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

[Highbeam]

Really? Why?
I’m on season 4 I think and have just started to notice a little drop in performance. I’ll just make a few adjustments, I don’t feel it needs replaced yet.

I’m pretty sure assessing cat life expectancies by the # of years is like buying wood in unicorn cords. It’s not the years, it’s the miles. Maybe he runs 5000 hours each year.

 

[Ryan723]

I’m pretty sure assessing cat life expectancies by the # of years is like buying wood in unicorn cords. It’s not the years, it’s the miles. Maybe he runs 5000 hours each year.

I was struggling to figure out how much use I really had on my OEM cat after 4 years, so I made a quick Google Docs spreadsheet.

Just record the number of days per month you burn....approximate where necessary (e.g., most Aprils, I'd only burn 5 all-day fires...or 3 all day plus another 4 evening-only burns) if you don't remember.

I was surprised at how fast the hours added up over a few years!



I did mine as 'calendar year' since i got my stove in December. But you could just as easily re-shuffle months to set it up as 'burn season', if you prefer to think of it that way.

TOTALLY unnecessary, but I like to keep track of stuff like this....

 

[webby3650]

I’m pretty sure assessing cat life expectancies by the # of years is like buying wood in unicorn cords. It’s not the years, it’s the miles. Maybe he runs 5000 hours each year.

That’s why I asked why.

 

[gregbesia]

Hi Everyone! I am finally back in the burn game and this time I went with the Blaze King Princess insert.
Installed Monday and the 2 warm up fires are completed. This thing off gassed like crazy! I had to open windows from the massive smell. You could see the smoke coming off from the curing process. Wish I had done that outside.
Here she is for the install:
View attachment 233851 View attachment 233852 View attachment 233853
OK, finally time to do a real fire. It went pretty well, but I do have some questions.
First of all it lit up and burned so easily, my old Regency 2400 always struggled to get a draft going but not this beast.
View attachment 233854
Time to activate the cat and see what happens. I was actually pretty nervous here I'll admit.
Here is a few minutes after activating the cat:
View attachment 233855
Starting to get red, and seems fine. Outside smoke is still visible, but is it steam? I cannot really tell.
I turned the stat to med for about 20 minutes and then to one click above low.
Everything seem fine, and I engaged the fan. I will also admit that as of right now I am not comfortable with controlling the fan. The Regency had an automatic on/off fan and I relied on that a lot.
OK I check back in about 30 minutes and see this:
View attachment 233858
Uhh, is that OK? Reading through this thread I see that the thoughts on this are divided.
The cat looks like this:
View attachment 233857
I watch it carefully for about an hour and turn the fan up to medium range.
There is still some smoke/steam coming from the chimney.
After an hour or so the gauge goes back into the active zone and the cat looks like this:
View attachment 233856
There is no visible flame in the box, but this cat stays active for about 4 more hours with fan on medium-low setting.
House was warming up nicely.
One more question now, I fell asleep, cat activated, and the fire burned out. Is that going to ruin my cat?
I am sure I will have lots more questions so thank you in advance to anyone who helps me out.
One last thing to mention is I am burning red pine at the moment. My other splits are not ready yet and I don't want to shock the cat putting in wet wood.

Welcome to Alien tech! I have the same insert since the beginning of 2018. You will love it. The ability to control this is amazing as well as long burn times.

 

[ratsrepus]

Whats the first thing you notice when the cat starts to go south?

 

[Highbeam]

Do

Whats the first thing you notice when the cat starts to go south?

I burn mostly at the low output end and I burn mostly low btu woods from my region like red alder and Douglas fir.

When mine have died I notice smoke. Stinky smoke. Blue or white. Even though the cat meter is way up into the active range I get smoke.

Then as the cat gets even worse I notice a lack of heat output along with an increase in fuel consumption. This is a death spiral because you then turn up the stat for more heat which burns even more fuel.

Mine don’t clog and always looked fine to the eye. I tried the vinegar bath and do not recommend you do it unless you just need a few more months out of it like during a cat shortage or if you’re low on funds short term.

Chimney gunk accumulation increases during poor cat performance. The top couple feet get especially ugly. I’ve even had tar drips from the cap.

