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

[lsucet]

I am not a BK owner but I have to say BK owners have to be the most dedicated group of people to wood burning and working together to find the most optimum burning in whatever situation. Would love to pick your brain on the blower when you use it,don’t use it or mix.

I believe everything comes down to, if the stove in use have a good convection design. The are stoves that have the option of fans but is difficult to say if there is a different with them on/off, if any. Sometimes they make more noise than what actually help to heat distribution on some stoves.
On BK it is true that the fans affect burn times but there is a little work around to minimize the change on wood consumption when fan on. I find that I can dial it lower on the thermostat and keep the fans on low and the consumption is minor. For my setup and heat demand that is more than enough, but will not be the same for everyone else. If using both stoves at the same time as for the last few days, I don't need the fans. Temperature here lately is between 20 to 28 during the night and 48 to 50 and cloudy during the day. Expecting a storm tonight Thru tomorrow with snow. Let's see. I just did a concrete slab yesterday. I have insulated blanket on it but this storm will not be good.

 

[JKanor]

Fans are the only way for me when I’m heating solely with the wood stove. The difference in heat displacement in this 1,600sqf doublewide is great enough that I wouldn’t even consider owning a stove without fans.

That being said, since I’ve been dabbling in this forbidden heat pump/electric furnace witchcraftery and only running the wood stove to assist once outside temps drop into the 20’s or lower, I’m finding that running the stove without the fans on and relying on the heat vents and cold air return to distribute heat evenly works well.

I'm in the exact same boat. Heating a 1900sqft split level that was built around a heat pump with no gas available. Run the heat pump until the lows are in the 20s then fire up the BK princess to avoid the meter spinning from running the electric backup coils. Having the stove on the ground level and 3 vents direct to the top level above the stove circulates the air just on rising and falling down the stairs keeping a 3-4* difference from downstairs to up. I'm in northeast PA and have been doing 24 hour cycles keeping the downstairs 74ish and 70-71 up.

 

[jetsam]

I am not a BK owner but I have to say BK owners have to be the most dedicated group of people to wood burning and working together to find the most optimum burning in whatever situation. Would love to pick your brain on the blower when you use it,don’t use it or mix.

Scroll up a bit, we've discussed that a few times this year alone.

I think we had general agreement that burn time would be shortened, but disagreement as to how much. BKVP dropped some pure awesome into the thread by asking the lab guys at BK, but they didn't have data.

In general, it sounds like people with flush inserts usually use the blower or they don't get a whole lot of heat. People with semiflush inserts can choose until it gets really cold out (or they can always choose, if the insert is only supplemental heat). People with freestanders have a wider range of opinions, but most seem to like the blower and use it when it's cold out. Those who use cold air fans seem less likely to love the blower, so it depends on your house layout too.

Anyone taking exception or offense to the above generalizations should contact my Complaints Department via a PM to Ashlov. Thank you.

 

[Diabel]

This does not look like a double wall telescopic pipe to me. Double wall yes, but is it telescopic?

 

[begreen]

Yes double-wall but I don't see a seam. Looks like a fixed length.

 

[Diabel]

Yes double-wall but I don't see a seam. Looks like a fixed length.

Thank you. It looks fixed to me as well. It will be interesting cleaning it.

 

[Highbeam]

Thank you. It looks fixed to me as well. It will be interesting cleaning it.

Just unscrew at the thimble and stove top and pull the top away from the wall before lifting. At least that’s what I’d try!

 

[Niko]

Agghh enjoying my 24 hr refill on my king. Still haven't hooked up my princess yet, had to postpone some projects that arent finished yet. Temps have been 40s during the day and 30s at night. Wood has been a mox of pine, oak and cedar.. Havent been really stuffing the box either as a lot of this wood was cut by power companies cleaning up trees aroud the power lines so the lengths ans widths are all different sizes. But hey I'm not complaining it was about 4 cords of free wood ..

 

[drhiii]

Hopefully can acquire a pointer on… have installed and been running a BK Princess. Fairly comfortable with it operation. Getting upwards of 20ish hour burns so far so am happy with that.

However, installed with 6” stove pipe, no problem. Except for the connection to the convection pipe into the stove. I currently use a chimney adapter that was used on two prior stoves with 6” connection. It works, but every once in awhile I can sense a ever so slight wood burning smell. And yes, I have 2 carbon monoxide sensors and they have never measured above 0.

Anyway, I need to change this up. Have seen everything from a double walled adapter/damper section (6'' DVL Adapter-Damper Section – 6DVL-ADWD) to a straight stove pipe, both of which overlap the exit flue to the stove.

