2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

Parallax said:

I'm beginning to get the hang of my Ashford. A good charring and then close her down (to 1.5 in my application). Easy, peasy. I still have some smell coming off the stove and need to do something about the draft. But the stove itself is awesome.

On a reload, with the cat in the active range, how long should I burn to char the wood before closing the bypass?

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I run mine on high for 20-30 minutes after a reload. Then i rarely shut it down past 2. I don't have good enough draft to run it that low.

webby3650 said:

I run mine on high for 20-30 minutes after a reload. Then i rarely shut it down past 2. I don't have good enough draft to run it that low.

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How soon before closing the bypass door? The full 20-30 minutes?

I can run mine at 1.5 but we are getting some smoke smell off the top of the stove (I'm guessing through the hole for the cat probe). Would running it 2 possibly solve the problem?

I close the bypass as soon as the cat becomes active. I let it run hot for a while, never really timed it. Leave it at 2, I think it'll help with that little bit of smell. I know the smell, I don't get it on 2.

Even from a cold start 5 mins in my pass is shut. Keep good flame for another 10 mins or so till I'm around 10-11:00 on the probe then set to cruise

webby3650 said:

I close the bypass as soon as the cat becomes active. I let it run hot for a while, never really timed it. Leave it at 2, I think it'll help with that little bit of smell. I know the smell, I don't get it on 2.

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So if it didn't go inactive before reload, you flip the bypass door shut immediately after you finish loading?

HotCoals said:

Even from a cold start 5 mins in my pass is shut. Keep good flame for another 10 mins or so till I'm around 10-11:00 on the probe then set to cruise

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Five minutes from a cold start? I don't know how you pull that off. When I'm at nothing but coals, it takes my stove at least 10 minutes to get back in the active range. I've not timed it so maybe this is off. Perhaps it's like a watched pot never boiling. Will have to time it.

Parallax said:

Five minutes from a cold start? I don't know how you pull that off. When I'm at nothing but coals, it takes my stove at least 10 minutes to get back in the active range. I've not timed it so maybe this is off. Perhaps it's like a watched pot never boiling. Will have to time it.

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5 -10 mins with the proper kindling. It really does not have to be "in" the active zone..close is good. On the old BKK cats I think the by-pass closed automatically when you shut the door even.
To me the important thing is to char the wood good before setting your t stat to the level you want.
So is the wife back into the stove room when you have that bad boy cooking?

Closing the by pass as soon as you can heats the cat faster imo to get into light off mode just that much sooner.

Parallax said:

So if it didn't go inactive before reload, you flip the bypass door shut immediately after you finish loading?

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Sure. Although I rarely ever reload with the cat active still. I run full cycles most of the year.

On a reload with the cat probe still into the active zone I know that the smoke coming from the wood isn't at 500 because I have a flue gas meter too. I wait until the cat meter says active and rising before flopping the bypass. Sounds like I could maybe do it sooner.

I shut the bypass door as soon as it hits active. Cat probe usually gets to the A in active fairly quick once I close the bypass. Was stepping down draft every few minutes but here lately I just go straight to my setting of 1..

Many different ways to run these stoves, no one way is the best way for everyone. I typically close my bypass when it's close to active, the probe has a lag(according the manual) so if it's close in reality it's probably in the "active" zone. On a reload I pretty much fly by the way the fire is looking along with what type of coal bed I loaded on. I burn on 3 for 10-20 minutes, 2 for another 5-10 minutes then 1 1/2-1 3/4 is where I usually end up. This obviously varies some but it's probably pretty close to this on a normal basis.

There has been plenty of times I've closed the bypass early, my stove has a tendency to get a blow torch type pull up the chimney if I don't position my splits just right. If I leave any type of gap in the center the flames will rip through the middle of the stove and shoot right up the chimney. I've had a time or two where the chimney pipe gets crazy hot and the stove is barely warm. When I notice that situation now I just close the bypass and let it burn.

HotCoals said:

5 -10 mins with the proper kindling. It really does not have to be "in" the active zone..close is good. On the old BKK cats I think the by-pass closed automatically when you shut the door even.
To me the important thing is to char the wood good before setting your t stat to the level you want.
So is the wife back into the stove room when you have that bad boy cooking?

Closing the by pass as soon as you can heats the cat faster imo to get into light off mode just that much sooner.

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I do the same. From a cold start I usually wait till the cat thermocouple reads about 350 and as long as there is good flame and everything is burning quick I will shut it. It will jump from 350 to over 500 in about 30 seconds. If I wait it out with the bypass open, it takes about another 5-10 min to get up to 500. I figure anything that could build up on the cat in 30 seconds will be pretty quickly burned off. I leave it on high till the cat gets to about 1,000 then dial back slowly to a cruise.

