2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)#2

[jeff_t]

I've had to shovel coals out to make roof for fresh fuel, kinda wasteful but you gotta do what you gotta do. I think next time I evac coals I might try to seal the pail with aluminum foil to make charcoal, worth a try right.

I've put them in a 5 gal bucket half full of water, let them sit for 2-3 minutes, then spread them out on an old window screen to dry for a week or two. I've made lots and lots of charcoal this way.

Water absorbs a tremendous amount of btus. The water in the bucket gets barely lukewarm.

 

[bobdog2o02]

What species of woods have you had the most luck with?

 

[jeff_t]

Oak makes the biggest chunks that hold together. I burned some oak that was not as dry as it should have been, and that worked really well. I had some shagbark that was decent. Never burned any locust. Soft maple and ash broke up into really small pieces.

This was all from my Hotblast furnace. Never pulled coals out of my BK.

 

[Rossco]

I'll take four hours at wide open and hope for six.

Updated forecast as of this morning is -36dF Sun and Mon nights with daytime high Monday of -24dF.

I am not worried about keeping the house warm with a full load. The trick is going to be getting the coals burnt down far enough and fast enough to reload before the house cools too far.

Meh. Sounds like the Bahamas to me

Still not encountered the dreaded coal problem that plagues allot of users.

Basically I will be left with accumulation at the sides after a hot burn (Still pumping out the heat at this point) the build up breaks down into small coals and will lite a fresh load off within a minute.

 

[Poindexter]

We got up to -20dF today, the snow stopped, the clouds moved out and we had a magnificent pair of sundogs with most of a halo going on. I ripped this pic from linked website, they are hard to shoot. Also wikipedia page link. Sundogs here mean it is about to get really really cold, like putting a number on it doesn't do it justice.

https://abraveheart1.wordpress.com/...up-the-sky-over-the-chicago-area-cbs-chicago/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dogs



Stove is running great, I am getting really really good draft at -24dF.

 

[NinjaTech]

Its been crazy warm here recently. It was up to 55 today. This was what I was doing all day. Friend of a friend cut down a tree and I got all the good stuff from it for free if I hauled it off. Getting ready for next year/year after.

In the first picture, that's the saw that was all over the counter from the picture a few days ago. I'm liking that 64cc piston/jug on it. Rings are feeling like they are most of the way bedded in by the end of the day.

I really need a log splitter, everything hurts right now.

 

[BKVP]

Its been crazy warm here recently. It was up to 55 today. This was what I was doing all day. Friend of a friend cut down a tree and I got all the good stuff from it for free if I hauled it off. Getting ready for next year/year after.

In the first picture, that's the saw that was all over the counter from the picture a few days ago. I'm liking that 64cc piston/jug on it. Rings are feeling like they are most of the way bedded in by the end of the day.

I really need a log splitter, everything hurts right now.

You got it back together! I'll have you do my next rebuild!

BKVP

 

[NinjaTech]

You got it back together! I'll have you do my next rebuild!

BKVP

Sure thing! I work for beer!

 

[Poindexter]

Can we talk a bit about coaling and ash build up in cat equipped stoves? I think I know what is going on in my stove, but I would feel better about my hypothesis if what you see agrees with what I am seeing.

I am running an Ashford 30 with 13 feet of straight (double wall) pipe on it, no elbows, this is my first season with a cat stove. Above freezing it drafts well enough. Below freezing it settles down and gets to work. Below about -10dF (-23C) it really gets to drafting good.

From +10dF to -10dF (-12C to -23C) I can run it more or less indefinitely keeping the house at my target temp with one split or bio-log on the coal bed, just enough smoke to keep the cat working and just enough coals to light the next split, with the Tstat at wide open/ full throttle. I did it about 18 hours straight while the kids were over for Christmas. Once the cat drops out of active in this regime I pretty well have to load the firebox full to heat the cat back up, and accept the heat pulse that comes with getting a full load going.

In general on weekdays I fill the box in AM before work, let my wife revel in the heat pulse for her morning routine, she turns the stat down when she leaves for work, when I get home I put in another full load, have the house warm for her when she comes home and more or less run the house on the Tstat with whatever weather we are having through the week and deal with my coal/ash buildup on Saturday.

So observations:

In colder weather I get better draft and less ash/coal buildup.

At any given ambient outdoor temperature higher Tsat settings leads to less ash/coal buildup.

12% MC spruce (lower BTU) makes less ash/coal that 16%MC birch (higher BTU).

Charcoal and ash build up at the sides and back of my firebox, suggesting proximity to the air inlets at the front is a factor.

