2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 3 (Everything BK)

OldSchoolPyro said:

I can, I'd just prefer not to if I had the choice. I was hoping someone might have experience with a similar situation.

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I knocked down the masonry system and installed a modern class a chimney through the roof. All vertical. Don't regret it one bit. It's super easy to remove masonry.

Highbeam said:

I knocked down the masonry system and installed a modern class a chimney through the roof. All vertical. Don't regret it one bit. It's super easy to remove masonry.

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The problem is... I had to talk my penny pinching wife into the purchase in the first place. Now I go drop a grand on class A and knock down a "perfectly good chimney" (in her mind) I'm in for an earful and cold shoulder.

I guess I should have made that part known earlier. And this is a somewhat temporary situation anyway. The BK is probably going in the attached garage when I build it, at which point, I'll go straight up with class A.

OldSchoolPyro said:

I can, I'd just prefer not to if I had the choice. I was hoping someone might have experience with a similar situation.

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First step is to get your baseline draft reading, take those numbers and then call or contact blaze king to see if it can work, there's a lot of volume in the king stove and when the king is running on high you need the ability to move that volume, the chimney is the engine that drives the stove, its like have a Ferrari and the chimney is the governor, yes the car can do 200 mph, but if the governor is on, it will only get to 65mph and cut out.
With the BK's you need the ability to run the stove on high, its how you bring the internal stove temp up to get the cat active, how to fully char the wood so you can have the ability to smolder the load and keep the cat active to have a clean burn, and good heat. If your setup doesn't allow it to run correctly then your just going to fight the stove, be unhappy, have issues with a clogged cat, have issues with heavy creosote build up in the fire box, potential smoke smell seepage into your living space.

kennyp2339 said:

First step is to get your baseline draft reading, take those numbers and then call or contact blaze king to see if it can work, there's a lot of volume in the king stove and when the king is running on high you need the ability to move that volume, the chimney is the engine that drives the stove, its like have a Ferrari and the chimney is the governor, yes the car can do 200 mph, but if the governor is on, it will only get to 65mph and cut out.
With the BK's you need the ability to run the stove on high, its how you bring the internal stove temp up to get the cat active, how to fully char the wood so you can have the ability to smolder the load and keep the cat active to have a clean burn, and good heat. If your setup doesn't allow it to run correctly then your just going to fight the stove, be unhappy, have issues with a clogged cat, have issues with heavy creosote build up in the fire box, potential smoke smell seepage into your living space.

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Awesome. The light bulb is glowing now. I'll try hooking it up that way, and test the flow. That'll be an easier sell with the wife... Well honey, the chimney is a POS, so we're going to have to put in a new class A.

OldSchoolPyro said:

Awesome. The light bulb is glowing now. I'll try hooking it up that way, and test the flow. That'll be an easier sell with the wife... Well honey, the chimney is a POS, so we're going to have to put in a new class A.

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Adda boy, worst case scenario you end up sleeping on a cot inside the garage for awhile.

kennyp2339 said:

Adda boy, worst case scenario you end up sleeping on a cot inside the garage for awhile.

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As long as it's warm... Haha

If you knock out a 7x7 liner, I have to believe you’d have more than 9x9. The liner is typically over 1” thick, and there should be an air gap around that. I’d expect a chase ID at least 11”x11”, on that flue.

BKs don’t require much draft, in my limited experience. I’m running with the key damper almost 100% closed on my 6” x 30 foot liner, just to get down below their maximum allowable spec.

Ashful said:

If you knock out a 7x7 liner, I have to believe you’d have more than 9x9. The liner is typically over 1” thick, and there should be an air gap around that. I’d expect a chase ID at least 11”x11”, on that flue.

BKs don’t require much draft, in my limited experience. I’m running with the key damper almost 100% closed on my 6” x 30 foot liner, just to get down below their maximum allowable spec.

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Well, I guess 9.5 x 9.5 inches.

jetsam said:

I understand the core offsetting, but I don't understand how you tidied up the loose ends with a needle. It looks great.

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This is sort of what it looked like before I started weaving and tucking in loose ends...

If you look at the first picture in my last post, you'll see the homemade darning needle.

webby3650 said:

Some stoves do very well with rtv for the door gasket adhesive, others not so much. I haven’t removed a BK gasket that I can remember that was crispy. It holds up really well from what I’ve seen.

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Cleaning out the old RTV was a bit of a pain, I wish it was crispy! The RTV behind the new gasket after a month is still rubbery.

