Blaze King question
- Thread starter Rich L
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Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I only have an Ashford 30, cant comment on the others. The A30 shipping weight is something like 490-500 pounds. With no fan kit it is a huge heavy block of hot metal sitting in the room after the fire goes out.
OTOH the A30 is a welded steel firebox with a cast iron jacket and four sides, stands maybe half an inch or so off the welded steel. The fan kit on the A30 is specifically designed to pull air through the space between the firebox and jacket and blow the now warmed air out into the room in front of the stove. Its a beauty, though in warmer weather i do sometimes fire the stove without using the fan kit.
Not sure about the rest of the line up. I know some of the other models have add on decks and fan kits available, but i havent operated them.
OTOH the A30 is a welded steel firebox with a cast iron jacket and four sides, stands maybe half an inch or so off the welded steel. The fan kit on the A30 is specifically designed to pull air through the space between the firebox and jacket and blow the now warmed air out into the room in front of the stove. Its a beauty, though in warmer weather i do sometimes fire the stove without using the fan kit.
Not sure about the rest of the line up. I know some of the other models have add on decks and fan kits available, but i havent operated them.
drstorm
Burning Hunk
I have a Chinook 30 and have experimented a little.
With highs in the 30s and lows in the mid to upper 20s I can keep the first level(2 story 2000 square foot heating space) in the low 70s without running it hard.Once the high drops into the 20s with lows in the teens that ability really diminshes.The fans help me keep the temps up without really pushing the stove thermostat up as much, it helps get the warm air into the living space much more efficiently.We had a power outage last year for about 2 hours when the temperatures were in the teens at night, I had the fans running before it went out probably on a medium burn.I had to keep increasing the thermostat up during the outage as the wall thermostat for the heat pump kept dropping.So in my experience, a stove running on medium with a low fan speed is better than running one without full throttle.
I have tried running them with timers when it gets really cold so they kick on high for a half hour every two or so hours,I still believe just running them on low most of the time aside from blasting it once in the morning or at night to bring temps back up is the easiest everyday use solution.
If by cold you mean single digits or lower,no, the stove will not keep up without the fans unless your living space is quite small.
With highs in the 30s and lows in the mid to upper 20s I can keep the first level(2 story 2000 square foot heating space) in the low 70s without running it hard.Once the high drops into the 20s with lows in the teens that ability really diminshes.The fans help me keep the temps up without really pushing the stove thermostat up as much, it helps get the warm air into the living space much more efficiently.We had a power outage last year for about 2 hours when the temperatures were in the teens at night, I had the fans running before it went out probably on a medium burn.I had to keep increasing the thermostat up during the outage as the wall thermostat for the heat pump kept dropping.So in my experience, a stove running on medium with a low fan speed is better than running one without full throttle.
I have tried running them with timers when it gets really cold so they kick on high for a half hour every two or so hours,I still believe just running them on low most of the time aside from blasting it once in the morning or at night to bring temps back up is the easiest everyday use solution.
If by cold you mean single digits or lower,no, the stove will not keep up without the fans unless your living space is quite small.
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With my 20 I only use the fan for an hour or so to warm up the room when its cold, after that I run with no fan.
They heat the same no matter the outside temp or the house size. The stove will make a certain btu at full output and more btu with the fans on. Whether that amount of heat is enough to heat your house very much depends on how much heat your house is leaking.
Since my house is only 1700 sf I can easily hold 70-75 in single digit outside temps with no fans. We only use the fans to “catch up” since the silent heat is so enjoyable.
shoot-straight
Minister of Fire
Depends on model. Like pontdexter, i have an ashford. The cast jacket is very nice to look at, but it impacts its radiant heating ability.
Interesting. I didn't know BK's have a fan dependency when temps are frigid in order to keep up
They don’t. I think you have a misunderstanding. The bk, like any stove, makes a variable amount of heat. If your situation demands highest output then you need to turn it up and engage the fans.
It’s like saying your oven has a 450 degree dependency. No, it’s capable of 450 if you need it for what you’re cooking.
SuperJ
Feeling the Heat
Some stoves other than BK can basically be overfired until they start to glow.
With a BK the thermostat maintains safe temperatures. If you remove heat faster (adding a fan), then you can fire at a high BTU/hr rate and maintain the same safe temperatures. This happens automatically. I suspect this a big reason why BK has found such success with cat stoves where most others have mostly failed (with a couple notable exceptions) to make a compelling catalytic stoves.
Not being able to overfire the stove is great feature not a negative "dependency".
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I'm not sure I follow. You are saying most stove manufactures don't make compelling wood stoves?
SuperJ
Feeling the Heat
I think Woodstock is selling stoves as fast as they can build them, so it looks like some folks are feeling the compulsion.
Travis' (Lopi, etc.) hybrids with cats are interesting.
Kuuma. . .I don't know anything about.
VC has "issues" unrelated to their combustion technology.
Buck uses cats in only ~ 20% of their stoves.
All the others. . .a more accurate statement might be: "Most mfr's can't be bothered to implement a technology that they don't believe will sell more stoves."
Also, the ones who dropped cats, like Jøtul, probably got tired of having to replace cats under warranty for 3 years, as compelled by EPA, because their customers were burning unseasoned wood.
Regardless, I think we will see more cat / hybrid stoves as emissions requirements get tighter.
Travis' (Lopi, etc.) hybrids with cats are interesting.
Kuuma. . .I don't know anything about.
VC has "issues" unrelated to their combustion technology.
Buck uses cats in only ~ 20% of their stoves.
All the others. . .a more accurate statement might be: "Most mfr's can't be bothered to implement a technology that they don't believe will sell more stoves."
Also, the ones who dropped cats, like Jøtul, probably got tired of having to replace cats under warranty for 3 years, as compelled by EPA, because their customers were burning unseasoned wood.
Regardless, I think we will see more cat / hybrid stoves as emissions requirements get tighter.
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SuperJ
Feeling the Heat
You’ve mentioned the examples I could think of so they exist. I’m a huge fan and a total convert. But, I’m the only person I know outside of this forum that has a catalytic stove, and if I ask most dealers about one I’d get the same reaction if I was trying to buy a Soviet made Lada at a car dealership.
I think Woodstock is selling stoves as fast as they can build them, so it looks like some folks are feeling the compulsion.
Travis' (Lopi, etc.) hybrids with cats are interesting.
Kuuma. . .I don't know anything about.
VC has "issues" unrelated to their combustion technology.
Buck uses cats in only ~ 20% of their stoves.
All the others. . .a more accurate statement might be: "Most mfr's can't be bothered to implement a technology that they don't believe will sell more stoves."
Also, the ones who dropped cats, like Jøtul, probably got tired of having to replace cats under warranty for 3 years, as compelled by EPA, because their customers were burning unseasoned wood.
Regardless, I think we will see more cat / hybrid stoves as emissions requirements get tighter.
When i first read this thread it seemed to imply as though the BK's relied on a fan for even heating and catching up in cold temps. I haven't heard much talk on BK fan use so I was surprised and hence my comment. I'm sure it's on here somewhere though....
Gotta say this sure feels like the BK police coming in pretty quickly there. I wasn't knocking BK....its quite proven and well documented around here. Geesh
