2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[WoodyIsGoody]

Ok. The dealer I bought the BK from called and flexed their incompetence. That is the only stove I really want, but it looks like I'm back in the market for a stove that has honest, hardworking support staff. Unfortunately the other close dealer for blaze king is too far away. It is part my fault though. The last couple times that I went through that dealer they hacked the propane inserts. Being a building contractor, I just won't refer them to customers, or use them for any new construction. The last two kids they sent out were too young to shave, and when I got into the attic to seal the chase up, the pipe wasn't even connected right. I wonder if Blaze King knows?

Unfortunately, this kind of unprofessional "professional" installer is a huge problem these days and it's not limited to the hearth industry. It's rampant across pretty much all trades. My theory is all the money is flowing to big business like cable, wireless, loans, banking credit cards, phone providers, big construction, law firms, Wall Street and equities, CEO's and management, etc. and there's not much left for the working guy. So you get inexperienced youngsters or adults forced into a trade they have no background in. And it often doesn't pay enough to really live on because people need to buy insurance, healthcare, education, etc. Even some people who have been in the hearth industry for years are not that good because, for whatever reason, they never developed good critical thinking skills or just don't care.

Why don't you buy the stove for self-pick-up and install it yourself. That's what I did and I'm confident I have a better install than if one of the local dealers sent one of their "professionals" out.

 

[Beldin]

Haven't given up on that ashford. Just going to wait until I can bamboozle someone out of one. I am not going to beg them for my business. I'm too old to be chasing around hard to get maidens. On a side note, I did get to see an Ashley burning on dead standing lodgepole today. Loved it. Turns out my friend that I don't see much has one. He absolutely loves it. On his fourth or fifth year. That was at 1000 hours. It was loaded the night before at 2000 hours. The glass was clean, the burn had hours yet, and that excites me when it gets cold. I want a new stove that is easy to enjoy nowadays

 

[Ashful]

@Beldin, I also had a disheartening experience with the BK dealer closest to my house. He actually spent the last 20 minutes of my visit bragging about how he abused some of his customers houses (my favorite story involved him wearing old-school steel spike golf cleats on customers' asphalt shingle roofs!). The good news is that I found three other BK dealers within an hour of my house, and someone here on this forum (it may have been BKVP) was good enough to recommend one of them. It ended up being a great experience, and they still do all of my stove and chimney service.

I'd encourage you to look around, and find another BK dealer, if you had an issue with this one.

 

[Alpine1]

Well, I bought an Ashford 30.1 and installed it all by myself. Just yesterday I got a clean 24 hours burn out of a full load of Norway spruce (picea abies) with the t-stat set on 3 o'clock. I'm trying to stall the cat today, just to see how low I can go. Buy that BK and install it, it's not rocket science

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Well, I bought an Ashford 30.1 and installed it all by myself. Just yesterday I got a clean 24 hours burn out of a full load of Norway spruce (picea abies) with the t-stat set on 3 o'clock. I'm trying to stall the cat today, just to see how low I can go. Buy that BK and install it, it's not rocket science

I turned the thermostat on my new Chinook all the way down, as far as it would go, and the cat didn't stall for many hours, only when the load had burned out to just a small pile of coals. It was a mixed load of mostly Alder and Maple with a bit of Madrone and Hemlock (all small splits).

 

[jetsam]

Ok. The dealer I bought the BK from called and flexed their incompetence. That is the only stove I really want, but it looks like I'm back in the market for a stove that has honest, hardworking support staff. Unfortunately the other close dealer for blaze king is too far away. It is part my fault though. The last couple times that I went through that dealer they hacked the propane inserts. Being a building contractor, I just won't refer them to customers, or use them for any new construction. The last two kids they sent out were too young to shave, and when I got into the attic to seal the chase up, the pipe wasn't even connected right. I wonder if Blaze King knows?

My local dealer subcontracted my install out to a crew that had never heard of a blockoff plate. After I learned a few things about insert installs, I had to pull everything out, insulate, and install a plate. The part that gets me is the insane price that I paid them so that I could do it over myself next season. Oh yes, and I got to spend the whole time they were doing the install pulling a new circuit for the blower, because the dealer's idea of what was covered by the install price didn't match the subcontractor's.

I guess they did carry the stove inside, that was very helpful, which is more than I can say for anything the dealer did.

Still, Never Again. I will buy only used stoves if that's what it takes to avoid dealing with a dealer.

It's the internet age; hopefully simple market pressure will force most or all manufacturers to deal with the public directly soon. (I want this for motor vehicles even more than I want it for stoves!)

I won't ditch BK because of their antique sales policies though- not until someone shows me stove that is just as good, anyway.

