2012-2013 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

[jeff_t]

I have the same thing going on with my Spectrum. The hinge pins are made in a way that I'm not sure if a bushing will work. I was going to try something like that, if I had access to a lathe.

 

[Todd]

Here are some pictures of a door mod I'm trying out. I noticed my door frame edge on the top and bottom were at the very top of the door gasket so I cut some bushings to lift the door up so the door frame edge would be in the middle of the gasket instead of the very top. I wasn't experiencing any issues with leaking(that I know of) but still felt it could be better. If it works out I'll figure out a better solution for the bushings moving forward. The red in the gasket picture is highlighting where the door frame was hitting and where it hits now. You can see a faint chalk line on the gasket in the new location where I checked the contact points.

I was getting a slight smoke smell when I turned the air down which seems to be gone but I'm also pretty congested right now. I was thinking it was the pipe but maybe it was the door? Who knows! Maybe some others are having similar "issues" and this may help.

Excellent idea, I have the same issue, I'll be heading to the hardware store today. Thanks

 

[rdust]

Excellent idea, I have the same issue, I'll be heading to the hardware store today. Thanks

The pin is a 3/8 so I just got a 3/8 steel bushing and cut it down. I think I cut them to 3/16 to start but filed them down to almost an 1/8 by the time I was satisfied.

 

[HotCoals]

I checked my gasket..hits right in the middle all the way around..but I could use a new one.

 

[PapaDave]

Just curious how that's possible, if they're made on the same assembly line. They must have jigs or something that's used to align the hinges before welding.
This confuzzles me.
I understand if one's 20 years old and another is brandy new, but several relatively new stoves with different door alignments seems weird.

 

[rdust]

Just curious how that's possible, if they're made on the same assembly line. They must have jigs or something that's used to align the hinges before welding.
This confuzzles me.
I understand if one's 20 years old and another is brandy new, but several relatively new stoves with different door alignments seems weird.

Hotcoals has a King, Todd, Highbeam and myself have the Princess. The funny thing for me is my stove was made in 2006 and theirs are new so it's been like that a long time. Maybe there is a reason for it that I'm not seeing?

 

[PapaDave]

Let the sleuthing continue.
I'm curious if the newer models (sirocco, chinook) have this "issue"?

 

[Highbeam]

The king guys have all the luck, less smoke out the door and better hinge alignment. Funny how we all had this problem but didn't bring it up.

The hinges look to be attached to the face of the princess by poking them through a punched hole and then welding on the backside. So in theory, they should all be perfect or as appears to be the case, all buggered equally bad.

After you shut the door and latch it, run your fingers behind the door face and feel how much gasket is squished out above the door frome and then compare to what is squished out below the door frame. It is a very apparent difference.

It has been shown that a major killer of cats is the leakage of cold air from a bad door seal. Well, shoot, this potential leak is right up there close to the cat.

 

[Todd]

After a second look my door alignment isn't so bad. The grove is dead center on the bottom and side gaskets and the top just needed a little persuasion with my fingers. I have a good tight seal all around now.

 

[denjohn]

Anyone know why the efficiency specs for the new Blaze King 30's [81/75] are so much lower than the basically same size Princess [88/81].
Does it have to do w lower emissions .......30's - 0.97......Princess - 2.42?
Thanks

Reply from BK:

Great question! When a manufacturer tests a wood stove (currently) we test
at four different burn rate categories. There is a spread for each of the
burn rate categories. For example you can hit the "sweet spot" in the low
burn and get a different result than you might at the upper end of the same
burn rate. These spreads in each of the burn rates can result in
significant differences in test results.

The EPA is reviewing the current standards and the test method itself. In
their review, there is the possibility of cordwood testing as an option.
The goal of course is to get real world emissions and efficiency values from
testing.

We can assure you that the future changes will have a significant impact on
both the emissions and efficiency numbers as they will be reported in the
future.

Regardless of which Blaze King you select, we assure you will receive the
best possible burn times with the greatest level of turn down rate in the
stove industry. Of course there are many new catalytic stoves coming to
market in the future.

Of course, only Blaze King has refined the experience and design of
catalytic wood stoves over the past 30 years. So much so that we now offer
a 10 year 100% warranty on the combustors in our catalytic models. Just
keep the door gasket tension nice and tight and you should receive a decade
or more of reliable clean and efficient burning.

Thank you for your question.

Chris

 

[RustyShackleford]

Here are some pictures of a door mod I'm trying out. I noticed my door frame edge on the top and bottom were at the very top of the door gasket ...

Just checked mine and it is nicely centered. But thanks for making us aware of the potential problem.

More poor quality control from BK. I'm sure if you contacted them about it, they would tell you it's not a problem, because it maybe affects 1 out of 1000 BK owners.