Can anyone please point me to, recommend, what they use at this connection point to the stove? I see a lot of pics, and installation how-tos… but would like to go to the experience of this forum and ask, what do ya’ll use? tx

 

[BKVP]

I received one of the sterling engine fans as a gift. Fun to watch, great build quality, not much air movement.

Maybe it just needs a bigger engine....and props...

 

[fhon]

My stove will produce smoke on and off throughout the burn cycle. Sometimes only for the first 40-60 minutes after reload, sometimes for the first few hours. I think split size can impact, if you are feeding the cat more than it can chew. Other times I don’t know why it smokes but it does. Not a lot, but some for sure.

Well, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. I was under the impression there should be no smoke. My splits are definitely to small. Unfortunately I'm 2 years out from having wood that's cut and split correctly for this stove.

 

[Ashful]

Well, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. I was under the impression there should be no smoke. My splits are definitely to small. Unfortunately I'm 2 years out from having wood that's cut and split correctly for this stove.

Don’t sweat it. As long as that combustor probe needle is well up into the active region, you’re running it correctly. Sometimes you’ll get a little smoke, and maybe the load is just producing more than the combustor can reburn.

However, if it is hovering low in the active region in the first half of the burn, then you likely have wet wood problems. This is a different situation, and will lead to a messy chimney. If the probe is hanging low in the active region during the early part of a burn, when it should be pegged up around 12 o’clock (or even higher), the combustor may not be active. The probe thermometer is simply an indication that you’ve reached an exhaust temperature that will promote an active catalytic reaction, not that it’s actually happening.

 

[Ryan723]

Hi All--BK Ashford 30.1 here with going into year 5 on the stove and original cat (~3.5-5 cords/year). My math has me around 14000-14500 hours on the cat, which i think it generally is where performance starts to decline, which I am noticing. Gaskets all checked and seem good.

No other obvious issues, but burns of >8 hours on a fairly full firefbox and low/moderate heating level are becoming more challenging.

I did the 50% vinegar hot soak and got some more activity and life out of the cat at the ~ midpoint of Season 3 and the early part of Season 4...but going into 5, i'm thinking this cat is just getting near its end-of-life.

So, my question: any heads up, thoughts or cautions on where to source a cat replacement?

I'm inclined to go directly to BK, but if there is another source for a cheaper but similar performance product (or identical?), I'd consider it.

Thanks!

 

[showrguy]

Hi All--BK Ashford 30.1 here with going into year 5 on the stove and original cat (~3.5-5 cords/year). My math has me around 14000-14500 hours on the cat, which i think it generally is where performance starts to decline, which I am noticing. Gaskets all checked and seem good.

No other obvious issues, but burns of >8 hours on a fairly full firefbox and low/moderate heating level are becoming more challenging.

I did the 50% vinegar hot soak and got some more activity and life out of the cat at the ~ midpoint of Season 3 and the early part of Season 4...but going into 5, i'm thinking this cat is just getting near its end-of-life.

So, my question: any heads up, thoughts or cautions on where to source a cat replacement?

I'm inclined to go directly to BK, but if there is another source for a cheaper but similar performance product (or identical?), I'd consider it.

Thanks!

Firecat combustors, recomended by BKVP countless times...

 

[Ashful]

...I'm inclined to go directly to BK, but if there is another source for a cheaper but similar performance product (or identical?), I'd consider it.

There’s a 10-year warranty on that cat. Contact BK directly for a replacement.

You’ll need Firecat the next time around, but not for this one.

 

[rdust]

Hopefully can acquire a pointer on… have installed and been running a BK Princess. Fairly comfortable with it operation. Getting upwards of 20ish hour burns so far so am happy with that.

However, installed with 6” stove pipe, no problem. Except for the connection to the convection pipe into the stove. I currently use a chimney adapter that was used on two prior stoves with 6” connection. It works, but every once in awhile I can sense a ever so slight wood burning smell. And yes, I have 2 carbon monoxide sensors and they have never measured above 0.

Anyway, I need to change this up. Have seen everything from a double walled adapter/damper section (6'' DVL Adapter-Damper Section – 6DVL-ADWD) to a straight stove pipe, both of which overlap the exit flue to the stove.

Can anyone please point me to, recommend, what they use at this connection point to the stove? I see a lot of pics, and installation how-tos… but would like to go to the experience of this forum and ask, what do ya’ll use? tx

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ead-everything-bk.155890/page-80#post-2143748
This might help.

 

[drhiii]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ead-everything-bk.155890/page-80#post-2143748
This might help.

