Low Burn, Princess 22 Hours after loading

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ohlongarm said:
Are you guys loading your BK's full,to get the extended burns on 1,just wondering if my stoves capable.See I'm only running about a 15 chimney,now don't get me wrong I'm getting good burns but 33 and 40 hours I've yet to try.I honestly think my cat will go inactive at #1.Feedback please, I don't want to feel cheated.
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As long as you burn the dry stuff load it up. I will have to stop burning the marginal punk, junks and uglies and move to the 3 year dried stuff when it gets warmer.

Nice burn rdust. Have you done the turn the tstat off when you go to work and then turn it up when you get home trick?
 
SolarAndWood said:
ohlongarm said:
Are you guys loading your BK's full,to get the extended burns on 1,just wondering if my stoves capable.See I'm only running about a 15 chimney,now don't get me wrong I'm getting good burns but 33 and 40 hours I've yet to try.I honestly think my cat will go inactive at #1.Feedback please, I don't want to feel cheated.
Click to expand...

As long as you burn the dry stuff load it up. I will have to stop burning the marginal punk, junks and uglies and move to the 3 year dried stuff when it gets warmer.

Nice burn rdust. Have you done the turn the tstat off when you go to work and then turn it up when you get home trick?
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Yep. Good, dry wood, and char it well. I turn the stat back over about an hour or so, sometimes tweaking it back up a bit, then back down til everything looks good. I have 15' from the collar to cap as well.

Around 1.5 is just barely closed all the way for me. Any lower and it's just closed. I'm still not convinced that the thermostat is any more than a simple primary air control, regulated by me.
 
jeff_t said:
I'm still not convinced that the thermostat is any more than a simple primary air control, regulated by me.
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When you are running at a steady state, turn the blowers on and see what happens. Cat temp drops, tstat opens up, within 45 seconds you are back to the same temp but transferring a lot more heat. I think the adjustments it makes are simply too small over too long a period of time to see it unless you do something like turn the blowers on or off.
 
I have taken the cover off for a while and watched it. Turning the blowers on high did get an ever so slight response from the thermostat, almost immediately. I'm saying, though, when you do set it at that point where it is just barley closed or open just a bit, it should open up as the load burns down. In theory anyway. You would think it would open as temps drop, until it is all the way open and there isn't enough fuel left to maintain temp, but it doesn't.

I'm not complaining. It is a very good and precise air control. It just doesn't work as I would expect it to.
 
jeff_t said:
You would think it would open as temps drop, until it is all the way open and there isn't enough fuel left to maintain temp, but it doesn't.
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I've thought about this and have a couple reasons I wouldn't want it to work this way. Doing it this way would take a big chunk out of those burn times. I'm not sure how you would open it past your chosen setting. If I set it at 2 as the stove cools I'm not sure I always want it opening back up past 2. In some cases I might but other times I would not. If I'm gone for an extended period of time and I don't need a lot of heat I'll dial it down to 1 if that thing continues to open on me as the stove cools I'm gonna be kinda bummed when I get home to find a cold stove. Other times I think it would be slick if it could open. I guess if they could set it up where I decided how the t-stat worked when I set that load I'd be ok with it opening past my preset choice.

I'm completely happy with the way my stove performs and don't think they need to change it any. My t-stat works at 1 3/4 where I run my stove for most of the cold stuff, when I get down just south of 1.5 it's gonna close and stay closed for the burn.

I think the next step would be a thermocouple and a t-stat where you would set a desired stove top or firebox temp. At that point some would argue that you're complicating the idea too much.
 
Just seems kinda silly to call it a thermostat, I guess. To me, it implies that it should maintain a consistent temperature. The consistent temps that we do get come from severely restricting primary air going into a full load of fuel. Once the fuel load starts to get used up, the temps fall off, because no additional air is supplied by the 'thermostat'. It's only consistent for a long time because it's a lot of fuel.
 
jeff_t said:
It's only consistent for a long time because it's a lot of fuel.
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lol, nothing wrong with that. I agree on the end of burn thing, I usually open up mine all the way towards the end of the burn cycle.
 
jeff_t said:
Just seems kinda silly to call it a thermostat, I guess. To me, it implies that it should maintain a consistent temperature. The consistent temps that we do get come from severely restricting primary air going into a full load of fuel. Once the fuel load starts to get used up, the temps fall off, because no additional air is supplied by the 'thermostat'. It's only consistent for a long time because it's a lot of fuel.
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my stove will hold a
Pretty consistent temp for hours. Just towards the end of the burn. House stay within 3 or 4 degrees for the most part.
 
jensent said:
Can you who burn at the low levels with the BK Princess as shown in this thread give us some idea how often you need to clean the chimney. I am amazed at the way the burn can be controlled. Are all the BK cat stoves equally controllable. Are there other stoves that are able to provide such long burns both cat equipped and non-cat? I might have to look for a BK model that uses a 6in chimney. Other than using well seasoned wood is there anything else we should know? I burn what the tree service drops in the side yard so it isn't anything special. It is always c/s/s for two summers. I'm sure there are others who are interested as I am.
Thanks
Tom
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I think the clean chimney is 98% how dry the fuel is?



Quick answer, Last Year I burned about 2 cords (C/S/S 2 1/2 years) through my CAT BK and the chimney didint even look like it was burned in! Most of this was burned in the medium to very low range.

Now burning 5 cords (C/S/S 2 years) through my NON-CAT Englander 30 there was maybe a couple of cups of soot in the chimney and some creosote at the cap but nothing to write home about.

My quick two pennies :)
 
rdust said:
Backwoods Savage said:
Holy cat scat!!!! It was 67 degrees for the high on 3/7 and 62 on 3/6. Why would you even need a fire rdust?
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Simple answer would be I was cold! :lol: Well it was loaded Tuesday night and I'm pretty sure we had temps in the 30's for the overnight, yesterday was warm without a doubt and yesterday evening was in the 50's. None of those temps get me into the 70's where I'm comfortable so a fire is needed in some fashion. Burning a load of wood over 33 hours doesn't put a ton of heat in the house and keeps it right in my comfort zone. I put it in the area of running a 1500W electric space heater maybe a bit more.

I'm surprised you wouldn't need a fire seeing how you like your temps in the 80's. I can only assume your added insulation and windows are doing a great job if you stayed in the 80's during the same stretch with no fires! ;-)
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Right. The added insulation, doors and windows are paying good dividends.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Right. The added insulation, doors and windows are paying good dividends.
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My windows were replaced in 2005 with the rest of this place I'm dealing with 1980's construction/insulation. My attic is a walk up which is a curse while at the same time nice. The issue is since a floor is laid down I'm unable to put extra insulation up there, the walls I'm sure could also use some love. Some day if I get this place sided I'll add some exterior insulation.

I'm glad to hear the house mods are working out!
 
This is ucking funbelievable. I feel like I got ripped off with my metrosexual Quad 4300 and should have bought a Blaze King. I'm a few years ahead on wood now and have a big load of white ash that is reading in the low double digits on the inside if the splits and single digits on the outside. I hear Blaze Kings like to eat dry wood. Then again, all stoves like to eat dry wood :red:
 
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