2021-2022 BK everything thread

[Puposky]

Hello all,
First time posting but used this site a lot and it helped in my decision to get a blaze king princess last year. Do not regret my decision but my cat appears to be not working if I turn it much below a medium burn. It takes quite a while to kick out but i am not getting the burn times and it shows it in the inactive zone when there is a 1/4 of the wood left. Last year, until the very end, I would get hours more in the active zone with that amount left. At the end of last year I was getting a little suspicious of this as well. I also am seeing more smoke than usual, once I engage the bypass I always have a bit of smoke coming out, where as last year, until the end I had none.

I did a gasket check and it was pretty easy to pull a dollar bill thru one spot between the hinges, I was never really impressed by the factory installation of the gasket seemed a bit slapped in. Admittedly on two occasions I opened the door before I disengaged the bypass. A big no no I understand but too used to my old stove I guess. Both times the stove was already out of the active zone but… that may have been my undoing?

I ordered a new gasket thru hecklers and some high temp silicone, but read here that I should only get an oem gasket. Hecklers states it is for a blaze king princess, should I not use it? Also, is high temp silicone ok? Appreciate any advice

Thanks

 

[Tron]

Zero bug/critter issue with my indoor wood storage . Most/all of my wood is bark free when I bring it in which makes a considerable difference in bugginess

Yes, that may be a reason. I mostly harvest dead but standing trees, and there the insect population may be higher. Plus the warm climate. If it already peels off, I leave the bark in the woods, but that's not always possible to peel off.

 

[Tron]

it shows it in the inactive zone when there is a 1/4 of the wood left.

It's more of a thermostat setting thing than a fuel-left thing. The older a cat gets, the higher a thermostat setting it needs to stay active, but the amount of fuel left has little to do with it.

If I turn the thermostat of my Chinook lower than about 3 o'clock, maybe 2:30 (shoulder season in MS), it's only on the very edge of the active zone and there's almost no cat glow. But no smoke, either, so it should be working.

 

[Puposky]

It's more of a thermostat setting thing than a fuel-left thing. The older a cat gets, the higher a thermostat setting it needs to stay active, but the amount of fuel left has little to do with it.

If I turn the thermostat of my Chinook lower than about 3 o'clock, maybe 2:30 (shoulder season in MS), it's only on the very edge of the active zone and there's almost no cat glow. But no smoke, either, so it should be working.

Ok. I have been setting it at about 3 o’clock and it snuffs out with no cat glow and a line of smoke and quite a bit of wood left. Maybe I’ll try 4 o’clock and see what happens. I also seem to be getting significantly less burn time than before and the cat is only a year old. Do they drop off that fast?

 

[showrguy]

Ok. I have been setting it at about 3 o’clock and it snuffs out with no cat glow and a line of smoke and quite a bit of wood left. Maybe I’ll try 4 o’clock and see what happens. I also seem to be getting significantly less burn time than before and the cat is only a year old. Do they drop off that fast?

Setting for me is no lower than 3:15 on both the King and the Princess..
No you will not wear out a CAT in one season unless your burning something other than dry firewood..
please tell us about your wood gathering/seasoning methods..

 

[Puposky]

Setting for me is no lower than 3:15 on both the King and the Princess..
No you will not wear out a CAT in one season unless your burning something other than dry firewood..
please tell us about your wood gathering/seasoning methods..

Wood is dry, usually single row stacked with a top cover, 3 years for oak 2-3 for everything else. I have a meter and check my wood by grabbing an unfrozen chunk, splitting it and checking the middle. My oak has been coming in at 17%, most everything else is lower. Last year I’d stuff stove and finally settle in at about the 2:00 position and it would stay in active zone for 20 plus hours now it drops out of active zone much earlier at the 3:00 position. I just got stove turned down to 5, I’ll set it at 4:00 or so and see what happens. I did open door twice last year with the stove in bypass mode as I stated in my original post but it was in the inactive zone. My mistake, too used to my old stove, I don’t know if that would damage the cat?

 

[stoveliker]

I hope @BKVP chimes in. At least I hope you filled.out that combustor warranty card if the thing really is near dead (which would be surprising to me).

I don't think opening the door with the bypass closed would deactivate the cat. If it's hot it might crack. If it's cold, as in your case, you'll get some smoke in the room but that should be it. Some room air would go thru the cat anytime when the door is open even if the bypass is open (because the impedance ratio between bypass and cat is not infinite).

