Small hotter fire with BKK.

[HotCoals]

Just playing around.
Stove was almost out so I threw on a few small-med splits and let her burn with some flame.
These pics are about 2 hours into it.
I know my class is dirty..a little higher temps and most of the crap would have burned off.
Blurry cause I had the flash off.
678f

 

[HotCoals]

Both reading about 320..single wall pipe.

 

[HotCoals]

601f
It had peaked at 650.

 

[HotCoals]

Can't read the temp but it was over 500...side of stove near top.

 

[HotCoals]

All taken in about 2 mins.
I could not hardly stand by the stove.
Just to show those that may wonder..these cat stoves can throw some decent heat with some flame.
But with warmer temps like we have it's way to much..that's why I like the long slow burn that cat can give without flame...no visible flame to be more correct.

 

[HotCoals]

The flame was not real strong..just barley licking the cat most of the time..I could have reached higher temps yet.
Two year old ash.

 

[firecracker_77]

Looks like a nice fire

 

[Todd]

I get plenty of flame from my cat stoves and I need to run them that way most of the Winter to get more heat. Where the cat stove shines is the shoulder seasons and overnight burns when you feel like sleeping in or staying in bed for other reasons. ;-)

 

[HotCoals]

See Todd,That's what I don't understand.
I get to much heat with flames..most of the time.,unless it is under 20f.
My house is 2500 sq.ft. two story colonial.
It's insulated good and has Anderson windows with storms..Chimney is in house straight up.
It's only like 32f right now...warm with some sun.
But low burn(no flame ) is like night and day diff.
Today if I had filled it up and did the low burn deal my house temps would stay around 72-75.
But because of me playing around the room with the stove is 85...the rest of the house is starting to suck it down some...but still at least 78 in the rest of the first floor and maybe 74 second floor.
Probably the Princess would have been plenty for my house...but I like the longer burn times of the BKK.
When's winter coming??

 

[HotCoals]

Another thing..even on the coldest days I rarely use the blowers...wife likes the ceiling fan on though at times..me,not so much.
I wonder if my brick surround holds to much heat..lol.
It is spaced from the wall some..has spaces in the brick towards the bottom row and top row...mantel does cover the whole top though.

 

[Todd]

Your better off to have that extra capacity when you need it. Those hot short fires will heat your house as well but you will either have to relight another one later after the house temp drops or keep them going and overheat your house. Cat stoves are made to burn more efficient at lower burn rates and this allows people to more or less oversize their stoves and burn full loads at a low even heat output with less ups and downs. Short hot fires are how most non cat owners run their stoves with these warmer temps or they just put up with the hot house temps and shed the clothes off or open a window.

 

[Todd]

I have a lot of brick around my stoves as well and they do suck up and release a good amount of heat. They make good hand warmers when you get in from the cold.

 

[HotCoals]

I do find it interesting how they spaced the brick from the wall about a inch..There is actually a small draft that I can pick up with a candle.
In theses pics you can see the space where there is no mortar.

 

[HotCoals]

I can't get my pics smaller.
I set the camera at pc size.1024 and up loaded to photo bucket...and still to big.
I'll try the 640 size latter.

But for now here is the same fire on low burn.
I can live with this but no flames visible.

 

[HotCoals]

See how low my flue temps are in low burn..that's the way it mostly is in low burn mode..200-250f.
Still after one full season of burning I only had about 6 cups of junk.
Must be the cat is doing it's job I guess...cleaning things up.

 

[Todd]

I get the same stack temps on a low cat burn. I think it's a good sign of efficiency.

 

[HotCoals]

I get the same stack temps on a low cat burn. I think it's a good sign of efficiency.

Good to hear and I tend to agree with you.
The only thing that I did when I installed this stove is I put a diff rain cap on.
It has smaller openings ..I'm wondering if I slowed the draft down some.
I can open the door without smoke as long as I open it slowly after turning the air up some.
I'm thinking it must be ok because in the middle of a long burn I can turn the air way up and get a roaring fire almost instantly with no back puffing.

 

[Todd]

Sounds like your ok but you may want to keep an eye for clogging on that cap.

 

[HotCoals]

Yep..matter of fact in a min I'm going to step out on the back deck and take a peek..pic coming..lol.

 

[HotCoals]

I can see a little crud.
Cleaned before burning season began.

 

[rdust]

BK on 2(medium burn). It will run you out in the warm stuff like we're having right now but from what I read here a lot of people like 80* temps so it wouldn't run them out. I really think they just convince themselves they like 80* temps since their non cats have to burn hot. ;-) I like it a steady 70-72 and the cat stoves can do that and burn clean while still only having to load once a day. A non cat to burn clean requires multiple small loads a day with hot/quick fires. Once it's cold I'll need to burn near 2 and will have a nice flame most of the time unless I choose not to.

When it gets cold I think the cat/non cat debate doesn't mean as much but half the season is the shoulder season.

 

[HotCoals]

Ah..tv screen(640) on camera works great...don't have to use photo bucket to post.

 

[HotCoals]

I think you summed it up well rdust!
Cheers!

Pretty fire!

 

[HotCoals]

BTW rdust..I think cause the BKK is so massive is to why I hardly have to have flame at all ..not even the coldest temps that i get here.

Right now the same fire as that hot one I lit off is now at 350 stove top center..close to 300 elsewhere on the top..250 on the sides..325 at the door.
32f out and it's now down to 75 in the room with the stove and is way more comfortable...some wind.
It's on one and I know the flap is closed...no flame since I cut it back a few hours ago.
This is where it likes to cruise for the long burns.
When it's colder out it seems to add some temp by itself with the flapper still shut...works for me...must be magic!
Really I think the draft pics up when it's colder out is all.

 

[ohlongarm]

Gotta love those cats my first real burn season wit em and I'm having fun.I got that BK with 6 splits to 700 without even trying lots of flame and heat.I'm gonna run the urine outa mine if need be. Burned from 2am last night to 3pm today with 6 oak splits house went to 75 and at 3pm was still 70 plenty of red hot coals in powdery ash,threw 4 humomgous cherry splits in it and she's goin great.I'm gonna test the limits and see how I feel at seasons end. So far the best thing I like is no blast of heat that runs you off,just a subtle envelopment of dense heat that permeates everything.