No call to be nervous. Remember people only post to this site when they have problems. Folks with no problems (thousands) usually don't post. Installed and used correctly, these are dream stoves. Almost all problems have simple fixes.
2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)
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No call to be nervous. Remember people only post to this site when they have problems. Folks with no problems (thousands) usually don't post. Installed and used correctly, these are dream stoves. Almost all problems have simple fixes.
SuperJ
Feeling the Heat
I discovered something new to me, maybe it's old hat to you guys, east west loading for a flames and glass cleaning...
I typically load north south (like my Avatar) since you can get the most wood in without anything hitting the glass.
But, I found a you get a nice flame show, and clean glass with temporary EW loading.
If I have a bunch of coals, or chunks of well charred wood, I rake them to the front next to the glass, and throw a split across the back and turning up the stat. It seems like having a split or two sideways, gives a nicer flame show since you get a full broadside burn, and it reflects the heat into the glass nicely, baking off the buildup from a couple weeks on low. I did get a bit of a smoke explosion/puff back, that was strong enough to rattle my chimney though when I turned it up initially.
It's a nice way to burn in the evening when people want to see flames, but before I bed I load it up North South and cruise until the next evening.
I typically load north south (like my Avatar) since you can get the most wood in without anything hitting the glass.
But, I found a you get a nice flame show, and clean glass with temporary EW loading.
If I have a bunch of coals, or chunks of well charred wood, I rake them to the front next to the glass, and throw a split across the back and turning up the stat. It seems like having a split or two sideways, gives a nicer flame show since you get a full broadside burn, and it reflects the heat into the glass nicely, baking off the buildup from a couple weeks on low. I did get a bit of a smoke explosion/puff back, that was strong enough to rattle my chimney though when I turned it up initially.
It's a nice way to burn in the evening when people want to see flames, but before I bed I load it up North South and cruise until the next evening.
With toddlers at the house for thanksgiving we let the stove go out and house temps dropped to 63 overnight. Whoa. Now I get to heat us back up! Also good news is that I’m done with red cedar and back to the much denser Douglas fir.
The princess is ugly! She makes up for it with excellent performance being perfectly sized, if not slightly oversized, for my home.The fireview at 50% stat setting is pretty dang good though.
The princess is ugly! She makes up for it with excellent performance being perfectly sized, if not slightly oversized, for my home.The fireview at 50% stat setting is pretty dang good though.
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I put a "baby" fence around our stove and indoor wood pile to keep the dogs from snitching logs to chew on. The best log is always on the bottom of the pile. Works great as a winter clothes line too.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I9DQWYS/?tag=hearthamazon-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I9DQWYS/?tag=hearthamazon-20
jetsam
Minister of Fire
Cedars are sort of rare here, and the ones you see are all small. I have a log that I was saving for furniture, but it might end up as shingles instead next year.
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AlbergSteve
Minister of Fire
Wow, can't believe I'm gettin' 14 hours out of a load of paper!
The 7 acres of “woods” behind my house is mostly cedar, they seem to be the first thing to move in when an old farm field is left unused. Like you guessed, most are small under 8” DBH. But there are a few over a foot in diameter, and I’ve used rounds from them as chopping blocks for maul splitting other woods. The trouble with the cedar that grows here, besides it’s insanely low BTU content, is that it grows branches like a beard. There must be darn near 50 branches coming out of each round on those larger trees, as they were likely the first to start growing in a then-open field, which makes it almost impossible to split. The younger ones seem to have shot straight up 50 feet before branching out, so those do have some good trunk, I split them for kindling when storms blow them down.
The one answer to this post missed the point, you are saying that the fan almost entirely defeats the operation of the bimetallic coil in the thermostat. I failed to notice this myself, one hazard of having to lean over a stove in a fireplace opening to lower the air, but will pay more attention for it in the future. I’d be inclined to believe it, as it would finally explain an unsettled issue, here. That issue is this:
Several have said they are not able to achieve the same burn times with their fans running. I’ve said they should be able to do it, by just turning down the thermostat by an amount that compensates the fan running, but none making this argument have reported success in doing so. We know that the thermostat is integral in being able to achieve these long burn times, so if the fan defeats its operation, it would make sense that those long burn times become unachievable.
