2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[lsucet]

Probably. It's just (as probably everybody here experiences) that at that point (room starts to cool off) there's so much coal left that even with vigorous compression (aka hitting it with a shovel) there's hardly room for half a load.

So I guess I'll program my smarthome to send me a text "Living Room temperature too low, time to swoosh up a bit" when that happens ;-)
Or put a stepper motor on the thermostat...

Also you can try a setting little higher than what you are using now and see. I like to load late, the hottest part of the burn takes care the temperature drop through the night and when it gets to the stage of the burn that you mentioned, is day time. Enough to keep everything warm as long the temperature climb a little or the sun is out.

When I am off in AM I turn the dial up to enjoy my coffee.

 

[Tron]

I usually let it go out at night and start it up again in the morning. So when that happens, the evening chill starts to set in already

 

[Indianawood]

Probably. It's just (as probably everybody here experiences) that at that point (room starts to cool off) there's so much coal left that even with vigorous compression (aka hitting it with a shovel) there's hardly room for half a load.

So I guess I'll program my smarthome to send me a text "Living Room temperature too low, time to swoosh up a bit" when that happens ;-)
Or put a stepper motor on the thermostat...

Im Interested in the stepper motor idea

 

[stoveliker]

Im Interested in the stepper motor idea

Me too. All combined in a (Labview?) program that transmits the cat thermometer reading, flue reading, Tstat setting to my phone

But in all seriousness; this stove, even when located in my basement..., makes me lazy. And now I'm exploring how to become more lazy...

 

[moresnow]

Thermostat question to y'all:
During the burn, everything is fine, the thermostat regulates heat output and the room temperature is nearly constant.
However, when the fire has died down and the firebox ist half full with glowing coals, room temperature drops. I mean, there's still a lot of energy in the coals, and when I turn up the thermostat the BK continues to put out heat for a few hours more, but shouldn't the thermostat react to the dropping stove temperature and open up more? It's only a simple bi-metal thermostat, after all.

Just curious...

Half full of coals? You have tons of heat to extract leftover! Have you tried dropping a single split on the coal pile (E/W seems best for me) and letting it burn up with lots of air dialed in? Cat re-engaged after adding the split. Seems to work well for me. I get some easy heat for a surprising length of time and it really reduces the coal pile nicely for another load.

 

[Tron]

I wasn't really serious about the stepper motor, but to make it work you'd only need:
- a temperature sensor of some sort to read room temperature, stovetop temperature, whatever you'd want as the control parameter
- a stepper motor plus power supply and a stepper motor driver board
- an ESP8266 microcontroller
- some python code

And voila, you can connect the ESP to your wifi and serve a webpage that lets you dial your target temperature from your phone and (with a large hysteresis obviously) controls the stepper motor that turns the thermostat. No need for something fancy as Labview, probably a dozen lines of python is enough. A problem might be the WAF (wife acceptance factor) with wires leading from the stove and the motor attached to the thermostat knob.

About the coals: I usually don't even need to add a split, just turning up the thermostat usually gives enough heat until bedtime. And half full may be exaggeraged. Maybe a third, in combination with the ash layer.

 

[Nealm66]

Half full of coals? You have tons of heat to extract leftover! Have you tried dropping a single split on the coal pile (E/W seems best for me) and letting it burn up with lots of air dialed in? Cat re-engaged after adding the split. Seems to work well for me. I get some easy heat for a surprising length of time and it really reduces the coal pile nicely for another load.

Does that somehow speed up the process? The morning reloads are the tough ones for me. Trying to stuff as much as I can for possible 15 hour day and if I reload about 8pm and trying to reload at 6-7 am with only 11 hour burn. I’ve been reloading at night with small splits and some gaps but still has quite a bit left in the am

 

[moresnow]

Does that somehow speed up the process? The morning reloads are the tough ones for me. Trying to stuff as much as I can for possible 15 hour day and if I reload about 8pm and trying to reload at 6-7 am with only 11 hour burn. I’ve been reloading at night with small splits and some gaps but still has quite a bit left in the am

It really will burn down your coal pile much quicker. It does take extra time to let it run its coarse. I let the single split vigorously burn down to basically nothing. Then the stove is good and hot for quite some time yet before requiring a reload. Give it a try when you have time.
Any chance you can simply load less fuel for the overnight burn?

