Blaze king princess 32 newbie. Looking for help

[Gibbs433]

Hello everyone!

I’m new to the woodstove world and looking to find out if I’m doing this correctly! Thanks in advance for the help!

Just bought a house with a Blaze King princess 32 and I’m wondering about operating procedures.

1) It’s cold here (-5 c) and probably getting much colder soon, is it a problem to run 24/7 with these stoves or should I be letting the fire completely burn itself out every once and a while?

2) Hot reloading- is it ok to do this? Obviously opening the bypass and the thermostat before opening the door, raking coals to the front and loading in dry wood. The cat temp gauge is in the active range, but after looking at several forums, it hasn’t been clear to me if this is a good idea or not.

3) I’ve had a couple people tell me, once loaded and door closed with cat engaged ,just let it burn wide open on the thermostat for 30 minutes and then turn down to desired temp range. Anything wrong with this?

I’ve read through the instructions manual on the Blaze King website, but have interpreted instructions wrong in the past. Just looking to see what’s what and hopefully have this stove heating my home for a long time.

 

[BKVP]

Hello everyone!

I’m new to the woodstove world and looking to find out if I’m doing this correctly! Thanks in advance for the help!

Just bought a house with a Blaze King princess 32 and I’m wondering about operating procedures.

1) It’s cold here (-5 c) and probably getting much colder soon, is it a problem to run 24/7 with these stoves or should I be letting the fire completely burn itself out every once and a while?

2) Hot reloading- is it ok to do this? Obviously opening the bypass and the thermostat before opening the door, raking coals to the front and loading in dry wood. The cat temp gauge is in the active range, but after looking at several forums, it hasn’t been clear to me if this is a good idea or not.

3) I’ve had a couple people tell me, once loaded and door closed with cat engaged ,just let it burn wide open on the thermostat for 30 minutes and then turn down to desired temp range. Anything wrong with this?

I’ve read through the instructions manual on the Blaze King website, but have interpreted instructions wrong in the past. Just looking to see what’s what and hopefully have this stove heating my home for a long time.

You've nailed it! Lucky you getting a new house and has current model!!

Make certain wood is below 24% m.c. and operate as you described and you can just keep in rolling. The longest duration I've run my King 4 months before letting it go cold.

BKVP

 

[Tron]

3) I’ve had a couple people tell me, once loaded and door closed with cat engaged ,just let it burn wide open on the thermostat for 30 minutes and then turn down to desired temp range. Anything wrong with this?

Nothing wrong, but not entirely necessary, either. In our neck of the woods, that would bake me out of the house.
So on a reload I wait about 5 minutes or so with open bypass until the load has really caught, and then close the bypass and dial down.

 

[BKVP]

Nothing wrong, but not entirely necessary, either. In our neck of the woods, that would bake me out of the house.
So on a reload I wait about 5 minutes or so with open bypass until the load has really caught, and then close the bypass and dial down.

This recommendation has to do with m.c. of a fuel load. First stage of combustion, elimination of moisture from a load a of fuel, is better accomplished at higher burn rates.

If you fuel is very dry, it will take less time than a load of less dry fuel.

BKVP

 

[Gibbs433]

You've nailed it! Lucky you getting a new house and has current model!!

Make certain wood is below 24% m.c. and operate as you described and you can just keep in rolling. The longest duration I've run my King 4 months before letting it go cold.

BKVP

Thanks for the reply!

Got lucky with the purchase and the few friends who have been over so far have been pretty jealous of the stove.

I should really get a moisture meter to check the mc but the wood I’m burning (fir, pine mix) has been well seasoned and catches fire quickly when I reload. Hence my question of leaving everything wide open for 30 minutes. Seemed like a long time when the fire picks up within the first 5 minutes.

 

[Gibbs433]

Nothing wrong, but not entirely necessary, either. In our neck of the woods, that would bake me out of the house.
So on a reload I wait about 5 minutes or so with open bypass until the load has really caught, and then close the bypass and dial down.

Thanks for your reply!

My wood seems to catch pretty quick so I was thinking 30 minutes might be a bit long, considering it’s already burning well. I’ll cut the 30 minutes down a bit and see how it fares!

 

[stoveliker]

On 13-14% pitch pine here I only run fully open for 5 mins, after which I aggressively start dialing down.

 

[Highbeam]

I'm burning very dry softwoods too and no way I'll let it go 30 minutes. By that time the flue temperature is bouncing off of redline and/or the stoves thermostat has begun to shut itself down so you're not getting a full throttle burn anyway. Then when you go to adjust the thermostat down to your desired burn rate the throttle plate is slammed closed for a long time as the stove cools.

These days, after 12-13 years of use on this princess, I'll let that new load burn in on high settings until the flue meter hits about 800 and then start turning the thermostat down. Sometimes all the way to cruise, sometimes one intermediate step if I want a little extra heat into the house.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, that throttle closed all the way for so long when the wood is still providing a lot of fuel for the cat is not ideal imo. It goes against my philosophy of gradually dialing down.
(Edit, gradually but aggressively - because otherwise there's hell - in the firebox).

With fast taking off very dry pine or fir that means closing it far sooner.

But that's just the way that works for my stove with my flue and my wood.

 

[Highbeam]

Yes, that throttle closed all the way for so long when the wood is still providing a lot of fuel for the cat is not ideal imo. It goes against my philosophy of gradually dialing down.
(Edit, gradually but aggressively - because otherwise there's hell - in the firebox).

With fast taking off very dry pine or fir that means closing it far sooner.

But that's just the way that works for my stove with my flue and my wood.

Right, the thermostat will close the throttle down automatically if the stove gets too hot during that warm up period and then you're "riding the hole" for quite some time. It makes sense to begin turning down the thermostat well before that happens so that the load can slow down its offgassing and land on the desired throttle setting without the throttle plate ever closing all the way.

Maybe those folks with big chunks of super dense hickory or oak are just starting to get to full chooch after 30 minutes and the thermostat (actually the throttle plate) is still pretty far open.

 

[stoveliker]

I can tell that 15% red oak doesn't need 30 minutes either. 15-20 and I'm throttled down with all charred load
Oak that's dry can go quickly too . Not for quick but quicker than what most expect. The crucial thing is dryness.