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

[Ashful]

Its not that i dont like it. I do like it. But its not magic.

The posts have been gradually warming. We'll get to "...pry it out of my dead hands," by March.

 

[Ashful]

If we get uniforms, they need to say "GEEKS WITH CHAINSAWS" somewhere on them.

... and within two posts, we have "exhibit A".

With some trial and error you can find the amount of wood you need to heat your house to the desired temperature and divide that into the number of heating degree days. I use 1.3 lbs of wood per HDD.

 

[Niko]

i have a question for everyone. I have a brand new steel cat put in less then 2 weeks old. i have been noticing my flu temps are hotter then normal by 300 hundred degrees give or take over the cat probe. So unless my cat probe is bad which its only 2 years old and giving me wrong temps, do the steel cats let more heat threw? For example when i had my stove on hi the other day to burn up the crap in the box my flu temp was borderline 900-1000 degrees but my cat probe was only reading like 1200.. ill take a picture of of the probes next time but i feel like the cat does liight up at a lower temp but a lot more heat is passing threw it. hence my higher flu temps.. with the 5 years a had my ceramic cat i never had the flew temp gets so hi when burning the creosote out and obviously bypass closed.

What do you guys say?

Anyone got a answer?

 

[bholler]

The posts have been gradually warming. We'll get to "...pry it out of my dead hands," by March.

Well not the princess. But maybe a chinook

 

[lsucet]

Anyone got a answer?

Take the probe out and put it at room temperature and see what happens. Maybe needs calibration.

 

[AaronMColeman]

Everything depends on your heat demand to keep the temperature you like. Everybody situation is different. Some like it hotter than other, their houses are more leaky than other, climate on specific area, etc.

Let’s say all things are equal. When it’s 30 at night I want it 70 inside, when it’s 10 at night I want it 70 inside.

I guess, people Talk about burn times and huge hours. But how do those burn times change when it gets really cold.

 

[begreen]

But how do those burn times change when it gets really cold.

Based on reports here the burn times change pretty dramatically and approach parity with a non-cat of the same size.

 

[lsucet]

Let’s say all things are equal. When it’s 30 at night I want it 70 inside, when it’s 10 at night I want it 70 inside.

I guess, people Talk about burn times and huge hours. But how do those burn times change when it gets really cold.

Still depends on your heat demand based on many details. I have to run my stove before many improvement done a little harder. Lately for the past a few days temp has been dropping high 20s for two to three hrs early morning and during the day low 60s. I still burnings low and just one of the stoves. The house is keeping way better the heat.Nothing is the same. Including before I Never have to run it on high to stay warm. That is not my experience. I only run it hard the first night I get here cause the house was alone for a week at a time. Now being here 24/7 and keeping it warm sometimes i don't feel the change of the weather outside. Not my experience with previous stoves including also pellet stoves.

 

[Ashful]

I guess, people Talk about burn times and huge hours. But how do those burn times change when it gets really cold.

There are two answers to this question, depending on your heating goals.

1. For the person doing 100% of their heating with their wood stove, obviously you end up running the stove hotter as the outside temperatures drop, and heating demand increases. As you run the stove hotter, burn times drop. The stove has very good efficiency at all burn rates, but so do many other stoves, at the higher burn rates. If you only burn December - March, and are happy letting the heat pump carry the heat load in the shoulder seasons (begreen says he runs this way), then the BK loses much of its advantage for this scenario.

2. Some of us are happy to just feed our stoves on a schedule that fits our lifestyle, somewhat independent of heating needs. In shoulder seasons, loading each of my stoves once per day is plenty to carry the heat load of most of the house, but when it gets cold it just makes sense to let the oil-fired boiler help out. So, I load one of my stoves twice per day, and the other once per day, for four or five straight months. My thermostats on the two stoves are set to give me repeatable 12-hour and 24-hour burn times, respectively. I don't think I could do this with any other stove on the market, today.

 

[lsucet]

Let’s say all things are equal. When it’s 30 at night I want it 70 inside, when it’s 10 at night I want it 70 inside.

I guess, people Talk about burn times and huge hours. But how do those burn times change when it gets really cold.

The load i posted last night about 6:30 pm. By 7:15 pm it was cruising and dialed to low. this morning 28df outside at 5:30 am, the house just between 71 and 65. Day time will be middle 50s. No worries. I am sure when back home today i still have an active cat and wood in there and the house will be a few degrees warmer cause of sun gain during the day. that is running one stove on low only.

