2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Nealm66]

I’m feeling like I have things pretty well figured out. Keeping house temps within 1 degree with about 12 hour ish reloads. That being said, the wife said she felt a little cold yesterday while I was at work and thought about putting some firewood in. I said, ok, let me show you how. As you can guess, at about 13 hours there’s still quite a bit going on and when I reload I crank everything up on high for a bit, open the bypass rake things around and have my wood all ready and load. Well she could feel the heat from about 4’ away and when I got done she said “huh” which means “nope” in wife language. I says, well, first look at the inside temperature and determine if it’s actually cold, if so, turn this swoosh dial slightly. Lol, she says Ok!

 

[Nealm66]

Well, outside temp climbed to 50. Inside temp went up 1 degree higher than average so not too bad considering. Very entertaining in a very odd way. Happy new year !!

 

[stoveliker]

So, stuffed it full of maple shorties, vertical. Was a cold start, and even though I left canyons for the flames to travel through, the (front, bottom) start was a bit hard. Maybe this works better on a good coal bed. Or with a top down start, but I had only <1" left on the top, so that was a bit hard to set up.
But it's going.

Not sure the back ones are charring...
Have to see how it'll fare when the kindling on the front bottom is al gone.

It went okay, not particularly well but I didn't really see anything that was different than normal n-s loading. But maybe this was to be expected given the "this is a fuel tank" idea...

 

[kennyp2339]

It went okay, not particularly well but I didn't really see anything that was different than normal n-s loading. But maybe this was to be expected given the "this is a fuel tank" idea...

For myself, what I've noticed with the 3 different loading methods (n/s, e/w, & vertical) without changing my t-stat setting, n/s seems to burn the hottest / fastest, no matter how I load the princess I will always get that V pattern on the glass and into the fire box, with the center burning out first, then the sides, this is nice for cold nights, n/s loading and a big split in the middle, the other methods are more or less mehh, but its a blaze king and things are suppose to be boring with this stove brand, I loaded mine at 6pm yesterday and its just chugging along, cat probe sitting at noonish, blower on low, house is 72, now 31 outside, wont have to reload till after 3pm today.

 

[Nealm66]

I’m wondering if the vertical loads might have a piece burn crooked and tip towards the glass?

 

[kennyp2339]

I’m wondering if the vertical loads might have a piece burn crooked and tip towards the glass?

Meh, even if it does, it wont do anything.

 

[John Galt]

Kenny's in a "Meh" mood

 

[stoveliker]

I’m wondering if the vertical loads might have a piece burn crooked and tip towards the glass?

I tilted the front row backwards a bit, aided by the layer of ash on the bottom they stayed that way until they fell apart.

 

[Nealm66]

Good grief, glad I listened and went with the princess model. 54 high today. Had to break down and turn the swoosh down. Threw some little chunks in this am so hoping for a shorter burn for reload schedule but probably going to be a lot left in 12. Mild temps for the rest of the week looks like. I’m still learning for sure. Maybe try for a 24 this weekend with a lower setting? I’ve got some decent size half splits but will be hard not to get gaps.

 

[AndrewU]

Good grief, glad I listened and went with the princess model. 54 high today. Had to break down and turn the swoosh down. Threw some little chunks in this am so hoping for a shorter burn for reload schedule but probably going to be a lot left in 12. Mild temps for the rest of the week looks like. I’m still learning for sure. Maybe try for a 24 this weekend with a lower setting? I’ve got some decent size half splits but will be hard not to get gaps.

What part of western WA are you in, and what wood are you burning? I’m pretty close to Mt Vernon and burning mostly alder right now. Some cedar and the occasional maple split. Next winter I’ll have basically no cedar but plenty of birch and maple to mix with the alder. Anyway, I put some long splits in diagonally this morning (last night was about a 85-90% full load, still going nicely 14 hours later running mostly at the bottom of the swoosh). Got it tuned down a bit past the bottom of the swoosh. Be interesting to see when I have to reload. I’m guessing mid-late afternoon.

 

[Nealm66]

What part of western WA are you in, and what wood are you burning? I’m pretty close to Mt Vernon and burning mostly alder right now. Some cedar and the occasional maple split. Next winter I’ll have basically no cedar but plenty of birch and maple to mix with the alder. Anyway, I put some long splits in diagonally this morning (last night was about a 85-90% full load, still going nicely 14 hours later running mostly at the bottom of the swoosh). Got it tuned down a bit past the bottom of the swoosh. Be interesting to see when I have to reload. I’m guessing mid-late afternoon.