 

[ratsrepus]

and thats usually after how long? or hours?

 

[BKVP]

Do


I burn mostly at the low output end and I burn mostly low btu woods from my region like red alder and Douglas fir.

When mine have died I notice smoke. Stinky smoke. Blue or white. Even though the cat meter is way up into the active range I get smoke.

Then as the cat gets even worse I notice a lack of heat output along with an increase in fuel consumption. This is a death spiral because you then turn up the stat for more heat which burns even more fuel.

Mine don’t clog and always looked fine to the eye. I tried the vinegar bath and do not recommend you do it unless you just need a few more months out of it like during a cat shortage or if you’re low on funds short term.

Chimney gunk accumulation increases during poor cat performance. The top couple feet get especially ugly. I’ve even had tar drips from the cap.

Keep in mind the "top couple of feet" can get dirty also from being too far from the source of combustion. It's not uncommon to see 30+ chimneys have accumulation in the last 3-4 feet, even when the cat is new. I realized your observation is on you particular stove, over time, so the comparison works. Just clarifying because some readers may take gunk accumulation for poor cat performance, when it can be too long a run, wet wood etc.

 

[lsucet]

@Highbeam has short flue. " Mentioned by him countless time". What is left? Wet wood? Poor burning practices?

 

[BKVP]

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all of you. Log off and go spend time with family...friends...or your stove!

BKVP Out!

 

[Highbeam]

@Highbeam has short flue. " Mentioned by him countless time". What is left? Wet wood? Poor burning practices?

My 12’ flue met the spec in the manual when I installed it. I don’t have any problems that I know of other than smoke rollout if I open the door without praying enough.

It’s running great and I consume catalysts at the expected rate in my opinion. When I’ve gone too long on a dead cat I’ve noticed the symptoms that I described above. That’s only when the cat is ready for replacement.

Like an air filter on your truck, you want to replace the stove cat before it fails!

 

[kennyp2339]

Dropping to 12 tonight here, then down to 8 tomorrow night, truly a wood burners paradise.

 

[kennyp2339]

Whats the first thing you notice when the cat starts to go south?

When my cat died last year the obvious symptoms were decreased heat output, shorter burn times and an increase of fly ash (mustard color) by the flame shield.

 

[drhiii]

Figured I’d mention the following in case anyone is chasing down a similar thing, Smoke smell. Was going nuts trying to figure out where this leak was coming from. Much analysis of the pipes. Nope. Not the door or gasket. Nope. Came at it several ways. Was so baffled, was on the cusp of returning to my older stove because the situation was untenable. After weeks, finally isolated it down to the cat thermometer.

The washer looked A-ok each time I inspected it. But after trying everything I could think of, I taped the hole.. finally, like finally, smoke smell stopped. Like stopped. It was subtle enough, and if there was a little bit of a flame in the box, it would abate. But when I would dial it down for an all-niter, it would creep up and in.

Have never been able to run the stove properly, needing to keep air circulating enough to hold back the smoke smell. Was chewing through wood at about twice the rate. So, will purchase a new one and trust there was an aberration in to BK thermometer delivered with the stove. Here’s to hoping. I really did not want to return to the older stove but was like a day or two away. Nice to have good air quality... a piece of heat tape.

 

[darktower007]

So I have a BK Ashford 25 insert ordered..(I’m pumped!)
My question is normally from everything I read most other brand inserts... they are inserted into the hearth and hooked up to a fixed in place bottom plate then you make your final connections stuffing Kaowool into the gap.

Blaze King has a flue collar assembly. Will this make it harder to judge the size of the block off plate hole diameter?

Does this make it harder to connect the flue collar to the liner then push back up the masonry flue?

I have been looking for an instruction video but I’m not finding much... any help would be great!



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[Tegbert]

So I have a BK Ashford 25 insert ordered..(I’m pumped!)
My question is normally from everything I read most other brand inserts... they are inserted into the hearth and hooked up to a fixed in place bottom plate then you make your final connections stuffing Kaowool into the gap.

Blaze King has a flue collar assembly. Will this make it harder to judge the size of the block off plate hole diameter?

Does this make it harder to connect the flue collar to the liner then push back up the masonry flue?