 

[steviebam]

Would any of you bk owners be kind enough to post a pic of the fire? We have narrowed our stove search to the bk scirocco or pe super 27. I know the pe has a nice flame but the only bk's we have seen are brand new at the dealers and not in use. Thank you.

 

[rdust]

Would any of you bk owners be kind enough to post a pic of the fire? We have narrowed our stove search to the bk scirocco or pe super 27. I know the pe has a nice flame but the only bk's we have seen are brand new at the dealers and not in use. Thank you.

Picture a dark stove with charred wood inside, a slight glow of coals and a smoked up glass. The only time I see flames is when I'm burning mine after a reload for 30 minutes or so. If the stove is undersized for your space and you have to run it hot you may see more flames than I do. I get the occasional flame up and can watch flames if I want but choose to conserve me fuel.

I don't have any on this pc, I'll post a picture or two tonight.

 

[jeff_t]

Would any of you bk owners be kind enough to post a pic of the fire? We have narrowed our stove search to the bk scirocco or pe super 27. I know the pe has a nice flame but the only bk's we have seen are brand new at the dealers and not in use. Thank you.

Sometimes it looks like this


Sometimes like this


Usually somewhere in between.

 

[steviebam]

Thanks, I think I can live with the somewhere in between. We live in the north west with moderate climate. The stove looks to be built like a tank. It would be over sized for our well insulated house. Can you burn a low fire without activating the bypass?

 

[Dairyman]

Would any of you bk owners be kind enough to post a pic of the fire? We have narrowed our stove search to the bk scirocco or pe super 27. I know the pe has a nice flame but the only bk's we have seen are brand new at the dealers and not in use. Thank you.

Todd's princess video

 

[Highbeam]

Thanks, I think I can live with the somewhere in between. We live in the north west with moderate climate. The stove looks to be built like a tank. It would be over sized for our well insulated house. Can you burn a low fire without activating the bypass?

I have the princess but I too live here in the northwest and have found the stove very suitable for our relatively long shoulder seasons where low temp burning is necessary.

Put it this way, no other stove burns at a lower temp or for a longer time. Really. If this stove isn't cool enough for you then you are out of luck.

 

[HotCoals]

Sometimes it looks like this
View attachment 95310

Sometimes like this
View attachment 95311

Usually somewhere in between.

WOW..mine has never been that black!

 

[HotCoals]

Thanks, I think I can live with the somewhere in between. We live in the north west with moderate climate. The stove looks to be built like a tank. It would be over sized for our well insulated house. Can you burn a low fire without activating the bypass?

Never burn without by-pass open unless just starting fire and not up to temp.
Low burn when it warm out burns really slow..less draft.
Still if it's in a smaller size room it could heat you out with temps above 45 no doubt..for sure the first 5 or 6 hours when the wood is off gassing pretty good...after that you would prolly be ok.
You could go 40 hours ..i kid you not.

 

[steviebam]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, BK all the way!!

 

[ohlongarm]

Since we have a bunch of new BK owners this year I figured I'd start a thread to discuss everything BK. This may help limit the amount of BK threads and give us one convenient place to ask questions or just boast about our burn times without ruffling any feathers.

Anyway I'm on my second season with the Princess and it continues to impress me. I getting ready to load after 25+ hours, the load was a pretty full load of scotch pine and elm that was standing dead for years.(some pieces punky) Our overnight temps were in the 30's and our daytime high was 41, we've had 30+ mph north winds all day. House is still a comfy 72 at this point.

Had a 16 hour burn on huge ash splits last night,house maintained 75*with absolutely no temp deviation,could have gone longer but I'm leaving for the day,so I just threw in 3 hickory splits to hold until 6pm.Burned the stove on 2.5 for 3 hours before bed and had plenty of flame to watch.

 

[Todd]

Here's my Princess burning at #2 with 8 splits of Oak. Nice lazy flame and clean glass. Once I dip below #2 the glass starts to darken up on the sides. I have found this setting works best for me most of the average Winter days and give me a good 12 hour burn with plenty of coals for reload.

 

[steviebam]

Here's my Princess burning at #2 with 8 splits of Oak. Nice lazy flame and clean glass. Once I dip below #2 the glass starts to darken up on the sides. I have found this setting works best for me most of the average Winter days and give me a good 12 hour burn with plenty of coals for reload. View attachment 95407

Nice pic, I see the best seat in the house is gone!

 

[webbie]

BTW, not to go too far off-topic, but do you (dear readers) find it useful that this thread shows the original post at the top of each page? It's an add-on I'm trying out.

 

[Highbeam]

BTW, not to go too far off-topic, but do you (dear readers) find it useful that this thread shows the original post at the top of each page? It's an add-on I'm trying out.

No. Especially with the feature of jumping to the first new post I would not have noticed. Thanks for trying new stuff though. I visit a few forums and this one is the very best since the upgrade. Love the alerts, thread perviews, and jump to first new post features.