2013-2014 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

Last night I got tired of trying to fluff and move the gasket so that it made good contact with the door frame for a tight seal.

I went to the shop and found two machine washers and put them on the hinge pins under the door. One washer on each pin and of course only the bottom washer is doing anything.

Huge difference in gasket alignment. The gasket actually hits the knife edge in the middle on the top and bottom as it should. Since 95% of cat failures are from leaky door gaskets you would think that this area would get some attention.

BK's jig is broken. Unless, these stoves are supposed to have a washer on the hinge. My hearthstone came OEM with a washer on each hinge.

Highbeam said:

Ack! you broke the bypass? Are you able to run the stove?

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No the bypass is not broke. It just wasn't as tight. So I took a look, and there is a bolt on it that can be adjusted. I tried tightening it but it broke. So still works. Just cannot be adjusted. I'll have to try and fix this summer. Any ideas ?? I guess tap and dye.

i did the "fluff and move" on my gasket last night. I've been away and the stove was cold so I thought I'd try it. Dollar bill test is tight everywhere except above the lower hinge where it slides pretty easily. I tugged on the gasket a bit and tested. The dollar bill was tight everywhere. Fired up the stove and I do notice a difference. I was getting a little flame off the wood down low on the left side (my left while facing the stove) with the tstat on 1.75. It's not doing that now and the cat has been glowing for longer than it did previously. Could be other factors I guess but it appears to have helped.

I think you said before, though, that only princess has the jig alignment problem, right? I think for me it's the fact that my stove was a 2008 show-room model.

johnstra said:

I think you said before, though, that only princess has the jig alignment problem, right?

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I don't believe so. Other than this, the stove seems to be properly jiggidy.

fire slave said:

No the bypass is not broke. It just wasn't as tight. So I took a look, and there is a bolt on it that can be adjusted. I tried tightening it but it broke. So still works. Just cannot be adjusted. I'll have to try and fix this summer. Any ideas ?? I guess tap and dye.

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I'm pretty sure it's just a 1/4" cap screw with a lock nut. The screw is threaded thru the clip and puts a little pressure against the bypass door. If you need to get the door out, you can pull the cat and wiggle it out thru the hole. Worst case, you can grind the weld off, do what you need to with the latch, and weld it back on. I wouldn't worry too much about it now. It is a pretty substantial piece of metal, and just the weight of it is probably giving a decent seal.

I tightened mine after a couple months of burning, and haven't touched it since.

Matt KH said:

Some get away with what?

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Running a king on a 6.

I didn't know you could do that

Matt KH said:

I didn't know you could do that

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I'm not a fan of it. but it has been done on here by at least one guy..can't think of his name now.
Only has probs with smoke on reloads. He made a shield of sorts to cover part of the opening and I guess that works for him when reloading.

Matt KH said:

How does the Princess heat 2400 square-foot house in Minnesota. does anyone have one in Minnesota?

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I have a Princess Classic in MN with a 2200 sq ft house... Medium insulation, not protected from wind.

The stove does real good to about -10f, at which point the furnace will need to turn on once or twice at reload. At-20 below I the furnace will run once every hour or two. I never run the stove over 2.5 because I think it smokes too much and I worked too hard to gather, split, and stack my wood to waste half of it up the flue.

As others will say, you're mileage may vary depending on insulation, solar gain, protection from wind, etc.

Badger said:

I have a Princess Classic in MN with a 2200 sq ft house... Medium insulation, not protected from wind.

The stove does real good to about -10f, at which point the furnace will need to turn on once or twice at reload. At-20 below I the furnace will run once every hour or two. I never run the stove over 2.5 because I think it smokes too much and I worked too hard to gather, split, and stack my wood to waste half of it up the flue.

As others will say, you're mileage may vary depending on insulation, solar gain, protection from wind, etc.

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Thanks for the info it will help a lot how warm do you keep your house?

Matt KH said:

Thanks for the info it will help a lot how warm do you keep your house?

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68 is where my furnace kicks in, but I typically shoot for 72-76. More towards 76 in the evenings when everyone is home, and 72 in the morning and during the day.

I don't get the automatic temperature control that some claim. It seems like 2 will hold the temperature of the house, 2.25 to gradually raise the temps, 2.5 to raise them a little quicker. Nice, even predictable heat, but not the "put it on 2 and always get 72" that you will hear from time to time.

