2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[BKVP]

I just upgraded my Sirocco to a convection deck and blower. It seems that the cat probe thermometer no longer registers properly. I have the deck that the thermometer sits on top of (not the recessed one). The deck raises the probe out of the stove about 1 1/2-2". My stove top was 500 and the probe read inactive. I trusted my gut and flipped the bypass and the cat glowed bright orange (active). Note the fans were off the whole time. The probe eventually went active but much later than normal with the fire raging. Do I need a longer probe?

Another question. I adjusted the bypass tension and I can make the gasket tight on the dollar bill test at the front and sides. The back side (back of stove) wouldn't tighten down and the dollar bill still pulled out. I was afraid to crank the nut down any more or it may break off. Nothing seems warped as I shined a flashlight in from above and saw no light. Is my gasket really bad after one season? Everything runs fine With minimal smoke.

All sounds good. There are two lengths of probes, so ask dealer to get you the longer version.

 

[begreen]

Ha OK didn't even realize it thought it was reflection of some sort. Thank you.

Yes, I had the same thought at first. It's subtle, more like pinstriping.

 

[Gotrek]

I like it that's what I'm going to get

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[Ashful]

I also read that your unit is all installed, but I will make you this offer. If you wish to bring it over to us in Walla Walla, we can check it out and see of there is an issue.

I'm impressed, Chris. In addition to phenomenal performance, this is a big part of the reason we admire ablaze King.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Niko]

I'm getting a nice smell of smoke coming from my cat probe. Especially when I come back to the stove when she is in the inactive zone. Is this telling me I need a new cat gasket?

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm getting a nice smell of smoke coming from my cat probe.

It's really nice if you have some Black Cherry or Hickory in there. I guess you could put in a few drops of some essential oils as well, but I'm not sure if they are cat-safe.

 

[dh1989]

All sounds good. There are two lengths of probes, so ask dealer to get you the longer version.

I have a 4" probe. The new convection deck raises it out by about 1 1/2". Is there a longer one that I need? I started my stove last night and saw my flue probe heading for 700F and stovetop 300+F. The cat thermometer read half way up the inactive zone. I closed the bypass and the cat glowed. The cat probe rose to active but didn't go higher than 11 o'clock. Readings taken with fans off. At this point I'm just closing the bypass at 300F stovetop and ignoring the cat gauge, as it no longer seems to help me run the stove. Note that before the deck the cat gauge went active with the stovetop around 200F/flue pipe around 400F and I never had a cat stall when I closed the bypass (meaning the gauge wasn't reading too high).

 

[Niko]

It's really nice if you have some Black Cherry or Hickory in there. I guess you could put in a few drops of some essential oils as well, but I'm not sure if they are cat-safe.

I meant to say a bad smell, i can smell like smoke or kinda like Un burnt wood. Anyone ever have this smell? I'm thinking maybe cat gasket needs replacing? When the cat is in the active zone I smell nothing. When the probe starts to drop like on a overnight burn the smell does come back. It's like smoke or something is finding it's way out the cat probe hole.

 

[webby3650]

I'm getting a nice smell of smoke coming from my cat probe. Especially when I come back to the stove when she is in the inactive zone. Is this telling me I need a new cat gasket?

No, it's telling you that you have poor draft under these conditions. It's prone to "smell" once your flue gases cool and your draft takes a nose dive.

 

[Niko]

No, it's telling you that you have poor draft under these conditions. It's prone to "smell" once your flue gases cool and your draft takes a nose dive.

This has never happened in the 3 years of owning it. Im running the same conditions and thermostat settings. 90 percent of the time its on the N for normal. What is the lowst temps the black pipe inside the house be at before the draft reverses itself?

 

[webby3650]

This has never happened in the 3 years of owning it. Im running the same conditions and thermostat settings. 90 percent of the time its on the N for normal. What is the lowst temps the black pipe inside the house be at before the draft reverses itself?

Maybe your cat has some wear on it after 3 years of use and you'll need to run it on the O of normal. I had some odor with the Ashford when I ran it that low for a long period of time. I'd just turn up the stat a little, no big deal.

 

[Highbeam]

I meant to say a bad smell, i can smell like smoke or kinda like Un burnt wood. Anyone ever have this smell? I'm thinking maybe cat gasket needs replacing? When the cat is in the active zone I smell nothing. When the probe starts to drop like on a overnight burn the smell does come back. It's like smoke or something is finding it's way out the cat probe hole.

Your cat gasket leaking will have no effect on smoke coming out of the stove. It is an internal gasket, any leaks just mean smoke not passing through the converter and resulting in higher emissions.

Smoke coming out of the stove is caused by low draft strength. Not necessarily a reverse of draft, just slow enough that the smoke finds it easier to puff out of gasket leaks than up through the chimney.

 

[kf6hap]

After improving the draft on my stove, the smoke smell problem went away. The stove is in a constant slight negative pressure but if it gets too feeble, "smoke smell" happens. A few feet of additional flue stack might help.