Once again, aaronk25, you may have provided the answer to a question that’s been bugging several of us for a long time. Kudos!
I always think about you guys in softwood country when I’m sitting around a campfire built with oak.
I’d burn pine instead if I could find any.
Tx for encouragement. Unfortunately I can't keep this up. Up at 5am, again, for the umpteenth time. Fussing with it.
Am switching back to prior stove. Tired of full loads and 5-7 hours burns, our eyes burning pretty much daily, spending more time fussing with this than my older stove that never presented any of these problems. After fussing with this for 2 months and not figuring this out, my next move might have been to tear out and totally redo the OAK. But that irks me when holding a match to the air intake portal at the floor blows it out. Incoming air flow NOT a problem. I ended up taping every possible junction point with heat tape, something one should never ever have to do and looks like amateur hell... still smoke smell into the house when dialed to a proper runtime position. To prevent this, I am burning wood at a rate faster than my old stove. Getting up twice a night just to run the forced air to clear out the house, or open windows, or... sigh. And expending more maintenance in the process than my older stove. In prior stove I had gas bills of $20-$30... for hot water. Now I am 5-7x that. All manual running of the furnace blower to clear the air. That's a lot of fussing, just that.
I mention these last things and will disappear as while I was excited to receive a BKP that was told had 2 total burns in it, hence brand new.. a demo model... while I was exceedingly grateful... my wife is a liver transplant recipient 26 years out, and has incurred 6 total joint replacements.. and her eyes are burning daily (mine too), cannot sleep which can be very hard for her... so maybe I can expend more time and money trying to figure out what is happening, but I can't put her through any more of this. Redoing the OAK which really irks me when I know it is quite functional is the only thing I have not physically retooled, but if I am going to do that... no, I am not going to do that because any more energy is going to be towards removing this unit and going to what worked fine with 0 issues for 15 years. I absolutely dread what I expect will be the amount of creosote that has accumulated so chimney fire has become a huge concern... this after what I saw after 10 days of initial burn and then disassembling everything from floor up, trying to figure out what was wrong. The amount of creosote that had developed really blew me backwards. 10 days into this and I had a larger mess than 2 years of prior stove. I admit I was really skeptical when stove was delivered and having had two burns in it as a demo as I was told, the door glass was caked, like heavy creosoted, and I mean it has never come close to cleaning up no matter what kind of burns I have run, incl standard hotter burns to just clean things out. There is absolutely no way doing everything I know has helped clean these doors. Manually, hot burns, N/S v E/W loads, scraping... yeah, scraping. Something is just not right with this stove.
So instead of expending more energy and promising my wife that I will figure it out, having managed stoves and installs and not the least of which are having cut and hand split a variety types of wood, estimate 500 cords, hence feel I have a pretty functional knowledge of wood... for 40 years... no, I cannot do that to her. It is coming out so I can return to what works. I cannot do that to her, or to me. And will leave the forum as I know this is tiresome for folks here. And I am tired of hearing myself whine. I need to get back to some positive energy instead of fretting and expending now endless amounts of time, elbow grease and now money trying to figure this out. Instead of conservation of time and $$$, this experience has been the opposite.
And after all my sleuthing... it is impossible to have the smoke smell emitting from the left air vent, where a fan kit would force air across the convection plate. It is impossible right? I mean, there is no possible way for smoke to be coming out of either side of this vent which is just a air way which has no access to anything other than it is a tunnel, right? Yet this is where this smell is coming from. Not the right side of the vent, but the left side. Not the back of the stove. Not the flue which has become temporarily tape hell. But the left vent. After all this messing around, I think this stove is cracked... how else could this smoke scent be coming from this one location? How else could smoke enter into this area? But I don't have the whatever to put more time into it. I will check one more time to see if anyone has made it through this crummy missive and suggest a plausible explanation for why this is coming from this specific location, the left side air vent. There is always a trace of smoke smell no matter if there is a hefty startup fire to bring the cat up.. but it becomes prominent when when dialed into a runtime posture.