I would really like to say at temperature "X" the coals burn down fast and I can just reload without having to shovel and rake and sift. I suspect that number for me is going to be about -35 to -40dF (-37 to -40C), but I haven't been there yet.

I have found that if I put a really dry monster split in one side of the firebox at the beginning of a full load the bigger split seems to keep the cat active longer and the regular splits in the rest of the box pretty well burn away before the cat goes inactive, between about +15 and -10dF (-9 to -23C).

FWIW burning two full firebox loads every day for six days and 1 firebox full Saturday night I am taking about 1 Ashford 30 drawer full of ash (maybe 5-6 qaurts?) to the outdoor repository on Saturday afternoons.

 

[Poindexter]

I should be clear I am not complaining about the amount of ash in my Ashford. I don't expect BK to send me a written apology and buy back my stove, sheesh, one drawer of ash per week is overall I think pretty darn good. But if I can make it less by burning drier wood or maybe making my stack a little taller I am going to give it a try.

Here is a pretty typical scenario, I was just a few minutes too late. Pic is undisturbed coals from the last full load at the back of the box, you can kinda see the firebrick around the side of the box if you squint. Cat probe was about a pencil width up into active. I flipped the lever to bypass, raked the coals forward, reloaded, got the door to open just a crack, got my new load lit off and had to run in bypass for maybe ten minutes or so before I could re-engage the cat, because it had dropped out of active.

If I had gotten on it maybe 30 minutes earlier I could have reloaded and had the cat re-engaged in probably 2-3 minutes. I am chalking this up to still learning the stove and especially only having less than week of experience with temps below -20dF at this point. If I had gotten to it earlier and done the 2-3 minute hot reload I would have less stack emissions I think, but more ash buildup by next weekend.

I would estimate my cat has been inactive for perhaps 40 hours after reloads total since I last used a match to light the stove in mid-October. How long it has been inactive while I am at work after a load burns down I don't know.

 

[blueguy]

What I have found works best in my Sirocco 30 is to adjust the amount of splits to meet my reload time (if too many coals with stat at X and reloading after 12 hours, then reduce load by 1 split) at temps above -20*C, and below that, just live with the coal buildup for the morning reload and rake them forward and burn them down on high in the evenings when I have time. FWIW, unlike some posters here, burning my coals down on high creates enough heat to raise the temps upstairs by a degree or two.

I also think that you're burning on slightly too high of a setting, which may be resulting in the constant coaling you're getting. I would try experimenting on lower settings to see if you get less coaling but can maintain the house temps. More heat will stay in the box this way and not go up the flue.

I also would suggest you just load the box to meet your reload schedule, get the cat in active, engage bypass and set target stat setting vice using smaller loads and / or burning on high for a couple hours and then turning it down.

Of course, every install is different, so this may not work for you

 

[Poindexter]

Thanks for the idea blueguy. Might as well try it, I got months of heating season to go this year.

BKVP, any anecdotes about what it takes to break the glass in a BK stove? I know the manual says to load E-W, but it just gives me the creeping heebie-jeebies to load it E-W and leave for work. Every time I load E-W, even partial loads, invariably a split rolls off the pile and comes to rest against the glass. Just did it again half an hour ago.

 

[Rossco]

Well my BK is OUT!!

We have a mini Heat wave going in here.

Won't last thou.

 

[Highbeam]

Well my BK is OUT!!

We have a mini Heat wave going in here.

Won't last thou.

Yeah, mid 60s in January. I'm burning little kindling fires every so often to avoid overheating. Like a noncat.

 

[craigbaill]

Tonight we are supposed to get a little bit of snow. The stove is going nicely and we are ready to hunker down. Just made some bananna bread in the regular oven and nowhere to go.
Last year at this time we were cold in this house but not now. If the power goes out , we are ready for it.
Thanks to all of you for the great information so we could purchase this stove.

 

[Quentin2]

Well my BK is OUT!!

We have a mini Heat wave going in here.

Won't last thou.

We finally got some cold my way. -8f last night zero today. Ive been kinda bummed, I thought all I had ready to burn was the cottonwood I've been burning. Broke out the moisture meter and checked a few fresh faces of spruce I had split and stacked in early winter, surprisingly they all registered right at 20! Just in time!

 

[Rossco]

Yeah, mid 60s in January. I'm burning little kindling fires every so often to avoid overheating. Like a noncat.

