Isn't most of the heat generated at the top of the stove from the cat except during hot burns? If so, the benefit of soapstone firebrick might be minimal. Maybe it would depend on how the stove is normally run?
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2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)#2
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shoot-straight
Minister of Fire
HotCoals
Minister of Fire
Why would you do that?
If it's for looks I can understand that but for efficiency..no.
You're just going to slow down the heat rate of transfer in my opinion.
The soap stone will never hold anywhere near the amount of heat that you now lost to the flue from you insulating the top of the stove.
I could be wrong..just ask my wife!
Ok guys ..I'm back! lol
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Soapstone is for non-cats and decorative stoves. Those of us fortunate enough to be running cat stoves do not need to further slow the release of heat from the stove. This concept of thermal mass and a flywheel of heat is pointless when the cat can slowly chew on small amounts of smoke and already has a long and low output setting.
Adding mass to a cat stove may actually cause harm by lengthening the warm up stage.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Hmmm, sounds like a bad idea, I'm not gonna screw with the stove then, it already works good enough
Parallax
Minister of Fire
Well, sort of melted and warped. I mean it was the heating and melting that allowed the warping to occur. Was glad to get replacements in metal but they did begin to rattle a bit last night. Not enough for it to really be an issue so long as it doesn't get worse. Why do you prefer plastic?
bobdog2o02
Minister of Fire
My guess is cost with the added benefit of vibration damping, like the noise your getting now.
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I owe somebody some props.
Last time I cleaned my flue, I noticed a bit of charcoal on the gasket the bypass door seals to. I wiped it off with my finger, brushed the rest of the gasket off with a fingertip, re-assmbled, fired the stove; something just wasn't right.
I ran it for three days, every time the stack output looked OK, it just seemed like I was getting less heat out of the stove than I was accustomed too.
I finally lifted the telescope flue again on day three and brushed off the gasket with a paint brush as _______ suggested. Put it back together refired, I got my performance back.
Thank you. A paint brush to the bypass door gasket is now part of my regular cleaning routine,.
Last time I cleaned my flue, I noticed a bit of charcoal on the gasket the bypass door seals to. I wiped it off with my finger, brushed the rest of the gasket off with a fingertip, re-assmbled, fired the stove; something just wasn't right.
I ran it for three days, every time the stack output looked OK, it just seemed like I was getting less heat out of the stove than I was accustomed too.
I finally lifted the telescope flue again on day three and brushed off the gasket with a paint brush as _______ suggested. Put it back together refired, I got my performance back.
Thank you. A paint brush to the bypass door gasket is now part of my regular cleaning routine,.
After a couple similar situations this winter I to have realized how easily this area gets cruded up and the importance of keeping it clean.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Every single cold start I reach my hand up there and clear the gasket. That cat chamber up there is ugly with all sorts of flakes and chunks spalling off just wanting to land on that gasket and booger your seal not to mention the actual flue above that is likely also dropping occasional chunks. You can see up into the cat chamber pretty well from the loading door with a flashlight.
If you are going through the trouble of removing the flue pipe then grab a shop vac and really suck out every bit of that cat chamber that you can. I wouldn't pull the flue unless absolutely necessary and even then, I would make sure to sweep the chimney first.
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I am sweeping my flue every cord or so, makes it a little harder on the wife and kids to start another small scale chimney fire that puts me on the roof with a flashlight at -40dF. I sweep from below, see roof conditions (qv). I don't leave stove cold enough long enough to be in there with a vaccuum cleaner, but a paint brush on the gasket is doable.
Also check the area on the hinged edge of the bypass door, I suspect enough fly ash in that groove compacted hard enough long enough might eventually degrade the seal when the cat is engaged.
does anyone have a pic or video of their stove running with the tstat turned up? My wife and I are trying to decide on a stove and the blaze king is one of our options but we would like to have a stove were we can sit and enjoy the fire view from time to time. I know you will get some fire show with the tsat turned up giving the stove more air but i haven't been able to find a pic or video of this on the net. I know doing this will consume more wood and we will have lower burn times. But we would only be doing it from time to time when we are sitting down enjoying the stove. Also how big are the logs you guys are using. I know they say the stoves can take up to 18 but recommend 16 inches. Is using 18 inch wood have any draw backs? I have about 2 cord of wood cut split and stacked right now but its all 18 inches.
Our other main choice is the Lopi Liberty.