My only complaint is I only have ok draft and if I don't follow my pre reload schedule to ant a get a wisp of smoke in the house. Other than that I love this stove. Almost zero learning curve to operate, I feel safe letting my wife reload (who won't follow rules because she knows better), and long burns allow me to go burn 24/7 even with my work schedule.

Badger said:

68 is where my furnace kicks in, but I typically shoot for 72-76. More towards 76 in the evenings when everyone is home, and 72 in the morning and during the day.

I don't get the automatic temperature control that some claim. It seems like 2 will hold the temperature of the house, 2.25 to gradually raise the temps, 2.5 to raise them a little quicker. Nice, even predictable heat, but not the "put it on 2 and always get 72" that you will hear from time to time.

My only complaint is I only have ok draft and if I don't follow my pre reload schedule to ant a get a wisp of smoke in the house. Other than that I love this stove. Almost zero learning curve to operate, I feel safe letting my wife reload (who won't follow rules because she knows better), and long burns allow me to go burn 24/7 even with my work schedule.

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Trust me..the t-stat is not all that...but I still really like my stove.

Where did you buy your blaze King in mn

There's been a few over the years that have run a King on a 6, don't remember their screen names off the top of my head, maybe if you type in the key words you can pull up the threads. If you don't mind using your furnace occasionally the Princess would probably be ok for you.

Matt KH said:

Where did you buy your blaze King in mn

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I purchased a used one and rebuilt (gaskets and cat) it.

I did have it installed by a local BK dealer. Since then I've had a chimney sweep and a chimney shop/ installer point out several issues with the install. I can't say don't buy anything from them, but you definitely don't want it installed by them. If you are in central MN, have an idea who you want to use, and would like some advice... PM me.

Yea

jeff_t said:

I'm pretty sure it's just a 1/4" cap screw with a lock nut. The screw is threaded thru the clip and puts a little pressure against the bypass door. If you need to get the door out, you can pull the cat and wiggle it out thru the hole. Worst case, you can grind the weld off, do what you need to with the latch, and weld it back on. I wouldn't worry too much about it now. It is a pretty substantial piece of metal, and just the weight of it is probably giving a decent seal.

I tightened mine after a couple months of burning, and haven't touched it since.

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Yeah I took a good look at it. It seems like it has a good enough seal for now. I'll have to try and pull it out during the summer for fixing.

Loaded up last night around 830pm. Turned down to just under medium. Got home from work toady around 630 and still had embers. Temps of 42 as a high today. Unreal!

Dhide371 said:

Loaded up last night around 830pm. Turned down to just under medium. Got home from work toady around 630 and still had embers. Temps of 42 as a high today. Unreal!

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This is shoulder season burning, shoulder season makes up a good portion of the season and the BK makes it a breeze.

I just load for 24 hours. yep pretty much shoulder weather.

HotCoals said:

I just load for 24 hours. yep pretty much shoulder weather.

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Not for long, we have some cold weather coming in for 4-5 weeks, colder than the last cold snap, there should be some good snow storms on the east coast too, not sure if you get affected by them but overall will be deep winter for a while, get ready.

weatherguy said:

Not for long, we have some cold weather coming in for 4-5 weeks, colder than the last cold snap, there should be some good snow storms on the east coast too, not sure if you get affected by them but overall will be deep winter for a while, get ready.

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It's 37 here and been raining a little, wife threw some splits on at 18 hours said the house was too hot as she kept forgetting to go downstairs and turn the stat down.

Weren't some of you guys saying the bypass lever had to be closed all the way until you heard it clunk or latch? If I move mine an inch or two I could let it go and it would slam shut.

Weather guy, just found out first hand that a recent episode of buying alaska was completely fabricated. The young couple was friends with a realtor who set it up with producers, they pretended to be looking for a cabin on a lake, they pretend bought one and were then showed loading firewood, hauling water and living in the cabin a few weeks later. In reality they shot everything over a weekend.

Out of all the ak reality shows this is one that I would of least expected to be made up. Maybe that was just a fluke and they needed a show and we're short on buyers.

my ashford is supposed to be here monday!

question- i may have it at the house for a day or so before my install guy gets to me. i was thinking of firing it off outside to cure the paint, rather than stink up the house. what do you think? also, the manual doesnt give a break in process, it simply says burn at low for several hours to cure the paint, then just goes on with normal operation. my hearthstone break-in process was much more specific,i do realize that its a stone stove vs steel though.

thanks
brett