2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[Lokidric]

Almost all of my axes were made in Germany or Sweden. Obviously the Canadian made ones are the best

 

[Poindexter]

Umm, so now what. Stove has been running great.

I had one miscue in the first couple burns letting the cat indicator get above the active area on dial. Since then, I turn the convection fans on to high as I close the bypass door. Haven't seen the cat temp indicator higher than 3/4 up into the active zone since.

Last night got the bypass door closed and the cat never lit off. No ghost flames, most of the visible flame was headed for the closed bypass door, wasn't putting out heat like I am used to. Let it burn out overnight.

With the telescope pipe up out of the way, there are no visible chunks on the bypass door gasket. I have had that problem before. Something half the size of a pencil eraser is plenty big to keep the cat from lighting off.

Checking with a 600 lumen flashlight inside the cold firebox and me looking down from above, bypass door is light tight when closed, seems to still be flat and square to the bypass opening.

Cat is not visibly plugged, light passes through around that whopper heat sink behind the cat just fine. Fine grey ash accumulation behind the cat in front of the bypass door looks normal.

My flame shield for the cat is warped at least half an inch is the only thing I can find "wrong" with the stove - other than it heats the house like the cat isn't working.

Now what?

EDIT: I went poking a little bit. I first lit the stove this fall on Sept 6, was burning about every third day after that, see post #45. The one time the indicator rose above the active zone was 09-17-16 would have been the third or fourth fire of the year, been burning a full load every night since I think last Wednesday, we had a really damp overcast rainy bone biting chill kinda day and it hasn't really warmed back up since, so five nights in a row working good and then bam, like a switch, less heat than I am used to.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I have the princess and while doing a through cleaning the other day I too discovered a slight warp in the flame shield. I took it out to the shop beat it back into shape no big thing really. I wonder if maybe your loading door or by-pass door are slightly out of adjustment. Or because of your one hot fire are you a little skittish on letting the stove get hot? Be sure your gauge is in the active zone when you close the bypass door. Also be sure the door handle is camming over or clicking closed completely.

 

[BKVP]

The flame shield material is a solid flat piece of stainless. A turret punch punches the holes in a specific size and pattern and the laser cuts the shape. All this results in a bend in the metal. We try to bend them back, some get missed.

Any slight bending that takes places over time can be bent backwards by hand to flatten out the piece.

 

[drstorm]

Is it normal to have smoke coming out the back of my Chinook?
Lit a fire last night,got the cat active and turned down to about 1.5 overnight.
Temps were in the mid 40s.My plan was to let it burn out by morning.
Stove was still warm with a small amount of fuel left so I opened bypass and turned it up before my shower,came down to the light smoke puffing somewhere out the back(I have the blowers so not sure exactly where.I just turned everything down/closed bypass.Is this just because of the cool chimney pipe?

 

[tarzan]

Umm, so now what. Stove has been running great.

I had one miscue in the first couple burns letting the cat indicator get above the active area on dial. Since then, I turn the convection fans on to high as I close the bypass door. Haven't seen the cat temp indicator higher than 3/4 up into the active zone since.

Last night got the bypass door closed and the cat never lit off. No ghost flames, most of the visible flame was headed for the closed bypass door, wasn't putting out heat like I am used to. Let it burn out overnight.

With the telescope pipe up out of the way, there are no visible chunks on the bypass door gasket. I have had that problem before. Something half the size of a pencil eraser is plenty big to keep the cat from lighting off.

Checking with a 600 lumen flashlight inside the cold firebox and me looking down from above, bypass door is light tight when closed, seems to still be flat and square to the bypass opening.

Cat is not visibly plugged, light passes through around that whopper heat sink behind the cat just fine. Fine grey ash accumulation behind the cat in front of the bypass door looks normal.

My flame shield for the cat is warped at least half an inch is the only thing I can find "wrong" with the stove - other than it heats the house like the cat isn't working.

View attachment 185086

Now what?

EDIT: I went poking a little bit. I first lit the stove this fall on Sept 6, was burning about every third day after that, see post #45. The one time the indicator rose above the active zone was 09-17-16 would have been the third or fourth fire of the year, been burning a full load every night since I think last Wednesday, we had a really damp overcast rainy bone biting chill kinda day and it hasn't really warmed back up since, so five nights in a row working good and then bam, like a switch, less heat than I am used to.

I wonder if the fan running on high was actually doing anything to keep the cat running cooler or was it just helping to cool the probe thermometer itself, giving you a false reading. If so, you probably fried the cat.

This is by far the safest and easiest stove I have ran but I have a theory that by running the stove hard with the fans on high the fans could actually cool, trick, the thermostat making it possible to overfire the stove.

