It seems both the handles on my BK are giving me problems!

[Hass]

So in addition to my loading door handle being very loose, the cat door gave me problems tonight.
For those who didn't know, the loading door handle is very... sloppy. When the door is open the handle wobbles and wiggles around, it still closes the stove pretty tight, and in order to retighten it, it looks like I have to do a bit of fiddling around. More than I want to do... So I'll live with it for now, the season is almost over anyway!

Tonight I threw a few pieces on to last until tomorrow night... When I was closing the bypass I was trying to be very quiet because the girl is sleeping in the next room over. The cat door tends to be pretty creaky when I open/close it so I try to do it slowly. So I get it about half way closed, then the handle falls off and the door slams down shut with a loud THUD. So I just stuck it back in there and locked it shut :|
Anyone else ever have that happen to them?
The bypass door is pretty loose now too. Before when I'd open/close the door it required a LOT of effort to do so. Now it's very easy. I suppose that's what happens after the first season of heating/cooling it.

 

[greythorn3]

So in addition to my loading door handle being very loose, the cat door gave me problems tonight.
For those who didn't know, the loading door handle is very... sloppy. When the door is open the handle wobbles and wiggles around, it still closes the stove pretty tight, and in order to retighten it, it looks like I have to do a bit of fiddling around. More than I want to do... So I'll live with it for now, the season is almost over anyway!

Tonight I threw a few pieces on to last until tomorrow night... When I was closing the bypass I was trying to be very quiet because the girl is sleeping in the next room over. The cat door tends to be pretty creaky when I open/close it so I try to do it slowly. So I get it about half way closed, then the handle falls off and the door slams down shut with a loud THUD. So I just stuck it back in there and locked it shut :|
Anyone else ever have that happen to them?
The bypass door is pretty loose now too. Before when I'd open/close the door it required a LOT of effort to do so. Now it's very easy. I suppose that's what happens after the first season of heating/cooling it.

haha! my bk cat is a couple rooms over from my daughters room too, and i close it really quiet as its squeeky as all get out. i think this bk princess is the loudest stove i have ever owned.

 

[Hass]

I often think about greasing it... Thinking to myself each time, why didn't I think of this before? Only to realize I did think of it before, and that it's an absolute dumb idea and that's why I never do it. It's not like it gets hot or anything inside the stove, right?
Definitely squeaky. Definitely.

 

[jeff_t]

You can adjust the bypass door so it locks down tight. When I had the pipe off to clean mine a couple of weeks ago I could reach in and wiggle the door up and down. Pretty self explanatory to do. And my loading door handle is pretty sloppy, too.

 

[Patapsco Mike]

My cat bypass makes a terrible racket every time it's opened or closed, an awful nails-on-chalkboard sound. I need to open and shut it at snail-like speeds to keep from waking my family.

 

[jeff_t]

I don't know if you've looked at how the bypass works, but it is metal on metal. There is a clip, for lack of a better word, about an inch wide and welded on the bypass door, and bent in kinda a u-shape, and same thing with the end of the rod. When you turn the handle, the rod is sliding along the clip to pivot the door open. Mine doesn't squeak too badly, but maybe some graphite would help? Maybe anti-seize? Supposed to take 1600°.

 

[rdust]

I don't know if you've looked at how the bypass works, but it is metal on metal.

Yep by design it's going to make some noise. My bypass seems fine but as I've said before the door latch/handle is less than ideal. I love the simple design for adjusting the door but it seems they could refine the design a little more.

 

[Hass]

yeah, I knew you can adjust the bypass... I just don't like the sloppy door handle!
Doesn't seem that like can be adjusted.

I didn't think of graphite on the bypass, that's not a bad idea. We usually mixed graphite with mobil 1 at my old place... I don't think mobil 1 will take the temps though...
Maybe mix it with some other high temp grease.

 

[Highbeam]

In my experience with greasing door hinges on a regular non-cat stone stove where temps on the top of the stove rarely pass 550, I can tell you that high temp anti-seize and high temp disc brake bearing grease will both turn to a hard chalky non-lubing substance. Regular oil will go away pretty fast. The final lube of choice for these things is 90 weight gear oil. It holds up the longest and when it goes away it doesn't leave a nasty residual.

Never could find the dry graphite. Tried the stores, nobody knew what I was talking about.

I had a Lopi freedom insert with a bypass rod that pushed a cast iron cap over a hole in the baffle board. That thing would screach very loudly. No fix.

 

[jeff_t]

Try a farm implement dealer for powdered graphite.

I would think the temp at the bypass door would hit close to 1000° pretty easy. It's at the top of the firebox, and directly behind the cat.

 

[Treacherous]

This fixed the primary air screech on my Endeavor.

In my experience with greasing door hinges on a regular non-cat stone stove where temps on the top of the stove rarely pass 550, I can tell you that high temp anti-seize and high temp disc brake bearing grease will both turn to a hard chalky non-lubing substance. Regular oil will go away pretty fast. The final lube of choice for these things is 90 weight gear oil. It holds up the longest and when it goes away it doesn't leave a nasty residual.

Never could find the dry graphite. Tried the stores, nobody knew what I was talking about.

I had a Lopi freedom insert with a bypass rod that pushed a cast iron cap over a hole in the baffle board. That thing would screach very loudly. No fix.

 

[eyefish2]

So in addition to my loading door handle being very loose, the cat door gave me problems tonight.
For those who didn't know, the loading door handle is very... sloppy. When the door is open the handle wobbles and wiggles around, it still closes the stove pretty tight, and in order to retighten it, it looks like I have to do a bit of fiddling around. More than I want to do... So I'll live with it for now, the season is almost over anyway!

Tonight I threw a few pieces on to last until tomorrow night... When I was closing the bypass I was trying to be very quiet because the girl is sleeping in the next room over. The cat door tends to be pretty creaky when I open/close it so I try to do it slowly. So I get it about half way closed, then the handle falls off and the door slams down shut with a loud THUD. So I just stuck it back in there and locked it shut :|
Anyone else ever have that happen to them?
The bypass door is pretty loose now too. Before when I'd open/close the door it required a LOT of effort to do so. Now it's very easy. I suppose that's what happens after the first season of heating/cooling it.

I think have this Blaze King thing figured out. They know they can't make door handles. To compensate for this, they design their stoves to burn a long time to reduce the number of times the doors need to be opened, thus minimizing the chance of the door handle breaking. Sorry I couldn't help it. I hope you find a smidge of humor in this