2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 2 (Everything BK)

[Swamp Fox]

This post of mine from Jan. 17 2017:
This is related to later posts in Part I regarding life of cats. We installed our BK King in Feb. 2006. Didn't burn much that season, but have averaged burning two and one half cords of oak/hickory/maple every season since. In Oct. 2015 I did my first cat cleaning using the white vinegar bath. It has been a mild season here and we may have burned one cord so far. The cat is a ceramic Sud Cherie Protech and appears to be functioning well. A year after buying the stove I bought another combustor as a backup and it is still in the original box. I've thought about buying a back up BK but I think this one will outlive me. (Double wall connector pipe and 21 ft. insulated double wall chimney liner.)
BTW: I'm impressed with how popular BK stoves have become on this site since we purchased ours...back then, if I remember correctly, there was much skepticism regarding burn times.

Thought I would update and let those that might be interested know that I did change out the original combustor this year. There has been improved performance as I’m noticing the combustor is lighting off much more quickly.

 

[lsucet]

Ok, look the time of the pictures. 8 hrs burn on high and fans on high. House temp was 47 df. I need to bring it back plus I did the experiment of run them on high with fan on high also.
By 9 o'clock I cracked open two doors and a window behind on one of the stoves. Oh boy was hot. Lol. I reload but I was able to go for two more hrs easy. Look the temperature of the cat. Both behave almost the same with planty of coals. The stove with the higher chimney had less coals than the other but enough to go more time.

 

[shoot-straight]

I use a turn damper on my ashford- 28' insulated liner inside a masonry chimney.

I do a longer burn time when I use it, which is in very cold and or windy wx. All of which increase draft.

The ideal setup would be to have and use a barometric damper (my dealer actually loves them) but they aren't allowed by code and I really dont like introducing room temp air into my already cooler than norrmal bk flue.

I have really begun to dial in this stove. I know fairly precisely how to run it now given my needs. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it works pretty darn good. Today I burned 2 big oak logs at a time- like 6x6x16 on 3.5 and ran fans on high. They burn for about 5 hours, with only reasonable coaling. That's important. FYI, it was 0 here last night and didn't get above 17 all day. No wind though which is great. That kills my house.

With these temps at night i pack it full and run it at the same setting and usually get up and add another log or 2 if I can fit It in to get me to morning. My electric heat kicks on overnight some which is great since I dont my pipes on the far side of the house to freeze.

 

[redktmrider]

House temp was 47 df

Man! That is one cold house to come home too!( assuming you were gone)

 

[lsucet]

Man! That is one cold house to come home too!( assuming you were gone)

I was gone since Wednesday. I was working yesterday and got there after work. Yeah the house can get cold. Compare to other times it was okay.lol

 

[becasunshine]

Thanks @becasunshine . I didn't realize in the case of the Princesess's the clearances are reduced with the shields/fans. With the 20/30 boxes there are no reductions with the optional shields/fans - they are only required if they're placed in and alcove or corner... and the Ashford's don't have an optional shield at all.

@AlbergSteve: Huh. Interesting. I looked up the Ashford 30 manual online. No mention of rear shields, as you said, and the rear clearances are listed as 6" straight down all categories.

I was about to ask if the fan kit comes standard with the Ashford 30, which would account for heat mitigation necessary for rear close clearance. I see the fan kit listed as optional equipment. As you said, no rear heat shield is listed as an option.

Interesting on the close rear clearance without a rear heat shield. I didn't look- is the same true of the Sirocco and Chinook models, or is this a function of the iron cladding? Has the Ashford always come with that close rear clearance?

 

[AlbergSteve]

@AlbergSteve: Huh. Interesting. I looked up the Ashford 30 manual online. No mention of rear shields, as you said, and the rear clearances are listed as 6" straight down all categories.

I was about to ask if the fan kit comes standard with the Ashford 30, which would account for heat mitigation necessary for rear close clearance. I see the fan kit listed as optional equipment. As you said, no rear heat shield is listed as an option.

Interesting on the close rear clearance without a rear heat shield. I didn't look- is the same true of the Sirocco and Chinook models, or is this a function of the iron cladding? Has the Ashford always come with that close rear clearance?

Everything is an extra. The clearances are the same for the Sirocco/Chinook... and the fan kit or shield is only required if installed in an alcove, or in the case of the Ashford, a fan kit. The 30 boxes only require 4 inches of corner clearance, where the 20 boxes need 6 - go figure!

