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

[shoot-straight]

I am usually on a 8-10 hour cycle using not great pine. I would love to run this thing with some real dry oak. That would be fun and I am sure would greatly improve performance!

Honestly, I have Lots of oak here, I also Burn lots of poplar and pine or any other light woods. There is a difference, but I just dont see a huge one in My ashford. At least not as big as many expect. Burning all poplar now. No problem getting a solid 8 hours with this cold spell. No issues with over coaling either. I like that.

 

[jetsam]

I am usually on a 8-10 hour cycle using not great pine. I would love to run this thing with some real dry oak. That would be fun and I am sure would greatly improve performance!

Well, keep stacking up the pine this winter. What you bring in now will be ready to rock next year if you keep it covered!

That's one annoying thing about oak; you're always processing it for 2+ years out.

 

[kf6hap]

That's one annoying thing about oak; you're always processing it for 2+ years out.

Unless you split them thin and lay them in the sun for a month. More work but my storage is limited.

Still amazed at how low the Ashford can burn. It's a real wood stretcher. The weather has been mild here so far, 40s & 50s.

 

[Ashful]

Came home to this last night, at 24 hours into the burn.



Unfortunately, I overshot a little on my burn time by setting the stove a little lower than I intended. There were two whole splits left in the stove, that I wanted to burn down before a reload. I turned the stove up, and it came back to life, from “black box mode”.



Again, this is full fire show at the 24 hour mark, in a 2.65 cu.ft. stove. I left it burn down that way, on a high setting, and finally reloaded at about 29 hours.

This is where some non-BK owner comes in and tells us that’s not useful to everyone, but I don’t see how it wouldn’t be, for at least part of the year.

 

[ratsrepus]

low 20's in michigan highs in lower 30's Im still easy 24 hrs

 

[ratsrepus]

I did try 12 hrs cycles, but too much coals,

 

[Diabel]

Came home to this last night, at 24 hours into the burn.

View attachment 234365

Unfortunately, I overshot a little on my burn time by setting the stove a little lower than I intended. There were two whole splits left in the stove, that I wanted to burn down before a reload. I turned the stove up, and it came back to life, from “black box mode”.

View attachment 234366

Again, this is full fire show at the 24 hour mark, in a 2.65 cu.ft. stove. I left it burn down that way, on a high setting, and finally reloaded at about 29 hours.

This is where some non-BK owner comes in and tells us that’s not useful to everyone, but I don’t see how it wouldn’t be, for at least part of the year.

On my Princess, when the cat needle sits where Ashful is, the stove throws zero heat! I would not consider this a continuation of a burn cycle.

 

[bholler]

On my Princess, when the cat needle sits where Ashful is, the stove throws zero heat! I would not consider this a continuation of a burn cycle.

Agreed i can get really long burns as well but not if i want my house warm

 

[Rickb]

On my Princess, when the cat needle sits where Ashful is, the stove throws zero heat! I would not consider this a continuation of a burn cycle.

That's interesting because that is where I burn my stove pretty much all the time and it throws enough heat to heat the whole finished basement and keep the main floor warm enough the furnace almost never runs, unless the highs are below 30.

 

[bholler]

That's interesting because that is where I burn my stove pretty much all the time and it throws enough heat to heat the whole finished basement and keep the main floor warm enough the furnace almost never runs, unless the highs are below 30.

Its great that it works for you at that low level of heat output. It will work for me at that level down to about 45. No way in the 30s. Everyones house is different and my furnace is off unless we are going away for a couple days.

 

[matth]

Its great that it works for you at that low level of heat output. It will work for me at that level down to about 45. No way in the 30s. Everyones house is different and my furnace is off unless we are going away for a couple days.

every set up is different, but for a small and well insulated like mine i would'nt want any more output than the lowish setting, i try to run just above ''running the hole'' most of the time down to below freezing, we will see when it get real cold

 

[Rickb]

Its great that it works for you at that low level of heat output. It will work for me at that level down to about 45. No way in the 30s. Everyones house is different and my furnace is off unless we are going away for a couple days.

Oh absolutely! I was not saying anything other then for my situation it worked differently.

Someone up north will have a much different experience then someone in Missouri. That is why I said that was interesting. I only have 700sqft finished in my basement but another 1100ish on the main floor. And it is new construction but was a chitty builder and not really well done. And yes my furnace is never turned off, so it does cycle once in while depending on when im home and able to load the run the stove. I work service so I might end up out of town for days with almost no notice.

 

[Tar12]

Its great that it works for you at that low level of heat output. It will work for me at that level down to about 45. No way in the 30s. Everyones house is different and my furnace is off unless we are going away for a couple days.

Every house is indeed different.....last year I could keep the house comfortable in the 30s with relative ease....and would wake up to a house in the 75-80 degrees range...with 10-12 hour burn times...when that brutal January cold snap hit I found out how badly this place leaked and the stove was run hard just to keep up and it was hard to maintain 70 degrees..with 6-8 hour burns...fast forward to this year and it is a entirely different story.I stripped this place to the studs and did all necessary repairs and added 1/2 in foam board insulation in addition to the wall/stud insulation already in place and taped all joints and replaced all windows and doors with low-e glass and flashed them properly and new siding...the high hit 37 here today...when I walked in the door this evening it was 85 in the house! lol I had it turned down pretty low....2 nights ago we had a low of 17 with a 9 degree windchill....I awoke to a stove room temp of 80 and 70 in the farthest bedroom....i definitely have a different house this year!

 

[Ashful]

On my Princess, when the cat needle sits where Ashful is, the stove throws zero heat! I would not consider this a continuation of a burn cycle.

