Stove is working today, first day this winter I had to load three times. Second load wasn’t full but no way a morning and night load was gonna get it done.
Tonights load.
Tonights load.
2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)
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This is our load for the night. 11 pcs, bottom right is two pcs. Didn't have anything for the hole in the upper right.
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sprawlnstall
Burning Hunk
Any suggestions to deal with excess coal? I've been running hot lately with 3-4 reloads of oak and ash daily. Besides proper timing when leaving for work and laying down a few pieces of pine on a hot coal bed, can anything else be done. I've done several hot cleanouts recently simply because the hot coal was not providing enough heat. Tough stretch of weather to come.
I had a HUGE coal bed over the weekend. Thought I had actually filled up with ash but it was coals. They burned up quickly when I turned it up. Agree the heat output is much less in this stage. I spread them out and refueled with one split a few times that day. It is hard to do that if you're not at home to reload though.
Maybe try mixing in different wood species? I would think a lower BTU wood is going to be less likely to form coals vs a species with high density
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Do you have time to run a load/partial load of Pine to get rid of them. Do you have plenty of Pine ready to go? Running full loads of Pine is great fun for me. Almost zero coaling to deal with.
Hardwood coaling is a PIA when its really cold and you need to run the stove hard. I've been running at a higher setting because I need the heat and it burns down the leftovers better. May be worth mixing some loads? This weather means I need to readjust my methods a bit. Guessing many do.
sprawlnstall
Burning Hunk
Does elm produce a large amount of coal? I took down a large elm tree this past summer, it had been standing dead for quite some time and did not have any bark. With the bark removed I would think it would produce less coal. I was surprised the moisture content was still around 20% this summer. It's been covered and stacked but is not close to the house. I may test the moisture content on a few big splits and try burning it.
Alpine1
Feeling the Heat
Pine, spruce and larch are your best friends against heavy coaling.
Gosh, four full loads of oak per day... I can’t even imagine the huge amount of heat that stove is throwing out!
Gosh, four full loads of oak per day... I can’t even imagine the huge amount of heat that stove is throwing out!
Diabel
Minister of Fire
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
I've filled stoves with coals from douglas fir so I can say that you still need to be willing to have a time of reduced output to burn up those coals compared to the higher output of a fresh load of new fuel. That's usually the culprit, topping off the stove prematurely so that the natural burn cycle of wood is not able to complete which includes the lower output period of just coals. It's obviously a sign that you are asking more from your stove than it can deliver for a long period but that's life! Time to let the furnace help a little. If you designed your heating system to comfortably keep up in this weather then you would be oversized the other 90% of the year.
sprawlnstall
Burning Hunk
Temps are in Fahrenheit, Its been an easy winter until now. An 8 inch flue would solve a lot of problems. I will probably stick with mixing some pine in with hardwoods and plan for a daily morning partial hot cleanout.
Todd
Minister of Fire
How's your ash bed? I find when it gets this cold I need a cleaner fire box to keep the insulating ash down to a minimum.
Holiday
Burning Hunk
I used to save the good wood for the cold as well. Now I burn the lesser stuff for cold snaps and faster burning, saving the heavy stuff for the long slow burns in milder weather.
I fortunately (??) don’t have to worry so much about all that. Birch and big leaf maple are the hardest woods I have readily available. And 20F is not unusual for the coldest temperature all winter. Coal accumulation just isn’t much of a problem.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
It’s nice to have a stove that matches your needs. I live close and the way I run the BK stove when it’s 7 degrees is only a bit different than when it’s 40. Little higher stat setting, little less burn time per load, cleaner glass.
X2. Currently -10F here. Supposed to be a high of -16F Thursday and -23F Thursday night. My glass is staying clean though.
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
-15F actual and -29F Windchill this beauty AM. Nuking some coals with a stringy Elm split with the stove W_O and the fans set at the halfway point. Off to the races with a full load soon. Hope you are all enjoying the cold snap where it is taking place! The PNW is looking better by the day!
Yukon Tyler
Member
Cleaning the glass on my Princess right now ; )
-41 celsius in Whitehorse at the airport this AM, but in reality -47 at the house which is in a bit of a low lying spot. Currently it's -39 and I anticipate we'll see -45 again this evening.
Save for a few weekends in the bush at the cabin the stove hasn't stopped since October. I love this stove more than nearly anything else in the world.
-41 celsius in Whitehorse at the airport this AM, but in reality -47 at the house which is in a bit of a low lying spot. Currently it's -39 and I anticipate we'll see -45 again this evening.
Save for a few weekends in the bush at the cabin the stove hasn't stopped since October. I love this stove more than nearly anything else in the world.
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Highbeam
Minister of Fire
This is some good wood heating weather. Needing to rotate chicken water tanks as they freeze up.
Anyway, who else checks their flue probe meter like a spark plug? You always wanted that tan, chocolate color to indicate proper air to fuel ratio and complete combustion. Here’s my flue probe after 16 hours or 2/3 of the way through the load of 14% Doug fir. Upper 20s overnight so we’re packing it full.
Oh and the 3 month old pug loves the princess.
Anyway, who else checks their flue probe meter like a spark plug? You always wanted that tan, chocolate color to indicate proper air to fuel ratio and complete combustion. Here’s my flue probe after 16 hours or 2/3 of the way through the load of 14% Doug fir. Upper 20s overnight so we’re packing it full.
Oh and the 3 month old pug loves the princess.
Diabel
Minister of Fire
The spark plug looks good. It appears, the Princess is firing on all cylinders.
Btw I check mine as well
A new Cat can show a lean condition
White. Funny thing is I never hear any preignition or detonation!
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
A new Cat can show a lean condition
It's the additives!
When I do something that disturbs ash like cleaning or even stirring the coals it can put a thin white coating of ash on my probe too. That flow of ash is more constant on some models/installs and is probably what plugs up the cats.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Dealer did install yesterday at -35F....but he was happy by noon it was only -10F....and almost done.
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