2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

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Got distracted and left one of the Ashfords run in bypass (from cold start) longer than intended tonight. Cat was in middle of active range (i.e. 12 o'clock on dial) by the time I got to it, but single wall pipe was only 500F on outside, about 14" above collar. Stove didn't seem that terribly hot, but then again I'm used to gauging by a radiant iron design, not a double-wall convective stove.

Thinking I should be fine here, but what should I be checking for potential damage? I remember mention of bypass damper or frame warpage, when running long periods in bypass, but never saw any info on how to check it.
 
Wrecking them new stoves already, are ya? ;lol
 
drz1050 said:
Can't speak for the Princess, I have the Ashford, but it burns from the middle out every time. On reloads, it's common to have large coals on the far left and right, while the middle is just ash.
Click to expand...

My princess burns exactly like your Ashford. Even the junk accumulation on the glass is symmetrical.
 
Ashful said:
Got distracted and left one of the Ashfords run in bypass (from cold start) longer than intended tonight. Cat was in middle of active range (i.e. 12 o'clock on dial) by the time I got to it, but single wall pipe was only 500F on outside, about 14" above collar. Stove didn't seem that terribly hot, but then again I'm used to gauging by a radiant iron design, not a double-wall convective stove.

Thinking I should be fine here, but what should I be checking for potential damage? I remember mention of bypass damper or frame warpage, when running long periods in bypass, but never saw any info on how to check it.
Click to expand...

dollar bill test on the bypass gasket should show any warp I'd think...
 
My princess burns right front quadrant 1st, after that's out of the way everything else burns pretty even, I generally have coals at the rear right and left of the stove about the size of a fist, it's been like that since day 1, absolutely love it, but kind of wish I got the king instead just for longer log lengths
 
Hello everyone, I ended up purchasing the BlazeKing princess and so far am impressed, but have some concerns because my burn times. I hope im not hijacking the thread, but it did say everything BK :).

I have a new house, 2850 sqft 2 story, insulated very good, the flue is 30ft SS inside a wooden chase (traditional Michigan home). The exterior of chase is brick all the way up. Im in southeast mchigan.

Here is the concern. Im only getting roughly 8-10 hour burns holding the house at 72-73 degree's including upstairs with an outside temp of average 25-30 degrees, and Im seeing here people easily hitting 16-20hour burns. I have a pallet full of 3 year old seasoned hardwood 10% moisture and a cord of one year seasoned 20% moisture.

My steps:
with thermostat set at 2.5
1. open bypass
2. start kindling
3. load 3 pieces of 10% moisture wood, wait till stove hits active
4. load stove to the max with half 10% half 20% wood
5. close bypass
6. wait 3-5minutes for new wood to flame
7. slowly move thermostat to 1.3-1.6
8. get about 8-10 hour burn time.

through this sequence i dont see many flames, as is mentioned, but still hitting only bout 8-9hours, on a good day 10 hours, where I will just have enough hot coals to start another fire and thermometer is almost at inactive. I have tried starting the kindling then loading the stove full and waiting to hit active, but it seems like im losing burn time with the full load that way.

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
fireplacenoob said:
Hello everyone, I ended up purchasing the BlazeKing princess and so far am impressed, but have some concerns because my burn times. I hope im not hijacking the thread, but it did say everything BK :).

I have a new house, 2850 sqft 2 story, insulated very good, the flue is 30ft SS inside a wooden chase (traditional Michigan home). The exterior of chase is brick all the way up. Im in southeast mchigan.

Here is the concern. Im only getting roughly 8-10 hour burns holding the house at 72-73 degree's including upstairs with an outside temp of average 25-30 degrees, and Im seeing here people easily hitting 16-20hour burns. I have a pallet full of 3 year old seasoned hardwood 10% moisture and a cord of one year seasoned 20% moisture.

My steps:
with thermostat set at 2.5
1. open bypass
2. start kindling
3. load 3 pieces of 10% moisture wood, wait till stove hits active
4. load stove to the max with half 10% half 20% wood
5. close bypass
6. wait 3-5minutes for new wood to flame
7. slowly move thermostat to 1.3-1.6
8. get about 8-10 hour burn time.

through this sequence i dont see many flames, as is mentioned, but still hitting only bout 8-9hours, on a good day 10 hours, where I will just have enough hot coals to start another fire and thermometer is almost at inactive. I have tried starting the kindling then loading the stove full and waiting to hit active, but it seems like im losing burn time with the full load that way.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Your loading procedure is screwy, but that wouldn't be the cause of short burn times. Your flue is very tall (30 ft!), which will make it suck pretty hard at 25F. Where on the un-graduated cat temperature probe is it running? Past 12 o'clock? What wood species?

