2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

Maybe. It's wet here but if they're covered, the wind would likely help. I've thrown it in the garage, figuring it gets some warmth from the house. I've also been bringing a few pieces in the house and setting them at the foot of the stove.

BKVP, OUR SINCERE COMPLIMENTS.

When we arrive at this house typically on a Friday night and the house is cold. We keep the heat on 50'F when we aren't here. We need big heat when we get here and we need it pretty much now.

We fire up the Princess and within an hour, the fire in the stove is established, the house warming up nicely, and we're sitting down to dinner.

We are in shoulder season, we need heat but we don't need big heat non stop.

Once this Princess is established, we can do just about anything we want with that thermostat. The stove responds pretty much immediately. We can turn the thermostat to low, and the stove burns on low it doesn't go out, it actually burns on low. We can turn the thermostat up and it responds. I turned it up this evening to cook dinner on the stove top (that works well too!) and then we turned it right back down. And down it went- but it didn't go out. Right now she's humming along at setting 1. Setting 1. Still lit, still burning, CAT active, but not running us out of here. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

This is an AWESOME stove!

becasunshine said:

BKVP, OUR SINCERE COMPLIMENTS.

When we arrive at this house typically on a Friday night and the house is cold. We keep the heat on 50'F when we aren't here. We need big heat when we get here and we need it pretty much now.

We fire up the Princess and within an hour, the fire in the stove is established, the house warming up nicely, and we're sitting down to dinner.

We are in shoulder season, we need heat but we don't need big heat.

Once this Princess is established, we can do just about anything we want with that thermostat. The stove responds pretty much immediately. We can turn the thermostat to low, and the stove burns on low it doesn't go out, it actually burns on low. We can turn the thermostat up and it responds. I turned it up this evening to cook dinner on the stove top (that works well too!) and then we turned it right back down. And down it went- but it didn't go out. Right now she's humming along at setting 1. Setting 1. Still lit, still burning, CAT active, but not running us out of here. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

This is an AWESOME stove!

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Kudos to you or Hubbie for making the right choice but yell, thanks to BK for making the choice so obvious!

I don't know if I could run my stove full pelt like you guys. Please talk me through it further with pictures and IR gun results (How about pictures of IR's )

Anyhow it's getting a little nippy around here. (Bummer)

BK seems to be holding its own. Still not the sobering -20C to -30C that's in the post.

I can't run full bore..noway!

becasunshine said:

This is an AWESOME stove!

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I've said it before, if someone can show me a better burning stove it would be on my hearth in an instant. These stoves do what the users tell it to do, the control and how easily each burn is repeated is second to none.

HotCoals said:

I can't run full bore..noway!

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Ditto. Although mine probably don't pour the air in like yours.

Rossco said:

Ditto. Although mine probably don't pour the air in like yours.

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i have a strong draft. When the stove is ready for cruise I can usually run on 1 all the time and I know for a fact the t sat on mine is closed at 1 and will not open even if the stove goes tob stone cold..well maybe just a crack at that point.
Now at night when the temps get down to 15f or below I might have to turn it up some to the point of a little flame to keep the house nice and warm.
Don't have to do that often at all.

So far the Ashford is doing a nice job keeping my 2650 square foot house warm. Hasn't gotten that cold outside yet. Might drop down as low as 30 at night. If I run the stove at 2, the house stays warm and we're getting nice long burns. When we're in the dead of winter, we'll see how it does. I'm guessing it will be great.

Good draft tonight 17 degrees with a 15 mph north wind blowing. Will see how it does on 2 tonight and no fan. May need to run the fan some toward mid week.

Catalyst having its bedtime snack.

Here is a question for everyone, how does log size affect burn time on low settings? Lets assume same weight of wood for both loads, one load is small splits, the next load is several much larger pieces. If using the same thermostat setting how will burn time be affected? Am I right in assuming that even though its thermostatically controlled, the small wood will be consumed faster?

NinjaTech said:

Here is a question for everyone, how does log size affect burn time on low settings? Lets assume same weight of wood for both loads, one load is small splits, the next load is several much larger pieces. If using the same thermostat setting how will burn time be affected? Am I right in assuming that even though its thermostatically controlled, the small wood will be consumed faster?

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Yes..more surface area per pound.

Smaller pieces tend to be a little more dry. Or more uniform dry.

HotCoals said:

Yes..more surface area per pound.

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I don't think this is the main determinant. I imagine the rate of burn is limited by the rate at which air (oxygen) can be sucked into the stove, which in turn is determined by both the opening angle of the air valve and by the velocity of air through the opening, the latter probably defined mainly by the strength of the draft. Theoretically. In real life, the smaller splits are probably going to be drier, so cat stall will be less likely. But then there's the wonderful thermostat, which should even out some of these effects. So I'm going to say that I think split size will have very little effect on low burns, assuming optimally-dry wood.