I don't think the cases you describe damaged the cat

Can you take a pic of your cat (not taking it out!) next time you let it cool downto room temp? Take the screen off (loose in its brackets) and snap a pic. Is it plugged with ash? Is it covered in creosote? Curious how it looks.

 

[begreen]

Wood is dry, usually single row stacked with a top cover, 3 years for oak 2-3 for everything else. I have a meter and check my wood by grabbing an unfrozen chunk, splitting it and checking the middle. My oak has been coming in at 17%, most everything else is lower. Last year I’d stuff stove and finally settle in at about the 2:00 position and it would stay in active zone for 20 plus hours now it drops out of active zone much earlier at the 3:00 position. I just got stove turned down to 5, I’ll set it at 4:00 or so and see what happens. I did open door twice last year with the stove in bypass mode as I stated in my original post but it was in the inactive zone. My mistake, too used to my old stove, I don’t know if that would damage the cat?

What does the cat look like? Is it plugged with ash? Eroded or cells intact?

 

[Puposky]

I had the stove cooled down this morning to check gasket and removed flame shield and cat looked brand new. I vacuumed it out at start of wood burning for this year and there was hardly any build up/ash on it then and nothing today. It is a metal cat as well. As showrguy and tron said maybe I need to adjust my thermostat setting from where it was last year.

 

[Puposky]

No erosion or cracks. Last year my final setting was at the very end of the white on the tstat, about 2:00. This year I have been putting it in same spot, then noticing it is dropping out of activeby morning, then cranking it to 3:00 - 3:30 to get it back in active zone. This time I’ve done my finale setting at 3:30 to see if it stays active thru the night till morning, cuz at 2:00 setting in the morning it’s been inactive in the morning , with wood left. Hopefully this works and I can still get good burn times

 

[begreen]

I had the stove cooled down this morning to check gasket and removed flame shield and cat looked brand new. I vacuumed it out at start of wood burning for this year and there was hardly any build up/ash on it then and nothing today. It is a metal cat as well. As showrguy and tron said maybe I need to adjust my thermostat setting from where it was last year.

Yes, a metal cat won't have those issues. Did you blow some air through it just in case there is ash trapped in some of the passages?

 

[Puposky]

Yes, a metal cat won't have those issues. Did you blow some air through it just in case there is ash trapped in some of the passages?

That I did not do. I will the next time it’s cooled down.

 

[moresnow]

That I did not do. I will the next time it’s cooled down.

Have you vacuumed the backside of the cat? I do it when cleaning the pipe. Every time. I've also used canned/compressed air on them with some success. Food for thought. Tough to believe you have a dead cat already. Likely the warm weather messing with your low set point due to lack of draft.

 

[kennyp2339]

@Puposky If you could post some pics it would be appreciated, I want to see what your door looks like, that will give the idea if your truely having a gasket issue, you may not need to replace the gasket either, since its a year old stove you may just need to tighten the door latch (easily done) and that will keep you good to go.
I would also check your chimney cap, cat chamber in the stove for fallen creosote flakes, if the chimney is a little plugged then you will have a slower draw which might be contributing to your cat stalls. You may also want to test your t-stat knob to make sure that it didnt slide off the rod a little (when you think your running medium you cold be running low) But pics pf your stove, stove door, cat face and chimney first please.

 

[kennyp2339]

Stability is the word of the day here, did my second fire since adding that little single wall adapter to my stove collar and dvl pipe, the fire seems much better, responsive wise and burn time, the first fire was lit Friday morning and burned literally 24hrs on a single load, the fire from last night is still going, about 2/3 of the fuel is gone but I have the stove on low since it isnt really cold out anyway, just happy to have this figured out.
I also bought home a small air nozzle for my air compressor, planning on taking the fan off and giving it a good blast of air to clean things up.

 

[Tron]

Last year my final setting was at the very end of the white on the tstat, about 2:00. This year I have been putting it in same spot, then noticing it is dropping out of active by morning, then cranking it to 3:00 - 3:30 to get it back in active zone.

Sounds about right. I won't say that every thermostat position is the same on every stove, but at 2:30 mine also stalls out eventually. At that setting, there's no flame and hardly any coal glow to see, so that's not surprising. To keep it running on low I usually dial it to around 3:00, and somewhat higher when it's freezing outside.
We installed it in February 2020, and we don't run it overnight. Plus it's Mississippi, so the cat really doesn't have that many hours on it.