I have been looking for an instruction video but I’m not finding much... any help would be great!
View attachment 233913


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With the ashford you have to measure how tall it is from the bottom of the insert to where the collar sits in the stove. Then when the liner is put in place attach the collar to the liner and pull up or drop down the liner to that approximate height. Once it’s there measure from the fromt of the fireplace and make sure it is sitting approximately the right depth in and then make the plate with the hole where the liner is. If you are doing the install yourself then while pushing the insert into the fireplace push or pull the collar up or down to align the collar to it and continue pushing it in till it seats. It’s really easy or so I thought it was.

On my block off plate I made the hole bigger so I had room to adjust it if need be. I figured that the insulation would mostly plug the hole but the plate still blocked most of it off.

Just remember that there is tabs on the top of the insert that the collar slides under and then bolts from the back. They both need to go in at about the same time so if it slides in the tabs but the studs are not aligned then either the insert needs to go in more or the collar is too far away.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[aaronk25]

So question for those with BK stoves and fans. I’m always curious when dialing back the thermostat to see how hot the stove is and listen for the clink of the thermostat contacting the close stop. If fans are off, middle of the burn and I have it at 3 o’clock on my princess, the clink when turning counterclockwise happens at maybe 2:00-:230. When it’s set at 3:30 the clink is at 3:00....or within margin there abouts.

Turn the fan on to medium setting and no matter what the clink happens at 1:30-2:00 position even when running at say 4pm.

So here is my question. I get that running the fans increases efficiency by extracting more heat from the flue collar and moving it into the room instead of a the heat going up the chimney, or some of it anyway, but when running the fans does the BK stove thermostat basically become static and never come off the cold stop?

It seems like it’s always in the position calling for more heat. I think the cat masks this as it creates a more even heat than say conventional stoves? Thoughts? Do the fans increase efficiency but at the expense of not having as precise temperature control due to the thermostat never reaching the satisfied temperature and then opening just enough to keep the temp where set?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[drhiii]

Wa

Figured I’d mention the following in case anyone is chasing down a similar thing, Smoke smell. Was going nuts trying to figure out where this leak was coming from. Much analysis of the pipes. Nope. Not the door or gasket. Nope. Came at it several ways. Was so baffled, was on the cusp of returning to my older stove because the situation was untenable. After weeks, finally isolated it down to the cat thermometer.

The washer looked A-ok each time I inspected it. But after trying everything I could think of, I taped the hole.. finally, like finally, smoke smell stopped. Like stopped. It was subtle enough, and if there was a little bit of a flame in the box, it would abate. But when I would dial it down for an all-niter, it would creep up and in.

Have never been able to run the stove properly, needing to keep air circulating enough to hold back the smoke smell. Was chewing through wood at about twice the rate. So, will purchase a new one and trust there was an aberration in to BK thermometer delivered with the stove. Here’s to hoping. I really did not want to return to the older stove but was like a day or two away. Nice to have good air quality... a piece of heat tape.

Was wrong... after running for a couple of hours, the smoke smell, ever so slight, returned. Pardon the venting, but this is really frustrating. Having run stoves for 40 years, I know a bit about this. For the life of me I cannot figure out where this is coming from. It emits when the cat is engaged and the air flow is dialed back just below dancing flames. So frustrated, on the cusp of switching out to my older stove. It is coming from the BKP. I suppose hire a company to come check for cracks or? It did this from day 1 btw.

Here's a question. I do not have fans connected, but when I try and determine where the smoke smell is coming from, it is not possible to come from the vents where the fans would be connected... could it? Tired of this...

 

[darktower007]

With the ashford you have to measure how tall it is from the bottom of the insert to where the collar sits in the stove. Then when the liner is put in place attach the collar to the liner and pull up or drop down the liner to that approximate height. Once it’s there measure from the fromt of the fireplace and make sure it is sitting approximately the right depth in and then make the plate with the hole where the liner is. If you are doing the install yourself then while pushing the insert into the fireplace push or pull the collar up or down to align the collar to it and continue pushing it in till it seats. It’s really easy or so I thought it was.

On my block off plate I made the hole bigger so I had room to adjust it if need be. I figured that the insulation would mostly plug the hole but the plate still blocked most of it off.

