2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[Woody Stover]

Anyone know the specs of the Ashford by-pass gasket? length, density, diameter.

Blah, blah, blah, USE OEM GASKETS, blah, blah....

 

[jetsam]

Not sure which one to believe. Outside, it's 72% RH at the airport right now, according to NWS...
View attachment 174640

Calibrate those puppies! A basic single-point calibration will cost you a few spoons of salt, a few drops of water, and a ziploc bag.

Take a few teaspoons of salt, add water a drop at a time to get the salt damp (it should not dissolve, just get moist). Seal it in an airtight plastic bag with the hygrometer and leave it overnight. Next day, stab a jewelers screwdriver through the bag and adjust the needle to read 75%. Easy peasy.

 

[jetsam]

Also, I am pretty sure the factory printed the dial wrong on the smaller one.

It says that, depending on humidity, maximum comfort occurs between 67 and 78 degrees.

Based upon personal experience, I am pretty sure that maximum comfort occurs well north of 78 degrees and does not depend that much upon humidity, unless you count bourbon as humidity.

 

[Ashful]

...unless you count bourbon as humidity.

A man who knows hygrometer calibration, presumably from maintaining a humidor, and enjoys bourbon. There is some chance we were separated at birth.

 

[becasunshine]

This is not quite correct. There is a damper flap attached to the shaft, by means of a bimetallic coil spring. This spring provides a small range of motion, based on temperature, but the range of your knob is at least 2x more. So, you can easily force air fully closed at any operating temperature. When you turn the knob counter clockwise and hear a click, that's the damper closing.

If you aren't able to dial the stove down, you have a loose knob or a leak. Make sure you hear the inlet damper click closed, when you turn down the air, as step 1.

In our case, quite recent on this thread, it was a loose knob.

 

[becasunshine]

So I got a fire going again tonight and I am still having troubles. Firebox is plenty hot. Having to run to fan full speed to keep the temp of the cat down from max. Yet when I turn the tstat down, the flames aren't going out.

I know the door seal is really solid. Bill test was super tight. I just don't know what changed.

I mean, previously the stat was like magic. Turn up, flames up, turn down flames down.

Now it's working but much much more slowly.

This is exactly what our free-standing Princess did.

We can see the shaft attached to the t-stat knob. Not sure if you can see this shaft on an insert. When the t-stat knob was loose, the knob would turn, but it wouldn't turn the shaft, ergo it wasn't actually controlling the t-stat.

 

[jetsam]

A man who knows hygrometer calibration, presumably from maintaining a humidor, and enjoys bourbon. There is some chance we were separated at birth.

When I was 20 I got sent to Germany and had some Cuban cigars that ruined me for everything else I've ever tried, so I'm actually not a cigar guy. (It was Cuban Romeo y Julietas that did me in; everything I had after I got back to the states tasted like old socks.)

My hygrometer experience actually comes from guitar maintenance.

Now that the political winds are shifting re:Cuba, maybe I'll become a cigar guy too; I've already got half the gear.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Yup. When my house gets below 80dF the wife is on the phone with her mother surfing realtor dot com together looking at houses in California.

She would be pretty unhappy living here I cant get the house over 72 and that only happened when it is 40* outside. Right now I am waiting for about 40# of coals to burn off so I can add some wood it is 66* it is 2:48 pm I bet it will be 8:30 tonight before I can burn some wood.

Edit;
I just was able to add some wood the house was 56* I added wood at 7:15pm 5 hours and 45 min dedicated to burning coals down!! Thank god it wasn't cold or anything ,...it was 16* when I started the burn now it is -1* Is there any way to burn the coals up faster? I notice when the door is open the coals get much brighter ( obviously) and the open door throws 50% more heat. Will it harm the catalyst to burn the coals down with the door open? If that will harm the stove I will just shovel them up and toss em out. I need heat from wood not coals , coal heat though very hot does not compare to a wood fire for heat. I just cannot see how to avoid this wasted time if you have a solution I am here to listen let me tell ya. I know I don't seem to be singing the Blaze King praises but it is what it is.

