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

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I was in a rush, and so wasn’t as verbose as I should have been. It seems obvious to me, given the very low number (statistically) of smoke smell cases, that multiple factors must combine in a certain way to cause this problem. If there were just one smoking gun, as you point out here, we would see many more of these complaints.

In my case, as Aaronk has been suggesting the last few weeks, unusually strong draft combined with wet wood, and surely a few other factors I’ve never identified. I’ve been burning three years with draft 3x what BK spec’s as their “allowable maximum”, with no smoke smell issues. Now, within two or three days of switching to wet wood, I’m getting it on every load. It’s only happening on the stove with very strong draft, not on my stove with a 15 foot chimney, which is actually burned at a much lower rate.

This morning, I loaded with mostly dry wood (six splits of 3 year + two splits of 2 year, all red oak), and will aim to load again tonight with dry wood. It will be interesting to see if this clears up, after a day or two back on dry wood. I’m assuming the capillary action of the gasket (creosote seeping thru the gasket and burning off on the outside) is the primary mechanism, which is why I anticipate there being a few days lag in cause/effect.

That's understandable. Thought you might be on the take for a moment there lol. Most stove problems around here can be solved with dry wood but not this one, well, not totally.

The low percentage of folks that are even experiencing the smoke smell issue make the problem even more of a head scratcher. It's like a mystery just trying to figure out what factors must align too cause it. Most certainly it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe BK has tried to mimic the problem without success.
 
It will be interesting to see if this clears up, after a day or two back on dry wood. I’m assuming the capillary action of the gasket (creosote seeping thru the gasket and burning off on the outside) is the primary mechanism, which is why I anticipate there being a few days lag in cause/effect.

I think you are correct to expect a day or two (or more) delay between correcting your burning practice (sorry) and the resolution of the smoke smell.
 
Time to read the manual. MC of 20 or less.;hm
 
Thanks that's good info, I didn't know about thermal shock to the cat. I read the manual but must of missed where they tell you that.
 
Thanks that's good info, I didn't know about thermal shock to the cat. I read the manual but must of missed where they tell you that.
I am not sure if the manual says so, but is our experience here plus BKVP also insist on a proper door adjustment and bypass the cat before open the door cause can cause that affect to the cat and premature failure. So also wet wood.
 
Overheating a stove is always a big concern of long time burners. Unlike old stoves, the thermostatic control limits the burn to keep it below the overfire range. Unless your stove is filled with gas soaked rags, it is hard to overfire. Impossible, no, but hard. You can burn with confidence. BKs do NOT rage out of control! A stove top thermometer is way less useful on a BK. At high fire the whole stove radiates heat. At low fire the cat is producing a major fraction of the heat. The cat, located near the top, can make a stove top thermometer read high when little heat is coming out. Run the stove by the heating needs, not by any thermometer reading. The thermostat is truly set-and-forget. As their are no dampers to fiddle with continually, operation is somewhat boring but most people elect to keep the stove just to keep the wife/dogs happy.

It is best to burn in batches, fill the stove up completely. "Char" the load for ~20 minutes at full to prepare the load for the long haul then set the thermostat to the heating needs.
 
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Let me understand this:

3-4 o'clock on the ambiguous Condar meter that BK provides relates to 1400-1500*F according to Condar meter with numbers. I have seen pictures showing BK meters pegged at 5 o'lock or more. That would translate to 1700-1800.

Would the torsion spring be different on the two meters.... or are the BKs overheating their cats.
 
Almost no one is going to be ok with a big piece of insulated duct laying behind their stove. At least no one that is willing to drop $3K on a stove, those folks typically like things to look nice.

Ya didn’t think of that....im gonna dress mine up with a hollowed put log and then brown flex piping.




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Let me understand this:

3-4 o'clock on the ambiguous Condar meter that BK provides relates to 1400-1500*F according to Condar meter with numbers. I have seen pictures showing BK meters pegged at 5 o'lock or more. That would translate to 1700-1800.

Would the torsion spring be different on the two meters.... or are the BKs overheating their cats.

Nobody knows. What I did was replace the bk unlabeled meter with a condar one with numbers. The needle doesn’t go as high.

Bk cats fail from door leaks and from being used.
 
Nobody knows. What I did was replace the bk unlabeled meter with a condar one with numbers. The needle doesn’t go as high.

Bk cats fail from door leaks and from being used.

Like VC cats fail from gasket leaks from all over.....

It will be nice to work with only one gasket...
 
A new cat will be extremely active, perhaps for a whole burning season but will settle out. Don't worry-at all- about overfiring the cat. The numberless thermometer is to prevent unwarranted worry over cat temps. The stove is engineered to not overfire the cat.

My VC had a 2 doors, bypass, top loading door and an ash pan door gasket to deal with. Lotta leak points. Very,very disappointed with it's operation. Sold it for $150.
 
