2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK) Part 2

[jetsam]

Getting all set up for the vinegar bath and reading Woodstock's guidance since bk's guidance on this is oddly missing. Woodstock wants you to perform a vinegar wash 2-3 times per season! Holy heck! Woodstock is not dumb, they have made some dang fine stoves. Clean and efficient for many years. Putting together my shopping list for the vinegar bath I'm at 20$ plus my time and including the 6$ gasket. That's over 10% of the cost of a brand new cat for each vinegar cleaning.

I found a nice stainless steel pan to boil the cat in the kitchen. Think I'll use the turkey fryer burner in the shop and take photos for you folks. Hope it works!

And the smell.

I may do that outside over an open fire this year.

 

[Highbeam]

Really, there's only a very small number on Woodstock owners on here. Any idea just how well their cats actually hold up over time?

None. But then again, not much info on cat failure for bk stoves either. Everybody is happy in the beginning. I'll get back to that performance level soon. Looking forward to it since I have a solid 4 months of burning left where running low is very important.

 

[Highbeam]

And the smell.

I may do that outside over an open fire this year.

So it stinks? I hope it's not too bad!

 

[jetsam]

So it stinks? I hope it's not too bad!

I've never done it, and I sincerely doubt the cat has an odor, but we are talking about boiling a pot of vinegar...

 

[Ashful]

I sincerely doubt the cat has an odor

All cats have an odor.

<-- dog owner

 

[jetsam]

All cats have an odor.

<-- dog owner

Dogs are not innocent in this.

Hmm, a winter example.... you know when the temperature goes below zero and their delicious poop freezes into even-more-delicious poopsicles that can be carried inside for convenient consumption later?

 

[Highbeam]

I've never done it, and I sincerely doubt the cat has an odor, but we are talking about boiling a pot of vinegar...

Oh yes, the smell was unbearable and a direct whiff of the gaseous acid mix does a job on your sinuses. I opened the shop doors for ventilation. A lot of the acid mix evaporates so I went through quite a lot. Things are drying now on the noncat. A bit ironic.

 

[kf6hap]

Boiling vinegar is quite pungent. Bad for the lungs. Trays of cold vinegar (photographic stop-bath) are not too bad. If it is a ceramic cat it should be baked in an oven to dry to preclude damage.

 

[jetsam]

Oh yes, the smell was unbearable and a direct whiff of the gaseous acid mix does a job on your sinuses. I opened the shop doors for ventilation. A lot of the acid mix evaporates so I went through quite a lot. Things are drying now on the noncat. A bit ironic.

Hm, I may set up a condenser to recapture some of the vapor when I do it, then.

Still thinking I'll go outside over a fire.

 

[kf6hap]

Aren't you concerned the smoke might cause damage and discoloration?

 

[Highbeam]

Aren't you concerned the smoke might cause damage and discoloration?

The steam and acid from the vinegar? No. my stainless steel pot is undamaged and the fumes did not linger in my shop after opening the doors to air it out. I made the mistake of running a deep fat fryer in there once and that stunk for days. Much worse.

Folks, the vinegar bath worked. I'll make a whole pictury post but the bottom line is that a clean, dead, cat can be brought back to life.

 

[rdust]

Folks, the vinegar bath worked. I'll make a whole pictury post but the bottom line is that a clean, dead, cat can be brought back to life.

I'm curious to see how long this "rejuvenation" will last. I've read a lot of success stories from the WS crew so I have high hopes for yours!

 

[kf6hap]

From other posts on other threads, quite a while.

 

[Ashful]

I made the mistake of running a deep fat fryer in there once and that stunk for days.

Nothing a very good cigar wouldn't fix. ;-)

 

[tarzan]

BKVP has advised against the vinager bath in the past. If it actually works then I'm not sure why.

 

[webby3650]

I could see it being OK with a cat that's been ran "normal" or slow. With one like highbeam, I'd be more prone to think it's blown out! That's a lot of hours on a cat.

 

[kf6hap]

Cleaning a cat must be done right or it can be permanently ruined. No cheating on the distilled water with NO additives, using a dishwasher, new white vinegar etc. Don't boil it overnight. Rinse in distilled water. It must be completely dry before using in a stove. Doing this etches off a layer so you don't want to do this unless absolutely necessary to restore functional activity. I can see why stove producers would be leery of recommending cleaning cats. People will burn all manner of garbage in the stove and expect a cleaning to fix things up. A poisoned cat is dead forever. If it fails to rejuvenate, the stove company gets a bad name.

 

[Highbeam]

I could see it being OK with a cat that's been ran "normal" or slow. With one like highbeam, I'd be more prone to think it's blown out! That's a lot of hours on a cat.

I always run the house stove pretty low. Only 1700 sf in a fairly moderate climate. I just get a lot of hours per season.

I followed the directions exactly for the acid bath. I hope it lasts many seasons more but I know that a new cat is only two days away if it craps out again.

The shop stove gets run hard.

 

[Highbeam]

BKVP has advised against the vinager bath in the past. If it actually works then I'm not sure why.

Has he though? The old bk manuals described the procedure. Bk doesn't tell you to do it but I don't think they recommend against it. I do believe that bk would prefer that their stoves burn cleanly.

 

[webby3650]

I always run the house stove pretty low. Only 1700 sf in a fairly moderate climate. I just get a lot of hours per season.

I followed the directions exactly for the acid bath. I hope it lasts many seasons more but I know that a new cat is only two days away if it craps out again.

The shop stove gets run hard.

I didn't mean you run it hard, just way longer than most others do per season.

 

[tarzan]

Has he though? The old bk manuals described the procedure. Bk doesn't tell you to do it but I don't think they recommend against it. I do believe that bk would prefer that their stoves burn cleanly.

Yes, yes he has. My manual is one of those that describes procedure.

 

[BKVP]

Yes, yes he has. My manual is one of those that describes procedure.

We removed the process from the manual because many, many, many folks removed them, dropped them, messed them up and ran them without replacing the gasket. All of which was listed in detail. Then expected warranty coverage. We prefer they contact us or the dealer and we walk them through the process.

ACI has repeatedly over the years stated the precious metals never disappear but rather are over-plated with deposits...which the acidic bath removes.

 

[kf6hap]

Just as I suspected. Way too many negatives involved to recommend the procedure. But for the informed...

 

[jetsam]

I probably need to do it more than most people do, because I run more water vapor through my cat than most people do, and I bet that's where a lot of the deposits come from.

This summer, outside. I'll cook bratwurst in the next pan over. It'll be lovely (if you're upwind).

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

We removed the process from the manual because many, many, many folks removed them, dropped them, messed them up and ran them without replacing the gasket. All of which was listed in detail. Then expected warranty coverage. We prefer they contact us or the dealer and we walk them through the process.

That's because most people figure they're smarter than the wordy idiots who write the manuals and can figure it out themselves. I don't know why people think this, maybe they just have an aversion to reading? They probably "know" the gasket is there because the "nanny" government mandates it so the only side effect of not bothering to replace it will be slightly more pollution.

ACI has repeatedly over the years stated the precious metals never disappear but rather are over-plated with deposits...which the acidic bath removes.

This implies that they would last indefinitely if the substrate was durable enough? Are most toasted converters thrown away or is there incentive to recycle them? I remember reading about thieves that would steal them off parked cars because the precious metals were worth $50-$100.