2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)#2

[kennyp2339]

Ordered an Ashford yesterday!

I was hoping to just put a deposit down, but it was a "special order" for the shop,. so had to pay in full... oh well, I'm ok with that. The shop had a little military discount too, so that took some of the burn off.

I think I read somewhere that BK was backed up on orders, stove shop guy said they were all caught up though. Guess we'll see when it gets here.

congrats on the order, do you already operate a stove?

 

[bobdog2o02]

View attachment 153599
Mix load. coals I had to burn down with some chunkie uglies to the right

You might have better luck burning you coals down if they were all raked to the front with the new fuel in the back. This way the air coming into the stove hits the coals first and gets them hotter and burn them down faster.

 

[Dieselhead]

That's what I typically do but I was bored and decided it would make a cool pic

 

[bobdog2o02]

Cool, yup, pretty unconventional. Try sprinkling pellets on the coals. They increase your flue temp to make more draft and ultimately help burn the coals down for adding more fuel. They also don't take much room in the box so you don't NEED to wait for them to burn all the way down.

 

[Poindexter]

I have been loading EW for about three weeks now. I am definitely getting less ash/ more complete burns, but still don't like the burning split rolling into the glass thing.

Looking forward to warmer weather so I can go back to NS loading.

 

[rdust]

Tonight's load, gonna be -teens here tonight with nasty wind, the real feel should be -30ish.

 

[Highbeam]

Tonight's load, gonna be -teens here tonight with nasty wind, the real feel should be -30ish.
View attachment 153637

We let the fire go out. Might mow the lawn tomorrow. Please send cold and snow this way.

 

[Poindexter]

I am looking for +32dF for a daytime high on Monday and I got two cords left to split. I really really hate splitting in mud, I gotta get next winters wood up before the melt.

 

[tarzan]

-1*f here at the moment. Headed to -4* in the next hour or two. This is about as cold as it ever gets here, last year temps got to -10* once. The Princess is handling it fine. My water lines ain't! Dam I hate dealing with frozen water lines! Worst part is I left a small, steady stream running in a sink last night before bed so they "shouldn't" have froze.

 

[rdust]

We let the fire go out. Might mow the lawn tomorrow. Please send cold and snow this way.

I wish I could figure out how to get it over to you! I closed my living room doors last night since that room is impossible to keep warm when it's below zero, I just walked in that room and it is 36*. Ouch!

 

[Edav]

What are the readings on a cat probe thermometer?

I just did a fresh reload, t-stat on 3, cat went to 12 o'clock. I closed bypass and left it on 3 for a while. (It is cold). Came back 30 minutes later and saw the cat thermometer reading past the range.

If the middle of the cat thermometer active range is 12 o'clock, then the reading was at 4-5 o'clock.

I looked at pictures online of other cat stoves and saw that the last tick mark is close to 2000 degrees. I also did some searching on the forums and saw cat degradation at 1400-1800 degrees.

Did I damage the cat?

 

[webby3650]

It was down to 5 here last night and very windy! We had 45 MPH gusts! We were plenty warm. We've never had a frozen water line either, guess it's the way my house is constructed?

 

[rdust]

Did I damage the cat?

I wouldn't give it a second thought, turn the stove down the temp will come down some and go on with your day. If you abuse it day after day I'm sure it'll take it's toll but the occasional trip to the high end won't kill it right away.

 

[drz1050]

Mix load. coals I had to burn down with some chunkie uglies to the right

Thanks! No sir, this will be a new install in my house... I don't even have a chimney for it right now.

Even though you peoples are having to run your stoves on high to keep up with this cold, I'm jealous. Currently on oil heat, and that stuff isn't cheap. (cheaper than last year at least though!) Wind chill is reading -30 here right now.. just walked the dog and both of us ran back to the house haha.

I do have some experience with running a stove, not a Blaze King or any cat stove for that matter though. Joined this site to try to gather all the info I could before I NEED it. Started stacking wood last Spring, have about 3ish, maybe 4? cords out there right now that should hopefully be ready for next winter.

 

[Highbeam]

What are the readings on a cat probe thermometer?

I just did a fresh reload, t-stat on 3, cat went to 12 o'clock. I closed bypass and left it on 3 for a while. (It is cold). Came back 30 minutes later and saw the cat thermometer reading past the range.

If the middle of the cat thermometer active range is 12 o'clock, then the reading was at 4-5 o'clock.

