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

[Alpine1]

I always load N/S as most here do. Playing Tetris it’s easier that way

 

[Woody Stover]

I love BKs air wash system. The glass stays so clean even after slow burns.

OK, this must be the 2020 version..

 

[Indiana wood]

Thanks everyone. Taking it forward and placing a dried peice of wood on top did the trick! It's all filled up and burning again! House warming up.

I have to say, I love BKs air wash system. The glass stays so clean even after slow burns.

Is there a preferred way of loading a BK Ashford 30.2? NS or EW? Sorry for my noob questions. Hope this is not another can of worms.

Still have to finish my hardwood floors after taking down that wall. But here it is

My observation so far
For long burns, overnight or really cold days I prefer n/s, otherwise e/w gives me a more complete burn. Nothing left on sides

 

[Tar12]

Went to replace a leaking door gasket on my Princess with a 7/8ths gasket in which it calls for...the door would not come even close to closing...anyone else experience this? I did not stretch the gasket as I thought you were not supposed to do that? Is that my problem? Thanks

 

[webby3650]

Went to replace a leaking door gasket on my Princess with a 7/8ths gasket in which it calls for...the door would not come even close to closing...anyone else experience this? I did not stretch the gasket as I thought you were not supposed to do that? Is that my problem? Thanks

Was it OEM BK gasket?

 

[Diabel]

Went to replace a leaking door gasket on my Princess with a 7/8ths gasket in which it calls for...the door would not come even close to closing...anyone else experience this? I did not stretch the gasket as I thought you were not supposed to do that? Is that my problem? Thanks

This was addressed couple of years ago. Do not remember the outcome.

 

[Tar12]

Was it OEM BK gasket?

Nope....when I called BK today I was told any 7/8 gasket would work...where I bought it they carry BK...if it was a house brand or BK I dont know.

 

[webby3650]

Nope....when I called BK today I was told any 7/8 gasket would work...where I bought it they carry BK...if it was a house brand or BK I dont know.

I’m curious who at BK told you this? High density, low density? There’s a lot of people making gasket, some of the “same” size are noticeably different in size.

 

[Tar12]

I’m curious who at BK told you this? High density, low density? There’s a lot of people making gasket, some of the “same” size are noticeably different in size.

Who ever the woman was who answered phone told me...

 

[webby3650]

Who ever the woman was who answered phone told me...

There used to be an amazing woman there that handled warranty calls. Unfortunately she left... raising her family I guess. She knew her stuff!

 

[Woody Stover]

I did not stretch the gasket as I thought you were not supposed to do that?

OTOH, did you bunch it?

 

[BKVP]

Thanks everyone. Taking it forward and placing a dried peice of wood on top did the trick! It's all filled up and burning again! House warming up.

I have to say, I love BKs air wash system. The glass stays so clean even after slow burns.

Is there a preferred way of loading a BK Ashford 30.2? NS or EW? Sorry for my noob questions. Hope this is not another can of worms.

Still have to finish my hardwood floors after taking down that wall. But here it is

North South...better air flow, much wood can be loaded, less likely to roll into glass door.

 

[Highbeam]

W

Who ever the woman was who answered phone told me...

Whatever you do, be sure to say she had the voice of a nice young lady!

 

[BKVP]

I addressed this topic with the office staff. Our gaskets are definitely different than off the shelf materials. Apologies for the confusion.

 

[Diabel]

That is good to know. Our BKs only accepted 7/8 BK gasket. Will not accept any aftermarket 7/8 gaskets. Correct.

 

[kenmal]

I addressed this topic with the office staff. Our gaskets are definitely different than off the shelf materials. Apologies for the confusion.

That is good to know. Our BKs only accepted 7/8 BK gasket. Will not accept any aftermarket 7/8 gaskets. Correct.

For those of us that don't know, how could we identify a 7/8 BK gasket from some other off the shelf? If we go to the dealer and they can say it is a BK gasket but it may not be,

 

[BKVP]

Great question relating to packaging. Let me deal with this. I'm flying to RDU so it won't be until next week. However, you can always ask to have an order drop shipped to you from our factory.

 

[Tron]

Hi Everybody,

just pulled the trigger on a Chinook 30. Looking forward to have it installed.

A quick question: when the thermostat is on "low" and the stove is cold, does that shut off airflow into the stove completely? As you are well aware, a chimney always has a draft, even when cold, and I don't want it to draw air out of the house when it's not in use. Our "Kachelofen-style" stove had a flap in the loading door with which you adjusted airflow into the stove or just shut it off completely by closing that flap.

Thanks!

 

[Alpine1]

With the door closed and the thermostat on low I’m pretty sure heat loss trough the stove is negligible if not completely non existent. Heat loss from windows, doors, walls etc is surely more important.

 

[Tron]

Maybe, although heat transfer by convection (draft) is usually orders of magnitude higher than heat transfer through radiation (walls/windows, given they are airtight).
But you're probably right that it won't matter much. I have not found internal drawings of the firebox yet which could show how the airflow is regulated. I suppose there is some kind of flap in a pipe that is moved by the thermostat or similar.

