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

[estepracing]

Next week is going to be brutal for us....that King will get a real test.

Ya I seen the weather not looking good

Blaze King King Wood Stove

 

[17vljoe]

Take that stove top meter off and leave it off. It will just cause you headaches.

You have single wall pip

Run the stove by the cat meter. If the cat meter falls back inactive with fuel in the stove thenyour stat setting was too low. Don’t go that low next time. You said 12:00 position which is well below the typical lowest possible setting of about 2 o’clock. Repeat the test until find the lowest stat setting that dependably won’t stall the cat and then mark your stat. That’s your low.

For max burn time stuff the stove tight with wood. All the way to the top, parallel stack like a package of hot dogs. Then set to your low setting.

The 20 size stoves have the shortest burn times of all bk cat stoves. The bigger 30 burns much longer and can be dialed down lower. Hard to understand why people buy the 20 but they do!

Ok. Thank you, i will try that. Would sealing the single wall connector pipe joints with fire rated caulk help performance?(i will be switching to dubble wall connector soon as funds are available..) Its pulling air at the joints. The reason i had to go with the 20 size is precisely that..."size" the 30 would have taken up to much space in my living room. I had a hard enough time convincing the wife that the 20 would fit.

 

[kf6hap]

Either stove is an excellent choice. I have a 30 but load on 12 hour cycles. This gives me a chance to lightly load it in the morning so the burn will taper off to match the heating needs as the day warms. I live in a permanent "shoulder season" area. We have not seen the teens for 8 years. In years past, we got into the teens every year. It has, also, nearly stopped snowing here and that is strange as I live in Nevada County. Nevada means "snow covered". Back east is getting hammered though.

 

[jetsam]

Thank you Ben. Now I gotta talk to the wife about putting our money in some other bank since the sign on the front lawn of mine is constantly saying time/ -42dF / -42C

As a professional financial expert¹, I advise you to put all your stuff in the car and drive until you find a bank where the sign says "+60°F" or better all year- this is how you can spot a very good bank². Put your money into that bank and buy a house nearby so the drive to the bank isn't so long.



¹ I do my cat's taxes, and he does mine.

² Or a broken sign. Double-check before purchasing houses.

 

[rdust]

The reason i had to go with the 20 size is precisely that..."size" the 30 would have taken up to much space in my living room. I had a hard enough time convincing the wife that the 20 would fit.

I can understand keeping the wife happy but I think she'd have a hard time noticing 2 inches in width and depth with similar clearances.

 

[kennyp2339]

Either stove is an excellent choice. I have a 30 but load on 12 hour cycles. This gives me a chance to lightly load it in the morning so the burn will taper off to match the heating needs as the day warms. I live in a permanent "shoulder season" area. We have not seen the teens for 8 years. In years past, we got into the teens every year. It has, also, nearly stopped snowing here and that is strange as I live in Nevada County. Nevada means "snow covered". Back east is getting hammered though.

load a full load and turn that tstat down, make the glass dirty and have no flames, these stoves are designed for that.

 

[moresnow]

20 size users shared thought. Seems that I am getting far superior performance when keeping very little ash/coal buildup. Just enough hot coals to leave a sparse layer on the bottom. Not exactly per official direction but.... Enhanced performance and stove behavior is likely due mostly to the larger loads which makes sense. Just seems to adjust to a zero flame/high heat output much easier and stays there for much longer. Duh! Common sense. I've been noting the much nicer, longer burns after a ash clean out. The more I lower the ash level the happier the stove gets. May be worth trying by some other users. Who knows. Possibly all size/models react accordingly?

 

[Nigel459]

Ok, im up and running!! This thing is awsome! Smoked my house out pretty good with new paint smoke though! I got her running aroud 400 stove top temp now. If the cat is not glowing does that mean it stalled? Gauge is still in active range.. here's some pictures of the first burn!!View attachment 218910 View attachment 218911 View attachment 218912 View attachment 218913

Looks great! I have the Sirocco 20.1 as well and mine has a mini deck of sorts on the top. Didn't order any extras except the ash drawer.

I also think I read here somewhere that this deck was now included with the base box. Just wanted to let you know, maybe you got it too and just decided to leave it off? (Plus it is prob only cosmetic without the fans, maybe a little convection from up the back...) Here's shots of our 20.1 (got a new wood rack from the in-laws for Christmas

 

[Nigel459]

The 20 size stoves have the shortest burn times of all bk cat stoves. The bigger 30 burns much longer and can be dialed down lower. Hard to understand why people buy the 20 but they do!

The size was also a factor for me. Aesthetics and all that, looking at the stove sitting cold for half the year. Some helpful members also did some btu calculations while I was considering which stove to go with, given my square footage and layout (it was PE Alderlea T5 vs. BK 20 box). They were bang on suggesting the 20 would do me fine in my space (1200sf, open concept w cathedral ceiling and upper loft).

