2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Highbeam]

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

Usually 45 degree bends don’t cause 3’ of extra but if the chart says so then 9’ more which gets you to 24’. That is vertical height starting at the stove top to the top of the pipe, not including the cap. You need a roof brace to support the pipe every 5 feet above the roofline.

One good thing about an out and up chimney is that youcan sweep the chimney through the bottom of that outside tee so you don’t ever need to get up to that cap 10’ in the air.

 

[Nealm66]

Ya, I’m learning a lot from this site. Sounds like a soot eater will go all the way, does it clean the screen around the cap as well? Anyways, I’ll probably just keep it simple and stay with the princess. They’re going to do the inspection when they do the final and don’t need any hassles. I was just reading about the possible epa changes and be glad to get this thing in before they do something silly.

 

[Highbeam]

Ya, I’m learning a lot from this site. Sounds like a soot eater will go all the way, does it clean the screen around the cap as well? Anyways, I’ll probably just keep it simple and stay with the princess. They’re going to do the inspection when they do the final and don’t need any hassles. I was just reading about the possible epa changes and be glad to get this thing in before they do something silly.

That optional screen is removable and was not required to pass my pierce county inspections. Unless you have a bird problem, I would not recommend anyone add an optional screen.

It is not a spark arrestor. You know from saws and dirt bikes that a screen for sparks is way more than what that bird screen provides

Anybody try and clean a bird screen with a sooteater?

 

[Diabel]

I would choose not to install a bird screen on a new set up. Wait and see if you have a bird problem.
a sooteater should be able to knock any gunk of the bird screen if you whip it long enough. If you burn seasoned wood you should not develop much gunk at the cap.

 

[kennyp2339]

Going to bring in a wheel barrel load of wood in this afternoon before the rain sets in, rain tonight and tomorrow with a high temp on 52 here in the forecast, going need the princess for the day.
Also planning on loading up the garage rack this weekend, that takes about 7 wheel barrel loads of wood, once the rack is loaded, it will stay loaded till May.

 

[stoveliker]

Going to bring in a wheel barrel load of wood in this afternoon before the rain sets in,

I did the same yesterday afternoon! (and still need to make a good rack for the garage...)

 

[Nealm66]

Ok, feel free to let me know if there’s a better spot to post this, I just noticed in the email receipt that the chimney kit they ordered is double wall with 90’s. After reading a bit of the install manual I found online, it seems a triple wall with 45’s would be better. It is a duravent brand. I also noticed it’s a kit that has a few things I won’t need. Install isn’t until mid December and installer is coming out next week so maybe not to worry but thought I should ask. Also , I priced a close guess from an online source in the triple walland it’s about the same as what they have me paying for the double wall kit.

 

[Highbeam]

In duravent, which I have and like, you want double wall connector pipe inside the house. DVL they call it and 2-45 bends instead of a 90. The manual shows the recommended 45s. Be mindful of the minimum vertical rise right on top of the stove. If you must choose between the 2-45 bends vs. the minimum vertical rise from the stove then report back.

Once to the wall and outside you want insulated double wall class A and not triple wall air cooled junk.

 

[Nealm66]

In duravent, which I have and like, you want double wall connector pipe inside the house. DVL they call it and 2-45 bends instead of a 90. The manual shows the recommended 45s. Be mindful of the minimum vertical rise right on top of the stove. If you must choose between the 2-45 bends vs. the minimum vertical rise from the stove then report back.

Once to the wall and outside you want insulated double wall class A and not triple wall air cooled junk.

Ok, thank you. I see it’s dvl inside, I just thought a triple was better than double. I’ll try to relax and let it flow. 6 weeks out on any mistakes has me trying to stay on top and the first try was a swing and a miss

 

[Dustin]

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

I struggled with this same question for months. My installer actually said that the KE40 was going to roast me out of the house (sounds like we live in the same climate).

It hasn’t roasted me out yet. Once I learned to control it I’m a fan of the long burn times. We’ve had some really cold weather here lately and I haven’t turned the furnace on once. If I need less heat, I just build a smaller fire and let it go out. I’m really glad I went with the bigger stove. On those really cold nights (20’s) we had recently the stove really paid for itself.