Tx for any help. Am sure 99% of folks here have good experiences. I just can't do this any more. Stove is coming out while we have a spate of decent weather. OaO.
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You are beyond the point of having the time or patience to figure out what’s going on at this point. You haven’t really said anything besides it doesn’t burn like your old stove. Unless I missed them I have seen no pictures of your setup so someone can give you some constructive ideas. Pull it out and sell it. Obviously this setup isn’t working in your home. If the old stove worked hurry up and get it back in there. Problem solved.
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
Something real bad is wrong here. Jammed thermostat, stuck/broken bypass, defective cat, bird nest in flue stack/clogged cap. I do understand your frustration and one reaches the point of action. Smoke in the house is intolerable.
Just one question: Has the catalyst ever glowed red? My reckoning points to this as being the culprit. Since it was a Demo unit, it might have been poisoned or defective from the factory, thus all the creosote and smoke in the house issues. If it is nonfunctional it would be a bad restriction in the airflow causing the house smoke.
Just one question: Has the catalyst ever glowed red? My reckoning points to this as being the culprit. Since it was a Demo unit, it might have been poisoned or defective from the factory, thus all the creosote and smoke in the house issues. If it is nonfunctional it would be a bad restriction in the airflow causing the house smoke.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
If you're getting smoke from the left convection deck (a place where there are no openings in the stove), here's what I can think of. It turns out that every possibility I came up with requires very poor draft, so here's my recommendations:
That stove is simple. Take the pipe off the flue collar and shine a flashlight into the flue collar to see the 2 air paths (normal and bypass). If nothing is obstructing air flow there, shine a light through the cat from both sides and make sure it is not plugged. Then look up the pipe for obstructions in the flue.
Once you clear any airflow obstructions, including a chimney sweeping and cap cleaning if needed, get a small load of the driest wood you have, or get a 2x4 from home depot if you don't have any good dry stuff, and do a test load. Open a window and turn the thermostat up to max, and see if she doesn't do well.
Here are the causes I came up with:
-It's not woodsmoke. The stove was burned twice before you got it, so low that the glass turned black. The paint wasn't cured when you got it, and it hasn't cured since because it's never been burned hot. A hot burn in that stove cleans the doors right up. Since yours doesn't, either you've never actually seen the stove stretch its legs (maybe due to a draft or fuel problem?), or the stove has some airflow problem. That paint curing will make anyone's eyes sting!
- Big crack in stove. There would also need to be very poor draft for the crack to act as an exhaust instead of an intake on low. This does not seem likely.
- Failed/damaged/misaligned door gasket on left side plus very poor draft. Gasket problems happen, and even a brand new stove can get a torn gasket.
-Open/unsealed/missing ash pan on a parlor princess, plus extremely poor draft? Again, the stove or flue would have to be badly plugged up or the stove would burn too hot, not leak smoke.
I understand if you feel like it's time to give up, but I feel like maybe this is a problem that could be solved quickly by someone familiar with the stove.
That stove is simple. Take the pipe off the flue collar and shine a flashlight into the flue collar to see the 2 air paths (normal and bypass). If nothing is obstructing air flow there, shine a light through the cat from both sides and make sure it is not plugged. Then look up the pipe for obstructions in the flue.
Once you clear any airflow obstructions, including a chimney sweeping and cap cleaning if needed, get a small load of the driest wood you have, or get a 2x4 from home depot if you don't have any good dry stuff, and do a test load. Open a window and turn the thermostat up to max, and see if she doesn't do well.
Here are the causes I came up with:
-It's not woodsmoke. The stove was burned twice before you got it, so low that the glass turned black. The paint wasn't cured when you got it, and it hasn't cured since because it's never been burned hot. A hot burn in that stove cleans the doors right up. Since yours doesn't, either you've never actually seen the stove stretch its legs (maybe due to a draft or fuel problem?), or the stove has some airflow problem. That paint curing will make anyone's eyes sting!