I admit that with a 30 I would probably have to load more like 1x per day instead of 1.2745x per day in this cold snap... My current routine is fill er up chock full in the evening as the sun and temperatures drop down, or whenever we're ready to cozy in and for the overnight burn, then in the morning either turn it up and/or throw on just a few splits. Rinse and repeat. Again, that's in this cold weather. It was once per day when temps were around freezing. I like having hands on the stove, even for that extra .2745x per day

We are effortlessly staying steadily super cozy even with these -20C temps. Hope everyone out there is too

 

[Ashful]

I can understand keeping the wife happy but I think she'd have a hard time noticing 2 inches in width and depth.

Are we still talking about stoves?

 

[rdust]

Are we still talking about stoves?

I knew someone would go there.

 

[kennyp2339]

Are we still talking about stoves?

and @showrguy wants to meet you, he better find a church for afterwards

 

[BKVP]

The wood part of my door handle is extremely hot this year. Running the stove the same as every other year. I mean its to the point of not being able to touch it. It also looks like it's changing color to a darker brown on the inside of the handle.

Anyone see this before?

Adjust door gasket tension, please.

 

[showrguy]

Just put a new combuster from firecat in my King..
It was a biittcchhh..
Put in a key damper a month or so ago,,, looks like I still have too much draft !! 35' stack. 8"..

 

[kf6hap]

Put in a key damper a month or so ago,,, looks like I still have too much draft !! 35' stack. 8"..

What indications are you getting with the draft being too strong?

 

[17vljoe]

Ok, so im experiencing somthing very odd! I came home from work today, raked the coals to the front of the stove and loaded it up. With the bypass open and the air fully open the fire started to take off. The stove was making a slight chugging sound and there was smoke puffing out of all the seams in my connector pipe. Enough smoke to set off my smoke detector.. it continued to do this until the cat became active and i closed the bypass. Anyone eles experience this before?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

The 20 size stoves have the shortest burn times of all bk cat stoves. The bigger 30 burns much longer and can be dialed down lower. Hard to understand why people buy the 20 but they do!

This statement and the ensuing responses have really caught my attention. I’d be interested in folks’ thoughts on our particular situation about whether a BK20 or 30 or no BK at all would suit our space and climate.

Our family has recently moved to South or South Central Texas, about 1,400 feet elevation. Winters are typically cool, cloudy, and windy. Historic records show the temperatures average in the low 60’s for highs in December, January, and February. The average lows are in the mid 30’s.

We’ve been surprised this winter at feeling chilly in our home even when we don’t consider it all that cold outside. It tends to be on gray, windy, damp days. We’ve definitely missed the little woodstove insert we had in our old home. We’re taking this winter to research stoves, assess our home’s heating situation, and gather wood (it needs to be cut whether we get a stove or not, so we’re processing it anyway).

One option we’ve talked about is installing a freestanding stove in part of the house that is approaching 900 sq ft (open living room and entry way with twelve foot ceilings, big door to area where kids have play space (10 foot ceilings), and doorways to kids’ rooms with nine foot ceilings). We had thought the 20 series would be a better fit for us as we thought the low output would serve well if we wanted to burn from sundown to early afternoon. We also thought that it was good for the stove to burn on high periodically, and we assumed that might also be an argument in favor of the 20 series.

It does get down to the 20’s overnight up here on our hill, and there are days where it hasn’t climbed out of the thirties (we’re expecting that kind of weather coming up in our version of the country’s cold snap), but it also gets up to the fifties and sixties frequently only dropping into the 40’s overnight. Our winters might be most people’s shoulder seasons.

I’d be grateful for input from both 20 series users and those with larger fire boxes about when it gets too hot to burn your stoves. We don’t like being chilly and have missed having a place to bask. We’d also like a good source of heat if power goes out for days at a time as neighbors have reported. One concern we do have, though, is overheating our space, and thus we are trying to discern whether Blaze King’s low and slow would be right for us.

Thanks.

 

[showrguy]

What indications are you getting with the draft being too strong?

Whelp, the ideal draft is to be .03-.05, mine is averaging .15.....
I dunno what all could be effected,,,,, shorter burns ??

 

[shoot-straight]

This statement and the ensuing responses have really caught my attention. I’d be interested in folks’ thoughts on our particular situation about whether a BK20 or 30 or no BK at all would suit our space and climate.

Our family has recently moved to South or South Central Texas, about 1,400 feet elevation. Winters are typically cool, cloudy, and windy. Historic records show the temperatures average in the low 60’s for highs in December, January, and February. The average lows are in the mid 30’s.