Tx for this pointer. Have ordered a replacement adapter pipe that I see will solve this tiny seepage. It only occurs very intermittently, and does not move any CO2 meters, but it enough to cause a hmmmm.

 

[Ryan723]

There’s a 10-year warranty on that cat. Contact BK directly for a replacement.

Thank you, @Ashful . I called BK this afternoon and spoke to a very helpful woman. She indicated that for combustor warranty, I should go through my dealer, not BK directly. So that will be tomorrow's call.

Is the 10-year BK cat warranty pro-rated? or complete within 10 years, even for a tired old cat? The warranty card indicates warranty is for "defects in manufacturing or materials"--I'm going on 14k hrs and year 5 of hard use, so I got more life out of it than I expected and certainly don't intend to claim any issues with the materials or construction. The stove, including the cat, has been bulletproof, and BK seems like an upstanding company when it comes to real issues, so I don't want to abuse their willingness to help.

If pro-rated, any idea on how they calculate it?

If I wouldn't get that much back from BK, I might buy a new one from Firecat (likely substantially less than BK dealer price, so with a pro-rating, it might be a wash?), give the old one a vinegar bath, and have it on a shelf as a tired, but somewhat functional spare...just for peace of mind.

 

[fhon]

Don’t sweat it. As long as that combustor probe needle is well up into the active region, you’re running it correctly. Sometimes you’ll get a little smoke, and maybe the load is just producing more than the combustor can reburn.

However, if it is hovering low in the active region in the first half of the burn, then you likely have wet wood problems. This is a different situation, and will lead to a messy chimney. If the probe is hanging low in the active region during the early part of a burn, when it should be pegged up around 12 o’clock (or even higher), the combustor may not be active. The probe thermometer is simply an indication that you’ve reached an exhaust temperature that will promote an active catalytic reaction, not that it’s actually happening.

Moisture readings seem good on the wood and I usually peg the cat thermometer in the first 20-30 minutes. That was the case today but I had smoke through the whole burn until it was coals.

I'm wondering if too thinly split wood could explain it all. And if so is there any issue long term? Ive got a lot to burn that was split for my old setup.

 

[Ashful]

Thank you, @Ashful . I called BK this afternoon and spoke to a very helpful woman. She indicated that for combustor warranty, I should go through my dealer, not BK directly. So that will be tomorrow's call.

Is the 10-year BK cat warranty pro-rated? or complete within 10 years, even for a tired old cat? The warranty card indicates warranty is for "defects in manufacturing or materials"--I'm going on 14k hrs and year 5 of hard use, so I got more life out of it than I expected and certainly don't intend to claim any issues with the materials or construction. The stove, including the cat, has been bulletproof, and BK seems like an upstanding company when it comes to real issues, so I don't want to abuse their willingness to help.

If pro-rated, any idea on how they calculate it?

If I wouldn't get that much back from BK, I might buy a new one from Firecat (likely substantially less than BK dealer price, so with a pro-rating, it might be a wash?), give the old one a vinegar bath, and have it on a shelf as a tired, but somewhat functional spare...just for peace of mind.

I haven't dealt with the BK cat warranty, but usually cat warranties are:

1. Serviced by the combustor manufacturer, not the stove manufacturer. The dealer / BK is just the facilitator.

2. Most cat warranties are pro-rated after some period of time.

I'm not suggesting abuse of any warranty, but it is warranted to perform for 10 years. If mine were to fall short of that, I'd not be making any of my own assessments or conclusions as to why, it is not my field of expertise. As long as I had not knowingly abused it, I'd be sending it in for warranty replacement.

 

[bholler]

Tx for this pointer. Have ordered a replacement adapter pipe that I see will solve this tiny seepage. It only occurs very intermittently, and does not move any CO2 meters, but it enough to cause a hmmmm.

CO not CO2

 

[BKVP]

There’s a 10-year warranty on that cat. Contact BK directly for a replacement.

You’ll need Firecat the next time around, but not for this one.

Remember all, warranty is for failure, not diminished activity.

 

[17vljoe]

So last winter I set my stove to low and set off the closest co2 alarm to the stove. Is there any way to ensure this won’t happen again? Other than just not turning it down. I was thinking about installing a draw collar so even if the stove stalls out on a low setting the draft won’t reverse and let co2 or smoke back up into the house.

 

[bholler]

Darn it guys it is carbon monoxide CO. Not carbon dioxide CO2

 

[kf6hap]

CO1, CO2 makes sodas fizzi. Move the C monoxide detector away from the stove's heat. Mine gave false readings until I moved it away. It should be about 4' from the floor. This might help.