RustyShackleford said:

I don't think this is the main determinant. I imagine the rate of burn is limited by the rate at which air (oxygen) can be sucked into the stove, which in turn is determined by both the opening angle of the air valve and by the velocity of air through the opening, the latter probably defined mainly by the strength of the draft. Theoretically. In real life, the smaller splits are probably going to be drier, so cat stall will be less likely. But then there's the wonderful thermostat, which should even out some of these effects. So I'm going to say that I think split size will have very little effect on low burns, assuming optimally-dry wood.

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lol
Put a load of kindling size stuff in and light it off and see what happens . But of course the amount of air will make a huge diff.
Surface area will make a diff ,that and more air pockets around the wood will also.

RustyShackleford said:

I don't think this is the main determinant. I imagine the rate of burn is limited by the rate at which air (oxygen) can be sucked into the stove, which in turn is determined by both the opening angle of the air valve and by the velocity of air through the opening, the latter probably defined mainly by the strength of the draft. Theoretically. In real life, the smaller splits are probably going to be drier, so cat stall will be less likely. But then there's the wonderful thermostat, which should even out some of these effects. So I'm going to say that I think split size will have very little effect on low burns, assuming optimally-dry wood.

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Assuming all the wood is properly dried. I had that idea too. X amount of air should burn X amount of wood. I guess it seems like in a perfect world it should work that way. In the real world I figured the small pieces would still go faster even with the tstat. My big reason for asking is just thinking in the future of splitting time, as long as I have enough time to let the large splits dry properly would big hearty pieces work better for longer shoulder season burns. Maybe I'm thinking too far in to it though and should just feed the thing and let the tstat handle it.

NinjaTech said:

... just feed the thing and let the tstat handle it.

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Yeah, if you discount the whole argument about amount of air, and just assume a given thermostat setting (in a given installation) is going to keep the stove at a certain temperature, well then, again, split size should make no difference, because a given stove temperature corresponds to a given btu/hour heat output (again, for a given installation).so the same amount of wood will last the same time. But again, I think those large splits are more likely to give cat stall - because of the smaller surface area, they might not outgas enough to keep the draft going.

But hey, do the experiment and let us know. (If you're not afraid the wife will have you carted away to the "nervous hospital" if she sees you weighing the wood before you load the stove

I have some 'Next Year' wood that has been split nice and square. It's already dry to burning I split it up smaller but another year won't harm. Lets say I can get 8 in the box like Jeff did. Should be interesting.

Roll on the 2015/16 BK thread woohoo

I know for a fact the t-stat won't make that much of a diff ..it is just not that reactive. Though it does work some.
Even with no flame the big wood will out gas way slower therefor it will last longer..it has to,cat stalls and all..not saying the cat will stall but way more chance of it.

If the t stat did open considerably more to let more air in that would correlate to more heat up the flue right..not good.

Right now I happen to be burning small really dry stuff.

I'm like 3 hours in and the hot spot near the probe is 550 ..18" up on my single wall pipe the outside reading is 210. My t-stat is compltely closed..it's running off the pilot hole as usual,once in cruise.
So if you double both numbers..1100 and 420...about a 3-1 ratio not bad. I don't really know what that relates to as far as stove efficiency though and those inside temps are at best just guesstimates anyways.

RustyShackleford said:

Yeah, if you discount the whole argument about amount of air, and just assume a given thermostat setting (in a given installation) is going to keep the stove at a certain temperature, well then, again, split size should make no difference, because a given stove temperature corresponds to a given btu/hour heat output (again, for a given installation).so the same amount of wood will last the same time. But again, I think those large splits are more likely to give cat stall - because of the smaller surface area, they might not outgas enough to keep the draft going.

But hey, do the experiment and let us know. (If you're not afraid the wife will have you carted away to the "nervous hospital" if she sees you weighing the wood before you load the stove

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Eh, I might get chewed out, but have been chewed out before. I only really get in trouble if I get caught with cylinder heads or intake manifolds in the dishwasher.

NinjaTech said:

Eh, I might get chewed out, but have been chewed out before. I only really get in trouble if I get caught with cylinder heads or intake manifolds in the dishwasher.

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I put my snowmobile clutches in there once..lol.

And I get accused of over thinking things! Dang!

Anyway, wouldn't the larger splits need to be off gassing at about the same rate as the smaller splits on a given thermostat setting in order to hold the same temp.

had my chimney swept for the first time since buying my ashford. i got it around the first of the year last year. about a coffee can amount of creosote up where my liner pokes out my masonry chimney. a little more than i was hoping for, but my sweep thinks a once a year schedule should work out ok, especially since it seems im getting the hang of how to run the stove and my wood quality is better.

my hearthstone was once every 2 years sweep stove...and even then it was a coffee cup of creosote at the top lip. thats was it. but i guess thats because it sent so much heat up the flue!

my chimney is a difficult and dangerous one to sweep. i simply wont make the "leap" off my roof peak to it. however i think i reach the cap and get a altered brush to the top to knock that buildup at the top down. another option is to build a "leveled" ladder that will allow me to clean it. its on a 10/12 roof.