2022-2023 BK everything thread

[Ohio123]

BKVP,
Do you recommend burning on high for 20 min once bypass is closed and cat is active before dialing down thermostat? Or should I just dial down thermostat and burn slow once I have the cat active? Sorry for the question, I am frustrated with burn times.

Currently with initial 25lb wood fill at 2hrs with no blower on low. I still see a good amount of flame.

 

[Nealm66]

Looks like you need to turn your swoosh down till it looks like that after about 12-16 hours

 

[Ohio123]

Just loaded it up after initial burn. Hot coals on the bottom Filled it with 29lb’s of wood. My initial burn produced 3hrs of burn time with no blower. I will try to dial the thermostat down a little lower.

Here is a pic of the 2nd load. Big chunks

 

[Judge80]

My dealer recommended not engaging the cat until the needle is around 12 o’clock as opposed to just inside the active zone on a cold start up. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Judge80]

On a separate note, I am seeing some smoke out of my chimney, albeit a light amount, with the cat engaged on a fresh reload. Is this because the piping is hot and removing some creosote or my new cat already not removing all smoke?

Edit for clarification: the output contents do not smell nice like a wood smoke. It smells kinda bad from the whiffs I could get. Is that how air the cat lets through smells? This is my first season with a wood stove.

 

[BKVP]

BKVP,
Do you recommend burning on high for 20 min once bypass is closed and cat is active before dialing down thermostat? Or should I just dial down thermostat and burn slow once I have the cat active? Sorry for the question, I am frustrated with burn times.

Currently with initial 25lb wood fill at 2hrs with no blower on low. I still see a good amount of flame.

View attachment 306231 View attachment 306232

Ok, I recently posted a picture of full load in a Boxer 24. (Same fire box)

If I'm counting correctly (hards to do with image) you have at least 14 very small pieces. That correlates to a vast amount of surface area. There are also fairly good size gaps in the load.

To all BK wood stove and insert owners, if your fuel is well conditioned, you can turn down the thermostat once it hits active.

I refer to test labs reports frequently. They are voluminous, but here are the burn rates for the 25 series. Your insert is capable of burning .66 k/hr. 1 kg is equal to 2.2lbs.

As nealm66 points out, you can dial down lower, depending upon your draft. If you have proper draft, you can burn lower and sustain combustor activity. Look at my prior post for BX24 for image of full load.

You'll get it sorted out...

 

[BKVP]

My dealer recommended not engaging the cat until the needle is around 12 o’clock as opposed to just inside the active zone on a cold start up. Any thoughts on that?

Do you have SC25 or AF25?

 

[Judge80]

Do you have SC25 or AF25?

I have a Princess from this year

 

[Ohio123]

Just loaded it up after initial burn. Hot coals on the bottom Filled it with 29lb’s of wood. My initial burn produced 3hrs of burn time with no blower. I will try to dial the thermostat down a little lower.

Here is a pic of the 2nd load. Big chunks

View attachment 306241

2nd burn. 1hr in. Dial down low. Flames are huge. Is this normal or is my stove not setup or put together correctly. Photo included of dial setting and flames.

 

[BKVP]

I have a Princess from this year

Totally different cat thermometer. You can close your bypass as the needle approaches the active range. No need to wait until it points at 12...

 

[BKVP]

On a separate note, I am seeing some smoke out of my chimney, albeit a light amount, with the cat engaged on a fresh reload. Is this because the piping is hot and removing some creosote or my new cat already not removing all smoke?

All loads need to stabilize after loading. Usually around 10-15 minutes. If the plume is white, it can also be fuel moisture which is first stage of combustion.

 

[Nealm66]

You need to turn it down lower. Looks like you’re about 2:30. Try 1:00 then 12:00 etc. I’m guessing 1:00 will do the trick.

 

[Judge80]

Totally different cat thermometer. You can close your bypass as the needle approaches the active range. No need to wait until it points at 12...

All loads need to stabilize after loading. Usually around 10-15 minutes. If the plume is white, it can also be fuel moisture which is first stage of combustion.

Thank you! I feel like I’m gonna have to bite the bullet for the first few years. The wood I have is seasoned and split for a year but I’m not super confident it’s dry dry. I know some pieces I split were like 10% but others might be high.