Disappointed with it's operation, the installing company having no clue about the process of combustion and Vermont Casting not responding to any inquiries I turned to Hearth . com and learned about Blaze King. Personally, I believe the stove was defective . In what way, I do not know but being unable to get it to burn reasonably I had to get rid of it. Wood has been my primary heat source since '71. After a LOT of reading on Hearth.net I found out I was not alone in it's very poor operation. In fact I had a lot of company. Interestingly a lot of people loved their stove though.

If you are thinking of buying a VC stove-beware. No help will be available. NONE If you can't get it to work you are stuck with a beautiful useless...

My Ashford operates wonderfully, way beyond my expectations. If I knew about BK stoves, I certainly would have bought one decades ago. One used to be stuck with what is on the show room floor but the internet has changed that.
 
Question for you folks that are burning softwoods - how far can you stretch a load, out of curiosity? I know that you fellas who are blessed with choice hardwood pickings can get some amazing burn times, but I'm interested to hear about how you guys further north make out with the softwoods? So far I've been able to stretch out a full load of jack pine for about 12 hrs tops. Anybody stretched Pj further than this?
 
Question for you folks that are burning softwoods - how far can you stretch a load, out of curiosity? I know that you fellas who are blessed with choice hardwood pickings can get some amazing burn times, but I'm interested to hear about how you guys further north make out with the softwoods? So far I've been able to stretch out a full load of jack pine for about 12 hrs tops. Anybody stretched Pj further than this?

I burn hardwoods for long burns and pine for hot burns... but I get the feeling you're going to get plenty of yesses on that question! :)
 
didn't know if I run it hard and get 750 degree stove top temps and have the cat indicator max out if I will wreck anything.
If you have to run your stove that hard on a consistent basis to get the heat you need, go to a bigger stove. If I need to recover from low room temp, I'll just run my stove at a moderate rate and be patient rather than beat the hell out of it..
 
I burn hardwoods for long burns and pine for hot burns... but I get the feeling you're going to get plenty of yesses on that question! :)
Ya, Pj burns hot and fast, so I've been pretty pleased at how far I've been able to stretch it while still getting the heat I need.
 
Beetle killed Swiss cheese pine -very light in weight- 6 Hrs/load on medium fire. Snap crackle pop.
 
Question for you folks that are burning softwoods - how far can you stretch a load, out of curiosity? I know that you fellas who are blessed with choice hardwood pickings can get some amazing burn times, but I'm interested to hear about how you guys further north make out with the softwoods? So far I've been able to stretch out a full load of jack pine for about 12 hrs tops. Anybody stretched Pj further than this?
Everything depend how cold outside and how hard you need to run it. Also depends , how insulated is your home. I am running two stoves at this time and my input maybe is not to take into account. Once the house is up to temp to keep it there regarding outside temp, i just run them on low. 24 hrs is the schedule without pack to the grill, just big splits. when running one, anything between 12 to 24 hrs depending outside temp and if i want to run the ceiling fans on other rooms or not, sometimes was easy dial it up.lol.RESULTS< SHORTER TIMES. I have been able to see up to 27 hrs running low and relight fine, but of course outside temp were middle to low 30s and because i forgot about the stoves cause house temp was ok. With both now i am forced to run them low or do partial load on one cause the house getting to hot. I am learning to burn on the second install every other day or as needed. i did some insulation work on that area plus incorporated some phase change material between the back wall and part of the sealing, and looks like it is keeping pretty well the heat in that area. the bad thing is I have to be starting new fire from scratch every time.

The point is, regardless if you use hardwood or softwood, there are many variables to take into account on burn times. many many many times have been mentioned. Everybody situation and install, etc is different
 
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Everything depend how cold outside and how hard you need to run it. Also depends , how insulated is your home. I am running two stoves at this time and my input maybe is not to take into account. Once the house is up to temp to keep it there regarding outside temp, i just run them on low. 24 hrs is the schedule without pack to the grill, just big splits. when running one, anything between 12 to 24 hrs depending outside temp and if i want to run the ceiling fans on other rooms or not, sometimes was easy dial it up.lol.RESULTS< SHORTER TIMES. I have been able to see up to 27 hrs running low and relight fine, but of course outside temp were middle to low 30s and because i forgot about the stoves cause house temp was ok. With both now i am forced to run them low or do partial low on one cause the house getting to hot. I am learning to burn on the second install every other day or as needed. i did some insulation work on that area plus incorporated some phase change material between the back wall and part of the sealing, and looks like it is keeping pretty well the heat in that area. the bad thing is I have to be starting new fire from scratch every time.

The point is, regardless if you use hardwood or softwood, there are many variables to take into account on burn times. many many many times have been mentioned. Everybody situation and install, etc is different
Yup, for sure, but all i'm really curious about is how long people have been able to stretch a load of pine, under whatever conditions. Just trying to see what types of successes others have had, regardless of all the variables. Just a point of interest on my part.
 