 

[Highbeam]

Does that somehow speed up the process? The morning reloads are the tough ones for me. Trying to stuff as much as I can for possible 15 hour day and if I reload about 8pm and trying to reload at 6-7 am with only 11 hour burn. I’ve been reloading at night with small splits and some gaps but still has quite a bit left in the am

Lots of flexibility. You don’t need to wait until the firebox is empty to reload and you don’t need to fill to the top either. Your stove is giving you too much burn time which is an easy problem to solve.

Oh, I forgot to answer a previous question of yours. The owners manual has a mistake. That line about not reloading until the cat meter falls below inactive is bogus. BK was working on getting that fixed.

 

[Diabel]

Any chance you can simply load less fuel for the overnight burn?

I really like this question.......

 

[Nealm66]

I really like this question.......

I’ve tried a couple different loads. Not sure why but if I load light, it burns quicker than I think. Best so far is some pretty small splits stacked in pretty full.

 

[rdust]

Thermostat question to y'all:
During the burn, everything is fine, the thermostat regulates heat output and the room temperature is nearly constant.
However, when the fire has died down and the firebox ist half full with glowing coals, room temperature drops. I mean, there's still a lot of energy in the coals, and when I turn up the thermostat the BK continues to put out heat for a few hours more, but shouldn't the thermostat react to the dropping stove temperature and open up more? It's only a simple bi-metal thermostat, after all.

Just curious...

Correct, it’s a simple design. It has no way to open back up on its own past the spot you set it. For example if I set mine to the “n” and warm up the stove the bi-metallic stat will warm up and close the “intake flap” to reduce intake air, as the stove cools the “intake flap” will open back up to the “n” nothing more.

Occasionally I see posts where people want it to open up as the stove cools. That would be fine for some times but when I’m away for an extended period of time I’d like to not have all my coals burned up when I’m not in the house to care about a degree or two swing. If I’m around and I need more heat I can walk by and turn the knob up.

I’ve burned the stove for 10 seasons now. I’m happy with the way the t-stat works, don’t think I would change anything.

 

[Diabel]

I’ve tried a couple different loads. Not sure why but if I load light, it burns quicker than I think. Best so far is some pretty small splits stacked in pretty full.

You just have to explore with loads and find the correct load amount and timing. If the house drops in temps yet you have lots of colas let the other heat source pick up the heating load. Do not forget, wood stoves are designed to be space heaters only.

 

[cnatew]

Not in a cat stove, also your confirming theres an insulated blanket wrapped around the liner to?

Per the dealer, insulation is not needed around here in the NW with mild temps, "I haven't done one of those for 25 years."

 

[kennyp2339]

Per the dealer, insulation is not needed around here in the NW with mild temps, "I haven't done one of those for 25 years."

LOL -never let that guy back in your house again.

 

[Highbeam]

Per the dealer, insulation is not needed around here in the NW with mild temps, "I haven't done one of those for 25 years."

I hear that line of crap in construction a lot. It just means he’s been doing it a different way for 25 years. It’s not a confirmation of the rightness of his method.

 

[Highbeam]

Correct, it’s a simple design. It has no way to open back up on its own past the spot you set it. For example if I set mine to the “n” and warm up the stove the bi-metallic stat will warm up and close the “intake flap” to reduce intake air, as the stove cools the “intake flap” will open back up to the “n” nothing more.

Occasionally I see posts where people want it to open up as the stove cools. That would be fine for some times but when I’m away for an extended period of time I’d like to not have all my coals burned up when I’m not in the house to care about a degree or two swing. If I’m around and I need more heat I can walk by and turn the knob up.

I’ve burned the stove for 10 seasons now. I’m happy with the way the t-stat works, don’t think I would change anything.

Ooh, I don’t know rdust. The setting N corresponds to a different throttle plate angle depending on if the stove is warm or ice cold. At the n position the blade is partially open unless the stove is hot. I propose that the throttle blade is more open at colder temperatures than warmer ones which conflicts with your theory of operation. The bimetallic coil thermostat responds by trying to hit set point whether current stove temperature is above or below.