 

[Nealm66]

Well it sounds like I might have draft issues or I would see if I could upgrade without causing global devastation. In my case it’s probably unwarranted other than I really think it would look cool and bragging rights, so probably not worth the risk/reward. That being said, the manager guy that sets everything into motion said the installer that is coming out to check things out is very knowledgeable and I’m not afraid to ask if it’s not an issue ha ha! Totally different experience from the cape cod failure from this dealership. The sales guy is brand new but he isn’t afraid to admit it and is quick to make phone calls if unsure. I suspect it will go pretty well. I’m going to rent a lift and if it needs tied back to the roof, Ican get up there and do it since I’m the knuckle head that installed the roof. 12/12 metal roof with 4 big dormers is stupid and I think that’s why the first guy said screw it.

 

[Highbeam]

Well it sounds like I might have draft issues or I would see if I could upgrade without causing global devastation. In my case it’s probably unwarranted other than I really think it would look cool and bragging rights, so probably not worth the risk/reward. That being said, the manager guy that sets everything into motion said the installer that is coming out to check things out is very knowledgeable and I’m not afraid to ask if it’s not an issue ha ha! Totally different experience from the cape cod failure from this dealership. The sales guy is brand new but he isn’t afraid to admit it and is quick to make phone calls if unsure. I suspect it will go pretty well. I’m going to rent a lift and if it needs tied back to the roof, Ican get up there and do it since I’m the knuckle head that installed the roof. 12/12 metal roof with 4 big dormers is stupid and I think that’s why the first guy said screw it.

I helped roof a 12/12 home in comp that was three stories up. That was the first roofing job that actually wore out the sides of my shoes. You don’t really stand on a 12/12!

 

[Nealm66]

I cheated and used some rock climbing gear from the tree service. I put an eye bolt on both the gable ends and had a rope from peak to peak and used a clevace and an ascender. The tar paper was the worst, trying to roll it across. My ankles were good for about 4hrs and then nope, uh uh

 

[Dustin]

I cheated and used some rock climbing gear from the tree service. I put an eye bolt on both the gable ends and had a rope from peak to peak and used a clevace and an ascender. The tar paper was the worst, trying to roll it across. My ankles were good for about 4hrs and then nope, uh uh

As I was loading my King today after a 24 hour, before I headed to work, I thought of your situation.

I think the main question to ask yourself is, what are your heating needs?

Here, we have a 2800 square foot house with an open floor plan. The furnace, hot water, and cooking all run on propane. If we run the furnace it’s crippling expensive. Before we put the stove in we were out about 350 dollars a month just in propane. Since the stove has been in, we haven’t turned the furnace on once. Running just cooking and hot water for 6 months when we didn’t run the furnace equated to filling once every 6 months, vs once a month or less. So, that’s a giant savings. It was well worth the 8k it cost us to have the stove and chimney installed. I paid someone to do the entire install and built my own hearth (saved 1000 dollars building my own).

With my work schedule and the only backup being propane, 24 hour burn times are a must for us. I can’t get away with just letting the furnace kick on when needed. The extra BTU’s the king provides and the longer burn has been a need.

I have 20 feet of chimney with one 45. It drafts wonderfully.

IF I had a heat pump, or a natural gas furnace, I wouldn’t have gone so big. I would have burn electrons or natural gas to fill in some of the gaps and save some money. Why? Sometimes, during a shoulder season fire with the king it CAN get too hot in here if I’m not careful. If I load too much at night and don’t time it to go out during the day when it’s 60 plus outside, it can hit 78 in this place.

 

[Tron]

You don’t really stand on a 12/12!

A 12/12 is like a 45 degree roof pitch, right?
Where I'm from, that's the standard for roofs, and even our Southern home over here has a 45 degree pitch.

 

[Nealm66]

I’m jealous but not so much about the 24hr burn times or the added heat, I’m stoked about 12-15’s and pretty confident the princess will be a perfect heater. But the room it’s going would look really cool with a king and I would have the potential of making my 94 year old life long neighbor/friend jealous haha. His dad built the homestead and it has a huge super old super cool wood furnace type setup that swallows 3’ logs like candy

 

[Tron]

I don't think even the King swallows 3' logs...

 

[Nealm66]

If this covid thing wasn’t happening I’d take some pics. I helped them diagnose and replace the ancient blower last year.

 

[Nealm66]

I cut a couple trees down for them last weekend to mill and was telling him about this stove that had potential 40 hour burn times. He gave me a sideways look so oh ya, there’s potential envy

 

[Highbeam]

A 12/12 is like a 45 degree roof pitch, right?
Where I'm from, that's the standard for roofs, and even our Southern home over here has a 45 degree pitch.

