This thing is absolutely silly - AKA Nick's Sirocco 30 Install

[blueguy]

When your bored and have some free time and it's fairly warm out load the stove then give it just enough air to have some flame. instead of giving it a lot of air to char.
It will come up to temp way slower but the cat should come alive on it's own and if the t-stat is in the sweet spot it should close off the air when everything is up to temp. It takes some practice but pretty cool if you get it to work. Extends the burn time even longer that way.

Will do. When having heat isn't a high priority, I plan on trying a bunch of different things

 

[HotCoals]

Will do. When having heat isn't a high priority, I plan on trying a bunch of different things

Yep..e-w will extend it even longer!

 

[rdust]

Any BK diehards have an opinion on this one?

I personally wouldn't mess with it, it sounds to be working fine the way it is. "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

 

[rdust]

The other thing I am really liking about this is the reduced reload time. With my 1450, it would take anywhere from 30 to 60 mins (depending on wood dryness) to get the stove cruising from a reload to ensure the secondaries stayed active. I had the Sirocco cruising last evening in 20 mins tops. So add in reduced loading time to my list

This was a big plus for me, I also like that once I got the stove set I knew I could trust it not to "run" away on me when I walked away.

 

[HotCoals]

I personally wouldn't mess with it, it sounds to be working fine the way it is. "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

I concur...will never need to burn over 2.5 I would think.
Long as he as enough air to fire the load up the way he wants to ..he should be fine.

 

[blueguy]

Just came in from an hour and a half of snowblowing the 3' of drifted snow in the driveway and checked on the stove. When I went out at 1030, it was sitting just below 300 with the cat probe straddling the inactive line again and the two well charred splits on the left side still kind of hanging out. The t- stat must have opened again cause when I checked it at 1220, it was back up to 350 and the cat probe at 10 o'clock again.

19 hours and counting on 8 splits at 1.5 and the house is holding at 70

 

[blueguy]

Yep..e-w will extend it even longer!

Going to give that a whirl tonight

 

[Highbeam]

I see the weld blob on your flue and i also see that you didn't seat your appliance adapter all the say down. I'd bet that if you had ground that blob out you could have dropped the adapter down and actually got the taper to hit the proper hole cutout in the stove body. If you reach your hand up through the bypass you should be able to feel the snout of your flue hanging slightly into the chamber. A poor seal at this joint could spoil draft.

Did you get 36 inches of vertical flue before that first bend?

Is that a key damper in your flue?

What we are seeing is that a good bk can be great with better draft.

 

[blueguy]

I personally wouldn't mess with it, it sounds to be working fine the way it is. "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

I concur...will never need to burn over 2.5 I would think.
Long as he as enough air to fire the load up the way he wants to ..he should be fine.

I couldn't imagine firing this over 2.5 for very long, although my 2.5 would seem to be everyone else's 3....

 

[HotCoals]

Just came in from an hour and a half of snowblowing the 3' of drifted snow in the driveway and checked on the stove. When I went out at 1030, it was sitting just below 300 with the cat probe straddling the inactive line again and the two well charred splits on the left side still kind of hanging out. The t- stat must have opened again cause when I checked it at 1220, it was back up to 350 and the cat probe at 10 o'clock again.

19 hours and counting on 8 splits at 1.5 and the house is holding at 70

I'm 15 hours into a 2/3 load and for the last 3 been just heating off of coals. Temp outside 14 but calm and some sun but some flurries at times.
It is key that the stove be able to hold house temps at 300-350 with these stoves..if you can do that for most of the season you are golden.
When in the deep cold of course you just add a little more air.

 

[Highbeam]

I couldn't imagine firing this over 2.5 for very long, although my 2.5 would seem to be everyone else's 3....

As long as full open yields a wide open intake i would leave it. You need full throttle for reloads and startup.

 

[blueguy]

I see the weld blob on your flue and i also see that you didn't seat your appliance adapter all the say down. I'd bet that if you had ground that blob out you could have dropped the adapter down and actually got the taper to hit the proper hole cutout in the stove body. If you reach your hand up through the bypass you should be able to feel the snout of your flue hanging slightly into the chamber. A poor seal at this joint could spoil draft.

Did you get 36 inches of vertical flue before that first bend?

Is that a key damper in your flue?

What we are seeing is that a good bk can be great with better draft.

My pipe is seated fully home, the ICC adapter would sit the same depth. According to the three different pros (including BK), seated = sealed no matter if the pipe sits 1 1/8" into the collar or all the way down. I dry fit the slip section all the way down and the blob you're seeing doesn't interfere with the fit at all. As an aside, the slip section doesn't have the raised outer ridge on the inner pipe like a normal section does (which is why the piece sticks up a bit).

I left the key damper in as I had installed it just before New Years to try and slow down the 1450's burn rate. It's fully open and depending on how this operates, I may pull it out.

Due to the limitations of my ceiling height and the wall exit, I have 24" before the first 45, which is the minimum according to BK. At this point, I'd rather stick with 24" and the 45s than go to 36" and a 90.

Edit: I should add that I just went with what I had to get this up and running (and to WETT specs) for the rest of this season. Come spring, I am going to look at some different options for connector pipe

 

[blueguy]

As long as full open yields a wide open intake i would leave it. You need full throttle for reloads and startup.

Agreed, I'm just kind of OCD when it comes to things like a knob that at "full open" doesn't even get to full open on the sticker. I know it's semantics because it's still full open no matter what (and to be honest, because it's in a corner, I can't positively see where the dial is pointing anyways), but to me it seems that based on others' reports, there is no standard for orientation on the knob.



