2022-2023 BK everything thread

[BKVP]

First fire of 2022-2023! Last match of 2022-2023!

 

[Highbeam]

First fire of 2022-2023! Last match of 2022-2023!

Same here, well first fire, cat just started glowing.

 

[Diabel]

Very envious! Had a weekend burn couple of weeks ago and that is it. Will be burning next weekend hopefully.

 

[Poindexter]

For all this talk of mechanically-failed combustors, I have put about 70 cords of wood thru a pair of Ashford 30's, with 2/3 of that being on one stove and 1/3 on the other, and probably around 30 cords on just one ceramic combustor, without ever even a hint of cracking or distortion. This leads me to believe that anyone cracking a combustor is doing it through negligence or poor stove maintenance, and not thru regular and careful operation.

I'm not doing anything unusually prudent, but:

1. I always open bypass before going out to fetch fresh wood. This gives combustor a few minutes to cool, before I'm back to open the door and load.

2. I let the stove burn on high for 5 minutes after loading before closing the bypass, such that I'm not putting dead-cold exhaust thru a warm combustor.

3. I burn wood that is actually CSS'd 3 summers (or more).

I have been away a bit, apologies, I have returned to a specialty within my profession that I haven't done in 25 years and am doing an inordinate amount of paperwork.

I very much agree with 2 of Ashful's 3 points as quoted and defer to his greater experience on the third of three. Likewise, BKVP's advice on wood under 15% MC, vs fuel at 15-20% MC vs fuel @ >20% MC can be taken to the bank.

1. Open the bypass door (and turn the throttle up to wide open) and then go do something else. My morning routine is to flip the lever, go pee, get the coffee maker going, let the cat out and bring wood from the garage upstairs to the stove room -minimum. If you are getting smoke roll out when you open the loading door you didn't wait long enough and your combustor is getting a face full of cold air while you are getting a face full of smoke. Variables here are how much coals you have glowing and outdoor temperature, ass/u/me/ing you haven't changed your chimney height recently.

For most of my heating season I have a fair bit of coals and a low outdoor temp - as a segue to point 2

2. Letting the stove run on high with the bypass open for 5 minutes after loading fresh fuel I don't usually do, but I am not working from home and my stove is usually raging. Typically I flip the lever at 0505, load and engage around 0515, and turn down around 0545, with my truck pulling out of the driveway at 0610 or 0615. On this one I defer to Ashful. It sounds like a good idea to me, but I don't have racks and racks of east coast hardwoods, and I only run my stove in moderate temps at the extremes of my shoulder seasons. In winter I am accustomed to having singed arm hair up to nearly my elbows and a fully engulfed firebox before I can get the loading door closed. If you live south of say 60 degrees North latitude or so this is probably a really good idea.

3. Yes and yes and see also BKVP. The real question here is how dry is your fuel in the middle of wavy grain. I have been a member here since whenever, I have never ever yet seen one post from anybody saying that fuel at 14-15% MC made their personal stove run worse than it did with fuel at 20%. Not one. Down to about 13% MC, drier is better. Period. My stove runs best at 14% MC, but I only ever finished 8 cords at 14% once. It was a lovely year. 13-15% is fine. 16-17% is pretty good. When I call my local BK dealer looking for a little bit of fuel at 20%MC, again, (to investigate an interesting question here most often) they tell me to come over and take whatever I want. They know perfectly well they will get in exchange a generous portion of Poindexter's 14% MC spruce splits on the rack closest to the retail entry door.

I personally consider fuel at 18-22% suboptimal but usable. I am not trying to insult anyone. I don't have any particular individuals in mind with this observation. My experience, my stove, my install, 18-22% is better than propane or oil or electric; but I can do better and the performance increase from my stove is worth the effort.

I am a user that replaces my combustor when I have a noticeable performance roll off. Compared to my previous stove, an EPA certified non-cat, when I see a performance roll off from my combustor I have saved enough $ just on green cordwood dropped in my driveway to buy a new combustor and still be $ ahead. I am a bit of an outlier in that I only get about 8k active hours out of one combustor. Typically here 10-12k hours is much more common. I do have a slightly undersized stove for my house, and I run it hard.

