2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)

[chemie]

The thread has been very active since last nigh especially last night. I was at a theater watching a play adapted from the book of a Nobel Prize winner novelist who was also at the theater. My phone was almost constantly getting buzzing notifications from Tapatalk app during the play. Following the play, author was invited to the stage and 3 audiences were chosen to ask questions. Luckily, I was one of them. But when I had mic to ask a question, my phone was buzzing again with the Tapatalk notifications!
Fortunately, my wife was sitting two seats next to me. Otherwise she would have pinched me badly for not turning off the phone!All my fault for not disabling the notifications!
Thank you to all sharing experiences and information about the things that I had no idea before joining the forum.

 

[MissMac]

I can say that my BK dealer didn’t clean any of it, when I had them do my chimneys. They swept both in June, and left the bypasses open. When it came to the next October, I lit the first fire in each, and then found I could not even close the bypass dampers, there was so much crap sitting between the door and gasket. That’s when I learned it’s important to at least get that area vacuumed out.

I have telescoping pipe on each of mine, but maybe I’m unique here, my telescoping pipes never want to telescope after they’ve been used. Heck, it’s hard to get that crap to slide without feeling like you’re going to push the liner out of the chimney, when it’s fairly new! After 7 years on the one pipe, it is basically frozen at its current length.

I SootEater it up thru the bypass, then reach my had up thru the bypass door and sweep as much of that crap down into the firebox as I can. Between that and jamming the vacuum nozzle up there, I get it as clean as I can, way better than the dealer ever did.

Great to know, thanks @Ashful . That's kinda crazy that the sweeps you paid didn't clean up that mess. I might try doing a mid-season sweep, which will be my first doing it myself. When the guys i had hear this summer did it, i had them run my brush through the pipe to confirm that it would be good to go getting through my offsets - no issues.

I just climbed up on the roof and popped the cap off to have a look at what one month on low and slow did to the system. No accumulation of fly ash/no change in the pipe diameter from sooting, just a black looking pipe with some curly whisps of creo, razor thin that crumble when i touched them. also a pit of crunch accumulation right on the underside of my cap, but just a wee bit, nothing impeding the flow out of the cap, and not worth cleaning yet.

Lubing the t-stat tonight with my lifetime supply of high-temp lube

 

[AaronMColeman]

New BK user here.

I bought a new house over the summer that had a Princess Insert. I've been using it for about a month now (already getting cold in Wyoming).

I replaced the cat combustor because the old one seemed brittle and had a couple small chunks missing. I also replaced the door gasket with this one (they said it comes from blaze king directly, but it sure doesn't feel any different than the regular density gasket):

http://www.hechlers.com/product/78-blaze-king-wood-stove-door-gasket-6ft-0186/

With fan on lowest setting and t-stat set in lower 20%. I'm getting a pretty solid 12 hour burn using 18 month seasoned cottonwood and pine. We only have softwoods around here. Does this sound pretty usual, or should I be able to get more time out of it? I'm ok with 12 hours if that's it. My old stove was a piece of junk and got me 4 hours max!

My biggest concerns right now are that I can't get the gasket to pass dollar bill test on hinge side, and any other maintenance I should be doing?

 

[Highbeam]

New BK user here.

I bought a new house over the summer that had a Princess Insert. I've been using it for about a month now (already getting cold in Wyoming).

I replaced the cat combustor because the old one seemed brittle and had a couple small chunks missing. I also replaced the door gasket with this one (they said it comes from blaze king directly, but it sure doesn't feel any different than the regular density gasket):

http://www.hechlers.com/product/78-blaze-king-wood-stove-door-gasket-6ft-0186/

With fan on lowest setting and t-stat set in lower 20%. I'm getting a pretty solid 12 hour burn using 18 month seasoned cottonwood and pine. We only have softwoods around here. Does this sound pretty usual, or should I be able to get more time out of it? I'm ok with 12 hours if that's it. My old stove was a piece of junk and got me 4 hours max!

My biggest concerns right now are that I can't get the gasket to pass dollar bill test on hinge side, and any other maintenance I should be doing?

You're going to want to get the door gasket tight. That leaky door gasket kills 95% of cats, at least 95% of the ones that don't just wear out. If the leak is big enough it can reduce your burn times too.

I've burned lots of cottonwood, cedar, and other softwoods. You won't get as much burn time as a guy burning hickory but those woods work just fine and will keep you warm.

 

[AaronMColeman]

I'm a little concerned that the gasket I ordered wasn't "high density". I contacted the seller. It said specifically replacement for blaze king princess all models.

The top, bottom, and latch side of the gasket are nice and tight...a lot of force to get a dollar bill to move. But the hinge side is much looser, and there is no adjustment on that side of the door. So it's not a huge leak, but still should be tighter I'm guessing.

