Blaze king King issues need help

[BlazekingKING]

The

I can see negative draft putting out the fire and driving smoke out of the pipes, but smoking out of the back of the stove? Don't know enough to say if that's normal under backdraft conditions but guessing that it's not.

Also, he's not just running a little hot to prevent backdrafts- if he's filling a 4.3 CF firebox 3x a night, that's a crazy amount of heat. If I burned my princess hot enough to consume 12 CF of wood per night, I'd have to sleep outside, with breaks to go inside and wet down the sofa every hour or so.

The problem is that it doesn't keep my house warm I have a very old drafty house but it just doesn't keep it warm over night we have to set it at a 2.5 to keep warm and the wood burns quickly that way with Temps below zero very quickly

 

[BlazekingKING]

The

I can see negative draft putting out the fire and driving smoke out of the pipes, but smoking out of the back of the stove? Don't know enough to say if that's normal under backdraft conditions but guessing that it's not.

Also, he's not just running a little hot to prevent backdrafts- if he's filling a 4.3 CF firebox 3x a night, that's a crazy amount of heat. If I burned my princess hot enough to consume 12 CF of wood per night, I'd have to sleep outside, with breaks to go inside and wet down the sofa every hour or so.

The problem is that it doesn't keep my house warm I have a very old drafty house but it just doesn't keep it warm over night we have to set it at a 2.5 to keep warm and the wood burns quickly that way with Temps below zero very quickly

That more than likely is single wall...ask Webby.

Also, I see the cat in the picture. It's stainless, so is that the one regasketed and inserted in the stove?

Open the loading door, open the by pass and take a picture of the opening where the by pass plate closes against a gasket. In order to burn that much fuel, 3 times a night, you have an issue...maybe more than one.

Download a manual at www.blazeking.com. There are some basic maintenance items and after reading it you will be vastly more informed on the stove, how it works and maintenance issues.

That more than likely is single wall...ask Webby.

Also, I see the cat in the picture. It's stainless, so is that the one regasketed and inserted in the stove?

Open the loading door, open the by pass and take a picture of the opening where the by pass plate closes against a gasket. In order to burn that much fuel, 3 times a night, you have an issue...maybe more than one.

Download a manual at www.blazeking.com. There are some basic maintenance items and after reading it you will be vastly more informed on the stove, how it works and maintenance issues.

 

[BlazekingKING]

That more than likely is single wall...ask Webby.

Also, I see the cat in the picture. It's stainless, so is that the one regasketed and inserted in the stove?

Open the loading door, open the by pass and take a picture of the opening where the by pass plate closes against a gasket. In order to burn that much fuel, 3 times a night, you have an issue...maybe more than one.

Download a manual at www.blazeking.com. There are some basic maintenance items and after reading it you will be vastly more informed on the stove, how it works and maintenance issues.

The stove had two different cats we just switched them when we cleaned them to see if that was the problem. I have read the manual a million times and I can't figure out the problem we have corrected a bunch of problems that the previous person had done to the stove in the house. I'm not sure where exactly I'm suppose to be taking this picture or how to get a picture from that angle

 

[BlazekingKING]

Nice catch by BKVP- there appears to be a steelcat sitting on the floor outside of the stove, which appears to be burning? Do you have two combustors for the stove?

Manual is (broken link removed to http://www.blazeking.com/EN/PDF/manuals/OM-KE-E.pdf).

View attachment 174060

I'm honestly not sure what the consequences (other than poor performance) are, but the manual says not to do it.

We have two we just switched them out to see if it would make a difference the previous person had bought two different ones for it.

 

[BlazekingKING]

I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive if this has been said, but going off your original post... you may not be able to turn this stove down to "1", with your setup. Try two things:

1. Turn knob to full open (should be pointed at 6 o'clock), then turn it down until you hear the internal damper click. Should be around 2 on the dial, or somewhere in the range marked "normal".
2. On your next load, get the wood going good, into active range on thermometer, close bypass, run on high an additional 15 minutes, then turn down just to the position where you heard the damper click closed (again, around 2 on the dial). This should give you a very long burn time, with the thermostat staying shut thru most of the burn, and then throttling open a bit at the very end of the load to keep heat up.

Thank you I will definitely try that tomorrow!

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm going crazy and ready to get rid of this and go back to an old one that I know how to run!

So did you have an old stove in the same setup, and it was able to heat the house well? What stove? How often did you have to load it per night?

The problem is that it doesn't keep my house warm I have a very old drafty house but it just doesn't keep it warm over night we have to set it at a 2.5 to keep warm and the wood burns quickly that way with Temps below zero very quickly

Even if the stove is putting out decent heat, poor insulation and bad air leaks are going to be a problem, especially with sub-zero outside temps and a lot of wind.

 

[BlazekingKING]

So did you have an old stove in the same setup, and it was able to heat the house well? What stove? How often did you have to load it per night?
Even if the stove is putting out decent heat, poor insulation and bad air leaks are going to be a problem, especially with sub-zero outside temps and a lot of wind.

There was an older blaze king in here before I lived here and they replaced it with this one and did not do the right things with this one so when we moved in we have had to do lots of work to fix it, it still does not have the flame shield attached because pieces are missing, but we were told that would not affect the function. The chimney out of the house was originally only 4ft tall and was very dangerous. He burnt many things in it he was not supposed to such as garbage, pop cans, diesel for excellerant.

 

[BlazekingKING]

So did you have an old stove in the same setup, and it was able to heat the house well? What stove? How often did you have to load it per night?
Even if the stove is putting out decent heat, poor insulation and bad air leaks are going to be a problem, especially with sub-zero outside temps and a lot of wind.

