2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[stoveliker]

Feel free to open the bypass, turn the therm wide open and after a couple minutes gently open the loading door and adjust the remaining unburnt wood to the center/front, close loading door, close bypass, and burn it down.
Surprising how long that remainder will go keeping the cat gauge active.
Most of the time I don't need to open/adjust the load as just cranking up the therm will do the job.

You made me give in to the temptation that I so consistently had resisted
(Bypass, unthrottled,) Opened, raked/build a pile of what was there, closed, bypass, throttled.
Just before opening it looked like this. It may give me 3-4 hrs more indeed (from the 17 I'm at now). I'm very satisfied!

 

[Tron]

Interesting. About the thermostat setting, I'm not sure if all correspond to the same "clock face", but when I dial down below 3 o'clock, I already hear the "click" from the thermostat, so I assume it's already as far down as it will go, is it?
That is with a small load (3/4 splits) and rather mellow temperatures outside (50-60F).

I might try turning it down a little more as the heat output is quite something at this setting, and even so those few splits last half a day.

 

[stoveliker]

Interesting. About the thermostat setting, I'm not sure if all correspond to the same "clock face", but when I dial down below 3 o'clock, I already hear the "click" from the thermostat, so I assume it's already as far down as it will go, is it?
That is with a small load (3/4 splits) and rather mellow temperatures outside (50-60F).

I might try turning it down a little more as the heat output is quite something at this setting, and even so those few splits last half a day.

That is how a thermostat works; the stove is hot, you decrease it, it'll close the air to cool it down. When it's sufficiently cooled down, the bimetal spring will open up the flapper a bit, let in air, and you are now at a new stable lower temperature.
Just try, I'd say. (Though make sure to look for stalling cats, given the high T outside.)

 

[Tron]

Yup, am monitoring the cat temperature to prevent stalling.
The flue temperature (thermometer inside double-walled pipe) is obviously also rather low, too, around 350F. But with a charred load glowing away, that's probably not an issue (creosote-wise).

 

[moresnow]

You made me give in to the temptation that I so consistently had resisted
(Bypass, unthrottled,) Opened, raked/build a pile of what was there, closed, bypass, throttled.
Just before opening it looked like this. It may give me 3-4 hrs more indeed (from the 17 I'm at now). I'm very satisfied!

Your learning the stove. Chances are very likely (looking at the new pic) there was zero reason to open the stove in reality. Lotsa wood left in there! It would have likely burned up as is.

Satisfied? I'll bet!

I turned a 24 hr un assisted reload a few days ago. New personal record. 15 to 18 has been very simple. On my small model BK.

It is tough to keep your hands off the therm. at first. Doing full loads at different settings will get you up to speed on required therm. set points. I bought a couple rare earth tiny magnets off fleabay to mark my therm. knob swoosh plate with a "hot with zero flame setting" for cooold weather, and my " low and real slow setting" for mild. Never far off from these marks.
Enjoy

 

[stoveliker]

Your learning the stove. Chances are very likely (looking at the new pic) there was zero reason to open the stove in reality. Lotsa wood left in there! It would have likely burned up as is.

Satisfied? I'll bet!

I turned a 24 hr un assisted reload a few days ago. New personal record. 15 to 18 has been very simple. On my small model BK.

It is tough to keep your hands off the therm. at first. Doing full loads at different settings will get you up to speed on required therm. set points. I bought a couple rare earth tiny magnets off fleabay to mark my therm. knob swoosh plate with a "hot with zero flame setting" for cooold weather, and my " low and real slow setting" for mild. Never far off from these marks.
Enjoy

I like the magnet idea; I was thinking of using pencil at first to draw a few lines. But keeping this thing nice and clean is nicer!

 

[BKVP]

I think that is a mistake in the manual. Like an Easter egg! Thought for sure they would have fixed it by now. You obviously can’t wait for the stove to go ice cold for every reload.

Maybe bkvp can verify?

The manuals are being updated as we speak to address this error.

 

[Highbeam]

@kennyp2339 I'm (still) working at home , so time is not the issue. Thanks for the details on the process. Sounds good for when I have to leave home indeed.

@moresnow Plenty of wood left, but I'm not sure those on the left will catch on - if they roll over they will. Otherwise, we'll see.
I'll watch until the cat drops out then turn it up a bit, and finally (when...?) rake and reload.

What I’ve noticed when burning full loads at low output is that the fuel in the middle will burn out first which leaves two piles of splits. One of those piles usually burns a little faster than the other but eventually both piles burn up. Don’t mess with it, let it burn. I don’t reload on burning fuel unless I have to.

