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

[Ashful]

When the only way you can make it warmer inside is by singlehandedly raising the outdoor air temperature, this endeavor might fall more under "weather modification" than "home heating".

When I ran those almost-purely radiant Jotuls, I was indeed doing that. Wood and oil usage is down with the BK's, thanks to their more convective design playing better with our uninsulated stone construction.

 

[moresnow]

I was bored tonight so I split a few 30" rounds and fired up my old 46 cj2a to do the mule work! Lol. Gotta make some fun of all the splitting!

Sweet jeep. I had a '46 M when I was first married. Ended up with a Chevy V8 265ci transplant with dual side pipes. Stock otherwise. 47 mph top speed! It was un-stoppable..... loud. And unfit for family duty.. According to my wife

I would not hesitate purchasing the fan kit. Night and day for my setup. Run mine as low as the variable speed knob goes a great deal of the time. Very little noise. Naturally some noise when running them harder during very cold snaps. Who knows. Easy to add later I guess.

Does anybody here actually "not" have the fan kit? I was considerably frustrated without them. Elated with them. Lesson learned in my case!

 

[James02]

I've asked this before, why not just point a fan at the stove to distribute heat??

 

[Marshy]

Sweet jeep. I had a '46 M when I was first married. Ended up with a Chevy V8 265ci transplant with dual side pipes. Stock otherwise. 47 mph top speed! It was un-stoppable..... loud. And unfit for family duty.. According to my wife

I would not hesitate purchasing the fan kit. Night and day for my setup. Run mine as low as the variable speed knob goes a great deal of the time. Very little noise. Naturally some noise when running them harder during very cold snaps. Who knows. Easy to add later I guess.

Does anybody here actually "not" have the fan kit? I was considerably frustrated without them. Elated with them. Lesson learned in my case!

I've asked this before, why not just point a fan at the stove to distribute heat??

I bought my stove without the fans and then later I borrowed a set from another King owner. They make a significant improvement in the heat output. I operated my stove with a box fan across the top and a small 12" high velocity fan up the back and they still did not touch 1/2 of the performance I gained with the BK fans kit.

The reason they improve the heat output so much is because the air travels up the back of the stove in a channel for about 20", then it blows over the hottest part of the stove beneath the convection deck before it exits. The stove top temps in that area are as high as 700F. I believe the air movement from the fan kit lowers the stoves metal temperature some and causes the air thermostat to open further which makes the fire burn hotter. I still think $300 is stupid money for them but they are very effective.

 

[jetsam]

I've asked this before, why not just point a fan at the stove to distribute heat??

Lots of people do, but it doesn't work as well as pushing cold air from elsewhere into the stove room.

The fan by the stove is turning (for example) the 100° air that was right next to the stove into 120° air that is still near the stove. The fan on the floor pushing cold air down is turning the 50° air that was on the floor in the cold room into 70° air as warm stove room air convects back in.

Easy enough to try both ways and see what works better for you, though.

Edit: For clarification, the above is talking about the merits of a small fan blowing on the stove vs a small fan blowing cold air into the stove room; neither one is a replacement for a convection deck fan, which is awesome.

 

[moresnow]

I will also add. While waiting for my correct fan kit I indeed did try to use a box fan near the stove directing air around behind it. Must have confused the thermo? Stove would nuke a load in a hurry. Added fan kit and all was well.

 

[Marshy]

I will also add. While waiting for my correct fan kit I indeed did try to use a box fan near the stove directing air around behind it. Must have confused the thermo? Stove would nuke a load in a hurry. Added fan kit and all was well.

Interesting. Mine would do the opposite.

 

[tarzan]

I ran my old tube stove for the first season under the assumption I was saving money by opting out on the fan kit and instead running a much cheaper box fan aimed at the stove.

The second season I had installed the $ fan kit and the difference was huge. The rooms furthest from the stove benefited from more heat and the stove room didn't have too stay unbearably hot to get the heat to those outer rooms.

On the BK, the fans are even more of a must have. The Princess I am currently running would fail miserably without them.

