2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Highbeam]

IIRC according to BKVP the cat starts degrading at 1600ºF or higher.

The manufacturer of the catalyst tells us 1800 and that numberless meter tells us nothing other than it’s above the active line.

I’m pretty certain that this question of hyperactive new cats has come up before and we were advised to not change operational procedures.

 

[stoveliker]

View attachment 269440View attachment 269441
true vertical loading with shorties Yielded close to 18hr burn time with low temps in the mid teens, def like this way.

I'll try that the season after next when I have a face cord of oak of 8-10" talk to chew thru.

And the half+ cord of red oak posted about the other day will go like this too. Was thinking of putting two short ones behind each other to make one long split, but this looks much better. Thanks for the good idea!

 

[Alpine1]

To minimize wasted pallet space you could make several like a package of hot dogs, or a six pack of beverages. It’s just a step above throwing the wood into a pile. If you have space, what’s the benefit? Would you try and top cover these columns?

Yep, they’ll be covered with some sort of plastic tarp.

 

[kennyp2339]

I'll try that the season after next when I have a face cord of oak of 8-10" talk to chew thru.

And the half+ cord of red oak posted about the other day will go like this too. Was thinking of putting two short ones behind each other to make one long split, but this looks much better. Thanks for the good idea!

Just buy a good pair of welding gloves that go past the forearm, I rake the coals forward for this and you have to be fast when loading lol, this isnt grandpa's charcoal grill.

 

[Nigel459]

View attachment 269467
is this ok? last night i loaded the stove pretty full and lit the fire waited till active. closed the bypass ran it until the fire was well established then turned the air intake to half and when i came back out a few hours later it was like that. will i hurt my stove? am i doing something wrong? i know in the manual it says it is ok . but it also says if u let this happen u will start to peel the combustor

That's pretty high. Sometimes those probe therms need to be adjusted, where does the needle point when the stove is cold/room temp?

 

[Holiday]

I would be turning the thermostat lower for a longer slower release of heat, no point running that high in my opinion

 

[Highbeam]

I would be turning the thermostat lower for a longer slower release of heat, no point running that high in my opinion

Doing that can just make it hotter! Less stove temperature but a hotter cat.

Some folks have found cooler cat temperatures when keeping some flames in the firebox because those flames consume some of the smoke instead of the cat eating it all.

On low thermostat settings, my cat stays very hot. Right up around 1400.

It’s weird to run a cat stove.

 

[WV Homestead]

That's pretty high. Sometimes those probe therms need to be adjusted, where does the needle point when the stove is cold/room temp?

8 o clock

 

[Holiday]

Doing that can just make it hotter! Less stove temperature but a hotter cat.

Some folks have found cooler cat temperatures when keeping some flames in the firebox because those flames consume some of the smoke instead of the cat eating it all.

On low thermostat settings, my cat stays very hot. Right up around 1400.

That may be on initial turndown after the burn in, but once the load is settled in, the lower I run the the thermostat the lower my cat temp, in my application anyway. Then again I've never really run with flames beyond starting a new load

 

[Highbeam]

That may be on initial turndown after the burn in, but once the load is settled in, the lower I run the the thermostat the lower my cat temp, in my application anyway. Then again I've never really run with flames beyond starting a new load

If you run it low enough you just stall the cat which is not desirable but is one way to cool things down.

 

[lsucet]

Nobody has control over that. That can happens in the middle of the night when you are sleeping and not even see it. That probe is not a real calibrated precision instrument. We hear here too of people that never their probe read that high regardless.
I see that on mine many times hrs into the burn.

 

[Holiday]

Nobody said anything about stalling the cat. All I said was in my setup in general the slower I run the lower the probe temp. My 24 hour setting is more or less just above active and my 12 hour setting is more around the 12 o'clock range on the probe. Your results may differ

 

[Alpine1]

Nobody said anything about stalling the cat. All I said was in my setup in general the slower I run the lower the probe temp. My 24 hour setting is more or less just above active and my 12 hour setting is more around the 12 o'clock range on the probe. Your results may differ

Same here: 24+ hours with the needle barely on “active” and the more I turn the t-stat, the higher the indicator goes. YMMV.

 

[Nealm66]

Really liking this stove. Plugged it full of fir at 5am. Still going pretty good at 7:30 pm when I got home. Reloaded with the three press logs , should be ready for the fir reload tomorrow in the am again. Going to let it go out and check the chimney this next weekend for any issues. Don’t foresee any but just to be sure

 

[kennyp2339]

Same here: 24+ hours with the needle barely on “active” and the more I turn the t-stat, the higher the indicator goes. YMMV.

So I know this isnt a popular method here, but I do keep a stove top thermometer in the back left corner of the cat chamber, my cruise mode is the cat probe needed between noon and 3 o'clock and a stove top of 450-500 deg f. On the 24hr burns (shoulder seasons) my cat needed will be between 9am and noon with a stove top that holds ridiculously steady at 350 deg f. All readings (again cheapo thermometer) are taken about 45min to an hour after I set the t-stat to my preference output.

