Blaze King Princess Help

[StephanieJellyfish]

I have recently purchased a home with a 4 year old Blaze King Princess Ultra. I love the stove but find that it is not working exactly as it should according to these forums and the Blaze King instructions. My issue is that I am not getting a complete burn of all the wood in my stove when on lower settings. Logically it would seem that there could be an issue with the cat. However, I sometimes get a great burn and other not so much so before investing in a new cat (you have to pay upfront for the new cat under warranty and are only reimbursed if they test it and find an issue) I want to eliminate any operator error that could be causing this problem. I have ran the cat test suggested in the book with mixed results.

When I start the stove I have been allowing the wood to burn on high for longer then suggested - usually for an hour and then will turn it to medium for 15-30 minutes then to low (1.5, i've never felt confident enough to leave it at 1). I feel this should be plenty of time to get the fire establish. The issue i'm having is that the wood on the sides of the fire box does not burn at times, or the burn will be concentrated heavily to one side of the box. Even when there is a decent amount of wood left and the coals are burning my thermometer can fall really close to the inactive zone, while other times it stays well into the active zone. I am burning wood that was cut prior to my arrival so there is some mixture but it is all softer wood (pine, popular). I have thought maybe my loads are too large and not enough air flow? Are smaller loads better? Perhaps loading the wood differently?

Any suggestions on how to try improving this problem before I get a new cat would be great. Thank you!

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Have you checked the cat visually for ash plugging when the stove is cold?

 

[Poindexter]

Does the cat probe indicator get well up into the active zone when you run it on high for 30-60 minutes?

I am avcustomed to finding chunks of charcoal in the floor of my stove when i let it burn out on low settings.

Mine is a bit smaller than yours, i have a size 30. If i let mine burn out with the stat at medium running really dry spruce i expect maybe a quart of golf ball to baseball sized chunks.

With thr tstat on low as above it could be a gallon with a chunk or two bigger than softballs.

I just rake thise to the front when i relight the stove, and find a fresh batch at the back on the floor when i come back again.

Sometimes more in one side than the other, yes. Almost always in the back bottom corners.

If you are finding 3-4 cantalope sized chunks i would wait for another princess owner to stop by before becoming anxious.

 

[Stump shot]

Turn it up to high for 15 -20 minutes halfway through your burn cycle.

 

[webby3650]

What's your chimney setup like? This sounds like an underseasoned wood issue, but possibly a draft issue.

 

[StephanieJellyfish]

Does the cat probe indicator get well up into the active zone when you run it on high for 30-60 minutes?

I am avcustomed to finding chunks of charcoal in the floor of my stove when i let it burn out on low settings.

Mine is a bit smaller than yours, i have a size 30. If i let mine burn out with the stat at medium running really dry spruce i expect maybe a quart of golf ball to baseball sized chunks.

With thr tstat on low as above it could be a gallon with a chunk or two bigger than softballs.

I just rake thise to the front when i relight the stove, and find a fresh batch at the back on the floor when i come back again.

Sometimes more in one side than the other, yes. Almost always in the back bottom corners.

If you are finding 3-4 cantalope sized chunks i would wait for another princess owner to stop by before becoming anxious.

The probe goes all the way to the end and even passed the active zone when it is going on high.

 

[StephanieJellyfish]

Welcome. Have you checked the cat visually for ash plugging when the stove is cold?

I have already done this. It did have some ash on it but not much to make a difference.

 

[StephanieJellyfish]

What's your chimney setup like? This sounds like an underseasoned wood issue, but possibly a draft issue.

I don't know much about chimneys but it is a pretty straight forward black pipe about 5 feet up with a small 45 degree bend over to one side and then straight up out of the house.

 

[begreen]

Could be that some of the wood has not fully seasoned. Hardwood takes longer, sometimes 2+ yrs.

 

[StephanieJellyfish]

The wood is soft and seasoned so that should not be an issue. And I have looked at the cat when it is on high and it does glow. I should mention that I have also attempted opening a window by the stove to see if it is an air intake issue and I haven't noticed an increase in coal glow when I do this. My door does need to be tightened (waiting for some muscle to come my way as I cannot do it) since the gasket does not have a super tight seal on the top.

 

[tarzan]

My stove will do that on a low setting at times in the shoulder season. I assume it is do to the small amount of woods inability to maintain draft so it just snuffs itself out.

 

[BKVP]

What's your chimney setup like? This sounds like an underseasoned wood issue, but possibly a draft issue.

BINGO WEBBY!

 

[webby3650]

The wood is soft and seasoned so that should not be an issue. And I have looked at the cat when it is on high and it does glow. I should mention that I have also attempted opening a window by the stove to see if it is an air intake issue and I haven't noticed an increase in coal glow when I do this. My door does need to be tightened (waiting for some muscle to come my way as I cannot do it) since the gasket does not have a super tight seal on the top.

Most Think it's not the wood, but in reality it most often is the issue.
Wood becomes a dead end way too often, it's almost like you're insulting there kids or somethig...

 

[Highbeam]

I also worry about the arbitrary low setting of 1.5 or 1. The lowest possible setting without stalling the cat during the shoulder season can be a moving target. Bump it up a bit to prevent a stall.

Leftover wood, in any stove, is a pretty dependable sign of wet wood. I burn nearly all low btu woods and this is true in my experience with cat stoves, non cats, and even outdoor fire pits!

 

[BKVP]

So is the black pipe single wall or double wall pipe? Can you post pictures of install please?