 

[aaronk25]

So wanted to share with all, since this group is ahead of the tech curve as were on a forum. So I got one of these little cameras on my stove and can watch the temp reading on the stack, status of wood and if a thermometer is stuck on the front it also shows surface temp (which surprisingly tracks similar to the top).

www.amazon.com/dp/B016F3M7OM/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_7c4uAb0V7MK10

For 28 bucks you just plug it in to the walll it’s a usb cable to a adapter so it could also be used in a vehicle. It’s easy to set up just plug in, the camera talks to you and says face phone towards it and a bar code pops up on your phone and the camera sees it and that’s almost it. Couple other small steps but it’s simple and only like a 5 min set up. Get a 32gb micro sd storage card and you can review days of history.

Any how it’s simple and a great tool to use when burning. With my WIFI furnace thermostat I watch house temp thoughout the day and it’s really interesting to see how ouside temp, stove t-stat, fan setting and closing dampers or returns on my home forced air circulating furnace affects temp (thermostat is in other side of house). Like many of you I suspect your like me and don’t need to burn wood as somthing to do in the winter and get your mind off of work ect.

Just another cheap tool. I also set one up in the window and aim it at the door to ensure it’s recorded in the event someone steals a package and it will alert of activity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[aaronk25]

Sorry forgot live pics. I even put 2 on my boat with a Verizon data hotspot for $10 a month. The camera can come out of the white holder and a 3m sticky can be applied to the back and stuck to a surface, on the boat I stuck them to the rear view mirror. The could get stuck in the ceiling and wired into a light facing down at a stove too.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[allan5oh]

Looking for advice:

1300 sq ft house in winnipeg mb where it cam hit -30c. Mostly burn debarked American elm and ash (super dense, not sure if it's green or black ash). A wee bit of pine. Flue is 12 ft straight up. Air intake from outside.

Currently have a non cat stove. Wood pro ts2500. Wanting longer burn times and more stable temps. The box on this thing is designed poorly. With a bed of coal you can get one 10" wide 20" long split in there and that's it. Over night it's usually too warm in the living room (25 or so) but cools off quickly as the night moves on. Mornings require a restart which can be tedious with this thing and it has a tendency to spill lots of smoke whenever you open the door. when it's warmer out you usually do 2 or 3 restarts a day which is a pain.

I think going to a princess would be a good idea. I know ash has a higher but value than elm, how many hours could one get out of a full load of ash? Having to fill the stove only twice a day would be fantastic. the house is also somewhat transient with people coming and going, would maybe a king work for this situation? The larger the box the better IMO. 24 hour or longer burn times would be awesome but probably not realistic.

Well aware of the caveats of a cat stove. I think the positives heavily outweigh any negatives in this situation.

 

[jetsam]

Looking for advice:

1300 sq ft house in winnipeg mb where it cam hit -30c. Mostly burn debarked American elm and ash (super dense, not sure if it's green or black ash). A wee bit of pine. Flue is 12 ft straight up. Air intake from outside.

Currently have a non cat stove. Wood pro ts2500. Wanting longer burn times and more stable temps. The box on this thing is designed poorly. With a bed of coal you can get one 10" wide 20" long split in there and that's it. Over night it's usually too warm in the living room (25 or so) but cools off quickly as the night moves on. Mornings require a restart which can be tedious with this thing and it has a tendency to spill lots of smoke whenever you open the door. when it's warmer out you usually do 2 or 3 restarts a day which is a pain.

I think going to a princess would be a good idea. I know ash has a higher but value than elm, how many hours could one get out of a full load of ash? Having to fill the stove only twice a day would be fantastic. the house is also somewhat transient with people coming and going, would maybe a king work for this situation? The larger the box the better IMO. 24 hour or longer burn times would be awesome but probably not realistic.

Well aware of the caveats of a cat stove. I think the positives heavily outweigh any negatives in this situation.

You say it hits -22F, you want longer burn times, and are already thinking of a King?

Get a King.

24 hours isn't an impossible dream; it's half a load in mild weather. You also have a smallish house that is probably well insulated, and BKs can burn very low, so you should be able to operate the stove in its sweet spot for a lot of the year.

A Princess can do 20 hours on a jampacked load of softwood, but that is at a VERY low burn rate. With my house's insulation/windows/doors, that load would be suitable for keeping the house at 70 when it's 50 outside. Your insulation is hopefully better, since your house is in a colder place.

