2021-2022 BK everything thread

[ohlongarm]

Got down to low thirties , at noon yesterday , I put 6 large pieces of 6 year old white ash in the stove, the wood was so hard it looked petrified. I know BKVP wouldn't approve of a partial load. My catalyst combustor 9 hours later was still at 1600 degrees. I threw 3 pieces of ash in at 9PM, it's 10AM now and the cat is still at 800 degrees, now I believe that's superior performance any day of the week, love my king, . PS I'm only running 12 feet of pipe from stove top to chimney cap. This will be my fourth season with the parlor. Between the 5th hour of the first burn and the ninth the combustors intensity increased in color, and I had quite a few aurora borealis type things dancing around. Chris am I okay?

 

[stoveliker]

I'm not Chris, but other than the needless opening (b/c of partial loads, more refilling), it seems to run okay to me.
Looking forward to some cold to start mine as well...

 

[Highbeam]

VC stoves have the cat and tstat combo but I bet the down draft design probably requires a little more air to burn properly thus reducing burn times. Also the new Jotul F500 has a tstat for it’s secondary air only. You would think more non cat stove manufactures would do this for the secondary air systems to keep them a bit more controllable. I believe PE is the only one?

PE doesn’t have a tstat for secondary air. The two most popular PE stove models use a barometric damper to feed the secondary air which is better than a hole like the other brands. Woodstock uses a bimetallic coil stat to regulate secondary air feed on at least some of their hybrid models.

Efficiency and emissions seems to be the goal for the other companies trying thermostatic controls.

 

[Tron]

Living in MS must be nice.

It is. I've just started burning part-time as it dipped into the 50's in the morning.
On the other hand, cutting up a huge pine that fell during a storm in the midst of summer is very, very exhausting.

 

[Highbeam]

It is. I've just started burning part-time as it dipped into the 50's in the morning.
On the other hand, cutting up a huge pine that fell during a storm in the midst of summer is very, very exhausting.

I wasn't being sarcastic, there are lots of good reasons to move south. Especially if you can still get cool enough to burn. We're not much colder right now but it doesn't warm up much during the day. Oh and it rains, it's pouring down rain and 54 right now. Will soon be dark at 4 pm. It's going to rain every day for the whole 10 day forecast. and dark. And muddy. and rain.

 

[Tron]

I wasn't being sarcastic, there are lots of good reasons to move south. Especially if you can still get cool enough to burn. We're not much colder right now but it doesn't warm up much during the day. Oh and it rains, it's pouring down rain and 54 right now. Will soon be dark at 4 pm. It's going to rain every day for the whole 10 day forecast. and dark. And muddy. and rain.

Well, the northwest is known for its not-so-cold but rainy winters. But you have beautiful summers up there.

 

[Nealm66]

Good weather for ducks

 

[estepracing]

Hey, I have a question about how to get my combuster warrantied. We have only had our stove for 4 years and I was thinking it had a 10 year warranty, and it for sure is bad and this is our main source of heat so I need to get it taken care of before it gets any colder. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bikedennis]

I was told that you must send in the warranty card that comes with the stove to BK.

 

[Highbeam]

Hey, I have a question about how to get my combuster warrantied. We have only had our stove for 4 years and I was thinking it had a 10 year warranty, and it for sure is bad and this is our main source of heat so I need to get it taken care of before it gets any colder. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would be thrilled to get 4 years! The warranty process starts with your dealer.

 

[begreen]

PE doesn’t have a tstat for secondary air. The two most popular PE stove models use a barometric damper to feed the secondary air which is better than a hole like the other brands. .

Correct, though the EBT is also used in the Neo 2.5.

 

[estepracing]

I would be thrilled to get 4 years! The warranty process starts with your dealer.

So how long should I expect them to last with it being our main source of heat and the next big debatable topic is should I get ceramic or Steel.

 

[ratsrepus]

three years if your lucky. if you burn 24-7. I replace mine after two season. as far as steel vs ceramic? hang on let me get a chair and a beer

 

[estepracing]

three years if your lucky. if you burn 24-7. I replace mine after two season. as far as steel vs ceramic? hang on let me get a chair and a beer

That would make sense that you say 3 years, because last year was a bit iffy with it. I figured the steel versus ceramic conversation could go on for quite a while.

 

[Tron]

In short, there's no measurable difference between ceramic and steel. The former is a bit cheaper, though.
As for how long they last, I think around 10k hours probably comes close. So it depends on how much you use it.

 

[JKanor]

So how long should I expect them to last with it being our main source of heat and the next big debatable topic is should I get ceramic or Steel.

I bought my Princess used in 2018 and it came with a new ceramic cat, it worked as advertised. It also took the brunt of my new stove mistakes (overheated it a time or two and opened the door a few times with the bypass closed). Ended up having some scaling and crumbling after 2 years.