Hitting on a few things from the last few weeks of posts....

Thanks for the head's up on the AOK/possible frost. My 3rd Princess is being used to heat a dome greenhouse and it is the only stove with an OAK. Can't comment on increased heat output/etc. with an OAK...I run this stove hotter/harder than the other 2 because it is in a separate shed/plenum and I am pumping the warm/hot air into the GH via a inline fan. There's definitely been a slight learning curve in the balance between the 2 fans and at bit of tinkering to keep from backdrafting and pulling after/cat smell smoke into the GH....but I'm getting there. So far I'm able to easily maintain a 35 to 40 degree bump in temps over the outside nighttime ambient air temp. Without the heat....the GH will sustain 20-25 degrees over ambient temp....which is usually sufficient unless the temp drops below 10F or so. 26 ft diamter dome...12'6 peak ceiling height. Quite a few cu ft to heat....all covered in R-3 rated polycarbonate. My only regret is that I didn't stick a KING in this application for the slightly larger firebox.

As far as burning chips and non-cord wood.... we have some huge piles of oak/juniper that were pushed to the side under some power lines 5-6 years ago. (the oak is really nicely seasoned...juniper...a bit dry but still good stuff) We've been using the 2" or so oak very successfully as starter loads....adding in bigger stuff before bed/etc. Cottonwood bark (most falls off as it seasons) will also burn well...and HOT. Good 'kindling".

Softwoods: We have cottonwood on hand that is pretty darn dry (2 seasons)....probably 10%. (has to be burned this year) I can still get 12 hours on a >full< load of this...but in our 800 sq ft house...softwood....or too much softwood....will run us out of here/will peg the dial on the stove...even wayyyyy down low on the dial. We usually start with a few good pieces and then add oak in for the nighttime burn or we're just too hot.

Rented a house once with a VC. We burned 6 cords (all the wood we had on hand) that Winter. First/last experience with one of those.

Princess looks: 2 Parlors and an Ultra (GH heater) here. I'm/we're in the minority, as usual.....because I/we like the Parlor look better. The Ultra reminds me almost to a T of an old "Arrow" stove we had 30 years ago. Quite the "70's" look, IMO.....but the 70's..what I remember...were fun at times so hey... nobody here really cares...it's a STOVE. I also have to have a stool to sit on to load it 'cus it's such a "low rider"....

No other heat sources here. We ripped all the utility bill producing crap out of here on Day 1. (wall mounted propane...electric baseboard) Heating 3 structures with wood solely...I'd guess we're saving $500 a month or more running these stoves.....and we are WARM.

Lovin' these heaters......
 
With a mix of Norway spruce and silver fir I’ve reached 27 hrs in our Ashford 30. Had to relight from scratch though. Just to have an idea of wood consumption, I weighed my spruce/fir loads for a week, usually I can wedge in 15/16 kilograms per load. 1000 sq ft house, built in 1898 with stone. Walls are 60 cm (24 inches) thick
 
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With a mix of Norway spruce and silver fir I’ve reached 27 hrs in our Ashford 30. Had to relight from scratch though. Just to have an idea of wood consumption, I weighed my spruce/fir loads for a week, usually I can wedge in 15/16 kilograms per load. 1000 sq ft house, built in 1898 with stone. Walls are 60 cm (24 inches) thick

Re: your old Italian house. Whenever I travel by train in Italy, I watch these fantastic old farm houses fly by, and wonder how old they are. Whereas here, I can tell you the build date within 20 years of almost any old house (easier since most of our stuff is after 1740), I look at those old houses in Italy and wonder if they’re 200 or 1000 years old. The styles and construction are different, and I have no basis for guessing.

Your mention of 24 inch thick walls caught me by attention, though. Even our 18th century (1700’s) masonry houses typically have only 20” (50cm) thick walls, and sometimes narrower by 1898. A masonry house of Victorian age (1890’s) here would be most often brick, two long courses separated in the middle by a short course air gap (i.e. 8” brick + 4” air + 8” brick), and sometimes the inner would be only a short course (i.e. 8” brick + 4” air + 4” brick).

Many have converted old barns and mills (we had many, many old mills in this area) into houses. Some of those mills have walls up to 36” thick at the base, due to the stresses and heights involved, but houses were always thinner.
 
If you have to run your stove that hard on a consistent basis to get the heat you need, go to a bigger stove. If I need to recover from low room temp, I'll just run my stove at a moderate rate and be patient rather than beat the hell out of it..

Maybe if you had ever operated or owned a blaze king you would think differently. Your input to this thread is actually doing harm. Blaze kings are designed to be run at max stat setting continuously if that’s what you need to do. Your stove must be different. This is the blaze king thread. Maybe you should help out the folks in the Woodstock performance thread?
 
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