 

[Ignerence]

I guess my issue was with the BK fans the hot air would blow the opposite direction of the bedrooms with my set up. My stove will be in the south third of the house, facing south. the bedrooms and far side of the house is on the north. Would the fans still help even though they are blowing the wrong way?

we'll see I guess. I have it pretty easy to experiment as my house has survived 40+ years with just a furnace. I will probably leave my thermostat at ~ 60 and try to run the stove to keep the house in the low 70's. I will look into ordering the fans as well.

The installer is dropping by tomorrow to measure my hearth and roof ect, then give me a timeline for the installation. No rush as it was 80 here today...

 

[Highbeam]

I guess my issue was with the BK fans the hot air would blow the opposite direction of the bedrooms with my set up. My stove will be in the south third of the house, facing south. the bedrooms and far side of the house is on the north. Would the fans still help even though they are blowing the wrong way?

we'll see I guess. I have it pretty easy to experiment as my house has survived 40+ years with just a furnace. I will probably leave my thermostat at ~ 60 and try to run the stove to keep the house in the low 70's. I will look into ordering the fans as well.

The installer is dropping by tomorrow to measure my hearth and roof ect, then give me a timeline for the installation. No rush as it was 80 here today...

Oh yes, the fans don't knock you over with hurricane winds. They just pump out lots of heated air that will rise to the ceiling and travel away. You won't feel the blow more than a few feet away.

 

[Ignerence]

gotcha, I was imagining something different! (wind) ha. I will tell them tomorrow to add it on the order. Do I need a different cat probe with the fan/deck kit?

 

[Marshy]

I guess my issue was with the BK fans the hot air would blow the opposite direction of the bedrooms with my set up. My stove will be in the south third of the house, facing south. the bedrooms and far side of the house is on the north. Would the fans still help even though they are blowing the wrong way?

we'll see I guess. I have it pretty easy to experiment as my house has survived 40+ years with just a furnace. I will probably leave my thermostat at ~ 60 and try to run the stove to keep the house in the low 70's. I will look into ordering the fans as well.

The installer is dropping by tomorrow to measure my hearth and roof ect, then give me a timeline for the installation. No rush as it was 80 here today...

Yes, the fans will help even if they are not blowing in the desired direction. No matter how you slice it, they will result in more heat output. As mentioned, they won't complicate distributing the heat any more than it already is.

gotcha, I was imagining something different! (wind) ha. I will tell them tomorrow to add it on the order. Do I need a different cat probe with the fan/deck kit?

No. What model are you buying (ultra with convection deck)?

 

[Ashful]

we'll see I guess. I have it pretty easy to experiment as my house has survived 40+ years with just a furnace. I will probably leave my thermostat at ~ 60 and try to run the stove to keep the house in the low 70's. I will look into ordering the fans as well.

Everyone's situation is different, but on my part, this was the source of much marital stress for our first few years of wood heating. I found peace by leaving the thermostat's set at the temperature my wife likes, and then quietly making it my job to stay ahead of them with the stove. Some wives have a way of not seeing the romance in coming downstairs to a cold house on a snowy Saturday morning.

Of course, back then I was burning a small fleet of Jotuls, not two Blaze Kings.

 

[jetsam]

Everyone's situation is different, but on my part, this was the source of much marita stress for our first few years of wood heating. I found peace by leaving the thermostat's set at the temperature my wife likes, and then quietly making it my job to stay ahead of them with the stove. Some wives have a way of not seeing the romance in coming downstairs to a cold house on a snowy Saturday morning.

Of course, back then I was burning a small fleet of Jotuls, not two Blaze Kings.

I live adventurously, and have the thermostats set at 45 in case of emergency so the pipes don't freeze.

Didn't have a cold house once this winter! (I did wish I had a King instead of a Princess a few times, though.)

 

[Highbeam]

I live adventurously, and have the thermostats set at 45 in case of emergency so the pipes don't freeze.

Didn't have a cold house once this winter! (I did wish I had a King instead of a Princess a few times, though.)

We have turned off the breakers to the backup heating system years ago. No wood heat means no house heat. So far we only see the house temps dip when we're gone for travel. It takes a long time to heat the house fully when it is at 50 degrees inside.