Our other main choice is the Lopi Liberty.
Dieselhead
Minister of Fire
When it's very cold we run the stove with the thermostat right on the line of burning and smoldering. It produces very lazy flames that float around the firebox putting on a show better then watching a 60's lava lamp. No video of course 
You can have visible flame and still get 10 or so hour burns depending on which model you buy.
You can have visible flame and still get 10 or so hour burns depending on which model you buy.
I don't currently have a BK stove but I'm planning to buy an Ashford 30 after this winter. Id really like to run pex tubing to the underside of my kitchen and heat water with the stove for it. My thoughts were to make a network of copper pipe that snakes back and forth and plaster it all together and have it sit on the top of the stove and then tie into the pex and a pump further from the stove.
Your comment about robbing heat from the top of the stove has me concerned though, do you guys think I'll be able to do this without affecting the way the stove operates too much? Do you see any other way I could heat that water with a cat stove? Thanks for your help!
Isaiah53
Member
Heating water takes a lot of energy. For an on-demand system, raising the temperature of even 1 gallon per minute stream of water from 40 to 120 F takes 40,000 Btu/hr. I don't think you are going to get anywhere near enough heat transfer from that type of set-up. You would have to have some type of hot water storage system. I think you would be much better served in terms of safety and performance by purchasing a system designed for heating water than trying to build a homemade system, or else just buy a stove that you can use as a cook top and put a pot of water on the top of. The Ashford has a convective cast top with an air gap below where the room air is actually heated. The cast top is relatively cool so it will not be the best for this.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Well last night I did a big clean, pulled all the ash out of the fire box, took the smoke pipe out, I looked inside the top of the stove and it was as clean as a whistle, no debris, I still vacuumed around the cat (in case of fly ash build up) cleaned the by-pass gasket with a paint brush, took the chimney brush in the garage and clean the smoke pipe. Even though I didn't need the cleaning I was real happy I did it, I'm still learning the stove and for burning almost (2) months 24/7 I had very minimal ash / creosote debris. Thanks guys
Glad to hear things were so good. Also glad to hear you did it! Checking and or cleaning every month or so in the beginning is good piece of mind and the best way to guage your burning practices for future reference.
So many people never blink an eye about processing the cords of wood it takes to keep a wood stove running for months at a time but avoid the chimney like the plague. Not necessarily on this site though, just my experience talking with other wood burners.
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I'm sorry I don't think I was specific enough. I'm not trying to make hot water for cooking or anything I want to heat the water in a hot water radiant heating system that will run underneath the floor. I'm only looking to keep the floor from being cold as the woodstove keeps the house very comfortable but the travertine tiles are still cold.
I'll be running the woodstove 24/7 in the heating season so I don't think the water in the system will ever get truly cold therefore the heat required to bring it back up to temperature should be minimal. I'm more concerned with how robbing heat from the top of the stove could interfere with the cat as I really don't know all that much about them, seeing as I have an old school VC vigilant right now. Thanks again for any input!
My guess is the heat robbed from the stove to heat the water will screw with the efficiency and emissions output of the stove. The firebox was designed and EPA approved without heating water, adding that is a game changer.
I'd shop for a stove made to heat water.
bobdog2o02
Minister of Fire
I don't think the Ashford would even have the transfer to do anything meaningful for heat gain.
This is true, for it to have any chance the lines would probably need to be in the stove.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Wow, I read this to late, but a couple nights ago I was watching a tv show, one of those selling Alaska shows, first of all most of the houses / cabins have blaze kings, secondly the one cabin had a heat exchanger mounted to the back of a bk that was used to make the hot water for the house, it was used for baseboards and potable.
drz1050
Minister of Fire
Ordered an Ashford yesterday!
I was hoping to just put a deposit down, but it was a "special order" for the shop,. so had to pay in full... oh well, I'm ok with that. The shop had a little military discount too, so that took some of the burn off.
I think I read somewhere that BK was backed up on orders, stove shop guy said they were all caught up though. Guess we'll see when it gets here.
I was hoping to just put a deposit down, but it was a "special order" for the shop,. so had to pay in full... oh well, I'm ok with that. The shop had a little military discount too, so that took some of the burn off.
I think I read somewhere that BK was backed up on orders, stove shop guy said they were all caught up though. Guess we'll see when it gets here.
Dieselhead
Minister of Fire
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