2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

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moresnow said:
Question for 20 series owners. I just returned home from fishing. Gone 29 hrs. Walked in the house and headed for the stove expecting it to be completely out and cold. Wrong. Still plenty warm. Had just enough coals to reload! Had planned on cleaning/checking my pipe when I got home. Had to change my plans. I was really surprised to say the least. Stove had been packed with Oak. Including 3 very large splits on the bottom layer. Fans off. Thermo at 3. Any other 20 guys/gals had the same luck? I keep checking my math to be sure I am not goofed up_g Might have been a combo of weather/wood etc. Still rather impressive.
Click to expand...

Your stove lasted 29 hours on a single load and you fished for 29 hours straight. Don't fight it, life is good!!;)
 
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Haaaaa! Actually fished for 2 entire hours and did very well. Kind of refreshing. Then shared a box of frosty brews with a fellow camper and his two boys (deer camp week). Standing around my fire ring. 20F. Brrrrr. And yes. Life is good!
 
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moresnow said:
Question for 20 series owners. I just returned home from fishing. Gone 29 hrs. Walked in the house and headed for the stove expecting it to be completely out and cold. Wrong. Still plenty warm. Had just enough coals to reload! Had planned on cleaning/checking my pipe when I got home. Had to change my plans. I was really surprised to say the least. Stove had been packed with Oak. Including 3 very large splits on the bottom layer. Fans off. Thermo at 3. Any other 20 guys/gals had the same luck? I keep checking my math to be sure I am not goofed up_g Might have been a combo of weather/wood etc. Still rather impressive.
Click to expand...

The good news with these extended burns such as the one you experienced is 99% or more of the emissions are already released long before the "tail" of the burn. So while the combustor may or may not be active, it is not an issue for emissions. As we work on a cord wood test method we (industry and regulators both) have found through plenty of testing, once 90% of the fuel load (or even sooner) is consumed, there are no emissions left to measure. So enjoy the fact that your stove was burning low and slow and clean.

Now to the most important matter, how was the fishing?
 
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My SC20 was loaded full of oak Wednesday afternoon. 24 hrs later I went to reload and has a few glowing chunks among the powdery ashes. Going by the past two seasons the 20 series has been great for once a day load until temperatures drop to the 20s/teens, then I switch to 12 hr reloads.
 
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Apparently the temp is going to drop to 11 tonight by me, this is the perfect time to try a load of my ultra dry oak and black locust to see how it does, I've never burnt BL so I am excited to try it.
 
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BKVP said:
Now to the most important matter, how was the fishing?
Click to expand...

Truly outstanding. Shhhh. :cool: No more than 2 casts per spot and I had collected 7 healthy (but not huge) trout. Kind of a game for me. 7 trout later I missed on the second cast and headed for camp. Satisfied. They were all returned to the stream. One more week of batching it (wife is in India for work). Looks like I can sneak away for another day or two;).
 
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kennyp2339 said:
Apparently the temp is going to drop to 11 tonight by me, this is the perfect time to try a load of my ultra dry oak and black locust to see how it does, I've never burnt BL so I am excited to try it.
Click to expand...
update... stupid BK stove, load of cherry and maple since this morning has the house still at 74deg, its 20 deg outside right now but I don't think ill be able to squeeze that high octane of locust in the stove. The struggle is real people.
 
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moresnow said:
Truly outstanding. Shhhh. :cool: No more than 2 casts per spot and I had collected 7 healthy (but not huge) trout. Kind of a game for me. 7 trout later I missed on the second cast and headed for camp. Satisfied. They were all returned to the stream. One more week of batching it (wife is in India for work). Looks like I can sneak away for another day or two;).
Click to expand...
20160923_152110.jpg
 
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Meet me in Homer!
 
Yesterday , today and perhaps tomorrow, was/is the first burn with a new door gasket, a Rutledge 7/8" graphite impregnated braid. It was laid in a continuous bed of high temp 550F silicone Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV) compound. The "fit" is nice and tight. I had it done by the local stove company, A-1 Stoves here in Grass Valley, Ca. Neat, clean and knowledgeable people. I also had them replace the plain steel 6" pipe I shoved down the original 8" Metalbestos with insulated Stainless steel. Not a one man job in my case. The Magnehelic showed a slight improvement in draft. The cap was replaced as it was 8" and now the pipe can be cleaned bottom-up without any roof disassembly. Yeah! This setup should last until I can't do wood anymore. The verdict: Smoke smell gone %99.999. It is only detectable if you hang your nose just above the door hinge. Slight door tightening might be in order.

Perhaps I am biased but in my opinion this Ashford 30 is the best looking and operating wood stove ever made.
 