 

[Stump shot]

She would be pretty unhappy living here I cant get the house over 72 and that only happened when it is 40* outside. Right now I am waiting for about 40# of coals to burn off so I can add some wood it is 66* it is 2:48 pm I bet it will be 8:30 tonight before I can burn some wood.

Edit;
I just was able to add some wood the house was 56* I added wood at 7:15pm 5 hours and 45 min dedicated to burning coals down!! Thank god it wasn't cold or anything ,...it was 16* when I started the burn now it is -1* Is there any way to burn the coals up faster? I notice when the door is open the coals get much brighter ( obviously) and the open door throws 50% more heat. Will it harm the catalyst to burn the coals down with the door open? If that will harm the stove I will just shovel them up and toss em out. I need heat from wood not coals , coal heat though very hot does not compare to a wood fire for heat. I just cannot see how to avoid this wasted time if you have a solution I am here to listen let me tell ya. I know I don't seem to be singing the Blaze King praises but it is what it is.

It is really quite easy, burn soft wood instead of hard wood.

 

[jetsam]

She would be pretty unhappy living here I cant get the house over 72 and that only happened when it is 40* outside. Right now I am waiting for about 40# of coals to burn off so I can add some wood it is 66* it is 2:48 pm I bet it will be 8:30 tonight before I can burn some wood.

Edit;
I just was able to add some wood the house was 56* I added wood at 7:15pm 5 hours and 45 min dedicated to burning coals down!! Thank god it wasn't cold or anything ,...it was 16* when I started the burn now it is -1* Is there any way to burn the coals up faster? I notice when the door is open the coals get much brighter ( obviously) and the open door throws 50% more heat. Will it harm the catalyst to burn the coals down with the door open? If that will harm the stove I will just shovel them up and toss em out. I need heat from wood not coals , coal heat though very hot does not compare to a wood fire for heat. I just cannot see how to avoid this wasted time if you have a solution I am here to listen let me tell ya. I know I don't seem to be singing the Blaze King praises but it is what it is.

Put a couple small splits of pine or another low-coaling wood on the coals and burn it hot.

I'll trade you a load of pine for a load of oak if you need some.

 

[Ashful]

I use an ash rake, to push the ash down and back, which always causes the live coals to rise to the top. Pull them forward, or distribute evenly across floor of firebox. Turn air to max, and fan up to medium. You'll get good heat off the stove, while burning those coals down. No need to add more wood.

 

[Poindexter]

When I am stuck with extra coals I do the same as Ashful, rake coals forward, fan and Tstat to highest settings, let it rip.

If I am really hurting for heat I will throw a small split of spruce on top of the coals every couple hours just to keep the cat fed.

Stumpshot and jetsam are also correct about choosing a different fuel with a different (shorter) coaling stage. Got any pine growing up that way? Got any seasoned? Well get you some, soft woods that burn hot and don't make a lot of coals are right up BKs alley for when you really want the stove to be cranking and keep cranking.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Good morning everyone,
Sorry if I came off as a a-hole but I was pretty frustrated at the time. I was just telling my wife that we need to put up a pile of some sort of soft wood for next year. I thinking maybe a face cord or so, So that I can have something to burn while burning coals. I cannot get my head around burning soft wood ha ha I have an abundance of soft wood on my property. We have Fir, Spruce, Hack/ Tamarack, Pine, Cedar, and loads of Poplar. So what is the best position to rake the coals for the fastest bur rate. I have a hoe and I have been raking them up high and a far forward to the door edge as possible. About every 30-40 min I go back knock them flat and rake them forward again essentially getting all coals a chance to be " front and center " for a while. So what species of soft wood , would you put up for the sole purpose of using while burning down the coals? Thanks for the advice and I will eagerly be awaiting your replies, Jeff

 

[jetsam]

My coaling problem is usually "got no coals" if anything, because I burn almost exclusively pine. Try this chart for other ideas (look for "poor" or "fair" in the coaling column). I would bet that pine, spruce, and fir would be hard to tell apart coal-wise.

You do get coals when burning pine, but they burn hot and vanish relatively rapidly. A stove packed full of pine coals would melt your face off if you opened the door.