 

[stoveliker]

What I’ve noticed when burning full loads at low output is that the fuel in the middle will burn out first which leaves two piles of splits. One of those piles usually burns a little faster than the other but eventually both piles burn up. Don’t mess with it, let it burn. I don’t reload on burning fuel unless I have to.

Yes, that is consistent with what I saw. I was not sure whether the left side would burn b/c it had not charred much in the initial high phase. If it is not glowing and does not touch glowing stuff, it might remain.
But, first burn, lessons learned. I'll see next time. With a better (more complete) char (still don't know why it did not do that initially), it would burn, eventually, on the sides too - as you say.
Nearing 20 hrs now (4 pm to noon).

 

[Nelson]

You made me give in to the temptation that I so consistently had resisted
(Bypass, unthrottled,) Opened, raked/build a pile of what was there, closed, bypass, throttled.
Just before opening it looked like this. It may give me 3-4 hrs more indeed (from the 17 I'm at now). I'm very satisfied!

Being a fairly new BK burner, I will say, the temptation to fuss around with the thermostat is great. However, I'm starting to learn/trust to just set the thermostat where you want it and let it be - the thermostat really will take care of the rest. If your wood is in decent shape, and you put a good 20-30 min char on it at the start, it's going to be fine. I think what happens with new BK burners is that we are use to getting up and checking the stove at 12 hours and reloading - now, you go to peer into the stove at 12 hours and see a bunch of fuel left and you don't quite know how to respond! Like I said, you will learn to just let it be and come back in 24 hours for a reload (if you're burning on a low thermo setting and that's what you're after).

As others have said, if you really want to see if those 2 fairly intact pieces of wood are going to burn down, just turn the thermostat up for 10 min and see if they start glowing/burning. If so, you should be golden.

 

[stoveliker]

So, I pulled the plug and reloaded after 22.5 hrs. This first real fire is a blazing success

Tstat fully open (had been for 30 minutes already). Bypass open. 2 minutes. Crack the door, slowly open.
So far so good. raked coals to the front half and spread evenly left/right, laid down a layer of 2-3" thick quarter rounds (cut off b/c my DutchWest could eat 22" logs...) hoping they would help spread the fire a bit so all fuel lights up evenly, and then loaded it up with Maple, some Cherry. Doing that gave me some smoke coming into the room. Don't know why; draft does not seem to be a problem (ran on 1 o'clock the last hours before I opened it up completely). So I closed the door to a crack, let it start burning a bit, then slowly opened and it was fine.

Cat still active. Burning vigorously now, but quite some smoke outside...
Will throttle down when all is black.

 

[Tron]

Burning vigorously now, but quite some smoke outside...
Will throttle down when all is black.

With the cat bypassed, smoke exiting the chimney is very likely.
I usually don't wait until it's all black, just until the fire is established. Then I engage the cat and throttle down.

 

[stoveliker]

With the cat bypassed, smoke exiting the chimney is very likely.
I usually don't wait until it's all black, just until the fire is established. Then I engage the cat and throttle down.

I followed the manual for the "cat active reload": once loaded, latch shut, close the bypass door. Let the fire burn on high for 20-30 minutes.
So the gases were routed thru the cat right away (and I still had the needle about 1/3" into the active range).
That high burn produced smoke (as it did not dissipate within 4 ft of the top of the chimney as steam does).
In any case, in 15 minutes all wood was black, cracked open etc. So I started throttling down in "1 hr steps" every 8 minutes or so. I am at 1 o'clock now with the cat probe a quarter inch from the top of the active range (i.e. quite hot).

I'll decrease my spamming here now; first fire is an adventure. Second fire is more studying. I'll let this one burn out because it's going to warm up tomorrow, and I have free heat-pump heat (split ductless + solar kWh in the bank) for when it's 40+F. Yesterday was 40+ during the day, but I could not wait any longer

If something notable comes up, or I'd like advice, I'll show up here again. Otherwise, I'll be in reading mode on this informative, welcoming, enjoyable, and useful forum all while enjoying the warmth (in fact, I have to take my sweater off now...), and will soon enjoy - no, @BKVP , not an Irish beverage, but a good bourbon!

Have a good weekend all!

 

[Poindexter]

@stoveliker , within reasonable limits (say 20-30 dF change overnight) the stove will adjust as outside temps drop, draft increases, stove burns hotter and the air valve gets closed a little bit by the bimetal spring to cool the stove back down. One issue to keep up with at your (our) house(s) is your airleakage and R value, your envelope. Just because the stove is holding a steady output temp doens't mean your house is staying at a temperature you desire.

