Blaze King Questions???

OhioBurner© said:

I've done the math, and just finished a long burn test that surpassed 3 days. Time to admit that BK has competition in the long burn department. BK still makes it easier with the thermostat of course.

The 14 hour rating... I did not ask Woodstock what that rating was for, did you? Perhaps that is to heat the rated size home (2200sqft) on a January day in New Hampshire. I do not know, and it doesn't matter to me if they change it or not. I would however say that about 14 hours sounds about right for a regular ol secondary burn.

I may try to put a flue damper in to see if it can even go longer, plus I could fit a bit more fuel in it still. But after you hit 40 some hours I'm not too worried a few hours give or take! That is with compressed sawdust bricks, I'm not sure of its capability with cordwood yet, but likely much less than the 3 day burn I just did.

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You bet your buns bk has some competition. Woodstock is nipping right on their heels and even passes them in some areas. 10-14 hours is the maximum burn time as specified by Woodstock. I have high regard for their word. Much more so than the mainstream stoves.

Good job tweaking the stove for burn times. Magnets, etc. We know there's more than 14 hours in a load if you can just slow it down.

quotejso said:

You trust manufacturers? Seriously how much heat can be had burning on low for 20 hours. I just know that my progress can elevate my room up 10 degrees in an hour when it is 10 degrees out and my walls are two feet of stone and the house leaks air like no tomorrow.

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I trust bk and ws. Seriously, these are good companies.

I'm reloading on 24 hour cycles and my house is 78 right now. Too much heat can be had burning even 30 hours. I wish it could be stretched to 40!

quotejso said:

Seriously how much heat can be had burning on low for 20 hours.

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Enough that I expect to have a window or two open wednesday. (55° in early Feb, according to the national weather service's forecast!)

Edit: It has been in the 20s with lower windchills for a while here, and I got used to ~8 hour burns in my bk (I have wet wood, and it heats the whole house). Last night I set it at around 15% because the overnight low was 40ish. As is my habit, I went to reload this morning- and there wasn't space for a single split! 73 in the house, which is a bit higher than I like it for sleeping.

Just to clarify, since I don't want to overstate things, that I had a bit of a brain fart. I did mention earlier with my last long burn that I got 3 days out of the IS. That was Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, but certainly not 3 full days, actually just shy of 2. My brain is thinking Fri-Sun as 3 or perhaps I've worked toomany of these 12 hour shifts at work that that is a day to me lol. Anyhow just making that correction. In that case, my math didn't add up lol

jetsam said:

Enough that I expect to have a window or two open wednesday. (55° in early Feb, according to the national weather service's forecast!)

Edit: It has been in the 20s with lower windchills for a while here, and I got used to ~8 hour burns in my bk (I have wet wood, and it heats the whole house). Last night I set it at around 15% because the overnight low was 40ish. As is my habit, I went to reload this morning- and there wasn't space for a single split! 73 in the house, which is a bit higher than I like it for sleeping.

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You have the princess? I might have to get one those or the is

quotejso said:

You have the princess? I might have to get one those or the is

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The princess insert. It got recategorized from 'suplemental heat' to 'primary heat' the first day it was in. I expect it to do a lot better next year (it will have dry wood, and I am going to pull out the "professional" install and add a blockoff plate, insulation for the exterior masonry, and liner insulation. I went outside with an IR gun one cold night and the bricks were 10 degrees near the ground and 65 above the fireplace!). Details on that project are here, as I plan to do prety much what mellow did!

I am still galled that I paid so much to have someone install that thing, and I have to rip it out and redo it anyway. :/

The stove has done a lot better than I expected of it, especially given its poor working conditions.

Highbeam said:

I'm reloading on 24 hour cycles and my house is 78 right now. Too much heat can be had burning even 30 hours. I wish it could be stretched to 40!

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I can easily get 36 - 40 hours on full loads of white oak, on the smaller Ashford 30. I believe the Ashford rating of 30 hours must be based on lesser woods. Perhaps we can assume the same for the Woodstock ratings?

As to whether it's useful level of heat, at those slow burn rates, I say yes for those in newer houses. I have what is essentially three houses slammed together. 4000 sq.ft. built in 1770's, then 800 sq.ft. built in 1890's, then another 2000 sq.ft. built in 1990's. I have a stove at either end of the house (1770's end and 1990's end). The stove in the 1990's end is running on 24 hour cycles, and still heats me out of the house on milder days. Unfortunately 36 hour cycles don't really fit my work schedule, and I can't quite get 48 hours of even heating out of it. So on sunny days above maybe 35F, I just deal with being too warm, or let it go out completely.

