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

[Ashful]

2) When I close it down for the longer burns, it whistles, is that bad?
3) The max burn time I seem to be getting is only 8 hours. Not much better than the Regency I had. What is the deal?

What tune does it whistle?

Sounds like you might have very strong draft. Have you ever measured it? What’s your chimney configuration and height?

 

[Highbeam]

Been a few days running and I have a few questions about my BKP insert.

1) Is the fan really loud for anyone else?
2) When I close it down for the longer burns, it whistles, is that bad?
3) The max burn time I seem to be getting is only 8 hours. Not much better than the Regency I had. What is the deal? What should I be considering here? I have the fan and the stat at the same level (one click from fully low).
4) When the wind blows outside, I can hear it near the stat. Is that a normal thing or is the seal in the chimney not tight enough?

Thanks in advance, I really want to be able to load up around 8-9pm and wake up to an active cat around 7am. That is why I purchased this stove, and yet I haven't been able to do that yet.

The random, one click stat setting is not necessarily the long burn setting. The thermostat setting is very sensitive and moving the stat just a small bit lower, but not too low that you stall the cat, can make dramatic changes in burn time.

That said, if you need the heat you need the heat. Also remember to stuff this thing to the gills with large chunks of dry, dense, fuel for the longest burn. Fill the fuel tank if you want to go far.

 

[chazcarr]

The chimney is 35 feet.
I get a pretty good amount of heat, not as much as the Regency gave, but fairly consistent.
Thing is packed, just burns faster than I would have thought.
When I turn it down, it smolders for about 30 mins, then the flames come back for 30, repeat for about 4 hours, and then it is just glowing coals.

 

[Ashful]

The chimney is 35 feet.

My 30 foot chimney pulled more than 3x the maximum allowable water column for my BK, so while things can vary, I’m betting this is your number 1 issue. Thankfully, I had an identical stove in the same house, burning identical wood on a 15 foot chimney, to help me identify the chimney height as the source of my troubles.

Get a Magnehelic and a key damper on there, already!

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I have to laugh at the wet wood thing, too. The wood I’m burning now is oak, some of it with punky sapwood which is soaked like a spong. I can literally squeeze water out of it, and it’s sometimes going straight into the stove that way. No issues, the heartwood which makes up most of the mass is dry.

By the time I close the bypass, most of the moisture is baked off, I suspect. I haven’t noticed any hit in performance, other than a much longer time to reach light-off temperature on cold starts.

Ah, finally the Holy Grail! A modern EPA stove that just laughs at wet wood!

They don't advertise their trade secret, but they've installed an orafice that breaks H2O down through a proprietary process into it's components oxygen and hydrogen, both highly flammable. A side affect is electricity, but they are holding off on announcing the generator feature until 2020.

You guys really are a trip with this thing.

 

[kennyp2339]

Been a few days running and I have a few questions about my BKP insert.

1) Is the fan really loud for anyone else?
2) When I close it down for the longer burns, it whistles, is that bad?
3) The max burn time I seem to be getting is only 8 hours. Not much better than the Regency I had. What is the deal? What should I be considering here? I have the fan and the stat at the same level (one click from fully low).
4) When the wind blows outside, I can hear it near the stat. Is that a normal thing or is the seal in the chimney not tight enough?

Thanks in advance, I really want to be able to load up around 8-9pm and wake up to an active cat around 7am. That is why I purchased this stove, and yet I haven't been able to do that yet.

Sounds like an over draft issue

 

[kennyp2339]

They don't advertise their trade secret, but they've installed an orafice that breaks H2O down through a proprietary process into it's components oxygen and hydrogen, both highly flammable. A side affect is electricity, but they are holding off on announcing the generator feature until 2020.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[ratsrepus]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

hey don't tell anyone about this ken

 

[kennyp2339]

hey don't tell anyone about this kenView attachment 234238

Heard that pic was taken in a big stone house out in PA, you know the one that has a couple stoves and a few open fireplaces.

 

[drhiii]

You might have the stove out already, but I used to get a smoke smell too and still do sometimes. I can’t run mine really low like others here do due to draft issues but here’s what I do. When I get in the active zone I close the bypass. Then to turn down the thermostat, I turn it to 1/2 throttle for about 10 minutes and then turn it down “quick” until I hear the flapper click and figure out where that is, then I turn it up so the flapper is not closed. If I close the flapper I get a smoke smell. The thermostat will adjust over the time of the fire. Also, I wouldn’t expect 20 hour burns unless it’s shoulder season. I get 8-12 hours with my princess. Just some other thoughts from a fellow Coloradan...and BKVP can and will help you! Good luck.