That wing of the house was at 74F, so it was throwing plenty sufficient heat.

 

[Diabel]

That wing of the house was at 74F, so it was throwing plenty sufficient heat.

Agreed. Even with the stove barely warm the room temp remains nice and cozy 23*C (1100sqf).

 

[Highbeam]

Be careful not to determine burn time of any stove as being determined by the home’s heating needs. You as the user set the burn rate. The stove can be run on very low output and may not be making enough heat to keep the house warm but it is not the stove’s fault that you cranked it up!

That’s the same as saying the nc30 only has a 3 hour burn time. For me it only burns 3 hours because I run it at full output.

Stoves are not very smart. They burn at the rate you choose. Some have a broad range of available outputs and some a narrow range but too often we blame the stove for short burn times when it is the choice of the operator.

 

[Diabel]

I understand what you are saying. I easily get 24h of active cat (on the dial), but this does not mean that the stove is producing enough heat to keep the house envelope warm. I always keep this in mind....wood stoves are space heaters only.

 

[Ashful]

Be careful not to determine burn time of any stove as being determined by the home’s heating needs.

You need to go preach to the non-BK crowd, on that one. We have a dial right on top of the stove that tells us the burn time, I call it "active cat hours".

 

[drhiii]

I am sorry but I haven’t used an OAK and don’t know where or how that would connect, especially on an insert. On my insert the intake is on the right side of the stove behind the thermostat dial. I don’t know how an oak could get into this space so I can’t be of any help there. Also I haven’t really tried to search out where the smoke smell comes from as I had thought it was a draft issue because when I choke down the air too far the smoke escapes (I think from the flapper) but when I open the flapper a little past ticking closed the smoke smell is gone.

Needed to come back and thank you for your reply. FWIW, after too many initial problems from the start, then reading backwards only to find too many additional accounts of the same varied probs.. had to pull the stove to stop the frustrations.

Anyway, appreciate your time on this. Moving on to a diff selection.

 

[Woody Stover]

I have Lots of oak here, I also Burn lots of poplar and pine or any other light woods. There is a difference, but I just dont see a huge one

Poplar is rated at 16 MBTU/cord, Red Oak at 24, so Poplar should give 2/3 the burn time or heat of Red Oak, right?

On my Princess, when the cat needle sits where Ashful is, the stove throws zero heat! I would not consider this a continuation of a burn cycle.

Be careful not to determine burn time of any stove as being determined by the home’s heating needs.

Right; If you need zero heat, zero output works great.

We have a dial right on top of the stove that tells us the burn time, I call it "active cat hours".

And there's a dial on the outside of your house that tells you "active oil hours." That's the dial that is most telling in your situation, and tells you how warm your house is going to be. The only thing the active cat probe is telling you is that you still have some coals in the stove, and you've therefore saved the cost of 1/7 of a SuperCedar on your next start. I have only wood heat (or some portable electric heaters) so I think I might have a handle on what is an "active stove" for me. You are mixing two different heat sources, so you're going to have a hard time telling which source is providing how much useful heat.

after too many initial problems from the start, then reading backwards only to find too many additional accounts of the same varied probs.. had to pull the stove to stop the frustrations.

I was heating with wood before I started reading here so I had some knowledge about the process and knew some of the things I wanted from my next stove. I was also a bit leery of all the "burns twice as long" claims; There is X amount of heat in Y amount of wood no matter how you cut it. Those who are new to burning wood need to have done their "due diligence" before diving in, but many don't feel they have the time so they make a rash decision based on questionable claims. But if I post some of my views on the "everything BK" thread in order give a few newbies something to think about, I'm branded a "hater." Not really, I just love some other stoves more.
That said, if I had already sunk that kind of money into a stove, I would be a little more persistent in finding a way around the problems, and give the stove a run for a while. But maybe you can get a decent amount of money out of the stove, or maybe it's not that big a deal to lose a bit of money...we all do it from time to time. My best advice would be to do a lot of reading here, and try to foresee what stove features are going to be of the most use to you. I understand that, like anything else, it's hard to imagine what it's like to burn wood until you actually do it for a while.

 

[kf6hap]

So DRHIII stove for sale or relocate to garage?

 

[Tegbert]

I vote that Woody stover gets to run the bk after bholler is done with it this season.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[lsucet]

I vote that Woody stover gets to run the bk after bholler is done with it this season.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

Remember we will need to come up with some kind of ash grate innovation for the BK or he will reject the deal.

 

[showrguy]

I vote that Woody stover gets to run the bk after bholler is done with it this season.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

HEY, Wait a minitue, don't I have a lil bit of a say here ?? Lol

 

[Ashful]

Right; If you need zero heat, zero output works great. And there's a dial on the outside of your house that tells you "active oil hours." That's the dial that is most telling in your situation, and tells you how warm your house is going to be. The only thing the active cat probe is telling you is that you still have some coals in the stove, and you've therefore saved the cost of 1/7 of a SuperCedar on your next start. I have only wood heat (or some portable electric heaters) so I think I might have a handle on what is an "active stove" for me. You are mixing two different heat sources, so you're going to have a hard time telling which source is providing how much useful heat.

Actually, no. In that wing of the house, the oil does not run. Our house is divided into two separate wings of about 4000 sq.ft. and 2000 sq.ft., with an additional 2100 sq.ft. in areas that wood heat won’t reach. This was in the 2000 sq.ft. wing, and the oil DOES NOT run there. I only use oil to keep the upper floors of the completely in-insulated 4000 sq.ft. wing more comfortable. The other more separated 2100 sq.ft. is heated by heat pump.