2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[BKVP]

That is one thing I love about my BK... I can stick any kind of crazy load I want in there at any stage of the burn, put the air anywhere including wide open, and walk away knowing my house will still be there when I come back (assuming I have been taking care of my gaskets, anyway).

Also, did you switch back to wood this year? Thought you were doing mostly NEILs. (And is that still your decade-old cat, or has it been retired?)

That is my new (September 2020) King 40! It actually is drafting better than my 1107. As for fuel, I did burn NIELS for 3 years with great results. I just hated looking into a big stove with those little round logs! I have been burning cordwood 2019-2020 and now 2020-2021. As for the old combustor, I gave to guys here to regasket and I'll use it later on because it will fit the 40.

 

[moresnow]

That is my new (September 2020) King 40! It actually is drafting better than my 1107. As for fuel, I did burn NIELS for 3 years with great results. I just hated looking into a big stove with those little round logs! I have been burning cordwood 2019-2020 and now 2020-2021. As for the old combustor, I gave to guys here to regasket and I'll use it later on because it will fit the 40.

Was there a significant redesign on the new 40 that affected draft? Curious.

 

[Hoytman]

So my glass door was built-up with deposits from 4 months of running it on low and med. I had not even once cleaned the glass. I have been burning very large pieces of black locust. Bark is about 2" thick on all pieces with bark. Decided to dig into my pile and found a nice round of white fir. Split it down to 3" x 4" (approx.) pieces loaded on hot coals from Locust burn day before. Did a N/S & E/W alternating load. Set thermostat to highest setting. Last picture is the door this morning. One bad thing did transpire......house got to 88F! Thank goodness for windows!

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How close is that install? Looks close to me. What is on the wall to the right of the window?

 

[Highbeam]

So my glass door was built-up with deposits from 4 months of running it on low and med. I had not even once cleaned the glass. I have been burning very large pieces of black locust. Bark is about 2" thick on all pieces with bark. Decided to dig into my pile and found a nice round of white fir. Split it down to 3" x 4" (approx.) pieces loaded on hot coals from Locust burn day before. Did a N/S & E/W alternating load. Set thermostat to highest setting. Last picture is the door this morning. One bad thing did transpire......house got to 88F! Thank goodness for windows!

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Right up close to the glass. That should do it. I too cleaned my glass today but used a razor blade, no overheating the house that way.

That burnout was probably also good for all of the other stuff in the firebox too. Hot!

Is your door gasket butt joint in the bottom hingeside corner? Can’t even see it.

 

[Hoytman]

That is my new (September 2020) King 40! It actually is drafting better than my 1107. As for fuel, I did burn NIELS for 3 years with great results. I just hated looking into a big stove with those little round logs! I have been burning cordwood 2019-2020 and now 2020-2021. As for the old combustor, I gave to guys here to regasket and I'll use it later on because it will fit the 40.

Can you give us some home size specs, stove top temps, room layout, room temps, etc. Trying to make a comparison. Nice looking stove.

 

[BKVP]

Was there a significant redesign on the new 40 that affected draft? Curious.

So...we did a few things, but not for public dissemination. If you go into a showroom and look at one, you might see something.

 

[BKVP]

How close is that install? Looks close to me. What is on the wall to the right of the window?

MagraHearth. 100% pure concrete boards.

 

[BKVP]

Right up close to the glass. That should do it. I too cleaned my glass today but used a razor blade, no overheating the house that way.

That burnout was probably also good for all of the other stuff in the firebox too. Hot!

Is your door gasket butt joint in the bottom hingeside corner? Can’t even see it.

We now use a machine to create a seamless gasket. Fused if you will.

 

[Diabel]

We now use a machine to create a seamless gasket. Fused if you will.

Will we be able to order these gaskets from dealers?

 

[ratsrepus]

So my small supply of dry wood is gone. Got probably 15 cords of logs laying around, but not dry. Anyway, power is out. We have to go to town anyway. Country store has NIEL logs. Figure I’ll get enough for a day or two. Can I load up those like normal firewood or do I have to use them differently?

load it up and treat it just like fire wood. I burn a pallet a year for the shoulder season, they are great

 

[BKVP]

Will we be able to order these gaskets from dealers?

Yes, shortly. Of course dealers do often stock their own gaskets from suppliers. They are a little trickier to install, you must get the spacing correct.

 

[Diabel]

Yes, shortly. Of course dealers do often stock their own gaskets from suppliers. They are a little trickier to install, you must get the spacing correct.

Thank you

 

[Highbeam]

We now use a machine to create a seamless gasket. Fused if you will.

Thank you for trying something new. Sounds like a great way to avoid the installer stretching it.

 

[Poindexter]

Yes, shortly. Of course dealers do often stock their own gaskets from suppliers. They are a little trickier to install, you must get the spacing correct.