Stove coming out in two days. Had dropped out of this thread as no sense in beating this horse, but a notification email popped in with your post and….. finally, someone who has described exactly what I am experiencing with a BKP.

So before stove comes out in a couple of days, why not ask a fellow Coloradan with a BKP, where is the smoke smell coming from? Do you know? In a closed system, OAK to chimney cap, this should never happen. Having spent a lot of time tracing this smoke emission, to the left fan vent which makes zero sense for a lot of reasons, but that is where it strongly locates to.

Anyway, there are other issues but on this, would be curious to learn your opinion on where this smoke smell emits from in your stove??

And yes, I know BKVP could have helped.. but there are other events that occurred leading up to by the time I got to hearth.com, well, I explained those to him privately.

tx

 

[kf6hap]

Just in case anybody missed it, the "smoke smell" issue was resolved last year with a special loading door gasket.

 

[Highbeam]

Just in case anybody missed it, the "smoke smell" issue was resolved last year with a special loading door gasket.

Maybe better wording would be that BK released an updated gasket that is intended to solve the smoke smell issue. We all know that you can't make everybody happy all of the time.

 

[pjohnson]

Maybe better wording would be that BK released an updated gasket that is intended to solve the smoke smell issue. We all know that you can't make everybody happy all of the time.

Speaking of door seals I’ve got a new King Ultra and the door seal seems very tight. When the door is about 4 inches from being closed I have to push it with both hands to close it. The seal is very tight on the door hinge side. I assume this will wear in

 

[Highbeam]

Speaking of door seals I’ve got a new King Ultra and the door seal seems very tight. When the door is about 4 inches from being closed I have to push it with both hands to close it. The seal is very tight on the door hinge side. I assume this will wear in

That sounds excessive. A new door gasket should offer some resistance as the knife edge sets a groove into the gasket but it should go away after just a couple of burns and not require 2 hands!

 

[pjohnson]

It seems tight I haven’t had a fire yet, still waithing for some double wall pipe. No one around me stocks 8 inch pipe. The cabin just isn’t a cabin with no wood stove.

 

[Ashful]

Just in case anybody missed it, the "smoke smell" issue was resolved last year with a special loading door gasket.

A few of those experiencing smoke smell issues were fixed with the new gasket. Others had different issues, such as chimney height, or one case of a bad weld.

 

[Ashful]

Ah, finally the Holy Grail! A modern EPA stove that just laughs at wet wood!

They don't advertise their trade secret, but they've installed an orafice that breaks H2O down through a proprietary process into it's components oxygen and hydrogen, both highly flammable. A side affect is electricity, but they are holding off on announcing the generator feature until 2020.

You guys really are a trip with this thing.

No, it is not a good thing, but it has not been any problem, either. To be clear, this is oak CSSd in 2014, but it’s sitting been out in almost continuous rain this year. The sapwood has gone punky and spongy, and a lot of it is just dripping wet. Some of it gets set aside under the porch for a few days to dry, but some of it is going straight into the stove. As I said, no issues, other than longer start up time.

 

[jetsam]

Been a few days running and I have a few questions about my BKP insert.

1) Is the fan really loud for anyone else?
2) When I close it down for the longer burns, it whistles, is that bad?

My wife says it is loud, and every year it needs to be tightened so it doesn't rattle or buzz. I have quit using it unless it's below ~20°F outside. I use a silent thermoelectric fan from 20-40, and no fan at all above 40. It is good at its job though, no complaints there.

Some people get a little whistle at the air intake and some don't. Nobody seems to get it all the time. I think it depends on draft, which depends on your flue and the weather among other things. Does not seem to be a bother for most people.

3) The max burn time I seem to be getting is only 8 hours. Not much better than the Regency I had. What is the deal? What should I be considering here? I have the fan and the stat at the same level (one click from fully low).

- Wood moisture. The insert will burn even terrible wood but don't expect 24+ hour burns unless it's reasonably dry.

- Starting temps. If you start from a cold start, it uses a lot of wood to warm up the stove and the flue.

- Fan use. At very low thermostat settings, I see a tremendous impact on burn times from running the fan. I can't do 24 hour burns with the fan on. 12, yes.

- Split size. Less surface area, longer burn. It is less important with a BK but it is still a factor.

We'll get you sorted out. It's common to have something wrong with your operation and/or your wood supply when you are starting out.

4) When the wind blows outside, I can hear it near the stat. Is that a normal thing or is the seal in the chimney not tight enough?

The thermostat is connected to the air flapper which is connected to the firebox which is connected to the sky via a 6" tube. You can definitely hear the wind blow sometimes if it's quiet inside.

