The Blaze King Performance Thread

[rdust]

I've always suspected my T-Stat on the lower burn doesn't work as well on my stove. When I set it low and the T-Stat doesn't need to open the flapper the stove obviously performs great, reason for the awesome shoulder season performance. When the fire is what I call active with a lot of fuel in the stove I think the T-Stat works great at regulating the burn keeping the output steady, my sweet spot is just under 2. The place I'd like to see it better is opening better at the end of a lower burn.

I don't think any stove is perfect but this one performs pretty darn good for me.

Also, hotcoals my T-stat cover doesn't have a third screw like yours, only two.

 

[Hass]

My Tstat air responds instantly. If I have it set on 1, and turn it to 3, air floods in and coals light right up and I have a blaze in less than a minute and the stove starts creaking... If I have a roaring fire and shut it right down to 1, it will close it right off and the cat will burn away.

 

[HotCoals]

My Tstat air responds instantly. If I have it set on 1, and turn it to 3, air floods in and coals light right up and I have a blaze in less than a minute and the stove starts creaking... If I have a roaring fire and shut it right down to 1, it will close it right off and the cat will burn away.

Yeah when you turn the knob it will respond instantly.
I'm talking about the t stat opening and closing on it's own.
Sorry if I was not clear.

 

[rdust]

Yeah when you turn the knob it will respond instantly.
I'm talking about the t stat opening and closing on it's own.
Sorry if I was not clear.

No worries I'm following along just fine. Of course I'm a dumb polack so I'm not sure what that says for you. :lol: My grandma is known for talking in what my family calls polack talk, people outside of the family may have no clue what she means but we get it.

 

[HotCoals]

To clarify..

On a BK when you set the t-stat..say on 2 when your fire is well established.

What should happen is the bi-metal t-stat should automatically maintain the stove temp by opening and closing the flapper for as long as there is sufficient fuel.
The Bk imo fails at this but still ..it does work some.

The t-stat is working off the stove temp..not the air temp in a room that would have a conventional thermostat to run say a gas furnace.
The stove temp does not vary in temp very fast where the t-stat lives.
Just my findings and opinions.

I really don't care all that much because I bought it for the long slow burns around one on the dial...it shines there.
I know that the t-stat never opened up set at one on a 24 hour burn when it was down to coals and cooling off..I don't really care though.
I know that it didn't because I had the cover off and had a tooth pic situated so that if it had opened it would have knocked the tooth pic to the brick behind the stove.

 

[HotCoals]

Yeah when you turn the knob it will respond instantly.
I'm talking about the t stat opening and closing on it's own.
Sorry if I was not clear.

No worries I'm following along just fine. Of course I'm a dumb polack so I'm not sure what that says for you. :lol: My grandma is known for talking in what my family calls polack talk, people outside of the family may have no clue what she means but we get it.

Do you agree to any of it?
I can be relentless figuring crap out..lol.

 

[HotCoals]

That governor bolt I added sure works great..limits the flames to a decent amount.
What it's doing is actually limiting my knob position to 2.75..even though the knob will still turn to 3.5.
Wife had a habit of coming home at times and just cranking it all the way up..now she is limited..lol.
But most of the time it was fine for her to do that because not much wood in there..but I keep telling her that's not a good habit cause one of these times there might be a lot of wood..conversation went downhill from there..lol.

BTW..if I want a lot of air to burn down the coals..I just turn the screw of a few turns..really works good and still has the factory limiter screw to back it up.
I didn't tell the wife about it.

 

[rdust]

Do you agree to any of it?
I can be relentless figuring crap out..lol.

What you're reporting is pretty much what I've seen. Obviously I think the stoves act a little different but I would expect that since they're different models with different chimney's, wood supply etc..

 

[HotCoals]

Do you agree to any of it?
I can be relentless figuring crap out..lol.

What you're reporting is pretty much what I've seen. Obviously I think the stoves act a little different but I would expect that since they're different models with different chimney's, wood supply etc..

Good to hear..maybe I'm not crazy like some little women around here claims..lol.

I'm telling you I still really like the stove.
I was really interested in the Progress Hybrid when I heard it was coming out.

But now after careful consideration and reading the reviews on here,i have come to the conclusion that the Hybrid would be to conflicting for my personality.
In other words..it would drive me crazy!

 

[SolarAndWood]

Agreed on the tstat at the end of the burn; I open mine up all the way often for the full last third of the burn cycle.

 

[HotCoals]

Agreed on the tstat at the end of the burn; I open mine up all the way often for the full last third of the burn cycle.

Yep..would be nice if it opened further on it's own.
But still not a big deal and I'm sure you agree.
I'm still amazed at the 24 hour burn time in the shoulder...you can get more but 40 is stretching it some..lol.
The old Bk would never get 12 with the same wood load..noway.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I had an easy reload after 48 on a 100 lb of locust when I first got my stove just to see if it was BS. Don't waste the good stuff in those conditions any more. You need super dry wood to burn that low for that long and not have the burn stall out.

I find that timing the reloads is everything. Getting the right amount of fuel in so that you keep the coal bed at bay yet put out the heat you need when you need it was tough for a few months until I figured the stove out. 2 stoves on opposite cycles would solve the problem.

 

[HotCoals]

From BK's site...this at 35 hours into burn.



Peaks like this result from the burning wood collapsing, stirring up sparks and smoke
(which sets off a flurry of combustor activity), and exposing unburned wood to the
fire, resulting in rising firebox temperatures. Note how the thermostat responds to
this increase, controlling the air intake to the fire, and automatically lowering the combustion
to its previous operating level.

No it didn't ..the fire picked up a little from the wood collapsing and it just died down again after awhile.
You gota love marketing!

I know that t-stat is not that sensitive and they must know it also.

