2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[kennyp2339]

I'd consult with BK before putting the unit into service, that looks to in the spot where the by-pass sits, more then likely you will need to replace and re-weld that piece, install a new by-pass gasket then check and make sure the cam shaft still works to get the stove to function correctly.
Here is the one of the heads of bk, his name is Chris and is very helpful, knows his products better then me walking in my house without the lights on. - @BKVP

 

[BKVP]

Please shoot me a PM of the certification label. The hanging bar was used for decades, so I'd like to figure out which model you have.

You mentioned the bypass "slides" over the bypass opening. The only Princess made which did slide was the 1003. We haven't made that for 20+ years.

Do not invest any additional funds into the stove until we address the condition.

You can call today after 5:00 am PST and I'll be in. I'm off all next week so we'd have to communicate via email or here.

 

[Highbeam]

Cool pictures. It may not have overfired at all but instead the operator did not close the bypass.

Other than firebox corrosion, the only other thing I worry about on these stoves is the melt away bypass gasket retainers.

Hope you got a “smoking” deal.

 

[BKVP]

Cool pictures. It may not have overfired at all but instead the operator did not close the bypass.

Other than firebox corrosion, the only other thing I worry about on these stoves is the melt away bypass gasket retainers.

Hope you got a “smoking” deal.

They are not melt away. Yours were there as I recall but tweaked and you fixed them with the bottle jack fix you have mentioned many times before. His retainers (if it's a 1003) are nothing like yours or the current models. The left to right stick serves only a single purpose, to keep people from shoving wood into the bypass opening and then not being able to close it.

Chris

 

[Rob711]

Would it be bad for stove to run wide open with bypass open to burn off nothing but coals? I think at that point there’s nothing left for the cat to burn.

 

[Holiday]

I would think the heat would be going straight up the flu instead of under the stovetop so you'd be losing that instead of extracting it through the stove and into the room

 

[Rob711]

That makes sense. Thanks I’ll keep it closed.

 

[Highbeam]

They are not melt away. Yours were there as I recall but tweaked and you fixed them with the bottle jack fix you have mentioned many times before. His retainers (if it's a 1003) are nothing like yours or the current models. The left to right stick serves only a single purpose, to keep people from shoving wood into the bypass opening and then not being able to close it.

Chris

Unfortunately, my melt away retainers did melt and sag away despite being a stove enthusiast. Fortunately the damage was not as bad as that pictured above! I got my melted retainers back close to straight with a bottle jack and advice from BK. Thank goodness, and yes it seems to be holding up fine but that is irrelevant to this poster. Those retainers are toast!

When the melt is more severe, owners have to actually cut the gasket retainers out and weld new ones in. This amount of effort is often sufficient enough to warrant stove replacement. Like a car in a minor wreck is often not worth fixing even though a shadetree mechanic could surely fix it good enough to drive with a bottle jack.

Are you saying that this melt away feature was not intentional? Sure would be nice if those retainer brackets were just bolted in so that they could be replaced without hiring a mobile welder to work in your living room.

 

[Highbeam]

Would it be bad for stove to run wide open with bypass open to burn off nothing but coals? I think at that point there’s nothing left for the cat to burn.

Pollution and efficiency aside, this is one way to melt the gasket retainers. Your owner's manual is pretty clear about leaving that bypass closed unless you are warming up a new fuel charge.

 

[Rob711]

I haven’t done it. I know I’ve read about guys accidentally running a full load through the open bypass by accident. So those stoves are all ruined?

 

[YAGER85]

Please shoot me a PM of the certification label. The hanging bar was used for decades, so I'd like to figure out which model you have.

You mentioned the bypass "slides" over the bypass opening. The only Princess made which did slide was the 1003. We haven't made that for 20+ years.

Do not invest any additional funds into the stove until we address the condition.

You can call today after 5:00 am PST and I'll be in. I'm off all next week so we'd have to communicate via email or here.

Thank you so much for the reply. Which number do I call to talk to you?

 

[Highbeam]

I haven’t done it. I know I’ve read about guys accidentally running a full load through the open bypass by accident. So those stoves are all ruined?

Is that one of those straw man arguments? I'm not good and reading sarcasm but I think you know that all of these stoves are not ruined. The ones that are, it's not easy to fix.

Some stoves survive the abuse better than others, depends on many factors such as draft, fuel charge, thermostat setting, and luck. Just like smacking a log into your stove glass, that’s a great way to break the glass but not every log smack breaks the glass.

 

[YAGER85]

Cool pictures. It may not have overfired at all but instead the operator did not close the bypass.

Other than firebox corrosion, the only other thing I worry about on these stoves is the melt away bypass gasket retainers.

Hope you got a “smoking” deal.

The pics are not very good. Here’s more. I mislead you all on the original post. The bypass does not slide, it comes down to the opening. The gap is about 1/8 inch tall and 2 inches long.

 

[Tron]

Would it be bad for stove to run wide open with bypass open to burn off nothing but coals? I think at that point there’s nothing left for the cat to burn.

Oh, but there is. Not so much VOC's, but lots of carbon monoxide.

 

[BKVP]

I haven’t done it. I know I’ve read about guys accidentally running a full load through the open bypass by accident. So those stoves are all ruined?

No.