We've recently sealed up and fixed a bunch of draft problems i know we can't fix it all but we have fixed a lot. Do you think having to wake up at night to fill it again is normal?

 

[tarzan]

There was an older blaze king in here before I lived here and they replaced it with this one and did not do the right things with this one so when we moved in we have had to do lots of work to fix it, it still does not have the flame shield attached because pieces are missing, but we were told that would not affect the function. The chimney out of the house was originally only 4ft tall and was very dangerous. He burnt many things in it he was not supposed to such as garbage, pop cans, diesel for excellerant.

I would think your cat is toast if it was in the stove while burning this stuff.

 

[BKVP]

So how long is the chimney stove top to cap?

 

[edyit]

are you filling the fire box all the way or just putting a few pieces in it at a time? a box that size even on a non cat stove should be able to go overnight. if you are filling that box more than 1 time per night i would think you have some kind of gasket problem or an air leak somewhere. i just cant see a box that sized running out over night if its filled full, even if its run wfo.

 

[BKVP]

My bets:

By pass gasket retainers are toast (no tight seal)

Door or door glass gasket leak

Stack to short

Wet fuel

 

[tarzan]

Not saying you don't have other problems but if the previous owner, who purchased the cats, ran them in the stove with a four foot chimney while burning trash, pop cans and diesel fuel I can't see how the cats could still be functioning.

I don't have first hand experience with doing these things but this would go against all the "don't do's" I've ever heard about cat stoves.

And now you are running the stove hard with no flame shield in place to protect the cat.

As often as you are filling this stove and not getting any heat, it almost sounds like the bypass door is missing or not hooked up.

 

[BlazekingKING]

I would think your cat is toast if it was in the stove while burning this stuff.

We replaced the cat

 

[BlazekingKING]

So how long is the chimney stove top to cap?

16ft

 

[BlazekingKING]

are you filling the fire box all the way or just putting a few pieces in it at a time? a box that size even on a non cat stove should be able to go overnight. if you are filling that box more than 1 time per night i would think you have some kind of gasket problem or an air leak somewhere. i just cant see a box that sized running out over night if its filled full, even if its run wfo.

Yes we are filling it full, we will let the fire die down and take the stove pipe out to check for the bypass gasket it is loud clank when we shut it and we were thinking mating Something was missing.

 

[tarzan]

It's not a must

We replaced the cat

Yes, but wasn't both cats used by the original owner. A little hard to follow but the original owner purchased both cats? The steel cat in the pic looks used. I'm "guessing" the original cat is ceramic?

 

[tarzan]

Taking the pipe off to check the bypass is not a must but not a problem to do either. You can reach the bypass from inside the stove to check the gasket. If the gasket is in place and in good shape you can shut the bypass door on a dollar bill in several places. If you can pull it out without resistance then you will need to take the pipe off to reach in from the top of the bypass plate to adjust.

 

[jetsam]

Next time the stove is cool, definitely check the cat gasket, the bypass door gasket, and the stove door gasket and make sure they're all airtight. You can use the "dollar bill test" all the way around on the stove door and bypass door; you'll just have to physically inspect the cat gasket and make sure it's tight and there's no gaps allowing air to get around the cat.

 

[BlazekingKING]

It's not a must


Yes, but wasn't both cats used by the original owner. A little hard to follow but the original owner purchased both cats? The steel cat in the pic looks used. I'm "guessing" the original cat is ceramic?

Ok we took them in town and were told that they both were in good shape so I'm not sure but we will definitely get a new one! We were also told that the flame shield didn't matter?

 

[BlazekingKING]

Taking the pipe off to check the bypass is not a must but not a problem to do either. You can reach the bypass from inside the stove to check the gasket. If the gasket is in place and in good shape you can shut the bypass door on a dollar bill in several places. If you can pull it out without resistance then you will need to take the pipe off to reach in from the top of the bypass plate to adjust.

Ok is there somewhere I could find a good diagram of what it looks like inside there to know I'm looking at the right pieces and that everything is still in there since the flame shield is not in place I'm concerned!

 

[BlazekingKING]

Next time the stove is cool, definitely check the cat gasket, the bypass door gasket, and the stove door gasket and make sure they're all airtight. You can use the "dollar bill test" all the way around on the stove door and bypass door; you'll just have to physically inspect the cat gasket and make sure it's tight and there's no gaps allowing air to get around the cat.

I know the cat isn't leaking because we just redid it and the door is good as well nice tight shut now the bypass is what I'm concerned about it seems like it is just hitting metal when you shut the bypass not sure if it is suppose to be or not.

 

[Woody Stover]

So how long is the chimney stove top to cap?

16ft

With two 90s in the path, that equates to a short stack.

since the flame shield is not in place I'm concerned!

That could have compromised the new cat, not sure.

what I'm concerned about it seems like it is just hitting metal when you shut the bypass not sure if it is suppose to be or not.

That could be a big problem; If the smoke is going through the bypass when it is closed, instead of the cat, you aren't getting any of the heat the cat could be providing by burning the smoke.

 

[weatherguy]

You can replace the 90 with 2 45's, sounds like you may need a gasket for your bypass, sounds like the woods ok.

 

[BlazekingKING]

With two 90s in the path, that equates to a short stack.
That could have compromised the new cat, not sure.
That could be a big problem; If the smoke is going through the bypass when it is closed, instead of the cat, you aren't getting any of the heat the cat could be providing by burning the smoke.

Ok so what does the short stack mean? We will get the 45's instead and change that around. When the stove is Closed should you be able to see the smoke going thru the cat or being drawn to the cat? Do you know of any good diagrams of what everything looks like on the inside and where the gasket on the bypass goes?