 

[rdust]

Agreed on the tstat at the end of the burn; I open mine up all the way often for the full last third of the burn cycle.

Exactly how mine acts, if I'm around(weekends) and need more heat I'll usually crank it for the last part of the burn after pulling the edges into the middle. We haven't hardly even had what I consider winter around here yet so there really hasn't been a need for more heat at the end.

 

[HotCoals]

I had an easy reload after 48 on a 100 lb of locust when I first got my stove just to see if it was BS. Don't waste the good stuff in those conditions any more. You need super dry wood to burn that low for that long and not have the burn stall out.

I find that timing the reloads is everything. Getting the right amount of fuel in so that you keep the coal bed at bay yet put out the heat you need when you need it was tough for a few months until I figured the stove out. 2 stoves on opposite cycles would solve the problem.

A big house with 2 Bk's would be the cats butt on opposing cycles!
I'm pretty sure you would agree though that it's not really difficult at all to run these stoves..it's trusting them that can be a challenge at first.
I'm not trying to knock tube burners but to me theses cat stoves have way less chance of a runaway.
Mainly in my opinion that is because there is only one very controlled in coming air supply.

 

[HotCoals]

Agreed on the tstat at the end of the burn; I open mine up all the way often for the full last third of the burn cycle.

Exactly how mine acts, if I'm around(weekends) and need more heat I'll usually crank it for the last part of the burn after pulling the edges into the middle. We haven't hardly even had what I consider winter around here yet so there really hasn't been a need for more heat at the end.

Yep..same here.
But it would be nice if the t-stat would do it for you..but it can't swing that far.
It will open some as the stove cools.
They are on the right track.
The spring needs to be a little bigger i think...I think it would be more sensitive then.
I'm no engineer though..but I do play one on the net..lol.

 

[HotCoals]

Bk guys,
Check for crud in the air passages right where the air comes out to wash your glass.
I had some build up there..and now my glass is staying cleaner.

 

[jeff_t]

To clarify..

On a BK when you set the t-stat..say on 2 when your fire is well established.

What should happen is the bi-metal t-stat should automatically maintain the stove temp by opening and closing the flapper for as long as there is sufficient fuel.
The Bk imo fails at this but still ..it does work some.

The t-stat is working off the stove temp..not the air temp in a room that would have a conventional thermostat to run say a gas furnace.
The stove temp does not vary in temp very fast where the t-stat lives.
Just my findings and opinions.

I really don't care all that much because I bought it for the long slow burns around one on the dial...it shines there.
I know that the t-stat never opened up set at one on a 24 hour burn when it was down to coals and cooling off..I don't really care though.
I know that it didn't because I had the cover off and had a tooth pic situated so that if it had opened it would have knocked the tooth pic to the brick behind the stove.

When I'm trying to burn a bit on the hot end, say 2.5 or so, I can hear the flapper opening and closing constantly. A bit annoying until I think about what's going on, then it's kinda cool.

 

[HotCoals]

To clarify..

On a BK when you set the t-stat..say on 2 when your fire is well established.

What should happen is the bi-metal t-stat should automatically maintain the stove temp by opening and closing the flapper for as long as there is sufficient fuel.
The Bk imo fails at this but still ..it does work some.

The t-stat is working off the stove temp..not the air temp in a room that would have a conventional thermostat to run say a gas furnace.
The stove temp does not vary in temp very fast where the t-stat lives.
Just my findings and opinions.

I really don't care all that much because I bought it for the long slow burns around one on the dial...it shines there.
I know that the t-stat never opened up set at one on a 24 hour burn when it was down to coals and cooling off..I don't really care though.
I know that it didn't because I had the cover off and had a tooth pic situated so that if it had opened it would have knocked the tooth pic to the brick behind the stove.

When I'm trying to burn a bit on the hot end, say 2.5 or so, I can hear the flapper opening and closing constantly. A bit annoying until I think about what's going on, then it's kinda cool.

I never hear that unless moving the knob kinda fast back and forth.
And now that I added my governor I hear it on the high side also..about 2.75.
Now I wonder if something is up with mine.
Does yours have that screw I was talking about..between the two screws that holds the cover on over the t-stat?

Does that 2.5 setting on your stove give you flame or no..the burn you're talking about.

 

[jeff_t]

Nope, just the two screws.

 

[HotCoals]

Nope, just the two screws.

Really?
Now I'm curious why mine does.
I edited that last post of mine to see if you had flame when you heard it opening or closing.

 

[jeff_t]

Nope, just the two screws.

Really?
Now I'm curious why mine does.
I edited that last post of mine to see if you had flame when you heard it opening or closing.

Yep, a wee bit of flame off the wood, lots of secondary action up top. It is pretty constant, doesn't seem to correspond with the flapper opening and closing. It runs usually around 600-650 burning like that.

 

[HotCoals]

I should contact BK to see about this deal with that screw.
If anybody else would check theirs for a 3rd screw I would appreciate that.
It's down a little ways from the other two.

 

[HotCoals]

Nope, just the two screws.

Really?
Now I'm curious why mine does.
I edited that last post of mine to see if you had flame when you heard it opening or closing.

Yep, a wee bit of flame off the wood, lots of secondary action up top. It is pretty constant, doesn't seem to correspond with the flapper opening and closing. It runs usually around 600-650 burning like that.

That's pretty much how mine is set and running tonight..but just a slight flame every now and then..like maybe every few minutes.
I know I'm on the verge of a constant small flame.
I'm over 4 hours into and my temps are little lower then yours ..no secondaries to speak of but cat glowing nicely...but not real bright.
Close to end of scale on probe...maybe 1/4 inch away.

 

[HotCoals]

Jeff,
Do you have a OAK on yours?