 

[Poindexter]

Appreciate the input folks. I don't routinely remove the flame shield. So far i have had annual pm done by my local dealer at the end of every burn season.

My flame shield is more bent now than it was last time i handled it, probably 18 months ago. BKVP says warping over tme is normal. It lifted in and out of its holder no problem.

I pulled the cat and have it in my truck with the flame shield, will stop by my dealer after work.

 

[BKVP]

Is it normal to have smoke coming out the back of my Chinook?
Lit a fire last night,got the cat active and turned down to about 1.5 overnight.
Temps were in the mid 40s.My plan was to let it burn out by morning.
Stove was still warm with a small amount of fuel left so I opened bypass and turned it up before my shower,came down to the light smoke puffing somewhere out the back(I have the blowers so not sure exactly where.I just turned everything down/closed bypass.Is this just because of the cool chimney pipe?

If your chimney cap has a screen or spark arrestor, check that first. Second, you need to maintain enough draft to keep the flue from stalling. In new applications, often its the spark arrestor.....and others will tell you how they addressed that issue, if you have one.

 

[Mr. Jones]

My dollar bill test on the bypass failed. Took the bypass out, which was a little tricky turning it with one hand in order to slide it out of the cat hole. Scraped the old out, inserted new gasket, and am waiting for it to dry. Hopefully it'll pass the bill test now. My flame shield is also bent. Not worried about it though, as it still blocks flames.

 

[kennyp2339]

Lit a fire last night,got the cat active and turned down to about 1.5 overnight.
Temps were in the mid 40s.My plan was to let it burn out by morning.
Stove was still warm with a small amount of fuel left so I opened bypass and turned it up before my shower,came down to the light smoke puffing somewhere out the back

Sounds like your single wall chimney pipe paint was curing, was it a fire smoke smell or paint / metallic peanut oil smell?

 

[webby3650]

Is it normal to have smoke coming out the back of my Chinook?
Lit a fire last night,got the cat active and turned down to about 1.5 overnight.
Temps were in the mid 40s.My plan was to let it burn out by morning.
Stove was still warm with a small amount of fuel left so I opened bypass and turned it up before my shower,came down to the light smoke puffing somewhere out the back(I have the blowers so not sure exactly where.I just turned everything down/closed bypass.Is this just because of the cool chimney pipe?

Tee system, not very cold outside, no flames in the box. I'm going to say you had no draft established when you tried to revive the fire.

 

[Highbeam]

I wonder if the fan running on high was actually doing anything to keep the cat running cooler or was it just helping to cool the probe thermometer itself, giving you a false reading. If so, you probably fried the cat.

This is by far the safest and easiest stove I have ran but I have a theory that by running the stove hard with the fans on high the fans could actually cool, trick, the thermostat making it possible to overfire the stove.

Correct. The fans cool the coil on the cat probe meter so it indicates lower but don't cool the cat much if at all. The bk is engineered to prevent overfiring the cat. Cat failures are 95% caused by leaky door gaskets.

Just run it. If the cat meter is in the active range or higher then the cat is working as best it can. It doesn't have to glow and in my experience doesn't always produce clear smoke.

For sure if you still have a spark screen at the cap, that's where you start checking. Then wood quality.

 

[tarzan]

Correct. The fans cool the coil on the cat probe meter so it indicates lower but don't cool the cat much if at all. The bk is engineered to prevent overfiring the cat. Cat failures are 95% caused by leaky door gaskets.

Just run it. If the cat meter is in the active range or higher then the cat is working as best it can. It doesn't have to glow and in my experience doesn't always produce clear smoke.

For sure if you still have a spark screen at the cap, that's where you start checking. Then wood quality.

I agree. I just run my stove normally getting as much heat out of it as needed but my reply to Poindexter was taking into consideration that he runs his stove much harder than we do. With temps in winter of -40 F, 8% moisture wood and fans on high he's pretty much in beta testing territory.

If anyone here could manage to ruin a cat by running it to hot Poindexter definitely has the winning formula

 

[Poindexter]

@tarzan , I am not sure.

I have kept @BKVP in the loop since my solar wood kilns were in the design phase.

It sounds like my cordwood is about the same MC as the NIELs ( north idaho energy logs) that BK is corporately familiar with and BKVP's wife prefers to run when he is travelling.

So beta testing a little, yes, but not completely beyond the pale.

I too think my cat is roasted, unsure of mechanism and should dollar bill test the bypass gasket before i relight it.

 

[claybe]

@tarzan , I am not sure.

I have kept @BKVP in the loop since my solar wood kilns were in the design phase.

It sounds like my cordwood is about the same MC as the NIELs ( north idaho energy logs) that BK is corporately familiar with and BKVP's wife prefers to run when he is travelling.

