2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)
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black smoke signals
Feeling the Heat
How about a positive post here about a time frame about how BK inserts get long burn times! I'm looking for you to post how you load your insert and keep TOS temperature cruising for maximum heat output at WHAT T-stat setting are you using? I'm almost there just can't seem to get overnight long burns longer than 4hours with the T-Stat set to 3 o'clock and lower settings I just don't get it. No way I'm complaining love the heat this insert puts out its operator error so post a quick fix thanks
Four hours yikes
I'm not gonna start a pissing match I'll say that right up front. This is my insert my wood my heat needs information. First off if you are starting from cold it eats a lot of wood to come up to temp. I'll start a small fire get my cat active and lay down some coals for the main event. I have my stove top thermometer set left of center off of the cat itself and shoot for a warm up around 300 degrees. Once there open the air up wide open as well as the bypass. Load that sucker full I mean ever little space has wood split a piece down if it's to large this is important. Shut the door and "I" cut the air to half so t-stat is horizontal. Bypass is closed and then I let her eat till I'm in the 500 degree range. Once I hit 500 I back the air down basically either three or four times depending on outside temp. If it's warm like now I take it down quarter turn every 15 mins. If it's cold back it down three times. End up when warm the t-stat is straight up and down when it's cold looks kinda like / if that helps any lol. My stove top runs 300 325 in warm temp mode in cold somewhere around 425 450. Now on those really cold nights I might have to bring it up some but hey that's why I have the knob. I do find the blower kills my burn times and if I keep everything in the house warm not letting the temp drop to much I just don't need them. 12 hour reloads when it's cold 24 hour +/- when it's warm. I've gotten 30 hours but at this point it's just saying yeah I reloaded off coals not kicking much heat. My insert does have block off plate with roxul above as well as roxul faced by micore 300 surrounding it. I have 15 or so feet of flex king HD insulated with an exterior brick chimney with roxul stuffed around the upper part of the chimney. One thing I will say when you go for low mode give it time to adjust before you give up. If I go low to fast it will go black and the stack won't be just steam. Once the temp of the stove comes down though it opens the t-stat and clears right up. Side note I burn mostly oak red/white with a moisture content around oh no that's an argument on here lmao. It's real good and dry put it that way.
I'm not gonna start a pissing match I'll say that right up front. This is my insert my wood my heat needs information. First off if you are starting from cold it eats a lot of wood to come up to temp. I'll start a small fire get my cat active and lay down some coals for the main event. I have my stove top thermometer set left of center off of the cat itself and shoot for a warm up around 300 degrees. Once there open the air up wide open as well as the bypass. Load that sucker full I mean ever little space has wood split a piece down if it's to large this is important. Shut the door and "I" cut the air to half so t-stat is horizontal. Bypass is closed and then I let her eat till I'm in the 500 degree range. Once I hit 500 I back the air down basically either three or four times depending on outside temp. If it's warm like now I take it down quarter turn every 15 mins. If it's cold back it down three times. End up when warm the t-stat is straight up and down when it's cold looks kinda like / if that helps any lol. My stove top runs 300 325 in warm temp mode in cold somewhere around 425 450. Now on those really cold nights I might have to bring it up some but hey that's why I have the knob. I do find the blower kills my burn times and if I keep everything in the house warm not letting the temp drop to much I just don't need them. 12 hour reloads when it's cold 24 hour +/- when it's warm. I've gotten 30 hours but at this point it's just saying yeah I reloaded off coals not kicking much heat. My insert does have block off plate with roxul above as well as roxul faced by micore 300 surrounding it. I have 15 or so feet of flex king HD insulated with an exterior brick chimney with roxul stuffed around the upper part of the chimney. One thing I will say when you go for low mode give it time to adjust before you give up. If I go low to fast it will go black and the stack won't be just steam. Once the temp of the stove comes down though it opens the t-stat and clears right up. Side note I burn mostly oak red/white with a moisture content around oh no that's an argument on here lmao. It's real good and dry put it that way.
black smoke signals
Feeling the Heat
Shayne
New Member
A face cord is also 1/3 of a cord. It's the front face of a full cord, if that cord is three rows of 16" stacked 4'x8'.So a 1/3 cord.I live in the land where everyone sells "face cords" which are 4'x8'x?.
Question on princess cat: cleaned the stove up and brought it in the house today. I noticed that the cat was loose in the housing. It has a metal band around the cat which is tight and gasketed inside but there was no indication of a gasket ever being around the outside of the band. Should there be one?
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Yes. There must be a gasket between the stove and the metal band. It will break up a bit as you remove the cat but there will still be remnants.