 

[Highbeam]

I can say that my BK dealer didn’t clean any of it, when I had them do my chimneys. They swept both in June, and left the bypasses open. When it came to the next October, I lit the first fire in each, and then found I could not even close the bypass dampers, there was so much crap sitting between the door and gasket. That’s when I learned it’s important to at least get that area vacuumed out.

I have telescoping pipe on each of mine, but maybe I’m unique here, my telescoping pipes never want to telescope after they’ve been used. Heck, it’s hard to get that crap to slide without feeling like you’re going to push the liner out of the chimney, when it’s fairly new! After 7 years on the one pipe, it is basically frozen at its current length.

I SootEater it up thru the bypass, then reach my had up thru the bypass door and sweep as much of that crap down into the firebox as I can. Between that and jamming the vacuum nozzle up there, I get it as clean as I can, way better than the dealer ever did.

I can almost get every single crumb from the cat chamber with a vacuum through the firebox. You can actually grab onto the open bypass plate and lift it vertically into the cat chamber to give you even better access to the area behind the cat. It is easy to not damage the cat, it is more robust than you think.

I have found that through use, my telescoping pipe gets easier to collapse so I just do that now instead. It allows me to lube/inspect the bypass linkage and to peek up the vertical flue to make sure the sooteater is working really well.

I do not think you need to clean every spec of debris. Heck, I reach my hand in there and wipe off the bypass gasket with almost every new load and often find junk that has fallen down during the course of normal operation. I don't want anything on the bypass gasket. Careful, it can be hot!

 

[MissMac]

I can almost get every single crumb from the cat chamber with a vacuum through the firebox. You can actually grab onto the open bypass plate and lift it vertically into the cat chamber to give you even better access to the area behind the cat. It is easy to not damage the cat, it is more robust than you think.

I have found that through use, my telescoping pipe gets easier to collapse so I just do that now instead. It allows me to lube/inspect the bypass linkage and to peek up the vertical flue to make sure the sooteater is working really well.

I do not think you need to clean every spec of debris. Heck, I reach my hand in there and wipe off the bypass gasket with almost every new load and often find junk that has fallen down during the course of normal operation. I don't want anything on the bypass gasket. Careful, it can be hot!

do you use that copper anti seize lube on the bypass lever too, or something else?

 

[Highbeam]

I'm a little concerned that the gasket I ordered wasn't "high density". I contacted the seller. It said specifically replacement for blaze king princess all models.

The top, bottom, and latch side of the gasket are nice and tight...a lot of force to get a dollar bill to move. But the hinge side is much looser, and there is no adjustment on that side of the door. So it's not a huge leak, but still should be tighter I'm guessing.

My last door gasket I ordered from the blaze king dealer and BK drop shipped it to my house. You really want the right OEM material and not some universal "to fit". It was like 30$ for the real thing.

When laying that gasket on the hinge side I make sure that the gasket is not stretched or twisted at all. I would rather it be a little tight than leaky.

 

[Highbeam]

do you use that copper anti seize lube on the bypass lever too, or something else?

Same stuff. Applied to the linkage with a finger. I bought the same size bottle as you, but the permatex brand, it has a brush attached to the lid. I used a ton of it last night putting a car back together. I hate seized bolts!

 

[MissMac]

Same stuff. Applied to the linkage with a finger. I bought the same size bottle as you, but the permatex brand, it has a brush attached to the lid. I used a ton of it last night putting a car back together. I hate seized bolts!

what's the necessity for lubing the bypass latch in reality? i'm sure there are a lot of people who don't do it after all?

 

[Ashful]

what's the necessity for lubing the bypass latch in reality? i'm sure there are a lot of people who don't do it after all?

It just makes it feel nicer and less “grindy” when you cam it over. I guess that a few decades of camming it against dry metal will remove some material, so not a bad idea.

 

[Highbeam]

what's the necessity for lubing the bypass latch in reality? i'm sure there are a lot of people who don't do it after all?

You'll see. When the ramp gets worn in and contaminated with rough stuff it sort of hangs up the actuating rod and thunks, scratches, jiggles weirdly.

You don't have to lube anything on the stove really, you can get the job done dry if you like the feeling. Oh man, I'm trying to resist my childish mind here. I don't know of anybody that has worn through the ramp or the thermostat by not lubing it.

 

[black smoke signals]

I'm a little concerned that the gasket I ordered wasn't "high density". I contacted the seller. It said specifically replacement for blaze king princess all models.

The top, bottom, and latch side of the gasket are nice and tight...a lot of force to get a dollar bill to move. But the hinge side is much looser, and there is no adjustment on that side of the door. So it's not a huge leak, but still should be tighter I'm guessing.

