2019-20 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)

[jetsam]

No..
But make sure your CAT probe is clean, ayear and a half ago I replaced mine cause I was’nt seeing the numbers I was used to..
New CAT gave me about the same, here my probe had a bunch of junk on it, cleaned it off and all was good again..
Lesson learned..

You should also calibrate it every year. Just take it out of a cold stove when the room is around 70, loosen the nut, set the needle to 0, and tighten it back up again.

Those things can drift off by hundreds of degrees.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

my probe after 3 winters was pretty cruddy I filled a prescription pill bottle with white vinegar and stood the probe in it. After about a week it was spotless. Not sure how much is any difference it would make but mine was very cruddy.

 

[Rickb]

my probe after 3 winters was pretty cruddy I filled a prescription pill bottle with white vinegar and stood the probe in it. After about a week it was spotless. Not sure how much is any difference it would make but mine was very cruddy.

Thats a great idea. Mine it really bad but didnt have any idea how to clean it. lol

 

[Ashful]

That's correct. Being at 6 o'clock it delays the closing of the tstat cause it is keeping it open longer.

I think you’re overthinking, there. I check mine and adjust key damper once when I close bypass, and a second time 20 minutes later before I turn down for cruising. I believe it is spec’d at steady state, whatever the inner workings are doing under that condition. It will find equilibrium.

My draft is very similar, close to 0.20” on high with cat engaged, without key damper. I don’t know about your insert, but on the Ashford 30, that’s a sure-fire way to clog a combustor with fly ash in no time flat. The key damper cures that, and made running the stove an overall better experience. At this point, I know where to set it without even really having to look at the magnehelic, although that set point drifts thru the season with stovepipe deposits increasing.

 

[lsucet]

I think you’re overthinking, there. I check mine and adjust key damper once when I close bypass, and a second time 20 minutes later before I turn down for cruising. I believe it is spec’d at steady state, whatever the inner workings are doing under that condition. It will find equilibrium.

My draft is very similar, close to 0.20” on high with cat engaged, without key damper. I don’t know about your insert, but on the Ashford 30, that’s a sure-fire way to clog a combustion with fly ash in no time flat. The key damper cures that, and made running the stove an overall better experience. At this point, I know where to set it without even really having to look at the magnehelic, although that set point drifts thru the season with stovepipe deposits increasing.

Both of mine are freestanding. They are Princess. My dial click wide open around 4 o'clock when stove is cold or just warm, from 4 to 6 o'clock is like I am forcing it to stays open. I don't know if make sence. That is what I feel.

 

[TheIglu]

Thanks to the info here from all the helpful members, I ordered our new Blaze King Princess Ultra with fan kit and convection deck this morning. Can't wait for it to be here, they are saying a week and a half.

 

[jetsam]

It was 55 today, supposed to be 19 tonight. My Princess is simmering a load of oak, and ready to be turned up when I get home!

Still waiting on my solar install, so I'm still heating with just wood until that happens.

 

[Highbeam]

Thats a great idea. Mine it really bad but didnt have any idea how to clean it. lol

I clean my probes with a key. Just scratch the stuff off. It shouldn't be gooey and if you have a gooey probe, well, nevermind.

 

[kenmal]

Cleaning out the stove before burning, is this normal for a cat or anything to worry about? This will be second season with the stove.

 

[BKVP]

Press very gently on top of block with palm of your hand. It will function fine as is, but you might try. The gasket swelling has slowly expanded enough to move that block.

 

[kenmal]

Seeing good to go as is I will do that at next cleaning , thanks.

 

[kennyp2339]

I have experienced some pretty cold temps so far this season, lows near 12deg at night and days were it remained below freezing, so far I have to say that I'm really happy with the stoves performance, I am burning it a little different this year as opposed to past seasons.
The one test I did was to burn only large splits, a mix of oak and ash, all split sizes +6" these were split and stacked 3 years ago, and 2 years ago they were moved to my open sided wood shed were they sat.
The big difference I see is extended stove top temp about 400 deg, the stove top will hit 600 or so, but as the burn settles in and the cat needle starts slipping past the high noon spot and more like 10am spot the stove top remains at 400f.
This has allowed for a very warm house, to the point that I have actually had to turn the stove's t-stat air controller further back that previous settings, and I'm now a solid 16hr burn time with the blower running on medium / low. I have approx. another 2 cords of these big splits and then 2 cords of my traditional size 3-5" splits. I also see better performance (although loading is more difficult) when I load E-W vs N-S, N-S is much easier and you do get better flames with cleaner glass, but I see the better long steady stable burns loading the other way.
Or maybe I'm just bored with this stove and I'm manufacturing my own entertainment with it lol.

 

[Highbeam]

Press very gently on top of block with palm of your hand. It will function fine as is, but you might try. The gasket swelling has slowly expanded enough to move that block.

ive had to lightly reset the whole cat (not cell blocks like this) into my stove a few times too over the years.Part of inspecting it is now to just sort of press on the perimeter to make sure it’s all the way home. It’s only ever walked out about 1/8”.

