2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

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Thanks for the info Ninja Tech. Interesting.

I get a v shaped burn with cord wood and have noticed if I get the stove packed tight there is usually a half a piece against each outer wall buried in the ashes.
 
The compressed wood bricks did the same thing, but not as severe as cord wood seemed too. It was more of a shallow u shape, instead of the cord wood where it just seems to burn right down the middle.
 
Thanks for the info Ninja Tech. Interesting.

I get a v shaped burn with cord wood and have noticed if I get the stove packed tight there is usually a half a piece against each outer wall buried in the ashes.

My loads always burn out this way. Middle first. My routine on reload is to flop the last log out of each side into the middle, they are usually burning slow, and then reload the stove on top of them. Yes, my ash accumulation is in the center.
 
49 hour burn, pretty impressive. I might have to give it a try just for fun when the cold weather really kicks in.

Parallax, I've seen the eco brick things at lowes and home depot. Not sure what you have where you are but I assume they both will be around or some other big hardware store. You should be able to get hold of some. Possibly your stove dealer would be a good person to ask? Good luck and let us know how it goes when you find some and try it out.
 
Did a little experiment over the weekend, I was at menards and they have those 'eco' brand compressed bricks. Grabbed a bunch of those just to play around with, wanted to go for the long burn. Cleaned out a bunch of ash, raked all coals to the front and loaded up about 4 1/2 packages nice and tight. I was able to get three layers of them in there with enough room left for the bricks to expand. It was just under 100lbs worth. This was friday night around 7pm. Threw a smaller split right on the coals in front to help get the front of the bricks going. The goal was to have the pile to burn from the front to the back nice and slow. Cat started around 1,200F when first getting going, then settled down in to the 800-1000f range for a solid 30 hours then started to drop towards 500 and figured it was time to reload. When I opened it up i noticed the entire bottom layer of bricks had not even burned yet! The ash from the top two layers appeared to be blocking the air to the bottom layer. I stired things up to knock all the ash off and get some air to the bottom layer and they took right off. Cat back up to the 800-1000f range and just kept on going till 8pm last night when the rest of the bricks were ash. Temps outside were 19-32 the entire time, stove room never went under 73. So I ended up with a 49 hour burn on a single load of fuel, with only one maintenance 'stir'. Those things just go, and go and go. That defiantly won't become my normal running procedure, I have a few packages left and when those are gone I'll switch back to regular wood, but it was a fun little experiment.

How much did it set you back for enough logs to stuff your stove? Also, which size box do you have?
 
Sounds like you just didn't tighten it enough. Back the set screw off until the knob will slide back on. Repeat directions Shane posted and re tighten set screw.
 
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How much did it set you back for enough logs to stuff your stove? Also, which size box do you have?

I used about 4 1/2 packages of blocks (20lbs/package), i think they were 3.29 each. So around 15 bucks to fully fill it for two days. Those blocks do seem quite a bit more expensive than cord wood around here, i got 10 packs of them more just to play around with and 'try out' compared to how regular cord wood burns. I do have to say, I really do like them and would burn them full time if they were not so expensive. They really are convenient and do really burn well. I have heard our rural king out here has 40lb packages of compressed wood blocks for 4.99. I may try to make it out and try those too. The cost per pound on those is getting low enough I may consider using this more if they do actually burn as well as the 'eco' brand ones.

Should hit single digits tonight, bring it weather! I'm ready!
 
I used about 4 1/2 packages of blocks (20lbs/package), i think they were 3.29 each. So around 15 bucks to fully fill it for two days. Those blocks do seem quite a bit more expensive than cord wood around here, i got 10 packs of them more just to play around with and 'try out' compared to how regular cord wood burns. I do have to say, I really do like them and would burn them full time if they were not so expensive. They really are convenient and do really burn well. I have heard our rural king out here has 40lb packages of compressed wood blocks for 4.99. I may try to make it out and try those too. The cost per pound on those is getting low enough I may consider using this more if they do actually burn as well as the 'eco' brand ones.

Should hit single digits tonight, bring it weather! I'm ready!
What size is your stove?
 
What size is your stove?

Oh, sorry.. 2.85cu ft. Its a new princess insert. I'm sure someone with a king freestander could go most of a week without reloading on those things.
 
Actually.. That's a good question, I was thinking it was 2.85cu ft. If you look on blaze kings website on some places it says the insert is 2.54, and some places say 2.85. Does anyone know for sure what size this thing actually is?

If you look at:

http://blazeking.com/EN/wood-princess-insert.html

it says 2.85, but if you click on the brochure thats on that same page it says 2.54.
 
If you send me 5 packs of Eco Bricks I can tell you how many fit in the 2.85 Princess stove. This should solve it;)
 
Pretty sure the shipping would cost me more than the bricks themselves. :p
 
Sounds like you just didn't tighten it enough. Back the set screw off until the knob will slide back on. Repeat directions Shane posted and re tighten set screw.
It would be cool if the shaft (that connects the knob to the thermostat) had a flat place on it. (this is fairly common in electronic equipment). That way there would be no confusion about where the knob should be positioned, and although it could still fall off, at least it could not slip and get into the wrong position. If BKVP is listening ...
 
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It would be cool if the shaft (that connects the knob to the thermostat) had a flat place on it. (this is fairly common in electronic equipment). That way there would be no confusion about where the knob should be positioned, and although it could still fall off, at least it could not slip and get into the wrong position. If BKVP is listening ...

That is true.. The rheostat knob is like that.
 
