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

[ratsrepus]

And honestly I could not care less if you believe me or not.

nice response, I didn't deserve that. I wasn't calling you a liar, I guess im bewildered as to why your stove is not performing

 

[bholler]

nice response, I didn't deserve that. I wasn't calling you a liar, I guess im bewildered as to why your stove is not performing

It is performing. It releases the same BTUs from the same quantity of wood in a similar time frame as my other stove. Yes I can get much longer burn times if I turn it down but if i do my house will be much cooler. How can you think that a bk could heat the same space for 20+ hours with the same quantity of wood as my regency did in 8 to 10 hours. It simply is not physically possible.

 

[Diabel]

There is a whole lot of thermostat range in between where you're at and "let it rip". When you arrive to a cold house and want to warm it up that is a good time for higher settings. After your house is up to temperature you can begin to lower the stat looking for the setting that keeps you warm.

Is that 200 flue temperature internal or on the surface of single wall? Some people can go that low with internal temperatures but I do not recommend it. If it's skin temperature then you are at the lowest thermostat setting that I would ever recommend.

Burn the fuel. You are cold. If the firebox is consumed in the morning then load her up and repeat.

200*F internal. Flue.

 

[Highbeam]

200*F internal. Flue.

That’s cold. I would even say unsafe since you’re below the condensation temperature of water. Turn it up!

 

[lsucet]

@bholler you need to understand that the secondary burn just last a few hrs. Cat stove the reason that can stretch the burn that long is cause we learn to use the heat that the cat produce plus the addition of the fans for those of us that have them, make a big difference. It is the same BTU of the amount of wood as you said. Agreed. But using the cat reaction heat is the way to go and if you need more heat then you can open it more and the cat will give you more till the point that you can combine the cat and wood burning at same time. And get good heat out of it if that what you need. But for the same amount of wood ( btu ) the cat do better job. After you secondary goes out what do you have? Heat from the coals? Good. With the cat stove you rake those coals to the front and the cat gets back in the game again plus the heat of those coals through the glass and other parts. Something that you don't have on a tube stove at that stage of the burn. ( A CAT ).

 

[bholler]

@bholler you need to understand that the secondary burn just last a few hrs. Cat stove the reason that can stretch the burn that long is cause we learn to use the heat that the cat produce plus the addition of the fans for those of us that have them, make a big difference. It is the same BTU of the amount of wood as you said. Agreed. But using the cat reaction heat is the way to go and if you need more heat then you can open it more and the cat will give you more till the point that you can combine the cat and wood burning at same time. And get good heat out of it if that what you need. But for the same amount of wood ( btu ) the cat do better job. After you secondary goes out what do you have? Heat from the coals? Good. With the cat stove you rake those coals to the front and the cat gets back in the game again plus the heat of those coals through the glass and other parts. Something that you don't have on a tube stove at that stage of the burn. ( A CAT ).

I do understand how the different types of stoves work thank you. You do know I do this for a living right? I spend many hours at seminars trade shows and classes every year. And i don't know where you get the idea that secondary combustion only lasts a couple hours.

 

[lsucet]

What happens with many people that get a BK is, that, the main reason they bought it is for those comments about how long it can burn. And that is all what they all try to achieve at first.( Including me ).
Some day we realized that we can't get both at same time and then is when we learn to turn the dial higher to stay warm and the long burn just happens. We stop looking for that.

 

[Diabel]

That’s cold. I would even say unsafe since you’re below the condensation temperature of water. Turn it up!

Got it.

According to HB, disregard cat probe temperature on the BK, follow the intenal flue temp. And you will be golden. Keep if above 300 regardless the BK probe cat probe shows.

 

[lsucet]

I do understand how the different types of stoves work thank you. You do know I do this for a living right? I spend many hours at seminars trade shows and classes every year. And i don't know where you get the idea that secondary combustion only lasts a couple hours.

I know you have a wide knowledge and I will revised the " a few hrs ". Okay 5 hrs. So what after that? I Never saw five hours of secondary on mine or any others more expensive stoves than mines that family members have here. But it is okay. 5 hrs it is.

