2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)
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Update on the icing....
It's worse than initially realized. After only a few months we had a good bucket + of creosote. Not at the end of the flue, but around the 1st and 2nd seam down. My dad had put a "cap" on top of the rain cap in order to prevent rain from coming in, the original cap design sucked. I think that his modification negatively affected draft too much. So we've taken the whole cap off, going to run naked.
Second thing is the seal around the bypass door was definitely compromised. I've fixed it up and it should be good now.
Third I have my suspicions about the wood MC, but haven't been able to test yet.
On the good news is the OAK was perfectly fine. We fired it up after cleaning and removing the cap, and the draft was way stronger. We were getting spillage issues during reloads so I have a feeling that was a big part of the issue.
Going to test the wood and draft, and go from there.
A couple more questions:
- What is the spec for wood MC? Manual says 20%. I believe reading on here 22% is ok but below 20% is ideal?
- What about draft for a Princess Ultra. .05" hg on high?
It's worse than initially realized. After only a few months we had a good bucket + of creosote. Not at the end of the flue, but around the 1st and 2nd seam down. My dad had put a "cap" on top of the rain cap in order to prevent rain from coming in, the original cap design sucked. I think that his modification negatively affected draft too much. So we've taken the whole cap off, going to run naked.
Second thing is the seal around the bypass door was definitely compromised. I've fixed it up and it should be good now.
Third I have my suspicions about the wood MC, but haven't been able to test yet.
On the good news is the OAK was perfectly fine. We fired it up after cleaning and removing the cap, and the draft was way stronger. We were getting spillage issues during reloads so I have a feeling that was a big part of the issue.
Going to test the wood and draft, and go from there.
A couple more questions:
- What is the spec for wood MC? Manual says 20%. I believe reading on here 22% is ok but below 20% is ideal?
- What about draft for a Princess Ultra. .05" hg on high?
redktmrider
Burning Hunk
Draft should be measured on hi/full burn, .05 is ideal...
Although, I have'nt got there yet,.... Getting closer.. Mine without any key dampers was .23 - .26, have 2 key dampers now, sometimes still not enough..
This is correct. Max recommended is 0.06" water column, and ideal is on that high side of that, 0.05" water column. If you're running a whole lot over that, as I was on one chimney, a key damper and magnehelic are the choice tools.
Come here and see how far you get with a wheelbarrow stacked that high with Black Locust..
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I have great luck with these guys https://www.hechlers.com/ Even called them on the phone and they were very nice and helpful, shipped everything very fast, prices are good and took great care to wrap everything in bubble stuff to protect the contents.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I just did the "big" service on mine, engine oil, hydro oil, all new filters, front axle oil and tighten the fan belt.
They are about an hour from me and thats where I buy all my stuff.. Really are a top notch stove shop.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Success after changing the door gasket, we are back to normal operation, temp outside is 20deg f, inside its 70deg f, loaded the stove approx. 12hrs ago
drstorm
Burning Hunk
Does anyone burn non pressure treated lumber in their stoves?I threw in a few scrap 2x4s with some oak yesterday and the cat seemed to love them.I think I have seen BKVP suggest to people in the past that this is a good way to check if the cat is working if you had questionable wet wood.Just not sure if this is something you can do long term because basic research gives mixed opinions.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Theres nothing wrong with doing that, just make sure theres no nails and it non treated as you already stated. The T-stat will protect the stove from over firing, BK's love a mix of hard and soft woods, especially when turned down to boring mode.
drstorm
Burning Hunk
Thats what it seems like and yes on making sure there is no metal in them.I have used those compressed saw dust bricks at times mixed in but the scraps seemed to be a better burn.One site online warns against burning them mostly because of a chance of saltwater exposure but that seems unlikely to me.