I’m in the eatonville area. I’m burning smaller short splits ( 12-16” ) of fir. I’ve been reloading ready between 6-730 am to 8ish pm. Definitely could go longer but it’s been working really good so far with the cooler weather. First year so going to bust more square size from bigger rounds for next year. I remember when alder was all the rage for firewood. Log market went extremely high for alder pretty well eliminated availability. Definitely something to think about if you’re chopping down $750 per thousand and stuffing it into a stove. I’m feeling pretty confident about a 24 burn but will wait till the weekend to see. 73 in the house right now, might be moving the swoosh till I find the sweet spot.

 

[AndrewU]

Eatonville is a nice area.

All my alder is coming from my property. Had a crap ton of dead, dying, top broken, etc trees I took down. Same with the birch.

Btw, for anyone that doesn’t know, when birch trees get big they usually get heart rot. I’m sure, based on his avatar, Nealm66 knows this. Usually not a huge deal as long as you know about it and cut accordingly. Had one that looked decent except the top was dying. After cutting it down realized not only was the heart rotten, but it was punky on one side to within maybe 2” of the bark (20” base diameter). Lucky that thing didn’t just explode on me while cutting it down.

 

[Nealm66]

Yup, had to lower a top with a cat face below me I didn’t see on a quick bid. Beautiful trees IMO if they’re shaped with a ball prune

 

[Diabel]

My Princess is going through its 7th reload (longest continuous 24/7 burn) since the install. Running on low 24h burns. The 1100 sqf space is slowly overheating, outside temps in the 30s. Not much heat transfers to upstairs level, very small staircase. But enough to heat so the furnace stays off.

 

[Nealm66]

That’s awesome. What type wood are you burning? It’s sitting at 73.8 inside upstairs and 55.4 outside. Probably should put a thermometer in the stove room just for curiosity but I’ve got the swoosh near the bottom and the cat is about 2/3

 

[rdust]

Princess with a fully belly of red and white oak.

 

[AndrewU]

My pretty small load of maybe 5 splits (3” or so) that had to go in diagonally this morning (9am) is still keeping the house at 72, with outside dropping below 50 finally. Cat thermometer is showing active, but not by much. Probably going to turn it up soon and do a reload around 5pm.

 

[Nealm66]

Princess with a fully belly of red and white oak.

View attachment 270970

That looks like an easy 24 hour load

 

[Indianawood]

As im reading new posts on this forum, 1 of them about their cat temp getting out of control it reminded me of how much I love this BK and how lucky I got with ending up with 1. I don't have to babysit anything. I load, set the thermostat based on outside temp/sunny or cloudy day and walk away. I put digital gauges on my cat and stack temps so i know exactly in real time what my temps are. My cat hasn't come close to the death point (1600 according to BKVP). It's just really nice to not have to mess with this air or that air.
It seems like the worst thing that happens in the bk forum is a swoosh war

 

[Nealm66]

As im reading new posts on this forum, 1 of them about their cat temp getting out of control it reminded me of how much I love this BK and how lucky I got with ending up with 1. I don't have to babysit anything. I load, set the thermostat based on outside temp/sunny or cloudy day and walk away. I put digital gauges on my cat and stack temps so i know exactly in real time what my temps are. My cat hasn't come close to the death point (1600 according to BKVP). It's just really nice to not have to mess with this air or that air.
It seems like the worst thing that happens in the bk forum is a swoosh war

And the glow. Don’t forget the amount of glow

 

[Indianawood]

And the glow. Don’t forget the amount of glow

Not bad for a 5yr old cat

 

[Alpine1]

How many hours on it?
Edit: how can you keep such a clean glass???

 

[Indianawood]

How many hours on it?

I really have no idea because it was a demo model he used to heat the shop of a dealer for the first three years of its life. Last year and this year I start about mid November and run 24 7until April

 

[Nealm66]

I’m curious, has there been a efficiency study to see how much heat 1 stove vs another? Like put them in same spot in a building and see what the actual difference is?

Or is this taboo.

 

[Indianawood]

Ice storm a day ago. Now 6" snow. No electric.
No problem with the Blaze King. We have heat!
Heated my coffee water on stove top.