 

[Highbeam]

I have experienced some pretty cold temps so far this season, lows near 12deg at night and days were it remained below freezing, so far I have to say that I'm really happy with the stoves performance, I am burning it a little different this year as opposed to past seasons.
The one test I did was to burn only large splits, a mix of oak and ash, all split sizes +6" these were split and stacked 3 years ago, and 2 years ago they were moved to my open sided wood shed were they sat.
The big difference I see is extended stove top temp about 400 deg, the stove top will hit 600 or so, but as the burn settles in and the cat needle starts slipping past the high noon spot and more like 10am spot the stove top remains at 400f.
This has allowed for a very warm house, to the point that I have actually had to turn the stove's t-stat air controller further back that previous settings, and I'm now a solid 16hr burn time with the blower running on medium / low. I have approx. another 2 cords of these big splits and then 2 cords of my traditional size 3-5" splits. I also see better performance (although loading is more difficult) when I load E-W vs N-S, N-S is much easier and you do get better flames with cleaner glass, but I see the better long steady stable burns loading the other way.
Or maybe I'm just bored with this stove and I'm manufacturing my own entertainment with it lol.

im really liking the big splits this year too. The bk video touts big splits as a benefit of a good cat stove, saving time and effort. Current fuel is so big that I can only get two rows in the firebox which is ideal I think.

Filling the firebox with giant chunks of fuel should result in more total lbs of wood and less surface area. Longer burns and more heat.

 

[Alpine1]

I’m at the 3rd year with the Ashford, and I noticed that each subsequent burning season my splits tend to get bigger. A few years more and I’ll load sections of tree, only squared to fit the firebox

 

[lsucet]

Burning softwood mostly, big splits is the trick to long burn and good steady heat. It is hard to fill the stove sometimes but with good 4 to 5 good thick splits is easy to keep my 24 hr schedule.

 

[Diabel]

Big chunks is all I burn in the BK.

 

[Woody Stover]

big splits

What kind of wood is that?

 

[lsucet]

What kind of wood is that?

If I remember correctly, it is some species of Ash that I got a few years back. I should have some more to process in a new pile I received.

 

[webby3650]

So I took cat out of my old Ashford that my brother in law has. It seemed to be struggling to become and stay active, creosote build up..
I brought it home, cleaned it with a vinegar bath and installed it in my Princess for a test.
This was approximately 15 minutes after starting the stove from cold. I’d say that’s a win!

 

[Woody Stover]

So I took cat out of my old Ashford that my brother in law has. It seemed to be struggling to become and stay active, creosote build up..
I brought it home, cleaned it with a vinegar bath and installed it in my Princess for a test.
This was approximately 15 minutes after starting the stove from cold. I’d say that’s a win!

A win, indeed. How did you light it off that fast? Big fire, then close the bypass before the cat probe said 'active?'
Did you do a full simmer? This time, I just did my Ks steel cat by spraying with distilled vinegar/distilled water. It was mostly vinegar..maybe that is too strong since I always see a 50/50 solution recommended??
Anyway, I had the cat outside and went out periodically to re-wet it with solution over a period of a couple hours. Then I rinsed it several times very well with distilled water.
It's lighting off great now, but a couple of previous sluggish starts may have been due to some Red Elm splits that hissed a little bit for a while. I thought it was split a couple years but I'm not positive. Maybe it was from some rain blowing in on the ends and being drawn up, maybe a Red Elm thing? I don't have a shed, just covered stacks.
I have mostly burned steel cats in the Ks..diesel-foil and now DuraFoil. Ks has had a couple years off when I was burning the Fv. But I still have the original Ks ceramic from 2010, and the cast iron cat housing. I'll have to rinse that thing out and see if it still works OK.

 

[webby3650]

A win, indeed.

How did you light it off that fast? Big fire, then close the bypass before the cat probe said 'active?'

Aren’t all fires big?
It was just a normal top down fire.

 

[Diabel]

So I took cat out of my old Ashford that my brother in law has. It seemed to be struggling to become and stay active, creosote build up..
I brought it home, cleaned it with a vinegar bath and installed it in my Princess for a test.
This was approximately 15 minutes after starting the stove from cold. I’d say that’s a win!

That is a good looking sight!!

 

[spudman99]

Still learning.

Last night I reloaded by first opening the bypass. Wait about 1 or 2 min, then crack the door slightly to allow the chamber to equalize. Then open door (no smoke spillover), stir coals with rod, reload box about 2/3rds. Close door and engage cat since it was still slightly in the active zone.

Fire takes off and I let it go on high for 5 or 10 min. Lots of flame in the box and the top temp on the Princess Insert gets to about 600. I step out side and smell what seems to be like a burning plastic odor. Look up and there is some dark or slightly black smoke (it was pretty windy). Come back inside and turn down thermostat to medium to quiet the flames. Go back out and shortly thereafter the smoke is now white and then diminishes.

Was that smell just burning off some creosote from inside the box. I did notice some flaky black stuff on the sides and rear, and the door frame (inside of knife edge) is pretty gunked up.

No smell inside, BKVP is correct that there is almost no odor from breaking in the new paint on this 3 week old unit. What say ye?

 

[Ashful]

Woody, if I don’t have active glowing cat within 15 minutes on a cold start, I figure I screwed up! Do others take any longer than that?

I don’t wait for cat probe to indicate active before closing bypass, that lever gets thrown as soon as pipe probe shows 600 or load looks fully charred, whichever comes first. Almost always by 15 minutes after lighting, cat glows long before that too-slow probe indicates it should. I think that probe is great for telling you what the combustor state was ten minutes ago, not much more.