Noncat stoves are less able to throttle back and slow down combustion as a bk. So loading a lot of small lumber like 2x4 cutoffs can lead to an overheating stove. That is the only logical reason to not burn kiln dried lumber scraps. Bigger cutoffs like from 4x beams would make great firewood but they will likely be from low btu woods like fir which is what I use anyway.
vwmike
Feeling the Heat
Damn now I'm feeling bad, I could burn that wheel barrow in a day heating this place with my Summit
lsucet
Minister of Fire
chemie
Feeling the Heat
Does anyone use smart, programmable, and controllable with an app plugs to turn on and off fan? I am thinking to use it mostly during the nights and sometimes during the days.
My thinking is that load the stove during the night at a lowish setting in cold nights like we have now and then set the timer 2 hours before everyone wakes up around 6 AM to turn on the fan on highest setting to bring up the temperature. BK AF25 manual says , use fan setting low when running the stove low and use high fan setting when running the stove on high. So my thinking of running it in lowish (not the lowest setting )combine with highest fan setting would make it inefficient?
As was stated by others, my experience is that increasing the fan output is similar to dialing it down tstat.
drstorm
Burning Hunk
It's possible you'll stall the cat.
I used to have my fan on a timer to hit on high for 15-30 minutes every hour but personally found that just running the fan on low or a bit higher than low works just as well.
With a low burn setting and the the fan on high for two hours I think it'll be below active by the time you get to it.Maybe 30 minutes before would work.
I used to have my fan on a timer to hit on high for 15-30 minutes every hour but personally found that just running the fan on low or a bit higher than low works just as well.
With a low burn setting and the the fan on high for two hours I think it'll be below active by the time you get to it.Maybe 30 minutes before would work.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
But remember that most of the time the cat still active. It is just the fan blowing on the probe and makes it look like it is inactive. Once the fans are shut, the probe climb back into the active zone.
Damn now I'm feeling bad, I could burn that wheel barrow in a day heating this place with my Summit
So that was 30 big splits. I reload every 24 hours 95% of the time and can only fit 6-7 of those splits into the bk firebox. So that’s 4-5 days of heat in my house. Not bad for softwood.
Now I “could” burn it faster in the fire pit or in my noncat stove in the shop burning hot. That noncat bugger fits about 8 splits and on a three hour reload schedule I could burn it all in one day. It’s really a shame to spend the fuel like that though.
Three things going on here, the bk can just sip wood when your chosen burn rate is low which isn’t fair to compare with burning hotter in a noncat because it doesn’t turn down as low and because I want high output where my noncat lives.
I could make due with a tiny Woodstock stove in my home if I could tolerate the short burn times resulting from the correspondingly small fuel tank (firebox). Bigger fuel tank on the bk and way smaller installation clearances.
vwmike
Feeling the Heat
Ya wow that’s pretty impressive that your using that little wood, but how many sq ft are you heating? We’re in similar climates, I’m heating 2400ft from the ground floor. I want to try a princess badly, just hoping to pick up a nice used one as I am nervous of performance on my up and out chimney setup(works perfect with the summit). That way if it doesn’t work I can send it down the road without loosing any $$. I wouldn’t expect 24hr burns with my heat load but a 12 hr reload schedule with the stove making meaningful heat would be amazing to me!
I’m heating just 1700 sf of 1963 built single story home up near Mt. Rainier.Not too cold here, lows just above freezing for most of the winter. This is when a cat stove is ideal, low output. Size your car stove to take advantage of the low output and then crank it up when it gets really cold.
When we’re in single digits with wind I drop to 12 hour reloads but I only need to put a few splits in, the 12 hours is more about my schedule. We might only burn 12 splits per 24 hours when it’s that cold. Too much heat is needed for 24 hour cycles but I’ve never completely emptied a bk in 12.
Your 2400 sf, depending on how well it’s built and your particular climate, might demand too much heat for you to enjoy the low output settings of a princess except for in the warmer parts of the burn season.
drstorm
Burning Hunk
I'm pretty sure I asked the same question a few years ago, whether the cat was really inactive or the fan blowing on the thermometer made it appear that way.Maybe someone can chime in because it might have even been BKVP.The way I was told was that yes the cat goes inactive, not just a false appearance of that.I guess it really wont matter too much in your situation either way.
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