 

[bholler]

I know you have a wide knowledge and I will revised the " a few hrs ". Okay 5 hrs. So what after that? I Never saw five hours of secondary on mine or any others more expensive stoves than mines that family members have here. But it is okay. 5 hrs it is.

Ok but still we agree that there is a set amount of btus in a load of wood right? And considering I am running similar flue temps on the bk that I did with the regency can you explain how you think it is possible that the bk could heat my house for 20+ hours when the regency could only do it for 10 with the same load of fuel?

 

[Highbeam]

Got it.

According to HB, disregard cat probe temperature on the BK, follow the intenal flue temp. And you will be golden. Keep if above 300 regardless the BK probe cat probe shows.

It’s not just me, the owners manual tells you the same thing.

The cat probe is used to determine when the bypass is ready to close. After that, you can ignore it. In fact, some bk inserts have a simple on/off cat gauge. That’s it. If your gaskets are good then you can even ignore flue temperatures but I prefer to keep my flue temperatures below 1000.

Then turn the thermostat up as far as you want. I suggest about 3/4 of the way to the max as a starting point and your flue temperatures should level off at a higher but safe number.

Experiment with increasing the thermostat setting. You were running too cold.

 

[lsucet]

Ok but still we agree that there is a set amount of btus in a load of wood right? And considering I am running similar flue temps on the bk that I did with the regency can you explain how you think it is possible that the bk could heat my house for 20+ hours when the regency could only do it for 10 with the same load of fuel?

In shoulders season it will do it and when real cold it will close that gap but still doing way better. Btw my experience. And we can't blame my previous cheap ass stoves cause we all know that they can put some heat out and that's for sure. I will recommend you something and aside I don't have your knowledge, I think that is good that your plan is to keep it for the whole season. It will not only show you what is capable but you will have more time to learn it. There is a learning curve in everything regardless knowledge.

 

[rdust]

Because I want to give the princess a real try for a full season. As i said i dont dislike how it heats i really do like the more even heat its just not magic. I get very similar burn times because i need similar btus.

When I switched from the Lopi Endeavor in 2011 the most impressive thing to me was the Control I had over the burn. The Endeavor heated this place fine for the most part. When cold hit I had to load three times a day, now I never load more than two. Probably the same amount of wood during the meat of the winter but less time tending the stove. I knocked my wood use by about 1 cord going from the Endeavor to the BK. The Endeavor was a roller coaster, it dumped huge amounts of heat into this place early in the burn then tapered off. The BK has a nice flat output which keeps the house much more comfortable during the burning season, which is huge to me for 24/7 burning.

If I was a weekend warrior I’d probably still have a non cat. I’ll probably never burn another non cat unless it becomes supplemental or I retire.

 

[webby3650]

I know you have a wide knowledge and I will revised the " a few hrs ". Okay 5 hrs. So what after that? I Never saw five hours of secondary on mine or any others more expensive stoves than mines that family members have here. But it is okay. 5 hrs it is.

You may as well give up. I knew this trial would be a dead end. Some people just aren’t cat people. Some homes aren’t easily heated, be it a forced air furnace, a BK, a heat wasting pre epa, or a non cat. If you’ve gotta leave the stove on high, or nearly high, there’s not much advantage except more even temperatures and more coals for a reload. These stoves really shine when it’s properly sized for the heat load. In my opinion, any stove that needs to be ran on high for a length of time is undersized for the load.

 

[bholler]

In shoulders season it will do it and when real cold it will close that gap but still doing way better. Btw my experience. And we can't blame my previous cheap ass stoves cause we all know that they can put some heat out and that's for sure. I will recommend you something and aside I don't have your knowledge, I think that is good that your plan is to keep it for the whole season. It will not only show you what is capable but you will have more time to learn it. There is a learning curve in everything regardless knowledge.

Yes of course the lower end stoves can put out heat. But they simply do not do as good a job of extracting heat so they waste more up the stack.

