What BK Model do I have?

[Murray01]

Looking to purchase a new catalytic combust to have on the shelf. This stove was purchased when my father in law owned the cabin and of course no owners manual or original purchase receipt. I have included some photos including the placard on the back that has KEJ highlighted however when I check some dimensions against the owners manual downloaded from BK website I find some discrepancies. This is a stove that was either made in Canada or made for the Canadian market. The parts list(from the downloaded manual) has two listed combustors, KEJ 4500F(King) and PEG 4400G(Princess). The last photo with the specs and my comparison measurements indicate that the stove is close to a Princess yet the first photo indicates a King model. Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[Highbeam]

That pipe! Did it get run over?

 

[Murray01]

That pipe! Did it get run over?

The previous owner, my father-in-law, method of removing creosote. Beat it with his cane. The Class A chimney is 6”, the single wall stove pipe is 7” so the 6” chimney brush isn’t very effective on the 7” pipe. Had a neglected wood stove to deal with this past summer, next summer I will be replacing the single walled stove pipe with brand new double walled pipe.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

The previous owner, my father-in-law, method of removing creosote. Beat it with his cane. The Class A chimney is 6”, the single wall stove pipe is 7” so the 6” chimney brush isn’t very effective on the 7” pipe. Had a neglected wood stove to deal with this past summer, next summer I will be replacing the single walled stove pipe with brand new double walled pipe.

Now I'm curious when you disassemble that stove pipe let's get a few pictures of the inside. I have a neighbor who is on his stove pipe with a chain and I have tried to talk him out of it even offered to come over with my soot eater.

 

[Highbeam]

The previous owner, my father-in-law, method of removing creosote. Beat it with his cane. The Class A chimney is 6”, the single wall stove pipe is 7” so the 6” chimney brush isn’t very effective on the 7” pipe. Had a neglected wood stove to deal with this past summer, next summer I will be replacing the single walled stove pipe with brand new double walled pipe.

The modern chimney cleaning brushes is this device called a sooteater that you can use from inside the living room. You just shove the flexible rods through the firebox door and up the flue. The other end of the rods are hooked to your drill and the brush is an octupus of weed wacker string that whips around and knocks everything down into the stove. The weed wacker strings can be long enough to clean 7" and 6" at the same time so if you really like 7" or want to clean it right away then that sooteater device is pretty great.

When I saw the collapsed single wall I hoped it wasn't just really thin and falling apart like a tube of paper. I have some single wall for my shop stove and I know they rust from the inside out so one day it will just collapse! Whacking it with a cane is a reasonable explanation for the smashing!

 

[Murray01]

The modern chimney cleaning brushes is this device called a sooteater that you can use from inside the living room. You just shove the flexible rods through the firebox door and up the flue. The other end of the rods are hooked to your drill and the brush is an octupus of weed wacker string that whips around and knocks everything down into the stove. The weed wacker strings can be long enough to clean 7" and 6" at the same time so if you really like 7" or want to clean it right away then that sooteater device is pretty great.

When I saw the collapsed single wall I hoped it wasn't just really thin and falling apart like a tube of paper. I have some single wall for my shop stove and I know they rust from the inside out so one day it will just collapse! Whacking it with a cane is a reasonable explanation for the smashing!

Stovepipe isn’t new, this is its last winter. I’ve looked at the Sooteater, only have 27” from floor to flue where as on the roof I can stand, easier on the back.

Whacking it with a cane isn’t my idea of a proper cleaning. I still get a good laugh thinking back watching him “clean the chimney”.

I’ll fire off an email to BK, see if they can shed some light on my stove model and part number.

Just coming out of a cold snap nighttime temperatures-30C daytime-15C, it was nice to finally run that stove closer to it’s design. Hard pressed to run it on max. for more than 30 minutes as per instruction book. Cabin gets too warm and the pipe temperature is approaching 450F.

 

[Murray01]

Now I'm curious when you disassemble that stove pipe let's get a few pictures of the inside. I have a neighbor who is on his stove pipe with a chain and I have tried to talk him out of it even offered to come over with my soot eater.

Last summer had the stovepipe off to clean and paint. It cleaned up nicely, smooth interior, some wear on the joints, enough to justify replacing them with double walled stovepipe next summer.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

Last summer had the stovepipe off to clean and paint. It cleaned up nicely, smooth interior, some wear on the joints, enough to justify replacing them with double walled stovepipe next summer.

Looks like the cane worked good enough haha!

 

[kennyp2339]

You have a king, the 8" stove collar gives it away, glass door suggests that its newer with the rectangular cat thats behind the flame screen, check midwest hearth for purchase, they ship very quick and so far I've had great luck with them. Also do the dollar bill test and check the door gasket, high density gasket with high temp silicone is the recommended replacement if needed

 

[Murray01]

You have a king, the 8" stove collar gives it away, glass door suggests that its newer with the rectangular cat thats behind the flame screen, check midwest hearth for purchase, they ship very quick and so far I've had great luck with them. Also do the dollar bill test and check the door gasket, high density gasket with high temp silicone is the recommended replacement if needed

I have a 7” stove collar, I guess I wasn’t clear on my description. The larger black print are measurements I could get with a hot stove. What got me thinking was the old yellow highlighter mark on the stove placard, my limited experience reading stove placards is the manufacturer usually embosses or marks them in a permanent form. The highlighter marker seems fishy or at least what I wasn’t expecting. The measurements that I got it seems to be leaning more towards the Princess model yet my measurements don’t match up exactly to the published numbers from BK. My stove was made in Canada and the owners manual came from BK website, likely a US manual BK offers 2 combustors, one for the KE and a PE.

Door and window gasket was changed last year, OEM Blaze King. Our dollar bills are plastic so I substituted a plain piece of paper. Our Hardware store is a BK distributor and their price for OEM was considerably cheaper than Midwest Hearth plus I avoid the customs hassles and our good postal workers are on strike so getting products out of the US is virtually impossible. Once I figure out a part number I will be placing my order with the local hardware store.(Shop local)

 

[kennyp2339]

Can you measure the cat behind the flame shield, I believe the only different is cat height, they are the same length across

 

[Murray01]

Can you measure the cat behind the flame shield, I believe the only different is cat height, they are the same length across

Next cleaning I can. We haven’t let the stove cool done since mid September. That hardware store wants a part number, not dimensions.

 

[kennyp2339]

Next cleaning I can. We haven’t let the stove cool done since mid September. That hardware store wants a part number, not dimensions.

Right, but its either 1 of 2 potential part numbers, you can just let the fire go to coals and with gloves take the shield off and get the measurement, I've done cat change outs with ash / coals still in the firebox, just need to be quick about it.

 

[Murray01]

Right, but its either 1 of 2 potential part numbers, you can just let the fire go to coals and with gloves take the shield off and get the measurement, I've done cat change outs with ash / coals still in the firebox, just need to be quick about it.

Thanks. Good idea

 

[Highbeam]

All things being equal, I’d prefer the BK “brand” replacement catalyst over an aftermarket.

 

[Murray01]

All things being equal, I’d prefer the BK “brand” replacement catalyst over an aftermarket.

Agreed 100%. Couple of years ago I replaced the door and window gasket with OEM, the window gasket was original from 1999 and it came off in one piece. Prices were better than anything online and was able to shop local, another plus.