Fire always dies when I close the door on my Blaze King?

We have a 1983 "King" model blaze king that has the oval cat. The problem I'm having is that the fire dies shortly after I close the door. I always make sure I have a good bed of burning coals and then I load her up. I've tried this every way I could from the thermostat set to either 1, 2 or 3 to the draft door being fully opened to being barely cracked, but the fire always goes out. What am I doing wrong?

We just installed the stove actually so using a Blaze King is completely new to me. The fire dies whether the cat is engaged or in bypass mode, but as soon as I crack the door the fire catches right back up again only to completely die when I close the door.

I'm not sure how tall the chimney is, but I'll get back to you on that one. The wood is red oak that's been seasoned for well over a year now and is completely dry. The wood burns fine as long as the door is either cracked or fully open since there's a nice bed of coals in there. One thing I'd like to point out is that a few minutes ago I closed the door and for the first time I could hear the stove drawing air and the cat was glowing red. It put out amazing heat at that time, but then it stopped all of a sudden ten minutes later. Again, that was the first time I've ever heard it drawing air and during that ten minutes it seemed to work like a charm. At that time the damper was completely closed and the thermostat was set to fully open (3). I just don't know why it seem to work for those ten minutes.

The oak wood is from my brother-in-law who has burned it problem free in his Blaze King Princess all winter. At first I thought it was the wood as well, but that just doesn't seem to make sense at this point. We've always burned a wood stove during the colder months, but this is our first Blaze King and it's really thrown me for a loop that's for sure.

Does the firewood hiss when you're trying to get it going?

There's no hissing when I start the fire. The only thing I can think of is that the air intake that's controlled by the thermostat is clogged somehow since the fire dies completely when the door is shut. Does anyone know how to get to the air intake in order to clean it out?

Here's a quick update guys. I took the cover off the back and found that the little metal flap to the air intake that opens/closes when you turn the thermostat was stuck. Even with the thermostat set wide open the flap was completely closed. Anyway, I knocked it loose so it turns like it's supposed to and now the intake finally draws air and the stove burns just fine. I have a quick question though and this is probably gonna sound extremely stupid, but here it goes. When the fire gets going and you close the door and the damper all the way and just control the air flow with the thermostat, how does the smoke exit through the stack without the damper open?

Sounds like your starving the stove for air, check your air inlets to the stove.

Op, just read this. Yeah was thinking your air inlet is plugged or stuck, good deal.

because the ambient temperature inside the stove keeps it going, Aka the hot coals. Once the stove drops in temp, the bi metalic spring opens it up to bring more air in. Your exhaust gases should be free to roam, new stoves really don't need a flue damper, they are designed airtight, your regulating the air flow, with your automatic damper.

New stoves don't need these style dampers, Air tight.

Old stoves yes, there not airtight. New stoves that are designed airtight, do not need a Flue damper. You could have 100' of flue, and if your stove is still airtight, there will not be a problem. Most manufacturers these days don't want a flue damper installed. If your stove started out airtight, and starts to burn a higher amount of wood. Check for leaks. Find me a new stove with new clean burn technology, that states in it's instructional manual, that there needs to be a flue damper installed. I will bow down to you, promise. I bought A Daka furnace and i installed a damper in the flue, that was stupid of me. the two dampers fought eachother, and I lost. To each there own.

brother, my first year straight sucked. I wish I had a beer.. be safe and have a good night

Both of my stoves are air tight and have clean burn technology and suggest the use of a damper for strong draft. I have a 52 ft chimney and I use the damper for long overnight burns. Page 12
http://www.wood-stove.org/assets/Dutchwest-Federal-Airtight-Manual.pdf

good luck

I have a flue damper on my pipe (for a Johnson Energy Systems Wood Furnace) and I keep it wide open all the time.
In fact I have a crescent wrench (acting as a weight) hanging from handle to ensure it remains open. Like Coaly said, it can operate as a "brake" if you need it.
I installed this stove, I think, in 1985, and misplaced manual so don't know if manual recommended flue damper, or if I just did it on my own. That section of pipe has been replaced several times and I always installed new flue damper.

I also have a Daka (same as Alex), but it is installed in my garage. I leave damper wide open on that also.

So for actual operation I guess flue damper is not needed, in my situaltion anyway. It actually gets in the way for chimney cleaning. Then I have to come up from the bottom of chimney with a smaller brush (and that's messy).