BK King vent set up-double wall pipe etc.
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The king model may not have benefited from the aesthetic "evolution" that the rest of the stove world, and even the smaller BKs, have experienced but it is the most efficient and the longest burning stove on the market. The king is still king of the world with regards to performance after all those decades.
My house is pretty big, 2400 square feet. My 1A almost heated my whole house with radiant heat; my hope is that it will heat it relatively comfortably with the blower unit, and the burn times will keep it cozy all night. I have 2 ceiling fans to help move the heat around and hopefully more of it will get upstairs.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
What your going to see will make you wonder why you didn't install the king in the 1st place. The heat curve is insanely flat and warm, get ready to fire off the worlds most boring stove ever.
If your like me, the first couple weeks I had it running I kept checking it (preprogrammed from the old stove) I couldn't help myself but to feel the need to fiddle with the thing, load it when it didn't need loading ect.. Its going to be tough but let the stove do the work.
Pretty much and generally speaking you will need to play with the air control t-stat and find what setting work best for your setup in relation to outside air temps. *remember no matter what setting you decide to go with you need to start off with a fully involved fire (that means running it on high for 20 min and having the cat probe in the active range) once you hit that you can turn your air control down and let the waiting game begin. Its not unheard of (especially in the fall season) to run this stove with 35 - 40 burn times per load.
If your like me, the first couple weeks I had it running I kept checking it (preprogrammed from the old stove) I couldn't help myself but to feel the need to fiddle with the thing, load it when it didn't need loading ect.. Its going to be tough but let the stove do the work.
Pretty much and generally speaking you will need to play with the air control t-stat and find what setting work best for your setup in relation to outside air temps. *remember no matter what setting you decide to go with you need to start off with a fully involved fire (that means running it on high for 20 min and having the cat probe in the active range) once you hit that you can turn your air control down and let the waiting game begin. Its not unheard of (especially in the fall season) to run this stove with 35 - 40 burn times per load.
One Con- if you just like playing with the fire I will be doing less of it, but then again I was doing way too much last year.
A Pro is that I will be able to see the fire now and working less. Don't think I'm going to get blasted out of the room due to the fans.
I'm going to fire it soon with some kiln dried wood from HD and get some of the paint cured. Figure I will do that now with the present set up and see what happens.
A Pro is that I will be able to see the fire now and working less. Don't think I'm going to get blasted out of the room due to the fans.
I'm going to fire it soon with some kiln dried wood from HD and get some of the paint cured. Figure I will do that now with the present set up and see what happens.
I am a fiddler so it will be tough, but I am very excited about it. The Defiant was in the house when I bought it. Do you just load the thing right up after it gets to operating temp?
All I want is for it to burn for 14 hours when it's cold.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
This is what I wrote up a couple weeks ago - its pretty universal.
Ran (2) stoves last year, 1st quarter of the season was a country hearth 2500 (epa tube stove) after December 1st ran the BK princess.
Right off the bat I noticed less wood being used, and even heat coming from the stove (no rise and fall like my old stove, wasn't chasing my heat setting). I was under the impression that the BK would be a little more difficult to run compared to the old stove. I was wrong, the BK was just as easy, you just need to experiment with the thermostat air control to get the heat output you desire, it takes a good weekend, about a 12pack and multiple phone calls to friends and family members that burn wood to brag about your stove.
To simplify this here's how I light my BK stove - From cold start - open bypass damper, turn thermostat air control all the way up. Load stove with newspaper, kindling, splits (you must have a dry wood supply) light fire, close door but don't latch it. Let the fire become established after about 5-7min from initial lighting shut door completely. Let the stove continue to burn full force, after 10-15 minutes start taking notice of the cat thermometer - the needle should start moving towards the active range. Once the needle hits the active range close the bypass, but keep the air setting all the way open. Since the bypass is closed the stove will heat more quickly, the catalytic converter will start burning more & more smoke producing more heat, once the cat thermometer hits between noon and one o'clock its safe to start closing your air supply to your desired heat level. Total star up time from cold start to active cat takes between 20 - 30 min.