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Question: I'm about middle of the T-stat right now, cat engaged...I'm getting some visible smoke from the top of the chimney. My concern is that I may have warped the bypass plate the couple of times that I mistakenly left it open too long...should I not be seeing any smoke at all if everything is going through the cat? Wood is all sub-15%.
 
Rangerbait said:
Question: I'm about middle of the T-stat right now, cat engaged...I'm getting some visible smoke from the top of the chimney. My concern is that I may have warped the bypass plate the couple of times that I mistakenly left it open too long...should I not be seeing any smoke at all if everything is going through the cat? Wood is all sub-15%.
Click to expand...
I get that to, what I find that helps get rid of the smoke is after loading the stove up I run the stove with the t-stat around 4 o'clock, I get that fire ripping crazy, usually the bk thermometer ends up around 3 o'clock or so, it takes about 20 min for her to get up to temp and then I turn the t-stat down and the stove settles in for the long burn. Don't worry about over firing the stove, the t-state will prevent that from happening.
On a side note, I sometimes forget to close the by-pass in a timely fashion, again I'm not worried about warping the retainers because the stove box can not get hot enough with the door closed. Don't sweat it. I am also burning ultra dry sub 15% wood this year thanks to a dry summer and a woodshed
 
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At first I was very concerned about the life of the cat...till I did the math for my heating needs...looooooong ago when I heated with propane I could expect to pay anywhere from $1600-$2400 per season depending upon the whims of the propane gods...thats would make it anywhere from $228 a month to $342 per month for propane for 6-7 months of heating...propane has ranged from .99 per gallon to a all time high pushing $6 per gallon! I am never going to pay that! Back to the point of this post...the cost of a new cat no longer means anything to me..even if I replaced it every year the the cost would be $26.42 per month over the course of a heating season and a paltry $13.21 per month if changed every 2 years! And I fully expect to get 3 years at min.at a cost of $8.80 per month! I am not going to worry about it for one second! I have a new spare cat and gasket for when the moment arrives...and after talking to high beam there will be no acid baths taking place....:)
 
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kennyp2339 said:
I get that to, what I find that helps get rid of the smoke is after loading the stove up I run the stove with the t-stat around 4 o'clock, I get that fire ripping crazy, usually the bk thermometer ends up around 3 o'clock or so, it takes about 20 min for her to get up to temp and then I turn the t-stat down and the stove settles in for the long burn. Don't worry about over firing the stove, the t-state will prevent that from happening.
On a side note, I sometimes forget to close the by-pass in a timely fashion, again I'm not worried about warping the retainers because the stove box can not get hot enough with the door closed. Don't sweat it. I am also burning ultra dry sub 15% wood this year thanks to a dry summer and a woodshed
Click to expand...

You're mistaken on one thing Kenny, you can absolutely destroy the bypass gasket retainers even with the door shut. Only when the bypass is closed can you depend on the thermostat to prevent damage.

I have never heard of anyone warping the heavy bypass plate but those little retainers are designed to melt out and they do. Very hard to replace too.

To check the integrity of your bypass seal you can easily test it with a slip of paper just as you would with the loading door.
 
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Rangerbait said:
Question: I'm about middle of the T-stat right now, cat engaged...I'm getting some visible smoke from the top of the chimney. My concern is that I may have warped the bypass plate the couple of times that I mistakenly left it open too long...should I not be seeing any smoke at all if everything is going through the cat? Wood is all sub-15%.
Click to expand...

Give it time to reach equilibrium. The thermostat setting is not the same as the throttle blade position and during "acceleration" emissions are higher. Give it a couple of hours without touching anything and check again. Should be smoke free.
 
Highbeam said:
You're mistaken on one thing Kenny, you can absolutely destroy the bypass gasket retainers even with the door shut. Only when the bypass is closed can you depend on the thermostat to prevent damage.

I have never heard of anyone warping the heavy bypass plate but those little retainers are designed to melt out and they do. Very hard to replace too.

To check the integrity of your bypass seal you can easily test it with a slip of paper just as you would with the loading door.
Click to expand...
I agree to disagree, I can def understand how your thinking but I don't agree with the end result, even with the by-pass shut and the t-stat opened as far as it will go on a load of hedge (imagine the heat factory) if the firebox got hot enough to warp wouldn't the retainers warp inward due to the plate being pushed on them from the cam shaft?
 
