Blaze King Too Hot!!

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Actually there are many that are quite a bit better than the nc30.

The closest thing to the bk line is the Regency pro line but without a thermostat they will never run as low and slow as a bk
That was my point, the BK is unique and once you use one that works for you it’s hard to imagine going back to something else. Where with my tube stove there are tons of alternatives that are not a step backwards.
 
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So here is the repair. We opted to fill the holes with furnace cement then put steel plates with self tapping screws over the hole areas. Added furnace cement around the perimeter of the steel. It's curing now, will give an update when it is running! Fingers crossed.

[Hearth.com] Blaze King Too Hot!!
 
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So here is the repair. We opted to fill the holes with furnace cement then put steel plates with self tapping screws over the hole areas. Added furnace cement around the perimeter of the steel. It's curing now, will give an update when it is running! Fingers crossedView attachment 318460
Did you find holes on both sides or was that just being proactive? Do your fans still fit and work? On the inside, do your bricks still go in with clearance to those screws?
 
We had two holes on one side and one larger hole on the other. I posted pics for all this. Yes, we made sure the fans fit and work. This is the one area where there are not any firebricks! Thus the holes?? Definitely a weak spot(s) on the stove, see my previous posts with pictures and description of the whole process which I also sent to BlazeKing but don't really expect a reply!
 
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This’ll be my 8th heating season with my King, it’s been heating somewhere near 5,600 sq ft. in central Pa. , running on low/medium t-stat settings..
If it rotted and fell in half in a giant heep of rust tomorrow..
I’d have another new one by the end of the weekend !!
Ha! Took the words out of my mouth. I’m only about a bit north of 3k heating space but low/med gets it done.
 
Update: It runs like a top!!!!!! We love our King again!!!
Note: an airtight stove does not run well with holes in it! Hehehe!

King owners should watch the back wall of the stove on each side where the interior steel plate does not cover. This is not visible from the outside of the stove until the fans are removed. Hard to get at, but keep as much creosote off as possible and if holes do appear.........our fix worked beautifully. Thank you for all the responses and support.
Happy Burning!
Terri
 
We had two holes on one side and one larger hole on the other. I posted pics for all this. Yes, we made sure the fans fit and work. This is the one area where there are not any firebricks! Thus the holes?? Definitely a weak spot(s) on the stove, see my previous posts with pictures and description of the whole process which I also sent to BlazeKing but don't really expect a reply!

I assumed your patch was much bigger than the holes and maybe the next solid metal was behind the bricks. Good news you found a solution.

Maybe BK should consider an update to their steel thickness, type, or shielding here. Or start making repair kits like you did!
 
We opted to fill the holes with furnace cement then put steel plates with self tapping screws over the hole areas.
I hope that holds and the cement doesn't crumble when thermal tension sets in.
I'd probably have someone weld on the steel plates, but that's obviously something most people can't do by themselves. Me included.
 
I hope that holds and the cement doesn't crumble when thermal tension sets in.
I'd probably have someone weld on the steel plates, but that's obviously something most people can't do by themselves. Me included.
The bond between the cement and steel likely will fail, but with little consequence, it's still plugging the small fissure between the plate and stove body, surrounding that hole. If you ever pull apart a cast iron stove, you'll find much of the cement just falls out of the joints, or is stuck to only one surface or the other, rather than both. It's not filling the gap by adhesion, but just by mechanically "being there".
 
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I hope that holds and the cement doesn't crumble when thermal tension sets in.
I'd probably have someone weld on the steel plates, but that's obviously something most people can't do by themselves. Me included.
Maybe some JB weld if the temp rating is high enough. It obviously doesn't get too hot here or we wouldn't have this corrosion.
 
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Folks, apparently this rotting king issue is more common than we thought. Another one bites the dust on the other forum. Turns out, well allegedly, BK has a repair kit and a part number so you don't have to create a solution yourself.

So for future readers of this thread, ask BK for the kit.
 