Do
I used about 4 1/2 packages of blocks (20lbs/package), i think they were 3.29 each. So around 15 bucks to fully fill it for two days. Those blocks do seem quite a bit more expensive than cord wood around here, i got 10 packs of them more just to play around with and 'try out' compared to how regular cord wood burns. I do have to say, I really do like them and would burn them full time if they were not so expensive. They really are convenient and do really burn well. I have heard our rural king out here has 40lb packages of compressed wood blocks for 4.99. I may try to make it out and try those too. The cost per pound on those is getting low enough I may consider using this more if they do actually burn as well as the 'eco' brand ones.

Should hit single digits tonight, bring it weather! I'm ready!


Would you say that they burn cleaner than cordwood? Our clean air agencies claim far lower emissions from manufactured firewood and while I would not want to use them all the time I could see using them when pollution levels are high, when I want to burn without smoke, or when I want an especially long burn time for some reason.

Did the bricks blacken your glass more or less than cordwood?

Did the chimney smoke more or less than cordwood?
 
I used about 4 1/2 packages of blocks (20lbs/package), i think they were 3.29 each. So around 15 bucks to fully fill it for two days. Those blocks do seem quite a bit more expensive than cord wood around here, i got 10 packs of them more just to play around with and 'try out' compared to how regular cord wood burns. I do have to say, I really do like them and would burn them full time if they were not so expensive. They really are convenient and do really burn well. I have heard our rural king out here has 40lb packages of compressed wood blocks for 4.99. I may try to make it out and try those too. The cost per pound on those is getting low enough I may consider using this more if they do actually burn as well as the 'eco' brand ones.

Should hit single digits tonight, bring it weather! I'm ready!


Some Menards(Not any near us...), still have the grenheat 38pound compressed log packs at $2.50 on clearance. I use these and they work great! Have not tried a whole stove full. Maybe once its -20f outside. lol
 
It would be cool if the shaft (that connects the knob to the thermostat) had a flat place on it. (this is fairly common in electronic equipment). That way there would be no confusion about where the knob should be positioned, and although it could still fall off, at least it could not slip and get into the wrong position. If BKVP is listening ...
Rusty...it was implemented 30 days ago...just working through stock...clever minds think alike!!
 
Would you say that they burn cleaner than cordwood? Our clean air agencies claim far lower emissions from manufactured firewood and while I would not want to use them all the time I could see using them when pollution levels are high, when I want to burn without smoke, or when I want an especially long burn time for some reason.

Did the bricks blacken your glass more or less than cordwood?

Did the chimney smoke more or less than cordwood?

They do soot up the glass, i'd say its comparable to cord wood for the most part. Since it was not super cold out side, I had it turned down pretty far though too. I'm sure if you were running it hotter it would stay pretty clean due to the low moisture though. The best way I could think to describe how they burn is almost like an incense stick. Once up and going they really never flame at all unless you turn the air way up, and if they do flame it really looks much more like the secondary flames from a non-cat stove, but they do produce a TON of smoke in the firebox if there is no flame and that makes for a VERY happy and bright catalyst. Smoke out the pipe is non-existent though, the only thing you can see is white water vapor that looks identical to the vapor being produced by all the other houses on my street that burn natural gas. I will say though when you open the door and have the bypass open you could smoke out the entire neighborhood though, after the first 30 hours when i opened the stove to give it a stir i finished, closed the door and bypass and looked out the front window to see a PLUME out the front window, i mean pea soup thick smoke. I freaked a little ran out side but by the time I got out there, the cat was back in action and it was just back to wisps of white water vapor out the pipe, but you could still see the plume slowly working its way down the street a few houses down. By the time I got back in side the pyrometer was showing a fairly steady 1,000f again.

Once kinda cool/interesting thing I noticed while watching them burn though. After the burn was established well, if i turned the air up enough and visible flames appeared in the firebox was how much/quickly the catalyst temperature dropped. Since the smoke was being consumed by fire before the cat, the cat had much less to eat and its temp would fall. As soon as the flames died out, cat temp would jump back up a few hundred degrees over the next minute or so.

Some Menards(Not any near us...), still have the grenheat 38pound compressed log packs at $2.50 on clearance. I use these and they work great! Have not tried a whole stove full. Maybe once its -20f outside. lol


Ours wouldn't anymore either if they had 38lb packs for 2.50. I would have bought them out! And load that thing up! That's what the thermostat is for, fill that sucker up, turn it down and enjoy not having to touch it for over a day straight!
 
30hrs is impressive never mind 49.

Hard to believe there was any useful heat for the entire time.

My Thermo knob was slightly loose new, it would rock a few degrees either way. Tightened the grub screw and its perfectly fine.

The extra work on the thermo shaft and the requirment for 100% alignment is Gonna add another $50 to the price of a new stove I imagine.
 
30hrs is impressive never mind 49.

Hard to believe there was any useful heat for the entire time.

It wasn't super cold out, 20's to low 30's so I wouldn't expect that at the middle of the winter when its single digits or negative for days on end. But when it does get that cold, I will probably do that little experiement again! It did keep 1,500sf first floor at 70+ though. Basement was only a couple degrees behind.
 
okay,
so i fixed my knob on my BK last week. it was working up until the knob fell off. so I dont know what i did wrong. Please help

Mine came loose again, I figured I just didn't tighten it enough. The alan key used to tighten it is so small I was worried about breaking it if I tried to tighten it too much. I just re set it and tightened it as much as I could.

Glad to hear you're changing how the thermostat knob fits. Any way for us to replace what we have for the new kind?
 
Mine came loose again, I figured I just didn't tighten it enough. The alan key used to tighten it is so small I was worried about breaking it if I tried to tighten it too much. I just re set it and tightened it as much as I could.

Glad to hear you're changing how the thermostat knob fits. Any way for us to replace what we have for the new kind?

Throw some JB Weld on there once you get it set correctly, won't have to worry about it moving again. ;)
 
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