I can verify this by turning the thermostat down until I hear the throttle blade close. It closes at a lower thermostat setting way below the n when cold.

At a super low thermostat setting like full minimum I think the throttle plate will never open. You’re riding the hole no matter what.

 

[rdust]

Ooh, I don’t know rdust. The setting N corresponds to a different throttle plate angle depending on if the stove is warm or ice cold. At the n position the blade is partially open unless the stove is hot. I propose that the throttle blade is more open at colder temperatures than warmer ones which conflicts with your theory of operation. The bimetallic coil thermostat responds by trying to hit set point whether current stove temperature is above or below.

I can verify this by turning the thermostat down until I hear the throttle blade close. It closes at a lower thermostat setting way below the n when cold.

At a super low thermostat setting like full minimum I think the throttle plate will never open. You’re riding the hole no matter what.

I think we’re saying similar things. Sure “n” isn’t the same hot vs cold. All that I’m trying to say(poorly I guess) is it will never open more than the “n” cold setting when the stove cools. It can be stone cold and it won’t open past that. Sure “n” will close as it warms but when cold “n” is always the same and will never open enough to burn coals down and provide the extra heat at the end of the burn that is being asked for.

 

[BKVP]

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

Actually, a few glass doors have been cracked due to rolling logs..

 

[Diabel]

Actually, a few glass doors have been cracked due to rolling logs..

My preferred loading is n/s. I do load e/w sometimes when the splits are a bit longer.

 

[BKVP]

Yo #bholler...tell these folks why insulated liners are a necessity (exterior chimney vs interior) Thinking NFPA 2.11

I've written too many times...your turn.

 

[Highbeam]

I think we’re saying similar things. Sure “n” isn’t the same hot vs cold. All that I’m trying to say(poorly I guess) is it will never open more than the “n” cold setting when the stove cools. It can be stone cold and it won’t open past that. Sure “n” will close as it warms but when cold “n” is always the same and will never open enough to burn coals down and provide the extra heat at the end of the burn that is being asked for.

I think the question is that when the stove cools from hot with fuel to warm with coals the thermostat should respond by opening and feeding the coals air in an effort to maintain the desired output. I think it’s an over/under device and will work both ways to hold the desired stove temperature.

The throttle blade still may never open enough to get hot stove heat levels from a dwindling supply of coals but it will try.

 

[Tron]

The throttle blade still may never open enough to get hot stove heat levels from a dwindling supply of coals but it will try.

That may be the reason. The thermostat seems to be able to vary the throttle blade only so much + or - from the set position, but not the whole way. So with dwindling fuel, it may open all the way it can, but that's not enough to maintain temperature. That's then only achieved by manually setting it higher.

 

[BKVP]

That may be the reason. The thermostat seems to be able to vary the throttle blade only so much + or - from the set position, but not the whole way. So with dwindling fuel, it may open all the way it can, but that's not enough to maintain temperature. That's then only achieved by manually setting it higher.

Or you can add fuel if need be to maintain same heat out put as you have set....

 

[kennyp2339]

Or you can add fuel if need be to maintain same heat out put as you have set....

I'm going to say this much, this is my first true season of control and letting the fire do its thing with a 100% closed pipe damper w/ exception of reloading. What I'm noticing is true T-stat control of desired heat output.
After initial loading of splits to the top of the firebox, I'll close the damper, not even touch the t-stat setting, within 15min cat probe is north of noon and will settle in to 2-3 O'clock, I will have small gentle candle flames and hold a stove top temp of 500-525 for the 1st 10hrs of the burn, once the fuel gets baked back to the last quarter of the stove, I notice the T-stat doing its job, sometimes the pile of blackened wood / huge coals will be glowing, other times its just a pile of black wood, stove top temps will settle in between 400 - 450 deg f and will hold for another 4 hrs or so, cat probe will now be between 10am and 11am, I let that go until the stove top temp settles at about 350, then its time to reload and start over, depending on how cold its outside my burns generally last between 14-18 hrs at this point (low temps mid 20's, high temps all over from 32deg to almost 40 deg f now)
Wood consumption so far this year has been lower then last year, and it has been a little colder then last year also.