2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 3 (Everything BK)

[Tegbert]

Is that snow from today. We just got a 5 minute squall. Nothing stuck, but the wind has been blowing steady at 25-30mph.

Not sure about him but up in Arlington we got about five inches from last night to about 9 this morning. The in laws up in bow supposedly got nothing either.



Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Highbeam]

Is that snow from today. We just got a 5 minute squall. Nothing stuck, but the wind has been blowing steady at 25-30mph.

Yes from today, pretty heavy snowfall for most of the day. About 4” accumulation and now it’s frozen. They plowed the roads even! It’s been blowing but yesterday was worse. Still have power. We expect teens for temps the next 2-3 nights. I feel like such a wimp compared to our eastern friends at much lower temperatures.

The tri tip from that England stove works pellet grill turned out very well. I buy 20# at a time, trim the fat, and freeze them up individually.

 

[kf6hap]

News Flash:

Good news about the smoke smell issue! IT IS RESOLVED! I had my dealer get in touch with Blaze King and they were sent a special high density gasket which they installed. Zero smell at any thermostat setting.

Now we return to our regularly scheduled meat-a-holic diatribes. Happy oxidizing.

 

[ohiojoe13]

News Flash:

Good news about the smoke smell issue! IT IS RESOLVED! I had my dealer get in touch with Blaze King and they were sent a special high density gasket which they installed. Zero smell at any thermostat setting.

Now we return to our regularly scheduled meat-a-holic diatribes. Happy oxidizing.

Great news. My dealer is coming Friday to do mine.

 

[Highbeam]

The dog will be happy to know that his bung is no longer leaking offensively. I wonder if the new gasket is more durable for all stoves. Such an important seal and such a maintenance headache on all bk stoves. If the noncat leaks it's no big deal but the bk requires a tight seal for performance.

Thank goodness some progress is being made on the 30 box.

 

[begreen]

Yes from today, pretty heavy snowfall for most of the day. About 4” accumulation and now it’s frozen. They plowed the roads even! It’s been blowing but yesterday was worse. Still have power. We expect teens for temps the next 2-3 nights. I feel like such a wimp compared to our eastern friends at much lower temperatures.

Just for temp comparison our low last night was 29ºF. What a difference a few miles makes around here! I was born and raised back east and dealt with everything from blizzards to -15º temps. Moved out west 40yrs ago and never looked back. I love the Berkshires and Catskills, but the weather is something I don't miss.

 

[allan5oh]

Yes, the article is dated but the points he makes about potential problems (based on physics) are just as true today.

I'm not even concerned about the date of the article but rather the leaps of logic and referring to a magical "study". It actually sounds like the author - and you by extension - have zero experience with testing both.

The "concept" is sound but that doesn't always translate well to real-life situations. Wind-induced chimney downdraft an "install issue?" Or, what happens when the wind blows opposite from the prevailing direction, and your OAK is now on the depressurized side of the house? Not "install issues."

Have you ever had the reversal issue?
Have you spoken with anyone that has had the reversal issue?
Have you spoken with anyone that has heard of someone having the reversal issue?
Has anyone on here had it happen or heard of it happening?

Honestly it sounds like a theory more than anything. I havent heard of one case of it actually happening.

A lot of those points indicate that you have a tight house in which your chimney has low draft without the OAK. I'm pretty sure that tight-house problems like yours don't apply to the vast majority of people that burn wood. I don't think many that read this are saying "Yeah, I have to leave the door open a long time to get my stove burning."

The house is older and half renovated. It is still quite leaky. The chimney is 15 feet long which is standard issue around here. Some people run 12 feet. We have a longer one in the shop maybe 17 feet and its WAY too much draft. 800 feet altitude in the canadian prairies.

How are you measuring "more humidity in the house?" What is the before and after humidity level? "Less humidity up the flue"...what is that?

Clearly you have a lack of understanding of the difference between relative and absolute humidity.

https://goo.gl/images/f5w28V

A house with a RH of 30-50% can have several times the water vapor in the air (per volume) compared to below freezing at 100% RH. As it gets colder the difference gets larger. It can be -30c here. So now we have bone dry air and you want to suck it into a house. Ok where does it leak through? What if its leaking through the ceiling from the attic? Very low quality air there. What about through electrical sockets? Not much better. Or how about when people put pink insulation in their rim joists (a HUUUGE mistake) which causes a ton of mold but doesn't stop the leaking?