 

[webby3650]

I'm starting over in a different home. I have no idea what the heat load will be here. I plan to heat the place with my princess from the basement. I think it'll handle it ok. If it doesn't I'll put an insert in the fireplace. I may do an insert either way!

 

[huauqui]

It takes a long time to heat the house fully when it is at 50 degrees inside.

Amen, to this. That come back from the cool down hurts sometimes. Seems really to take days to re-stabilize. But, if we are cool during the warm up we just draw closer to the stove

 

[jetsam]

I'm starting over in a different home. I have no idea what the heat load will be here. I plan to heat the place with my princess from the basement. I think it'll handle it ok. If it doesn't I'll put an insert in the fireplace. I may do an insert either way!

Running two stoves would be kind of convenient if they were both BKs. I could run them both on 24 hour reloads most of the year (more if they were both Kings!).

 

[Highbeam]

Amen, to this. That come back from the cool down hurts sometimes. Seems really to take days to re-stabilize. But, if we are cool during the warm up we just draw closer to the stove

It only happens when we've been away on a vacation so the family is happy to take hot showers and climb into bed with their cranked up electric blankets. Leaves me to stoke the BK and run it at max while checking on the homestead.

 

[Ashful]

Running two stoves would be kind of convenient if they were both BKs. I could run them both on 24 hour reloads most of the year (more if they were both Kings!).

This is my current setup, but I run one of them on 12 hour cycles during the week, and occasionally faster on weekends.

 

[webby3650]

Running two stoves would be kind of convenient if they were both BKs. I could run them both on 24 hour reloads most of the year (more if they were both Kings!).

It's enjoyable even without 2 BKs! I actually enjoy messing with a non-cat, most of the time... mostly because I'm not depending on both stove most of the season.

 

[kennyp2339]

On April 7th I called my dealer to get my cat replaced under warranty, the process was very simple, I received a phone call from BK confirming my purchase certificate and model number of the stove.. all was good.
Fast forward to today, I never received a call from the dealer giving me a status on the part, I did call (3) times and was promised a phone call back as they had to check their warehouse to see if it came in.
So today I got an email from the dealer about a general sale they were having and it reminded me to call them. I called an was basically given the same run around as the previous phone calls "I have to check the warehouse, we'll call you back" kind of thing; this time though I gave them a little jersey spice, before the lady could hang up I said "listen, I really need a phone call back telling me the status of this, if I don't get a phone call back, please understand that my mother is recently retired from 45 years of full time work and is itching to do something, I am more than glad to give her all my information and your telephone number so she can stay busy" 15 minutes later I got a phone call back saying everything was in stock and I can come and pick it up when ever I get a chance.

 

[moresnow]

"listen, I really need a phone call back telling me the status of this, if I don't get a phone call back, please understand that my mother is recently retired from 45 years of full time work and is itching to do something, I am more than glad to give her all my information and your telephone number so she can stay busy"

Oh the horror Talk about pulling out all the stops!

 

[jetsam]

Oh the horror Talk about pulling out all the stops!

I know I stop listening whenever the caller says "lawsuit" or "lawyer". The retired mother-in-law threat is far superior...

 

[Highbeam]

On April 7th I called my dealer to get my cat replaced under warranty, the process was very simple, I received a phone call from BK confirming my purchase certificate and model number of the stove.. all was good.
Fast forward to today, I never received a call from the dealer giving me a status on the part, I did call (3) times and was promised a phone call back as they had to check their warehouse to see if it came in.
So today I got an email from the dealer about a general sale they were having and it reminded me to call them. I called an was basically given the same run around as the previous phone calls "I have to check the warehouse, we'll call you back" kind of thing; this time though I gave them a little jersey spice, before the lady could hang up I said "listen, I really need a phone call back telling me the status of this, if I don't get a phone call back, please understand that my mother is recently retired from 45 years of full time work and is itching to do something, I am more than glad to give her all my information and your telephone number so she can stay busy" 15 minutes later I got a phone call back saying everything was in stock and I can come and pick it up when ever I get a chance.

Good thing you got to pay extra for such great dealer service! That cat could have emailed to you in like two days. Good idea taking care of this in the off season.