2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 2 (Everything BK)

[aaronk25]

I don’t know, I havent always had 3 year old oak.Ive always burned what I can get, typically only seasoned one year.

Where you live? What temps outside are you dealing with?


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[MissMac]

Wow. 35 below. Even in that weird Celsius land, you must be getting down to “dang cold” territory.

Oh we’re there all right - it’s been in the minus 40s the last three mornings - third day in a row for extreme cold warning by Environment Canada. Love the heat coming off the stove!

 

[MissMac]

I have the smoke smell. And the knife edge is not centered on the top of the door nor the hinge side.

Your gasket looks no good along the top - try replacing it. I replaced mine and have noticed a marked improvement. My glass is totally clean for the first time, the smoke smell has reduced, and i’m getting better burns. But, i’m Still having smell issues. But changing the door gasket definitely was in order.

 

[moresnow]

Your gasket looks no good along the top - try replacing it. I replaced mine and have noticed a marked improvement. My glass is totally clean for the first time, the smoke smell has reduced, and i’m getting better burns. But, i’m Still having smell issues. But changing the door gasket definitely was in order.

Are you able to dial it back some now? Time between reloads? Curious.

 

[Ashful]

Ya I think it’s 1-2 year seasoned oak is the issue. The guys that cut it 3 years in advance and store covered never seem to have a issue.


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I don't like what you're implying. The stack I've been burning since October has an aluminum dog tag screwed to it, engraved (SPRING 2014). I know my oak is seasoned 3 years.

 

[Ashful]

Would you trade somewhat shorter burntimes for somewhat hotter fires and much less coaling? Try some nice dry pine in that stove. I love burning pine when I don't need maximal burns, for the above reasons. (Also because it takes a year or less to dry, unlike my hardwoods.) As a bonus, you don't need to empty the ash so much.

I cut almost all of my wood from three wooded lots. One has some cedar, the other two are purely hardwoods (both very heavy on oak). I don't even know where I'd find pine.

I've done the trick of throwing a few 2x4's onto a load of coals to burn them down, and it does work quite nice. However, I've found the same trick works pretty well with a split of ash or oak... no kidding.

 

[MissMac]

Are you able to dial it back some now? Time between reloads? Curious.

For the most part i’ve been running it pretty close to wide open because it’s been so cold out. All my burns i’m running Pj that measures 12-16.1% MC. But here’s a bit of a synopsis: last time i lit the stove from cold i had a bunch of kindling and 3 good Pj logs - got just over 5 hr burn on about 4.5 o’clock setting, with smoke smell. ANother burn i did about 7 hrs on a 5 o’clock setting, with first 2 hours being on full throttle. DId another burn that lasted about 12 hours - first time i dialed it down to 5o.c. after 40 min charring, then down to 4o.c. on way to bed about 2 hrs after the reload. Doing about 5-7 hr burns on highest setting, with fan on about a medium setting, depending on how much wood i can cram in - i’vegot some off-cuts i’m trying to use up. As soon as i dial the t-stat down to even a 5o.c. setting, i do start to get the char smell, but i don’t care right now, cause it’s too cold out not to be burning. I have tried every combo of charring the load, dialing down slowly, having a window open or not, fan vs. No fan etc., but the only thing that is consistant is the smoke smell the second i dial down at all. Like I said,changing the door gasket has definitely made a difference for me - one that i can notice, however i still have an unresolved issue. COntent to just burn on high though - i’ve Dialed down the stove a few times over the past couple days, but always come back to crank it cause it’s so bloody cold out! Hahahaha

 

[kennyp2339]

Supposed to get down to 6 tonight, can I break out the black locust yet?

 

[rdust]

I’ve never had an issue with coals building up in my BKs, only in other small non-cats I’ve had. I know others have struggled with it though.

I never have problems either. I can usually manage any coals by pushing the ash back and pulling the coals forward. If I need to load earlier than I want I pull the coals forward and burn them down with the air maxed.

I run 24 or 12 hour loads depending on my needs. It's cold right now so that would be 12 hour loads. I could see a coaling issue if I needed to torch a load in 8 hours or less to keep up with demand.

 

[aaronk25]

I don't like what you're implying. The stack I've been burning since October has an aluminum dog tag screwed to it, engraved (SPRING 2014). I know my oak is seasoned 3 years.

Sorry didn’t mean anything by that, just that was the extent of my knowledge of the subject.

Is the oak covered for most of the duration of seasoning?


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[Ashful]

Sorry didn’t mean anything by that, just that was the extent of my knowledge of the subject.

Is the oak covered for most of the duration of seasoning?

I was just fooling around, humor doesn't convey easily, on a forum.


