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

[black smoke signals]

ATF is it possible to paper check the bypass door?

 

[lsucet]

ATF is it possible to paper check the bypass door?

I burn a lot of pine here and no issues. Normal smoke like any other species. When I have time and just toss a few splits in there, burn on high for awhile, dial it around 3 o'clock or so for glass cleaning and the box gets full of secondaries. Nice to see. No smoke at all coming from the stack, just heat waves. Real clean and efficient burn. Are you sure that it was dry?

 

[black smoke signals]

My mistake on mph
Hazardous Weather Outlook
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Cheyenne WY
202 PM MST Sat Nov 30 2019

NEZ021-054-055-WYZ106-107-115-118-119-012115-
Morrill-Kimball-Cheyenne-
Central Laramie Range and Southwest Platte County-
East Platte County-Laramie Valley-Central Laramie County-
East Laramie County-
202 PM MST Sat Nov 30 2019

This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of western
Nebraska and southeast Wyoming.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

A High Wind Warning and Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for
much of the area until 5 AM Sunday. Expect snow and blowing snow
with additional accumulations up to 1 inch. Winds gusting as high
as 65 MPH.

 

[atf8611]

I may have had a breakthrough - opened up the front cover to have a look at the t stat housing and found that my power cable had gotten moved over top of the thermostat box. I'm about 99% sure the flapper was getting stuck on the wire, preventing it from closing properly. Just lit a new load and it's acting just like I'd expect.

Still have some trial and error to figure out the best settings for an ideal burn, but at least it's back to responding to inputs.

Thanks again for the help, this site is great!

 

[black smoke signals]

Send us a picture of your find!

 

[MissMac]

Never have to do this with the Bk (part time burner). With the VC in the dead of winter when I have to burn down coals, I either keep the bypass closed open the air 100%, this will burn the excess coals down quickly (30min) with the cat and stove top temp actually go up. Or, I open the by pass and toss couple of small pieces of hemlock to burn down the coals quickly. Never I toss any wood in and close the by pass at once.

ya i'd been lazy the last week and didn't do a good job of raking the birch coals forward on reloads, so wanted to do a coal load to burn down the bulk. was just weird that it smoked so hard. got 4 hours out of that one split though - on high!

 

[MissMac]

I may have had a breakthrough - opened up the front cover to have a look at the t stat housing and found that my power cable had gotten moved over top of the thermostat box. I'm about 99% sure the flapper was getting stuck on the wire, preventing it from closing properly. Just lit a new load and it's acting just like I'd expect.

Still have some trial and error to figure out the best settings for an ideal burn, but at least it's back to responding to inputs.

Thanks again for the help, this site is great!

that's scary that something was interfering with your flapper. glad you found that and fixed it!

 

[Woody Stover]

I may have had a breakthrough - opened up the front cover to have a look at the t stat housing and found that my power cable had gotten moved over top of the thermostat box. I'm about 99% sure the flapper was getting stuck on the wire, preventing it from closing properly.

Ahhh, dammit! I'm just now catching up on the last couple pages of the thread, and that was gonna be my guess. I can't prove it now, though.
The only thing that was making me question that theory was when you posted that you could kill the burn if you closed the air too early. Thinking more, maybe when you cut the air that early, the cable wasn't yet interfering with the air inlet flap..?

 

[MTASH]

I cannot imagine how quickly 4 year-old Pine would burn but I would assume very very fast? I burn all hardwood but I have a lot of pine on the property. I get that in some areas this is all you have to work with but 4 year old Pine.. I cant imagine that it would last long? maybe I am way off base but my eastern white pine would not.

Lodgepole is decent. I did a 16 hour burn on the last load, the overnight low was 4F and high today was 15F. I have also burned Ponderosa but don't anymore mainly because it is so sappy and more difficult to split.

There are many species of pine, it is such a generic term. Other species such as your white pine may not do so well.

 

[Woody Stover]

flapper was getting stuck on the wire, preventing it from closing properly

that was gonna be my guess.

I have to qualify that; I didn't think of the wire per se, I was recalling an issue with free-standing stoves where the thermostat knob loosened on the shaft, causing it to move away from where it was supposed to be.

 

[KBW]

I'm burning what I was told was norway spruce right now in a princess. Logs sat out for 2 years down the road at a neighbors, they let me grab as much as I wanted. I hauled out close to 8 facecords this spring and summer, hand split it all, got it under cover early September and it's all 15% or better mc. I'm heating 2 levels eight or 9 hours each load. If I mix in a couple small sticks of hardwoods, 11 hours. The BK does an amazing job turning any species of wood into heat.

 

[Woody Stover]

Lodgepole is decent.

I'm seeing 20-22 mBTU/cord for Lodgepole, about the range of Black Cherry/Red (Slippery) Elm that we have here. Not bad at all.
Much better than White Pine.

 

[Mdwoodburner]

Newb here. Got a Princess insert, and just installed a King. Love em both.

 

[AlbergSteve]

Newb here. Got a Princess insert, and just installed a King. Love em both.

Welcome, you're going to love them.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Yes I get that you most likely were not burning white pine it is what I have so its all I could compare it too. I will say this is a very different stove than the Old Mill I was running a few years ago. I have always avoided cutting white birch because it burns so fast. Yesterday and today I am burning some birch, in fact I filled the stove with it last night. This stove gives a nice return on what I have always considered to be a poor quality firewood in the past. I wont hesitate to drop another birch when I come to one in my way next time.

