2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

Highbeam said:

I just spent the afternoon cleaning the nastiest tar junk I've ever seen from my duravent chimney cap. First used the torch to convert as much as possible to the dry kind of creosote and then all kinds of brushes, scrapers, and chemicals until I gave up and used a wire wheel on the die grinder. It's clean now but I do not want to do this again.

While I had the cap off I ran the brush down four feet and the pipe is quite easily cleaned. No tar.

Burning all 14% mc wood and never stalling the cat but my mistake was trying to use stat settings too low to keep flue temps up. Don't think that an active cat means you are good. You need an active cat and flue temps high enough to prevent condensation of the junk into tar.

The cat does not eat everything. The stuff I was removing today was absolutely not ice.

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I don't know? I never have anything on my cap really. I'm even running a screen on it this year, nothing on it.

My cap is always the worst looking part of the system but it's never been sticky gunk. I usually clean it by tapping on it and scraping it with the screwdriver I take it off with

So far this year I've been doing things a little different. Typically when the weather dips down into the very low 30's and 20's I will leave the thermostat alone and turn the blower on low. This season I have been just turning the thermostat up instead.

Will be interesting to monitor the cap and check the flue to see if this has any effect. At the least it's keeping a sustained clean spot in the glass that I can easily monitor the fuel load through.

I will say that being three years ahead with low measured mc has kept the glass relatively clean. I'm holding 400 for flue temp minimum in hopes of keeping the flue clean. Nice glowing cat, good heat, and longish burns. Everything looks good in the home!

Just for the new guys, be careful, watch your flue temp and look for smoke when going low and slow.

webby3650 said:

I don't know? I never have anything on my cap really. I'm even running a screen on it this year, nothing on it.

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And you're also on a shorter flue as I recall. I think I'm doing everything right. The cap was embarrassing. It took a lot of work. My cat meter is almost always above 12 noon which should be over 1000.

I did a non-BK stove repair for a guy a few years back that throws his cap into the stove to "clean it up" every fall..

Highbeam said:

I will say that being three years ahead with low measured mc has kept the glass relatively clean. I'm holding 400 for flue temp minimum in hopes of keeping the flue clean. Nice glowing cat, good heat, and longish burns. Everything looks good in the home!

Just for the new guys, be careful, watch your flue temp and look for smoke when going low and slow.

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It's a amazing how low the flue temps can get. The cap is usually the dirtiest part of the system on a BK. I do have a short flue, but have always been able to have a very clean flue. I got about 1/4 cup of soot when I swept it.

Just a shot in the dark but could moisture be causing the creosote to gunk up on your cap. Not wood moisture so much as outside moisture like fog.

I think my, yours, and Webbys' flue are all on the short side?

tarzan said:

Just a shot in the dark but could moisture be causing the creosote to gunk up on your cap. Not wood moisture so much as outside moisture like fog.

I think my, yours, and Webbys' flue are all on the short side?

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The really ugly goo was just on the cap and maybe three inches down the flue. Then the usual black crunchy stuff. We certainly get rain here but I don't expect the rain is as big a factor as the low temperature of the uninsulated cap condensing the smoke. I've got to keep the cap hot enough by keeping some heat in the flue.

My total height from stove to top of class a is 12' 1". Meets the spec from 2012 when I installed the stove so I consider it perfect.

begreen said:

12 ft was the minimum, that doesn't mean it was optimal.

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True but when the owners manual specifies a particular flue length to perform to specifications and you provide that called for length then you can expect the promised performance.

Highbeam said:

The really ugly goo was just on the cap and maybe three inches down the flue. Then the usual black crunchy stuff. We certainly get rain here but I don't expect the rain is as big a factor as the low temperature of the uninsulated cap condensing the smoke. I've got to keep the cap hot enough by keeping some heat in the flue.

My total height from stove to top of class a is 12' 1". Meets the spec from 2012 when I installed the stove so I consider it perfect.

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Would be interesting to find out for sure but I wonder if the cap wouldn't be cooler on a chilly, rainy day than a colder but calm day.