Unfortunately, it is not under cover all three years. I am gearing up to build a wood shed, which will need to be 900 sq.ft. to hold my wood and trailer, so for now it's on pallets in the back yard. The pallets typically get covered with clear polyethylene in September of the year they'll be burned, as we're usually in one long drought thru July/August.

 

[17vljoe]

Hey everyone, I finally pulled the trigger on a new stove! Went over to the local bk dealer today, my new sirocco 20.1 will be installed tommorow afternoon!! Haha I can't sleep I'm so excited! Hopefully I can manage to free myself from running my oil boiler from here on out! My 17vl has served me well for 2.5 years now, but I'm sick of starting fires from scratch! I am looking forward to lower heat over a longer time!

 

[moresnow]

Hey everyone, I finally pulled the trigger on a new stove! Went over to the local bk dealer today, my new sirocco 20.1 will be installed tommorow afternoon!! Haha I can't sleep I'm so excited! Hopefully I can manage to free myself from running my oil boiler from here on out! My 17vl has served me well for 2.5 years now, but I'm sick of starting fires from scratch! I am looking forward to lower heat over a longer time!

Congrats. If your wanting lower heat over a longer time your going to get it! Enjoy. Let us know how it works.

 

[redktmrider]

Went over to the local bk dealer today, my new sirocco 20.1 will be installed tommorow afternoon!!

Congrats! That's great he can install it tomorrow!
Please post pictures once its done.

 

[jetsam]

Weatherman says that it's time for my annual glass cleaning. The dial is turned up to "Pretty Clean" at the moment.

 

[17vljoe]

I will definitely keep you guys updated! And post some pictures of the first fire!

 

[tarzan]

Your gasket looks no good along the top - try replacing it. I replaced mine and have noticed a marked improvement. My glass is totally clean for the first time, the smoke smell has reduced, and i’m getting better burns. But, i’m Still having smell issues. But changing the door gasket definitely was in order.

I hope I'm wrong but allot of the improvements you are seeing can also be explained by the colder weather and running the stove harder.

 

[kennyp2339]

Last night around 9pm I loaded the stove with 5 pieces of BL, set the t-stat around 3 o'clock, left the blower running high, temps inside were 74, outside was 14. When I woke up this morning temps inside were 68, outside was 7deg. I did another load of BL and added 2 maple splits and that fire took off. I can not believe how well this stove is working.

 

[Dieselhead]

In 7 years of burning I have never had BL in my stacks, I would love to come across some during a scrounge. Oaks are about the best BTU wood I have come across.

 

[kennyp2339]

In 7 years of burning I have never had BL in my stacks, I would love to come across some during a scrounge. Oaks are about the best BTU wood I have come across.

It’s life changing

 

[Ashful]

In 7 years of burning I have never had BL in my stacks, I would love to come across some during a scrounge. Oaks are about the best BTU wood I have come across.

Ditto. Maybe the farmers that preceded us harvested every last locust for fence posts. I’m surrounded by miles of oak, walnut, ash, maple, sassafras, and hickory (in roughly that order). I’m not sure I’d know a locust if I saw one, I don’t think we have any.

 

[rdust]

Hey everyone, I finally pulled the trigger on a new stove! Went over to the local bk dealer today, my new sirocco 20.1 will be installed tommorow afternoon!! Haha I can't sleep I'm so excited! Hopefully I can manage to free myself from running my oil boiler from here on out! My 17vl has served me well for 2.5 years now, but I'm sick of starting fires from scratch! I am looking forward to lower heat over a longer time!

Can I ask why the 20 box and not the 30?

 

[MissMac]

I hope I'm wrong but allot of the improvements you are seeing can also be explained by the colder weather and running the stove harder.

It is colder for sure, which influences how things burn, but I was running it wide open before too and having very different results. Literally the first fire after I changed the gasket I noticed a difference. For example, there was no longer a flame dragon trying to exit the stove up on the hinge side! And my cat needle goes much higher, and i instantly had cleaner glass. So for sure, there was an issue with my gasket that has now been rectified. But like I said, something else is still going on that's creating the smell.

 

[MissMac]

Ditto. Maybe the farmers that preceded us harvested every last locust for fence posts. I’m surrounded by miles of oak, walnut, ash, maple, sassafras, and hickory (in roughly that order). I’m not sure I’d know a locust if I saw one, I don’t think we have any.

Man, I wish i had all that lovely hardwood to choose from - it's jack pine, poplar, birch or spruce up here! and forget the balsam!

 

[MissMac]

So I've been seeing so many of you talking about having flue probes, temperature gauges for your stove tops and flue pipes etc. All I have is the factory thermometer that came with the stove telling me whether I'm in the inactive or active range. It seems like you all think it's important to have some of these other gauges for monitoring stove conditions and performance. Can you all recommend some add-ons for me?