Yeah I haven't used any heat source lately. All the sealing I've done to rid drafts has worked. Probably light a fire tonight thou after I check the chimney. Last sweep was 8th Dec 14

We finally got some cold my way. -8f last night zero today. Ive been kinda bummed, I thought all I had ready to burn was the cottonwood I've been burning. Broke out the moisture meter and checked a few fresh faces of spruce I had split and stacked in early winter, surprisingly they all registered right at 20! Just in time!

Ha ha well Iam happy that you had / have -22C to test that bad boy out. It's amazing how fast some wood drys.

Keep us updated.

 

[BKVP]

Thanks for the idea blueguy. Might as well try it, I got months of heating season to go this year.

BKVP, any anecdotes about what it takes to break the glass in a BK stove? I know the manual says to load E-W, but it just gives me the creeping heebie-jeebies to load it E-W and leave for work. Every time I load E-W, even partial loads, invariably a split rolls off the pile and comes to rest against the glass. Just did it again half an hour ago.

Most broken glass is Not from a log rolling into the glass, but rather a long loaded north south being just a tad too long and trying to close the door. The pressure is what will cause the glass to break. Rarely if glass breaks is it from wood rolling into the back side of the glass.

 

[Poindexter]

Most broken glass is Not from a log rolling into the glass, but rather a long loaded north south being just a tad too long and trying to close the door. The pressure is what will cause the glass to break. Rarely if glass breaks is it from wood rolling into the back side of the glass.

The pressure? What pressure? You mean building up in the firebox behind the cat?

 

[Quentin2]

The pressure? What pressure? You mean building up in the firebox behind the cat?

I believe he means the pressure placed on the glass from the door being shut on a too long log.

 

[jeff_t]

The pressure? What pressure? You mean building up in the firebox behind the cat?

The pressure on the glass from a n-s split that is too long. Trying to force the door closed.

I've no idea on the particulars of your firebox, but you really load it e-w?

 

[rdust]

I've no idea on the particulars of your firebox, but you really load it e-w?

Certainly not, no reason to ever load a BK e/w!

 

[Poindexter]

Certainly not, no reason to ever load a BK e/w!

Page twenty of the A30 manual says to lay the pieces in laying left to right and as far back as possible.

I am trying it because I am running the thing like a locomotive just now and I am looking to minimize ash buildup. Daytime high yesterday was -25dF, overnight low -40 something dF, high today was -31dF, looking for -50dF tonight. As expected I have plenty of heat to keep the house warm with a full load (I am getting 6-8 hour burns) , but I am not anxious to run a bucket of ash out to the yard tomorrow AM, I just want to fill the firebox and get to work on time.

 

[Highbeam]

Page twenty of the A30 manual says to lay the pieces in laying left to right and as far back as possible.

I am trying it because I am running the thing like a locomotive just now and I am looking to minimize ash buildup. Daytime high yesterday was -25dF, overnight low -40 something dF, high today was -31dF, looking for -50dF tonight. As expected I have plenty of heat to keep the house warm with a full load (I am getting 6-8 hour burns) , but I am not anxious to run a bucket of ash out to the yard tomorrow AM, I just want to fill the firebox and get to work on time.

When they say left to right they mean the first log on the left side n/s and then another right beside it left to right. Ambiguous for sure.

 

[Poindexter]

I dunno. I have loaded both NS and EW in the past. I routinely load NS because I don't like burning splits rolling down to the glass.

I am trying EW loading looking to minimize ash/coal buildup while I am running flat out with the thermostat on 3/3 and the cat probe living about halfway between inactive and overfired. It _seems_ like I am maybe getting a little less ash/coal buildup loading EW instead of NS, but I have a very small data set, first time its been down to colder than -30dF all winter was last night.

I got plenty of draft, even I am calling the stove "Bouche" now, one of the kids dubbed it after the wood stove in the princess' castle in _Beauty and the Beast_ very early in the season.

24 hours in to this cold snap, the enamel looks good and my wood consumption is improved compared to my old stove. I am just going to run it until my ambient gets back up to -25dF and then look at consumption over the longest possible data string.

I took several photos of the enamel before the first burn last summer, followed the directions in the manual for break-in burns and haven't noticed any change in the coloration of the enamel finish going into last night.

page 20 of the online manual, paragraph "7":

7. When nearly all the wood in the firebox is burning , finish loading the stove. Lay the wood left to right,
as far to the back of the stove as possible. After the loading door is closed and the catalytic thermometer
is in the active zone, close the bypass door

Given the A30 has a air wash input on each top front corner, if I was loading NS it wouldn't/ shouldn't matter if I loaded from the left or from the right. When it warms back up to -20 or so I'll go back to loading NS and relax about the glass. For now I am giving EW loading a jolly good audition.