 

[Puposky]

@Puposky If you could post some pics it would be appreciated, I want to see what your door looks like, that will give the idea if your truely having a gasket issue, you may not need to replace the gasket either, since its a year old stove you may just need to tighten the door latch (easily done) and that will keep you good to go.
I would also check your chimney cap, cat chamber in the stove for fallen creosote flakes, if the chimney is a little plugged then you will have a slower draw which might be contributing to your cat stalls. You may also want to test your t-stat knob to make sure that it didnt slide off the rod a little (when you think your running medium you cold be running low) But pics pf your stove, stove door, cat face and chimney first please.

Cleaned chimney September , so that’s clean. I’ll try to post some pics after work. Thanks

 

[Highbeam]

Cleaned chimney September , so that’s clean. I’ll try to post some pics after work. Thanks

The cats, especially steel, can plug on the back which is weird but it happens and is more likely than a worn out cat.

 

[AndrewU]

Gotta say I LOVE my Ashford 30. Letting her burn out today so I can empty the ash. Putting that in was the best way to spend $8000 (all in, including the tiled raised hearth) I can think of.

 

[stoveliker]

You don't need to let it burn out; rake the coals to one side, scoop the ash on the other side. Won't get all the ash, but you don't want to empty all anyway. Moreover, doing this with hot coals keeps some draft going, and with some careful motion, any dust you make will nicely go up the flue rather than into you home/lungs.

 

[Puposky]

Hopefully I did this right, I can’t computer very well, and the photos show up. I blew out the cat with the compressor and there was definitely some level of buildup in it, we’ll see if it helps tonight.

Last night around 5 I had a 2/3 full load of birch and a little oak. I settled it in at 3:30 instead of 2:30 and got up at 5 this morning. At 2:30 I’d have 1/4 of the wood left but be out of the active zone. This morning I had no wood left and out of the active zone, so just seemed to burn faster. The biggest thing I notice is last year I’d have 1/4 load left in morning still in active zone at 2:00 and hours left to go. Hopefully blowing the cat out solves it!!

 

[showrguy]

Hopefully I did this right, I can’t computer very well, and the photos show up. I blew out the cat with the compressor and there was definitely some level of buildup in it, we’ll see if it helps tonight.

Last night around 5 I had a 2/3 full load of birch and a little oak. I settled it in at 3:30 instead of 2:30 and got up at 5 this morning. At 2:30 I’d have 1/4 of the wood left but be out of the active zone. This morning I had no wood left and out of the active zone, so just seemed to burn faster. The biggest thing I notice is last year I’d have 1/4 load left in morning still in active zone at 2:00 and hours left to go. Hopefully blowing the cat out solves it!!

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Try setting @ 3:15, I think that’ll be your happy place..

 

[Nealm66]

I’m on my second season with a princess and it seems to be running the same as last year. It goes below active when the fire is almost completely burned out and just a few coals. I forgot to bypass mine a couple times on reloading and like you, I thought I might have caused damage but doesn’t seem to be the case. I never filled out the warranty thing and had actually planned on just replacing it every couple years so I didn’t have to try diagnosing it but it doesn’t seem to have degraded at all that I’ve noticed. Here’s my sweet spot

 

[stoveliker]

Hopefully I did this right, I can’t computer very well, and the photos show up. I blew out the cat with the compressor and there was definitely some level of buildup in it, we’ll see if it helps tonight.

Last night around 5 I had a 2/3 full load of birch and a little oak. I settled it in at 3:30 instead of 2:30 and got up at 5 this morning. At 2:30 I’d have 1/4 of the wood left but be out of the active zone. This morning I had no wood left and out of the active zone, so just seemed to burn faster. The biggest thing I notice is last year I’d have 1/4 load left in morning still in active zone at 2:00 and hours left to go. Hopefully blowing the cat out solves it!!

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To me all this looks fine. Cat and gasket and window.

So I'm a bit stumped if your flue is good as you state.

Have you taken off the stove pipe at the collar and looked whether all is ok behind the cat?

 

[kennyp2339]

the photos show up

Door gasket looks pretty good and you have the creosote marks on the glass that would suggest a leaking gasket, you can adjust the door latch to make things a little more snug if you think it could use it.
I say build a fire and let her rip, you shouldnt have any issues, if the cat is bad (highly doubt it because they are a lot tougher then one would think) its under warrentee anyway. The dealer would send for one, once it comes in then its a 30 second swap out.