Blaze King thermostat not working...help!

[Rangerbait]

Bummer...bit of a learning curve with these things for sure, but the performance makes it well worth it.

 

[jetsam]

Bummer...but if a learning curve with these things for sure, but the performance makes it well worth it.

Well, even if the cat was ruined, which it is not, it would only cost you a couple hundred bucks. That is probably cheap next to the cost of running your backup heat.

Keep an eye on it just in case it is in worse shape than the photos show.

You may want to just order another one- the spare won't go bad sitting in a cabinet for a couple years, and if you need it sooner, you're ready. If you do that, order a couple cat gaskets too.

 

[begreen]

I'm super glad that you have found the issue and are back in action Rangerbait. That has to be a relief. This is not a slam at cat stoves, but it reflects one of the reasons why we don't have a cat stove. They are wonderful in the right circumstance, but there are caveats and family operation of the stove is one of them, especially if everyone doesn't follow protocol.

 

[jetsam]

I'm super glad that you have found the issue and are back in action Rangerbait. That has to be a relief. This is not a slam at cat stoves, but it reflects one of the reasons why we don't have a cat stove. They are wonderful in the right circumstance, but there are caveats and family operation of the stove is one of them, especially if everyone doesn't follow protocol.

Get a steelcat and vacuum it every time you do the ash. Problem solved!

 

[begreen]

Get a steelcat and vacuum it every time you do the ash. Problem solved!

There are workarounds, but as noted, not the only issue.

 

[tarzan]

I'm super glad that you have found the issue and are back in action Rangerbait. That has to be a relief. This is not a slam at cat stoves, but it reflects one of the reasons why we don't have a cat stove. They are wonderful in the right circumstance, but there are caveats and family operation of the stove is one of them, especially if everyone doesn't follow protocol.

That sounds like an unfair jab at cat stoves too me. The difference is so negligible that if a family member is not competent enough too operate a cat stove then I don’t see how anyone could say that same family member could be trusted to run a non cat.

 

[jetsam]

That sounds like an unfair jab at cat stoves too me. The difference is so negligible that if a family member is not competent enough too operate a cat stove then I don’t see how anyone could say that same family member could be trusted to run a non cat.

I have never explained to my wife how she needs to carefully monitor the air to prevent overfires, how she can only load at certain points in the burn cycle, or how to monitor stovetop temperatures. My manufacturer doesn't even recommend a stovetop thermometer in the manual- none of that old timey stuff is required for safe basic operation.

She knows to open the door if the stove glows red- but realistically, that will never happen unless the stove suffers physical damage and gets a large new airhole.

That's safety for your family members with low stove knowledge. Even teaching her to run an old smoke dragon would have been harder and riskier. To say that cat stoves are somehow less safe or easier to operate for newbies than noncats- in a thread about a BK King - is completely backwards. Maybe not for all cat stoves, but a BK is the safest thing out there for infrequent operators.

 

[lsucet]

My family like better this stoves. They feel safe with them due to the control over them. When it is true they still have hole on the flapper that is uncontrollable, still give you control over the flame and temperature.
I did never overfire any of my previous stoves, but I didn't like the point of no control over those secondary burn and non desired temps, neither did my family.
When you buy a car, you have control over gas pedal, brake, steering, ignition, etc, so, many other appliances. You are total in control. Anybody can have a distraction moment, that's all what it takes to everything go to hell. Not everyone want to master wood burning regardless that is the way staying warm. Many stay warm with furnace, heat pump, etc and they don't know nothing about it. They just turn the thermostat.
I think EPA/government should do something about it. They just into emissions and don't care about users control over the appliance. We all have different location, setup, stack length, etc and those stoves dont perform the same for everyone.

 

[Highbeam]

Thank you for reporting back ranger. It’s a huge benefit for future readers and really satisfying for all of us that helped troubleshoot.

After having both, I would much rather unclog a ceramic car with the big holes than a billion tiny holes of a steel cat that is really more likely to clog.

Separate issues, cloggage and spalling in the back. The spalling is weird.

 

[Ashful]

I think you need to edit something in there.

So the steel cat with its smaller cells is actually causing more restriction which makes more draft in the flue? Enough difference to mimic a pipe damper at 30 degrees open vs closed tight?

Yes. Remember, I’m measuring draft on the stovepipe, downstream of the cat. That pipe is going to pull a given water column at a given flow rate. Throw some restriction upstream of the measurement point, like a combustor, flow decreases and water column climbs.

 

[Ashful]

Took the pipe off and inspected/vacuumed...lots of ash clogging up the cat

View attachment 234554

That clogging is exactly what mine would look like after a few days of burning hard, before I installed the key damper. You have too much draft.

But in that second photo... is there a chunk missing?

 

[Ashful]

Get a steelcat and vacuum it every time you do the ash. Problem solved!

Run the specified draft, namely under .06”, and you can drop the need for vacuuming.

 

[jetsam]

I think our fanboy hissing has chased begreen clean out of this thread, though. Honestly I might have taken the same approach.

 

[Ashful]

Nah... begreen is not easily offended or aroused. Cool as a cucumber.

His only mistake was not realizing that you just can’t talk metal heads into disco, at least in front of one-another, no matter how you try. It’s a thread with “Blaze King” in the title, so big surprise, the crowd isn’t very interested in discussing the merits of noncat stoves.

 

[jetsam]

Eh, fanboy stuff aside, the metalheads were right about this one. "Is an NC30 or a BK King easier for an uneducated operator to damage?" is not that much of a subjective question. They are both vulnerable to some newbie mistakes (door=loghammer, for example), but many of their other danger areas don't overlap (the nc30's nonexistent cat won't suffer if you pop the door open without bypassing, and the King won't melt its nonexistent tubes if you forget to close down the air during startup).

I don't think you need to consider group affiliation of the audience to end up with the conclusion that thermostatic air control on any type of stove is a big advantage for a novice user, most especially one who is not that interested in learning how to operate the stove properly.