 8s) mounted on my way home, shoveled the dmn driveway again, flipped the lever to bypass, burnt down thw coals some, took out the second bu ket of ashes this year, reloaded on thw hot coals i left behind and had the cat re engaged in maybe ten minutes.

This stove is too low maintenance for me. Could you guys at least come up with a smart phone app to alert me when the house temp drops to 79.9dF so I can tweak the Tstat from 1.14 to 1.18 so the house is warm enough for my wife to be in summer clothes when i get home?

Orher than the stinky break-in burns in May 2014 with the windows open this fool thing has been as docile as a dead tree sloth. If my next stove is not a BK with cat it will be because this darn thing just does not require enough of my attention for its performance to be believable.

 

[BKVP]

Damn it Chris, my Ashford 30 is too easy to operate. Ive cleared 17 inches of snow off the driveway in the last 6 fays.

Wed classes were cancelled at UA Fairbanks because of snow for the first time like ever. So my wife had the day off.

I reloaded the a30 at 0530 and had the cat engaged two minutes, because i had a metric ton of coals left from loading tue night. So i didnt have to come back in the house and take my boots off to engage the cat after pulling another four inches of snow off the driveway.

I left the tsat on high, the wife got up to turn the tsat down when she felt "hot", probably about +92dF in the house.

After work i got my studs (hakka 8s) mounted on my way home, shoveled the dmn driveway again, flipped the lever to bypass, burnt down thw coals some, took out the second bu ket of ashes this year, reloaded on thw hot coals i left behind and had the cat re engaged in maybe ten minutes.

This stove is too low maintenance for me. Could you guys at least come up with a smart phone app to alert me when the house temp drops to 79.9dF so I can tweak the Tstat from 1.14 to 1.18 so the house is warm enough for my wife to be in summer clothes when i get home?

Orher than the stinky break-in burns in May 2014 with the windows open this fool thing has been as docile as a dead tree sloth. If my next stove is not a BK with cat it will be because this darn thing just does not require enough of my attention for its performance to be believable.

I'm going to tell your wife about your plans!!

 

[jeffsk7]

Damn it Chris, my Ashford 30 is too easy to operate. Ive cleared 17 inches of snow off the driveway in the last 6 fays.

Wed classes were cancelled at UA Fairbanks because of snow for the first time like ever. So my wife had the day off.

I reloaded the a30 at 0530 and had the cat engaged two minutes, because i had a metric ton of coals left from loading tue night. So i didnt have to come back in the house and take my boots off to engage the cat after pulling another four inches of snow off the driveway.

I left the tsat on high, the wife got up to turn the tsat down when she felt "hot", probably about +92dF in the house.

After work i got my studs (hakka 8s) mounted on my way home, shoveled the dmn driveway again, flipped the lever to bypass, burnt down thw coals some, took out the second bu ket of ashes this year, reloaded on thw hot coals i left behind and had the cat re engaged in maybe ten minutes.

This stove is too low maintenance for me. Could you guys at least come up with a smart phone app to alert me when the house temp drops to 79.9dF so I can tweak the Tstat from 1.14 to 1.18 so the house is warm enough for my wife to be in summer clothes when i get home?
Orher than the stinky break-in burns in May 2014 with the windows open this fool thing has been as docile as a dead tree sloth. If my next stove is not a BK with cat it will be because this darn thing just does not require enough of my attention for its performance to be believable.

So what is your loingest burn? My siracco 30 just did 24 hour on fir and alder. Although its pretty mild still here in w. Washington. I gotta say its really nice to load and leave your stove all day!

 

[ohiojoe13]

When you guys do shoulder season burns do you still load the stove full or just a few splits? Ashford 30 guys what's your shoulder season burn routine?

 

[mwhitnee]

Going to fire my King this weekend for the first time. How much wood you recommend for a break in and how many fires to break it in?

BK owners referr to the knob settings with numbers, mine has none. Are people referring to clock number settings? My knob travels beyond the white areas as well.