 

[Ashful]

I did my own hookup, as well. I paid delivery, which included carrying the stoves into the house, and setting them on the hearth. Well-worth every penny, especially when moving four stoves in one day (two old out, two new in).

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

My local dealer subcontracted my install out to a crew that had never heard of a blockoff plate. After I learned a few things about insert installs, I had to pull everything out, insulate, and install a plate. The part that gets me is the insane price that I paid them so that I could do it over myself next season. Oh yes, and I got to spend the whole time they were doing the install pulling a new circuit for the blower, because the dealer's idea of what was covered by the install price didn't match the subcontractor's.

Crazy, but business as usual.

I won't ditch BK because of their antique sales policies though- not until someone shows me stove that is just as good, anyway.

If you pick the stove up yourself, you can buy from any BK dealer. Or you could have your contractor of choice pick it up and install it. It's too bad there are dealers that are less than professional but this is true in all industries. It's probably worse in the wood burning industry. What specifically are these outdated sales policies you mentioned?

 

[Beldin]

I am suppose to find out today where I can go to pick up in Washington state. I told myself, that I would never return to the west coast but after sleeping on it that's the plan. And maybe I can get a trucker friend of mine to drag it back. He has to dead head back to Montana every two weeks anyway.

Woody, the sales practices are probably current. I'm outdated instead. A young girl sold me the Ashley, and then drop a sneaky email saying that the 5 to 10 business day install is void. I called another college kid that works there, and she told me no. They haven't been able to do installs that quick since the end of may. LIED too me for two hours they did. I called that place out on it, and now they say they don't have the ability to install.

I'm probably just embarrassed of being bamboozled by a bunch of yuppies. Montana is getting weird too now.

 

[kennyp2339]

I am suppose to find out today where I can go to pick up in Washington state. I told myself, that I would never return to the west coast but after sleeping on it that's the plan. And maybe I can get a trucker friend of mine to drag it back. He has to dead head back to Montana every two weeks anyway.

Woody, the sales practices are probably current. I'm outdated instead. A young girl sold me the Ashley, and then drop a sneaky email saying that the 5 to 10 business day install is void. I called another college kid that works there, and she told me no. They haven't been able to do installs that quick since the end of may. LIED too me for two hours they did. I called that place out on it, and now they say they don't have the ability to install.

I'm probably just embarrassed of being bamboozled by a bunch of yuppies. Montana is getting weird too now.

Chances are that some stove shops have a "preferred" contractor list and don't turn wrenches, back in the days when I use to sling boilers around we had a contract with sears company to do work in a specific geographical location, the problem that we ran into was that sears company was cut throat, we agreed to install boilers and furnaces for a certain price, they're sales reps made deals to sell units to customers that required much more extensive work than what our contract stipulated, but they didn't want to pay us any extra for time and labor. We as installers were so happy when that contract expired, I remember my boss kept getting phone calls from sears for the next year begging us to come back, which never happened. So perhaps the same issue has happened with your stove shop in question.

 

[jetsam]

I did my own hookup, as well. I paid delivery, which included carrying the stoves into the house, and setting them on the hearth. Well-worth every penny, especially when moving four stoves in one day (two old out, two new in).

But in my imagination, you welded together a hydraulic stair-climbing indoor stove tractor, possibly including high-speed road gears so you could ride it to the factory and back.

You AND tarzan can't shatter my illusions in the same week!

 

[begreen]

But in my imagination, you welded together a hydraulic stair-climbing indoor stove tractor, possibly including high-speed road gears so you could ride it to the factory and back.

You AND tarzan can't shatter my illusions in the same week!

There was a tractor involved in the move IIRC, but not in the house.

 

[kennyp2339]

You AND tarzan can't shatter my illusions in the same week

Please I'm still upset about the whole Tarzan thing with the heat pump... lets not bring that up for a while

 

[begreen]

Tarzan is just being smart. A good heatpump is cleaner and often less costly to run than the stove. It lets one save the wood for later when it is really needed and appreciated. I love ours and glad I don't need a fire when it's in the 50's outside. By mid-day the sun warms the house up quite nicely.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I am suppose to find out today where I can go to pick up in Washington state. I told myself, that I would never return to the west coast but after sleeping on it that's the plan. And maybe I can get a trucker friend of mine to drag it back. He has to dead head back to Montana every two weeks anyway.

I would call around in Idaho or Eastern Washington. The stoves come out of Penticton, BC. It's much easier to close a deal when all you're doing is picking up a crate. Installs are problematic because, without a site visit, the dealer isn't sure what's involved. And site visits cost a lot of time and money with no guarantee of any sale or return on investment of said time and money. Catch 22.

Woody, the sales practices are probably current. I'm outdated instead. A young girl sold me the Ashley, and then drop a sneaky email saying that the 5 to 10 business day install is void. I called another college kid that works there, and she told me no. They haven't been able to do installs that quick since the end of may.

