Where did you pick up a roll? So far I have only managed to locate pre-cut pieces.
2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)
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Stumps
New Member
New to the forum - just had a BK ashford 25 insert installed so figured I'd throw a few questions in here . . .
When people on here say they are getting an 8 hour burn on one load is that on the high setting? And does the cat stay in the active zone for the whole 8 hours? I've only had 2 attempts but I get maybe 3 hours on high until my wood is just coals and the cat goes to inactive. I'm burning red maple and black locust that were standing dead (18-22 moisture content)
I also think my fan was installed incorrectly - when on the high setting it should be blasting air shouldn't it? To me the high setting feels and sounds like low but again I have nothing to compare it to (rookie). On low I barely feel any air being moved.
I did not have a block off plate installed (wish I was on this site earlier) could this be part of my problem?
Can't wait for the cold weather to come back so I can give it another attempt. Thanks for any help/suggestions.
When people on here say they are getting an 8 hour burn on one load is that on the high setting? And does the cat stay in the active zone for the whole 8 hours? I've only had 2 attempts but I get maybe 3 hours on high until my wood is just coals and the cat goes to inactive. I'm burning red maple and black locust that were standing dead (18-22 moisture content)
I also think my fan was installed incorrectly - when on the high setting it should be blasting air shouldn't it? To me the high setting feels and sounds like low but again I have nothing to compare it to (rookie). On low I barely feel any air being moved.
I did not have a block off plate installed (wish I was on this site earlier) could this be part of my problem?
Can't wait for the cold weather to come back so I can give it another attempt. Thanks for any help/suggestions.
Very very few people burn a full load on high so whatever you read was almost certainly at a low or medium setting.
So, I did a quick search and am not really finding a solid answer from someone with experience. Maybe I won't but, figured I'd try. I have a Blaze King, King with about 33 ft of chimney, so I know I have a strong draft. I have thought about trying a steel cat and when I pulled my cat this morning I accidentally put a crack into my current cat. I was going to order a spare as a result but can't decide if I really want to spend the extra on the Steel Cat considering I keep reading about people plugging them with ash.
Has anyone had any experience one way or the other with ash plugging? Is it true the steel cats are plugging easier?
Has anyone had any experience one way or the other with ash plugging? Is it true the steel cats are plugging easier?
PelletPractitioner
Member
Does the blaze king princess insert put out noticeably more heat than a good non cat insert like the Pacific Energy T5 Alderlea? I really really can’t decide. I don’t need the 24 hour burns. It will be supplemental heat in the basement family room half of the day. If we can heat the whole house with it we will crank it and try that. But we don’t need 24 hours of low burn. But if it will save me 33% on fuel....
I think that if you don’t need 24 hr burn then go with the non cat. BK really shines in low and slow. I love mine because I heat a really small house.
PelletPractitioner
Member
How small is small?
Our downstairs where the stove is going is 400sqft. Upstairs is 1000sqft. Upstairs takes 18-28k btu to heat. Downstairs will take another 7-10k btu. I figure if I want to do just downstairs I can keep the fire small by only throwing on a few logs. If I want to hear the upstairs too I’ll build a full fire.
That’s a huge heat load. Is that worst case at design temps? Or is it the other 95% of the time?
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I own an A30 free stander, but I will take a crack at these.
The firebox on my A30 is a bit bigger than the firebox on your A25, thus the different model numbers.
At the top end, I can burn down a full load of dry spruce at 14%MC in four hours. This is during weather I think of as very cold in the north half of Alaska, and the combustor stays in the active zone.
I would _expect_ in Mass with decent dry hardwood like black locust at +/- 20%, 3 hours of active cat is not unreasonable; but you ought to be pretty warm. As below, a blockoff plate might be helpful
At this point I will immediately defer to any of our East Coast regulars who have experience with black locust and red maple. Also any of our global members who have experience with any of the 25 boxes, or the 20 boxes, or the 24 box.
The main thing you will have to learn for yourself is, I think, about coaling stage. Different woods will make coals for different amounts of time. I like spruce because the coaling stage is very short. In "cold" weather I can do a 12 burn on medium during the day, do another 12 hour burn on medium over night and keep the combustor active essentially from Nov to Feb. In "very cold" weather I can work in a third 4 burn on high right when I get home from work, with a morning and evening reload set to medium. In both of these situations I do not have an ever growing pile of red hot coals taking up room in my firebox, I just have plenty of room for the next load to be nice and fat.
