Tonight, I miss my old stove..(BKK questions)

[cmonSTART]

I find that when I need a good hard slug of heat out of the BK I keep the thermostat turned up until I have visible flame in the firebox. The cat temp never really climbs above 1750F but the stove will get really hot. I also get a lot of IR heat out of the window from the flames and coals.

 

[wkpoor]

Wowowo Woa here a minute. Is this a landmark post or what? A Blaze King owner that says its not doing the job and the old smoke monster did!

 

[oldspark]

Wowowo Woa here a minute. Is this a landmark post or what? A Blaze King owner that says its not doing the job and the old smoke monster did!

They can say all they want about the new stoves versus the old ones but my old stove wins the battle hands down.

 

[ecocavalier02]

Wowowo Woa here a minute. Is this a landmark post or what? A Blaze King owner that says its not doing the job and the old smoke monster did!

They can say all they want about the new stoves versus the old ones but my old stove wins the battle hands down.

that sucks

 

[BrotherBart]

You've lost that Blaze King feeling
Oh, that Blaze King feeling
You've lost that Blaze King feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone
Whoa-oh

 

[oldspark]

You've lost that Blaze King feeling
Oh, that Blaze King feeling
You've lost that Blaze King feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone
Whoa-oh

Sing it Bart, thats what I'm talking about.

 

[SolarAndWood]

How long is a load of pine burning? 12 hours burning wide open for me is with hardwood, don't think I have ever burned wide open with pine. Wide open for me is 3+ with the fans on high, we talking the same thing? Seems that a load of pine should go up in 8 hours or so doing that.

I am curious about your burn cycle. You start with a pile of hot coals front center? Load it all the way up? Close the bypass and it lights right off? Get the secondaries show when you turn the tstat down to 3? Let it burn for a while before you turn the fans on?

Does the stove stink when the tstat says you are maxing out the cat?

I am also curious about the comparison to the old stove. If you put the same load in it, how long would it go when it was keeping the room 10 degrees warmer? I am almost positive our smoke dragon at the camp puts out more heat than the BK. Just needs to be fed every hour or two to do it.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Hey S&W, yeah I can get 12 hrs. This stuff is pretty slow growth, denser than lower elevation Pines. BG set me straight on that awhile back. Plus I split big. I'll break up whatever remains in the stove, bring it front and center, then stuff it full. I often go E/W, 'cause the old stove liked that and Im still burning stuff from last year. Ill keep the bypass open until the Cat shows 600 or so, or 10 min., whichever comes first. ill keep the fan on low until the cat is 1200 and climbing, then go to med. or higher. T-stat will be @3 , maybe 2.75. The stove isn't smelling, even the few times Ive maxed. the cat. The old stove was approx. the same size as the BKK. After I did the secondary mods., I could go 8-10 hrs. in these temps. longer last spring.

 

[BrotherBart]

You'll get it rockin. Just have to fiddle with it some.

 

[Todd]

One other thing you might want to check is your cat. Maybe it's not set in place correctly and leaking around it causing those higher flue temps?

 

[Renovation]

Have you talked with Blaze King about this?

 

[SolarAndWood]

Plus I split big. I'll break up whatever remains in the stove, bring it front and center, then stuff it full. I often go E/W, 'cause the old stove liked that and Im still burning stuff from last year. Ill keep the bypass open until the Cat shows 600 or so, or 10 min., whichever comes first. ill keep the fan on low until the cat is 1200 and climbing, then go to med. or higher. T-stat will be @3 , maybe 2.75. The stove isn't smelling, even the few times Ive maxed. the cat. The old stove was approx. the same size as the BKK. After I did the secondary mods., I could go 8-10 hrs. in these temps. longer last spring.

I find that I am better off leaving the blower off until I am at cruising temps. Not sure what the reason is, but the burn cycle seems to go a lot better if I close the bypass and leave the tstat at 3.5 for a while. Then come back and and turn it down and turn the blowers on low. I think max high output of the stove is 3.25 with the blowers on low if you have dry wood. Seems like with the tstat higher 3.25 or the blowers higher, you get an initial blast but is doesn't last and then you end up with lower output for the rest of the burn. There is also a big drop between 3 and 2.75, I think Learnin to Burn had a mechanical explanation for this with the tstat. So, for me 3.25 and blowers is what I do whenever its cold and or blowing. As soon as I get the shell of the house done, I hope to spend more time in the 2 range. It seems like you get more heat into the house out of a load of wood at the lower burn, just over a much longer period of time.

And, FWIW, keep the door closed until you get to the coaling stage. My wife has been back in throw a log on the fire mode lately and it seems to really screw up the burn cycle.