 

[lsucet]

I purchased a princess early this year on June if I remember correctly and I get to burn just a couple of times and not because was cold. I used the excuse of curing the paint lol.
I live in town but I have a little ranch about forty minutes from here and I have the stoves over there. I am there on weekends only most of the times. In the last month I fired the stove a few times and everything is good with the help of the members of this forum and reading and reading the manual and here. I got the same condition this past weekend and I think it's due to outside temperature.
I fired up at night and once I dial it down it goes all night with no problems. Temperature was dropping for a few days in middle forty's. But by 9 or 10 am the temperature start climbing and by noon or so temp were reaching almost 80df and this thing still going. At this point I don't want to open the tstat to compensate the draft cause the house was hot. Doors and windows opened lol. On Sunday around 7pm that we ready to comeback in town I checked in there and I saw two pieces of black charcoals but still going with the probe into the active zone about 10 o'clock.

Other times that temp not been climbing so much everything gets burn to ashes. I think the outside temperature can play a big role on this.
I also have to Pellet stoves from Englanders and one is installed on one end and the other at the other end. Till gets cold I am thinking of using the Pellet stoves cause I can shut them off if I want to.
The PRINCESS is, we can say almost in the center of the house and it warms everything good. I also have two other Englanders wood stove that I was using before I installed the princess on the same hearth but now they are in the shed storage there. I am planning to use one maybe in the stables when I finish them.lol
Thanks to everyone in this forum that helps rookies like me to be successful on Wood burning with all the info provided.

Leandro

 

[lsucet]

I know it can be the wood too but I am talking about my experience based that I know for sure my wood is bone dry.
I am using 3 years old wood split and stack. Was covered on top and since last year I bring it into the car port. I have three MC meters and they all says the same moisture content.
I know some people don't believe that wood can get too dry but meters read between 6-11 moisture content.
It is a mix of white and red cedar, pine and alligator juniper and some oak that I keep apart for years and years.lol never burn them.lol.
For me, I think is due to outside temperature like mentioned before and can be possible he is facing similar conditions. I think if it was burning with 80 df outside temperature and staying cat probe in the active zone, everything should be OK? Just saying. I have with the cap a little under 19' chimney.
More than three feet of double wall telescope pipe connected to a. 45 and one foot and another 45 that connects to the adapter with the triple wall compact that pass thru the roof and straight up. I have no problem with draft that I know
I also have a manometer that connect once a while with the others tube stoves cause secondaries used to take off on me and I wasn't able to do anything. I bought the manometer and my draft was waaayyy to high. 0.15 to 0.2 WC sometimes. It was supposed to be 0.06 max bit when secondaries took place, that was it. Get out of the house lol. That is why I get the princess.
I saw the other day that once the tstat is dial down and is doing its thing the draft goes a little bit higher like 0.08 but ones it closes again Everything is about 0.04 to 0.06 WC.

 

[tarzan]

I purchased a princess early this year on June if I remember correctly and I get to burn just a couple of times and not because was cold. I used the excuse of curing the paint lol.
I live in town but I have a little ranch about forty minutes from here and I have the stoves over there. I am there on weekends only most of the times. In the last month I fired the stove a few times and everything is good with the help of the members of this forum and reading and reading the manual and here. I got the same condition this past weekend and I think it's due to outside temperature.
I fired up at night and once I dial it down it goes all night with no problems. Temperature was dropping for a few days in middle forty's. But by 9 or 10 am the temperature start climbing and by noon or so temp were reaching almost 80df and this thing still going. At this point I don't want to open the tstat to compensate the draft cause the house was hot. Doors and windows opened lol. On Sunday around 7pm that we ready to comeback in town I checked in there and I saw two pieces of black charcoals but still going with the probe into the active zone about 10 o'clock.

Other times that temp not been climbing so much everything gets burn to ashes. I think the outside temperature can play a big role on this.
I also have to Pellet stoves from Englanders and one is installed on one end and the other at the other end. Till gets cold I am thinking of using the Pellet stoves cause I can shut them off if I want to.
The PRINCESS is, we can say almost in the center of the house and it warms everything good. I also have two other Englanders wood stove that I was using before I installed the princess on the same hearth but now they are in the shed storage there. I am planning to use one maybe in the stables when I finish them.lol
Thanks to everyone in this forum that helps rookies like me to be successful on Wood burning with all the info provided.

Leandro

This is exactly the situation I was reffering to above. During the shoulder season when nights are cool enough to justify a fire and day time temps are still warm I often get a few charred pieces unburnt in the stove. In this scenario it's nothing more than a slightly warm stove loosing draft as outside temps climb into he seventies.

 

[lsucet]

This is exactly the situation I was reffering to above. During the shoulder season when nights are cool enough to justify a fire and day time temps are still warm I often get a few charred pieces unburnt in the stove. In this scenario it's nothing more than a slightly warm stove loosing draft as outside temps climb into he seventies.

+2 on that.
sorry for the "He", i was supposed to sat "She"

 

[Ashful]

Same here. The low-end stall point changes with outside temperature, being directly proportional. Unfortunate reality. Leave the dial set a hair higher, and you can avoid.

You can hear the inlet damper clap shut when you turn the dial, but since it's mounted on a bimetallic coil (clock spring style), the setting at which it claps shut will vary with stove temp. Get it dialed down, let the stove level off for the better fraction of an hour, and then you can play with the dial to find that point. Your stall setting won't be far off that.


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