Country Flame BBF experiences(Season 3, pg. 3)

[Todd]

Good to hear. That is a beast of a stove, I wouldn't mind sticking one into my fireplace. Have you filled that sucker up and gone for that Blaze King record burn?

 

[Chargerman]

I am back.

The weather is still nice but I hear a rumor that winter is coming in a few months.

 

[Todd]

Welcome back. It won't be long, Winter will sneak up fast.

 

[Chargerman]

Well, its on.

First official fire of the season last night. It was cold in the 30's and very windy last night. Loaded the BBF with some ugly walnut pieces at 11pm and woke up later than I should have at 7am to a 300 degree stove with the fan on high.

Tommorow my father in law and I are adding a foot of blown in insulation to the attic. That should help quite a bit compared to last year.

 

[Chargerman]

Finished up the attic today with 32 bags of Certainteed fiberglass blown in insulation. Total depth is about 18" now. That should take some burden off the BBF in the cold months to come.

 

[Todd]

Sounds like your ready to go. Extra attic insulation made a big difference for me. Keep us posted.

 

[opt2bout]

Well, its on.

First official fire of the season last night. It was cold in the 30's and very windy last night. Loaded the BBF with some ugly walnut pieces at 11pm and woke up later than I should have at 7am to a 300 degree stove with the fan on high.

Tommorow my father in law and I are adding a foot of blown in insulation to the attic. That should help quite a bit compared to last year.

Hi, I found your post on a search...I bought my bbf last fall...moving from a fireplace to an insert was an experience! Can you tell me how your temp probe is working for you? When my unit gets around 700 the fan kicks on...even though it is putting out heat, the temp never gets above 900 or 1000 with the fan on. I've read others talking about their units getting up to 1500???

Any ideas or advice is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Todd]

What kind of temps do you get with the fan off? The fan will cool the stove temps down a few hundred degrees or more.

 

[opt2bout]

What kind of temps do you get with the fan off? The fan will cool the stove temps down a few hundred degrees or more.

I've had it up to as much as 1,300 with the fan unplugged (I wish I had a power switch on the fan controls!) My neighbor says I'm not burning the wood right and the stove guy says that I need a new catalytic converter :$

I've not started it this season, and just wondered if I should expect this. Last season I used it from November to April, 24x7. I've read some posts that make reference to the fact that they fan can be too high and have an effect on the cat's efficiency. The manual says to not engage the cat until the probe is up to 1100. With the fan plugged in, the fan comes on automatically and the temp probe never seems to go above 700.

 

[Chargerman]

I engage the cat on mine at 500 degress and it lights off fine. I usually let it get to 800 degrees this time of year before turning on the fan. If it is colder I let it get up to around 11-1200 degrees depending on the time I have available. I don't ever let the fan kick on automatically on the reloads. I am not sure why you don't have fan controls on the stove.

The fan will knock the temp probe down a couple hundred degrees on the high setting. On the medium setting it will usually maintain the temperature that it is at for awhile and slowly come down. I have had it up to 1500 degrees last year without the fan on just to test it. IMO waiting that long just wastes the heat up the stack.

The BBF is around 600lbs and it would take a lot of wood to get it really cranking in the 1500 degree range all the time. I originally saw people talking about those numbers and wondered if something was wrong too. No other stove has a 600cfm fan that I know of and it will kick out some serious heat. I know it will get to 1500 degrees but I would be in my underwear most of the winter with that kind of heat. :bug:

 

[opt2bout]

I engage the cat on mine at 500 degress and it lights off fine. I usually let it get to 800 degrees this time of year before turning on the fan. If it is colder I let it get up to around 11-1200 degrees depending on the time I have available. I don't ever let the fan kick on automatically on the reloads.

The fan will knock the temp probe down a couple hundred degrees on the high setting. On the medium setting it will usually maintain the temperature that it is at for awhile and slowly come down. I have had it up to 1500 degrees last year without the fan on just to test it. IMO waiting that long just wastes the heat up the stack.