It is. When you are roofing you need to have your hands on the roof so when it's that steep the work surface is right in front of you, too steep to squat or kneel. You can stand there like a supervisor or something. Most of our roofs here are much flatter and very often 4:12. This in spite of the huge amounts of rain we get. I'm pretty happy working on a 4-6:12 pitch single story roof. I sure like how a steeper roof looks.

I cut a couple trees down for them last weekend to mill and was telling him about this stove that had potential 40 hour burn times. He gave me a sideways look so oh ya, there’s potential envy

It is amazing how long these things can burn. The king takes a slightly longer log but it gets most of it's increased firebox volume from depth. It has a very deep ash belly below the loading door. Like throw a chunk in and wait for it to hit the bottom. It's still too warm here in WA to really load the firebox full but these stoves run partial loads just fine. That way you can have a short 12 hour burn over the cold evening.

 

[Ctd92]

I’m having a back puffing issue on my 2 year old freestanding princess. My picture shows an insert but that was a previous house. Last night I loaded the stove up with elm that had been split and stacked for a year and a half. I’m in the Boise area, very dry hot summers. After the load caught fire, I ran it on high for 20 min or so then turned the stat to about 3 o’clock. It was in black box mode for about an hour, then the smoke ignited in the fire box and filled the room with smoke. Tonight I loaded it up with 3 year stacked cherry and had the same problem. I turned the stat down in increments with the cherry.

I first noticed this at the end of last winter. It would back puff, fill the room with smoke, I’d turn up the stat and that would solve the issue. This fall, I added 18” to my outside stove pipe, cleaned the entire chimney, removed the cat and cleaned every cell with a pipe cleaner.

I can normally run the stat at 2 o’clock or even 1 o’clock, with the new chimney height, all night and not stall the cat. And no back puff.

Last night after the back puff, I turned the stat down instead of up and all was normal. I did not get the heat output I wanted but no smoke in the house. Same result tonight. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try 4 o’clock and see what happens. Seems like a waste though.

I have 3 feet of double wall inside above the stove, 2 45s to the outside tee then exposed class A on the outside of the house that almost needs aircraft warning lights on it.

 

[kennyp2339]

@Ctd92 - the back puffing your describing seems like its because the fuel to air ratio is to rich, I have witnessed the same thing (but no smoke entering the house) What I've done was after running the stove on high to achieve a full char, I turn my stove low enough to just get candle like flames coming off the wood, I let that go like that for 45 min to an hour then I turn it down to black box mode, during times of high draft for me (when the temps fall below 20 deg f and I have a NW wind above 8 mph) I don't char the wood as long on high, I tend to get some flames on it then turn the T stat approx 2:30 and let it go, this lets the stove function, the cat to burn the smoke and no heavy off gassing of the log splits.
A few things to check, the T stat function, sometimes the knob turns without turning the t-stat (this happens sometimes when turning to low) check this by turn the t-stat way up, max should have the knob stop at the 6 o'clock position
Obviously check the cap for any plugging, also check to front face of the cat for any fly ash plugging, check the rear chamber behind the cat for any debris build up.

 

[stoveliker]

@Poindexter
...
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)?*

So, I have to correct myself here: the minimum of "my" swoosh is not at 12 o'clock, but at 1-ish. (The max is at 6.).

 

[kennyp2339]

Ahh lit the stove yesterday around 4:30pm, let it burn on high and get established coals and temp, reloaded to the gills around 6pm or so and its been cruising since, prob will stoke it up again at 3 or 4 pm today, so a nice 20hr burn time between loads, Its a misty chilly day here, temp is 40deg f, inside has been a steady 72 deg f, couldn't be more happier.

 

[JKanor]

So, I procrastinated to long on purchasing a new cat for my BK princess and Midwest Hearth is out of stock of the ceramics. They do however have metal ones in stock, they are $40 more. I am in north east Pennsylvania and mainly burn when the low is 30* and under which equals about 1.5 cords per year since I got the BK.

Should I eat the $40 extra on the metal cat or wait an unknown amount of time until the ceramics are in stock?

I recently got a sensitive digital thermocouple good to 2000* from my dad who works with very large gas fired kilns and the cat seems to be lazy compared to the analog thermometers. I am seeing 450-550* cruising temps behind the cat where the analogs used to show 600+, and charring in a fresh load I am only getting 1050-1150 degrees on the thermocouple where the analogs show 1350-1500. I have the tip of the thermocouple about 2" below the stove top surface like the analog would be and snug in the hole with furnace tape wrapped around the lead. So with this added data, I am thinking my cat isn't full of piss and vinegar like it was 2 years ago.