For reference, I'm getting 30+ hour burns (cat active more than 24 hours) in an Ashford 30.1 from full loads of oak and ash on a setting similar to your 1.3, on a 15' flue. My other Ashford 30.1 is on a 25' flue, and I run that around 3 o'clock dial setting (stupid new dial without numbers), and get about 15 hours burn time at 35F outside.
 
Ashful said:
Your loading procedure is screwy, but that wouldn't be the cause of short burn times. Your flue is very tall (30 ft!), which will make it suck pretty hard at 25F. Where on the un-graduated cat temperature probe is it running? Past 12 o'clock? What wood species?

For reference, I'm getting 30+ hour burns (cat active more than 24 hours) in an Ashford 30.1 from full loads of oak and ash on a setting similar to your 1.3, on a 15' flue. My other Ashford 30.1 is on a 25' flue, and I run that around 3 o'clock dial setting (stupid new dial without numbers), and get about 15 hours burn time at 35F outside.
Click to expand...

Im open to changing loading procedure to help increase burn times, let me know what you think is screwy, id like to try other methods. The temp gauge is usually right about 1-2 o clock after blower is on, if I leave blower off its around 4-5. Wood species is almost all oak. I do have a tall flue, I should mention that 6ft of it is inside the house, its in an alcove, so really its about 24ft inside the chase. Dont know if that matters for flue temp.
 
Ashful said:
Thinking I should be fine here, but what should I be checking for potential damage? I remember mention of bypass damper or frame warpage, when running long periods in bypass, but never saw any info on how to check it.
Click to expand...

One time last season I brushed the flue and somehow left a small chunk of charcoal, like a pencil eraser split in half on the bypass gasket - thus the door couldn't get a good seal. Took me about two days of the stove not running right to shut it down again, lift the pipe off the collar and find the culprit.

If the stove is running good I wouldn't sweat it.
 
The guys with the really long burn times have the blaze King king. I have a princess stove insert. You may be trying to heat too many square feet with a princess. You will get shorter burn times when you use the blower. 8 - 10 hour burn times is normal with the blaze King princess at least it is with my insert.
 
Lanningjw said:
The guys with the really long burn times have the blaze King king. I have a princess stove insert. You may be trying to heat too many square feet with a princess. You will get shorter burn times when you use the blower. 8 - 10 hour burn times is normal with the blaze King princess at least it is with my insert.
Click to expand...

Looking around on the forums it looks like even free standing princess' are hitting way longer burn times than the 8-10 hour mark. Ive tried without blower and I didnt see a significant difference in burn time.
 
Will you can have a 12 - 15 hour burn time but what's really important is usable heat. My answer will burn 12 to 15 but it just comes up at the end and does not produce enough significant heat for me here in Minnesota where it's cold. In the shoulder season like we have now with temps in the 30s I get those long burn times but I have the stove completely shut down. I believe you said your house is 2800 square feet that's a lot of square feet for a princess stove just saying I don't think you're that far off with your burn times I don't think anything's the matter
 
Lanningjw said:
Will you can have a 12 - 15 hour burn time but what's really important is usable heat. My answer will burn 12 to 15 but it just comes up at the end and does not produce enough significant heat for me here in Minnesota where it's cold. In the shoulder season like we have now with temps in the 30s I get those long burn times but I have the stove completely shut down. I believe you said your house is 2800 square feet that's a lot of square feet for a princess stove just saying I don't think you're that far off with your burn times I don't think anything's the matter
Click to expand...

Yes, I was afraid this might be the case, wanted the king but the alcove clearance requirements made me get the princess. Im not complaining, it heats like a champ and heating up 2850sqft is impressive overall. Just want to make sure im utilizing it to the max.
 
Jeff in Maine said:
I was not aware the blower shortened burn times is that in the manual? I spent sometime looking at the book yesterday it may be in there but I don't remember seeing it.
Click to expand...

I didnt see anything referenced in manual about blowers shortening burn time either. Would like others input as well on burn times.
 
