2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Marshy]

Ive been loaded west to east because all my wood is cut 18-22". I might change that in the future though.

 

[MtnBURN]

@Tar12 ...... just curious.... where'd ya end up on the stove pipe height? Good to see you got things going......

 

[rdust]

My learning curve had to be fast and furious with the Princess as it has been unseasonably cold here in Indiana. Thankfully my 2 weeks of vacation got extended by a week due to the weather! That almost broke my heart! lol This allowed some quality time with the stove...lol I have been pushing the stove pretty hard in these temps and looking forwards to the break in the weather coming up..View attachment 192223 View attachment 192224

Looks like you filled it with kindling! To much work to split that small!

 

[rdust]

 

[Ashful]

Do you must of you guys use more smaller splits to fill the stove or do you put in big splits with air gaps?

I use whatever mix of splits it takes to fill every last air gap. I love it when I come across a batch of square splits in my pile, as I'll stack 'em like bricks in the stove.

 

[Tar12]

@Tar12 ...... just curious.... where'd ya end up on the stove pipe height? Good to see you got things going......

12.6 ft and its working great with a excellent draft! As a matter of fact before I fired the stove up I put smoke by the open door and it sucked it right up on a cold stove so I knew I was good and was very happy about that!

 

[Tar12]

Looks like you filled it with kindling! To much work to split that small!

My sons friend had a young locust grove he wanted gone. There was nothing very big in there. Most everything was split once...hence the kindling fire...lol My oak and ash are split much larger. I will use the locust to fill gaps with. My kindling fire won't last as long as I want to sleep in tomorrow. I already have a load of oak in the wings waiting...

 

[volunbeer]

Anecdotally, the big splits of better wood did not appear to last any longer than the smaller splits of lower quality wood. Go figure.

I am definitely going to be splitting much larger than I did last year simply to save myself the work. It is nice to have smaller stuff though so you can fill in gaps. I still have about 5 cords of smaller stuff and about 3 cords of larger splits. I also have a cord of ugly stuff that is shorter and all kinds of shapes. Trying to get wife to throw in a few pieces while we run this thing harder during the day. It's all BTU's

 

[Tar12]

As I suspected the smaller locust did not last as long as the bigger oak splits and coaled much faster but put out some good heat none the less.I have a bunch of odd ball pieces as well and try to burn that stuff up...especially on the weekends when we are here.If I can get it in the door it gets burned! lol

 

[tarzan]

Ideally I like a mixed bag of split sizes and rounds so I can get every gap filled. It also allows me to procrastinate on ash removal, which I like

I lay all the ends and catywompused pieces that I come across on top of the next row of splits to burn on days when I'm home.

 

[kennyp2339]

When temps are from the low 20's and above I do EW loads, as soon as we drop down to the teens and below I go NS, I see a big difference with that, I cut my wood fairly uniform so it doesn't matter, but I do like those packed fire box pics...keep them coming.

 

[kf6hap]

In all of my previous stoves, I did not dare pack the firebox full like I do the Ashford as the combustion rate was largely dictated by what was loaded and how it was loaded. "Trick" burning was the order of the day. For example, at reload rake all coals to the left and choke it down so as to control the wood's progression of ignition thus elongating the burn. EW vs NS burning. Choke to the smoke point. Those days are gone with the BK stoves.

 

[aansorge]

I put in a new Condar steel cat as my first cat was getting tired. While I could have gotten by with the old cat for a while longer, a fresh cat is more fun!

It lights off quick (being a metal cat) and (of course) stays active much longer due to being fresh.

The condar is gasketless and slide right in. I struggled mightily with getting in the first cat (I bought my King used). It was a ceramic with a gasket and I couldn't get it flush with the housing and some of the gasket material buldged back out.

So far, the metal cat gets a thumbs up!

 

[Tar12]

I put in a new Condar steel cat as my first cat was getting tired. While I could have gotten by with the old cat for a while longer, a fresh cat is more fun!

It lights off quick (being a metal cat) and (of course) stays active much longer due to being fresh.

The condar is gasketless and slide right in. I struggled mightily with getting in the first cat (I bought my King used). It was a ceramic with a gasket and I couldn't get it flush with the housing and some of the gasket material buldged back out.

So far, the metal cat gets a thumbs up!

Is there a lot of slop? If so will there be any issues? I ask because I thought the BKs had to have the gasket?

 

[kf6hap]

This question has come up many times.The bottom line is: BKVP, THE man in the know, says All BKs require a gasket. If run without one for a while I don't think it hurts but get one eventually as it is not recommended. For precisely what bad things might happen, others might chime in.

 

[Ashful]

This question has come up many times.The bottom line is: BKVP, THE man in the know, says All BKs require a gasket. If run without one for a while I don't think it hurts but get one eventually as it is not recommended. For precisely what bad things might happen, others might chime in.

Exactly, the consensus opinion here is that even with the Condar, you should use a gasket to close the gap.