- Big crack in stove. There would also need to be very poor draft for the crack to act as an exhaust instead of an intake on low. This does not seem likely.
- Failed/damaged/misaligned door gasket on left side plus very poor draft. Gasket problems happen, and even a brand new stove can get a torn gasket.
-Open/unsealed/missing ash pan on a parlor princess, plus extremely poor draft? Again, the stove or flue would have to be badly plugged up or the stove would burn too hot, not leak smoke.
I understand if you feel like it's time to give up, but I feel like maybe this is a problem that could be solved quickly by someone familiar with the stove.
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jetsam
Minister of Fire
Those zillion branches are part of what makes the wood so pretty, though. Crazy grain everywhere.
Western red cedar is a different species than what you have out east. These buggers can be the biggest trees of the forest. I’ve dealt with 4’ diameter red cedars and that is much more kindling than i would want. Red cedar falls above cottonwood and closer to pine on the btu charts.
The Doug fir burns with less chimney smoke and is so much heavier. It is better. Cedar to fir is probably like the jump from fir to oak. So I’m still crippled compared to you oak burners!
The Doug fir burns with less chimney smoke and is so much heavier. It is better. Cedar to fir is probably like the jump from fir to oak. So I’m still crippled compared to you oak burners!
Look for some locust. It's nice dense hardwood and available in some locations. I stumbled on some locally and now have my eye out for more. Madrona, holly and fruit wood is abundant in some areas around the Sound too. That said, I am pretty happy burning doug fir. It provides good heat, seasons quickly, and is low ash.
Since I need to acquire 5 or so cords per year the bulk of my fuel will be from the logging industry which is almost always Douglas fir. Sometimes oddball opportunities come up (free and/or helping a neighbor) though which is how I acquired so much red cedar firewood this year. Will be happy to pick up dense hardwoods if that opportunity strikes!
lsucet
Minister of Fire
I did some reading and noticed that @BKVP asked you for some information about your setup, unless you have been communicating with him off the site, I think you should provide that information here or straight to him. It can't get better than a VP of a company, offering you help.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
I remember you used to say that you were getting over 20 hrs burn with the stove. What exactly changed that now you are getting just 5-7 hrs burn?
Will answer the couple of posts that I appreciate.
I could get 20 hours, but had fallen into a level more hands on maintenance. Meaning to lower the exhaust smoke smell entering the house, I had to burn faster, hotter, air flow open... thereby reducing the time to 5-7 hours and chewing through wood pretty fast. Dialing back the air intake flow, I could get to 20 hours but that was while having to run the forced air furnace to move the air out, and turning on a powerful ozone machine, and opening a combination of windows and doors to create outside airflow. So I could get to 20 hours, but with a lot of work... and it was to move the exhaust smell that would build up after a couple hours. Reaching 20 hours means, meant, a lot of maintenance.
I appreciate your response.
Yes, I was at a crossroads of deciding where I put my energy. I hesitated because posting pics would present tape... something you never do, but I felt would draw ire. Lame reason? Not really. Tho ripping it all off and posting pics, sure. Could do.
Or where do I put my energy going forward. A more definitive crossroads was having my wife pop her head in the room at 5am this morning, worrying about my constant tending. I cannot keep doing this to her, or me, so as someone else said.. I don't have the patience any more. Correct.. I don't. But I appreciate the squeaky wheel responses to it keeps me considering for one more day while we have moderate temps. I know there is a solution somewhere, but... let me answer another post that the poster postulated and drills down to where I am.
You're right. But not because of your post. Decision to pull it came before your post.
I posted another response about on cusp of pics but... decision was made to pull this beforehand. Some folks have responded with some ideas and analysis, so will respond to them and their replies have supplied a little more energy to come at this for a day or two more.
My conclusion is the stove is cracked.
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