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

[Highbeam]

Yes, I'll take the shroud off tomorrow, clean out the ashes, and see what I can see. I seem to remember reading a post about another BK insert owner where the screw holding the shroud on was preventing the thermostat flapper from moving? Hopefully that's what's happening here, as it's an easy fix.

Verify that the thermostat flapper is free to fall closed when you choose full low. It has been known to be jostled out of place.

 

[Woody Stover]

I am Smack dab in the middle of oak country, and I think I would just rather burn pine and poplar. I have Access to a huge white oak- almost dread the work it's gonna take. White dries slow, and is so splintery and a pain to split.
Poplar and pine I just use the maul to make it big chunks, dry for 2 years and it does the job nicely- and fits my usual 12 hr burn cycle.

Well, you're actually way to the eastern edge of the Oak-Hickory forest that covers a majority of the land east of the Mighty Mississip.
That said, I grab White Oak as quick as I can; It's the King of All Firewoods, and even if I wasn't going to burn it, I'd grab it just so I could split it and smell it.

I really can’t understand this perspective. You’d rather fell, haul, buck, split, stack, and load 50% more wood, for the same BTUs? Not to mention having to deal with a tree that has a million branches, often nearly to the ground, over a tree with more often than not 60+ feet of pure straight trunk?

Hey, a Tulip Poplar is the straightest trunk you'll find, and no more branches than Oak or whatever, in the woods.
I'm gonna grab a buttload of it for my BIL, in case he can't get his other stuff dry by next fall. You can easily split it by hand with a light ax, which is loads of fun.

Ha! By volume, but it weighs the same....I wish we had more dense wood here.

Yeah, he didn't mention that wet Red Oak will shred your tendons and rotator cuffs, lifting rounds onto the splitter.
As for dense wood, have you tried burning your head yet?

I seem to remember reading a post about another BK insert owner where the screw holding the shroud on was preventing the thermostat flapper from moving?

My money's on...they messed up the thermostat knob when they were trying to move the stove. Either knocked the knob loose on the shaft, or bent something in there.

 

[Ashful]

Tulip Poplar is the straightest trunk you'll find, and no more branches than Oak or whatever, in the woods.

Poplar is funny stuff. I have gone thru full cords of poplar in as few as six days, and it puts out very little heat in the course of all that work. You might as well burn cardboard, for the heat it gives off, I suspect it’s not even legally “wood”.

Full disclosure, I don’t know if what we have here is “tulip poplar” or something else. I never bothered looking at any poplar tree long enough to care or learn it, when I’m surrounded by oak, ash, and hickory.

 

[Diabel]

@Ashful , what are you going to do once your neighbor says “no more oak for you”?

 

[Ashful]

Never got any oak from my neighbors, only crap wood, which I’m taking more to get out of their way than because I want it. Most of my wood comes from either one buddy who has 32 acres of very old woods, or my church who also owns a lot of heavily-wooded property. Both locations have more dying or already on the ground than I can ever hope to burn by myself, and I don’t see that changing real soon. We just had another 3 cord oak come down in a storm 13 days ago, at the church, and I haven’t even cleaned up half of what came down in a tornado in May, despite working on it all summer.

 

[Woody Stover]

Poplar is funny stuff. I have gone thru full cords of poplar in as few as six days, and it puts out very little heat in the course of all that work. You might as well burn cardboard, for the heat it gives off, I suspect it’s not even legally “wood”.
I don’t know if what we have here is “tulip poplar” or something else. I never bothered looking at any poplar tree long enough to care or learn it, when I’m surrounded by oak, ash, and hickory.

It's legally wood but I believe that by law, a firewood seller must give you 1-2/3 cords for the price of his normal cord of anything else.
Not much heat in Tulip. 16mBTU/cord, where even Silver Maple is 18. I'm gonna dump some on my BIL, just to make sure he has something dry by fall. And to teach him a lesson.."Dood, you gotta work harder if ya wanna get ahead and have some dry wood with decent burn time!" He's had a pile of rounds sitting by his splitter for a couple months now, and it's been perfect splitting weather.

Most of my wood comes from either one buddy who has 32 acres of very old woods, or my church who also owns a lot of heavily-wooded property....I don’t see that changing real soon.