Again explain where all of the extra BTUs come from. Same quantity of wood similar pipe temps so how do you expect the bk to put out the same BTUs for twice as long?

 

[lsucet]

It’s not just me, the owners manual tells you the same thing.

The cat probe is used to determine when the bypass is ready to close. After that, you can ignore it. In fact, some bk inserts have a simple on/off cat gauge. That’s it. If your gaskets are good then you can even ignore flue temperatures but I prefer to keep my flue temperatures below 1000.

Then turn the thermostat up as far as you want. I suggest about 3/4 of the way to the max as a starting point and your flue temperatures should level off at a higher but safe number.

Experiment with increasing the thermostat setting. You were running too cold.

The manual doesn't mentioned neither what is the flue temp that we need to keep. Its just experience burners that recommend it and also, I think it is a good thing for sure.
The manual neither said, go by flue temp to close bypass. And how many here that is the way they do it?
I don't care about it that much to be honest. I have flue probe on both but whatever. I just keep the cat in active zone.

 

[bholler]

When I switched from the Lopi Endeavor in 2011 the most impressive thing to me was the Control I had over the burn. The Endeavor heated this place fine for the most part. When cold hit I had to load three times a day, now I never load more than two. Probably the same amount of wood during the meat of the winter but less time tending the stove. I knocked my wood use by about 1 cord going from the Endeavor to the BK. The Endeavor was a roller coaster, it dumped huge amounts of heat into this place early in the burn then tapered off. The BK has a nice flat output which keeps the house much more comfortable during the burning season, which is huge to me for 24/7 burning.

If I was a weekend warrior I’d probably still have a non cat. I’ll probably never burn another non cat unless it becomes supplemental or I retire.

I absolutely agree the control is way be5ter and the heat is more even. But I am still loading 3x a day with the princess to maintain 70 degrees

 

[bholler]

You may as well give up. I knew this trial would be a dead end. Some people just aren’t cat people. Some homes aren’t easily heated, be it a forced air furnace, a BK, a heat wasting pre epa, or a non cat. If you’ve gotta leave the stove on high, or nearly high, there’s not much advantage except more even temperatures and more coals for a reload. These stoves really shine when it’s properly sized for the heat load. In my opinion, any stove that needs to be ran on high for a length of time is undersized for the load.

You do realize I was labeled a bk hater for saying exactly that don't you.

 

[webby3650]

You do realize I was labeled a bk hater for saying exactly that don't you.

That Blaze Kings are better than other stoves if they are properly sized?

 

[bholler]

That Blaze Kings are better than other stoves if they are properly sized?

No that there is not allot of benefit to a bk if the btu load is high.

So can you explain why a princess is undersized for my house when a 3100 did fine with the same size firebox?

 

[webby3650]

No that there is not allot of benefit to a bk if the btu load is high.

So can you explain why a princess is undersized for my house when a 3100 did fine with the same size firebox?

Nope.

 

[webby3650]

No that there is not allot of benefit to a bk if the btu load is high.

So can you explain why a princess is undersized for my house when a 3100 did fine with the same size firebox?

Not a lot of benefit? Many here are reporting a cordor more of saving a season with a bk. If I’ve got a choice, I’ll take a stove that excels more than half of the season, even if it’s only slightly better for the coldest part of the season. Good is good ain’t it?

 

[bholler]

Not a lot of benefit? Many here are reporting a cordor more of saving a season with a bk. If I’ve got a choice, I’ll take a stove that excels more than half of the season, even if it’s only slightly better for the coldest part of the season. Good is good ain’t it?

Yes and others report little to no savings. Of course if your shoulder season is half your heating season a bk makes perfect sense. But mine isn't even 1/4.

 

[webby3650]

Has anyone else noticed how there’s a Blaze King in almost every house on these Alaska shows? Buying Alaska, Alaska the last frontier, etc. Pretty cool!

 

[lsucet]

Has anyone else noticed how there’s a Blaze King in almost every house on these Alaska shows? Buying Alaska, Alaska the last frontier, etc. Pretty cool!

Yeah, I do love those shows.