confused by Blaze King Princess (free standing) thermostat

Ok, I am confused by my thermostat. Two things. First, my knob was removed
(because the side shields were removed prior to a custom paint job) and I'm not
sure where it should be positioned on the shaft. Like "with the stove dead cold,
the intake should close right at '1' " (I can hear, or imagine I can hear, the valve
hitting both the fully-open and fully-closed position). So is this close to correct ?
PLEASE only Princess-freestanding owners, I think the King and insert t'stats are
different ... EDIT: Ok, I found the set-screw dimple, so I think I have the knob
positioned correctly, and it looks like "2" would be at 3 o'clock.

Also, it seems to me that the fully-open and fully-closed sounds move the WRONG way
in response to the stove temperature. (I'll use clock-face terminology since I have no
idea if the knob is positioned correctly). With the stove blazing hot last night (scary
to be near enough it to reload), fully-open was at 3 o'clock and fully-closed at 10 o'clock.
A few hours later, after I shut it down for overnight low-slow burn, I found that fully-closed
was at 12 o'clock. Shouldn't it be the OTHER WAY ? When the stove cools, shouldn't
the intake be more open at a given setting ? So I should have to turn it more counter-
clockwise to hear fully-closed ?

Either I'm deeply confused, or my thermostat is weird, or I'm not really hearing the valve
hit the open/closed positions ...

Lanning said:

Turning it all the way clockwise is closed or the least amount of air or longest burn time, what ever way you want to look at it. Shouldn't make any difference what model you are using.

Click to expand...

Thanks, but that's why I wanted Princess-freestanding owners; apparently the insert is different.
Mine is clockwise for more air, counter-clockwise for less.

Let me restate what I'm seeing:
-with the stove very hot, fully closed is at 10 o'clock, fully open at 3 o'clock
-the following AM with it very cool, full closed is at 12 o'clock, full open at 5 o'clock
(I am speaking of the clock-face position of the knob pointer, since my 1/2/3 dial
is missing due to removed side panels)

This seems bass-ackward to me.

Chopslide said:

I'm going to try to round up a knob tomorrow at the dealer it does make it quite a bit easier than the pliers!

Click to expand...

It's a very standard knob, should be available at RadioShack or a friend who's into
ham gear - if you want an alternative to BK's knob.

Thanks for the other advice, yes, I am looking at north's picture now.

I still think the opening/closing position is moving the wrong way in response
to stove temperature ...

Chopslide said:

I agree that that doesn't sound right... logic would have it opposite

Click to expand...

Can you check yours ? At what 1/2/3 number - or more precise clockface position -
do you hear the fully-closed and fully-open "tink" ? For dead cold, scary hot,
fire that's been smoldering on a low burn for hours ... Thanks !

Chopslide said:

I just had a hot morning fire to help keep the flue clean and was trying to listen for open and close points but with the fire popping and big squeak in the thermo dial it was difficult to determine just when the damper doing its thing but I thought I heard it open (or close at about 3:00 clock face... hard to hear anything happening at 10:00 but it sounds similar to yours in that the air control does seem to change with temp.... that is pretty vague I know but hope it helps!

Click to expand...

'Kay, thanks. Yeah, it surely ought to change with temp, it's just seems to be changing the wrong way.
I'm gonna call the BK folks ...

Chopslide said:

update me on that conversation if you don't mind

Click to expand...

Basically, he said that I cannot reliably tell if the valve is opening/closing by
the sounds I hear - some of them may be coming from within the mechanism.
He did say that I COULD remove the cover, being very careful not to mess with
anything within, and (IMPORTANT) making sure to turn the thermostat down
to minimum before replacing the cover (apparently it can wedge against an
open valve when you put it back on, and really mess things up). So I'll
remove the cover to get a better idea of when the valve is fully-open/closed,
and re-assess.

Most interesting conversation with him. He said that there is an EPA
committee which is trying to introduce standards that keep people from
manufacturing stoves that give catalytics such a bad name. He didn't
mention names, but I'm sure the newer version of my old Dutchwest (that
I decided not to buy and get a BK instead) would be one of them; you
actually have to remove the entire top of the stove to get to the cat ...

As an aside, I talked to a woman last night who had just had a chimney fire,
from a non-cat EPA-approved stove called a Napoleon. It was installed
about a year ago, including a new liner in her masonry chimney. She had
been running it a lot, including attempted overnight burns.