2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Dieselhead]

Cat soup

 

[webby3650]

Isn't that aluminum bad for the cat?

 

[Dieselhead]

I hope not. It's just boiling water, shouldn't be any aluminum contamination after all we eat out of them too?

 

[webby3650]

I hope not. It's just boiling water, shouldn't be any aluminum contamination after all we eat out of them too?

I was just trying to get ya going!

 

[Dieselhead]

Thanks I just spent the last 10 min on google lol

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I burned all winter with my princess last year and then today I learned something new. I built the first fire of the year today a bunch of kindling and about 15 pieces of what I call biscuit wood. Small hardwood rounds about the size of a golf ball up to a tennis ball in diameter and 16" long, I set the thermostat to 1 1/2 or so, that was at noon.

At about 5pm I noticed the cat probe had moved back through the active zone to about 3/4 of an inch left of center. Still active but falling, I said well it only had a small amount of wood to work with,... it did well to last this long. I figured it was time to open the thermostat and then go get some more wood. When I opened the thermostat to wide open I got some flames and I could see most of the small wood was still there. So instead of adding more wood I moved the thermostat up to 2 1/2 or 3 it had been running at about 1 1/2 or so the added air brought the cat back to life and away she went. It is almost 7pm now and the house is getting warmer still. I guess when the cat needle falls back maybe try just opening up the thermostat some.

 

[webby3650]

I burned all winter with my princess last year and then today I learned something new. I built the first fire of the year today a bunch of kindling and about 15 pieces of what I call biscuit wood. Small hardwood rounds about the size of a golf ball up to a tennis ball in diameter and 16" long, I set the thermostat to 1 1/2 or so, that was at noon.

At about 5pm I noticed the cat probe had moved back through the active zone to about 3/4 of an inch left of center. Still active but falling, I said well it only had a small amount of wood to work with,... it did well to last this long. I figured it was time to open the thermostat and then go get some more wood. When I opened the thermostat to wide open I got some flames and I could see most of the small wood was still there. So instead of adding more wood I moved the thermostat up to 2 1/2 or 3 it had been running at about 1 1/2 or so the added air brought the cat back to life and away she went. It is almost 7pm now and the house is getting warmer still. I guess when the cat needle falls back maybe try just opening up the thermostat some.

Bingo! If only more people would figure this out! It's an amazing piece of technology, but a little assistance here and there will alleviate a lot of the "smokey smell" problems a few people have.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I don't have any smoking problems unless I don't wait long enough before opening the door.

 

[Ashful]

I find this happens only on warmer days, Jeff.


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[Ashful]

Speaking of which, first fire of the season, near Philadelphia.

 

[webby3650]

I don't have any smoking problems unless I don't wait long enough before opening the door.

Some folks complain of a smoke or BBQ smell. It's strange and isolated for sure, typically short flues, on warmer days. I've experienced it, adjusting the thermostat takes care of it though. In some scenarios, an occasional adjustment is needed. It's a great system but it's not fully automatic for everyone. It's important to learn how to run the stove, rather than expect the stove run like you think it should run.

 

[Ashful]

New sofa, strategically placed between office tv and stove.




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[Highbeam]

I burned all winter with my princess last year and then today I learned something new. I built the first fire of the year today a bunch of kindling and about 15 pieces of what I call biscuit wood. Small hardwood rounds about the size of a golf ball up to a tennis ball in diameter and 16" long, I set the thermostat to 1 1/2 or so, that was at noon.

At about 5pm I noticed the cat probe had moved back through the active zone to about 3/4 of an inch left of center. Still active but falling, I said well it only had a small amount of wood to work with,... it did well to last this long. I figured it was time to open the thermostat and then go get some more wood. When I opened the thermostat to wide open I got some flames and I could see most of the small wood was still there. So instead of adding more wood I moved the thermostat up to 2 1/2 or 3 it had been running at about 1 1/2 or so the added air brought the cat back to life and away she went. It is almost 7pm now and the house is getting warmer still. I guess when the cat needle falls back maybe try just opening up the thermostat some.

That would be called a cat stall if it had fallen completely out which would have likely happened if you just waited longer. The stat setting was too low to sustain catalytic activity. In the summer (warm ambient), draft is weaker which pulls less air through the stat for a given setting. Less air to feed the fire and it dies. In the winter, the same stat setting that stalled the cat in the summer may provide plenty of combustion air due to stronger draft.

