kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Its a hand held meter that has a hose and metal tube probe, you drill a hole in the pipe and stick the metal probe end in about 3"
2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)
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You are going to really love running this stove even more, when you get that draft dialed down. You may remember that I measured the stove in the larger part of my house at 0.18”WC, before installing a key damper last year. This resolved my issue of clogging my cat at high burn rates, and also seems to have improved the overall efficiency quite a bit. WIth the inlet (air control) being the primary restriction, the reduction in draft does not linearly translate to a reduction in make-up air requirement, but it does seem to help reduce the amount of cold make-up air pulled thru the far corners of the house. The place stays warmer, overall.
The most immediate difference I noticed was that now I can keep my stove pipe from getting nearly as hot, nearly as quick, while waiting for the combustor to reach light-off temperature. I’ve never had a chimney fire, but with that super strong draft pulling flames up the pipe, I always felt like I was prone for one. The key damper resolved that issue. It has turned that stove into an even milder version of its former self.
darktower007
Feeling the Heat
How tall is your chimney Ashfull? Mine is 25’ was kinda wondering if I need to put one in or not.
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kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I always knew that I had a higher than normal draft, total stack height is close to 22ft, walk out basement setup. Sometimes when I get a good fire rolling on high and then back down the t-stat air control knob I'll can here a faint whistle noise coming from either the stove collar connection or cat probe. I never had any issues with plugging or anything like that. The princess has ran great even with the higher draft, although I do think that burn times have suffered a little bit when running at a setting of 3 or higher. Also when the by-pass is open I do get that roar noise with flames licking up past the by-pass.
If anyone that lives near me NWNJ needs there draft tested I have a meter, so PM me and we'll make an arrangement.
Tegbert
Feeling the Heat
What meter do you have? Also what is used to plug the hole when done? Or are you using a stack probe temp hole?
Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
The meter is a HTI dual port, and I just ordered a flue temp probe, right now I just have a bolt covering the hole.
Mine is probably just a hair over 30 feet. Here’s a photo that shows both of the chimneys on which I’m running Ashfords:
I was running .18” WC at my height, so I’d guess you might still be a little high at 25 feet. However, if I weren’t running an Ashford 30, I’d have likely never gotten to the key damper. It seems the Princess is less prone to fly ash plugging the cat. They made the air wash system much better in the Ashford, but it seems like this might cause some extra ash-stirring turbulence in the box, versus their older designs, which can cause some ash plugging of the combustor under very high draft. Just my guess, nothing confirmed by BK.
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lsucet
Minister of Fire
Good morning. I have some questions. After draft is measured and damper set to the point of keeping draft into specs, that is the point that it will be always? It needs to be adjusted at times during burn cycle?
Mine(s) need to be opened when opening/loading the stove, otherwise I'll get smoke in the room..
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I think there will always be different adjustments, outdoor weather and temp contribute to internal drafts, warmer moist air is less dense so there is less pressure difference, allowing less draft, cold denser air sinks pushing harder so there is more draft due to a larger pressure difference (pressures always try to equal out, that's what drives our earths weather.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
I pulled up my manometer last night and set it up but thru the flue probe hole. fresh medium load about 20 minutes cooking wide open and i was at 0.10 to 0.11.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
This is what I had last night on the shorter stack that still around 19' plus cap the other stuck is taller about 24' but I didn't measured the draft possibly I will tonight.
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Good afternoon. As showrguy already noted, you need to open the key damper before opening the door, to maximize draft and minimize smoke spillage.
BK states that draft is to be measured at wide-open throttle (WOT). Here is my basic procedure:
1. Open key damper wide, load stove, and after closing the door, adjust the key damper for 0.05”WC. This could be almost wide open on a cold stove, to more than 45 deg. tilt on a warm stove. This setting controls how things come up in bypass mode.
2. Check it again in 5 - 10 minutes, and adjust if needed. If the stove was cold, it’s likely you’ll be closing it some here.
3. When cat or flue probe hits operating temp, close bypass. Wait a few seconds, then adjust key damper for .05”WC
4. After 20 minutes running on high, re-adjust key damper for .05”WC, then turn stove down to desired setting.
I do not re-adjust after turning down. The manometer will read very high initially, and then drop some, but it is of no concern to me. I only have issues with high draft and cat plugging when the stove is run on high, the key damper matters much less to me at lower burn rates.
Now, some will point out that using a damper to control draft is different than adjusting chimney height to control draft. This is true, the key damper is really just modulating pressure by controlling rate of air outlet for a given inlet (air control) setting, it’s not a true pressure regulator. If you know circuits, this would be like controlling current thru a varying load by using a variable resistor (key damper), versus a proper voltage regulator (changing chimney height). Those who use compressed air tools might think of it as trying to control pressure on a tool with a needle valve on the line, rather than a pressure regulator.
So, what’s that mean? It means that even if you obtain the ideal draft at wide-open throttle (WOT) by adjusting a key damper, when you turn it down it is still not going to behave the same as a chimney that just naturally obtains the ideal draft as a function of its height. Again, in my opinion, this is a non-issue. I don’t care if the stove drafts a little higher on a lower setting, than one might if the ideal “on high setting” draft was obtained by chimney height alone, I really never had any issue with the stove’s behavior on lower settings.
I hope this helps.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
Thank you. I rarely let it burn that hot and i was getting around +/- 0.10. On low settings that is how i run it 90% of the time it is around 0.06 - 0.07. I dont know if worry about that little over draft at least on this stack. tonight i am planing to checked the other if i fire up.
I’m not sure which is right, but I have mine set up with the tube just inserted 1/4” into my flue pipe. I figured that inserting it farther only increases disturbance, and might give a false reading. I’m not sure if I’m right, but it feels like I am. [emoji851]
darktower007
Feeling the Heat
black smoke signals
Feeling the Heat
BK dampers Ashful and others talk about how they have done this mod. My old Avalon insert had a what I called a damper at the very top outlet of the stove. . Just saying in high wind area like mine why couldn’t BK incorporate this Avalon’s damper into there stove seems like this would help?
I suspect it would complicate their testing, which is already complicated sufficiently by the thermostat. Easier, and probably more appropriate, to let the fraction of customers who need them install one, rather than force it into the product cost and testing.
darktower007
Feeling the Heat
Tegbert
Feeling the Heat
A few minor differences but the major one is an addition of a flame shield under the bypass. Apparently it helps with heat so they could reduce clearances.
Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25
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Alpine1
Feeling the Heat
Wouldn’t a flame shield under the bypass be useful to prevent chimney fires in all bk stoves? Just wondering...
I've been running a BK "properly" for 4 years now, and no chimney fires..?? Just sayin....
jetsam
Minister of Fire
Not having a chimney full of creosote would prevent chimney fires in all stoves.
Saying "My venting system is very unsafe so I am going to modify or replace my stove" is just denying and avoiding the problem, which will continue no matter what you do with the stove.
"My brakes are shot so I installed racing stripes and a siren." Okay, good for you, but the original problem may still be an issue for you...
I understand what you’re saying jetsam, but the gents who wear suspenders don’t usually throw away their belts. I like Alpine’s thinking on this, although this one is so obvious that I’d bet this has already been considered by the manufacturer, and discarded for a good reason.
Come on now, it only takes a thin film to provide fuel for a chimney fire. Your flue right now almost certainly has enough creosote for a chimney fire if you shot enough fire at the right spot.
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