 

[Highbeam]

Hi Everybody,

just pulled the trigger on a Chinook 30. Looking forward to have it installed.

A quick question: when the thermostat is on "low" and the stove is cold, does that shut off airflow into the stove completely? As you are well aware, a chimney always has a draft, even when cold, and I don't want it to draw air out of the house when it's not in use. Our "Kachelofen-style" stove had a flap in the loading door with which you adjusted airflow into the stove or just shut it off completely by closing that flap.

Thanks!

So on full low stat setting the intake butterfly is closed. You can hear it clack closed. However, there is the hole. Even if it's not on the flapper itself like my princess there is another hole somewhere else that provides the minimum air for some sort of a safe/clean burn required by the EPA even though I think it is silly small opening since most of us are unable to fully close the thermostat without stalling the cat.

If you use the proper outside air connection then your stove is not burning inside air at all. This is one of the benefits of the outside air connection. My stove's combustion air is drawn from the vented, unheated, crawlspace under my home. Works great!

 

[Tron]

Thanks!

If the cat stalls when the butterfly is fully closed, it can't be much.
And an outside air connection is not possible. The stove is in the middle of the home with the concrete slab underneath, and the only way to draw outside air would be from the attic, which would require the line to reach upward towards the ceiling. And that is not permitted, I believe.

 

[Ashful]

I will go right past prime oak to get to some pine if I don't have my cord laid in for next year yet.

And you call me the heretic?!?

Truthfully, having some pine on hand would be great, if I had time to waste, and ever ran out of oak, ash, and hickory. So far, that hasn’t happened.

Thanks everyone. Taking it forward and placing a dried peice of wood on top did the trick! It's all filled up and burning again! House warming up.

I have to say, I love BKs air wash system. The glass stays so clean even after slow burns.

Is there a preferred way of loading a BK Ashford 30.2? NS or EW? Sorry for my noob questions. Hope this is not another can of worms.

Still have to finish my hardwood floors after taking down that wall. But here it is

A few more notes, now that you have your coaling situation under control. By far, the preferred way to deal with coals is to just give time to burn down every load sufficiently, before stuffing the next into the stove. I do this by just setting my stove to a burn rate that gets me down to the ideal amount of coals for reload (shown below) in 12 hours, and then load my stove every 12 hours. In milder weather, this may carry the entire heat load of this part of the house. In our coldest weather, this means my oil-fired boiler is kicking in a bit at the end of the burn cycle. But I don’t care, I’m still saving an enormous amount of oil, while keeping the stoves going, and enjoying the whole experience much more than fighting to stay ahead of it. This was my stove at reload time this morning, before work, about 2” deep coals covering the forward 30 - 40% of the floor of the stove, everything behind that is dead ash.



The airwash is pretty aggressive of the BK 30’s, and I believe that’s different than the classic BK models, like the Princess or King. I believe their air wash is more lazy, but that BK was likely trying to kick their “black box with dirty glass” reputation to the curb when they designed these stoves. It does work quite well for burning down coals.

I load north-south. I find it easier to get the maximum amount of wood into the stove. Since I’m running one stove on mostly consistent 12-hour batches and the other on 24-hour batches, being able to consistently jam nearly the same amount of wood into the stove every time helps me nail the timing for the next reload most closely.

OK, this must be the 2020 version..

Nah... even my 30.1’s keep the glass pretty clean. This ain’t no Princess. Check out that pattern of clean and dusty spots on the air deflector at the top of my door opening, that’s from the air wash rushing clean air across it, behind the glass.

My observation so far
For long burns, overnight or really cold days I prefer n/s, otherwise e/w gives me a more complete burn. Nothing left on sides

Interesting. I believe you, but I’ve never had a reason to try this. I suspect E/W might also give a prettier presentation for ambience burning.

A quick question: when the thermostat is on "low" and the stove is cold, does that shut off airflow into the stove completely? As you are well aware, a chimney always has a draft, even when cold, and I don't want it to draw air out of the house when it's not in use. Our "Kachelofen-style" stove had a flap in the loading door with which you adjusted airflow into the stove or just shut it off completely by closing that flap.

No modern stove can be closed completely, but cat stoves should typically shut down tighter than a non-cat, due to their ability to maintain re-burn at lower temperatures with longer burn cycles. I suspect that, as Alpine already stated, the heat loss due to conduction might be at least as high as any convective loss with the stove shut down, if you have an exposed metal chimney system. I’ve felt some mighty cold stoves and chimneys, in the houses of folks who don’t keep them running.

 

[Woody Stover]

Nah... even my 30.1’s keep the glass pretty clean

Jacub said on a "low burn," but we don't know how low that is compared to your burns, how much draft he's got etc. Granted, you must be running the 24-hr stove pretty low..unless you are milking the coal bed a long time and the actual load burn has a decent amount of air being pulled through.

 

[SpaceBus]

Great question relating to packaging. Let me deal with this. I'm flying to RDU so it won't be until next week. However, you can always ask to have an order drop shipped to you from our factory.

RDU? Taking a little vacation? I can't imagine many BK owners in NC aside from the Mountains.