We’ve been surprised this winter at feeling chilly in our home even when we don’t consider it all that cold outside. It tends to be on gray, windy, damp days. We’ve definitely missed the little woodstove insert we had in our old home. We’re taking this winter to research stoves, assess our home’s heating situation, and gather wood (it needs to be cut whether we get a stove or not, so we’re processing it anyway).

One option we’ve talked about is installing a freestanding stove in part of the house that is approaching 900 sq ft (open living room and entry way with twelve foot ceilings, big door to area where kids have play space (10 foot ceilings), and doorways to kids’ rooms with nine foot ceilings). We had thought the 20 series would be a better fit for us as we thought the low output would serve well if we wanted to burn from sundown to early afternoon. We also thought that it was good for the stove to burn on high periodically, and we assumed that might also be an argument in favor of the 20 series.

It does get down to the 20’s overnight up here on our hill, and there are days where it hasn’t climbed out of the thirties (we’re expecting that kind of weather coming up in our version of the country’s cold snap), but it also gets up to the fifties and sixties frequently only dropping into the 40’s overnight. Our winters might be most people’s shoulder seasons.

I’d be grateful for input from both 20 series users and those with larger fire boxes about when it gets too hot to burn your stoves. We don’t like being chilly and have missed having a place to bask. We’d also like a good source of heat if power goes out for days at a time as neighbors have reported. One concern we do have, though, is overheating our space, and thus we are trying to discern whether Blaze King’s low and slow would be right for us.

Thanks.

Bk's excel in Cool-cold regions like yours because unlike non cat stoves you can dial it way back to just put out the heat you need. Some in ultra cold regions love them too, but their homes must be much better sealed and insulated than mine.

It's in the high 20's here now during the day, and the teens at night with a breeze so I'm running my ashford is running hard. 2000sq ft home.

 

[Poindexter]

Whelp, the ideal draft is to be .03-.05, mine is averaging .15.....
I dunno what all could be effected,,,,, shorter burns ??

I have seen that exact number set in the most recent BK manuals and in the manual - exact same spec- for one of the Buck stoves, model 20 I think, the one with a combustor and a nominal output close to the BK size 30 boxes. The only difference was Buck was ok with 0.03 to 0.06, BK said 0.03 to 0.05 with 0.06 voiding the warranty.

Seeing EXACTLY the same spec in the manuals from two different manufacturers set me back on my heels a few minutes.

Neither of those two manufacturer's manuals specify under what conditions the draft measurement should be taken.

At cold start I have about 0.012 water column inches of draft, at wide open throttle with the worst of the sap burnt off I was running a little north of 0.1 water column inches.

So 1. Yes, my stove (three trouble free seasons) runs inside the 0.03 to 0.06 iwc spec some of the time,

but 2) without knowing when in the operating cycle (or where in the stove/ chimney system) to measure, it is a useless specification.

A couple further thoughts.

Given my measurements above, my install most likely runs between 0.03 and 0.05 at about mid throttle during a long burn.

I have a hunch, not even developed to a hypothesis yet, that some committee deep inside the EPA headquarters somewhere had many many meetings where they read many many certification reports from the various stoves that had passed EPA 1 certification. In say 1991 or 1993 they would have had quite a stack of reports to wade through.

Of the few (heavily redacted) certification tests I have seen online, it seems like the stoves have their lowest emissions on the medium low and medium high burn settings, and make more emissions on low and high burn.

From that they (EPA) might maybe have reached a consensus of committee that wood stoves then certified displayed the lowest emissions when operated at 0.03 to 0.06 and then suggested to the manufacturers that 0.03 to 0.06 was a good draft number to target. Maybe. I could be totally off base, but if i find that same spec in the manual from a third manufacturer I am upgrading the tin foil in my hat.

Chasing a draft number that could easily be 25 years out of date, and not know when in the burn or where on the stove to make the measurement, and trying to apply it to current technology seems like a suboptimal investment of free time to me.

 

[AlbergSteve]

This statement and the ensuing responses have really caught my attention. I’d be interested in folks’ thoughts on our particular situation about whether a BK20 or 30 or no BK at all would suit our space and climate.

Our family has recently moved to South or South Central Texas, about 1,400 feet elevation. Winters are typically cool, cloudy, and windy. Historic records show the temperatures average in the low 60’s for highs in December, January, and February. The average lows are in the mid 30’s.

We’ve been surprised this winter at feeling chilly in our home even when we don’t consider it all that cold outside. It tends to be on gray, windy, damp days. We’ve definitely missed the little woodstove insert we had in our old home. We’re taking this winter to research stoves, assess our home’s heating situation, and gather wood (it needs to be cut whether we get a stove or not, so we’re processing it anyway).

