2022-2023 BK everything thread

[Dieselhead]

Hi all - I'm a new user/BK owner. Did a lot of reading on this forum last year and had an Ashford 25 insert delivered and installed by the only BK dealer I could find local to me. Used it all last winter and loved it. Getting between 10 and 14 hour burns reliably.

We are preparing for the cold and had our chimney sweep out (different guy from the installer). He found substantial creosote build-up and says he is unable to clean it he says because the insulated liner the installer used is "substandard" and will crack and disintegrate if he tries to scrub it. He wants to pull it and put in a heavier gauge liner.

I do have a moisture meter and spot check my wood (always checking on a freshly split face) so I'm not sure why I'm getting so much build-up. Nothing goes in that's over 20%, mostly it's around 15% to 18%. We primarily burnt ash last year. Our chimney is ~25'. I make sure the cat is active until I go to bed (it falls off sometime overnight) and I usually have some coals left in the morning.

I've found the people on this forum to be very knowledgeable and I'd be happy to have any insight you can offer.

Thanks

View attachment 299646

That does not look bad at all. The chimneys run a bit cool at the top with a BK I doubt your flue looks that bad 5’ down, I’d find a sweep who isn’t trying to swindle you.

 

[stoveliker]

Hi all - I'm a new user/BK owner. Did a lot of reading on this forum last year and had an Ashford 25 insert delivered and installed by the only BK dealer I could find local to me. Used it all last winter and loved it. Getting between 10 and 14 hour burns reliably.

We are preparing for the cold and had our chimney sweep out (different guy from the installer). He found substantial creosote build-up and says he is unable to clean it he says because the insulated liner the installer used is "substandard" and will crack and disintegrate if he tries to scrub it. He wants to pull it and put in a heavier gauge liner.

I do have a moisture meter and spot check my wood (always checking on a freshly split face) so I'm not sure why I'm getting so much build-up. Nothing goes in that's over 20%, mostly it's around 15% to 18%. We primarily burnt ash last year. Our chimney is ~25'. I make sure the cat is active until I go to bed (it falls off sometime overnight) and I usually have some coals left in the morning.

I've found the people on this forum to be very knowledgeable and I'd be happy to have any insight you can offer.

Thanks

View attachment 299646

I'm not sure I agree with this not being too much for a well-operating BK.

Are you sure the cat stays lit after you engage it?

Does the gasket of the bypass seal well?

I don't know enough about liners to comment on the quality.

 

[Dieselhead]

I'm not sure I agree with this not being too much for a well-operating BK.

Are you sure the cat stays lit after you engage it?

Does the gasket of the bypass seal well?

I don't know enough about liners to comment on the quality.

I go through about 4 cord a year and have the same height chimney as him. My creosote at the top looks about the same if not a bit worse and I’ve had the usual burning characteristics one would expect with a BK stove.

 

[ratsrepus]

I’m looking forward to getting my Auber hooked up and getting some temp info too.

What type of cat do these stoves come with? Ceramic or metal? And are you guys replacing them with the same type?

ashford comes with steel, the princess is ceramic, i'm assuming the King is also ceramic

 

[Crummy]

800-900 flue temps sound a little hot to me. A good range for flue temps during a full load cruise is 400-600. Maybe you need to turn her down a little sooner. This flue probe should help you fine tune your burn.

Oh yeah I'm not running that hot all the time this was just a test to see what it would do wide open. Looks as though the flue is under 200° when it's set for a long burn. The literature says Blaze Kings run 150 to 300 flue temp so it appears I'm just right.

 

[Crummy]

I said it before, and I'll say it again: your rig runs unusually hot, maybe even too hot for the long-term good of your combustor. Running this hot won't kill anything instantaneously, assuming it's not climbing much higher, but it's definitely going to impact combustor lifetime if it continues.

If turning it down works, that's good news, there's no leak in the stove... especially if you tell us you're able to get down to "black box" mode. But is it possible the thermostat needs re-calibration, to be running this hot at WOT?

Oh yeah it goes "black box" and that's how I run it. I've got 19 hours out of a full load but have been loading and setting it for 12 hour burns. I have been turning it down after charring the wood just before the cat leaves the active zone. This was just a test to see just what it was doing when it left the active zone. I keep reading that the thermostat will not let it overheat but it appears to me that it will with smaller splits of very dry black spruce. There is no way I can run full throttle and probably not over 3/4.

 

[Todd]

Oh yeah I'm not running that hot all the time this was just a test to see what it would do wide open. Looks as though the flue is under 200° when it's set for a long burn. The literature says Blaze Kings run 150 to 300 flue temp so it appears I'm just right.

Does the literature state those flue temps are internal or external? I personally feel those are too low if internal.

 

[Crummy]

Does the literature state those flue temps are internal or external? I personally feel those are too low if internal.

The combination of our exclusive
thermostat and catalytic combustor technology makes your Blaze King stove one of the most efficient wood stoves in
the world. The proof of this is in our flue temperatures. Non Blaze King stoves have flue temperatures of between
600° F and 900° F while your Blaze King flue temperatures are between 150° F and 300° F. Non Blaze King stoves
pump valuable heat up the flue. Your Blaze King catalytic stove keeps the heat in your home saving you money. By
making your stove this efficient you will burn up to 33% less wood, cut, stack, load and clean 33% less wood. This is a major advantage that only a Blaze King offers.