 

[ejn327]

I've been able to run several fires in our new Sirocco 25 insert now. It definitely throws out some heat! I've been trying different log configurations trying to get a good overnight burn. Most of my fires have dwindled to small coals after about 7-8 hrs max. I have it loaded up tonight with some shorter splits running N/S. Here's the stove about an hour and a half into the burn, thermostat's been on low for a half hour and there is some great flames yet.

 

[webby3650]

I've been able to run several fires in our new Sirocco 25 insert now. It definitely throws out some heat! I've been trying different log configurations trying to get a good overnight burn. Most of my fires have dwindled to small coals after about 7-8 hrs max. I have it loaded up tonight with some shorter splits running N/S. Here's the stove about an hour and a half into the burn, thermostat's been on low for a half hour and there is some great flames yet.

That certainly doesn't look like a BK on low... 7-8 hours doesn't sound right either. Very interesting. I don't suppose your chimney is excessively tall?

 

[ejn327]

That certainly doesn't look like a BK on low... 7-8 hours doesn't sound right either. Very interesting. I don't suppose your chimney is excessively tall?

My chimney is about 17 feet tall. It's an exterior chimney with an insulated liner. After another the flames have died down. A lot of the wood is down to coals too. I'm sure I'll be up letting th dogs out in the middle of ththe night so I can check on it after a few more hours.
After firing up your stove, how quick do your flames die down when the t-stat is set to low?

 

[lsucet]

My chimney is about 17 feet tall. It's an exterior chimney with an insulated liner. After another the flames have died down. A lot of the wood is down to coals too. I'm sure I'll be up letting th dogs out in the middle of ththe night so I can check on it after a few more hours.
After firing up your stove, how quick do your flames die down when the t-stat is set to low?

Hi. i have the princess ultra and i do not know if is the same with your insert but this is how mine react.
I burn it hot for 30 or 40 minutes after loaded about 3/4 then I dial it down first till i notice that the activity of the flame starts going slower. that is some where in the 4 o'clock vicinity, then let it burn there for another maybe 5 more minutes and i dial it again about maybe between 2 and 3 o'clock . at that point i see the flame almost going off and it picks some secondaries.

most of the times 5 minutes later there is no more flame (MAYBE SOME SECONDARIES HERE AND THERE) but that is it. then i dial it to low maybe a little after 1 o'clock for the rest of burn. at that time no more flames unless i dial it up in the morning for the sake of play around with but not because i need to do it. the house is fine, I just want to touch something, do something. LOL LOL.

Yes, it is boring.

 

[Ashful]

After firing up your stove, how quick do your flames die down when the t-stat is set to low?

Run on high about 10 minutes, getting entire load charred, and cat near active zone. Then close bypass, and watch cat take off. Turn on blower after confirming needle is in active. Run on high another 20 minutes, then turn to desired setting. Flames die instantly, or within maybe 30 seconds.

 

[Chamel]

I don't mean to change the subject. I just have a quick question I hope someone can answer. I've decided I don't want to use ash dump in my sirocco 30. I'd rather just shovel out the ashes. Is it ok leave the original ash channel seal and plug in place? I don't want my shovel getting stuck on the loop of the other ash plug. See pics.

 

[Ashful]

Wow... never seen a "loop-less" plug, like that. My stoves both came with just a single plug, and it has the lifting eye atop.

 

[Chamel]

came with just a single plug, and it has the lifting eye atop.

Weird. Mine came with the plug with the loop too. It's just not installed yet. I was wondering if I could just keep the bottom plate and flat plug on. The flat one doesn't move. It's somehow being held by the bottom plate on the stove.

another pic with the bricks removed:

 

[ejn327]

So with that same fire as before the cat needle is just falling out of the active zone, only a few small chunks of wood left. This picture is about 5 hours after starting the fire, could something be wrong with my thermostat? Is there a way to check it?
The wood I am burning is ash with moisture content around 18-20 %

 

[webby3650]

Run on high about 10 minutes, getting entire load charred, and cat near active zone. Then close bypass, and watch cat take off. Turn on blower after confirming needle is in active. Run on high another 20 minutes, then turn to desired setting. Flames die instantly, or within maybe 30 seconds.

same here

 

[tarzan]

I can only speak for my stove but when I turn the thermostat down to a low setting it's usually running on ghost flames by the time I can walk away and set down.

If the stove is hot, like just after a 20 to 30 minute burn on high with a full fuel load, a thermostat adjustment provides a near instant change in the fire box.

As example, turning the thermostat down almost immediately snuffs the wood flames but if I decide to turn the thermostat back up a few minutes later, right back to the same flame show.

 

[ejn327]

I can only speak for my stove but when I turn the thermostat down to a low setting it's usually running on ghost flames by the time I can walk away and set down.

If the stove is hot, like just after a 20 to 30 minute burn on high with a full fuel load, a thermostat adjustment provides a near instant change in the fire box.

As example, turning the thermostat down almost immediately snuffs the wood flames but if I decide to turn the thermostat back up a few minutes later, right back to the same flame show.

That is definitely not the case with mine. If I turn down the t-stat from high down to low I'll have large flames for 1 hour +