What about combustion differences? There's no way you can convince me air with several multiples more water vapor per volume can combust as good as bone dry air. In fact I think this makes a larger difference than air density.

It is not the same as simply adding more length to the flue.

Great that the OAK is working in your case, but you talk like any potential problems are from a bad installs, which is flatly untrue. I think that in most cases an OAK is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. You may be preaching to an even lower percentage of tight-house affected people on this particular thread since you are espousing the vast benefits of an OAK...installed on your non-cat stove, which needs a lot more air to breathe properly than a cat stove.

You know what's a bad install? Thinking you need a longer flue due to lack of OAK

 

[showrguy]

My OAK made a BIG DIFFERENCE....

 

[begreen]

My OAK made a BIG DIFFERENCE....

Can you explain in more detail what the prior issues were and what's been observed since adding the OAK?

 

[Highbeam]

Just for temp comparison our low last night was 29ºF. What a difference a few miles makes around here! I was born and raised back east and dealt with everything from blizzards to -15º temps. Moved out west 40yrs ago and never looked back. I love the Berkshires and Catskills, but the weather is something I don't miss.

I’m thinking it’s more the 700 vertical feet between us and your proximity to the warm salt water mass that keeps your conditions moderate. I’m way over 10 miles away from that saltwater. We hit just 24 last night, warmer than expected but the steady wind kept up through the night. Broke out the chicken water ice today.

They even salted our roads last night. Looked like rock salt this time but usually it’s that liquid brine.

I dropped to 12 hour partial reloads in the bk. I’m getting better at reloading without smoking out the house. There are some tricks.

 

[kennyp2339]

Can you explain in more detail what the prior issues were and what's been observed since adding the OAK?

I know for me, it was a constant draft I was feeling in the stove room, that since adding an oak disappeared since the combustion air is now dedicated to the wood appliance.
Also remember, some people run with no oak and have no issue's due to the setup or placement of there stove, others, like myself will feel slight changes in air movement.

 

[showrguy]

Can you explain in more detail what the prior issues were and what's been observed since adding the OAK?

Whelp, in a nutshell, since installing the OAK, the entire house maintains temperature much longer, since the stove is not sucking cold air through every knock and cranny it can come from.... House is no longer under a vacuum condition, like it was without the OAK..

One example.... My office door is about 10 feet from the stove, it has a 300cfm exhaust fan ducted out, also has a transom in the one upper corner for a 2nd story dryer vent chase, ducted out....without tearing down the drywall to be sure, I can only assume these two areas were not sealed and insulated quite like the rest of the room/office..
Before the OAK was installed my office would typically be 5 to 10 degrees colder than the the room just a few feet away, since the install about a month or so ago, my office is typically within 1 to 2 degrees of house temp, (depending on outside conditions)..

Ok, another example.... My garage is 30x62 attached to the house, I keep it heated with a gas wall mount heater (princess will be installed before next winter), the stove inside the house would also pull my garage into a vacuum trying to get air from the easyest places, like around garage door seals..... When it was really cold out my wall mount heater could'nt keep up..... Not anymore !!
The garage heater is set lower now, and maintaining temperature MUCH better, just like the main living space..

You don't realize just how much a wood stove is pulling until you put the adaptor plate on it and stick your hand next to it, even when having the stove cut way back !!

My .02 cents, your mileage may vary...

 

[tarzan]

I know for me, it was a constant draft I was feeling in the stove room, that since adding an oak disappeared since the combustion air is now dedicated to the wood appliance.
Also remember, some people run with no oak and have no issue's due to the setup or placement of there stove, others, like myself will feel slight changes in air movement.

Was eating at one of those chain reastaurants with the huge fireplace a few days ago. The fireplace was humming along and temperature was comfortable. An employee brought a trash can full of unseasoned splits and loaded it up. Once the fire got ripping the breeze being sucked by me into that thing was uncomfortably cool!

 

[begreen]

Whelp, in a nutshell, since installing the OAK, the entire house maintains temperature much longer, since the stove is not sucking cold air through every knock and cranny it can come from.... House is no longer under a vacuum condition, like it was without the OAK..