One option we’ve talked about is installing a freestanding stove in part of the house that is approaching 900 sq ft (open living room and entry way with twelve foot ceilings, big door to area where kids have play space (10 foot ceilings), and doorways to kids’ rooms with nine foot ceilings). We had thought the 20 series would be a better fit for us as we thought the low output would serve well if we wanted to burn from sundown to early afternoon. We also thought that it was good for the stove to burn on high periodically, and we assumed that might also be an argument in favor of the 20 series.

It does get down to the 20’s overnight up here on our hill, and there are days where it hasn’t climbed out of the thirties (we’re expecting that kind of weather coming up in our version of the country’s cold snap), but it also gets up to the fifties and sixties frequently only dropping into the 40’s overnight. Our winters might be most people’s shoulder seasons.

I’d be grateful for input from both 20 series users and those with larger fire boxes about when it gets too hot to burn your stoves. We don’t like being chilly and have missed having a place to bask. We’d also like a good source of heat if power goes out for days at a time as neighbors have reported. One concern we do have, though, is overheating our space, and thus we are trying to discern whether Blaze King’s low and slow would be right for us.

Thanks.

@DuaeGuttae , you won't be disappointed with a 30 stove. You can build a small fire in a big box, but you can't build a big fire in a small box when you need it! My last house was 1200 square feet on the main floor with 17 foot vaulted ceilings and we could barely keep the open area with the high ceilings under 27C, we were always in our underwear! Even a small fire in a medium sized Regency would cook us out.
Our current setup is an Ashford 30 on one level of 2400 square feet with 8 foot ceilings. The fire hasn't gone out since we installed the stove a few weeks ago and the room(350sq ft) the stove is in stays around 23C while the rest of the house is a comfy 20-21C. It's a huge bonus to be able to turn these stoves down and let convection do the rest.

 

[showrguy]

I have seen that exact number set in the most recent BK manuals and in the manual - exact same spec- for one of the Buck stoves, model 20 I think, the one with a combustor and a nominal output close to the BK size 30 boxes. The only difference was Buck was ok with 0.03 to 0.06, BK said 0.03 to 0.05 with 0.06 voiding the warranty.

Seeing EXACTLY the same spec in the manuals from two different manufacturers set me back on my heels a few minutes.

Neither of those two manufacturer's manuals specify under what conditions the draft measurement should be taken.

At cold start I have about 0.012 water column inches of draft, at wide open throttle with the worst of the sap burnt off I was running a little north of 0.1 water column inches.

So 1. Yes, my stove (three trouble free seasons) runs inside the 0.03 to 0.06 iwc spec some of the time,

but 2) without knowing when in the operating cycle (or where in the stove/ chimney system) to measure, it is a useless specification.

A couple further thoughts.

Given my measurements above, my install most likely runs between 0.03 and 0.05 at about mid throttle during a long burn.

I have a hunch, not even developed to a hypothesis yet, that some committee deep inside the EPA headquarters somewhere had many many meetings where they read many many certification reports from the various stoves that had passed EPA 1 certification. In say 1991 or 1993 they would have had quite a stack of reports to wade through.

Of the few (heavily redacted) certification tests I have seen online, it seems like the stoves have their lowest emissions on the medium low and medium high burn settings, and make more emissions on low and high burn.

From that they (EPA) might maybe have reached a consensus of committee that wood stoves then certified displayed the lowest emissions when operated at 0.03 to 0.06 and then suggested to the manufacturers that 0.03 to 0.06 was a good draft number to target. Maybe. I could be totally off base, but if i find that same spec in the manual from a third manufacturer I am upgrading the tin foil in my hat.

Chasing a draft number that could easily be 25 years out of date, and not know when in the burn or where on the stove to make the measurement, and trying to apply it to current technology seems like a suboptimal investment of free time to me.

I thought by installing this key damper I could get it dialed back..
Even closed almost entirely, I'm still seeing those #'s..
I wil say though, that this VENTIS, made in China, key damper is a real POS, there's no way it could ever be closed completely, the fit and balance is absolutely HORRIBLE..
BKVP told me to check the draft in hi/medium burn
, that's where I am seeing -.15. If I close down my thermostat control it goes emediately to -.20/-.21, even with key damper closed as much as possible !!

 

[shoot-straight]

I have and use a key damper in my 27' setup for my ashford.

 

[gunpowda]

With these cold temps I have noticed my stove acting differently, for the best. Longer burns, better draft etc...

I have noticed more more heat output which is great however the stove is getting so warm the heat shield glows. Thanks happens even @ 3pm. When this happens I then the t star down and fan on high to lower the box temp and it cools.

Is this normal? The heat shield is the only part that glows (and the cat)

Model : AF25 insert

Thanks guys!

 

[Niko]

Adjust door gasket tension, please.

I tightened it to get a better seal of the gasket. But I'm guessing then I need a new gasket as the handle is to close to the stove.

Once again thank you.