I run the stove in the 1770's wing on 12 hour cycles. There, I really need a stove that could run 4 hour cycles, and someone home day to load it, but buying oil is easier. So, the stove just chugs away on two loads per day, and the boiler runs as needed to supplement.

To the OP, I'd also be looking at Woodstock, if you need a rear vent. Woodstock may be the only company with stoves even uglier than Blaze King, IMO... but they do perform.

edit: I forgot to say, the Ashford is one sexy b1tch of a stove, in person. I was glad to see BK had finally come out with something that looked better than a black washing machine, when they released the first photos, but didn't think it really held up to say... Jotul or VC, in the cosmetic department. I was wrong, it is a beautiful stove in the flesh.

Ashful said:

I can easily get 36 - 40 hours on full loads of white oak, on the smaller Ashford 30. I believe the Ashford rating of 30 hours must be based on lesser woods. Perhaps we can assume the same for the Woodstock ratings?

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Well, BK is based in WA where softwoods are prevelant and provided an apparently conservative burn time. Woodstock is based in hardwood land and seems, by reports, to have provided a very conservative burn time. Burn time ratings are a bit of a shot in the dark anyway due to variables like fuel quality, definition of burn time, etc. so I suppose we all should be happy to be getting such high numbers.

Gotta say, I like the peak output numbers of the IS on high. Our BKs aren't rated for those high numbers and I've had a time or two when it would have been nice.

Ashful said:

I forgot to say, the Ashford is one sexy b1tch of a stove, in person. I was glad to see BK had finally come out with something that looked better than a black washing machine, when they released the first photos, but didn't think it really held up to say... Jotul or VC, in the cosmetic department. I was wrong, it is a beautiful stove in the flesh.

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I bought my princess before the ashford was available. If buying a new BK for the house, I would absolutely spend a bit more for an ashford. You take a small hit on efficiency but get the cleaner burn and the better looks. All of them need that 15' chimney anyway.

Highbeam said:

I bought my princess before the ashford was available. If buying a new BK for the house, I would absolutely spend a bit more for an ashford. You take a small hit on efficiency but get the cleaner burn and the better looks. All of them need that 15' chimney anyway.

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Doesnt the princess have deeper box

quotejso said:

Doesnt the princess have deeper box

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Yes, it has 6" below the lip and I would miss that. Same firebox volume though so it just means more frequent ash removal.

I believe most people who purchase a BK will find useful heat in a 30 hour burn. These stoves are not made for quick warm up fires on a cold morning or evening. The design makes them much better suited for whole house heaters through out the entire shoulder season and winter.

Almost everyone experiences weather that runs the gamut every single winter. This is why the BK is such a great stove. IMO, and JUST my oppinion as I have know proof but I believe the BK's are capable of running at higher than advertised BTU's with the blower on scrubbing the heat and causing the thermostat to remain open as well as fun as low as two candles burning as some put it.

I can tell you from first hand experience that the BK has the ability to heat my home down to -10*F all by itself and while I sleep through the entire night. It does equally as well on those days (like today) when the temps get up in the 50's. Just shut it down and it idles along without running us out of the house.

I don't think there's any other manufacture that offers a wood stove with such a wide range of versatility for virtually every winter weather scenario . Certainly nothing that I have owned.

You here a lot of people say they don't run there stove by the temperature outside, it's the temperature inside they monitor. I get that and that's how I ran every stove before the BK. With the BK's long burn time and thermostat I now run the stove depending on the 12 to 24 hour forecast. It's great to be able to do that.

I owned a Progress Hybrid and am currently running a Keystone in our cottage and an Ashford in our primary home. They have all been good stoves overall (I do have a few gripes about my early model Progress that I mentioned in a post a while ago, but overall my experience was pretty good). I think Tarzan got it essentially right and if I were to do it all over, I'd have gone with the Ashford in all of those applications - it just takes the woodburning experience to another level. The ability to idle, the long burn times and the prodigious heat output (esp. with the fans turned on) are without compare in my experience. That flexibility has dramatically lengthened our burn season (great shoulder burner), reduced stove loading chores (and increased our loading schedule flexibility), and has lowered our overall wood consumption. Again, all good stoves, but if you haven't lived with a BK, I don't think you can know what you're missing.

I did load the stove with 6 NEILs and some red maple splits but I'm not going to report the burn time because I don't think anyone would believe it!

dznam said:

I owned a Progress Hybrid and am currently running a Keystone in our cottage and an Ashford in our primary home. They have all been good stoves overall (I do have a few gripes about my early model Progress that I mentioned in a post a while ago, but overall my experience was pretty good). I think Tarzan got it essentially right and if I were to do it all over, I'd have gone with the Ashford in all of those applications - it just takes the woodburning experience to another level. The ability to idle, the long burn times and the prodigious heat output (esp. with the fans turned on) are without compare in my experience. That flexibility has dramatically lengthened our burn season (great shoulder burner), reduced stove loading chores (and increased our loading schedule flexibility), and has lowered our overall wood consumption. Again, all good stoves, but if you haven't lived with a BK, I don't think you can know what you're missing.