 

[Ashful]

Okay, after a 2-week observation period, I'm ready to report flue temps. All are given as probe in 30 feet of 6 inch double wall. Temps on outside of single wall seem to hold almost exactly half these numbers.

Peak temperature after 30 minutes on high, during start-up phase: 900F

15 minutes after turning down: 400F

30 minutes after turning down: 350F

From 1 hour to 12 hours: 300F


We've been having warm days, so I haven't (intentionally) had any fires over 24 hours yet this year. I'm doing short loads, 40% - 80% of stove capacity. How much I fill the stove doesn't seem to affect the flue temps, other than falling off quicker after 12 hours.

Ashful how low are you turning it down. I’m new to this but my probe temp when running low is definitely cooler than yours.

So, I've been checking my double wall pipe probe just about hourly, since you posted this, trying to be sure the info I post is absolutely correct. What's interesting is that you say yours runs cooler than 300F during the main part of the burn, and I find mine making excursions the other way. I've caught it heading as high as 500F a few times, in the last few days, always in the first 4 hours of the burn. The 300F number I posted before was from just a few cursory checks over the prior two weeks, and it clearly doesn't always hold there.

This is on a setting commensurate with a 12 hour burn, with each load being 25% - 100% oak, the balance being up to 25% sassafras.

 

[Highbeam]

Let’s say all things are equal. When it’s 30 at night I want it 70 inside, when it’s 10 at night I want it 70 inside.

I guess, people Talk about burn times and huge hours. But how do those burn times change when it gets really cold.

In my home I spend a lot of time heating at 35 and then about a week or so most years below 10. My routine is to use 24 hour reload cycles as long as possible and then when it’s really cold drop to 12 hour partial reloads as temps get into single digits. In those 12 hours, maybe 2/3 of the wood will have been consumed. 12 hour cycles are very manageable for people that sleep and go to work. The house stays warm with no catch up.

I previously burned a noncat in this same home and i would disagree that the two approach parity. The noncat, at best, would burn overnight in the warmest weather. In the cold I would always wake up to a cold house.

Just as the burn time was reduced with the bk at higher outputs, burn time is also reduced with the noncat. I’ve never had to load the bk three times in one day!

 

[Mnpellet]

So, I've been checking my double wall pipe probe just about hourly, since you posted this, trying to be sure the info I post is absolutely correct. What's interesting is that you say yours runs cooler than 300F during the main part of the burn, and I find mine making excursions the other way. I've caught it heading as high as 500F a few times, in the last few days, always in the first 4 hours of the burn. The 300F number I posted before was from just a few cursory checks over the prior two weeks, and it clearly doesn't always hold there.

This is on a setting commensurate with a 12 hour burn, with each load being 25% - 100% oak, the balance being up to 25% sassafras.

Four hours in to burn I’m sitting a little above 200 and the cat dial is at about 12:00 which is well in to the active zone.

 

[jetsam]

Anyone got a answer?

1) New cats are always hyperactive

2) Calibrate your probe thermometer- you just need a 50°-80° room and a pair of pliers.

 

[ratsrepus]

in the dead of winter i still only had to load the princess once a day, the old douchwest I couldn't keep count. Im averaging 30 hrs in the house on the ashford, Highs in the 40's lows in the low 30's . I sure ILL have to reload more now that we are going down in the 20 and even teens next week. Ive burned about 1/2 a cord maybe a tad more total for both stoves. less than half as with the douchewest and Jethro Tull (Jotul)

 

[MissMac]

Well it’s officially cold. Threw some big rounds of jack pine in the stove for the night. Might be getting a tan for sitting so close staring at the fire box. A nice way to end the day and warm up after all the fresh air of the work day! About -12*C here now, with a bit of windchill. I think I’m going to try @Ashford s approach to keeping the house at desired temp - gonna keep the stove on my 12 hour predictable cycles, and let the furnace do the rest.

 

[begreen]

previously burned a noncat in this same home and i would disagree that the two approach parity. The noncat, at best, would burn overnight in the warmest weather. In the cold I would always wake up to a cold house.

I believe you. By the temps reported here the stone non-cat was putting way too much heat up the flue. We're heating a bigger house with a lot more glass and have never woken up to a cold house or stove. Well, except that year we were burning the damp maple.