So beta testing a little, yes, but not completely beyond the pale.

I too think my cat is roasted, unsure of mechanism and should dollar bill test the bypass gasket before i relight it.

Could your cat thermometer be fried? Wouldn't think it would stop working but something else to check.


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[Highbeam]

@tarzan , I am not sure.

I have kept @BKVP in the loop since my solar wood kilns were in the design phase.

It sounds like my cordwood is about the same MC as the NIELs ( north idaho energy logs) that BK is corporately familiar with and BKVP's wife prefers to run when he is travelling.

So beta testing a little, yes, but not completely beyond the pale.

I too think my cat is roasted, unsure of mechanism and should dollar bill test the bypass gasket before i relight it.

The cat meter is of no value other than to determine if the cat is active or not. Bk owners needn't worry about overfiring a cat.

Poindexter is using dry fuel like a Neil, but unlike bkvp he is running at high stat settings so perhaps a better chance of rapid off gassing.

Still, the stove self regulates and is supposed to turn itself down to stay safe once the door and bypass are locked down.

 

[claybe]

Cleaned the princess insert this weekend and found some more missing pieces of the cat. Will it be okay or should I be in the market for a steel cat???

 

[tarzan]

Cleaned the princess insert this weekend and found some more missing pieces of the cat. Will it be okay or should I be in the market for a steel cat???
View attachment 185115

I wouldn't worry about the chips if it's still working. Many folks have posted about ceramic cats with same symptoms still functioning fine.

 

[drstorm]

Sounds like your single wall chimney pipe paint was curing, was it a fire smoke smell or paint / metallic peanut oil smell?

No,it was visible white smoke.
Anyway,I believe Webby is correct about no draft,makes sense.
Best to get the learning curve out of the way early in the burn season with the new stove.

 

[Highbeam]

Cleaned the princess insert this weekend and found some more missing pieces of the cat. Will it be okay or should I be in the market for a steel cat???
View attachment 185115

Unless the cat actually falls apart it is fine with chips, cracks, and weird colors. Be sure the meter goes active, and that the holes are not clogged.

 

[claybe]

Unless the cat actually falls apart it is fine with chips, cracks, and weird colors. Be sure the meter goes active, and that the holes are not clogged.

Yeah I will have to see how she works after the first fire.


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[Mr. Jones]

My bypass gasket was bad enough that I was able to pull and push a dollar back n forth. It's better now, but since I've got it out, and waiting on a new cat, I was thinking about re doing it with bigger gasket. It calls for five eights. I'm thinking about jumping to 1 inch, since my baffle is a little warped. I'll keep trying the bill test all around, and fill the loose spots with more glue, until it's all evenly harder to pull the bill through. It's a pain in the rear, but it's necessary to get the stove to work right. The magic in these stoves is an air tight box where the bypass and cat entrance is.

 

[webby3650]

My bypass gasket was bad enough that I was able to pull and push a dollar back n forth. It's better now, but since I've got it out, and waiting on a new cat, I was thinking about re doing it with bigger gasket. It calls for five eights. I'm thinking about jumping to 1 inch, since my baffle is a little warped. I'll keep trying the bill test all around, and fill the loose spots with more glue, until it's all evenly harder to pull the bill through. It's a pain in the rear, but it's necessary to get the stove to work right. The magic in these stoves is an air tight box where the bypass and cat entrance is.

Sounds like the warpage is the real root of your problem. Even with a smashed flat gasket they almost always pass the bill test due to the weight of the bypass plate. Going with a 1" gasket is a huge jump! And adding more glue isn't good either, the glue soaks into the gasket making it very hard.

 

[claybe]

My bypass gasket was bad enough that I was able to pull and push a dollar back n forth. It's better now, but since I've got it out, and waiting on a new cat, I was thinking about re doing it with bigger gasket. It calls for five eights. I'm thinking about jumping to 1 inch, since my baffle is a little warped. I'll keep trying the bill test all around, and fill the loose spots with more glue, until it's all evenly harder to pull the bill through. It's a pain in the rear, but it's necessary to get the stove to work right. The magic in these stoves is an air tight box where the bypass and cat entrance is.

You should also be able to tighten the bypass. Since you have the cat out you might be able to reach in there and tighten it from there. I have the insert and had to remove stove to tighten it, but it helped. FWIW I also replaced the gasket when I had the stove out and ordered a gasket kit from BK through a local dealer.


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[Poindexter]

Cleaned the princess insert this weekend and found some more missing pieces of the cat. Will it be okay or should I be in the market for a steel cat???
View attachment 185115

I think that cat should be fine. Does it still run? I mean is it eating smoke and making heat? Doesn't matter if it glows.