I did load the stove with 6 NEILs and some red maple splits but I'm not going to report the burn time because I don't think anyone would believe it!

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Wow, a person that has used both WS and BK stoves. Pretty rare bird.

I'm following this thread with intense interest. Great to hear the users of both stoves chime in with their experience. I'd love to buy a Blaze King but the venting configuration would require heavy modification of my chimney. Both Blaze King and Woodstock seem to have focused their energies on their competitive advantage: BK with the longer burn times enabled by thermostat-controlled damper, and Woodstock with the lower emissions enabled by hybrid burn technology, and rear-vent flexibility.

Sorry to burst any bubbles but I have had recent email correspondence with both manufacturers, and BK has no plans to release a rear-vent stove, and Woodstock has no plans to release a thermostatically-controlled air intake option with a 24+ hour advertised burn time. We're left to make our own choices!

I suspect rear venting and long burn times are not happy bed-fellows. BK would likely not put so much emphasis on minimum vertical before the first bend, if they could get away with rear venting. Designing a stove for ultra-low burning does likely add some constraints, such as this.

Highbeam said:

Wow, a person that has used both WS and BK stoves. Pretty rare bird.

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I think forum tradition now requires him to argue with himself about burn times. That should be interesting.

jetsam said:

I think forum tradition now requires him to argue with himself about burn times. That should be interesting.

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He seems to have an excellent grasp of the differences already. Better than fanboys from either side actually.

embers aplenty said:

When talking Woodstock IS and especially Blaze King, I wouldn't have the nice secondary flame show with their products as I now do with my Quad tube stove right? Doesn't a Blaze King look nearly black through the glass most of time?

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Can't speak for Woodstock, but a BK run on medium or high looks just like any other fire. No, we don't usually get the fake gas-grill looking flames coming down from the reburn tubes, it looks like a real wood fire.

On low settings, it does go to "black box" mode. The wonderful thing is having the ability to do either, at the turn of a knob.

embers aplenty said:

When talking Woodstock IS and especially Blaze King, I wouldn't have the nice secondary flame show with their products as I now do with my Quad tube stove right? Doesn't a Blaze King look nearly black through the glass most of time? That might somewhat tend to knock some of the fun out of it with me. I guess thats the price you pay for success though.

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On a very low burn (outside temp 45 degrees and up), my BK is pretty much a black box. Low (35-45) gets me some red glow; medium low (25-35) gets me red glow and maybe small flames, and anything colder than that gets me active flames.

You also have a lightshow on demand- just turn the thermostat up, and whoosh it's flames. (Though you may need to crack a window if you let it go too long!).

embers aplenty said:

25" is it on my rear vent height. The metal from the heatilator comes down to the edge and on the outside a long thick piece of reuble stone is their at the bottom as well. I'm sure as stated Woodstock would cut the legs off if I needed them to. I think I'm just going to go with the Yosemite for now. For the most, it should be big enough and I will be able to supplement with a heat pump on a few of the coldest nights if need be.

When talking Woodstock IS and especially Blaze King, I wouldn't have the nice secondary flame show with their products as I now do with my Quad tube stove right? Doesn't a Blaze King look nearly black through the glass most of time? That might somewhat tend to knock some of the fun out of it with me. I guess thats the price you pay for success though.

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Sure, you will get the flames with a BK...once every 30 hours when you reload.

Seriously though, I have a tube stove and while the flames were nice I don't miss it a bit. Ashful has it right, you can get flames if you want or need them but after one season of burning in a BK you come to appreciate the black firebox and all the positive things associated with it.

embers aplenty said:

When talking Woodstock IS and especially Blaze King, I wouldn't have the nice secondary flame show with their products as I now do with my Quad tube stove right?

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I can't speak for BK but the IS has the best secondary flames of all the stoves I've used including Jotul Rockland and Hearthstone Shelbourne (plus my folks Quad Isle Royal) which are all tube-only stoves. The IS instead of having 3 rows of tubes has a stainless steel plate full of secondary air holes that covers the top of the firebox. But the fine tuning of the air control allows some interesting effects - you can really dial it down so the secondaries do some interesting things, or crank it up just to have a big fireshow. They built the secondary plate within view through the front door and angled down in the back so you can really see it well. This creates a great show but does take up a bit of firebox room. You can make it go black like a cat stove if you want but you have to run it that way intentionally, and it would only be for days you don't need as much heat.

Install another chimney? Why?