One example.... My office door is about 10 feet from the stove, it has a 300cfm exhaust fan ducted out, also has a transom in the one upper corner for a 2nd story dryer vent chase, ducted out....without tearing down the drywall to be sure, I can only assume these two areas were not sealed and insulated quite like the rest of the room/office..
Before the OAK was installed my office would typically be 5 to 10 degrees colder than the the room just a few feet away, since the install about a month or so ago, my office is typically within 1 to 2 degrees of house temp, (depending on outside conditions)..

Ok, another example.... My garage is 30x62 attached to the house, I keep it heated with a gas wall mount heater (princess will be installed before next winter), the stove inside the house would also pull my garage into a vacuum trying to get air from the easyest places, like around garage door seals..... When it was really cold out my wall mount heater could'nt keep up..... Not anymore !!
The garage heater is set lower now, and maintaining temperature MUCH better, just like the main living space..

You don't realize just how much a wood stove is pulling until you put the adaptor plate on it and stick your hand next to it, even when having the stove cut way back !!

My .02 cents, your mileage may vary...

Good info, thanks! I'm impressed with how well it has worked out for the house.

 

[kf6hap]

I know for me, it was a constant draft I was feeling in the stove room, that since adding an oak disappeared since the combustion air is now dedicated to the wood appliance.

Same for me, I had a constant draft across the room from the front door bottom. Also, I fear not when my wife starts the kitchen exhaust fan. It is elusive and very surprising the quantity of CFM these stoves can ingest. Thus, the OAK. Other stoves I had had no provision for outside combustion air so an outside door had to be opened when the exhaust fan was on. What a pain.

 

[Diabel]

I am convinced. Will be installing OAK. This forum has so much good information and helpful members.

Thank you all.

 

[allan5oh]

I am convinced. Will be installing OAK. This forum has so much good information and helpful members.

Thank you all.

Let us know before and after results. If youre not happy lunch is on me!

 

[Tar12]

My OAK stopped a major draft across the stove room floor...it works.

 

[jetsam]

The dog will be happy to know that his bung is no longer leaking offensively. I wonder if the new gasket is more durable for all stoves. Such an important seal and such a maintenance headache on all bk stoves. If the noncat leaks it's no big deal but the bk requires a tight seal for performance.

Thank goodness some progress is being made on the 30 box.

I have 3 dogs that are still leaking. I think the fumes may be corroding my stove. When will BK be addressing this issue?

 

[Diabel]

Let us know before and after results. If youre not happy lunch is on me!

This is a brand new installs. There will be no "before"

 

[Diabel]

My OAK stopped a major draft across the stove room floor...it works.

With my present stove (house in the city) I too feel a strong draft along the floor in the stove room, toward the stove. No OAK in this application.

 

[webby3650]

Just curious if any of you wth these cold draft problems ever notice this cold air when other appliances are running? Like the clothes dryer, range hood, bathroom exhaust. All of which would be removing more cfm than your BK. Not saying an OAK is a bad idea, but very few people ever consider how much air is being sucked out by other appliances. I suppose offsetting with an air supply to the stove is about the best one can do in most cases.

 

[Ashful]

Just curious if any of you wth these cold draft problems ever notice this cold air when other appliances are running? Like the clothes dryer, range hood, bathroom exhaust. All of which would be removing more cfm than your BK. Not saying an OAK is a bad idea, but very few people ever consider how much air is being sucked out by other appliances. I suppose offsetting with an air supply to the stove is about the best one can do in most cases.

You mean, you don’t have an OAK on your clothes dryer? Sheesh!

 

[kennyp2339]

Just curious if any of you wth these cold draft problems ever notice this cold air when other appliances are running? Like the clothes dryer, range hood, bathroom exhaust. All of which would be removing more cfm than your BK. Not saying an OAK is a bad idea, but very few people ever consider how much air is being sucked out by other appliances. I suppose offsetting with an air supply to the stove is about the best one can do in most cases.

In all honesty no, when the range hood is on, I'm usually working around the stove cooking something, the dryer is located in another room in the basement, bathroom exhaust better be pulling air in or I'm in trouble.

 

[Diabel]

You mean, you don’t have an OAK on your clothes dryer? Sheesh!

There should be one, on the clothes dryers. They suck sooo much air from the house.