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

[pjohnson]

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...

Check for smoke at night when it’s dark with a flash light sometimes it’s easier to see.

 

[chazcarr]

You didn't ruin your cat. The manufacturer recommends not running it that hot, but as a fellow PI owner, I don't know how to avoid it (aside from always running the stove low until the cat is broken in; I've never heard from anyone who actually tried that. @Ashful ?) Cats are really active at first. Then they eventually get old and lazy and kind of just lie there glaring at you while the mice run past, and you know it's about time for a new cat.

I'm on my second cat in my PI, and both have been hotter than that without suffering obvious damage.

The stove will stink again every time you hit a new high temp, so you probably have one or two lesser stinkwaves coming. Once you've had it up to 700 stovetop, it's done stinking because that's about where the thermostat ends the party.

Gotta say I've had it at about 650 stovetop by IR read and that seems high to me. My old Regency usually maxed about 500. The manual for Regency said not to let it get any higher than that to avoid overfire.

The strange thing is that the BK is nearly 700 and the room is around 72. The Regency would be at about 500 and the room would be 90. A bit of a difference there. I am assuming it is the fan differences. The BK fan is dialed to the stat while the Regency was just on/off.

Since the BK will occasionally run in the "overfire" level, is it built differntly to handle that type of heat?

 

[chazcarr]

Burning pine here, depending how full I load or how tight plus going by how the fire looks I average between 15 to 30 minutes. I don't see any differences on burn time cause I charr the wood good. I feel it works better keeping the glass more clean and run hotter for hrs after dial down. Also I think has better emission that way.

I am currently burning pine. with the stat turned to medium low position. And I am getting maybe 3 hours of good burn time from 6-7 inches in diameter.

Is there an issue with my stove? Meter shows the wood is under 20%, but smoke/steam is coming out of my chimney always. Is that a pine thing?
My chimney is an outside chimney and it is wicked cold today so could it just be constant vapor?

Also, there is a somewhat constant smokey smell in the house but I do not see any visible smoke. I am assuming the smoke is from the chimney and the cat is just not burning it all. The wind is blowing the smoke smell back into my house.

 

[lsucet]

Are you loading full loads. My schedule is 24 hrs. Sometimes I can keep going for what is left for 3 to 4 hrs more but I go for 24hrs. I am running real low too. If I was you I will check everything. Are we talking about full loads or partial loads?
With a load like this I can go 24 hrs and have plenty of coals when comeback from work to light up next load.

 

[lsucet]

About smoke I see the normal smoke sometimes when tstat opens but after dial down I get no smoke. If smoke smell in the house I will check all connections, door gaskets, etc. Is not supposed to. Check your bypass, be sure that is closing right and you hear the click sound. Anything else should be straight forward. Are you having flames all the time?

 

[moresnow]

One last thing to mention is I am burning red pine at the moment

My stove loves pine. Sets and holds outstanding heat/burns on it. Starts quick. Warms up quick. Sticks the cat gauge waaay over for many hours.I actually enjoy burning it better than any of my other wood varieties. Sounds strange to my buddies running tube stoves!

 

[Highbeam]

Gotta say I've had it at about 650 stovetop by IR read and that seems high to me. My old Regency usually maxed about 500. The manual for Regency said not to let it get any higher than that to avoid overfire.

The strange thing is that the BK is nearly 700 and the room is around 72. The Regency would be at about 500 and the room would be 90. A bit of a difference there. I am assuming it is the fan differences. The BK fan is dialed to the stat while the Regency was just on/off.

Since the BK will occasionally run in the "overfire" level, is it built differntly to handle that type of heat?

Stove top temperature of a cat stove is pretty useless for determining output. See, no matter the output setting there is almost always a small cat element in the middle of the stove top rocking out at 1200-1500 degrees. So you’ll have a really hot spot there all the time. As you crank up the cat stove a larger percent of the stove body will rise in temperature to approach the hot spot in the middle. Don’t bother measuring or monitoring stove top temperature in my opinion. Flue temps are good but not perfect for measuring output.