 

[BKVP]

The pics are not very good. Here’s more. I mislead you all on the original post. The bypass does not slide, it comes down to the opening. The gap is about 1/8 inch tall and 2 inches long.

So that bypass doesn't slide. It cams up and over. Your unit is a Princess insert.

First step, pull the cat.
Second step, remove bypass retainers on each side of the combustor.
Third, rotate bypass handle and unhinge bypass plate. By lifting on short edge up, turn the bypass plate 90 degrees.
Fourth, pull the cat thermometer.
Fifth pull bypass plate out of the stove the combustor opening. You may have to whack on the top of the ramp welded to the bypass plate....
Sixth, clean up entire dome area where bypass plate was placed.
Seventh, take a flat blade screwdriver and dig out the bypass plate gasket. It will be very compressed.

Eighth....send me updated pictures so I can advise. [email protected]

 

[Highbeam]

So that bypass doesn't slide. It cams up and over. Your unit is a Princess insert.

First step, pull the cat.
Second step, remove bypass retainers on each side of the combustor.
Third, rotate bypass handle and unhinge bypass plate. By lifting on short edge up, turn the bypass plate 90 degrees.
Fourth, pull the cat thermometer.
Fifth pull bypass plate out of the stove the combustor opening. You may have to whack on the top of the ramp welded to the bypass plate....
Sixth, clean up entire dome area where bypass plate was placed.
Seventh, take a flat blade screwdriver and dig out the bypass plate gasket. It will be very compressed.

Eighth....send me updated pictures so I can advise. [email protected]

Can't wait to see how this goes. Sincerely. I would love to see someone actually do this repair.

 

[Rob711]

Might’ve been a bit sarcastic.

 

[MissMac]

Unfortunately, my melt away retainers did melt and sag away despite being a stove enthusiast. Fortunately the damage was not as bad as that pictured above! I got my melted retainers back close to straight with a bottle jack and advice from BK. Thank goodness, and yes it seems to be holding up fine but that is irrelevant to this poster. Those retainers are toast!

When the melt is more severe, owners have to actually cut the gasket retainers out and weld new ones in. This amount of effort is often sufficient enough to warrant stove replacement. Like a car in a minor wreck is often not worth fixing even though a shadetree mechanic could surely fix it good enough to drive with a bottle jack.

Are you saying that this melt away feature was not intentional? Sure would be nice if those retainer brackets were just bolted in so that they could be replaced without hiring a mobile welder to work in your living room.

can somebody post a pic of these retainers? there's nothing labelled as such in my stove manual, and I'll be darned if i can figure out what you fellas are talking about.

 

[Nealm66]

Would it be so wrong that when my catalytic goes bad I trade my princess for a king

 

[Highbeam]

can somebody post a pic of these retainers? there's nothing labelled as such in my stove manual, and I'll be darned if i can figure out what you fellas are talking about.

If you can touch your bypass gasket, the bypass gasket retainers are the really thin metal brackets that make up the channel that holds that gasket. Four separate welded in brackets that frame the bypass opening.

Ideally, everything stays put and you never need to know that these are made to melt away. If they aren’t intentionally designed to melt away then they are obviously not engineered well.

To test whether yours have melted away you can do a regular dollar bill test on the bypass seal. Sometimes it is horribly obvious as above.

 

[Highbeam]

Would it be so wrong that when my catalytic goes bad I trade my princess for a king

You’ll need 8” pipe.

 

[BKVP]

If you can touch your bypass gasket, the bypass gasket retainers are the really thin metal brackets that make up the channel that holds that gasket. Four separate welded in brackets that frame the bypass opening.

Ideally, everything stays put and you never need to know that these are made to melt away. If they aren’t intentionally designed to melt away then they are obviously not engineered well.

To test whether yours have melted away you can do a regular dollar bill test on the bypass seal. Sometimes it is horribly obvious as above.

They are not 4 individual pieces on all models. Also, for the past several years they are a one piece section. They do not melt away. They can warp or become warped under certain circumstances. If they melted, they would not be there any longer. Additionally, few, very few ever experience any problem.

You can check, as Highbeam suggested, by doing the dollar bill test.

 

[YAGER85]

So that bypass doesn't slide. It cams up and over. Your unit is a Princess insert.

First step, pull the cat.
Second step, remove bypass retainers on each side of the combustor.
Third, rotate bypass handle and unhinge bypass plate. By lifting on short edge up, turn the bypass plate 90 degrees.
Fourth, pull the cat thermometer.
Fifth pull bypass plate out of the stove the combustor opening. You may have to whack on the top of the ramp welded to the bypass plate....
Sixth, clean up entire dome area where bypass plate was placed.
Seventh, take a flat blade screwdriver and dig out the bypass plate gasket. It will be very compressed.

Eighth....send me updated pictures so I can advise. [email protected]

Excellent, I will see to it. Thank you very much.

 

[Nealm66]

You’ll need 8” pipe.

does the stove burn less wood as the weather warms up? I put less wood in this am and there was more left than yesterday when I went to reload. I believe I’m putting at about the same setting. I was kinda joking about replacing with a king. If we had a little more cold weather I could see it but the princess is the perfect size really. Would be interesting to try and get a 24 hr burn cycle with the king but I suspect for most of our season it would just be too much stove.