 

[MissMac]

Yes I get that you most likely were not burning white pine it is what I have so its all I could compare it too. I will say this is a very different stove than the Old Mill I was running a few years ago. I have always avoided cutting white birch because it burns so fast. Yesterday and today I am burning some birch, in fact I filled the stove with it last night. This stove gives a nice return on what I have always considered to be a poor quality firewood in the past. I wont hesitate to drop another birch when I come to one in my way next time.

in my neck of the woods the white birch is the golden nugget that you hide and hoard and save for the coldest days!

 

[MissMac]

I know jetsam lays down pine for coals! I just wait a little while before I load it up again. Can’t say I have looked out to check this but sounds like cat was overwhelmed but this shouldn’t be a problem except in high wind where your forced to turn down t-stat

ya i'm not too sure if maybe my cat is starting to underperform? i'm noticing a bit more smoke on most of my loads these days, during the first several hours (like after i'd expect things to settle, and the moisture is driven off). it was just bizarre to see so much smoke coming from one stick of wood - looked as though the cat wasn't handling any of it!?

 

[jetsam]

in my neck of the woods the white birch is the golden nugget that you hide and hoard and save for the coldest days!

Pine is mine. Pine is also the most common wood here, so it's a good deal!

Pine is not the highest BTU wood around, but it doesn't coal and it burns hot, making it ideal for running the stove on high.

 

[Woody Stover]

ya i'm not too sure if maybe my cat is starting to underperform? i'm noticing a bit more smoke on most of my loads these days, during the first several hours (like after i'd expect things to settle, and the moisture is driven off). it was just bizarre to see so much smoke coming from one stick of wood - looked as though the cat wasn't handling any of it!?

Yes, Pine generates black smoke but I think the cat should handle it. I don't know for sure, I just use it for kindling. Maybe burners of Pine exclusively, will chime in.
Have you tried 50/50 distilled vinegar/distilled water? Use a spray bottle (you have to spray the heck out of it to thoroughly soak the insides of all the cells) or just make a batch and soak it in there for like a half hour. Or keep spraying every 15 minutes for an hour or so. The thoroughly rinse several times with distilled water. Depending on how old your cat is, that might bring it back. If it's three or more years old, and you burn 24/7 for many months per year, it might be plumb tuckered out. You don't burn any crap through it, like colored newspaper or anything that might poison it, do ya?

 

[Indiana wood]

I’m a little confused on reloading my blaze king ultra not sure if the wood is supposed to go sideways or lengthwise in relation to the glass door. It looks like the pictures I can find are lengthwise straight into the stove and not sideways. Does it make a difference? What’s the best way to keep the cat active on reload

 

[atf8611]

ya i'm not too sure if maybe my cat is starting to underperform? i'm noticing a bit more smoke on most of my loads these days, during the first several hours (like after i'd expect things to settle, and the moisture is driven off). it was just bizarre to see so much smoke coming from one stick of wood - looked as though the cat wasn't handling any of it!?

I've been burning almost exclusively pine (no idea what exact species) with a pretty much new stove. I can't say that I see any perceptible black smoke once the cat engages. I can tell it's working because the firebox will still have plenty of smoke for a while, but I don't see anything at all outside.

 

[Highbeam]

I’m a little confused on reloading my blaze king ultra not sure if the wood is supposed to go sideways or lengthwise in relation to the glass door. It looks like the pictures I can find are lengthwise straight into the stove and not sideways. Does it make a difference? What’s the best way to keep the cat active on reload

You may choose lengthwise or straight in. Whatever you like. I find it far more desirable to load straight in like a package of hot dogs load them tight and to the roof.

 

[Highbeam]

I've been burning almost exclusively pine (no idea what exact species) with a pretty much new stove. I can't say that I see any perceptible black smoke once the cat engages. I can tell it's working because the firebox will still have plenty of smoke for a while, but I don't see anything at all outside.

I burn a lot of pitchy, sappy, resinous softwoods and I never see black smoke. Instead, when the cat can't keep up, I get blue smoke and sometimes a little white. White smoke and steam are very often mistaken for each other.

 

[Indiana wood]

You may choose lengthwise or straight in. Whatever you like. I find it far more desirable to load straight in like a package of hot dogs load them tight and to the roof.

Ok thanks. I like loading straight in but they have to be about 18 inches to fit so I will just Cut a little shorter

 

[Woody Stover]

not sure if the wood is supposed to go sideways or lengthwise..Does it make a difference? What’s the best way to keep the cat active on reload

Loading N-S onto sparse coals, the load will burn in faster since the air comes in above the glass and can flow down the length of the splits. You'll get more flame heat and smoke to the cat more quickly. If the cat is still pretty hot and you are loading on a bigger coal bed, you could load E-W (crossways.) Not a whole lot of difference overall, I don't think. If you load E-W, you can do the BrotherBart "tunnel of love," where you make a trench in the coals, front to back, to allow more air through to all the wood.
On a cold start you could also employ a "top-down" start where you put a couple kindling or smaller splits on top of the bigger stuff. It takes slightly longer to get the load going but it's a cleaner start since the smoke from the wood catching below rises into the flames above and is consumed. Flames on top of the load also heat up the cat area more quickly, and you can more easily feed a little flame heat to the cat after you close the bypass to kick it off quicker.
If you live in a populated area, the cleaner you burn, the more the neighbors will like it.
BTW, where in IN are you? Always good to see another Hoser on the forums.