2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Highbeam]

How much ash?

I’m at about 3 to 4 inches right now ish..

The loop on the ash plug keeps getting in the way. Doug fir doesn’t make much ash!

 

[Dustin]

The loop on the ash plug keeps getting in the way. Doug fir doesn’t make much ash!

I wish I had that problem this year. I’m 95 percent alder / maple.

 

[moresnow]

Would hedge, or osage orange, burn too hot for a blaze king? I've never been around a catalytic stove but I'm looking at a BK and hedge is generally what I burn.

I wish Hedge was all I had to burn! Talk about good fortune. I am a few rows of counties to far north to enjoy that wood. I've never heard of anybody having a issue with Hedge or any other wood variety in a BK.

 

[Poindexter]

We just finished a 24 hour period with a record 14.x inches of snow in 24 hours that beat the record set in 1970 for 14.x inches in 24 hours. it didn't feel to me like we (I) got as much snow as I did that one night in March 2009, but I don't live at the official weather station on airport property either. The thing is, when it is warm enough to snow it is warm enough to BBQ.

Mise en place features, far right, the BK version of a firepoker. I have been using this simple fire management tool for six months of the year every twelve hours for going on 7 heating seasons now. It is a bit short for my parrilla, but I have @BKVP 's permission to have my local fabricator make me up a slightly longer one of the same for my cooker, and I am on task to become an asador. Chef you can go to school for, asador you have to figure out.

And my chili recipe had never placed second before 10-31-2020. I know 2020 has been a difficult year for a lot of folks, but having my chili come in second at the church chili cook off was quite a blow.

Second place recipe is 2.5# chuck ( I usually use 3.5), 1# of sausage ( I generally use at least 1.5 pounds), 1 medium onion, 3 bell peppers, 1 can (14 ounce) recipe ready tomato, 4 cloves garlic chopped, 2 T tomato paste to thicken, 1/2 cup chili powder, hot sauce 1-6 t, 0.25 c sugar, 1T salt, 2t oregano and 1 t black pepper. Feel free to go bananas on this, it is a public domain recipe.

And we got another 6-10 inches of snow in the 30 hour forecast. Salmon tomorrow I think.

Chuck in half inch dice does really really well, toothsome and flavorful and tender, when cooked at 600dF for about 45 minutes.

 

[kennyp2339]

Stove has been out since last Monday, its been to warm here, maybe by Friday of this week I'll be re-lighting it, almost time to fill the garage wood rack to.
The weather has been funny or tricky, how ever you want to put it, but having the T-stat control of the princess has been a life saver, sometimes I feel like I'm living in that info commercial, "just set it and forget it"

 

[Nealm66]

Question before it’s too late, I feel like I will be happy with the princess as far as burn time and heating but I’m curious if there would still be an advantage to buy the king. I guess a concern for me would be burning at a lower setting more often might cause more issues than advantages . Think I still have a minute to change if there’s a good argument for the king. Thanks ahead for input

 

[BKVP]

Question before it’s too late, I feel like I will be happy with the princess as far as burn time and heating but I’m curious if there would still be an advantage to buy the king. I guess a concern for me would be burning at a lower setting more often might cause more issues than advantages . Think I still have a minute to change if there’s a good argument for the king. Thanks ahead for input

All the King represents is a larger fuel tank! And, you will pay dearly for an 8" chimney system compared to the Princess 6" system.

 

[Nealm66]

Hmm, so my concern wasn’t correct. I’m going to give a call and see if too late and what the actual price difference and if the extension brackets will work for 8” on my overhang. Should open at 10. Not sure I really need the crazy long burn times but if it doesn’t effect the creosote issue wth

 

[showrguy]

Question before it’s too late, I feel like I will be happy with the princess as far as burn time and heating but I’m curious if there would still be an advantage to buy the king. I guess a concern for me would be burning at a lower setting more often might cause more issues than advantages . Think I still have a minute to change if there’s a good argument for the king. Thanks ahead for input

I’ve been running both for the last couple of years, King in the house, Princess in the garage,..
Both stoves are great, burn pretty much the same, the only difference is, the Princess runs outa fuel quicker..

 

[BKVP]

Hmm, so my concern wasn’t correct. I’m going to give a call and see if too late and what the actual price difference and if the extension brackets will work for 8” on my overhang. Should open at 10. Not sure I really need the crazy long burn times but if it doesn’t effect the creosote issue wth

Wait! If you do not have a straight up and out install (all vertical) and have wall exit, stay with the Princess. The added elbows of 8" on the King could result is a draft issue.

BKVP

 

[BKVP]

Wait! If you do not have a straight up and out install (all vertical) and have wall exit, stay with the Princess. The added elbows of 8" on the King could result is a draft issue.

BKVP

And if buy the King and the added surface area of the stove radiates too much heat, you may be inclined to run it on low far too often. That could be an issue for creosote formation in the firebox.