If you are too cold or your wife is wearing too many clothes, increase the throttle setting. If you are too warm, decrease the throttle setting.

I tend to walk the exterior walls from inside the house very winter, especially at receptacles, light switches and windows. I think I have my air leaks under control now, but I probably will check around the holidays. I used to mark problem areas in blue chalk and then wait for warmer weather to repair them.

Also, not all BK models have the same throttle orientation. 12oclock on the throttle is below the lowest low for me, 6 oclock is above the highest high. Specifying half throttle or 3/4 Tstat or etc will cross more models more easily, more people will know what you mean.

 

[Poindexter]

@stoveliker , @kennyp2339 is correct your stove will run more consistently once you have about an inch of ash accumulated on the floor of the firebox. I am just now finally through the first cord of the season and have enough ash accumulated to think about maybe taking some out. Mine runs best with between about 1.25 and 2 inches of ash in the floor, when I have ash up to the door lip it is time to take out two full trays from the drawer below.

You don't have to empty the whole stove of ash. Once you have 1 inch accumulated watch and see if it doesn't run better. When you have two inches accumulated at the reload just wrangle one drawer full through the trapdoor (does the Chinook 30 have a trap drawer and ashdrawer? I think it does), just scoot all the coals over to one side, open the trap door, fill the drawer, close the trap door, smooth the ash out, redistribute the coals, resume regular loading cycle.

I tend to leave my ashes in the drawer until it is time to harvest more ash. I have an outdoor metal lidded can to catch ash if it is hot, but dealing with them hot is a pain in the neck. I just leave them in the drawer to cool off a few days before I handle the tray to carry the ash out. I figure if they are giving of carbon monoxide it is best to have that happen right by the air intake for the wood stove. By letting them cool off I can set the ash tray down on the floor by the door while I put my boots on to go outside. And I got a CO detector in the stove room, plus 3 or 4 others around the house.

 

[Poindexter]

Does anyone care to contribute hot load commentary to stoveliker? It seems to me he is taking it seriously and trying to get over his learning curve.

I think the book says to scrape "all" the coals to the front. This is good practice, because when I do it I get complete ignition across the front face of the load and I can count on it to burn fairly evenly front to back with respect to the left/right axis, and it finishes burning those coals down to ash so I don't have lumps of carbon in the ashbed.

I really don't like the horseshoe shaped flame front deep in the load because it is akward to reload on.

What sucks about that is the spruce I burn has a very short coaling stage. I can have enough coals to fill a basketball sized volume and an active cat one minute, and ten minutes later have a heap of coals the size of a lemon and an inactive cat.

The woods he can get on Long Island are stuff I use to build furniture and smoke meat, typically with long coaling stages, so I got nothing.

Typically I reaload twice daily. If there are a lot of coals I just level the coal field out and cram what I can on top of it. If there aren't very many I scrape them over to the latch side as sort of "one burning split" and then put one beside it, finish filling the floor, next layer up, etc.

In some instasnces I will rake the coals I have to the front, put a layer of splits down east/west behind them and then fill the stove north/south above that layer. It just depends.

 

[Dustin]

I’ll take a shot of what I learned here, and with my stove as in relation to a “hot reload”

I found.... after much tinkering... that.....


I was over thinking this.

So I simply do this now...

Look in stove with flashlight. Out of wood? Yes or no.

Yes. Forecast to be cold or is it going to warm up? Cold? Load. Warm? Let it go out. It’s just too easy to restart with dry wood nd a super cedar that its not the end of the world to start a cold stove.

I no longer pay too much attention to where the cat thermo is in reference to a hot reload. If it needs wood, it needs wood.

I open my bypass and crank the thermo for a couple minutes. Then I move all the coals to the front. Load wood. I leave the bypass open and the thermostat on high until I have a raging inferno. Once the cat is active I close the bypass. If it was already active I close it after the fire starts to rage. I continue to rage on high until my Pipe temp sits at 600. Once there, I set the thermostat to where I plan to keep it and don’t touch it again.

I found that I was messing with the settings too much. Find that spot where your cat doesn’t stall, and your stove keeps the house where you want the temp to be and call it a day. I have sat here and watched my stove adjust itself when I got too cold or too hot for the setting it was at. Looking at the fire and trying to force some result became an exercise in insanity. I actually found that it I set it and forget it, I get less smoke from my chimney.