Aaron I have same insert same Wyoming weather same wood! I was having the same problem not passing the dollar bill test at the hinge side I also tried the new BK rope still not passing test. This is not BK approved I used a very thin Stainless shim on the knife edge of the hinge to get a tight seal using the dollar bill as a test for for burn times. The shim passed the dollar bill tests but still had short burn times I removed the shim I found the door was slightly bent using a straight edge. During mid winter I only get 8-10 hours of heat with full load packed into the box.

 

[black smoke signals]

It just makes it feel nicer and less “grindy” when you cam it over. I guess that a few decades of camming it against dry metal will remove some material, so not a bad idea.

I also thought a little dab would help too if you look at the edge of the latch there is cross hatch marks to help the latch from creeping up as the stove gets hotter. I went back to the grindy way

 

[black smoke signals]

This is on the door latch

 

[AaronMColeman]

Aaron I have same insert same Wyoming weather same wood! I was having the same problem not passing the dollar bill test at the hinge side I also tried the new BK rope still not passing test. This is not BK approved I used a very thin Stainless shim on the knife edge of the hinge to get a tight seal using the dollar bill as a test for for burn times. The shim passed the dollar bill tests but still had short burn times I removed the shim I found the door was slightly bent using a straight edge. During mid winter I only get 8-10 hours of heat with full load packed into the box.

I'm ok with 12-14 hour burns on very low this time of year, but if I can get better that would be nice too We had about a 4 day stretch earlier this month with daytime highs in the 20s and overnights around 8...I was able to keep the house nice and warm with 12 hour burns. I'm sure when dead of winter hits that will drop.

Yeah top and bottom seal great, latch side is adjustable so that's not an issue. So it sounds like those times are pretty much standard for this unit and this wood. I'll try a little shim, I have a bunch of sheet metal in the garage and I'll slice of a few sizes to see what works.

 

[black smoke signals]

Do not leave the shims in your stove I only did this to prove a point to myself.I recommend to check the flatness of the door off of the stove.

 

[chemie]

After the installation of the insert, I did dollar bill test. I think it passed it because other than close to handle hatch, the rest was very firm to move the dollar bill. Around the handle it was looser but I think it was still firm enough. When I was doing the teat I realized one part of the gasket is different that the rest. Looked like worn out. But it is a brand new insert so I ignored it. Now hearing about door gaskets , I want to make sure that it is fine.
Here is the pic of it. Should I be concerned?

 

[MissMac]

After the installation of the insert, I did dollar bill test. I think it passed it because other than close to handle hatch, the rest was very firm to move the dollar bill. Around the handle it was looser but I think it was still firm enough. When I was doing the teat I realized one part of the gasket is different that the rest. Looked like worn out. But it is a brand new insert so I ignored it. Now hearing about door gaskets , I want to make sure that it is fine.
Here is the pic of it. Should I be concerned?
View attachment 231715View attachment 231716

Is that just the joint where your stove rope butts together?

 

[darktower007]

Off topic here from maintenance....but should I go with princess or Ashford? If so why one over the other?


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[chemie]

Is that just the joint where your stove rope butts together?

I guess. Still not back home from work.
I’ll check next time I’ll load it. If it is the joint, is that normal?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Off topic here from maintenance....but should I go with princess or Ashford? If so why one over the other?


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I think you need to clarify your post to indicate that you’re talking about inserts. Otherwise, these enthusiasts will start giving you lots of answers that don’t apply.

My take (having not burned either) is that the Princess wins on heating ability (larger firebox, non-flush install). The Ashford wins on looks (cast iron, big window with cleaner glass). If it’s going to be your go-to heater, I’d go for the Princess.

There are actual owners of both here who will be happy to answer questions for you. I just wanted to jump in since I know you’re looking for an insert.

 

[darktower007]

I think you need to clarify your post to indicate that your talking about inserts. Otherwise, these enthusiasts will start giving you lots of answers that don’t apply.

My take (having not burned either) is that the Princess wins on heating ability (larger firebox, non-flush install). The Ashford wins on looks (cast iron, big window with cleaner glass). If it’s going to be your go-to heater, I’d go for the Princess.

There are actual owners of both here who will be happy to answer questions for you. I just wanted to jump in since I know you’re looking for an insert.

Yes sorry... insert.


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[Ashful]

Off topic here from maintenance....but should I go with princess or Ashford? If so why one over the other?

Are you going to see it? Princess is a performer, but she’s not a looker.

Both are miles beyond any other brand on the market, IMO. But then again, what answer would you expect in the BK thread?

 

[darktower007]

I keep hearing of BK super long burn times. This is paramount in my book. It’s not so much a money issue as I’m saving the cash for it, but an concern with other units chewing up wood so fast.


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