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

[moresnow]

Take one of your pieces of wood that is split, then split it again and stick your moisture meter in the fresh face in 3 spots (see below)
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Booyaaa. Please do this on a random set of splits that are up to room temperature (70f or near it) and advise the group what you are reading. If you need to bring the splits indoors overnight prior to re- splitting and testing, do so. Many moisture meters are calibrated to test correctly at 70f or near it. Test the freshly exposed surface on the new split. As shown. Press the prongs in firmly. Should be a more definitive answer to the wood moisture conversation.

Also. are you following the operation manual closely for start up? Generally it will get you pointed in the correct direction nicely.

Sweet looking install by the way! Welcome to Hearth. Hang in there. Your initial frustration will likely melt away soon

 

[Pgaron]

thanks man for the info

in regards to

Press the prongs in firmly. Should be a more definitive answer to the wood moisture conversation.

i jab them in there but not much harder than you would use to shut a stubborn door. like the probes are about an eighth in. any more i think my meter might break, its chinesium grade but was recommended on this forum. interesting you mention the temp setting. im an electrical enginner by degree but became a biomed engineer..... that being said how would temp affect? higher temps alow for higher dew point or moisture?

 

[SpaceBus]

thanks man for the info

in regards to

i jab them in there but not much harder than you would use to shut a stubborn door. like the probes are about an eighth in. any more i think my meter might break, its chinesium grade but was recommended on this forum. interesting you mention the temp setting. im an electrical enginner by degree but became a biomed engineer..... that being said how would temp affect? higher temps alow for higher dew point or moisture?

Difference in electrical resistance.

 

[BKVP]

do you work for BK? im seriously appreciating the level of support your giving me... EDIT: hell of a halibut in the pic

Yes I work for Blaze King...about 25 years now. Thanks, halibut is our favorite to eat! That and elk roast!

 

[BKVP]

Yes I work for Blaze King...about 25 years now. Thanks, halibut is our favorite to eat! That and elk roast!View attachment 250070

Sunrise yesterday. We went to the bottom and back....works the legs and lungs.

 

[moresnow]

As the wood temperature increases, its electrical resistance decreases and the indicated MC rises. The lower the temperature, the lower the indicated MC. Meters are generally calibrated at 70°F.

If you care to delve into the topic at a deeper level


file:///C:/Users/Troy/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Using_Resistance_ocr%20(3).pdf

 

[MissMac]

Another topic not sure if its been covered or talked about. If my wood is no good, are those bricks you can buy ok to burn in BK stoves

i think so because that's all i have. i cut it all up with my chainsaw and split it. i test at the cuts and i jam the two prongs in and thats it. maybe im testing wrong... idk i only check the split wod not the logs.

Not sure what the outside temps are in your neck of the woods, but you need to bring those splits you’re testing inside for 2 days, then put a fresh split in them and test the MC. Splitting a cold/frozen log and testing the MC won’t give you the actual MC of your wood.

 

[MissMac]

awe man wat a pain in the ass lol i have the quad split attatched to the splitter, gonna have to hand split this. like i said its raining cats and cats here so tuesday i will do it. i dont trust my meter. i also am learning a lot of technique from other guys. I am thinking my wood is good, but the mostirue meter must be off because the other guy said no way on 12-14 on oak without kiln

Most moisture meters have a calibration test that you can do. Mine, i stick the prongs into 2 holes in the lid which yields a MC. Then check the meter manual to see if you’re in the range of it being still calibrated or out of line. You could check your manual to see if there’s a process for confirming your meter is calibrated properly. Go online and look for the manual if you don’t still have it.

 

[AlbergSteve]

Neighbour this summer was given about a cord of maple that had been cut in to 16 inch lengths but not split. It was cut, stacked and stored in an open shed for about 10 years. The rounds ranged in size from 8 to 14 inches . I was curious to see if it in fact was dry after all this time in round form. I offered to split a dozen round to find out - tough stuff to split by hand after 10 years! None of the splits were under 25-28% MC.

 

[Ashful]

thanks man for the info

in regards to

i jab them in there but not much harder than you would use to shut a stubborn door. like the probes are about an eighth in. any more i think my meter might break, its chinesium grade but was recommended on this forum. interesting you mention the temp setting. im an electrical enginner by degree but became a biomed engineer..... that being said how would temp affect? higher temps alow for higher dew point or moisture?

Don’t worry about getting the needles all the way in on oak, you’ll likely break them off trying. If you get a quick reading with them 1/8” into a freshly split face, that’s good enough for this purpose.

Also note temperature and species can affect reading. Red oak reads pretty close to true, but mind the temperature, which can make a bigger difference. If you’re measuring 20% at 20F, it’s really 28%, before applying species correction. None of this matters as much as testing a freshly split face, though.

Temperature Correction Table

www.delmhorst.com

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images.app.goo.gl

 

[BKVP]

The MM's we use at work have leads for PC connection. These allow us to adjust for species, pin length and more specifics. I think it's important to acknowledge the fact that it's great consumers are becoming more aware of the importance moisture plays in emissions.