 

[kennyp2339]

@stoveliker you have to break the BK burn down to 3 stages to better understand whats going on, this all occurs after the fire has been established.
Stage 1 - flames coming off the actual firebox load of wood, 8 times out of 10 this is what mid winter cruising will consist of, active cat and candle like flames coming directly off the wood.
Stage 2 - Secondary burn in the firebox, it looks like the wood is just charred but there's occasional flames the form above the wood. this happens usually after an initial hot burn and then you turn the t-stat down, this means the fire box to very hot, but theres not enough oxygen to sustain the amount of fuel vapor coming off the wood, so it will roll and roll then ignite occasionally, I personally like this kind of burn and have found my setting on the t-stat for that, also the cat will just glow, after things settle down it will automatically transfer to stage 3
Stage 3 - no flames in the fire box, just an active cat - due to cat placement and size of it, stage 3 is the $$$ of the BK, essentially the wood in the fire box just smolders, the cat will stay red hot and if you turn your blower on to the lowest setting, the heat will just bleed off the stove top, I use this setting until the temps dive to the low 20's, the key to this stage if firewood fuel, you want dry, 18% and lower splits, also you will see the black build up in the firebox, no big deal, just burn it on high for 20min after reloading.
Grab your favorite drink and start experimenting, just as an fyi, any adjustments made with the T-stat, wait at least 20 min for the results to start showing, fire takes its time to get itself situated and seated.

 

[stoveliker]

@Poindexter yes, I insulated a lot (sealed all the seems in the attic and added insulation there to R58). Outlets are caulked (inside and the rim), and I put the foam thingies under the plates as well. And new (triple pane) windows recently. Wall insulation could be better though (after having a piece of drywall off and replacing the insulation, I can feel the difference on the drywall... - but it does not make economic sense to do that other than when the wall is open for other reasons).

Okay, I'll change how I describe the tstat setting. For me 12 o'clock is the minimum of the swoosh (though the knob can go "down" further, all the way back to 8 o'clock or so), and 6 o'clock is the maximum of the swoosh (hard stop).
*When you talk about fractions that's fractions of the swoosh (12-6 for me) or the full range of motion (8-6 for me)?*

I think I'll scoop ashes out rather than use the drawer. I have a metal bucket with a lid, and can walk out of my basement into the garage onto the driveway. I don't think I'll leave them in the drawer; maybe all goes well with CO, but I prefer not to take that risk. (Yes I have 2 CO detectors and 2 smoke detectors at appropriate places in the basement, and one on each floor above that. )

The reload yesterday went well; shoveled coals into a full line in the front, and relighting was even. In fact, already after 12 minutes all was on fire, all black, and showing new cracks. So I throttled down quite before the 20-30 minutes.
Went even slightly lower on the tstat to see how long I could go. This morning (17 hrs in) the home was a bit cold (65) b/c it had cooled down more (29 outside). Cat probe was at 1/5 of the active range and quite some glowing coals and charred pieces left.
I increased the tstat to 1/2 swoosh, to get more heat. I think it would have gone on until at least 22 hrs runtime if I had not done that. However, I think increasing the tstat increased the airflow without (initially?) creating more gases, so the cat cooled down to the border of the active range. B/c I wanted a short heat boost (later today the heatpump will take over) and the 1/2 swoosh setting did not deliver (fast enough?), I opened and added a few uglies that don't stack well in a full load.

I note that I did again get some smoke inside (after putting down the first new pieces that started to smoke almost immediately) despite letting it sit on max and w/ the bypass open for a few mins before I cracked the door. I wonder if that is b/c the chimney is too cold already for a proper draft?

I like the idea of 2 small splits E/W behind a line of coals and the rest N/S. Will try that next time I do a big hot reload (given the weather predictions that might be more than a week from now... :-( ).

@kennyp2339
Yes, I noticed the stages; I got secondaries on my second break-in burn. Goes well with some Pink Floyd But other than a short time during the transition from rage to low-and-long I have not been there; I did reach stage 3 quite fast yesterday after the reload, likely because I throttled down far and fairly fast.
My wood seems to be good for that so far. Maybe my splits are a bit too small (I had a long (22") but very narrow, or better, wide and not very deep firebox earlier, so smaller splits allowed me to stack more in there). I saw @BKVP's mention of 8" pieces and have seen some pics around here. Ah well, over the course of 2-3 yrs I'll slowly get to burn bigger pieces.