Well, we're pretty "stoked" about our new milestone. Filled it full of maple and and some small cedar pieces at 1330 yesterday and turned it down to about 3 on the tstat. When we returned today at 1600 this is what we found...


...and in about 15 minutes it was like this...



It got down to 3C last night and up to about 5C today, the main part of the house was at 20C and the "wings" were 19C. So 26+ hours on one load has made us true disciples to the catalytic stove.

That is truly impressive in these mild temps.
Can't wait to share my views next winter.

AlbergSteve said:

Cleaning out the old RTV was a bit of a pain, I wish it was crispy! The RTV behind the new gasket after a month is still rubbery.

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A wire wheel on a cordless drill makes short work out of it.

webby3650 said:

A wire wheel on a cordless drill makes short work out of it.

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I'm guessing you've done a few like that! I had a knotted wheel for the 7'' Makita angle grinder, but thought that might be too aggressive. Next time...

AlbergSteve said:

I'm guessing you've done a few like that! I had a knotted wheel for the 7'' Makita angle grinder, but thought that might be too aggressive. Next time...

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I go to bed thinkin about gaskets...
A small wire wheel in a cordless drill is plenty effective, no need for a grinder. The grinder would do ok though, with a wire wheel. Not a grinding cup..

I like using a Nyalox wheel (orange/3") to remove the old gasket also, you don't need to strip it down to bare metal.

I hooked up the King yesterday and had a test fire. I started with a few logs to make sure the air intake was still functioning properly. It seemed to burn in a well controlled fashion. I then loaded the firebox up and set the thermostat to 3. It still had a nice bed of coals 12 hours later, but hadn't seemed to put off a ton of heat (blower wasn't running, so I wasn't expecting a ton). I noticed there was a fair amount of smoke coming out of the chimney during the burn. Not a ton, but it was noticeable. I wonder if the cat might not be working. I know it won't always glow, but I kept checking it, and never saw the cat glowing. Would the gasket make that big of a difference to the proper function of the cat? The cat fits a little loose, like it needs a gasket... I inspected the cat prior to burning for damage, and outside of a few cracks here and there, it didn't look that bad. The stove is 8 years old though, and it very well could be the reason I was able to pick it up cheap. The cat probe doesn't work, and I'm waiting for delivery of a new one, so I can't comment on the temps in the cat.

Minnesota has a program where you can get $325 towards the purchase of a new cat, so I'm checking into that. Can't argue with it being free or at least deeply discounted. Even if the cat is still working, it would be advantageous for me to get one while this program is going.

I haven't tested the chimney draft with a manometer yet, but it seems to be sufficient with my non-standard hookup. More to come on that.

I noticed there was a fair amount of smoke coming out of the chimney during the burn. Not a ton, but it was noticeable.




It could be steam, not smoke. Steam disappears at some distance whereas smoke gradually tapers. In certain lights, steam can appear black like smoke. Depending on atmospherics, the steam can appear detached from the stack hat.

kf6hap said:

It could be steam, not smoke. Steam disappears at some distance whereas smoke gradually tapers. In certain lights, steam can appear black like smoke. Depending on atmospherics, the steam can appear detached from the stack hat.

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I had considered that. It looked dark, but it was starting to get towards dusk. Might have been a bad light. also tough to judge based on smell since my EPA exempt stove was also exhausting 100 feet away.

OldSchoolPyro said:

I had considered that. It looked dark, but it was starting to get towards dusk. Might have been a bad light. also tough to judge based on smell since my EPA exempt stove was also exhausting 100 feet away.

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If it was steam, it might also explain the lack of heat production....

Could have been steam. An 8 year old cat could be worn out or poisoned, too. Maybe the last owner used the stove for a garbage disposal.

I'd check the bypass door for proper seal and order a new cat with gasket- which is all to be expected with a used stove.

Notice the smell of the "smoke". It should smell distinctly different than an air tuber. Sort of like coal burning. Take a log, warm it to ~70F, split it and check the moisture content.

BKVP said:

If it was steam, it might also explain the lack of heat production....

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Your heat could be going up the flue stack. To convert water to steam (phase change) it takes an enormous amount of heat. Physics.

The cat will glow every time at the 20 minute start-up load char.

Oh boy, snow today.

Yeah, I'll check the moisture content in the logs from the wood box. The stack they came out of is 8% on average, (but the stack is almost gone) These particular logs in the woodbox were weighing down the plastic on the garden all summer, so they may have sucked up some moisture. I assumed they were still nice and dry, but I'll double check.

8% is really low. is that measured on a fresh split face when it's warmed up, or on the end when its still cold, there is a heck of a difference.