 

[shoot-straight]

Anyone else's ashford make a clang or two during the burn? Pretty loud clang too. Sounds like it's the bypass damper.

Did a dollar bill test this fall and all seemed ok.

 

[kf6hap]

Perhaps the bypass was almost shut and heat made it shut? My Ashford is nearly silent. I can hear the tinkel of the cat as it heats and the OAK air going in but this is all very low level sound.

 

[moresnow]

Anyone else's ashford make a clang or two during the burn? Pretty loud clang too. Sounds like it's the bypass damper.

Did a dollar bill test this fall and all seemed ok.

Yes. Most noticeable after a reload. Almost startles me sometimes! Sirocco model here.

 

[Ashful]

Anyone else's ashford make a clang or two during the burn? Pretty loud clang too. Sounds like it's the bypass damper.

Did a dollar bill test this fall and all seemed ok.

Both of my Ashfords are dead silent, except the low white noise of my fans always idling on low. My Jotuls used to ping a lot, so much I could almost drive them blindfolded, just by the sounds they'd make on the way up and way down.

 

[Niko]

If the cat stalls at night then your stat setting is too low. Move it up in small increments (half letters) until this doesn't happen anymore. If moving the stat up to a setting that prevents stall overnight is too hot for your home then your stove is oversized for what you are trying to do.

First off, get rid of the stove top meter. They are not functional on a cat stove that has a single hot spot above the cat. As much as I hate to say so, I would rather you use the cat meter than a stove top meter when judging stove output.

Then, yes, you are making huge stat changes. Move the stat by small amounts, like from the middle of the N to the space between the N and the O. Half letters. Very small changes in stat settings make a big difference. Be patient and allow the stove to reach the new setpoint after a change in stat position. This could take hours. My low (24 hour burn) setting is at the O. My high setting for 12 hour burns is at the midpoint of the normal range which is halfway between the R and the M. The entire "normal" operating range for me exists within 1.5 letters. You need to get your head down there and be precise. I know that some folks in extreme climates use a wider range of stat settings and every stove is different but I think we all can agree that small changes make a big difference.

The stove is supposed to be super hot, be patient.

Ok so after some nights of testing something weird is going on. I have my t stat now on the R/M of the normal, this is the highest setting i have had the stove on since 2 years eecially for over night burns. Minus the parts where I run it hot for 30 min to clean the glass. So my setting is higher wood is good, but my cat is acting really low and it is real cold out. the first night i used this setting everything was perfect, the second night and thereafter the cat has been acting real low.

I added a small fan in the room to blow on me not on the stove cause the room was hotter the first 24 hrs. Now tho after a couple of days the stove and the room are not gerting as hot as they did when i orginally turned the T stat up to the new r/m setting. Can the added very small fan be messing things up? It's a small ass windows fan i have on the ground blowing towards me.

 

[raypa]

Sorry for the delay. Busy weekend. Here is my chimney. I am noticing that I'm getting watery creosote coming back through the thimble if I don't open fire it enough when I load up wood. I need to leave my door cracked until my chimney temp is 400-500. Once this is done, It seems to be ok. I'm still thinking about tearing out the thimble and installing the new one to pitch away from the house slightly so i don't get the creosote rolling down the wall.

 

[tarzan]

Ok so after some nights of testing something weird is going on. I have my t stat now on the R/M of the normal, this is the highest setting i have had the stove on since 2 years eecially for over night burns. Minus the parts where I run it hot for 30 min to clean the glass. So my setting is higher wood is good, but my cat is acting really low and it is real cold out. the first night i used this setting everything was perfect, the second night and thereafter the cat has been acting real low.

I added a small fan in the room to blow on me not on the stove cause the room was hotter the first 24 hrs. Now tho after a couple of days the stove and the room are not gerting as hot as they did when i orginally turned the T stat up to the new r/m setting. Can the added very small fan be messing things up? It's a small ass windows fan i have on the ground blowing towards me.

Is it possible your cat needs brushed off? Mine clogged last season with similar symptoms.

 

[Niko]

Is it possible your cat needs brushed off? Mine clogged last season with similar symptoms.

Maybe ill check when i get home. When I left the cat was well in the active zone but my t stat was set a lil higher, I have it set at M wjere the other days it was at R.

Still learning maybe she was clogged a lil.

 

[Gforcefd]

Do the princess stoves have the same smoke smell problem as the ashfords? I need to call my dealer to come out and give my setup a look over, but if they can't find anything wrong it might be time to look at another stove. I reworked the double wall stove pipe so I now have 3 foot of straight up, then a 45, then 1 foot, and another 45 straight up the interior triple wall all the way out. Somewhere around 20 foot of chimney in total. Draft seems great, but after reloads for a couple hours I still have that sick sweet cresote smell. If they can't find anything wrong or identify the problem I am probably going to take a loss and trade or sell it. No sense in it just sitting their looking pretty if I can't burn with it. Good thing propane is cheap this year.