Folks, apparently this rotting king issue is more common than we thought. Another one bites the dust on the other forum. Turns out, well allegedly, BK has a repair kit and a part number so you don't have to create a solution yourself.

So for future readers of this thread, ask BK for the kit.
Highbeam. This is NOT correct in 2 instances. We do NOT have a "common" problem. Please do not suggest such things without verifying such information. I'm always available to answer your questions.

Second, we do not have a "repair kit". I have no idea how that terminology got started. A dealer asked us if we could ship a rear panel, and was told yes by someone that was ill-informed. Unfortunately that panel is in process. No future panels will be made...because this is not "common" occurrence. No more than backward wrapped thermostat springs or bypass gaskets retainers.

Again, you are most welcome to ask for accurate information and that will be shared.

BKVP
 
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Highbeam. This is NOT correct in 2 instances. We do NOT have a "common" problem. Please do not suggest such things without verifying such information. I'm always available to answer your questions.

Second, we do not have a "repair kit". I have no idea how that terminology got started. A dealer asked us if we could ship a rear panel, and was told yes by someone that was ill-informed. Unfortunately that panel is in process. No future panels will be made...because this is not "common" occurrence. No more than backward wrapped thermostat springs or bypass gaskets retainers.

Again, you are most welcome to ask for accurate information and that will be shared.

BKVP
Fair enough, not common though I only said it was MORE common than we had thought. Regardless, you have to admit we’re seeing it too much. Heck, both of the site moderators were credited with correctly “calling it” on this king.

So this is just as common as melted bypass retainers, backwards thermostats, and leaking ashfords?

Maybe a repair kit would be a good idea. Like the improved retainer repair kit, and fatter ashford gasket kit. It’s okay to make the product better and respond to field failures.

Do you, or does bk, recommend patch panels as shown in this thread? Maybe a different repair? Or is this a reason to junk the stove?

On that other site, with the latest rotten king, he tells us that the repair kit has a part number. Look man, I don’t want to be in the middle. Please pop over there where you’re a member and weigh in if you want to clear the air.
 
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"So this is just as common as melted bypass retainers, backwards thermostats, and leaking ashfords?"

I said no more common, not "just as common". See how you sensationalized my words? None of these issues are common at all! "Common" is relative to the number of units sold and you have no idea of that relationship.

 BKVP
 
I don't think he meant "common" as in "a significant percentage of units sold".
It's probably just odd that it's happened twice.

It's the same as with other stuff. You might see an unusual engine failure on a car, which doesn't mean it's common. But if it happens to more than one car, people will start to see a pattern. Warranted or not.
 
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"So this is just as common as melted bypass retainers, backwards thermostats, and leaking ashfords?"

I said no more common, not "just as common". See how you sensationalized my words? None of these issues are common at all! "Common" is relative to the number of units sold and you have no idea of that relationship.

 BKVP
You did the same thing sir. I said “more common” and you took that as saying something is common. I said allegedly there is a kit, and you took that as me saying there is a kit. I guess we’re both sensational people.

Don’t attack me, this is a forum where we specifically discuss the plusses and minuses of BK stoves. The elephant in the room here is that you are a company rep and we must take your input with a grain of salt. You have a vested interest. You also have an opportunity to explain the issue from BK’s perspective and we’re all listening.

We know that of the 10 (?)members with young kings that 3 of them rotted out within the last year. That’s a high failure rate among our sample. Is that sensational? I understand the limitations of the small sample size of forum members but it’s the only thing we have.

Maybe you can address the issue rather than running damage control so hard.

Did you not see the questions I asked? Was this a bad batch of Chinese steel? Are you blaming these operators? Their fuel? If this was just bad luck then why aren’t you replacing their stoves?

Upthread you promised to answer questions. Please answer questions. We’re listening.
 
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I did say "no more common". You again in your last post, dropped the word "no". The reason I suggest you ask before you post is not to because I have "a vested interest", it is to be 100% accurate. Remember the guy that was thinking about the used KE1102 purchase? You posted to check the bypass retainers. And the stove doesn't even have bypass retainers. This isn't isolated. You are welcome, just like other forum members, to send me a PM and ask a question so that your posts are accurate.