I just got a new combustor from my local dealer about a week ago. I got out my scissors and masking tape and instock at home gasket material, opened the combustor box with a blaze king label on it, and behold, preinstalled and pretaped gasket.

There is two layers of tape on the box seam, but only one layer of tape over the BK label. Maybe my local guy opened the bare combustor and taped a gasket on to it. Me likey, though I have enough gasket to pull my combustor twice.

 

[BKVP]

I just got a new combustor from my local dealer about a week ago. I got out my scissors and masking tape and instock at home gasket material, opened the combustor box with a blaze king label on it, and behold, preinstalled and pretaped gasket.

There is two layers of tape on the box seam, but only one layer of tape over the BK label. Maybe my local guy opened the bare combustor and taped a gasket on to it. Me likey, though I have enough gasket to pull my combustor twice.

We ship with gasket installed...but they probably inspected it!

 

[sprawlnstall]

I noticed my princess wasn’t running very hot with not a lot of flame, decided to clean the chimney. I have 3 feet of single wall pipe entering the chimney (see profile pic) I put the soot eater through and took out about a gallon of ash the majority was in the 3 foot section. I figured the stove would run better but now it has a horrible draft. Bypass is open and stove in on high and I am struggling to get a good fire. If I open the door to give it air there is a lot of smoke spillage from the 3 foot section of pipe and out the door. This has never happened before. I thought the cap could be plugged so I went on the roof and took it off. It did not make a difference. I cleaned behind the cat and brushed it off when I cleaned the chimney. What is going on? Usually after cleaning the chimney the fire is ripping in 20 minutes. Yes wood is dry.

 

[sprawlnstall]

Stove is definitely performing worse after cleaning the chimney. Could a big chunk of something got stuck in the middle of the chimney? I ran the brush through with a drill twice. Is this what happens when you have negative pressure?

 

[AndrewU]

Others with more experience hopefully will chime in but that to me sounds like an obstructed flue. I’d speculate that you need to clean the flue again and also check that you haven’t blocked any airflow inside the stove with the creosote from the last cleaning.

Negative pressure usually results in smoke spillage, and is improved by opening a window.

 

[Holiday]

Is that 3 feet to a horizontal section and then up again? Almost has to be a blockage, maybe in that short part going horizontal if that's what I'm seeing.
With smoke coming out of that 3 foot section it almost has to be after that piece

 

[Poindexter]

@sprawlnstall , you need to shutdown and figure that out. You can try opening a window as a stop gap, but you have a safety issue.

 

[kennyp2339]

Burn times lolololol, this is not a burn time but I went away skiing Tuesday morning, loaded the stove full of oak splits, no blower, set the t-stat to my minimum heat output and left, got home yesterday evening (Friday) and figured I would do a total ash cleanout, still had hot glowing coals, not enough for heat but almost 4 days of the fire box hot enough to keep coals

 

[Nealm66]

Burn times lolololol, this is not a burn time but I went away skiing Tuesday morning, loaded the stove full of oak splits, no blower, set the t-stat to my minimum heat output and left, got home yesterday evening (Friday) and figured I would do a total ash cleanout, still had hot glowing coals, not enough for heat but almost 4 days of the fire box hot enough to keep coals

That’s awesome

 

[stoveliker]

Burn times lolololol, this is not a burn time but I went away skiing Tuesday morning, loaded the stove full of oak splits, no blower, set the t-stat to my minimum heat output and left, got home yesterday evening (Friday) and figured I would do a total ash cleanout, still had hot glowing coals, not enough for heat but almost 4 days of the fire box hot enough to keep coals

Is that a King or a Princess? (Can't see sigblocks on my cellphone).
But, regardless: wow!

 

[sprawlnstall]

@sprawlnstall , you need to shutdown and figure that out. You can try opening a window as a stop gap, but you have a safety issue.

figured out the draft problem, chimney was nearly block two feet from the cap, see before and after pics. The soot eater brush struggled to break up the blockage but eventually broke up the obstruction. A metal brush would have worked much better but would involve climbing on the steel roof again. I cleaned my chimney on dec 19th but most likely did not break up the crud at the top. I have been burning some pine so that hasn’t help anything. Firing the stove up now everything seems normal. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[moresnow]

figured out the draft problem, chimney was nearly block two feet from the cap, see before and after pics. The soot eater brush struggled to break up the blockage but eventually broke up the obstruction. A metal brush would have worked much better but would involve climbing on the steel roof again. I cleaned my chimney on dec 19th but most likely did not break up the crud at the top. I have been burning some pine so that hasn’t help anything. Firing the stove up now everything seems normal. Thanks for the help everyone.

Glad you got it figured out.
Your next hurdle is to season your wood correctly by appearance's. Pine as a specie has zero to do with your blockage. Unseasoned wood of any flavor will cause a blockage like you experienced. Wet wood is what I see causing your issue. In a nutshell.