2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Woody Stover]

Read through a few posts regarding the Condar gasket vs no gasket issue. BK still recommends a gasket so that's the way I will go. But I do have a few questions about this. Condar website states that if the cat is not canned then use a gasket, no gasket if canned.
1. Once expanded does the gasket re-shrink or stay expanded?
2. Do you think that their reasoning for no gasket is because there is already one between the can and the cat? The can looks to be made to expand but I'm not sure that's possible after it's been expanded once. Curious if anyone has checked if the cat is tight once the stove is hot.
My cat is loose so I'm going to get a gasket. I'm just trying to understand the disparity between BK and Condar since they are the major suppliers of cats for the stoves

That's a Princess, correct? If you get a steel cat (make sure it's a DuraFoil, which I think is what BK supplies,) it may not need interam gasket. I got a DuraFoil from Woodstock for my SIL's Fireview, no interam gasket needed but the can had ears with which you bolt the cat down to seal against the "cat-hole gasket." Bottom line, you need some way to force all the smoke through the cat once the bypass is closed. In the manual, they show the BK cat wrapped with interam and shoved into the housing, so I'm guessing it is needed to seal it.

 

[lsucet]

as to the fan/stat plan- thats a great idea. we have the fan outlet hooked to a switch as well. right now i have iit plugged into a cheap timer. i have it cycling on and off at one hour intervals and its woriking great extending my burn times and not making the house too hot. fan on low, stove set on med-low (about 2:30) on the dial

that is what i was using till Saturday in the outlet. A timer with up to eight programming. i had it 2hrs on and 2hrs off. always the fan running on low. but i think that maybe sometimes was on and i do not need it. I want to see how it will work with the wall thermostat going by room temp.

 

[lsucet]

I'd suggest sticking with a low stove thermostat and fan setting; that way when the fan goes off and on the stove doesn't get extremely hot, or too cold to work efficiently.

thank you for the advise, i will keep that in mind.

 

[Highbeam]

I run one stove on 12-hour burns, so likely harder than you, but the other is dialed in for 24-hour reloads, and it stays as clean as the other. What's your chimney height, Highbeam?

How about this for a deep thought.... Your 24 burn on a full load of oak will be producing much more heat and therefor higher flue temps than my 24 hour burn on a full load of doug fir and/or red alder. That's probably also the reason you are able to get 36 hours or more on a load of the denser oak but I would warn that if you are trying to be super awesome and get a lot of 36 hour burns that you watch your flue temps or you may suffer the same way I did with creosote accumulation. You can't just depend on an active cat.

From top of stove to top of class A pipe is 12' and 1". The manual required 12' or more so I am meeting the design parameters. BK tells us that more would be better, I would love 18', but I can't go any taller on my flue without adding stupid looking roof braces for the pipe so 12' is it.

 

[kennyp2339]

on the cap issue- yes. my cap was very much like highbeams. my sweep took it off, stuffed it with newspaper and lit it off

My cap is usually disgusting by the end of the season, Since I normally start lighting the stove in October (partial burns) then burn full time from November onward, I try to do a cleaning between x-mas week and new years, I will try your method of stuffing the cap with newspaper and burning it off, seems like a legit idea and easier than trying to scrub the top underside with a metal brush getting full of soot.

 

[kf6hap]

I guess a lot of caps look pretty bad at the end of the season because they allow even the slightest breeze to cool the cap and pipe to below the condensing point. Mine looked ok this year but if I have a lot of very low slow shoulder season burning it might gook up so, I am looking at what is available for caps. BKs operate very differently than a air tube stove. A wind shielded unit might improve things. SuperVent 8"

 

[Woody Stover]

my cap was very much like highbeams. my sweep took it off, stuffed it with newspaper and lit it off.

Lemme guess....this guy is not a CSIA-certified sweep, is he?

 

[Ashful]

How about this for a deep thought.... Your 24 burn on a full load of oak will be producing much more heat and therefor higher flue temps than my 24 hour burn on a full load of doug fir and/or red alder. That's probably also the reason you are able to get 36 hours or more on a load of the denser oak but I would warn that if you are trying to be super awesome and get a lot of 36 hour burns that you watch your flue temps or you may suffer the same way I did with creosote accumulation. You can't just depend on an active cat.

From top of stove to top of class A pipe is 12' and 1". The manual required 12' or more so I am meeting the design parameters. BK tells us that more would be better, I would love 18', but I can't go any taller on my flue without adding stupid looking roof braces for the pipe so 12' is it.

That's something to consider. The 36 hour burns were just a "prove it can do it" thing, not my normal burn mode. My thermostat is always set to give me 24 hour burns on the shorter chimney, in the part of the house where I need less heat, or 12 hour burns on the taller chimney.

I can say my cat is almost always still hovering at the low end of active right up to loading time. Maybe this is different for oak vs. other woods.

I had asked about chimney height because I was wondering if a very tall chimney might allow more opportunity for gasses to cool, and make condensation at the cap worse. Clearly not the case, in your setup.