Years ago I purchased 5-8 different consumer grade MM and did a review for EPA. The accuracy was on average was +/- 7%, when compared to our in-house system. Again, the very fact that people on this site encourage users to obtain a MM and use it, means they are concerned with moisture levels in their fuel.

 

[BKVP]

 

[Ashful]

+/- 7% is pretty damn good. Do you really mean +/- 7%, as in 20% wood always measures 18.6% to 21.4%? Or do you mean +/- 7 points, as in 20% wood reads 13% to 27%?

 

[MaudSTL]

No batteries since my utility will give me 1:1 net use credits (so my extra power generated during the day earns me free power at night). I am just doing a standard homeowner grade grid-tied setup. I already had a generator for power outages, and the idea of not maintaining and regularly replacing $15,000 worth of batteries is sure nice.

No heat pump yet (will be doing minisplit HVAC next year), just bad old resistive space heaters until the minisplits get installed.

I have installed 9.76 kW of grid-tied solar PV, and that’s exactly how I plan to heat (and cool) my house: mini splits with a wood stove supplement/back-up. We have net metering where I live too.

 

[BKVP]

+/- 7% is pretty damn good. Do you really mean +/- 7%, as in 20% wood always measures 18.6% to 21.4%? Or do you mean +/- 7 points, as in 20% wood reads 13% to 27%?

+/- 7%, as in 20% wood always measures 18.6% to 21.4%

 

[Ashful]

+/- 7%, as in 20% wood always measures 18.6% to 21.4%

Pretty darn good, for a $30 piece of test equipment!

 

[BKVP]

Pretty darn good, for a $30 piece of test equipment!

Pretty simple really, measuring resistance.

 

[spudman99]

First burn, trying to cure the paint outside. Don't know if it did much.

Added kindling (probably 6 pieces 1" wide), burned with bypass open. Didn't do much.

Let Princess Insert cool down, then added 3 splits couple hours later. Within 10 min cat went active so I closed bypass. About an hour later I measured temps near the cat probe at about 200deg. Everywhere else on the unit was 150 deg or less.



Opened bypass to let it cool down as rain was forecasted in 2 hours and wanted to let it cool off before bringing back into garage.

 

[Highbeam]

First burn, trying to cure the paint outside. Don't know if it did much.

Added kindling (probably 6 pieces 1" wide), burned with bypass open. Didn't do much.

Let Princess Insert cool down, then added 3 splits couple hours later. Within 10 min cat went active so I closed bypass. About an hour later I measured temps near the cat probe at about 200deg. Everywhere else on the unit was 150 deg or less.

View attachment 250150

Opened bypass to let it cool down as rain was forecasted in 2 hours and wanted to let it cool off before bringing back into garage.

just install it and burn it inside. This Tom foolery of driveway burns is a lot of wasted effort in my experience. The paint burn off is just not that bad.

 

[Diabel]

just install it and burn it inside. This Tom foolery of driveway burns is a lot of wasted effort in my experience. The paint burn off is just not that bad.

Agree 100%

 

[Ashful]

just install it and burn it inside. This Tom foolery of driveway burns is a lot of wasted effort in my experience. The paint burn off is just not that bad.

Agreed. I did it on one of the four stoves I installed here, and never managed to get it hot enough in the driveway to do much paint curing. All the others, including that one, were done more properly in the house.

 

[BKVP]

The stove industry has really migrated through multiple paint suppliers in past 8 years. The leading company had serious QC problems and would not take ownership. That same company's paint was known to produce very heavy off-gassing during initial fires. Most stove manufacturers sourced new suppliers.

Speaking for our company, we went to a new provider, had order fulfillment issues (to be expected when multiple new stove mfg's line up for their product). Great product, hard to obtain.

We are now using a paint that has nearly zero off-gassing, much more uniform adhesion and color after firing. These guys have their act together and have begun to supply many other stove mfg's their paint.

Burn off outside was at one point in time...a must! Now, not so much.

 

[webby3650]

I’ve always just opened a few windows and let er rip! Not a big deal to me.

I really feel it’s not so much the paint as it is oils from manufacturing. I’ve repainted a bunch of used stoves and burned them in my house. Just repainted the Princess and fired it up last night, very little odor. Nothing like a new stove produces.

 

[Diabel]

Mine did not stink much at all.

 

[kf6hap]

After 3 seasons with ~12,000 hours I replaced the cat. The old one still worked but smoked too much for too long. Low burns needed a bit more thermostat opening so I figured it was time. Now I can roll over the damper in about 12 minutes and have a bright glowing cat again. Love the BK ultra low burns in the shoulder seasons. Worth every penny.

My stove paint did not smoke much.

Too bad these can't be recycled every other year (to help offset the cost) so one could always have a relatively new cat continuously. I do truly enjoy the very active cat putting out tons of heat.