I'm sure you don't get as much rain as the movies project, I don't remember ever seeing a sunny day in the PNW on television

Ok guys I want to let you know and see what do you think about it.
I have the fan on the princess that are connect it to an outlet that it is controlled by a on/off switch up the wall.
I got at home depot a wall thermostat and replaced the switch that control the outlet with it. i did this saturday night. i just had the opportunity of burnt one night cause we came back into town today but i will tell you my finding.

I set the thermostat at 70 after the stove was up to temp and ready for the night. it was about midnight. I went to bed and heard the fan coming on about 5 o'clock. the stove room was at 73 rooms at 69 to 70 and the back of the house 68. i didn't went to the upper floor that it is just a big room almost half of the bottom. I went back to bed and about 7 am and the stove room at 76 rooms about 70/71 average, back of the house 70, upper room 66.

the fan was off at that time. i think it is working like a furnace but with the differences that it is always heating when fan is off. I was looking for one of those stat that goes on the outlet but i decide to get the wall one cause cold air is at the bottom and can be affect it.

What do you guys think about it? i still have a lot of wood left in the box in AM from the night before around 10 o'clock when i did the final load for the night. Next weekend i have 3 days off and it will be cold, i will test it more. outside temp dropped thru the night to 23df. that is what my weather station register as the lower.

I think you have a wonderful idea and I'm interested in how it works out. Please keep us posted as I may adopt that idea for my own home.

Highbeam said:

The cat does not eat everything. The stuff I was removing today was absolutely not ice.

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I get creosote on my cap in shoulder season when I burn as low as possible, but it's always been crunchy black stuff that wire brushes off easily, so far.

lsucet said:

What do you guys think about it?

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Not a bad idea, but don't run the stove with the stove's thermostat set too high with that setup. Your stove will be in Raging Inferno mode, the room will warm up, and the stove's fan will shut off...

You're not supposed to be able to melt a BK that way, but I wouldn't want to do that to my stove anyway.

At low stove thermostat settings, I don't see much reason why you shouldn't do it.

Actually I run the thermostat a hair lower than what I am used to it. I know I didn't give much details but that is what was amazing. It is to soon to say's anything but it did work. The stove thermostat was at lower settings like mentioned before but the fans were on high.

lsucet said:

Actually I run the thermostat a hair lower than what I am used to it. I know I didn't give much details but that is what was amazing. It is to soon to say's anything but it did work. The stove thermostat was at lower settings like mentioned before but the fans were on high.

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I wouldn't do that either, as the fans on high could cool the cat so.much that it goes inactive with the thermostat settings low. That won't hurt your stove, but you lose efficiency and heat, and gain pollution.

I'd suggest sticking with a low stove thermostat and fan setting; that way when the fan goes off and on the stove doesn't get extremely hot, or too cold to work efficiently.

Highbeam said:

The cat does not eat everything. The stuff I was removing today was absolutely not ice.

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I've put almost 50 cords of wood thru two cat stoves in the last five years, cleaning just once per year, and I've never seen anything like that. This year, the caps were so clean the sweep (new guy from BK dealer) decided to not even go up on the roof, and just swept from below.

I run one stove on 12-hour burns, so likely harder than you, but the other is dialed in for 24-hour reloads, and it stays as clean as the other. What's your chimney height, Highbeam?

Jeff in Maine said:

maybe, I was really wondering if the stove running in the ( in-active ) zone was bad, as in damage the cat.

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If cat goes inactive late in burn cycle, no issue. But if you're running full burn cycles with an inactive cat, you may plug it, which can be a mess to undo.

Highbeam said:

I also burn pnw woods and I've got to say that an hour is too much. The owner's manual tells us to engage the cat as soon as the probe reads active and then leave the stat on high for 20 to 30 minutes before bringing it down. Even at 30 minutes I've seen my flue temps and cat temp up near the red line, smelled that bad hot smell, and it still didn't completely clean the glass or the black tar from the firebox.