Noncats are totally different. The whole thing heats up more evenly because the heat source is not a tiny cat but a raging inferno inside the whole firebox!

 

[SuperJ]

Stove top temperature of a cat stove is pretty useless for determining output. See, no matter the output setting there is almost always a small cat element in the middle of the stove top rocking out at 1200-1500 degrees. So you’ll have a really hot spot there all the time. As you crank up the cat stove a larger percent of the stove body will rise in temperature to approach the hot spot in the middle. Don’t bother measuring or monitoring stove top temperature in my opinion. Flue temps are good but not perfect for measuring output.

Noncats are totally different. The whole thing heats up more evenly because the heat source is not a tiny cat but a raging inferno inside the whole firebox!

Agree, Flue temps only tell part of the story without knowing flow rate as well. That being said, getting a flue temp probe has made it easier to run my stove the way I want. You don't really need one for overfire protection with my setup, (I don't think I could get my flue to 900f if I tried), but it helps me predict when I need make a tweak.

 

[jetsam]

The BK isn't made of special steel to handle super high temperatures- it has a thermostat regulating air to ensure that it never gets to overfire temperatures.

The cat probe reading "overfire" is not the same as the firebox being too hot. New cats will break 1500° routinely.

 

[drhiii]

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

Tx for reply. After a sleepless night wrestling with it again, am on the cusp of yanking it out and putting prior stove back in. If I keep it in place a little longer, will generate pics yes, and I appreciate offer.

As a sidenote and likely moot, there have been 3 prior stoves installed in this location. None of these problems existed with these 3 stoves. I wonder if I am not getting enough draw, but my chimney extends 27'. Yet I cannot open the BKP door for 5 seconds without getting smoke smell into the rooms. God forbid I keep it open for 15-20 seconds. Each time I open the BKP door regardless of the time, I disengage the cat of course, open up 100% air flow, crack the door for at east 5 mins to reinitiate air flow up the flue, and unless I have a significant fire going, I get back puffing. Essentially I have to run the forced air to clear the smoke scent out of the rooms every time I open the door. Never happened on prior stoves where I could leave the doors open to load or service and never had this happen. And may as well add, I learned the hard way on burning silver maple, seasoned for 2 years and 5-11% moisture, for the first few burns. Only because I have a stash of it and it was primo in prior stove. The amount of creosote was really significant. Had to clean the flue and box after 10 days. So went to pinon pine which is excellent high BTU low ash wood. 4-10% moisture content, seasoned for minimum of a year to 2 years. On a full load, I might get 10-12-maybe 14 hours. The cat glows like a new cat as it should. So that is working no prob. I never expected to get near 30, but this has also been another in the things that are causing this acquisition to be more maintenance than my prior fire breathing dragon stove. But at this point am spending much more time on the BKP than prior stove, and the emitting smoke scent into the rooms... can't keep this up.

Again, pardon the venting. Had another sleepless night tending this thing and not looking forward to swapping out stoves which if I do, will just bow out and stop whining. I appreciate the response. Will decide whether to keep at this or switch out and be quiet.

 

[jetsam]

It's a fantastic stove, and a huge step up from a smoke dragon. I'd encourage you to take bkvp's expert help and get the princess sorted out.

I got a princess so I could sleep through nights instead of getting up to feed the stove, and boy has it worked out well.

 

[kf6hap]

DRHIII, Your problem is fixable! Please give all details as requested by BKVP. You have some very high powered help at hand. Once resolved, you will love this stove.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

 

[rdust]

Tx for reply. After a sleepless night wrestling with it again, am on the cusp of yanking it out and putting prior stove back in. If I keep it in place a little longer, will generate pics yes, and I appreciate offer.