I am starting to get the hang of it now - The cat never stalled, but it was down in the first position. Just ran a half load of fir and tamarack 14 hours on low and cat was still up in the active zone with 2 small burning chunks left and a small amount of coals. Still hardly have any ash in the stove and I know some of you have said to get a decent ash bed for the coals to hang out in. I just reloaded again and I am trying to burn the gunk off the glass without much success. Will cut this way back before I go to bed and it should still be cruising along in the morning.
As far as your hot burns that are recommended? 30 minutes on high or with damper open? This thing is really keeping the house toasty and we are quite happy with it. So happy that I cut down some more trees today!
As far as your hot burns that are recommended? 30 minutes on high or with damper open? This thing is really keeping the house toasty and we are quite happy with it. So happy that I cut down some more trees today!
Nevermind - just used the search feature and found the answer. Burn it hot for 30 minutes to an hour to clear the creosote and clean everything out "frequently or as needed. This thing is pretty easy to use! Was also happy to see if I bypass before opening the door and give it a minute I can throw a few more splits on it and let them char before reengaging the cat and settling it back down.
My long-haired shepherd is not enjoying the stove so far....... she usually likes to lay down at my feet, but I think it is too warm for her in the room with the stove.
My long-haired shepherd is not enjoying the stove so far....... she usually likes to lay down at my feet, but I think it is too warm for her in the room with the stove.
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.
Attachments
You want to make sure the bypass is closed when you are letting it rip. This is very important! Don't run it on high for 30 minutes with the bypass open.
Another BK newby question? What is the best/Cheapest source for combustor? Mine looks okay now so I'm going to replace the gasket but in the event I need one I want the best deal. Looks like steel cats are about $50 more than ceramic.
Problem with calling it a face cord is the width dimension could be defined as anything I want to sell. If you call it a1/3 cord it has to be 4'x8'x16" or whatever measurement gets you 42.66 cubic feet worth of wood.
Totally off topic for this thread though.
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Jeff in Maine
Feeling the Heat
I have a cat question.
This morning when I got up I went to the stove and saw the cat was in-active. The stove was 12" deep or more In coals so I told the wife,.. " when you get up be sure to check to see if the cat probe says it is active". She had been up about 1/2 hour before me. As soon as she got up she says she looked and the probe was way up into the active zone, but I did not have the fan on so she turned it on to low.
By the time I saw the stove (a half hour later) the cat had gone down into the in-active zone. So I turned up the thermostat, stirred the coals and in 10 min it was way up into the active zone once again
Now for the question, if I had been away for the day and it stayed in the in-active zone for many hours what if anything for " HARM" would have happened to the cat? I cannot see any harm other than the low heat output and maybe more pollutants p the flu. Or am I missing something big here ? Thanks for your time Jeff
This morning when I got up I went to the stove and saw the cat was in-active. The stove was 12" deep or more In coals so I told the wife,.. " when you get up be sure to check to see if the cat probe says it is active". She had been up about 1/2 hour before me. As soon as she got up she says she looked and the probe was way up into the active zone, but I did not have the fan on so she turned it on to low.
By the time I saw the stove (a half hour later) the cat had gone down into the in-active zone. So I turned up the thermostat, stirred the coals and in 10 min it was way up into the active zone once again
Now for the question, if I had been away for the day and it stayed in the in-active zone for many hours what if anything for " HARM" would have happened to the cat? I cannot see any harm other than the low heat output and maybe more pollutants p the flu. Or am I missing something big here ? Thanks for your time Jeff
Jeff in Maine
Feeling the Heat
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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ALWAYS close the bypass as soon as your cat thermometer shows active.
Sounds like your getting the hang of it. Running the stove hot for about an hour a week during the times your running low and slow for the majority cleans all the gunk that builds up and the glass to an extent. If your running low and slow keeping the glass clean is a loosing battle.
Edit; didn't see Webbys' post before posting.
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Highbeam
Minister of Fire
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.
Good call on the PNW woods - this thing takes off and roars awfully fast. Temps will start dropping today. I turned it down too low last night and the cat was inactive this morning but still quite a bit of char sitting in the box. Decided to get it fired up again so I just put in two splits of very dry pine and a piece of ornamental red cedar that a tree service delivered in huge rounds (worst stuff to split ever!). The ornamental cedar burns with red flame, but it takes off like it is soaked in gasoline! Figured it would be good to get the fire going. I put in a split of tamarack and closed the door and the cat shot right back up again when engaged! Got the stove heated back up and will leave it on a higher setting in preparation for the temps diving today.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
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.
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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