I will say this about the t sat though. once the stove is up and running well sometimes I will set the stat to 1.75 and I can see the flopper is maybe 3/4 on a inch from closed. After 30 mins or so the t-stat will actually be closed or almost closed when the stove gets up to temp.
At least that works on mine like that.

Good grief what's BKVP doing in his icon picture this time???

IS THAT A TURKEY?? (Can we cook that on the stove?)

becasunshine said:

Good grief what's BKVP doing in his icon picture this time???

IS THAT A TURKEY?? (Can we cook that on the stove?)

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Who you calling a turkey? Just drove up the Long Island Expressway. Lord above, please get me back to old Walla Walla safely!!

Make sure you have some of their "tea"while you are there Chris..it might help calm the nerves..i hate the big city!

webby3650 said:

I run mine on high for 20-30 minutes after a reload. Then i rarely shut it down past 2. I don't have good enough draft to run it that low.

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Webby running on 2 how long of burn times do you get. And at what temp

Fired her off on a load of old growth Tammy. The heavy hard stuff.

Went off like Mt Saint Helen's. should be last time the door is unlatched until mid day.

Been out of town all day. The wife just loves #2 on the stat.

Dam it I love entering the side door and walking into a wall of hot, BK air.

Forking loving it!

Got guesstamating how much wood to load into the Princess the evening before a warm day down. Stove beginning to cool around 9 am when day time temps start rising.

More importantly, we can run the stove 24/7 if day time highs are around 55f. With the tube stove we wouldn't have a fire unless outside temps we're going to be around 40f.

Keeping the electric furnace off during the shoulder season was a big part of my decision to purchase this stove and it is doing a great job at it!

Rich2343 said:

Webby running on 2 how long of burn times do you get. And at what temp

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Haven't filled it up or used any hardwood at all yet this season. From what I remember last season I was getting 16-18 hours on a load at 2. Temps aren't really accurately measurable, the Ashford has a convection top. So it will read 350, and the steel inner top will be reading 650.

Wow, first 24 hours of all temps below 0dF all the time and I love my Ashford even more than ever.

On my 12-13 foot straight vertical flue and chimney the stove really settled down when temps got to below freezing, shoulder season was fun and easy but actually kinda high maintenance compared to this.

Now that I have been at or below 0dF (-17C and colder) for 24 hours in a row I am just about done fussing over this stove.

Just like you guys were talking in the last couple pages, just open the bypass, open the door, load it up, close the door, double check the probe, close the bypass, walk away for twelve hours. I think my cat has been active for 36 hours straight now.

One of the kids named the stove "Bouche" after the stove in the princess' castle in "Beauty and the Beast." I'll have to watch the movie a little more carefully next time I guess...


5 second shutter at f/8, asa 200, tripod

cat stoves love it when it's cold outside! lol

Poindexter said:

Wow, first 24 hours of all temps below 0dF all the time and I love my Ashford even more than ever.

On my 12-13 foot straight vertical flue and chimney the stove really settled down when temps got to below freezing, shoulder season was fun and easy but actually kinda high maintenance compared to this.

Now that I have been at or below 0dF (-17C and colder) for 24 hours in a row I am just about done fussing over this stove.

Just like you guys were talking in the last couple pages, just open the bypass, open the door, load it up, close the door, double check the probe, close the bypass, walk away for twelve hours. I think my cat has been active for 36 hours straight now.

One of the kids named the stove "Bouche" after the stove in the princess' castle in "Beauty and the Beast." I'll have to watch the movie a little more carefully next time I guess...
View attachment 143406

5 second shutter at f/8, asa 200, tripod

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Holy heck... shutter speeds, f-stops, and actual film! My old dusty pentax k1000 is about to be trashed. I don't even know if I can still have film developed.

At what % throttle are you running the ashford to get 12 hour reloads like that? Is it at halfway?

Highbeam said:

Holy heck... shutter speeds, f-stops, and actual film! My old dusty pentax k1000 is about to be trashed. I don't even know if I can still have film developed.

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I feel ya'. But, he may not be talking about film. Digital cameras compute exposure based on a certain assumed ASA; check the display next time you push the button halfway to auto-focus and all.

Poindexter: Reminds me of Redcar Steelworks Corus.

I just run it as per usual. When it warms up during the day we either open a window or tough it out.

Warming the house is the key. Old Fir Timber frame.

The fresh, crisp, sole exploring -----C has not arrived yet. But it's in the post.