 

[Todd]

The combination of our exclusive
thermostat and catalytic combustor technology makes your Blaze King stove one of the most efficient wood stoves in
the world. The proof of this is in our flue temperatures. Non Blaze King stoves have flue temperatures of between
600° F and 900° F while your Blaze King flue temperatures are between 150° F and 300° F. Non Blaze King stoves
pump valuable heat up the flue. Your Blaze King catalytic stove keeps the heat in your home saving you money. By
making your stove this efficient you will burn up to 33% less wood, cut, stack, load and clean 33% less wood. This is a major advantage that only a Blaze King offers.

I don’t remember mine being that low. What say you other BK owners, where are your flue temps at?

 

[Crummy]

That's

I don’t remember mine being that low. What say you other BK owners, where are your flue temps at?

That's directly out of the brochure for the Blaze King 20 series stoves. Just looked at mine and the flue is just a little above 150° with the stove turned all the way down and the catalyst at about 11:00.

 

[stoveliker]

Im at 250-300 running low. But my chimney is tall so it.may pull in more heat.

 

[BKVP]

My King runs 200 on low. Keep in my the hyperactive cats can show highest temps when new. Ashful has an early version of a top secret coating. That coating is now standard in production since 2021.

It lights off much quicker and show longer activity ie. lifespan. Thanks for being a beta tester Ashful.

 

[Crummy]

Ashful has an early version of a top secret coating. That coating is now standard in production since 2021.

It lights off much quicker and show longer activity ie. lifespan. Thanks for being a beta tester Ashful.

My Sirocco 20 was brand new a month ago. Would it be this new fancy technology?

 

[DonTee]

My Princess manufacture date is 7/22

 

[stoveliker]

@BKVP if BK ships these new-coating-cats in their new stoves, are you able to let us know what vendors (will) sell the same improved cats? Given that BK doesn't make their own cats, i presume this new version is available elsewhere too?

(Of course after their previous version stock has depleted.)

 

[Todd]

I wonder how low flue temp can go before it effects draft, creosote and efficiency. Seems a lot of cat stoves have more creosote top of chimney compared to non cats? There’s got to be a cut off somewhere?

 

[stoveliker]

Creosote accumulation is related to water vapor condensing, capturing smoke particles, then drying out and being what you see in the chimney.

That means that you have to be a bit above 212 F at the top to keep the wall above 212 F and prevent water condescending.

 

[Diabel]

My King runs 200 on low. Keep in my the hyperactive cats can show highest temps when new. Ashful has an early version of a top secret coating. That coating is now standard in production since 2021.

It lights off much quicker and show longer activity ie. lifespan. Thanks for being a beta tester Ashful.

WHAT?
i am due for beta……international user😝

 

[bikedennis]

Does that mean the Sirocco 30.2 has the new cat? I was told it just came out last year vs the 30.1.

 

[DonTee]

I’ve wondered if having a chimney cap helps to trap moisture in the top of the chimney. I notice a lot of people who are heavy wood burners (like the Amish) don’t have chimney caps.

 

[stoveliker]

If the gas temperature is high enough, and there is gas flow,.it won't be a problem.

Caps are.good to keep moisture out. Rain... And critters.

 

[Ashful]

Ashful has an early version of a top secret coating. That coating is now standard in production since 2021.

It lights off much quicker and show longer activity ie. lifespan. Thanks for being a beta tester Ashful.

This cat just started its fifth season, this morning. Lit off just fine.

 

[Ashful]

WHAT?
i am due for beta……international user😝

I guess the goal was to have a comparison between the new and the old OEM cat's. Since I bought two of the same stove (Ashford 30.1) in 2015, and was running both in the same house, with the same wood, by the same operator, I was a good candidate for comparing them. BKVP sent me the beta cat, and I purchased a new steel cat, so I could have a side-by-side comparison, or as much as is possible given differing chimney heights.

 

[Ashful]

Caps are.good to keep moisture out. Rain... And critters.

There used to be a lot more regular posts to this forum ten years ago, about critters in stoves. Back then, the admonishment on those not running with caps seemed almost as frequent as the wet wood conversation is today. I was one of the unlucky ones, had a squirrel in my stove when I shut it down for one warm day in January 2012, and it cost about $650 in damaged parts the loss of seven or eight weeks of my season in waiting on parts delivered from Norway (Jotul).

A cap with a 6" tall cylinder of 5/8" or 3/4" diamond mesh will keep the critters out, without clogging or reducing flow substantially, over the course of a season. Even if the cylinder is only 8" diameter, that's 150 sq.in. of surface, roughly equivalent to a 12" square opening.

 

[Highbeam]

This cat just started its fifth season, this morning. Lit off just fine.

I burn softwoods at low output. Until this year it was September to June as primary heat. 4 cords approximately. New mini split is working very well so far into our warm fall.

I think we agree that at these low burn rates, the cat is doing almost all the work. It’s running pretty hot and eating all of that cold pitchy smoke. It will fail sooner and more catastrophically than your stove running at high output with less resinous fuels. In your case the actual fire is doing a much larger portion of the work, say 75% so when your cat is only 50% effective you’re only down 12.5% total. And, with less resinous smoke, that small drop in performance doesn’t have such catastrophic results. Maybe you won’t notice. That’s my theory anyway.

In any case, I get the rated 10k hours and I’m happy. The stove has been a great tuner for the last 10 years. Further, I recommend that all of us just run it per the directions and look at the chimney. If it’s smoking, investigate for cat failure. Your cat will wear out eventually so get a spare as long as you don’t plan to sell your house right away.

I hope the aftermarket is getting this new coating too. Longer life sounds great.