Tar12 said:
At first I was very concerned about the life of the cat...till I did the math for my heating needs...looooooong ago when I heated with propane I could expect to pay anywhere from $1600-$2400 per season depending upon the whims of the propane gods...thats would make it anywhere from $228 a month to $342 per month for propane for 6-7 months of heating...propane has ranged from .99 per gallon to a all time high pushing $6 per gallon! I am never going to pay that! Back to the point of this post...the cost of a new cat no longer means anything to me..even if I replaced it every year the the cost would be $26.42 per month over the course of a heating season and a paltry $13.21 per month if changed every 2 years! And I fully expect to get 3 years at min.at a cost of $8.80 per month! I am not going to worry about it for one second! I have a new spare cat and gasket for when the moment arrives...and after talking to high beam there will be no acid baths taking place....:)
Click to expand...

The acid bath did work. If you're in a pinch due to funds, zombies, shipping delay, etc. then your dead cat can be brought back to life for at least a little while until the new cat arrives. You do need some supplies and a new gasket though so if you're going to keep those things on hand you may as well keep a fresh cat.

The alternative to the 10$ per month cat fee is burning a noncat stove. That has lots of drawbacks but the obvious one is much lower efficiency which costs way way more than 10$ per month. Those of us that have upgraded to cat stoves in the same home have seen huge drops in wood consumption, often 25% or more. This is not just due to the steady state epa efficiency dominance of cat stoves but probably more due to the ability to control heat output and prevent the inefficient rollercoaster cycle so common in noncat households.

We're fortunate to have princess stoves. The other model cats cost much more. Like 50% more. The math still works of course but it's not as big.
 
kennyp2339 said:
I agree to disagree, I can def understand how your thinking but I don't agree with the end result, even with the by-pass shut and the t-stat opened as far as it will go on a load of hedge (imagine the heat factory) if the firebox got hot enough to warp wouldn't the retainers warp inward due to the plate being pushed on them from the cam shaft?
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood, I said the retainers are weak and will melt unless the bypass is closed. The firebox is totally different.
 
kf6hap said:
Yesterday , today and perhaps tomorrow, was/is the first burn with a new door gasket, a Rutledge 7/8" graphite impregnated braid. It was laid in a continuous bed of high temp 550F silicone Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV) compound. The "fit" is nice and tight. I had it done by the local stove company, A-1 Stoves here in Grass Valley, Ca. Neat, clean and knowledgeable people. I also had them replace the plain steel 6" pipe I shoved down the original 8" Metalbestos with insulated Stainless steel. Not a one man job in my case. The Magnehelic showed a slight improvement in draft. The cap was replaced as it was 8" and now the pipe can be cleaned bottom-up without any roof disassembly. Yeah! This setup should last until I can't do wood anymore. The verdict: Smoke smell gone %99.999. It is only detectable if you hang your nose just above the door hinge. Slight door tightening might be in order.

Perhaps I am biased but in my opinion the Ashford 30 is the best looking and operating wood stove ever made.
Click to expand...

I am biased too and I fully agree with you it is an amazing wood stove! I came to the conclusion that smoke smell near the top on the hinge side is part if you stick your nose close to it is totally normal for a catalytic wood stove. Smell (not smoke) is pushed through the door gasket and it is more noticeable on the hinge side because there is no adjustment of the door tightness of the door on that side.

The price to pay is not much compared to all the advantages but getting used to it is not necessarily possible for everyone and depends a lot on a couple of factors like where it is located inside the house.
Highbeam said:
The acid bath did work. If you're in a pinch due to funds, zombies, shipping delay, etc. then your dead cat can be brought back to life for at least a little while until the new cat arrives. You do need some supplies and a new gasket though so if you're going to keep those things on hand you may as well keep a fresh cat.

The alternative to the 10$ per month cat fee is burning a noncat stove. That has lots of drawbacks but the obvious one is much lower efficiency which costs way way more than 10$ per month. Those of us that have upgraded to cat stoves in the same home have seen huge drops in wood consumption, often 25% or more. This is not just due to the steady state epa efficiency dominance of cat stoves but probably more due to the ability to control heat output and prevent the inefficient rollercoaster cycle so common in noncat households.

We're fortunate to have princess stoves. The other model cats cost much more. Like 50% more. The math still works of course but it's not as big.
Click to expand...
On the Ashford 30.1 the cost of the cat is around 300$ on Amazon and they say that we do not need a new gasket... My understanding is that the new cat already has a gasket on it or something. It is not a lot of money per month of use but it is still a significant amount of money the year you need to change it. It is not called a precious metal coating for nothing.
 
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Hey guys - we have a BK insert. I’ve been contemplating buying one of those small steamers to rest on top and heat some water and add some fragrance to the air. Anyone have advice against this?


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Highbeam I have no doubt that the acid bath works....I am just not going to invest the time in it if I can avoid it...:)
 
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