Just remember that there is tabs on the top of the insert that the collar slides under and then bolts from the back. They both need to go in at about the same time so if it slides in the tabs but the studs are not aligned then either the insert needs to go in more or the collar is too far away.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

Excellent write up! Thank you.


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[SuperJ]

So question for those with BK stoves and fans. I’m always curious when dialing back the thermostat to see how hot the stove is and listen for the clink of the thermostat contacting the close stop. If fans are off, middle of the burn and I have it at 3 o’clock on my princess, the clink when turning counterclockwise happens at maybe 2:00-:230. When it’s set at 3:30 the clink is at 3:00....or within margin there abouts.

Turn the fan on to medium setting and no matter what the clink happens at 1:30-2:00 position even when running at say 4pm.

So here is my question. I get that running the fans increases efficiency by extracting more heat from the flue collar and moving it into the room instead of a the heat going up the chimney, or some of it anyway, but when running the fans does the BK stove thermostat basically become static and never come off the cold stop?

It seems like it’s always in the position calling for more heat. I think the cat masks this as it creates a more even heat than say conventional stoves? Thoughts? Do the fans increase efficiency but at the expense of not having as precise temperature control due to the thermostat never reaching the satisfied temperature and then opening just enough to keep the temp where set?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

If you trying to deliver the same btu rate with the fan on, you will have to turn down the stat slightly since the increased airflow tends to bias the stat a bit more open. I tend to leave mine off until I need the extra BTU s.

For me that means if I'm past 3oclock I usually have the fans on.

 

[Niko]

Just to paraphrase the problem, so we can all be on the same page, you ran a Princess for several years with a ceramic cat. No issues, all behaved as expected.

Then recently, you switched to a new SteelCat in the same stove, no other changes were made to the stove, piping, or thermometers at this time. Now your flue is running 300F hotter than it was before, and in fact, hotter than the cat probe.

Correct?

Can you give specific numbers, both before and after? You have thrown out a lot of numbers already, but it hasn’t been clear which of these numbers were before or after the cat swap.

Sorry for not responding back sooner I'm not always signed in and I'm not getting my emails showing you guys responded to my post.

So yea my flu probe is runnig hotter then my cat probe and this is in my king stove. For example when I run the stove hot to clean up the inside my flu temps are getting to close to the 1000 degree mark and that's only with the stove on full blast for like 30 minutes with my cat probe showing around same temp give or take.

I never recorded it down on my old ceramic but I def known my flu temps where at least 300-400 lower then the cat probe. Q

 

[BKVP]

Wa


Was wrong... after running for a couple of hours, the smoke smell, ever so slight, returned. Pardon the venting, but this is really frustrating. Having run stoves for 40 years, I know a bit about this. For the life of me I cannot figure out where this is coming from. It emits when the cat is engaged and the air flow is dialed back just below dancing flames. So frustrated, on the cusp of switching out to my older stove. It is coming from the BKP. I suppose hire a company to come check for cracks or? It did this from day 1 btw.

Here's a question. I do not have fans connected, but when I try and determine where the smoke smell is coming from, it is not possible to come from the vents where the fans would be connected... could it? Tired of this...

Please post pictures of your stove, chimney, connections of black pipe. Also, a picture of the inside of the stove please.

 

[kennyp2339]

Holding at 14deg f with a stiff 10 mph wind from the northwest, blower on the stove is now on medium, house is a wonderful 71deg with a 100% red oak load burning away, I have flames in the firebox but no smoke coming out the stack... perfect burn going on here at the moment. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Please post pictures of your stove, chimney, connections of black pipe. Also, a picture of the inside of the stove please.

Working on the holiday. Guess you've already had enough time with the family? It's not even 9 here on the east coast! ;-)

I know how you feel. This Bud's for you!

 

[ratsrepus]

Holding at 14deg f with a stiff 10 mph wind from the northwest, blower on the stove is now on medium, house is a wonderful 71deg with a 100% red oak load burning away, I have flames in the firebox but no smoke coming out the stack... perfect burn going on here at the moment. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

same here, not quite as cold here in SE Michigan, 14 hrs into a load of red oak 74 inside.