Blaze King Stove top temp on low burn

[vess_40]

Greetings,
I’ve done some searching on here but I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for. I’m interested in what BK owners are seeing temp wise on their stoves when burning as low as possible.

Reason being is I’m returning back to wood from burning coal the last 5 years and I’m interested in the Sirroco or Ashford 30. I’m currently running a Hitzer 254. With that stove and the bi metallic damper I can consistently run at 250-300F stove top burning coal or wood. Running that stove like that with wood as you would guess is a dirty burn. I’m wanting to clean that up with a nice cat stove.

My house is small, 1000 sq/ft and not well insulated but my stove runs between 250-300 about 70% of the time. I only really crank it up when it gets below the 20’s. So my goal is to be able to burn at the temp and no higher for at least 8 hours. Thanks for your help.

Specs
1000sq/ft, 2 story poorly insulated house
Hitzer 254 connected to 15’ of 6” double wall chimney
Southern WV
14 year burner.

 

[stoveliker]

I don't know what those two models would have, because I have the Chinook which has a convection top.
It'll vary though, above the cat it'll be hot and elsewhere less.

But what is more important is how much heat it sheds in BTUs, and that depends on a lot more than stove top temps only.

A well installed BK can go down in heat output to the equivalent of three and a half 1.5 kW plug in (15 A) electric heaters. That is quite low.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I agree with Stoveliker that what is more important than surface temperatures is the amount of heat shed into the room, but I'll be happy to collect some temperature data for you as I can.

I have a Sirocco 30.2 in the central Virginia piedmont. We're just coming out of a pretty cold snap, so my stove was burning higher than normal recently. The forecast looks like it will be more seasonal starting next week, so when I have the stove on low, I'll try to grab some data for you with my infrared thermometer. I'm not sure we'll be burning absolutely as low as it will go as it will depend on what heat output we need. We're heating about 2700 square feet with the stove, but it's new construction and well insulated and air sealed.

When turned down low, any Blaze King should burn much more than eight hours. The longest I've done has been twenty-six, I believe, and that was with softer hardwoods like cherry. We've never packed the stove full of oak and seen what it could do as we're giving our oak longer to season than the softer woods. I can say that we've been very pleased with the range of heating outputs and control of the stove. If you're looking for a low and slow burn that is clean, I'm not sure you can really do better than a Blaze King.

 

[Tron]

A well installed BK can go down in heat output to the equivalent of three and a half 1.5 kW plug in (15 A) electric heaters. That is quite low.

If the numbers are true, a bit less than that, even. BK says the low output of my 30.2 Chinook is about 12kBTU/h. Equivalent to 3.5kW.
So 2.33 heaters ;-)

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, I made a mistake (my memory... Well, it ain't what it used to be)

 

[Dieselhead]

Here’s where I’m at today on softwood. I can go a little lower without stalling the cat. The highest temp you see is in about a 8x8 area right over the cat. It rapidly declines to the lower temp you see as you go towards the outer edge of the stovetop. Average those two temps and there is your desired 300 degree STT

At these temps I’d get 24-30 hours per load on hardwood. Don’t expect to see much (any) flame and also your door glass will be black after a few loads.

Do note I run BKs largest stove if my memory is correct. Some see big stove and get scared they will be heated out of their house. Well here’s your evidence that in this case, “size does not matter” 😜

 

[Dieselhead]

4 hours later. Figured I’d show the consistency before turning up the stat now that the sun has been down for a bit.

 

[vess_40]

Here’s where I’m at today on softwood. I can go a little lower without stalling the cat. The highest temp you see is in about a 8x8 area right over the cat. It rapidly declines to the lower temp you see as you go towards the outer edge of the stovetop. Average those two temps and there is your desired 300 degree STT

At these temps I’d get 24-30 hours per load on hardwood. Don’t expect to see much (any) flame and also your door glass will be black after a few loads.

Do note I run BKs largest stove if my memory is correct. Some see big stove and get scared they will be heated out of their house. Well here’s your evidence that in this case, “size does not matter” 😜

Very nice. This is what I’m wanting to see. I wanted to make sure these things get down to the low 300’s so I can have that low comfortable heat when the outside temps call for it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[vess_40]

4 hours later. Figured I’d show the consistency before turning up the stat now that the sun has been down for a bit.



This is impressive. I’m for sure going with BK now. Though after looking at my hearth and re measuring I’ll probably be going with a 20 box. The 20 is about the same size as the hitzer I have now but only longer.