 

[DonTee]

Seems like people burning softwood are getting less hours out of their cats. From what I’ve read so far.

 

[Highbeam]

Seems like people burning softwood are getting less hours out of their cats. From what I’ve read so far.

Or perhaps the results of a dead cat with Smokey softwoods is more apparent. Both are possibilities.

 

[kennyp2339]

Seems like people burning softwood are getting less hours out of their cats. From what I’ve read so far.

Nah, I think soft wood is easier than hardwoods, nonscientific but hard woods seem to need / generate more heat to burn and keep burning giving the cat high temp exposure, I find when I burn eastern white pine the stove sets up and cruises better then with oak which takes more heat before throttling back a bit on the t-stat

 

[Ashful]

Nah, I think soft wood is easier than hardwoods, nonscientific but hard woods seem to need / generate more heat to burn and keep burning giving the cat high temp exposure, I find when I burn eastern white pine the stove sets up and cruises better then with oak which takes more heat before throttling back a bit on the t-stat

Interesting debate, but I think I’d tend to believe Highbeam’s scenario. While hardwood may burn hotter, and thus expose the cat to higher exhaust temps, I believe the cat likely has a higher average temperature in his softwood usage scenario, due to the work it is doing. Aging is likely related to temperature*hours product in some way, so it would make sense that softwoods make it run hotter, if we accept that members running softwood are depleting their cats (or at least actually suffering from diminished performance) faster than those running hardwood.

 

[kennyp2339]

Interesting debate, but I think I’d tend to believe Highbeam’s scenario. While hardwood may burn hotter, and thus expose the cat to higher exhaust temps, I believe the cat likely has a higher average temperature in his softwood usage scenario, due to the work it is doing. Aging is likely related to temperature*hours product in some way, so it would make sense that softwoods make it run hotter, if we accept that members running softwood are depleting their cats (or at least actually suffering from diminished performance) faster than those running hardwood.

Our 1st world problems are amazing lol

 

[Nealm66]

I wonder if the bark has a play in it

 

[stoveliker]

My cat is a badass, no my cat is a bigger badass

 

[Fisherman-Travis]

picked up this King last night to replace my parents old non epa stove with. After getting it home I noticed the channel for the bypass gasket is deteriorated. Has anyone seen this before? Does anyone have a clear picture that would show what this is supposed to look like? Can this part be purchased? I am a pretty confident welder but I’m a little on the dark on how to fix this before we install the stove. Thanks

 

[kennyp2339]

@Fisherman-Travis Contact @BKVP those channels were designed to melt / warp / break off during periods of running the stove on high with the by-pass open, he'll get you setup with the proper measurements / steel to use to make the repair.

 

[MTASH]

I'm late to the party...first fire today in the Ashford. We've had a very warm fall, and today is the latest I've seen for the first snow in the 8 years I've lived in this area. We've only had two frosts up until this week which is equally unusual. As with the other seasons, everything seems about a month late this year. Sounds like we may have a tough winter coming up though.

 

[BKVP]

@Fisherman-Travis Contact @BKVP those channels were designed to melt / warp / break off during periods of running the stove on high with the by-pass open, he'll get you setup with the proper measurements / steel to use to make the repair.

Done.

 

[Poindexter]

I neglected to mention yesterday evening my combustors don't have mechanical failures like cracking. One of the first two combustors did have some cracking and some teeth falling out, the rest just get worn out looking with a color change compared to NIB condition. Sorry.

 

[BKVP]

Ok, I'll tell you! But first, let me gather the data. We track everything, including combustor warranty, resale etc. I can zip sort and compare to market share geographically and tell you with some degree of accuracy (there are cross species on both coasts to consider) which is harder on combustors. It will take some time, but it's a good study.

 

[fahmahbob]

I'm a long time wood burner, but I'm very new to catalytic wood stoves. I have a new Ashford 20.2, and I've noticed that sometimes when I'm burning it in black box mode, I'll get flames dancing on the combustor. Is this normal? I've been reading all the threads about how to properly burn this type of stove, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right. I'm burning 16-18% MC red oak, if that matters.