1) Ashford smoke smell. Have you seen any new issues related to this or are you just referencing the 12-15 from 3-5 years ago before we made design changes to the door and firebox. This is not a question.

2) Bypass Retainers. This is incorrect part terminology. The bypass retainers were part of a continuation of design change and are mounted on each side of the combustor. The bypass gasket retainers are the one your stove had a problem with. And there have been a few others. This too experienced a design change...as you know from my post.

3) King holes. We have made ten's of thousands of King wood stoves since 1977. Somewhere around 12 king's have had this issue. Why just these 12? Considering they are made the same and our review of these units, creosote accumulation has been the common thread. With 12 out of tens of thousands, we cannot see the need for design change.

4) There is no repair kit. There will not be a repair kit. As I posted, a dealer asked about a part, "rear panel" and the employee here looked it up and found the part number for that piece used in assembly and told the dealer we can send that part.

5) I participate on this site for one reason. To help others and when I do not have an accurate or valuable solution, I either call a friend at the manufacturer in question or I do not respond. My posts indicate very strongly I am not here to sell. Our products and the degree of satisfaction sell the products, so I'm not here for that purpose. The number of Blaze King product owners here on this site is so many digits right of the decimal point, my time would be wasted trying to promote or which is not permitted! You may recall, we very frequently suggest to users things they might try to get better performance or higher level of satisfaction. And if we get a sense that they have their doubts, we send them to this site, How many other manufacturers participate on this site? How many want to? It's ok to help folks, in fact it's better than ok! You help people all the time as do other members. That is why we are all here.

These are my final words on this thread. If you wish to PM to accurate information going forward, happy to do so.

BKVP
 
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Let's start over @BKVP.

Chris, I have heard it is possible that a young king can have corrosion problems. If this is true, what can the user do to prevent it? If it happens, what can the user do to keep using their king temporarily or permanently? Is BK making any changes or have they made any changes to prevent this in the future?

Please take this opportunity to show the public how responsive and accountable your company can be.
 
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Kind of important.
3/10 is not equal to 12/x0,000, even for very small values of x. There are almost certainly owners of Kings on these forums who are not counted in the 10, so the prevalence is less than 30%. But of the 12 that @BKVP mentions, is it plausible that 25% of them are here and have posted recently enough to be remembered? Chris can only count those that he knows about, and BK may not know about many of the cases. The percentage is almost certainly higher than 12/10,000. That's too broad a range to be useful.

Is the steel in the King significantly different than the steel in other BK stoves? If not, then a bad batch of steel would likely have led to similar problems in other BK stove models.

Perhaps it is an operational problem. The King is a big stove. Maybe the owners run them lower and slower more often than smaller stoves, leading to more creosote buildup and more corrosion in the firebox. OTOH, BKs are reputed to be good at slow burns, so they should be able to handle it. "Run it hot once a week" has been mentioned on this site, but I don't see it in my (PE32) manual. Did I overlook it?

Rather than debate the statistics, I agree with @Highbeam that it would be better for BK to suggest solutions. Otherwise owners are left with "buy another $5K stove and hope it doesn't have the same problem". I've tried calling BK a few times and don't have much confidence that their generic "customer service" would be helpful for an issue like this, and dealer support varies wildly.
 
Oh my. Heavy words people. Please come down and take a deep breath. All I can say burn your BK hot once per week😳😳.
 
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Look at this glass😝[Hearth.com] Blaze King Too Hot!!
 
Oh my. Heavy words people. Please come down and take a deep breath. All I can say burn your BK hot once per week😳😳.
One good thing about the BK “room” vs. the bucket master thread is we can leave this thread behind. I’m disappointed but not many folks own kings so I guess it’s a little better.
 
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It sounds like there must be at least a few floating around out there:
Not if they rot out after 15 years! Jk, don’t freak out! 1977 was 46 years ago and I don’t expect to get 46 years from my princess. Plus, with that 8” flue, I suspect the king hay day was in the past.