 

[kennyp2339]

Other then the burn times and steady heat outputs of the princess, one of the nice things is planning, I’m noticing a potential arctic cold snap out East Christmas Day, now I’m planning to clean the ash out of the stove come Tuesday or Wednesday so I don’t have to shut down operations, I think the last time a cleaned the ashes out was 5 days ago, it’s just nice seeing the weather then looking at the stove and making a no brainer plan

 

[rdust]

Other then the burn times and steady heat outputs of the princess, one of the nice things is planning, I’m noticing a potential arctic cold snap out East Christmas Day, now I’m planning to clean the ash out of the stove come Tuesday or Wednesday so I don’t have to shut down operations, I think the last time a cleaned the ashes out was 5 days ago, it’s just nice seeing the weather then looking at the stove and making a no brainer plan

I rarely clean ashes out, haven’t even thought about it yet this season. Usually when they get near the top of the bricks I empty a few pans worth.

Why do you shutdown to clean ashes out? I just pull the coals to one side of the stove, pull the plug and move the ashes into the hole. Put the plug in, slide the ashes the clean side and repeat. Lose some hot coals but not enough to worry about.

 

[Highbeam]

I’m at only 1.5” of ash depth right now too. Out of 6” provided by the princess. I stir it around to break up the glass like clinkers and load more up.

Some wood makes way more ash.

 

[Nealm66]

That’s a good tip! I’m finding myself reloading before the cat is not active to fit my schedule. Hoping it’s not going to shorten the cat life too much but not a very good way around it so if it does, I’ll just have to replace. It seems like the tail end of the coals lasts forever

 

[Highbeam]

That’s a good tip! I’m finding myself reloading before the cat is not active to fit my schedule. Hoping it’s not going to shorten the cat life too much but not a very good way around it so if it does, I’ll just have to replace. It seems like the tail end of the coals lasts forever

In our climate, I let the stove go pretty cold before reloading. It’s still so warm out. Winter comes on Monday and things might cool off.

Following some folks on this thread I may toy with running cooler and flirting with cat stall to get a lower burn rate. I can already imagine my glass getting nasty.

 

[Nealm66]

In our climate, I let the stove go pretty cold before reloading. It’s still so warm out. Winter comes on Monday and things might cool off.

Following some folks on this thread I may toy with running cooler and flirting with cat stall to get a lower burn rate. I can already imagine my glass getting nasty.

I got home at 6 and am hoping to reload the three press logs at 730 so I can reload at 6 before I leave for work . I cranked it up on high about 630 and about to go down and reload regardless. I’m blown away by this stove. The temp gauge, while maybe not in the best place, adds to the amazement. While my old stove was less fussy, it would never have produced the same amount of heat for this long. I was actually worried about having to restart a fire after my crazy long days at work. Ha! It really is the perfect stove for our weather. Be interesting this weekend to see how the pipe looks. I have it turned down all the way with the press logs but it still burns pretty hot. Still in the safe zone according to the temp gauge. Cat probe gets about 1/4 from the high spot. Says about 72-74 in the upstairs with 39 outside right now here

 

[Highbeam]

I got home at 6 and am hoping to reload the three press logs at 730 so I can reload at 6 before I leave for work . I cranked it up on high about 630 and about to go down and reload regardless. I’m blown away by this stove. The temp gauge, while maybe not in the best place, adds to the amazement. While my old stove was less fussy, it would never have produced the same amount of heat for this long. I was actually worried about having to restart a fire after my crazy long days at work. Ha! It really is the perfect stove for our weather. Be interesting this weekend to see how the pipe looks. I have it turned down all the way with the press logs but it still burns pretty hot. Still in the safe zone according to the temp gauge. Cat probe gets about 1/4 from the high spot. Says about 72-74 in the upstairs with 39 outside right now here

I knew you would love it. A little warmer at 45 here at 750’ ASL. Too cold for a cold stove but almost too warm for a constant fire.

 

[Nealm66]

Definitely going to have to put less wood in the am reload. Going to be a minute getting that one figured out. These are pretty small splits too. Stuffed it this am and it really wasn’t close to being ready for a reload . Phew, hot in that room lol

 

[YAGER85]

These photos are of low quality, but where the bypass slides over the opening, warping has occurred and created an 1/8th inch opening above where the slide comes in contact with the opening. Make sense? It’s difficult to explain. You can also see the cross member is warped as well.
I acquired this unit last week and am curious how the seal or lack thereof will effect efficiency and burn times. I plan to get a steel cat for it as well as an insulated SS liner system, block off plate and nice cap. Let me know your thoughts. I can post more pictures too.

 

[kennyp2339]

Hearing @Nealm66 experience is what keeps me active here, I love seeing the conversion from tube stove to BK lol, Its like watching a kid go from training wheels on a bike to riding on two wheels.