I have not seen the candle-like flames yet. In the end, I have to find the right setting for the weather. This past night I ran a bit too low for the desired house T given the weather (though a higher setting might have used up all the fuel before the morning started for me, given the midday reload yesterday...). The issue with playing and learning here is that there are (at least) two variables that keep changing simultaneously: weather and my settings, making the learning curve a bit jumpy and uncertain.

ok. That's it for now.

 

[Highbeam]

I’ll take a shot of what I learned here, and with my stove as in relation to a “hot reload”

I found.... after much tinkering... that.....


I was over thinking this.

So I simply do this now...

Look in stove with flashlight. Out of wood? Yes or no.

Yes. Forecast to be cold or is it going to warm up? Cold? Load. Warm? Let it go out. It’s just too easy to restart with dry wood nd a super cedar that its not the end of the world to start a cold stove.

I no longer pay too much attention to where the cat thermo is in reference to a hot reload. If it needs wood, it needs wood.

I open my bypass and crank the thermo for a couple minutes. Then I move all the coals to the front. Load wood. I leave the bypass open and the thermostat on high until I have a raging inferno. Once the cat is active I close the bypass. If it was already active I close it after the fire starts to rage. I continue to rage on high until my Pipe temp sits at 600. Once there, I set the thermostat to where I plan to keep it and don’t touch it again.

I found that I was messing with the settings too much. Find that spot where your cat doesn’t stall, and your stove keeps the house where you want the temp to be and call it a day. I have sat here and watched my stove adjust itself when I got too cold or too hot for the setting it was at. Looking at the fire and trying to force some result became an exercise in insanity. I actually found that it I set it and forget it, I get less smoke from my chimney.

This is amazing progress on your learning curve. It took me several years to get here but only took you like a week! It’s really that easy.

It’s 34 out and everything is frosted here right now but it’s just too warm to keep a 24 hour fire going in my smaller home. Partial loads once per day into a cold stove that only last about 12 hours seems to be good now.

I've been burning more wood in the noncat shop stovewhile I’m out there painting baseboards prior to installation. Latex paint.

 

[Dustin]

This is amazing progress on your learning curve. It took me several years to get here but only took you like a week! It’s really that easy.

It’s 34 out and everything is frosted here right now but it’s just too warm to keep a 24 hour fire going in my smaller home. Partial loads once per day into a cold stove that only last about 12 hours seems to be good now.

I've been burning more wood in the noncat shop stovewhile I’m out there painting baseboards prior to installation. Latex paint.

Thanks HB!

chilly here too, but it’s been getting sunny and in the high 50’s to low 60’s during the day. So, I’ve transitioned to shorter burns too. If I know we’re going to have a warm day I just do about a half load at night, and run the stat a little warmer overnight.

If I stuff the stove full when it’s gonna be warm the next day, I pay for it. I’ve found it better to actually let the temp in this place drop a little bit before I light up. If I reload when it’s 74 in here, this stove can run us out.

 

[MacinJosh]

First fire of the season. Feels good.

 

[Poindexter]

@stoveliker , enjoy your play time. I like big splits, I cannot lie. But I also like littles when paying woodstove tetris in deep winter. The more wood I can cram in there, the warmer I can keep the house to the next reload. If it is laying near the splitter and 16" long, I stack it, even the pencils. Perfectly good BTU value in 16" pencils, and they can help fill little spaces between bigger splits.

I don't sort my wood by size when I stack, I just stack it all. When I am pulling wood into the garage from the stacks, I don't sort it by size, I just fill the sled and drag it. When I am loading up the canvas tote from the garage to the stove room I don't sort by size, I just bring it. When I have my fuel on the hearth, then I sort by size, bigs first unless I need some E/W mediums behind the coals, then mediums, then littles, then pencils. Works for me.

When the time comes you will have, apparently, no trouble with 12 hour reloads at a higher throttle setting, you're knocking out 20 hours on low with consistency which is lovely, your wood very likely is dry, I would guess 16-18% by my meter. On a new install you likely have a slightly overactive cat that will settle down a little bit in a month or so. It isn't broken, it will be broken in.

When you are bored with long burns, try woodstove tetris.

 

[Poindexter]

I was over thinking this. I found that I was messing with the settings too much.

Yep, it took me at least a year to get comfortable not opening the door every 20 minutes like my grandpa taught me. Now I just load every 12 hours and set the throttle relative to my wife's wardrobe. Done.

 

[ratsrepus]

I always felt that most women look better with their clothes on than off, sames true for my ashford. got the top and side panel off, and UGG.