There's not as much cat action in the coaling stage because there's not as much offgassing, but if you're raking your coals every 30-40 minutes, I would guess that you are probably not doing your cat any favors.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Well if the cat gauge stays active that's what you want isn't it?My cat gauge stayed active until the last 40 min or so of the 5 hour burn off.
I do have right now about 3/4 of a cord of eastern white cedar slabs cut 16" that is form back in 1990. I let a friend come here and cut enough cedar to cover the inside of his cabin back then. When he got the logs sawed out I told him I wanted the slabs for kindling. I only use a very small amount of kindling per year as my fire never goes out from maybe Halloween on. I probably use less than a 5 gallon pail a year. So needless to say I have a sizeable amount of 16" cedar slabs stacked under cover. I was just thinking that I need to put up a new metal roof on that building and that cedar will need to be moved as I need to work inside as well. Maybe I should burn that when I am burning down the coals.

 

[jetsam]

Cedar should do nicely.

I always hate to burn cedar because it's so pretty, but it burns fine and doesn't coal much.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Cedar should do nicely.

I always hate to burn cedar because it's so pretty, but it burns fine and doesn't coal much.

Well our white cedar is not like the western red cedar,.. ours is plain no real color at all it is white

 

[Ashful]

My cat stays active all the way thru the coaling stage, until I'm down to stuff much smaller than Kingsford briquettes. The power of oak, I guess? I would not bother loading crap wood on top to burn down coals. Why add, when your goal is reduction? Good hardwood coals still keep the cat at 700-800F.

 

[webby3650]

Around here "crap" is ash, beech, maple... It's interesting how much "quality" wood differs from coast to coast. Oak and hickory is so plentiful around here!

 

[Jeff in Maine]

we have oak here too just not on my land. Next year my wood will be mainly beach which is far from crap.

 

[webby3650]

we have oak here too just not on my land. Next year my wood will be mainly beach which is far from crap.

Beech is fine. I'm not partial to any species of wood. One year I heated entirely with white pine. With my BK, I couldn't tell all that much of a difference in burn times. I had a guy bringing it to me for $60 a cord split!

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Beech is fine. I'm not partial to any species of wood. One year I heated entirely with white pine. With my BK, I couldn't tell all that much of a difference in burn times. I had a guy bringing it to me for $60 a cord split!

Above I made a mistake is the type of cedar I have here. We have Northern White Cedar not Eastern White Cedar I guess I was thinking of Eastern White Pine . As far as heating with soft wood yes I suppose fire is fire but I cannot see how pine would ever burn as long as Beech . If I ever talked like that around here I would be laughed out of the state I think .
You may be correct I would have to try it to see but,.. pine is pine and beech is beech the BK is a nice stove but pretty sure she aint magic.
I don't pay for any firewood I cut my own here. I have thousands of cords of wood on my property, I have about 300 cords of pasture pine ( field pine / scrub pine ) the main stem goes up about 10'-16' then it turns into a mass of limbs no good for anything really. I would love to get rid of it, if I have my property harvested next winter I am hoping the price of pine pulp is up enough for a contractor to make it a viable option to harvest it. They would take one grade 2 or 3 butt log ,..2 or 3 pulp logs maybe 8 foot long and about a 1/2 cord of limbs hopefully chipped. If I thought it would heat my house as good as hardwood that would be a good way to get rid of it, burn it up!

 

[Poindexter]

All the gauge on the stove tells you is that the cat is hot enough to be active if it was getting any smoke to chew on, or not.

If it is cold enough out, I will throw a small split of softwood on the coals pile to actually feed the hungry cat while the coals are burning down. Running the combustor temp up a few hundred degrees by feeding it an appetizer of one small split while the coals are burning down lets me a pull a great deal more heat into the house with the convection deck and the fan kit running. Look for one of your cedar slabs to have a baseball sized glob of dried sap on it next time you have a belly full of coals to deal with.

Are you cedar slabs 16" long or 16" thick? I ass/u/me they are 16" long...