It could change if the church folk catch wind of the fact that you've gone to the dark side, and are now a devoted minion of your dark master, the King of Blazes (the blazes within hell's gates!)

 

[Diabel]

Never got any oak from my neighbors, only crap wood, which I’m taking more to get out of their way than because I want it. Most of my wood comes from either one buddy who has 32 acres of very old woods, or my church who also owns a lot of heavily-wooded property. Both locations have more dying or already on the ground than I can ever hope to burn by myself, and I don’t see that changing real soon. We just had another 3 cord oak come down in a storm 13 days ago, at the church, and I haven’t even cleaned up half of what came down in a tornado in May, despite working on it all summer.

I meant church. I remember you mentioning that you were getting your wood from other than your own property.

 

[Ashful]

Anything is possible, I have some past stories to tell on that subject. But given my relationship with them, both financial and service, I’ll be very surprised if they do that.

I’m fortunate to live in a little rural bubble in an otherwise sprawling densely-suburban area of the mid-Atlantic coast. There are so many large properties with so many dying or falling trees, I really don’t see ever having an issue with getting wood, only the level of convenience will vary.

 

[MacinJosh]

I‘m glad you found what works for you, but I really can’t understand this perspective. You’d rather fell, haul, buck, split, stack, and load 50% more wood, for the same BTUs? Not to mention having to deal with a tree that has a million branches, often nearly to the ground, over a tree with more often than not 60+ feet of pure straight trunk?

My splitter doesn’t care whether it’s pine or oak on the beam, it all splits the same with hydraulics. My gloves don’t care how smooth the wood is, either. I’m heating a house, and whatever wood gets that job done with the least volume of product, is going to be where I spend my precious few splitting hours.

Cosign. My splitter don't care either. Although I WISH I had a massive supply of oak. I'm 99% ash down here. The good news is there is a glutton of it due to the emerald ash borer. The bad news is the emerald ash borer......little bastard.

 

[MacinJosh]

Same here... but we have less coaling problems, see the bright side!

TRUTH!

Since y'all told me my coaling might be a record I made it my profile picture. Have to embrace it. HAHAHA :D

 

[BKVP]

BKVP to Hearth.com crowd. I promised to buy a round...KOP in 2 weeks. Radisson hotel bar. Interested? Any takers? Don't have to be a BK owner. Likely 7:00 pm 2/20....

 

[vwmike]

Been struggling with burn times still with my princess, been through everything twice and finally my manometer came today! Always was worried about my external class A not drafting well. Turns out that’s a non issue as I’m getting as high as .17 on high and .15 on medium and .10 on low. I have a damper for my double wall stove pipe, just wondering where the best place to mount is, right off the top of the stove or higher up?

 

[Woody Stover]

Been struggling with burn times still with my princess, been through everything twice and finally my manometer came today! Always was worried about my external class A not drafting well. Turns out that’s a non issue as I’m getting as high as .17 on high and .15 on medium and .10 on low. I have a damper for my double wall stove pipe, just wondering where the best place to mount is, right off the top of the stove or higher up?

I usually put the flue damper low since it's easier to reach when installing. I was glad I did that on my SIL's old stove because I ended up adding a second damper above that after I installed her new stove and I needed to slow the burn a bit more.
Might be time to update your signature..

 

[kennyp2339]

I have a damper for my double wall stove pipe, just wondering where the best place to mount is, right off the top of the stove or higher up?

I did a (2) damper setup, first one is a flue collar damper (don't really like that one to much) the second one was mounted towards the top of the black pipe near the ceiling support box, that my main damper. You want to be near .005 while running on high.

 

[Ashful]

Been struggling with burn times still with my princess, been through everything twice and finally my manometer came today! Always was worried about my external class A not drafting well. Turns out that’s a non issue as I’m getting as high as .17 on high and .15 on medium and .10 on low. I have a damper for my double wall stove pipe, just wondering where the best place to mount is, right off the top of the stove or higher up?

Higher up, and then tap the manometer into the pipe below the damper, so you can adjust it to maintain .05”WC on high. Keep them far enough apart to avoid dynamic effects (i.e. turbulence), which can cause false readings, ideally something like manometer feed at 18” above stove, and damper at 36” above stove.