 

[Nealm66]

I believe that’s just fine. Mine does that most of the time unless the glass gets so dark I can’t see it or I’m running it hotter

 

[stoveliker]

I'm a long time wood burner, but I'm very new to catalytic wood stoves. I have a new Ashford 20.2, and I've noticed that sometimes when I'm burning it in black box mode, I'll get flames dancing on the combustor. Is this normal? I've been reading all the threads about how to properly burn this type of stove, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right. I'm burning 16-18% MC red oak, if that matters.

I've seen it too; somewhat lazy (but hot) flames between the flame screen and the cat surface when there are no primary flames in the firebox.

I see it mostly when the cat is really hot - apparently hot enough to ignite the gases before they enter the channels of the cat.
I think it's fine. In any case, there's nothing you/we can do about it other than observe and enjoy. (I've been known to sit in front of the stove, intending to read a book, but just stare into whatever is going on in there - such a wide spectrum of things can happen in our stoves!)

 

[BKVP]

I'm a long time wood burner, but I'm very new to catalytic wood stoves. I have a new Ashford 20.2, and I've noticed that sometimes when I'm burning it in black box mode, I'll get flames dancing on the combustor. Is this normal? I've been reading all the threads about how to properly burn this type of stove, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right. I'm burning 16-18% MC red oak, if that matters.

Completely normal. It's a Hendrix Experience with just the right amount of bourbon!

 

[stoveliker]

That (bourbon) might be the second reason not much of my reading happens during those times..

 

[Crummy]

Down to about 13% MC, drier is better. Period. My stove runs best at 14% MC, but I only ever finished 8 cords at 14% once. It was a lovely year. 13-15% is fine. 16-17% is pretty good.

Do you have any trouble keeping the wood that dry? Late this summer I had some black spruce that had been seasoned two years and it was down there around 12%. After some rain this fall it climbed up in the 17% range. It is stored in a covered woodshed with slat sides so I'm assuming that humidity is all that made the difference. The different could be the wood but it was all processed at the same time, placed on pallets with the top covered for two years and then put in the woodshed late this summer . I'm now farther back in the shed where there is one year old white spruce and it's running 16-18%. It will be interesting to see what it is after it's been below zero for a while. My splits are very small so it's possible that it may not be effected so much by the humidity if the splits were bigger? Overall heat output and burn time doesn't seem to be much different on my Sirocco 20 between 12% and 18%. I am finding the white spruce has small chunks left after 12 hours as where the black spruce would be all coal but that again could be split size.

 

[BKVP]

Do you have any trouble keeping the wood that dry? Late this summer I had some black spruce that had been seasoned two years and it was down there around 12%. After some rain this fall it climbed up in the 17% range. It is stored in a covered woodshed with slat sides so I'm assuming that humidity is all that made the difference. The different could be the wood but it was all processed at the same time, placed on pallets with the top covered for two years and then put in the woodshed late this summer . I'm now farther back in the shed where there is one year old white spruce and it's running 16-18%. It will be interesting to see what it is after it's been below zero for a while. My splits are very small so it's possible that it may not be effected so much by the humidity if the splits were bigger? Overall heat output and burn time doesn't seem to be much different on my Sirocco 20 between 12% and 18%. I am finding the white spruce has small chunks left after 12 hours as where the black spruce would be all coal but that again could be split size.

Thank you for pointing out wood is like a sponge! It can absorb MC for the air! All the more reason to cross stack wood, get it stacked on pallets and allow air passages on all four sides. The Woodway held a Wood Shed Challenge a few years ago there in FNSB. I was one of the judges and I can tell you some very, very clever designs took a great deal into consideration when designing their wood sheds.

 

[Diabel]

Interesting. So is there a direct relation between wood MC and room RH?
Reason for asking:
I have been away for the past three weeks. Before leaving I brought about 5 arm loads of 3 maybe 4 year old (css top covered) hemlock. I burned splits from the same stacks last year, definitely well seasoned. Now, when i am away the stove room RH tends to sit around 55% (much lower when stove running or HRV running). Is there a chance that those well seasoned, ready to burn splits are now above the 20% sweet spot?