Is there a way to tell if my thermostat is actually opening all of the way when i turn it all the way up on a reload?? I have 2 kings and my newer one in the shop just doesnt burn like my house king does...it acts like it is starving for air and never will burn hard on a reload. I burn the same wood in both stoves..chimney is straight up about 18ft... i had the same trouble last year and just dealt with it, with the only real answer being that it was my wood..i dont think that is the case....i can reload the stove with hot coals with bypass open t stat cranked and it can go for an hour without ever really making a big fire...
Blaze King thermostat??
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That was my first thought last year so i added another 4ft section of class A...its a 4/12 pitch roof with no trees or anything even remotely close...i have 6-7ft sticking out of the roof and is higher than the peak...i have a section of black telescoping double wall coming off the stove then it goes into the class A on out the roof.
The stove is on its second season....to even keep the cat active i have to run it past 2....i have had my house stove for a number of winters and that baby is a heating machine....i can reload it and back it down to 1 3/4...with a very well burning fire and cat reading of 4 oclock...all within 15 min or less.
It is steeper..probably 6/12.. i just came in from the shop the stove has been at 2 1/2 for over an hour and the cat is at the 11o clock position...i did have a thought, when i installed the chimney i just slid the telescoping pipe over the coller on my stove. Would that cause it to not burn properly?
drz1050
Minister of Fire
Is your shop new construction/ well insulated/ air tight? Do you have exhaust fans running there? Try cracking a window, you could be starving the stove of air...
Same wood supply for both stoves, yes?
Same wood supply for both stoves, yes?
Shop is 2 years old and i would consider it insulated pretty well..blown in cellulose..fairly air tight but i have 4 10x10 doors that i am sure let some air in around them..no exhaust fans running. It has gable vents and a ridge vent in the attic. I do have a ceiling and it is insulated with cellulose too around 10'-12" ,i plan to add more next year.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
is the tstat knob adjusted properly? how far it goes clockwise before stop? i remember reading about it before and the knob just need adjustment.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Are there fans on the stove? If so, turn them off without making any other adjustments and wait 20 minutes. Did the cat therm needle climb?
I will check the knob ,but it turns clockwise quite a ways.. yes the stove has a blower on it and when i go to reload in a little bit i will turn it off. The t stat has never been past the 1 or 2 o clock position and that has been with the stove set on 3 or more.
The past 2 reloads ive done it with the blower off and that has seemed to make a difference. Last night at bedtime 30min after a reload i took a temp reading and it was 615f on the top with the tstat set at a out 2.5 that put the tstat guage at about the 1 oclock position..so that was close to about the most heat it has ever put out.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
The new load is definitely going to catch faster with the blower off- it's just hotter in the firebox.
This shouldn't be a difference between your two stoves, though (unless maybe it's just always colder in the shop, and so at reload time the house stove is normally burning hot and low with lots of fuel left, and the shop stove is running on fumes...)
This shouldn't be a difference between your two stoves, though (unless maybe it's just always colder in the shop, and so at reload time the house stove is normally burning hot and low with lots of fuel left, and the shop stove is running on fumes...)
When you add wood to the stove is the needle in the active zone or below? When you close the bypass door where is the needle in the active zone (9, 10, 11?). When you reload have you tried leaving the bypass open to allow some heat up the pipe or do you always engage the cat right away as long as its active?
Personally, I let some heat up the flue. Leave the bypass open for 10-15 minutes will get some heat into the pipe and promote draft.
Personally, I let some heat up the flue. Leave the bypass open for 10-15 minutes will get some heat into the pipe and promote draft.
I doubt it but you can put an incense or something that will smoke next to the collar and see if it's drawing air through it.
The water is getting a little muddy IMO. My King's air control is not numbered, some of them are. I know with my King if the air control is at 12 o'clock its set to low, at 6 o'clock it's on High. When I look at my thermometer for my cat 9 o'clock is just at the start of active zone and 3 o'Clock is high. Maybe that will help? I'm not quite sure how high his setting is on the t-stat is when it's at 2-1/2... Maybe he can clearify.
It's possible the flue pipe is getting up to temp?
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Sounds correct some of the thermostats are not numbered so that why I referred to clock position. Mine will turn clockwise to the 6:00 position. It will actually turn counter clockwise almost back around to 8:00. Like I said I don't know if this is correct (my first BK). But my thermostat is numbered and #1 is at the 1:00 position. IDK, It seems to work correctly.
I burn my King on high nearly all the time. On warmer nights the t-stat might get turned down from 6 o'clock to 4 o'clock. It's also my first BK and this is the first season I've used mine.
From my own experience with my BK King, chimney temp makes a huge difference in operation of these stoves. The manual says the required operating draft is 0.05"WC. It says 0.04"WC is too low and will cause poor performance. If the OP is starting a cold stove each time he uses it then it may take a large amount of time to get the chimney to reach thermal equilibrium and draft properly. Each chimney is going to draft differently.
I would try running the stove on high with a full load, bypass open and door cracked and see how high the stoves temp climbs on the cat thermometer. Let the stove get hot, the chimney won't mind that heat, then close the the door and bypass and see if it maintains the temp on the cat thermometer. Keep the fans off the whole time. You should see the cat thermometer climb and peg high. If it doesn't climb after closing the bypass then you really are back to a wet wood, poor draft. If you want to test if it's your wood then try filling the stove with kiln dried wood scraps and see how it behaves. If the performance is no different then you need to measure draft to make sure it's adequate.
From my own experience with my BK King, chimney temp makes a huge difference in operation of these stoves. The manual says the required operating draft is 0.05"WC. It says 0.04"WC is too low and will cause poor performance. If the OP is starting a cold stove each time he uses it then it may take a large amount of time to get the chimney to reach thermal equilibrium and draft properly. Each chimney is going to draft differently.
I would try running the stove on high with a full load, bypass open and door cracked and see how high the stoves temp climbs on the cat thermometer. Let the stove get hot, the chimney won't mind that heat, then close the the door and bypass and see if it maintains the temp on the cat thermometer. Keep the fans off the whole time. You should see the cat thermometer climb and peg high. If it doesn't climb after closing the bypass then you really are back to a wet wood, poor draft. If you want to test if it's your wood then try filling the stove with kiln dried wood scraps and see how it behaves. If the performance is no different then you need to measure draft to make sure it's adequate.
From your description I'm unsure that you are following the manuals reloading procedure properly. They say to open the air control to high when reloading, reload with wood, if the cat temp is in the active zone then close the bypass but leave the stoves setting on high for 20 minutes before adjusting. Are you following this?
If you are reloading and the needle is barely in the active zone then run the stove on high with the bypass open for a few minutes. It will help the wood get up to temp and burn better. The above still applies though about leaving the new load to burn on high for 20 mins.
Thanks for all of the responses. Alot of the time the stove has gone fairly cold before a reload. I have been turning the fans off and have been letting it get burning well before i close the bypass..with that being said the stove has been performing really good. I have been filling it once a day to keep the shop a decent temp (60-65 deg) while iam not out there.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
This is bad advice. As soon as the cat meter indicates active you need to close the bypass. Then you can run it at maximum stat setting all you want.
Leaving the bypass open too long can melt your bypass gasket retainers which require cutting and welding to replace. The stove is meant to be run with the door and bypass closed as soon as possible.
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