 

[allan5oh]

We're still on 1/2 to 2/3 loads twice a day here in Winnipeg. That keeps the hallway at 22c. Princess Ultra. Seems like a full load causes too much smoke and spillage at warmer temps so we don't bother.

Going from the non-cat to this stove has been a huge difference in temperature stability. Every time I drop by my parents it is 21.5 or 22c. Before it would almost always be too cold or too hot.

 

[MissMac]

I’m only a couple of hours away from you. I think it’s safe to say winter’s here.

 

[kennyp2339]

@Niko clean your probes, they do get build up over time, a gentle wire brush is all it takes.

 

[JKanor]

So I just lit the 2nd fire in my new to me BK princess. Its 3 years old with a brand new cat, this being the second fire on it. I used the top down method and ran it wide open, bypass open till the cat was active. Closed bypass and continued on 3/4 throttle until the small stuff burned down to coals. During this time the stack was 350 and the cat rolled over to about 330 o'clock on the thermo.

After coals were established I opened the bypass, raked the coals level and loaded 6 splits of oak and ash (17% on ash, 20% on oak). Closed bypass and Ran it wide open for 10-15 min till all pieces caught and charred. I've now dialed back the stat to half way on the swoosh and the cat shot up to here. Is it ok that it got that hot? On the first fire it reached the end of "the zone" but not past it.

Not that I'm at 50% on the swoosh, the flames have gone out and I see coals with the cat at the end of the grey zone. Just making sure I'm not melting down the new cat, I've done everything by the book both fires as far as time with bypass open and running it hard after a reload.

 

[jetsam]

So I just lit the 2nd fire in my new to me BK princess. Its 3 years old with a brand new cat, this being the second fire on it. I used the top down method and ran it wide open, bypass open till the cat was active. Closed bypass and continued on 3/4 throttle until the small stuff burned down to coals. During this time the stack was 350 and the cat rolled over to about 330 o'clock on the thermo.

After coals were established I opened the bypass, raked the coals level and loaded 6 splits of oak and ash (17% on ash, 20% on oak). Closed bypass and Ran it wide open for 10-15 min till all pieces caught and charred. I've now dialed back the stat to half way on the swoosh and the cat shot up to here. Is it ok that it got that hot? On the first fire it reached the end of "the zone" but not past it.

Not that I'm at 50% on the swoosh, the flames have gone out and I see coals with the cat at the end of the grey zone. Just making sure I'm not melting down the new cat, I've done everything by the book both fires as far as time with bypass open and running it hard after a reload.

Looks good to me.

I am not so kind to my new cats, but it's better to be kind; they lose surface area and available catalyst when they get too hot.

Under 1500°F is the recommendation from Condar; that should be about the end of the white area on the BK thermometer.

 

[Highbeam]

So I just lit the 2nd fire in my new to me BK princess. Its 3 years old with a brand new cat, this being the second fire on it. I used the top down method and ran it wide open, bypass open till the cat was active. Closed bypass and continued on 3/4 throttle until the small stuff burned down to coals. During this time the stack was 350 and the cat rolled over to about 330 o'clock on the thermo.

After coals were established I opened the bypass, raked the coals level and loaded 6 splits of oak and ash (17% on ash, 20% on oak). Closed bypass and Ran it wide open for 10-15 min till all pieces caught and charred. I've now dialed back the stat to half way on the swoosh and the cat shot up to here. Is it ok that it got that hot? On the first fire it reached the end of "the zone" but not past it.

Not that I'm at 50% on the swoosh, the flames have gone out and I see coals with the cat at the end of the grey zone. Just making sure I'm not melting down the new cat, I've done everything by the book both fires as far as time with bypass open and running it hard after a reload.

Fresh cats will often be so excited about eating smoke that they will get that hot. It’s normal but you can expect it to happen less as the cat settles down and ages a bit.

Single wall pipe eh? Do you have the 18” clearance to that mantle?

 

[Diabel]

This cat is in the 1700-1800*f area and it is pushing the limit.

 

[JKanor]

Fresh cats will often be so excited about eating smoke that they will get that hot. It’s normal but you can expect it to happen less as the cat settles down and ages a bit.

Single wall pipe eh? Do you have the 18” clearance to that mantle?

Yes sir, 20" to the edge of the stained wood, 21.5 to the dry wall. 10" from back corner of the stove to drywall with the side shields. Hottest spot on wall has been 125-130 in a small spot. I have 2 weird angles to get to my thimble so double wall fixed elbows wont work.