 

[kf6hap]

Mr Jones, I think the wood is a little too moist. Try charring it for 35 minutes at full thermostat before turning it down. Turn it down to half then after 10 minutes turn it to a lower setting that keeps the cat thermometer at 10: o'clock or higher. I formed some shiny creosote in the firebox last year but a hot burn took care of that. Expect smoke at start-up and turn down but it should abate within~10-15 minutes. Mine and many others run water clear for most of the burn cycle. Lots of smoke in the stove is good as the cat will consume it. Burn in "loads" never adding wood along the way. Stuff it full at the reload unless it is shoulder season and you want it to go out. Hope this helps.

 

[kf6hap]

For me, the BBQ "smoke smell" went away when I made my chimney correct. After a discussion with BKVP I found my no bends flue was high enough but too big in diameter-8" not the required 6". The fix was to shove single wall pipe down the 8" to shrink the diameter. Works great now.

 

[tarzan]

I burned all winter with my princess last year and then today I learned something new. I built the first fire of the year today a bunch of kindling and about 15 pieces of what I call biscuit wood. Small hardwood rounds about the size of a golf ball up to a tennis ball in diameter and 16" long, I set the thermostat to 1 1/2 or so, that was at noon.

At about 5pm I noticed the cat probe had moved back through the active zone to about 3/4 of an inch left of center. Still active but falling, I said well it only had a small amount of wood to work with,... it did well to last this long. I figured it was time to open the thermostat and then go get some more wood. When I opened the thermostat to wide open I got some flames and I could see most of the small wood was still there. So instead of adding more wood I moved the thermostat up to 2 1/2 or 3 it had been running at about 1 1/2 or so the added air brought the cat back to life and away she went. It is almost 7pm now and the house is getting warmer still. I guess when the cat needle falls back maybe try just opening up the thermostat some.

I'm sure you don't need any more verification but yeah, I agree with all above.

For example, I have my second fire of the season going now. Last night I set my thermostat at about 1.25 without the blower running. This morning at 40dF I woke up to a cat probe at about the noon position and stove top of 450dF. As the day progressed (got warmer than expected around 4:00pm) it was 60dF outside and cat probe was barely in the active range with stove top of 280dF. Now it's evening, (9:24pm) 48dF and the cat probe is comfortably back in the active range, stove top at about 310dF and I haven't touched a thing on the stove since about 8:00 last night.

That's cool as hell that it seems to self regulate for the shoulder season weather but it will level out once true cold weather gets here.

 

[webby3650]

I'm sure you don't need any more verification but yeah, I agree with all above.

For example, I have my second fire of the season going now. Last night I set my thermostat at about 1.25 without the blower running. This morning at 40dF I woke up to a cat probe at about the noon position and stove top of 450dF. As the day progressed (got warmer than expected around 4:00pm) it was 60dF outside and cat probe was barely in the active range with stove top of 280dF. Now it's evening, (9:24pm) 48dF and the cat probe is comfortably back in the active range, stove top at about 310dF and I haven't touched a thing on the stove since about 8:00 last night.

That's cool as hell that it seems to self regulate for the shoulder season weather but it will level out once true cold weather gets here.

It is cool!
Either your house is enormous or its freakin blazin hot in there!!

 

[tarzan]

It is cool!
Either your house is enormous or its freakin blazin hot in there!!

LOL, neither. I knew I would need a fire last night and tonight so after much debate on whether to build two seperate fires or just load the stove with enough wood to heat the house for two nights I chose the latter. I didn't expect it to hit 60d today but the weather man was wrong (go figure) so my wife opened some windows and managed to keep the place under 76d through the day.

PS, it's 75d in here now and I'm about to lose the battle to leave a couple windows open but I just as well get used to it now. She likes it that way in the winter and knows all about that little black knob on the side of the stove.