I’m going to need to build an 8 cord woodshed and get ahead a few years. In the meantime I might have to bite the bullet and go with something more like kiln dried wood (crazy expensive here) or bio blocks or whatever those are called while my wood seasons. I got it from a guy who used to work where I do and I know he is reliable so he isn’t a liar or cheat.

 

[Nealm66]

I’m not sure how much you’re trying to heat and I only have experience with my princess but I spent my first while not concerned about burn times as much about desired house temperature. Once I got it around 72 in desired area, I made a mark on my swoosh. I will adjust occasionally, or the wife will if she feels cold or in our weird warm events I’ll attempt to put it on simmer

 

[Highbeam]

On a separate note, I am seeing some smoke out of my chimney, albeit a light amount, with the cat engaged on a fresh reload. Is this because the piping is hot and removing some creosote or my new cat already not removing all smoke?

Edit for clarification: the output contents do not smell nice like a wood smoke. It smells kinda bad from the whiffs I could get. Is that how air the cat lets through smells? This is my first season with a wood stove.

My chimney will make visible emissions with an active cat off and on throughout the burn but especially during warm up and continuing for about an hour after engagement on a fresh load.

It might be smoke, steam, or a combination but regardless you should expect to see evidence of a fire burning from the cap until much later in the cycle.

 

[reaperman1]

Just loaded it up after initial burn. Hot coals on the bottom Filled it with 29lb’s of wood. My initial burn produced 3hrs of burn time with no blower. I will try to dial the thermostat down a little lower.

Here is a pic of the 2nd load. Big chunks

View attachment 306241

Ive been burning my new Boxer for about a month now so I'm no expert. But Ive found the firebox size to be a bit of a challenge, the length and width aren't an issue despite being trapezoid shaped. But the overall height is restrictive. My splits are fairly large in comparison to yours. I can only manage to get 3-4 splits across the bottom (north/south) and not have room on top for anything other than odd small pieces especially under the cat, and maybe one in front like your photo shows.

By looking at the photo of your dial, its just about the spot on my stove where I can hear the flap shut. Meaning it can't be turned down any lower even tho the dial can still be rotated counter clockwise. If you listen as you turn the dial down, you can hear the flap close. Take a pencil and make a mark there for reference.

What I found with my stove is if I turn it down all the way, the window will get cruded up to the point its almost impossible to see thru. Also in the slow burning mode not a lot of heat is produced, just a longer burn time. I added photos of my dial with the top pencil mark where I normally hear the flap close and the lower mark is where is seems to produce the most efficient burn in terms of heat and time. But this does need to be adjusted during the burn. I've yet to see where I can simply turn dial to a given spot and walk away without having highs and lows during a burn cycle. I also added photos of my current coal bed with cat thermometer and flu temp. My cat normally stays in the active range all of the time even with very few coals as pictured.

 

[BKVP]

Ive been burning my new Boxer for about a month now so I'm no expert. But Ive found the firebox size to be a bit of a challenge, the length and width aren't an issue despite being trapezoid shaped. But the overall height is restrictive. My splits are fairly large in comparison to yours. I can only manage to get 3-4 splits across the bottom (north/south) and not have room on top for anything other than odd small pieces especially under the cat, and maybe one in front like your photo shows.

By looking at the photo of your dial, its just about the spot on my stove where I can hear the flap shut. Meaning it can't be turned down any lower even tho the dial can still be rotated counter clockwise. If you listen as you turn the dial down, you can hear the flap close. Take a pencil and make a mark there for reference.

What I found with my stove is if I turn it down all the way, the window will get cruded up to the point its almost impossible to see thru. Also in the slow burning mode not a lot of heat is produced, just a longer burn time. I added photos of my dial with the top pencil mark where I normally hear the flap close and the lower mark is where is seems to produce the most efficient burn in terms of heat and time. But this does need to be adjusted during the burn. I've yet to see where I can simply turn dial to a given spot and walk away without having highs and lows during a burn cycle. I also added photos of my current coal bed with cat thermometer and flu temp. My cat normally stays in the active range all of the time even with very few coals as pictured.

View attachment 306272 View attachment 306273 View attachment 306274 View attachment 306275

Great comments. Remember, just because you hear the thermostat blade close, it can open up some as the spring relaxes. That is why people burn hot, move to low and 30 minutes later they have flames. It's because the thermostat spring is relaxing as burn temps decrease, opening up some.