"Blasting" is a subjective term. Are the fans on the inserts factory installed or installer installed? I don't know . On the high setting I can definitely hear mine running, and feel a little bit of air coming out the top/front of the stove. On low I can hear them if I am listening for them, but can't really feel any air moving. The thing about the fans is what happens to the airtemperature at the far end of the house with the fans off or on. That is where my fans make a difference, not in the stove room but in the rooms furthest away from the stove room.
If anyone on this site was ever advised they did not need (would not benefit from) a block off plate I didn't see the post go by.
It's coming, don't worry. They last south bound Canada goose I saw fly by was more than a week ago.
Highbeam has run both. He's back to the ceramic cat.
I have a af30.1 and its time to replace my steel cat. Im having a problem finding one. Can I run a ceramic one? What are the pros and cons? Thanks.
MissMac
Minister of Fire
Glad you put this question out there. I was taking a look online at FireCat combustors for new cats, and was wondering whether I could put a ceramic in my Sirocco 30.1. The FireCat website redirected me to Midwest Hearth's website, which then told me that they were out of stock of metal combustors.
Anyone know whether these 30 boxes can take ceramic? Any ideas on where besides FireCat we can get metal?
PelletPractitioner
Member
It’s probably inaccurate. For the upstairs they are ballpark numbers I calculated backwards from the amount of pellets I run in a day, and a slightly pessimistic stove efficiency. For the colder winter months heating 14-18 hours a day. So lots of ballpark math. For downstairs they are based off max baseboard heater size I have in right now and 30btu per square foot.
When you run a woodstove that is quiet you can run it 24 hours per day at a lower output to keep your house warm rather than 14 hours per day playing catchup and sizing the stove to provide that extra burst of power. You'll then see that cutting your numbers in half puts you right in the lower half of a normal cat stove's output range. I think you'll want a stove that is good at running at low and steady like your pellet stove did vs. the pulse and glide you'd need to heat a space with such a low heat demand.
PelletPractitioner
Member
It's not performance related, but since this is such a great collection of BK owners...
How does the temp control knob actually work? I'm guessing it's mechanical and controls the draft or air intake somehow. This worries me because I don't like moving parts that can break. That's why I'm going with a wood insert over pellets. I want simple. I don't want to be fixing things. Changing the cat is my limit.
So how does that temp/burn knob work and how delicate or robust is it? How easy is it to fix? Can it be done w/o hauling the insert out of the hearth?
How does the temp control knob actually work? I'm guessing it's mechanical and controls the draft or air intake somehow. This worries me because I don't like moving parts that can break. That's why I'm going with a wood insert over pellets. I want simple. I don't want to be fixing things. Changing the cat is my limit.
So how does that temp/burn knob work and how delicate or robust is it? How easy is it to fix? Can it be done w/o hauling the insert out of the hearth?
PelletPractitioner
Member
Do you have any thoughts if I'd be wasting too much efficiency by heating an upstairs 1000sqft from a downstairs 400sqft family room with the open stairway and foyer 12' away from the insert? Open split level foyer is right in the middle of the upstairs, so if heat gets up the 4' stretch of stairs I think it has good room to disperse and be blown around on low. Still worried about firing myself out of that 400sqft family room when I do that to generate enough heat to heat th eupper 1000sqft. (500sqft is over a garage, 400sqft is over the room with the insert)
Sorry but I just don't have experience heating from a finished basement. I've done it with an unfinished basement and it worked great with nice and warm floors above. Heating from a basement is a frequent topic of discussion whether using pellet heat or wood heat, cat or noncat. Some have great luck and some don't.
If you want to maintain a comfortable temp in your 1000 sqf upper level,...I think in your 400 sqf lower level you will be able to hatch chickens in about 21 days of continuous heating!
MissMac
Minister of Fire
would using green painter's tape to wrap a new gasket on the cat be any worse than masking tape in terms of poisoning the cat?
PelletPractitioner
Member
This is a long shot, but does anybody have a Blaze King installed with a 5.5” insulated pipe? I have a 20’ chimney and installer will insulate with blow in but he wants to run a 5.5” pipe. I heard above 20’ and with insulation it matters less. 17% smaller cross sectional area.
Blow in or pour in insulation is inferior to a proper blanket wrap around the pipe. There’s just no way to avoid the liner shoved into one corner of the old flue and the insulation all on one side. That is, if the insulation even fills the void.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
It burns off so quickly, it won't matter. However, that painters tape doesn't stick as well.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Very robust and mounted in the front of the insert. If it ever needs service, it's very simple to access.
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