There have been many debates here on whether blower use reduces burn times and he general consensus is their use does shorten the burn time. The short version is the blowers strip the heat away from the stove top, resulting in the stat opening more frequently to maintain the firebox temp for the selected setting which means the load burns down quicker.

On a side note, with a full firebox on a setting of ~2, I can achieve 24 hours of useable heat from my basement installed Sirocco 30 with an exterior chimney that heats a total of about 2400 sq ft. If you are burning through a full firebox on a setting of 1.3 - 1.6 in 8 - 10 hours, that is not normal. Try reducing your stat setting below 1.3 to see if you get enough useable heat and still maintain an active cat.
 
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Lanningjw said:
I believe you said your house is 2800 square feet that's a lot of square feet for a princess stove just saying I don't think you're that far off with your burn times I don't think anything's the matter
Click to expand...
Indeed, "you cannah violate the laws of physics" (as Scottie would say). A certain number of pounds of firewood has a certain potential number of BTUs of heat (depending on species and dryness). And you get a certain number of those BTUs into your house, depending on burning efficiency (by far the most important thing being the catalytic converter running properly). So depending on how may BTUs/hour of heat it takes to keep your house at a certain temperature, you're only going to be able to heat it for a given number of hours.

Theoretically, you could compute "BTUs per hour per degree fahrenheit (between inside and outside)" for your house, by taking all the surfaces in the "envelope" (of your house) and dividing the square-feet by the R-value. And also including a factor for infiltration losses (air changes per hour times BTUs required to heat the air up from outside to inside temperature).
 
I have the princess insert that sits inside of the fireplace. It relies on the blower to get the heat out into the room. In the shoulder season I don't need to run the fan. I also can go with the lowest t-stat setting. In the winter when its cold I run the fan turn up the t stat to allow more air in because I don't want a bunch of coal build up before reloads. This can be a problem. This stove works great heats my house it's not magic burn times are really good I can sleep at night and not have to get up and feed the fire. I've been using this for probably 5 - 6 years average about three and a half cords of wood a winter. I get burnt out in February and go back to my furnace we love wood heat it's messy bringing in all this wood into the house but me and my wife love it.
 
Same and same.

Hollow the middle out and leave wood either side.

Trademark 'V' on the glass if I snuff it down.
 
fireplacenoob said:
Yes, I was afraid this might be the case, wanted the king but the alcove clearance requirements made me get the princess. Im not complaining, it heats like a champ and heating up 2850sqft is impressive overall. Just want to make sure im utilizing it to the max.
Click to expand...

That's not the case. The princess is rated for 30+ hours and the king for 40+ hours on low. Forum members agree and get these numbers. I get 30 with low btu pnw woods. Yes, your home is big for the princess but that has nothing to do with burntime. I suspect that you just aren't turning it down far enough. Fans hurt burn time to. You need to find that low low setting that barely keeps the cat active. That setting will give you the max burntime. That setting is different for everyone.
 
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fireplacenoob said:
Looking around on the forums it looks like even free standing princess' are hitting way longer burn times than the 8-10 hour mark. Ive tried without blower and I didnt see a significant difference in burn time.
Click to expand...
Highbeam already had the right answer. To add to what he said, the blower will affect burn time only if your t'stat is set in the range where it's doing it's job. Simply put, there is an air inlet damper, which is connected via bimetallic coil spring to your t'stat knob. The spring has a limited range of motion, opening the inlet damper when the stove is cooler, and closing it when the stove is hotter. This is why at some dial settings the stove will have a shorter burn time with the fans running, since the spring runs cooler and the damper opens more. However, at very low dial settings (eg. 1 o'clock), it's dialed back so far that you're beyond the limited range of this spring.

To test what I'm describing, turn your dial wide open, and then dial it back until you hear the damper thump shut. It will happen at dial settings just on either side of 2 (3 o'clock for you newer BK owners), depending on temperature of the stove. Repeat this exercise with the stove stone cold and screaming hot, to see the full range of this mechanism. Even a cold stove has the damper closing before you get back to 1 o'clock, meaning that the damper will never open at a dial set this low, despite fans running. And of course, no damper action = no effect on burn time.
 
Usernamemustbeunique said:
how deep is the firebox on the ashford 30.1?
Click to expand...
By how much ash will it hold? Maybe 2.5 - 3 inches.

If by how long a split will it take? I think it's just over 18" from rear brick retainers to glass. I'm running 17" splits, and they're darn close to the glass.
 
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