Thanks so much...I was wondering if I was just crazy or had a defective unit! My neighbors all have non-cat stoves and all had different advice. One has a 30 y/o Kodiak that he can jam pack with wood and the thing can heat up his whole house. He is the most critical of my BBF saying it should burn hotter. I use oak railroad tie ends and can't use them until I get a good base of coals going....he can load hos Kodiak and open it up and they're lit in minutes. I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges, so I wanted to find others with similar units.

Thanks again!

Kevin

 

[Chargerman]

I engage the cat on mine at 500 degress and it lights off fine. I usually let it get to 800 degrees this time of year before turning on the fan. If it is colder I let it get up to around 11-1200 degrees depending on the time I have available. I don't ever let the fan kick on automatically on the reloads.

The fan will knock the temp probe down a couple hundred degrees on the high setting. On the medium setting it will usually maintain the temperature that it is at for awhile and slowly come down. I have had it up to 1500 degrees last year without the fan on just to test it. IMO waiting that long just wastes the heat up the stack.

Thanks so much...I was wondering if I was just crazy or had a defective unit! My neighbors all have non-cat stoves and all had different advice. One has a 30 y/o Kodiak that he can jam pack with wood and the thing can heat up his whole house. He is the most critical of my BBF saying it should burn hotter. I use oak railroad tie ends and can't use them until I get a good base of coals going....he can load hos Kodiak and open it up and they're lit in minutes. I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges, so I wanted to find others with similar units.

Thanks again!

Kevin

I heat my 2300 sq. ft. house with mine 24/7. This time of year it is 1 or 2 small loads per day. I am sure that Kodiak will burn hot if you feed it wood. The big gain with the BBF over your neighbors Kodiak are the long burn times and clean burning.

I also wanted to add that both of my BBF stoves have a fan control switch and a on/off toggle on the front. Is your stack burning clean when you shut down the air supply? That catalytic will usually glow red for awhile during the burn if it is working properly.

BTW: Do those oak ties have any type of preservative in them? That will likely ruin the catalytic.

 

[opt2bout]

I engage the cat on mine at 500 degress and it lights off fine. I usually let it get to 800 degrees this time of year before turning on the fan. If it is colder I let it get up to around 11-1200 degrees depending on the time I have available. I don't ever let the fan kick on automatically on the reloads.

The fan will knock the temp probe down a couple hundred degrees on the high setting. On the medium setting it will usually maintain the temperature that it is at for awhile and slowly come down. I have had it up to 1500 degrees last year without the fan on just to test it. IMO waiting that long just wastes the heat up the stack.

Thanks so much...I was wondering if I was just crazy or had a defective unit! My neighbors all have non-cat stoves and all had different advice. One has a 30 y/o Kodiak that he can jam pack with wood and the thing can heat up his whole house. He is the most critical of my BBF saying it should burn hotter. I use oak railroad tie ends and can't use them until I get a good base of coals going....he can load hos Kodiak and open it up and they're lit in minutes. I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges, so I wanted to find others with similar units.

Thanks again!

Kevin

I heat my 2300 sq. ft. house with mine 24/7. This time of year it is 1 or 2 small loads per day. I am sure that Kodiak will burn hot if you feed it wood. The big gain with the BBF over your neighbors Kodiak are the long burn times and clean burning.

I also wanted to add that both of my BBF stoves have a fan control switch and a on/off toggle on the front. Is your stack burning clean when you shut down the air supply? That catalytic will usually glow red for awhile during the burn if it is working properly.

BTW: Do those oak ties have any type of preservative in them? That will likely ruin the catalytic.

These are "raw" ends cut off before any treatment.

My BBF has a high/low dial, no on/off. I called the local stove co. and he said they have a fan control with on/off. When American Energy bought Country Flame (they used to be here in my back yard) I think there is a problem with kits being assembled differently. I know I had problems getting the right trim pieces for my shroud. I want an on/off switch!

Where am I supposed to look re. cat glowing red? I mean, I know where the cat is...its hidden by the cover panel...I can look up there and see flames "floating" just below that panel is how I've been telling myself that the cat was working.