 

[Ashful]

The initial load to start the fire weight 25lbs.

When I post 30+ hours in active cat, it's with 80 lb. of wood in the box. Extrapolation would say you should be able to get closer to 10 hours. Although with just 25 lb. of wood in my stove, I might struggle to even reach cat light-off temperature, maybe wasting half the load just getting to secondary burn.

Can I ask how quickly a the flames should die down once I cut the thermostat down? How should a slow burn look to the eye?

Immediately, like within 5 - 10 seconds, in my case. Turn down, stove goes from raging flame to mostly black, with intermittent flames at the firebox ceiling, looking like they're trying to "escape" from the wood. After a minute (? guessing), even that intermittent flame action dies down.

My dealer recommended not engaging the cat until the needle is around 12 o’clock as opposed to just inside the active zone on a cold start up. Any thoughts on that?

Yeah, I think your dealer should learn more about the stoves he's selling! What could be the advantage of staying in bypass with an active combustor, other than possibly selling more replacement parts for those you overheat?

the output contents do not smell nice like a wood smoke. It smells kinda bad from the whiffs I could get. Is that how air the cat lets through smells? This is my first season with a wood stove.

Normal. On a new install, you'll smell hot metal and manufacturing oils. After it's broken in a year, you won't smell as much of that, but it still won't smell like a regular old fireplace or wood stove. Most of the particulates carrying those smells are being burned off by secondary combustion, I suppose.

2nd burn. 1hr in. Dial down low. Flames are huge. Is this normal or is my stove not setup or put together correctly. Photo included of dial setting and flames.

View attachment 306249

That flame show is what I see on a medium-high setting. You should be able to get down to completely black stove.

With flame show like you're showing here, I'd guess your burn time is about where I'd expected it, near 10 lb./hour. You need a totally black stove to get down to 3 lb/hour territory.

 

[Nelson]

Since you are likely home tomorrow, I suggest loading it however you usually load it, leave the throttle at the top mark and see how fast it burns down. With two data points you can say "here is the setting for a 24 hour burn" and at the WOT setting you can say the load burns out in xyz hours here, and then kinda squint and wing it on the next load.

Remember colder outdoor air will increase your total draft. That can shorten your burn times at predetermined settings if it is cold enough out.

Cool idea - I will give that a shot!

Yes, we barely went above 0F for a few days recently and there was a noticeable change in my burn times at my normal 24 hour mark.

 

[moresnow]

My dealer recommended not engaging the cat until the needle is around 12 o’clock as opposed to just inside the active zone on a cold start up. Any thoughts on that?

Sounds like your dealer is giving questionable advice at best. Sadly.
If anything, engaging the Cat early is more of a prevalent routine.

2nd burn. 1hr in. Dial down low. Flames are huge. Is this normal or is my stove not setup or put together correctly. Photo included of dial setting and flames.

View attachment 306249 View attachment 306250

Where is your stat knob pointed when turned gently clockwise until it stops?

 

[TheElementalCashew]

I'm still waiting on the replacement thermostat for my Princess. Unfortunate timing with the holiday season, but the hot burns were nice this past weekend with the frigid temperatures!
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

 

[BKVP]

I'm still waiting on the replacement thermostat for my Princess. Unfortunate timing with the holiday season, but the hot burns were nice this past weekend with the frigid temperatures!
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

PM me name of dealer and I'll look into it.

 

[TheElementalCashew]

PM me name of dealer and I'll look into it.

Done. Thank you!

 

[BKVP]

Just loaded it up after initial burn. Hot coals on the bottom Filled it with 29lb’s of wood. My initial burn produced 3hrs of burn time with no blower. I will try to dial the thermostat down a little lower.

Here is a pic of the 2nd load. Big chunks

View attachment 306241

This is the image I mentioned in another post. This is full firebox of large pieces occupying the vast majority of the FBV. These 8 pieces weighed around 50lbs as I recall. All loaded N/S and when burned on the lowest possible burn rate of .66 kg/hr, will easily last 24 hours to coals.

Update me on how you are doing....thank you.
BKVP

 

[Crummy]

Get the blowers! Move hot air into living space.

Can the blowers be used occasionally or will they cook if not turned on? I normally don't see the need but during our last -40° cold snap I felt it might have been nice to have them.