I looked at pictures online of other cat stoves and saw that the last tick mark is close to 2000 degrees. I also did some searching on the forums and saw cat degradation at 1400-1800 degrees.

Did I damage the cat?

Happens all the time. Nothing to worry about.

Bk tells us that 95% of all cat failures are from door leaks letting cold air hit the hot cat. There's a reason that your cat meter does not have temperature labels. More importantly it has no overfire line.

 

[Poindexter]

What are the readings on a cat probe thermometer?

Did I damage the cat?

I wouldn't make a habit of running it that hot, but I have been there myself.

How tall is your stack? How dry was your wood? What was the outdoor temp?

Maybe cut the Tstat down to 2.5/3 or 2/3 next time you see all three of those factors coming together. When I have dry enough wood and plenty of draft I don't routinely run mine more than about two thirds of the way up from inactive to overfired, who knows what the real limit is, I just get plenty of heat into the house running there.

 

[rdust]

Princess with a full belly.

 

[HotCoals]

Hey,
I used to use pellets to burn down the coals faster and still get good heat but I bought a ton of those big blocks..3 in a package . But anyways burn a couple of those with some air! You want to talk about heat..and they leave very little ash..it works great in the cold spells.
I'll put 2 in after supper and heat the house up nice before the night load around 11:00.

 

[alforit]

I closed my living room doors last night since that room is impossible to keep warm when it's below zero, I just walked in that room and it is 36*. Ouch!

 

[tarzan]

It was down to 5 here last night and very windy! We had 45 MPH gusts! We were plenty warm. We've never had a frozen water line either, guess it's the way my house is constructed?

I would "hope" your home is better constructed than by double wide!

Many years ago I was suddenly single and needed a place to sleep. Sounded like a good temporary solution at the time. Well, a wife, two kids, and 20 years of life later I'm still here! Something always took priority.

In my experience though, mobile homes aren't that bad once you Completely rebuild them

 

[webby3650]

I would "hope" your home is better constructed than by double wide!

Many years ago I was suddenly single and needed a place to sleep. Sounded like a good temporary solution at the time. Well, a wife, two kids, and 20 years of life later I'm still here! Something always took priority.

In my experience though, mobile homes aren't that bad once you Completely rebuild them

My modular home heated super easy! It was newer and had 2x6 walls, that helped. We heated it with barely more than a cord of wood.

 

[tarzan]

My modular home heated super easy! It was newer and had 2x6 walls, that helped. We heated it with barely more than a cord of wood.

We should end up burning roughly three cords this season. Usually use 4+ but the BK and a relatively mild winter so far has made a big difference

 

[bobdog2o02]

Fire Brick.... My wife has now broken three of them in the princess ultra. They are all on the left side. I talked to my dealer today and he was trying to sell me the ordinary fire brick like i allready have from my Tractor Supply tube stove. I told him "No, i want the BK bricks". He grumbled and called them. $ 2.45 Each. Ok, thats chump change, get me 10 of them and ill just have extras. He told me that he wouldnt order them until he sold another BK stove so that he wouldn't have to pay the extra shipping. He didn't even offer to order and let me pay the freight..... Morons.

I don't feel like dealing with this dealer anymore, does anyone know of an online dealer or someone else worth buying BK parts through.

 

[tarzan]

Fire Brick.... My wife has now broken three of them in the princess ultra. They are all on the left side. I talked to my dealer today and he was trying to sell me the ordinary fire brick like i allready have from my Tractor Supply tube stove. I told him "No, i want the BK bricks". He grumbled and called them. $ 2.45 Each. Ok, thats chump change, get me 10 of them and ill just have extras. He told me that he wouldnt order them until he sold another BK stove so that he wouldn't have to pay the extra shipping. He didn't even offer to order and let me pay the freight..... Morons.

I don't feel like dealing with this dealer anymore, does anyone know of an online dealer or someone else worth buying BK parts through.

Glad your dealer don't sale medical supplies! If you are paying for parts and shipping what reason could he possibly have not to order the parts for you? I've ordered two things from my dealer. Both times she made a phones call and the deal was done when I walked out of the store.

 

[bobdog2o02]

Glad your dealer don't sale medical supplies! If you are paying for parts and shipping what reason could he possibly have not to order the parts for you? I've ordered two things from my dealer. Both times she made a phones call and the deal was done when I walked out of the store.

Yea, I'm not going to name them but I've been unimpressed since I laid out my $3500 cash to order my stove and all the pipe etc. for hookup.