As a sidenote and likely moot, there have been 3 prior stoves installed in this location. None of these problems existed with these 3 stoves. I wonder if I am not getting enough draw, but my chimney extends 27'. Yet I cannot open the BKP door for 5 seconds without getting smoke smell into the rooms. God forbid I keep it open for 15-20 seconds. Each time I open the BKP door regardless of the time, I disengage the cat of course, open up 100% air flow, crack the door for at east 5 mins to reinitiate air flow up the flue, and unless I have a significant fire going, I get back puffing. Essentially I have to run the forced air to clear the smoke scent out of the rooms every time I open the door. Never happened on prior stoves where I could leave the doors open to load or service and never had this happen. And may as well add, I learned the hard way on burning silver maple, seasoned for 2 years and 5-11% moisture, for the first few burns. Only because I have a stash of it and it was primo in prior stove. The amount of creosote was really significant. Had to clean the flue and box after 10 days. So went to pinon pine which is excellent high BTU low ash wood. 4-10% moisture content, seasoned for minimum of a year to 2 years. On a full load, I might get 10-12-maybe 14 hours. The cat glows like a new cat as it should. So that is working no prob. I never expected to get near 30, but this has also been another in the things that are causing this acquisition to be more maintenance than my prior fire breathing dragon stove. But at this point am spending much more time on the BKP than prior stove, and the emitting smoke scent into the rooms... can't keep this up.

Again, pardon the venting. Had another sleepless night tending this thing and not looking forward to swapping out stoves which if I do, will just bow out and stop whining. I appreciate the response. Will decide whether to keep at this or switch out and be quiet.

I went from a Lopi Endeavor to the Princess(freestanding) back in 2011 and never had spillage issues(32’ of pipe and chimney). My first complaint with the Princess was smoke spillage on reloads.
Observations/changes over the years that have helped elimate the issue.

• Lower stack temps with the BK since you’re not wasting fuel.
• More of an issue durning shoulder burning.
• Lifted the front of the stove a touch above level.
• *Changed a 90* bend for 2 45* bends.*
• *Fixed the pipe adapter where the double wall connects to the stove.*
• Open bypass, Turn the air to 100% to warm up flue, after cracking the door I reach over and turn the air 100% closed. Closing the air stops the air feed from pushing smoke out of the door.
• *Don’t open the door until the stove is down to coals, these stoves aren’t a stick at a time burner.*
• If I have charred wood on the sides that I know will flame up when I open the door or turn up the air, I’ll open the bypass, crack the door a touch and fish a poker to the sides and pull them to the middle, close the door then turn up the stove then let them burn down some.

* points are probably most important in my install, dropping the 90* for 2 45’s was huge.

These stove don’t burn like normal stoves, normal stoves have coals at the end of the burn, if you burn on low these stove have big chunks of charred wood that still produce smoke/flames when you turn them up or move the pieces around. This also means you’ll have cold flue temps. with a poor draft.

I hope you figure it out, my stove has been nothing short of amazing.

 

[kf6hap]

All very good points RDUST. Like my dogs, I feed my cat twice daily, not stuffing it full when it is mild outside. Having the load burnt down at reload helps a lot before opening the loading door. Try opening a window nearby, see if that helps.

If you are in a multi story house make sure all the windows are closed in the upper areas as that can cause the house to be in a negative and suck smoke out. Bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans can do that too.

Where the flue connects to the stove I had a lot of leakage. The cold room air was spoiling the draw. I discovered this with an incense stick. The flame from a lighter is too finicky to deal with. The remedy was to stuff the gap full of small door seal rope.

The wind can sometimes blow air down the flue if the cap design is poor. The flue must protrude above the roof as outlined in the installation manual to avoid venting problems.

With a cold stove does air blow down your stack and out the stove front when the loading door is opened? Verify the bypass door is opening properly. A mirror and flashlight can help

Do you use the furnace fan to spread the heat? A duct leak can put the house in a negative.

Is the flue insulated all the way up? Double wall pipe from stove top to ceiling? Is the flue pipe 6" from stove to the cap? That was my problem. I sleeved it by shoving cheap 6" single walled down the 8". It worked so 2 years later I switched it out to stainless with a little wrap of chicken skin foil lined fiberglass.