 

[dh1989]

My Sirocco 20 came to life this morning to start off the season. I came home from work (I work third shift) to a 62F house and outside was in the mid 40s. I used my formula of 1.5 lbs/degree day and loaded about 23 lbs of wood. I woke up in the afternoon to a 75F house and the cat just falling out of active range. My low tech paper clip indicator showed the cat meter peaked at the 2 o'clock position. Over 12 hrs later the house is holding low 70s so I will reload tomorrow.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Getting ticked off now. I don't know what the heck to do. I've spent so much money on this set up, and it still continues to smoke worse than my 1984 lopi slammer in my pic. I've done everything I can think of. Replaced everything I know to replace. Either there's a crack in the stove letting smoke bypass the cat, or something is up. My new liner isn't gonna last a year like this. It's sticky wet like crap in my stove building up, yet right now it's very volatile in there. Almost scary since my cat keeps glowing too much for my liking, so I open the bypass, and damp it down more. If I give it a little air, it wants to act like it's got burn tubes. That's not wet, that's lets burn mode. Feels great in here, but I go outside, and white smoke it billowing out.I'm running this stove the way it's supposed to be ran, slow and steady, and smokey, and the cat is supposed to do it's job eating the smoke and making heat. Well, it's getting plenty red hot, so I don't know where all this smoke is coming from. I'll make a vid of it when it's cold enough during the day to try this out. I get to the point I just wanna open the bypass and let er burn HOT and clean. The ONLY other thing I can think of is that I used regular caulk/silicone mix up on the chimney cap, between the top plate and the liner coming through to block any air getting out. Maybe that's getting super hot and smoking, but I doubt it.

Bought a tester. left, center, and right after splitting. 15, 16, 13.2. Average that out.

 

[tarzan]

Getting pssed off now. I don't know what the hell to do. I've spent so much money on this set up, and it still continues to smoke worse than my 1984 lopi slammer in my pic. I've done everything I can think of. Replaced everything I know to replace. Either there's a crack in the stove letting smoke bypass the cat, or something is up. My new liner isn't gonna last a year like this. It's sticky wet like crap in my stove building up, yet right now it's very volatile in there. Almost scary since my cat keeps glowing too much for my liking, so I open the bypass, and damp it down more. If I give it a little air, it wants to act like it's got burn tubes. That's not wet, that's lets burn mode. Feels great in here, but I go outside, and white smoke it billowing out.I'm running this stove the way it's supposed to be ran, slow and steady, and smokey, and the cat is supposed to do it's job eating the smoke and making heat. Well, it's getting plenty red hot, so I don't know where all this smoke is coming from. I'll make a vid of it when it's cold enough during the day to try this out. I get to the point I just wanna open the bypass and let er burn HOT and clean. The ONLY other thing I can think of is that I used regular caulk/silicone mix up on the chimney cap, between the top plate and the liner coming through to block any air getting out. Maybe that's getting super hot and smoking, but I doubt it.

Bought a tester. left, center, and right after splitting. 15, 16, 13.2. Average that out.

Do not open the bypass because the cat is glowing

 

[Mr. Jones]

Do not open the bypass because the cat is glowing

Is there a point that it glows too bright though? It's brand new. Keep hearing this over firing cat thing. It's cigarette lighter in car bright red. How in the heck is smoke making it past that? It's gotta be over 2k degrees. I don't have a way to measure it, and the cat guage doesn't react fast to it.

 

[Highbeam]

Is there a point that it glows too bright though? It's brand new. Keep hearing this over firing cat thing. It's cigarette lighter in car bright red. How in the heck is smoke making it past that? It's gotta be over 2k degrees. I don't have a way to measure it, and the cat guage doesn't react fast to it.

These stoves didn't even have Windows once upon a time. It will glow, a lot when new. Don't open the bypass. Let it work as designed. Bk says that the stove can't overheat the cat. They made the stove.

 

[Poindexter]

Bought a tester. left, center, and right after splitting. 15, 16, 13.2. Average that out.

I get about 14.6 % average MC. 12-16% is freaking ideal, you are golden on wood.

Do NOT open the bypass because the cat is glowing a color.

I guess I'll go back and read up what you have been through already, been chasing a gremlin of my own at this end.

Your wood, if it is all that dry, is not the problem.

 

[Woody harrelson]

LOL, neither. I knew I would need a fire last night and tonight so after much debate on whether to build two seperate fires or just load the stove with enough wood to heat the house for two nights I chose the latter. I didn't expect it to hit 60d today but the weather man was wrong (go figure) so my wife opened some windows and managed to keep the place under 76d through the day.

PS, it's 75d in here now and I'm about to lose the battle to leave a couple windows open but I just as well get used to it now. She likes it that way in the winter and knows all about that little black knob on the side of the stove.

how do you like the steelcat, and did you end up wrapping it in gasket material or leaving it as is?