In another thread, someone said owning a BK is boring - I have to wholeheartedly agree. Since reloading last evening around 5, I've forced myself to resist the urge to fiddle with the stove

 

[HotCoals]

Agreed, I'm just kind of OCD when it comes to things like a knob that at "full open" doesn't even get to full open on the sticker. I know it's semantics because it's still full open no matter what (and to be honest, because it's in a corner, I can't positively see where the dial is pointing anyways), but to me it seems that based on others' reports, there is no standard for orientation on the knob.



In another thread, someone said owning a BK is boring - I have to wholeheartedly agree. Since reloading last evening around 5, I've forced myself to resist the urge to fiddle with the stove

hard to do eh? lol

But yes burn those coals down to a reasonable amount every load no matter the temp and you will be surprised how little you have to pull ash out of it.

 

[blueguy]

I've already noticed how little ash there is. With the 1450 and my less than great wood, after 8 hours, there was a quite a bit of coals and a lot of ash. I'm still using wood from the same stack and there doesn't look to be a lot of ash in there. Although the door glass is pretty gummed up, so maybe I'm just not seeing it well enough

 

[rdust]

I'm 15 hours into a 2/3 load and for the last 3 been just heating off of coals. Temp outside 14 but calm and some sun but some flurries at times.
It is key that the stove be able to hold house temps at 300-350 with these stoves..if you can do that for most of the season you are golden.
When in the deep cold of course you just add a little more air.

Yep, these stoves hang around 300-400 for a LONG time, if that's enough to heat your space(hold temps) you will see the BK long burns. On the single digit or colder days that's not enough but other than that I will maintain inside temps with those types of temps.

 

[blueguy]

Yep, these stoves hang around 300-400 for a LONG time, if that's enough to heat your space(hold temps) you will see the BK long burns. On the single digit or colder days that's not enough but other than that I will maintain inside temps with those types of temps.

Got 3.5 hours left until 24 hours since the bypass closed on the last load.

I was hoping for 12 hours between loads to match our weekday work schedules, but if I can get 24 hours out of a full load and keep the house warm, it's all gravy

 

[rdust]

Just came in from an hour and a half of snowblowing the 3' of drifted snow in the driveway and checked on the stove. When I went out at 1030, it was sitting just below 300 with the cat probe straddling the inactive line again and the two well charred splits on the left side still kind of hanging out. The t- stat must have opened again cause when I checked it at 1220, it was back up to 350 and the cat probe at 10 o'clock again.

19 hours and counting on 8 splits at 1.5 and the house is holding at 70

It sounds like your stove burns similar to the Princess, pulling those side splits in to the middle near the end of the burn and cranking the t-stat for a while will give you some extra heat before reloading.

When the cat is new the stove is super sensitive as it "breaks "in you will notice some difference in performance.

 

[rdust]

Got 3.5 hours left until 24 hours since the bypass closed on the last load.

I was hoping for 12 hours between loads to match our weekday work schedules, but if I can get 24 hours out of a full load and keep the house warm, it's all gravy

You can obtain the 12 hour load schedule, you just have to load it half way.

 

[begreen]

Got 3.5 hours left until 24 hours since the bypass closed on the last load.

I was hoping for 12 hours between loads to match our weekday work schedules, but if I can get 24 hours out of a full load and keep the house warm, it's all gravy

Sorry the stove doesn't meet your expectations. But give it time, you will get used it.

 

[blueguy]

You can obtain the 12 hour load schedule, you just have to load it half way.

Sorry the stove doesn't meet your expectations. But give it time, you will get used it.

I figure I'll just get all the quirks figured out and it'll be spring

 

[blueguy]

It sounds like your stove burns similar to the Princess, pulling those side splits in to the middle near the end of the burn and cranking the t-stat for a while will give you some extra heat before reloading.

When the cat is new the stove is super sensitive as it "breaks "in you will notice some difference in performance.

I'm still forcing myself not to fiddle with it until the cat stays inactive

 

[Quentin2]

Congrats man, good to see another satisfied bk owner in the fold, or "cult" as some have been saying. That was like a professional stove review. I'm using excell pipe as well and mine bottoms out before it hits the top of stove, no problems with mine so far, it helps that the convection deck hides this fact.

Might be a good idea to check your chimney after 2-4 weeks of burning to see what your buildup is gonna look like compared to your other stove. You might find that creosote builds a little quicker due to colder flue temps and longer burns. Some do and some don't it seems.

 

[blueguy]

Thanks man. How tall is your convection deck?

While I was waiting for the stove to arrive, I took the opportunity to give the chimney a mid-season cleaning with my Sooteater, so I'll have a fresh indicator of how much creosote is making it past the cat.

 

[blueguy]

At 4:40 there was about 75% of one remaining split left from the load yesterday, the stove was sitting at 288F and the cat probe was straddling the line, so I turned up the dial all the way to try and get some flame off the last little bit:

I let it go for about 15 mins without any real rise in temps, so I decided to reload. After 24 hours, this is all that was left:

I also took a quick pic of the inside of the door. This is after 24 hours at 1.5:

I reloaded with 8 more good sized splits, unfortunately my packing skills were lacking again tonight:

I was going to try packing the stove E-W tonight, but I figured I would try that tomorrow night when it's supposed to drop to an overnight temp of -4F here. While I was waiting for the cat to get into the active zone, I was getting a bit of a secondary show. Not anywhere near the same as in my 1450, but definitely interesting:

30 mins after loading, I closed the bypass and temp rose to 541 on the stove top and 500 flue temp:

I set the dial to about 1.6 for the night.

I am still amazed that what would last a day and a half in the 1450 will now last me 3 days.

Silly