To load more wood on an established fire (active cat) - turn air setting up, open bypass, open door load *dry wood in stove, close door, (I wait until the bottoms of the pieces start catching), and as long as the cat is still active close the by-pass. Keep air setting open, wait until all pieces are blazing (established fire) then close air control down to desired setting. total time about 5 min.
Now this my seem like a lot of time / baby sitting, it isn't because your only really loading your stove 1 to 2 times a day if your burning low - medium. If it get really cold out and you need more heat, you simply turn the air control to a higher setting, but the more heat you call for the faster your wood is going to burn. For me - air setting of 2 3/4 meant that the stove would go through wood like my old one, but even with the arctic winter we had I only ran the stove high like that a few times.
These stoves are meant to burn low and slow, once there's an established fire (lots of flames & active cat) you can turn the stove down, there will be a point where the stove gets turned down and it just glows, no flames, some people have there glass go totally black - but the cat probe will still maintain its setting, this means the stove is working as designed, I call this boring stove mode. BK recommends after running the stove on a lower setting for a period of time to do a burn off, what that means is after loading the stove and having a established fire to keep your air setting at the highest setting and letting the fire burn fully for about 30min, this will clean the inside of the stove, and the stove glass.
Ran (2) stoves last year, 1st quarter of the season was a country hearth 2500 (epa tube stove) after December 1st ran the BK princess.
Right off the bat I noticed less wood being used, and even heat coming from the stove (no rise and fall like my old stove, wasn't chasing my heat setting). I was under the impression that the BK would be a little more difficult to run compared to the old stove. I was wrong, the BK was just as easy, you just need to experiment with the thermostat air control to get the heat output you desire, it takes a good weekend, about a 12pack and multiple phone calls to friends and family members that burn wood to brag about your stove.
To simplify this here's how I light my BK stove - From cold start - open bypass damper, turn thermostat air control all the way up. Load stove with newspaper, kindling, splits (you must have a dry wood supply) light fire, close door but don't latch it. Let the fire become established after about 5-7min from initial lighting shut door completely. Let the stove continue to burn full force, after 10-15 minutes start taking notice of the cat thermometer - the needle should start moving towards the active range. Once the needle hits the active range close the bypass, but keep the air setting all the way open. Since the bypass is closed the stove will heat more quickly, the catalytic converter will start burning more & more smoke producing more heat, once the cat thermometer hits between noon and one o'clock its safe to start closing your air supply to your desired heat level. Total star up time from cold start to active cat takes between 20 - 30 min.
To load more wood on an established fire (active cat) - turn air setting up, open bypass, open door load *dry wood in stove, close door, (I wait until the bottoms of the pieces start catching), and as long as the cat is still active close the by-pass. Keep air setting open, wait until all pieces are blazing (established fire) then close air control down to desired setting. total time about 5 min.
Now this my seem like a lot of time / baby sitting, it isn't because your only really loading your stove 1 to 2 times a day if your burning low - medium. If it get really cold out and you need more heat, you simply turn the air control to a higher setting, but the more heat you call for the faster your wood is going to burn. For me - air setting of 2 3/4 meant that the stove would go through wood like my old one, but even with the arctic winter we had I only ran the stove high like that a few times.
These stoves are meant to burn low and slow, once there's an established fire (lots of flames & active cat) you can turn the stove down, there will be a point where the stove gets turned down and it just glows, no flames, some people have there glass go totally black - but the cat probe will still maintain its setting, this means the stove is working as designed, I call this boring stove mode. BK recommends after running the stove on a lower setting for a period of time to do a burn off, what that means is after loading the stove and having a established fire to keep your air setting at the highest setting and letting the fire burn fully for about 30min, this will clean the inside of the stove, and the stove glass.
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