I adjust my damper for .06”WC right after loading and closing the door. When I come back 5 minutes later, the heat going into the pipe has usually drawn it up to .10”WC, which is fine... the cat is bypassed. I re-adjust to just below .05”WC, close the damper, and watch it settle at the ideal .05”WC. Set a timer for 20 minutes, and walk away. When I come back to turn down the stove after 20 minutes, I’ll re-adjust to .05”WC (if necessary, often it’s still there), and then turn down the stove to cruise setting. When you turn the stove down, you will always see the manometer climb, but that doesn’t matter, the draft is only spec’d on high under stead-state (hot) conditions.

I got a section of 3/16” or 1/4” OD stainless line to tap in thru my double-wall, and I use a couple of stainless cable clamps screwed to the back of the double wall (short screws, so they’re only penetrating outer shield) to keep it in place. Then I transition to high temp flex hose between the stainless line and my gauge. I can get some photos, if you’re interested.

 

[vwmike]

Ok great I know what I am doing today!
Higher works better in my setup as I can use an adjustable length below it and like you say gives me a good spot to measure the draft. So thankful for this site, don’t post that much but spend hours reading info and without it I probably would of yanked this out and put the summit back! Forgot to mention we live right at sea level on a big flat prairie.

 

[Ashful]

It will be interesting to see if this fixes your burn time issues, of if you still have something else affecting you. In my case, the strong draw didn’t prevent me from getting 12+ hours, which is really all I ever tried on this stove, my only major issue with the strong draft was ash plugging my cat when I’d run full loads at higher burn rates.

In any case, here’s how I hooked mine up

 

[GinaC]

Hello all, just wanted to give you an update. I cleaned out my Sirocco and attempted to unscrew the shroud, but the screws are in way too tight. So I am at the mercy of the dealer's schedule, right when we have a blizzard and low temperatures. *sigh*

 

[jetsam]

Hello all, just wanted to give you an update. I cleaned out my Sirocco and attempted to unscrew the shroud, but the screws are in way too tight. So I am at the mercy of the dealer's schedule, right when we have a blizzard and low temperatures. *sigh*

If the Sirocco is put together like the Princess, the screws are #2 squarehead sheet metal screws. With a big aggressive thread holding thin metal together, "tight" shouldn't really be an option (if you try to tighten it too much, it just strips the hole).

Were you using a square head driver?

 

[jetsam]

It will be interesting to see if this fixes your burn time issues, of if you still have something else affecting you. In my case, the strong draw didn’t prevent me from getting 12+ hours, which is really all I ever tried on this stove, my only major issue with the strong draft was ash plugging my cat when I’d run full loads at higher burn rates.

In any case, here’s how I hooked mine up

View attachment 256740View attachment 256741View attachment 256742

I am shocked to see that you have modified something to add ONE gauge.

Think of your reputation, man!

 

[vwmike]

It will be interesting to see if this fixes your burn time issues, of if you still have something else affecting you. In my case, the strong draw didn’t prevent me from getting 12+ hours, which is really all I ever tried on this stove, my only major issue with the strong draft was ash plugging my cat when I’d run full loads at higher burn rates.

In any case, here’s how I hooked mine up

View attachment 256740View attachment 256741View attachment 256742

Thanks so much for the time and effort on this. I like the permanently mounted gauge.
About 3hrs into a burn after adding damper, fire is behaving better much lazier flame, and lower flue temps. Also was able to get it turned down lower. Headed to bed, will update tomorrow.

 

[Tron]

Getting everything ready for the Chinook. That's how the hearth looks now, not bad for my first attempt at tiling, I think...

 

[BKVP]

My plan for KOP have been confirmed. I will be attending the Chimney Expo next week on the 20th. The Radisson is the location, and in the lobby is a great pub specifically designed for wood burners to sit and converse. 7:00 p.m. Rounds on me...as promised.

 

[spudman99]

At this point, count me in BKVP. For those in the SE PA area, come on by. Fun time, good conversation, hear about latest trends, and of course ask BKVP about Vince...… just saying (he knows the story...hehe)

 

[Highbeam]

Getting everything ready for the Chinook. That's how the hearth looks now, not bad for my first attempt at tiling, I think...

Looks great. I see you used premix thinset which I've never used but on my last tile job I used the premixed grout. That stuff worked great but I have to warn you that it sets up FAST. You won't be able to float that whole hearth before cleaning the tiles without a very high risk of the grout setting up on the tile faces.