2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

HarvestMan said:

That sounds pretty ideal to me. Do you have the coaling problem as some in very cold climates?

Click to expand...

I have a Blaze King King. Coaling problem? Its depth is like 9 inches This is a big part of what makes a King and a Princess so desireable: their deep bellies. No issues with ash spilling out the doors here! With all that depth and size coals have weeks to burn down to nothing but ash.

BrotherBart said:

Yeah. I don't care for ash holes either.

Click to expand...

Omg ur funny BB!!

HarvestMan said:

That sounds pretty ideal to me. Do you have the coaling problem as some in very cold climates?

Click to expand...

I have a Blaze King King. Coaling problem? Its depth is like 9 inches This is a big part of what makes a King and a Princess so desireable: their deep bellies. No issues with ash spilling out the doors here! With all that depth and size coals have weeks to burn down to nothing but ash.

I just had some Norway maple css in July it wasn't ready- burned with ready cherry. Coaled a lot- lots of ashes but no problem just put some envi bricks in to burn overnight and die the stove down. all gone.

I am now into burning season! Each time I start a fire and shut down the bypass, I start to turn down the tstat. When I go below half the fire dies and the coals go dark and then I get a smoke smell coming from the stove. When I turn it back up the smell goes away. Any ideas? Also does anyone know the CFMs of the fan on the princess insert? @BKVP?

Sounds like a draft issue but you should let it burn fully for around half an hour and get real hot before you turn the t stat down anyway. The fire needs to be established before anything.

claybe said:

I am now into burning season! Each time I start a fire and shut down the bypass, I start to turn down the tstat. When I go below half the fire dies and the coals go dark and then I get a smoke smell coming from the stove. When I turn it back up the smell goes away. Any ideas? Also does anyone know the CFMs of the fan on the princess insert? @BKVP?

Click to expand...

210 cfm. As for the smoke, if you turn it down below a specific burn rate and it no longer produces enough heat to induce positive draft, either improve the draft or don't turn it down so low. How long is the chimney, is it lined with an insulated liner, diameter and is it on an exterior wall. Cap?

Also, check the in-grain mc of a fresh split. Incidentally, we are doing some cord wood testing. In the summer of 2014 we had a load of large black locust delivered to us. It was cut, split and stacked inside our shop. Yesterday, we pulled down some of the bins to check the wood....it was 24% after more than a year of being cut and split and stored indoors.

mwhitnee said:

Sounds like a draft issue but you should let it burn fully for around half an hour and get real hot before you turn the t stat down anyway. The fire needs to be established before anything.

Click to expand...

I just installed an insulation kit which should improve draft. I have 12'8" of 6inch pipe and the manual says a minimum of 12'. I hope it isn't draft as I don't recall this being a problem for the last 3 seasons the smell that is. I do think it is working more efficiently with the insulation kit and block off plate.

robk said:

I burned a full load of fir today. Loaded around 5am and set it on low. My wife said it was still active at 1pm but off by 3pm. Is that a normal burn for something soft like fir?

Click to expand...

Fans full tilt?

What would you class as low? Numerical Thermo Sticker or the Swooooooooosh?

claybe said:

When I go below half the fire dies and the coals go dark and then I get a smoke smell coming from the stove. When I turn it back up the smell goes away.

Click to expand...

I was having an issue with smoke odor during very very low burning. There were some small gaps in the connector stovepipe; I sealed 'em up with furnace cement and the problem went away. The worse place was around the flue collar; it isn't quite round on my stove, with about a 3/16" gap in the back where the metal is welded into a circle. It's just a 5min job to daub some furnace cement, which I only have to redo when I remove the connector every year or two for chimney cleaning.

What they're not telling you is that you had better be careful about overfilling the ash pan. It is pretty small. NOT big enough to hold more than a couple of inches from your stove which has a 9" ash belly. When it overfills you will really have a mess.

Click to expand...

You pretty quickly develop a feel for when it's nearly full, and you only have to pull it out a couple inches to peek and see if it's close. Then you have to dump the ashpan and refill, maybe 4 times; every week or two.

You get a 3" square pile of ash directly under the hole. If that is not spread out it will quickly reach the ash hole. Spreading it out means ash dust because the ash pan is below the stove.

Click to expand...

Just jiggle the ashpan once or twice while you're filling it. No dust issue in the BK, because the whole thing is closed up until you pull the ashpan out.

begreen said:

Seems short for a BK. What stove robk?

Click to expand...

Rossco said:

Fans full tilt?

What would you class as low? Numerical Thermo Sticker or the Swooooooooosh?

Click to expand...

Fan on its lowest setting. Thermostat also as low as it can go.

I have the princess insert.

I guess I can stop moaning about my 18% woodpile for a few months. At -25dF with 15.5' of stack my birch is burning fine at wide open throttle with the fan kit running full tilt.

