BK with auto thermostat, internal pipe temp?

[steve reynolds]

i have a blaze king royal heir and this model stove has a automatic thermostat which depending on where i have the thermostat set, will adjust the damper by itself to allow the stove to be at a constant temp all the time. when it automatically shuts off the damper, it in turn, will completely shut down the fire until stove cools down enough to reopen the damper.

my question is when it does this wouldnt you think it would be cooling down the stove pipe to a non optimal temp where creosote can start building? if this assumption is correct how would you recomend burning with this stove then?

when you start reading about optimal temps for pipe and everything else it all gets confusing on what to do. is it not good to let fire smolder to save on the wood or is it?

in fact i am unsure if the combuster has ever been replaced in this as i bought it used and this unit was manufactured in the late 80's. i have read that one sign it is working is the color of the smoke coming out of pipe. i have read that a white colored smoke is a sign that it is working and that a smell of wood burning out of pipe is a sign that it is NOT working. now i am really confused! i have for sure a white smoke but it DOES smell of smoke? wow! i know someone is going to say take it out and look at it but dont really have the money at the moment to replace the gasket when i remove it.. manual says i have to replace gasket once i remove combuster.
this stove does have a combuster thermometer and it seems to be working and is going from not ready to ready.. as hot as i have had it is about 3/4 of the way to its maximum. (so does this mean the combuster is working?)

i think i read on this forum somewhere on a couple threads where the poster had the exact same stove maybe some advise from him would be great also

thanks for any answers
steve

 

[begreen]

Unless this stove has been sitting unused for a long time you can be sure that this is not the original combuster. It sounds like your combuster is still working. Can you inspect it without removal?

Burn dry, well seasoned wood and creosote accumulation should not be too bad. Frequent cleaning of the chimney will tell you how you are burning. Until you know for sure, check it after burning a cord of wood.

 

[steve reynolds]

Unless this stove has been sitting unused for a long time you can be sure that this is not the original combuster. It sounds like your combuster is still working. Can you inspect it without removal?

Burn dry, well seasoned wood and creosote accumulation should not be too bad. Frequent cleaning of the chimney will tell you how you are burning. Until you know for sure, check it after burning a cord of wood.

never thought of that ... (looking at it while it is still installed) will try that when it cools down tomorrow even if i have to use a flashlight and a mirror. as far as sitting, no the guy used this every season like clockwork. i have been doing some reading since i posted this and eventually will install a pipe thermometer to be sure.

 

[Highbeam]

Are you sure it is even a cat stove? The current BK lineup includes a "royal guardian" that is non-cat. In the late 80s, not sure what you're dealing with.

 

[steve reynolds]

Are you sure it is even a cat stove? The current BK lineup includes a "royal guardian" that is non-cat. In the late 80s, not sure what you're dealing with.

i am positive, it is a royal heir 2100 i have read the manual on it... almost looks retro. it is white and black. and christ thing will burn you out of house and home.. i am burning seasoned ash.

 

[Todd]

If the cat is working it should be well into the active zone with a fresh load and there should be little smoke coming out the chimney and that smoke should look more like white steam that disapates quickly near the stack not linger across the yard.

I monitor my flue temps and I can tell when the t-stat kicks in and closes because the temps will drop 50-100 degrees for a bit then go back up when it opens back up. The cat probe stays pretty steady throughout the whole process but slowly falls as the load is used up.

 

[steve reynolds]

If the cat is working it should be well into the active zone with a fresh load and there should be little smoke coming out the chimney and that smoke should look more like white steam that disapates quickly near the stack not linger across the yard.

I monitor my flue temps and I can tell when the t-stat kicks in and closes because the temps will drop 50-100 degrees for a bit then go back up when it opens back up. The cat probe stays pretty steady throughout the whole process but slowly falls as the load is used up.

i am going to look at it tomorrow. when its cooled down.. but yes the cat thermometer seems to be working well i like to keep it rite around the 12:00 to 1:00 position which is about a 1/3 to 1/2 into the active position. and as far as the smoke goes, it is white almost steam like but it does travel maybe 20 to 30 ft then its gone.. it is not discolored and does not hang around but it does not actually disappear rite at the pipe. maybe i will know a little better when i see it. hate to be such a newb but want to learn to burn this rite and get the most out of it.

i have seen how some of you guys load your stove, quite honestly that would scare the dog crap out of me to load it like that! i only put maybe 3 to 4 logs in at a time maybe 5 at most! wow!

 

[Todd]

I'm not familiar with your stove but the purpose of the Blaze King t-stat is to control the burn and even it out over the long haul. My manual basically says fill it up full and let it do it's thing. It's next to impossible for this thing to run away from me unless a gasket or weld fails.