Maybe I'm not following you here. Are you saying you required an install in under 10 days? Or that you waited 10 days and they voided your quote?

I'm probably just embarrassed of being bamboozled by a bunch of yuppies. Montana is getting weird too now.

Young urban Professional -

Young - check
Urban - not really, it's Montana. Billings and Missoula don't qualify in this context
Professional - Doesn't sound like it.

One out of three doesn't make them yuppies! They are young hearth store employees, not yuppies!

 

[Ignerence]

Update on my leaky/missed weld, Blaze King Canada called today and said they would be in contact with my local dealer and send a new stove to me due to the weld issue.

Both Tara and the tech guy were more then pleasant from Penticiton. I offered to have the unit welded locally but they would rather send a new unit which I completely understand.

burned it a few times with foil tape on the hole anyways as its been below freezing at night, with just a slight odor.

 

[tarzan]

Tarzan is just being smart. A good heatpump is cleaner and often less costly to run than the stove. It lets one save the wood for later when it is really needed and appreciated. I love ours and glad I don't need a fire when it's in the 50's outside. By mid-day the sun warms the house up quite nicely.

I've picked up on a thing or two from you over the years.

BTW, I'm having trouble finding a forum where us heat pump aficionados can gather and discuss our setups on a cool autumn day.

 

[Alpine1]

BTW, I'm having trouble finding a forum where us heat pump aficionados can gather and discuss our setups on a cool autumn day.

Of course, we old wood burners think that a heat pump is an instrument of the devil...

 

[BKVP]

Ok. The dealer I bought the BK from called and flexed their incompetence. That is the only stove I really want, but it looks like I'm back in the market for a stove that has honest, hardworking support staff. Unfortunately the other close dealer for blaze king is too far away. It is part my fault though. The last couple times that I went through that dealer they hacked the propane inserts. Being a building contractor, I just won't refer them to customers, or use them for any new construction. The last two kids they sent out were too young to shave, and when I got into the attic to seal the chase up, the pipe wasn't even connected right. I wonder if Blaze King knows?

Please pm me your dealer name and I will look into this.

BKVP

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

BTW, I'm having trouble finding a forum where us heat pump aficionados can gather and discuss our setups on a cool autumn day.

I really digging my mini-split heat pump and think it's the perfect compliment to wood heat. Heat pumps really sip the juice in moderate weather, the same kind of weather that you want to take the chill off in the morning but don't want to make it too toasty come mid-day. And I've been digging wood heat since the day I flew out of the nest at age 18! The two together are like ice cream and hot apple pie!

In fact, it was 47F this morning and I'm burning the Chinook right now. I would have just turned on the mini-split but the Chinook was sitting there staring at me wanting a little love.

 

[Ashful]

But in my imagination, you welded together a hydraulic stair-climbing indoor stove tractor, possibly including high-speed road gears so you could ride it to the factory and back.

Nah, that's Jags. I used to be Dr. Overkill, but time is in much shorter supply, these days. He puts us all to shame.

There was a tractor involved in the move IIRC, but not in the house.

Yes! I used the front-end loader to hoist the old stoves into the backs of their new owners' pickup trucks. I think photos were posted here.

 

[begreen]

Yes! I used the front-end loader to hoist the old stoves into the backs of their new owners' pickup trucks. I think photos were posted here.

That sure is handy. A buddy and I cut up some firewood from a downed tree a few days ago. He drug it out from the woods with his front bucket, then dropped it on a round to keep it off the ground. Slice up to the round, then pull it out some more and repeat. Easy peasy with the right tools.

 

[jetsam]

That sure is handy. A buddy and I cut up some firewood from a downed tree a few days ago. He drug it out from the woods with his front bucket, then dropped it on a round to keep it off the ground. Slice up to the round, then pull it out some more and repeat. Easy peasy with the right tools.

That sounds awesome. I am going to move some large tree parts probably late next week (need to rotate 'em so I can finish some cuts; my biggest bar is only 24"), and I am sure I'll be wishing for a front end loader that day. As it is, I guess I need to cut as much as I can from the top, winch them over (I think some of them are well out of Peavey territory), and cut from the other side. I'll take some pictures and stick them in my frankentruck thread over on the other forum!

 

[begreen]

Last weekend I was up in the wilderness using a griphoist to help move 18-24" timbers. Awesome tool but it takes a few people to pump that baby.

 

[jetsam]

Some of the stuff I have has me pondering whether it might not be easier to get a couple cans of black powder and some fuse.

I've never learned enough about ropes and knots to be in the world of griphoists and tackle blocks and such, but I probably should. My brain tends to go to "NEED BIGGER MOTOR" before it goes to "Need lower gearing ratio", though.