A little concerned about keeping the house warm in January when I can expect daytime highs in the -30s, but I have room on my pallets now to accumulate small spruce splits for colder weather. Nothing quite like baseball sized globs of spruce sap and an active cat to take the chill off the place in a hurry.

claybe said:

I just installed an insulation kit which should improve draft. I have 12'8" of 6inch pipe and the manual says a minimum of 12'. I hope it isn't draft as I don't recall this being a problem for the last 3 seasons the smell that is. I do think it is working more efficiently with the insulation kit and block off plate.

Click to expand...

Try an easy experiment. Remove the cap, add 3' of chimney, replace cap and see if there is a difference. In my 18 years with BK, I am willing to bet you see a difference.

begreen said:

Odd, that is about the same as I would see with our non-cat stove.

Click to expand...

What kind of burn times would you expect with fir?

BKVP said:

Try an easy experiment. Remove the cap, add 3' of chimney, replace cap and see if there is a difference. In my 18 years with BK, I am willing to bet you see a difference.

Click to expand...

claybe said:

I just installed an insulation kit which should improve draft. I have 12'8" of 6inch pipe and the manual says a minimum of 12'. I hope it isn't draft as I don't recall this being a problem for the last 3 seasons the smell that is. I do think it is working more efficiently with the insulation kit and block off plate.

Click to expand...

Also remember that when you get above 5 feet over the roofline that you need a roof brace, and then another brace for each additional 5'. I too have an ideal 12' flue and it works fine, I get some rollout when there is fuel in the stove if I'm not careful is all. I have 4' above my roofline and I don't like the look of roof braces or the possibility of roof leaks where they attach to the roof deck.

The new manuals for the old stoves, at least my princess freestander, now require 15' of chimney. BK changed it. I would assume this change was due to performance issues at 12' and not due to a design change of the stoves.

robk said:

What kind of burn times would you expect with fir?

Click to expand...

I burn lots of doug fir, red cedar, red alder, and even some juniper. Burntimes are very good with these relatively low btu PNW species. I can get the rated 30 hours with doug fir. For max burn times fill it completely full and stack it tightly with large splits.

Also note that burntime on the BK is typically defined as time between active cat engagement and when the cat goes inactive. Your insert blowers may blow on the cat thermometer which will give a false endtime.

I get a slight smell from around my door on a year old stove, (seems like between the hinges) I removed the gasket no sign of smoke getting past, reinstalled and it's still there should the gasket be siliconed in against the door frame? It passes dollar bill test, on spot I could pull the bill out but it too, a lot of effort to do so.

Dieselhead said:

I get a slight smell from around my door on a year old stove, (seems like between the hinges) I removed the gasket no sign of smoke getting past, reinstalled and it's still there should the gasket be siliconed in against the door frame? It passes dollar bill test, on spot I could pull the bill out but it too, a lot of effort to do so.

Click to expand...

I expect a gasket adhesive should be used to keep the gasket from falling out, not to create the seal. The gasket should be glued in place with adhesive.

You likely noticed under that gasket all of the glass retention nuts. Be sure that they are all tight. I had a very loose one and the glass retainer was all wiggly. Those nuts squeeze the gasket around the door glass which is also a potential cause of a leak. Squeeze the glass between two palms and try to wiggle it in all directions. It should not move. Those nuts also hold the glass retainers (same as door gasket retainer) against the door frame which is another leak. Check your nuts!

If the dollar bill took effort to remove at all points then it passed the test.

I have a blaze king ultra too but I have a princess model ultra. Which ultra do you have?

The big boy King King ultra. The gasket is held in pretty well friction fit into the channel. I'll check for loose nuts, I tried moving the glass it seemed tight. I saw in the currently active silicone thread about using a cement for stoves. Maybe I should look for that. While the door was off I took apart the latch and copper never seized it, what a smooth operating SOB it is now compared to before. Just need to drive out 1 roll pin to lube.

I just replaced my cat after 6 years of use. Does the new cat need a break in period of lower temps? I cannot remember if you do that with a new ceramic catalytic converter.

Lanningjw said:

I just replaced my cat after 6 years of use. Does the new cat need a break in period of lower temps? I cannot remember if you do that with a new ceramic catalytic converter.

Click to expand...

No. The owner's manual procedure applies to new stoves with new cats and no break in period is required. Besides, it's not like you can control the cat temp anyway.

Highbeam said:

I burn lots of doug fir, red cedar, red alder, and even some juniper. Burntimes are very good with these relatively low btu PNW species. I can get the rated 30 hours with doug fir. For max burn times fill it completely full and stack it tightly with large splits.

Also note that burntime on the BK is typically defined as time between active cat engagement and when the cat goes inactive. Your insert blowers may blow on the cat thermometer which will give a false endtime.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply. I don't think it's a blower issue, because I started the stove at five in the morning, and when I came home at about five it was cold. So it was definitely less than 12 hours. I was using fairly large splits, but they were not really tightly packed in there.

I don't think I want to fully packet yet, just because it's not that cold. If I burn times don't increase, is there something that I could check? I know the seal around the door is good.

Highbeam said:

No. The owner's manual procedure applies to new stoves with new cats and no break in period is required. Besides, it's not like you can control the cat temp anyway.

Click to expand...

Time for fire