Thanks in advance, I really want to be able to load up around 8-9pm and wake up to an active cat around 7am. That is why I purchased this stove, and yet I haven't been able to do that yet.

It can easily do double the length of burn you desire. I burn that thing 24/7 as the only heat source, and it does great. I had never believed that an insert could perform so well before I started using it. In fact, I got it for supplemental heat- it just supplemented so well that I didn't need the oil burner anymore.

Everyone is different. We have different fuel, flues, operating procedures, and heat requirements. These are all huge factors in heat output. Nobody can tell you exactly where to turn the dial for 70°.

By next year you will be able to say, "It's 30 out and 70 in, I need at least 12 hours of burn because of work, wood is from the shaded side of that woodpile with the leaky tarp today, so thermostat goes to X and fan goes to Y." You just get a feel for it. The stove is very forgiving and the BK overfire protection means that the punishments for screwing up are pretty mild.

SO:

Get a cheap moisture meter and test your wood.

If you are starting fires rather than burning 24x7, do a small hot fire to warm up and get a coal bed going, then load the stove for a long burn. You won't need to do this if you never let the stove go out, which is pretty easy with that stove.

Pack it full and turn it down and let it be. Try a low burn with no fan.

Tell us how the stove is vented.

 

[jetsam]

Ah, finally the Holy Grail! A modern EPA stove that just laughs at wet wood!

They don't advertise their trade secret, but they've installed an orafice that breaks H2O down through a proprietary process into it's components oxygen and hydrogen, both highly flammable. A side affect is electricity, but they are holding off on announcing the generator feature until 2020.

You guys really are a trip with this thing.

I suspect I'd personally do fine with an EPA tube stove and wet wood also.

The BK isn't magic, but that works both ways. It isn't able to better deal with wet wood. It also isn't a steel box that is tragically and magically cursed to be unable to have a fire in it if the wood is above 20% MC, and I hear this all the time. (It's actually good advice for a newbie, if you are too lazy to explain minimum cat temps and minimum flue temps, but it's not actually true.)

Do you want the stove to perform as advertised? You need dry wood.

Do you just want the stove to heat the house? You want dry wood but you don't need it.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I suspect I'd personally do fine with an EPA tube stove and wet wood also.

The BK isn't magic, but that works both ways. It isn't able to better deal with wet wood. It also isn't a steel box that is tragically and magically cursed to be unable to have a fire in it if the wood is above 20% MC, and I hear this all the time.

I agree. I personally suspect that you'd do fine with whatever stove you have, with whatever moisture content your wood has.

My unfortunate situation is, my home is only warmed effectively with dry wood.

 

[drstorm]

Has anyone actually determined whether the cat can glow alone from from a high primary burn and actually be dead?
I am on my third year and am seeing a lot of smoke every burn.I can get the cat to glow if I burn on high long enough but as soon as I turn the air down the cat drops.
Would it fall below active when dead or will a hot firebox keep it in the active range?

 

[jetsam]

Has anyone actually determined whether the cat can glow alone from from a high primary burn and actually be dead?
I am on my third year and am seeing a lot of smoke every burn.I can get the cat to glow if I burn on high long enough but as soon as I turn the air down the cat drops.
Would it fall below active when dead or will a hot firebox keep it in the active range?

All the flue gasses pass through the cat, and active is only 500°, so a dead cat could easily have an active reading on the cat probe.

I don't think you could get it to glow if it was dead, but I am not sure why the durn things glow in the first place. I understand that the surface is a wash coat of alumina (melting point 5000+, shouldn't be near to glowing at 1500) with palladium (melting point 2800) on it. Maybe the glow of a functioning cat is not incandescence at all, but rather combustion? Or is the glow incandescing palladium?

Interested in where this goes.

 

[black smoke signals]

Jetsam Recent series of posts (Bravo) excellent reading here!

 

[Woody Stover]

I am not sure why the durn things glow in the first place. I understand that the surface is a wash coat of alumina (melting point 5000+, shouldn't be near to glowing at 1500) with palladium (melting point 2800) on it. Maybe the glow of a functioning cat is not incandescence at all, but rather combustion? Or is the glow incandescing palladium? Interested in where this goes.

It doesn't really go anywhere. The wash coat is on a stainless steel (or ceramic) substrate, which will start to glow (incandesce) above 900 degrees, just like your stove top will.

 

[drstorm]

It doesn't really go anywhere. The wash coat is on a stainless steel (or ceramic) substrate, which will start to glow (incandesce) above 900 degrees, just like your stove top will.

So glowing is not confirmation of a working Cat.