 

[Chargerman]

Where am I supposed to look re. cat glowing red? I mean, I know where the cat is...its hidden by the cover panel...I can look up there and see flames "floating" just below that panel is how I've been telling myself that the cat was working.

I can see the cat glowing through the bypass rod hole. I can also detect the glow looking up through the front of the glass. When I engage the cat at 500 degrees the temp gauge will start rising rather quickly.

If you shut the air down and the stack is burning clean then you should be in good shape.

 

[Chargerman]

Whats the longest peice you can get in the firebox?

Just a quick update to this question. I burned a 30-31" log in the BBF this morning. I started another thread about it with some pics.

 

[Chargerman]

The attic insulation seems to be helping. We got our first snowstorm of 8" Saturday and now the last few days have been in the low single digits at night with highs in the teens during the day. I did not notice much difference in the milder weather but it is apparent now.

I loaded the stove about 3/4 full of walnut at 9pm on a hot bed of coals. I let it get to about 1200 degrees on the cat probe before slowly shutting it down. Went to bed at around 11pm and the house was at 73 degrees the cat probe was reading 1100 degrees with the fan on high. My wife got up at 6am to a 71 degree house and a 400 degree probe temp with the fan on. She threw 3 splits of elm in and it will be good until this afternoon when we get home from work.

 

[Chargerman]

A little update.

Just approaching 3 cords of walnut and elm this year burning 24/7. Managed to handle the -20 below temps a couple weeks ago and the -30 below wind chills from the last blizzard.

All is well in BBF land.

 

[BrowningBAR]

A little update.

Just approaching 3 cords of walnut and elm this year burning 24/7. Managed to handle the -20 below temps a couple weeks ago and the -30 below wind chills from the last blizzard.

All is well in BBF land.

Do you have the second one installed in the basement, yet?

 

[Chargerman]

A little update.

Just approaching 3 cords of walnut and elm this year burning 24/7. Managed to handle the -20 below temps a couple weeks ago and the -30 below wind chills from the last blizzard.

All is well in BBF land.

Do you have the second one installed in the basement, yet?

Unfortunately, no.

I got it moved to the attached garage from the storage shed though. The basement really needs insulating and finishing from what I read on here. I also need to figure out exactly what I want from the space before installing the stove.

 

[Todd]

Once you get that BBF installed in the basement with some insulation, I can see nice even heat throughout the whole house by burning both low and slow 24/7, maybe only reloading twice per day.

You may also get lucky and find the basement stove will handle most of the load for the whole house except colder days where you need to run both.

 

[Chargerman]

Once you get that BBF installed in the basement with some insulation, I can see nice even heat throughout the whole house by burning both low and slow 24/7, maybe only reloading twice per day.

You may also get lucky and find the basement stove will handle most of the load for the whole house except colder days where you need to run both.

I am hoping once the freestanding stove is setup in the basement it will handle most of the heating needs in the shoulder season or 30+ degree weather. With the insert I often run the fan on low or medium during those times to keep from getting the upstairs to hot or avoid having to refire the stove daily. Running the basement unit a little harder may be possible because it is large and open space. If this also heats the upstairs I will be very happy. It just seems like the extra radiant heat from freestanding vs the fireplace insert would use less wood for the heat produced but, the basement install is the only variable I am concerned with in trying to move the heat around effectively.

The other "big" reason I want to get the freestanding stove working is to have sufficient heat in case of extended power outages without needing the fan running like the insert. So far power loss has not been a problem but one good ice storm could end all that.

 

[Chargerman]

Season 3 is underway. Burning some boxelder I cut last fall for the shoulder season. This is the first time I have burned this type of lower grade species. I got the stove up to temp and now a little over 4 hours into a 3 split burn. Temps are in the mid 30's and the house is a comfortable 72 degrees. I'll load again before bed and see what the morning brings.

 

[Chargerman]

Not too bad with the boxelder, 8 hour burn on two 5" rounds of boxelder and 3" round of walnut. The house was 73 degrees and still had nice coals to light off this morning.

 

[Todd]

Sounds good chargerman. Nothing wrong with Boxelder, I've burned tons of it and it burns great in a cat stove for the shoulder season.