 

[tarzan]

I guess a lot of caps look pretty bad at the end of the season because they allow even the slightest breeze to cool the cap and pipe to below the condensing point. Mine looked ok this year but if I have a lot of very low slow shoulder season burning it might gook up so, I am looking at what is available for caps. BKs operate very differently than a air tube stove. A wind shielded unit might improve things. SuperVent 8"

That's my theory. Most of us are "living right" here when it comes to wood burning, so to speak. BK flue temps are low compared to other stoves to begin with. Add to that the cap and the last few inches of pipe are exposed to the outside elements so therefor we have less control over the buildup that happens there.

I run my stove just barely into the active range often and my chimney has so far been brown and dusty except the cap and top few inches. I just consider this to be the residual effects of running a very efficient stove.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Than

If cat goes inactive late in burn cycle, no issue. But if you're running full burn cycles with an inactive cat, you may plug it, which can be a mess to undo.

Thanks Ashful
I always have an active cat but that incident got me to thinking what if I did not show up when I did is all. Thanks for you're opinion.

 

[Woody Stover]

look for smoke when going low and slow.

That was going to be my suggestion, don't believe the "active" reading when running low, but this post would seem to indicate you are keeping an eye on that. As long as there's no gooey stuff in the chimney, just on the cap, I don't think it's much to worry about unless there was enough build-up to inhibit draft. I usually have some flaky black stuff in the top few feet of the liner, where the masonry gets above the roof line.
I have 16' insulated liner in an exterior masonry chimney, and usually don't mess with the cap during the season. Not sure what flue temps I am running since all I have is a surface meter lying on top of the horizontal tee snout about 6" behind the flue exit. I think I have 300 or more there with the cat glowing on a new load...I'll have to look again. Not sure what this would translate to on a flue probe 18" up...

 

[Poindexter]

maybe, I was really wondering if the stove running in the ( in-active ) zone was bad, as in damage the cat.

Nope, ur good. no harm to cat. went through this my first season, talked it over with @BKVP , no worries, no warranty issues.

 

[jetsam]

Highbeam's gooey cap got me all worried, since I burn wet wood frequently and burn very low to boot- so I got up there and did my "end of shoulder season" sweep today. The cap had a moderate amount of crunchy black creosote on it, but the flue looked pretty clean before I even started.

No goo in either location!

(The photo is before sweeping, not after. That's august-december's buildup. It amounted to a bit less than a cup of crud.)

 

[rdust]

Highbeam's gooey cap got me all worried, since I burn wet wood frequently and burn very low to boot- so I got up there and did my "end of shoulder season" sweep today. The cap had a moderate amount of crunchy black creosote on it, but the flue looked pretty clean before I even started.

No goo in either location!

(The photo is before sweeping, not after. That's august-december's buildup. It amounted to a bit less than a cup of crud.)

View attachment 189518

Mine is always pretty dirty similar to what highbeam gets with his. Mine looks nothing like yours.

 

[webby3650]

Mine is always pretty dirty similar to what highbeam gets with his. Mine looks nothing like yours.

I'm very surprised, I have never had anything but like what is pictured after a full season.

 

[jetsam]

I won't even bother to clean mine again until late spring - I get that buildup in shoulder season, not on cold weather.

 

[lsucet]

what you guys think about CREOSOTE SWEEPING LOGS. are they any good with cat stoves?

 

[webby3650]

what you guys think about CREOSOTE SWEEPING LOGS. are they any good with cat stoves?

Waste of money!

 

[tarzan]

what you guys think about CREOSOTE SWEEPING LOGS. are they any good with cat stoves?

I'll second what Webby said and add that BKVP is strongly against using them in BK's.

 

[lsucet]

I'll second what Webby said and add that BKVP is strongly against using them in BK's.

I was just asking because of this commercial coming on TV from a local stove place. I know they are not BK dealers but I assume they sale cat stoves.

 

[webby3650]

They in no way replace a chimney cleaning. They simply loosen up the glazed creosote to make it easier to remove, their performance is up for debate. I'd save my money!

 

[kf6hap]

Since the bad creosoting is only at the very top of the flue, it seems to me treating the area of concern is the answer, not running the stove hotter. The only way I can think of doing this is by replacing the cap that will not let "cold" intrude. I always wondered why the domed water shedding top was not double insulated. Snow/ice buildup prevention?

 

[SCOTT S.]

I'm sure this has been covered I searched and didn't find anything. I cracked a few fire bricks in the back of the ashford and was wondering if I need BK bricks or are the ones at Home Depot ok?

 

[tarzan]

Since the bad creosoting is only at the very top of the flue, it seems to me treating the area of concern is the answer, not running the stove hotter. The only way I can think of doing this is by replacing the cap that will not let "cold" intrude. I always wondered why the domed water shedding top was not double insulated. Snow/ice buildup prevention?

But is there any real danger in the cap being covered in creosote? It looks bad and can be a bother to clean but the only real problem would be clogging (if you run a screen) and deterioration of the cap.

 

[Woody Stover]

what you guys think about CREOSOTE SWEEPING LOGS.

All cat stove manuals advise against burning anything but cordwood since other materials can damage the cat.