Last year I bought a new steel cat for it (midwest was back ordered on ceramics). It lights off fast and works as well as the ceramic with no ash build up (remember it's a princess, the other 30 boxes seem to get more ash).

With that said, after reading a ton on the steel vs ceramic, I ordered a new ceramic as well as soon as they were in stock. So that sits on the shelf waiting. Might even swap them while the steel is good to try and see a difference.

@Highbeam keeps good records on his cats and uses them up quick. He posted notes a while ago that showed the steel ones have a little less life in them than the ceramics, and the ceramic is cheaper.

 

[Highbeam]

I bought my Princess used in 2018 and it came with a new ceramic cat, it worked as advertised. It also took the brunt of my new stove mistakes (overheated it a time or two and opened the door a few times with the bypass closed). Ended up having some scaling and crumbling after 2 years.

Last year I bought a new steel cat for it (midwest was back ordered on ceramics). It lights off fast and works as well as the ceramic with no ash build up (remember it's a princess, the other 30 boxes seem to get more ash).

With that said, after reading a ton on the steel vs ceramic, I ordered a new ceramic as well as soon as they were in stock. So that sits on the shelf waiting. Might even swap them while the steel is good to try and see a difference.

@Highbeam keeps good records on his cats and uses them up quick. He posted notes a while ago that showed the steel ones have a little less life in them than the ceramics, and the ceramic is cheaper.

I only consumed a single steel cat and it died significantly earlier than the ceramics before and after it. I wait until they're really dead before swapping them complete with dripping tar on my chimney flashing because I hate to waste things. Before condemning all steel cats to a short life I would want more data points.

The only benefit of steel cats I can see is less complaining from owners that see a crack or chip in their ceramic cat and don't realize that some of that is acceptable. The earlier light off advantage while perhaps something measurable in a laboratory is not even noticeable in real life.

 

[JKanor]

I only consumed a single steel cat and it died significantly earlier than the ceramics before and after it. I wait until they're really dead before swapping them complete with dripping tar on my chimney flashing because I hate to waste things. Before condemning all steel cats to a short life I would want more data points.

The only benefit of steel cats I can see is less complaining from owners that see a crack or chip in their ceramic cat and don't realize that some of that is acceptable. The earlier light off advantage while perhaps something measurable in a laboratory is not even noticeable in real life.

I noticed the quicker light off when using a digital thermocouple behind the cat, when the degrees start flying like it hit a 2 stroke power band. On an analog, I couldn't tell.

 

[kennyp2339]

I burn 24/7 from the end of October to the beginning of May, give our take a couple weeks. So figure a solid 6 months, princess was installed winter of 2014 so it’s going on it’s 8th season, I’m on 3rd cat, second season - I had an issue with an over performing draft that has thankfully been dialed within spec, this cat should last an additional 2 more seasons, I’ve used both ceramic and steel, stove came with a steel one, then replaced with a ceramic and now running a steel. Personally I’m not that refined to tell you which is better cause there both the same in my book. Steel lights of slightly quicker, cermaic can crack due to thermal shock, but is less likely to clog if you have fly ash issues.
It’s kind of mute in my book, although I have a new cat in standby and that’s ceramic.

 

[Highbeam]

I noticed the quicker light off when using a digital thermocouple behind the cat, when the degrees start flying like it hit a 2 stroke power band. On an analog, I couldn't tell.

This is the frog in hot water issue. Any new cat will be quicker to light off than an old cat. Not many of us get the chance to compare new cats of different materials back to back.

 

[estepracing]

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'll stick with my ceramic for now. Has anyone ever tried cleaning the catalyst with a soda blaster or anything for that matter. Just for future reference, I don't want to be recreating the wheel.

 

[Dieselhead]

Racked some for the first fire of the year tonite

 

[stoveliker]

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'll stick with my ceramic for now. Has anyone ever tried cleaning the catalyst with a soda blaster or anything for that matter. Just for future reference, I don't want to be recreating the wheel.

If you (soda) blast, you can immediately put your cat in the trash bin.

The cat works because of atomic scale precious metals on a thin coating of what I think will be alumina. Blasting will remove both, leading to a dead metal or ceramic substrate.

 

[Nealm66]

Racked some for the first fire of the year tonite

View attachment 284842 View attachment 284843

I’ve been thinking about something like that. We can get pallets for free around here and would be pretty sweet to grab a pallet at a time and have a bay in the garage for it

 

[Alpine1]

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'll stick with my ceramic for now. Has anyone ever tried cleaning the catalyst with a soda blaster or anything for that matter. Just for future reference, I don't want to be recreating the wheel.

You can try to boil it in distilled water and white vinegar. Someone (@Highbeam ?) did it two or three years ago and posted his results. IIRC you can squeeze an extra couple of weeks of use out of a nearly dead catalyst.