Since a BK stove does not send as much heat up the stack as air tubers do, things are a little more critical.

Just things I can think of that might help out.

 

[darktower007]

Anyone ever searched the net for a review on the BK Ashford 25 insert?
There’s like one video.

When researching something I watch as many videos and read all I can to make the best decision possible.

Just found it odd that hardly any reviews of the inserts exist. There plenty of the princess and stand alone units... but hardly any inserts.


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[lsucet]

Anyone ever searched the net for a review on the BK Ashford 25 insert?
There’s like one video.

When researching something I watch as many videos and read all I can to make the best decision possible.

Just found it odd that hardly any reviews of the inserts exist. There plenty of the princess and stand alone units... but hardly any inserts.


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They are fairly new stoves. I am sure you will not find many info in general about it. The princess and King are old products and is normal to find more info about it.

 

[darktower007]

They are fairly new stoves. I am sure you will not find many info in general about it. The princess and King are old products and is normal to find more info about it.

Maybe I can add one. I intend to film the entire process from start to finish and put it on my YouTube channel. I’ll also post a ton of photos too.


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[lsucet]

Maybe I can add one. I intend to film the entire process from start to finish and put it on my YouTube channel. I’ll also post a ton of photos too.


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That will be good for sure.

 

[pjohnson]

Starting to get nervous about new stove. I bought a new King Ultra and put in my cabin last week but had to order a piece of stovepipe should be here tomorrow. As I read all these post I’m getting worried. Will I have enough draft, or too much draft, or will it smoke, will my wood burn, will it heat my cabin, will it burn 40 hours. Im a nervous wreck worrying about all the things that go wrong, I’ll sure be glad when I light a fire and it actually heats my cabin.

 

[Woody Stover]

Open bypass, Turn the air to 100% to warm up flue, after cracking the door I reach over and turn the air 100% closed. Closing the air stops the air feed from pushing smoke out of the door.

Right, with the air closed the draft is pulling more air in through the door instead of some through the air intake, some through the door.

I bought a new King Ultra and put in my cabin last week but had to order a piece of stovepipe should be here tomorrow. As I read all these post I’m getting worried. Will I have enough draft, or too much draft, or will it smoke,

I don't think the smoke smell is as likely with the King as it is with the Ashford and Princess..

 

[kennyp2339]

Maybe I can add one. I intend to film the entire process from start to finish and put it on my YouTube channel. I’ll also post a ton of photos too.


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I'm really starting to contemplate starting a youtube channel myself, I think some of the things I do are interesting / comical, and lots of laughs if I get my dad to help me with stuff.

 

[jetsam]

I'm really starting to contemplate starting a youtube channel myself, I think some of the things I do are interesting / comical, and lots of laughs if I get my dad to help me with stuff.

I figure that most of the really funny things I do happen at moments when I am particularly glad that nobody is filming me.

No cameraman for me!

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I'm really starting to contemplate starting a youtube channel myself, I think some of the things I do are interesting / comical, and lots of laughs if I get my dad to help me with stuff.

Please don't.

On the other hand, watching you put that wood storage mansion around your driveway would have been some fine entertainment. Way better than the network stuff anyway.

 

[darktower007]

I'm really starting to contemplate starting a youtube channel myself, I think some of the things I do are interesting / comical, and lots of laughs if I get my dad to help me with stuff.

It’s fun. My hobby is hunting silver coins and civil war relics, metal detecting.

I film a lot of my hunts.. but editing is what takes time. 4 hours of video 45 min of content. It would be nice to have some guys on here post up videos on a sticky. They help a lot!




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[kennyp2339]

It’s fun. My hobby is hunting silver coins and civil war relics, metal detecting.

I film a lot of my hunts.. but editing is what takes time. 4 hours of video 45 min of content. It would be nice to have some guys on here post up videos on a sticky. They help a lot!




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That's what is holding me back, the editing portion, or finding the time to actually sit do and do it/ keep up with it