EDIT-- when burning less than ideal wood in the BK, I find that you really have to cook the chit out of it both before closing the bypass and trying to establish a cruising temp. With dry wood, I load it up and am done in 10-15 mins. With less than ideal, I find it takes nearly an hour and that is with putting nice dry stuff directly on the coals.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Solar, do you have a probe thermo.? I'm still puzzeled why my stack temps. are running so high? Todd brought up the question of a leaking cat., could this be the cause? Glad my outside temps. are coming up,(went from 5.4 to over 14 in the last 1.5 hrs.), front room has gone from 59.9 to 62.6. Would a Magic Heat in the stack help? (J/K %-P )

 

[SolarAndWood]

No probe thermometer but the double wall gets hot when you are burning wide open. I'm pretty sure they weren't in that mode when they did their little marketing display.

 

[ecocavalier02]

Beetle kill,
when im burning on 3 for a long period of time even 2.5 my flue thermometer is bout 30 inches up right on the 45 and it reads about 300 to 325. the 45 doesn't have the heat shield like the the straight pipe so it reads higher there thats why i have it on there. after that any time the t stat is mostly in the 2's the thermometer reads in the 200's and when i go below to the 1 range its in the 100 degree range. this is a magnetic thermometer. what r u flue temps?

 

[Rich L]

Check to see if your thermostat is working properly.Mine started to not be able to turn the air down so my wood was burning too fast and heat output was down going mostly up the chimney.Called Blaze King and they told me to take off back cover and see if the parts were moving when turning the stat.If not I'd be able to see what was loose or disconnected.I'm in the process of doing that today to see what I can see.Maybe that could be a factor in your high pipe temps and lower stove heat output.

 

[Mcbride]

What does the dealer say about this when asked?

Certainly they can help you, or at least get answers to help you.

 

[Mcbride]

Worse case scenario call and ask the people I bought mine from, they are great, very knowledgeable, and nice.



Dale's Trad'N Post Ltd
1221 3rd Avenue, Prince George, BC V2L 3E6

(250) 562-8366 ‎

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Just got back from looking at an overfired Jotul- the search continues. Thanks S&W, pretty sure you're correct about the marketing display. Eco- my probe is 19.5" above stove top, still reading higher than stovetop, but the front room is warming up (as are the outside temps.) Rich- I'll talk to BK tomorrow, see if they can provide some input- at least theyll be aware of this situation. Mcbride- thanks for the dealer info. The place I got my stove from won't be any help, they're just a plumbing and heating shop. I'll let this thread die, when I have anything new to add I'll post an update. Thanks all for the input, and listening to me whine. JB

 

[Renovation]

The thread that would not die!

How did your talk with Blaze King go?

From their website:

If Your Stove Does Not Produce Enough Heat

Are you burning wet or green wood?

Try burning your unit at a higher burn setting for a while.

You may have excessive draft for your unit; call your dealer to assess the situation, a barometric damper may help.

Is your unit big enough to heat the area you want heated?

If you have a catalytic stove, check the operation of the combustor, call your dealer if you require assistance.

So the flue damper does jump out. I hope BK helps you out.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Just when I thought I was out...they pull you back in. I haven't heard from BK yet, I e-mailed but haven't called, I'll give 'em until Wed. The damper does make me wonder. I spoke with a Buck dealer today, guy thought I might benefit from more draft, and did not recommend a damper. But he also wanted to sell me a floor model 91 for $400+tax more than I paid for the King. RGeorge, I know you're researching your purchase to death- and that's good. take a look at that Buck 94NC (non-cat). It really caught my eye for some reason.

 

[Renovation]

Just when I thought I was out...they pull you back in.

I always enjoy a good Godfather/Sopranos quote.

RGeorge, I know you're researching your purchase to death- and that's good.

Thanks "Masterpieces are not finished, they are abandoned." I plan to research it well and surely to death, and then make many mistakes on the install. If life had a "restore previous version" command like with PCs, I'd be rocking.

take a look at that Buck 94NC (non-cat). It really caught my eye for some reason

.

Thanks, will do. Given my desire for the ability to burn low and long, I'm definitely leaning towards cats.

I hope BK is able to look at your problem with new eyes, and help you find a solution, if just not being afraid of running your cat too hot.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I don't buy the damper theory. Maybe if you were getting 4 hours burns out of a full load. How much wood were you burning in a season in the old stove?

 

[Beetle-Kill]

I don't buy the idea of the damper on this stove either. Seems like slowing the exhaust would get the cat hotter, while cooling the stove 'cause I KNOW I'd have to turn the T=stat way down to prevent cooking the Cat. This is some weird Catch-22 thing I'm experiencing. I didn't burn a full season with the old stove. I swapped it in around the end of Oct./beg. of Nov. last season. My guess would be somewhere around - I don't know. Quick quess would be 6 cord from Nov. to beginning of June. BTW- loaded up at 6:30 this morning, and @ 6:15, when I got home, stove was still over 300. It's like some sort of mutant pine or something.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Sounds like you are getting the right burn times. I guess the next question is a load of pine over 12 - 16 hours enough to keep your house warm when its cold and/or blowing? How fast could you burn that same load in the old stove if you needed heat?