 

[Nealm66]

Oh, ok. Thank you! That probably saved me about $3000 haha

 

[Tron]

For what it's worth, it's amazing how much heat the surface of my Chinook 30 (same firebox as the Princess 30) radiates. True, it's not single digits out there and the house is quite well insulated (for Southern standards), but even so it's way too easy to overheat the house. The king probably adds a whole new dimension to that...

 

[Diabel]

Speaking of creosote. What should the firebox of my princess look like after a burn, say above the firebrick line? Any pics would be welcome, given no one on the east coast is burning.....

 

[Nealm66]

For what it's worth, it's amazing how much heat the surface of my Chinook 30 (same firebox as the Princess 30) radiates. True, it's not single digits out there and the house is quite well insulated (for Southern standards), but even so it's way too easy to overheat the house. The king probably adds a whole new dimension to that...

I’ll say the global warming that’s happening in my area is making me think $3000 for a bigger stove is worth it haha

 

[Tron]

I’ll say the global warming that’s happening in my area is making me think $3000 for a bigger stove is worth it haha

Can't say anything about WA state, but I live at the same latitude as San Diego. Go figure.

 

[Nealm66]

So finally got a minute, busy day. So a king can’t be installed in a through the wall setup? I’m feeling confident the princess will be a good match for my home but a king would look really cool and give me bragging rights to my buddies of a potential 40 hour burn not that I really need such a thing. 12-15 is my away from home work schedule . Probably have to open some windows here and there but I get wood for free . Anyways, just curious really

 

[Highbeam]

So finally got a minute, busy day. So a king can’t be installed in a through the wall setup? I’m feeling confident the princess will be a good match for my home but a king would look really cool and give me bragging rights to my buddies of a potential 40 hour burn not that I really need such a thing. 12-15 is my away from home work schedule . Probably have to open some windows here and there but I get wood for free . Anyways, just curious really

Through the wall and up installs are inferior and usually more money. You'll have a cold chimney, and lots of bends that take away from draft strength, they usually aren't too nice to look at, etc. Ick. Can you not go straight up?

For most stoves including BKs you need 15' minimum chimney height all vertical. Every bend you add requires more vertical height to overcome the loss from the bend.

 

[Nealm66]

Ya, there’s no place to install through the roof. It does have a 12/12 roof and 10’ ceilings on the first floor though. Although I’m going to have to raise it up off the floor to get above the foundation wall for fresh air intake as it’s a slab floor so that screws the 10 ft thing. I’ve got one of the lead installers coming over on the 18th to hopefully eliminate another setback. I probably should have just got a pellet stove but free firewood is a hard argument

 

[BKVP]

Ya, there’s no place to install through the roof. It does have a 12/12 roof and 10’ ceilings on the first floor though. Although I’m going to have to raise it up off the floor to get above the foundation wall for fresh air intake as it’s a slab floor so that screws the 10 ft thing. I’ve got one of the lead installers coming over on the 18th to hopefully eliminate another setback. I probably should have just got a pellet stove but free firewood is a hard argument

It isn't that a KE40 won't work. You might have to build a chase/insulate the outside sections of chimney to keep stack warm. You can install it using all recommendations in the manual, including running as much vertical off the stove as possible, then 2 45's to wall thimble, then a "t" and up. If the stove lacks draft....you may have to insulate/enclose the stack of venting outside.

 

[Nealm66]

Interesting. That sales guy is probably going to think I’m a pita if I say to check and see if it’s too late to change again same day. Install isn’t scheduled till the middle of December though. When I called him today he did say the order was already placed and I don’t want to be a pita but maybe the wheels haven’t started yet. He said it might not be an issue but was going to check before I called back and canceled.I’ll pull up the manual and see how much pipe after a 90 and try to get a measure with 2’ above the peak and 18” below the inside through the wall. Thanks again. I’d be stoked to have the king

 

[Nealm66]

Ok, I’m only 16’ above where it would come out and if I’m reading correctly it would need to be 24’ total ? so I’m thinking nope

 

[Nealm66]

It looks to be the same for the princess in the install manual?

 

[Highbeam]

It looks to be the same for the princess in the install manual?

There is some very careful wording in the manuals about this. There is a difference between requirement and recommendation on chimney height. Elsewhere in the manual there is a draft strength requirement. I can imagine where these might be at odds if they were both requirements.

For discussion, when my 2012 princess was sold the manual only required 12' of chimney which is all I have and it works fine. Not great, but fine. Little things like smoke rollout or perhaps the inability to run it quite as low as those princess' that have 15' or more. I don't think they changed the princess in any way that would change the chimney height requirement but over the years discovered happier customers were customers that had 15' or more stack. That's why it's a recommendation instead of a requirement.

15' is a tall chimney. Quite tall for a single story house without a steep roof or a ridiculous amount of height above the roofline requiring braces.

Note that you can do that. You can just keep adding chimney sections until you reach the 15' equivalent venting length.

 

[Nealm66]

Ya, it is a bit confusing. It sounds like with 2 45’s an a “T” it would add 9’ to the recommended 15 which I’m not sure if that’s past the T.? Lol, that’s why I didn’t do the plumbing on this house. Nope. Don’t mess with fire or water