Hey, let's enjoy this cold snap coming volunbeer! First time this year for you to see how a stronger draft affects your stove.

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... and after a while, due to the lag in the probe, you'll learn you can engage before the moving needle is even near the active zone. Having run downdraft cat stoves, where the probe shows nothing prior to closing the bypass, I'm used to just going by the look of the wood and fire. This is best for me, as it means earlier cat engagement, less abuse on those bypass retainers, and not having to turn off the blowers for each reload.

Run until fire is healthy, and wood is charred over. Even if a cold cat needle has only made it half way up thru inactive, I'll bet you get a glowing light off immediately after closing that damper. The needle is so slow that I can have a glowing cat (over 1000 F) while the probe is still showing inactive.

rwhite said:

There were no remnants at all. I'll get a gasket ordered.

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Assuming it's 2" interam gasket...
http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/939/782441/Unassigned/Interam-Gasket-Material.html

rwhite said:

Getting closer to getting the stove installed. Although with the snow it may be spring before I can get on the roof. Where it sits now I have 8" clearance on the corners and 21" to the front. The stove has the side shields installed now so I'll wait until it's gets to its final resting place to see if I need them. Still have to get the oak trim around the hearth as well.

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Looking real good, who grabs the seat at the end of the couch, gonna be the hot seat .

Highbeam said:

I just spent the afternoon cleaning the nastiest tar junk I've ever seen from my duravent chimney cap. First used the torch to convert as much as possible to the dry kind of creosote and then all kinds of brushes, scrapers, and chemicals until I gave up and used a wire wheel on the die grinder. It's clean now but I do not want to do this again.

While I had the cap off I ran the brush down four feet and the pipe is quite easily cleaned. No tar.

Burning all 14% mc wood and never stalling the cat but my mistake was trying to use stat settings too low to keep flue temps up. Don't think that an active cat means you are good. You need an active cat and flue temps high enough to prevent condensation of the junk into tar.

The cat does not eat everything. The stuff I was removing today was absolutely not ice.

Click to expand...

I have some small icicles (1/4" x 2" x 2) on mine now, never seen that on the my wood stove chimney cap before. Steam I guess. Normally, old stove, it had the dry chrunchy black chips on it that just bang off easy but it is always the most caked in the run with the pipe always reasonable clean. flue 15', Hardwood maple.

Doing a pretty good job keeping glass clean now it is a bit colder, just the bottom corner, like the last stove, are a bit stubburn.

Regards

Woody Stover said:

Assuming it's 2" interam gasket...
http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/939/782441/Unassigned/Interam-Gasket-Material.html

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Read through a few posts regarding the Condar gasket vs no gasket issue. BK still recommends a gasket so that's the way I will go. But I do have a few questions about this. Condar website states that if the cat is not canned then use a gasket, no gasket if canned.
1. Once expanded does the gasket re-shrink or stay expanded?
2. Do you think that their reasoning for no gasket is because there is already one between the can and the cat? The can looks to be made to expand but I'm not sure that's possible after it's been expanded once. Curious if anyone has checked if the cat is tight once the stove is hot.
My cat is loose so I'm going to get a gasket. I'm just trying to understand the disparity between BK and Condar since they are the major suppliers of cats for the stoves.

Shayne said:

Looking real good, who grabs the seat at the end of the couch, gonna be the hot seat .

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That got put their to accommodate the super large Christmas tree my daughter picked out. Hopefully as soon as the presents are unwrapped it will be in the bon fire outside

on the cap issue- yes. my cap was very much like highbeams. my sweep took it off, stuffed it with newspaper and lit it off. hit it with a wire brush after and all is good. i got a new cat from chris and overall performance is much better, so im not expecting as much on the cap.

as to the fan/stat plan- thats a great idea. we have the fan outlet hooked to a switch as well. right now i have iit plugged into a cheap timer. i have it cycling on and off at one hour intervals and its woriking great extending my burn times and not making the house too hot. fan on low, stove set on med-low (about 2:30) on the dial