A King has double the firebox of that stove, but requires an 8" flue. If you can do the flue, I say go for it.

 

[allan5oh]

The house is older and leaky but we are renovating room by room. 8" of insulation in the rooms in the corners of the house. Attic is about r60. The house is left at 60f when nobody is home except the cat. My dad did a neat thing with the thermostat. Added a second one close to the ceiling. It has the fan wire hooked to the ac ciruit. We set cooling to a degree C warmer than the other thermostat so when the stove is running so is the furnace fan.

 

[shoot-straight]

Wow a king in 1300sq feet. That's a big box. Off the cuff that seems way too big to me.

 

[allan5oh]

Wow a king in 1300sq feet. That's a big box. Off the cuff that seems way too big to me.

No problem with the box size as long as the unit can burn efficiently at low output. I will fire them an email and see what they say. Are there any other makes I should consider?

 

[allan5oh]

Wow a king in 1300sq feet. That's a big box. Off the cuff that seems way too big to me.

No problem with the box size as long as the unit can burn efficiently at low output. I will fire them an email and see what they say. Are there any other makes I should consider?

 

[webby3650]

No problem with the box size as long as the unit can burn efficiently at low output. I will fire them an email and see what they say. Are there any other makes I should consider?

There can be an issue with creosote build up in the firebox when the stove is so oversized. Unless you are willing to really rock it out once a week.

They will first tell you to extend your flue about 3’, more if you have any elbows.

 

[Highbeam]

There can be an issue with creosote build up in the firebox when the stove is so oversized. Unless you are willing to really rock it out once a week.

They will first tell you to extend your flue about 3’, more if you have any elbows.

To add,

They will want 15’ vertical as measured from the top of stove to top of chimney. 3’ more for each elbow.

 

[MissMac]

No problem with the box size as long as the unit can burn efficiently at low output. I will fire them an email and see what they say. Are there any other makes I should consider?

I’m just east of you on the other side of the border, and I’ve got a Sirocco 30.1 in my 1600sqft house - more than enough heat output. When we had that snap of -40*C, I was burning full loads of jack pine on wide open, and they were lasting around 5 hrs. I’ve done some tinkering with lower settings and have stretched out to about a dozen hours with the pine, but really it’s been too cold to have it dialed way down like some of the fellows to the south. I think you could look at any of the 30 series boxes - SIrocco, Ashford or Chinook.

 

[WhitePlatinum]

Okay here comes another question, with the princess insert and a 25' masonry chimney, what is the best insulated liner to run in a 13 by 13 clay liner to purchase by an online retailer? Pre-insulated double wall or single wall w/ insulation blanket. Thank you.

 

[Tegbert]

Okay here comes another question, with the princess insert and a 25' masonry chimney, what is the best insulated liner to run in a 13 by 13 clay liner to purchase by an online retailer? Pre-insulated double wall or single wall w/ insulation blanket. Thank you.

I used this kit for my ashford insert.

http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Chimn...n-Pre-Insulated-Easy-Flex-Chimney-Liner-Kit-6

Well almost this kit I had to get different top options but the liner is that one.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[WhitePlatinum]

I used this kit for my ashford insert.

http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Chimn...n-Pre-Insulated-Easy-Flex-Chimney-Liner-Kit-6

Well almost this kit I had to get different top options but the liner is that one.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

Do you feel it has worked good for you? Did you use furnace cement on appliance connector?

 

[Tegbert]

Do you feel it has worked good for you? Did you use furnace cement on appliance connector?

It worked great. Real easy to install but I have a low pitch roof and would definitely be a pain by yourself on a high pitch roof or high chimney.

The ashford doesn’t have an appliance connector like the princess but no I didn’t use furnace cement as the connections were tight before the screws went in. Unless someone says otherwise it’s staying that way.

And woodland direct is extremely helpful and has great customer service from my experience with them. But it takes a few days to process the orders and ship so expect at least a week and a half to two weeks to get it if you order from them depending on where you live.




Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Ashful]

I know I've read it before, but it's not coming to me now... what type of gasket do I need for re-installing an Ashford 30 combustor? I need to remove mine for some serious cleaning.

 

[Tegbert]

Interam I believe.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Tegbert]

I used this stuff. Sold by the foot and the cheapest I found just took like a week or so to get.

https://www.firecatcombustors.com/ACIG-2-p/sku_acig-2.htm


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25