 

[becasunshine]

Good morning everyone,
Sorry if I came off as a a-hole but I was pretty frustrated at the time. I was just telling my wife that we need to put up a pile of some sort of soft wood for next year. I thinking maybe a face cord or so, So that I can have something to burn while burning coals. I cannot get my head around burning soft wood ha ha I have an abundance of soft wood on my property. We have Fir, Spruce, Hack/ Tamarack, Pine, Cedar, and loads of Poplar. So what is the best position to rake the coals for the fastest bur rate. I have a hoe and I have been raking them up high and a far forward to the door edge as possible. About every 30-40 min I go back knock them flat and rake them forward again essentially getting all coals a chance to be " front and center " for a while. So what species of soft wood , would you put up for the sole purpose of using while burning down the coals? Thanks for the advice and I will eagerly be awaiting your replies, Jeff

You didn't come off badly to me at all, and I/we totally understand the frustration factor. We had one heck of a learning curve with our pellet stove, much more so actually than with the wood stove. No one in our families had owned or operated a pellet stove before us. The guys and girls on this forum helped us learn now to use it, what to expect out of it, and how to calculate how many actual BTUs we were getting out of the stove and the pellets. From there our situation clearly pointed toward adding insulation to our attic and sealing air leaks in the house.

Member stoveguy2esw, Mike Holton, sat online with us one evening while I was literally calculating burn time/burn rate per pound of pellets vs. the temperature in the house. He also answered questions by phone for me when I was pulling the stove apart to clean it for the first times- and our pellet stove isn't even an Englander! Another member (I am embarrassed, I've forgotten his user name, I'm sorry) is a retired engineer, and he helped me figure out BTUs generated per hour vs. feed rate vs. the auger rheostat settings. (I can't even remember why I was that far into the weeds, but it had to do with how much heat the stove was putting out.) Great group on here. All of us have been frustrated by one thing or the other (or several things!) on this journey. <:3~

Your initial inquiries opened a topic that I'd never considered and didn't even realize I knew nothing about. It was fortuitous, because we dealt with this very issue this weekend. We arrived to a cold house with a frozen up HVAC system that was offline. We had to push our wood stove to warm the house in the face of cold, wind and wind chill, and temps that dropped rapidly and stayed below freezing for a couple of days.

When we started "coaling" ourselves I understood what was happening and I knew we'd have to back off of the stove a little bit and live with the cooler temps in the far reaches of the house for a few hours. If you hadn't brought it up I might not have known what was happening or how to deal with it. Because you brought up the topic and people here discussed it with you (and explained it to me) it was a simple matter of opening the t-stat and holding off on re-loading the stove.

Again, we (Hubs and I) totally get the frustration part- BTDT.

As far as your question about wood types vs. heat output, we are burning 100% oak here, so I got nuthin' on that.

As far as the little bit of "coaling" we've experienced this weekend, my novice answer is that we just raked it flat and opened the t-stat up. The coals burned down within a couple to a few hours and we reloaded the stove. If it helps for context, when we were trying to get the most out of the stove, we were only able to add one layer of splits on top of the coals, not a typical two layer re-load. And that's with the coals raked flat.

Once the house got up to a comfortable temperature we were able to cruise on coals for a few hours, and the bed of coals burned down far enough that re-loads were back to our more typical 4 to 6 splits.

EDITED TO ADD: Our CAT stays active in the coaling phase as well. We have been running on coals this afternoon for the past 3 or 4 hours. We are now down to about 4" deep coals in the bottom of the stove. CAT is still active. Stove top temps over the CAT are running about 340'F. House temp is 70'F in the living area. We are letting it burn down because we'll leave this evening to go back to town- no point in reloading now.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

All the gauge on the stove tells you is that the cat is hot enough to be active if it was getting any smoke to chew on, or not.

If it is cold enough out, I will throw a small split of softwood on the coals pile to actually feed the hungry cat while the coals are burning down. Running the combustor temp up a few hundred degrees by feeding it an appetizer of one small split while the coals are burning down lets me a pull a great deal more heat into the house with the convection deck and the fan kit running. Look for one of your cedar slabs to have a baseball sized glob of dried sap on it next time you have a belly full of coals to deal with.

Are you cedar slabs 16" long or 16" thick? I ass/u/me they are 16" long...

Long