I have a 6" class A and an 8" class A, I've ran most all of my stoves on both flues. The 8" flue offered better results in my experience with all my stoves. Both are only a total of 15' or so.
2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK) Part 2
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Agreed. Minimum height flue and an oval liner with a BK, better safe than sorry..
We have had customers who had quite a few problems running 6" stoves in 8" chimneys and 8" stoves in 6" chimneys. But then there are others like you where things work just fine on the wrong size flue.
Ya, I move my stoves around the house just to test them.So much for chimney science.
Yeah we see stuff all the time that should not work at all but does and then you have one occasionally where everything seems right but it just wont work right. Chimney physics is extreme complicated and there are to many variable for it to make sense all the time.So much for chimney science.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
That's not just a mystery of fluid dynamics, though.
Imagine the stove puffs smoke into the house when the door opens... One user says, 'Well, I'm going to turn up the air before I open the door next time, then I will check the cap and sweep the flue, and then I will try increasing my stack height a little'.
The next user says, 'MAH NEW STOVE DONE BROKE ALREADY'.
(Like the mysteries of fluid dynamics, the mysteries of why the hell people do the stuff they do remain fairly opaque to me.)
jetsam
Minister of Fire
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Thats the the problem Woody; these BK's burn so efficiantly and with such long burn times compared to other stoves (even other cat stoves) that I dont need to be in the woods shucking wood all the time, actually this season is looking like a 2.5 cord season for me and I started burning in the beginning of November. The first season I had my BK (14/15) was on of the longest / coldest unrelenting winters we had in 15 years and i only burnt 5 cords, the year before that one i had a US 2500 stove and burnt about 6.5 cords and that winter wasnt nearly as long as the next.
tpenny67
New Member
Can you clarify "better results"? I have both a 6" insulated chimney and what I think is an 8x8 clay lined chimney with a rather long connector. The 6" drafts harder when hot, but back drafts when cold because it's an outside chimney and the stove is in the basement. The 8" is interior and the stove is on the first floor. It drafts even when the stove isn't burning, and works a lot better because it drafts more consistently, not because it's got a stronger draft.
That sounds pretty normal for the basement flue, that's just 1 of the issues of having a stove in the basement.
Stoves on my 6" flue have always had a tendency to smoke when I open the door. When I've moved these stoves to my 8" flue they don't. I have never seen any negative results with running a 6" stove on an 8" flue in my house. Both flue are just under 15'.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I'm reading thru several posts here, from folks who should know better than to say a BK is particularly draft sensitive. If run at the same rate as any other stove, there's no reason a BK is going to require a better chimney than any other stove. The design is straight up and out, with a very large cat cross section, the perfect recipe for easy breathing.
It is ONLY when you try running that BK down low, where no other stove on earth can run, that it demands a better chimney.
It is ONLY when you try running that BK down low, where no other stove on earth can run, that it demands a better chimney.
No BEER for a solid month
Looks like I'll be a fat 40 year old lol.
Same here...but not for long. Fire in the hole!
![[Hearth.com] 2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK) Part 2](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/195/195232-87b8a8fca6fdac2c9091cfad75d193af.jpg?hash=6Qpv0r4SWC "[Hearth.com] 2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK) Part 2")
Yep, there's a point at which a low burn not going to create enough heat to keep the chimney working, which is when they have to start adding height, need a straighter chimney, or whatever.
There are a few in the "Ashford--smoke smell" thread that said they don't run below 2 o'clock, but I don't think they said how long it burns at that air setting. Is your 24-hr. stove on the tall chimney or the short one? What is your air setting?
What 'til you get to my age; With a piIe of sawdust, I've got enough extra fat on me to make a lifetime supply of fire-starters.
My smoke smell went away when I shoved 6" A down the 8" Metalbestos solid pack. Now it is 6" from stove to cap, 17' total height and double walled telescoping in the house of~6'. The moral of the chimney story is "Try it for 30 days , then inspect the chimney" Credit to BKVP.
BKs are not demanding in chimney requirements. That being said, a proper chimney will support the exceptionally low burn rate that an air tuber just can't provide. Air tubers (secondary burn) stoves have their place though. As I drive around and see chimneys that are belching dark blue smoke every time we pass by, I will remark to my wife: those people need a blaze king. Way too many people run their air tube stoves below secondary burn rate and fill whole regions with stinky smoke.
We see that a lot in the country around here too. Many folks still burn poorly seasoned wood in old smoke dragons. Note there are tube stoves that match cat emissions performance including the inexpensive Englander 30NC.
Even at the very low BK burn rates? Hard to believe but, I guess, not impossible.
Wet wood will always be problematic.
Wet wood will always be problematic.
Clean burning yes, but not slow by any means.
If you pump enough heat up the flue your bound to have Clean emissions.
Somehow we continue to bumble through mild weather heating with a moderate temperatured (and clean) flue. No drama, no big temp swings. Above 50F the heat pump kicks in as the less expensive and much cleaner option. Flue temp at that point is ambient. 
So I can have nearly constant heat output and longer burns. Even on high my BKs have had longer burn times than any of my similar sized non-cats.
Well, I am burning at low, low right now. The flue is 200F stove top 175F. Four hours from now it will get stuffed full of pine again and that will take me to this time again tomorrow. Dream stove.
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