 

[steve reynolds]

I'm not familiar with your stove but the purpose of the Blaze King t-stat is to control the burn and even it out over the long haul. My manual basically says fill it up full and let it do it's thing. It's next to impossible for this thing to run away from me unless a gasket or weld fails.

i am not downing you what so ever.. what works for you works.. that is what i am scared of, it getting away from me .. (out of control) i have only had it for about 3 to 4 weeks so i am sure my loads will get bigger and bigger as i would like the burn times through the night also.. just working my way up to it )). call me chicken shiat.. and i say i sure am

 

[daleeper]

my question is when it does this wouldnt you think it would be cooling down the stove pipe to a non optimal temp where creosote can start building? if this assumption is correct how would you recomend burning with this stove then?

when you start reading about optimal temps for pipe and everything else it all gets confusing on what to do. is it not good to let fire smolder to save on the wood or is it?

in fact i am unsure if the combuster has ever been replaced in this as i bought it used and this unit was manufactured in the late 80's. i have read that one sign it is working is the color of the smoke coming out of pipe. i have read that a white colored smoke is a sign that it is working and that a smell of wood burning out of pipe is a sign that it is NOT working. now i am really confused! i have for sure a white smoke but it DOES smell of smoke? wow! i know someone is going to say take it out and look at it but dont really have the money at the moment to replace the gasket when i remove it.. manual says i have to replace gasket once i remove combuster.
this stove does have a combuster thermometer and it seems to be working and is going from not ready to ready.. as hot as i have had it is about 3/4 of the way to its maximum. (so does this mean the combuster is working?)

i think i read on this forum somewhere on a couple threads where the poster had the exact same stove maybe some advise from him would be great also

thanks for any answers
steve

Welcome to the hearth, fellow Royal Heir owner.

My stove does not have the numbers on the thermostatic dial, and I very rarely turn it all the way down, but I do run it at what would be the 1 position on the later BK models. Normally once I get a load going, I will turn it down to 1-1.5 and the cat thermometer will work its way to the far side of the active marking, then work its way back to the active/inactive line and stay there until it runs out of wood. When it gets settled down, I have a magnetic condor thermostat on the flue pipe that will settle down to about 200 f. and I do not have much trouble with creosote. In the past with my old earth stove, I had to remove the screen on the cap, because it would plug with creosote. I did not have to do that with the Royal Heir last year, and only cleaned the chimney out once, and it really didn't need it then.

When I first got mine, I was uncertain if the cat was working, but as I got used to how the thermometers acted, I was satisfied that it was working right. The cat will glow when running hot, but will normally quit glowing when it cruises at that line between active/inactive. I do have the smell of wood smoke outside, and normally the white smoke will taper off after the wood load has been burning for about an hour, I'm thinking it is mostly moisture burning off.

I did pull mine out to check it, and needed to clean it out mid season. It had several cell holes filled with fly ash, once I cleaned them out it burned a lot better.

Once you have confidence that you are controlling the air going into that stove, load it up. In my application, it will burn 12 hours with no problem with good wood and low heating requirements.

 

[daleeper]

By the way, Blaze King has the manual on their web site. If you have not read it, I would recommend you look at it and read the proper procedure for operation. I follow it pretty closely and it works as advertized.

 

[steve reynolds]

By the way, Blaze King has the manual on their web site. If you have not read it, I would recommend you look at it and read the proper procedure for operation. I follow it pretty closely and it works as advertized.

OH MY GAWD!
i got to finally see the combuster in my stove. didnt realize it but it is right in front behind my door and it is rectangular and it was 80% covered in suet! was hardly even working.. cleaned it off real good with a paint brush and it is a totally different stove. i am hardly getting any smoke at all now!

i am noticing something weird now? when the thermostat gets about to close there is flames kind of rolling around the top of my fire box .. not even touching the wood? weirdest thing i ever seen!

 

[daleeper]

OH MY GAWD!
i got to finally see the combuster in my stove. didnt realize it but it is right in front behind my door and it is rectangular and it was 80% covered in suet! was hardly even working.. cleaned it off real good with a paint brush and it is a totally different stove. i am hardly getting any smoke at all now!

i am noticing something weird now? when the thermostat gets about to close there is flames kind of rolling around the top of my fire box .. not even touching the wood? weirdest thing i ever seen!

Glad to hear that it is working properly now.

What you are seeing is the secondary burn off of gasses in the firebox before it enters the cat. In the cat stove when the gasses build up at the top of the box, and the fire/cat is hot enough they will light up and give a real light show. In a non-cat stove, the air is injected into the top of the firebox to burn off these gasses, that is why they claim the better light show, because this will happen throughout a larger portion of the burn cycle than a cat stove.