2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[Rich2343]

I agree 100% about sending out a positive image as a wood burner. I'm the only one in the park that doesn't belch out smoke. I'll tell em it's the extra 4'
Missle silo is a dam good comeback though...lol

Tubojoe I also live in a park and was ask the same question. He was somewhat satisfied.Turbojoe the Graf you have is very inerresting how are you getting your measurements.? Is it something the average person can obtain .?

 

[Siray13]

Welcome siray, I like your ominous black glass bk pic. No need to be ashamed of the black glass. As for the bypass lever mine just kinda clunks shut when I wheel the handle over, there's a little more slop to the handle but I don't think anything more is done past the initial clunk sound. Maybe someone else has a different opinion.

A lot of wood geeks around here gonna want to know how big your house, pipe and chimney stats, what type of wood you scrounged, burn times and of course pics or it didn't happen.

My house is a 1500 sq ft ranch. I don't have a finished basement but the temps seem to be about 10 degrees below the upstairs with the stove running. My ranch is completely open on the first floor so the heat radiates nicely. I placed the stove in front of the old fireplace, double wall dvl 24" then 90 degrees into the masonry wall and up through the old chimney with a stainless liner. I have 13 ft might add more this summer.

I have a lot of oak, but also elm, walnut, maple, and some pine. I would take whatever was free or farmers looking for tree lines cleared. Most of what I am burning is 15% mc.

I have been getting 16 to 24 hours depending on how much ash is in the box and how careful I am with stacking the reloads. This is with about 30 degrees outside so I'm sure it will go down as it gets colder. This keeps my house anywhere between 69 and 73. I don't have the blower kit yet, I love not hearing anything and it seems to be keeping the house comfortable. The stove top is about 425 to 450 for these burn times and the setting is on the high end of "normal". My wife was very skeptical of all the wood scrounging and the large investment for the stove, but she spends all of her time next to it now and is very satisfied. I will load some pictures in a bit on the computer because my ipad can't seem to figure it out. Thanks!

 

[turbojoe]

Tubojoe I also live in a park and was ask the same question. He was somewhat satisfied.Turbojoe the Graf you have is very inerresting how are you getting your measurements.? Is it something the average joe can obtain .?

That would be a cool graph of a stove with 4 T/C's hooked up.
I do Catalyst testing for a living. That was a light off study on 4 Auto Cats. Was just showing how fast temps rise when Oxygen is introduced to a Cat in a rich state and hot.
aka. Exotherm. That graph is a very mild temp bump, .4 seconds of air injected. Should have seen the ones the tech typed in 4 seconds instead of .4.. NUKED...lol
Keep in mind i am running them to and sometimes beyond the edge for testing reasons. Today’s Catalyst should not be feared at all, they are very robust.
I hope to have a few temp profiles of the ol BK running with an electronic air automation system soon. It's already an awesome stove. Just playing with some different control strategies.
Once the wife gives in I’m putting a Lambda sensor in it, i am dying to know the air/fuel profile of a burn cycle.
Turbo install will be next year..

Joe

 

[Rich2343]

My house is a 1500 sq ft ranch. I don't have a finished basement but the temps seem to be about 10 degrees below the upstairs with the stove running. My ranch is completely open on the first floor so the heat radiates nicely. I placed the stove in front of the old fireplace, double wall dvl 24" then 90 degrees into the masonry wall and up through the old chimney with a stainless liner. I have 13 ft might add more this summer.

I have a lot of oak, but also elm, walnut, maple, and some pine. I would take whatever was free or farmers looking for tree lines cleared. Most of what I am burning is 15% mc.

I have been getting 16 to 24 hours depending on how much ash is in the box and how careful I am with stacking the reloads. This is with about 30 degrees outside so I'm sure it will go down as it gets colder. This keeps my house anywhere between 69 and 73. I don't have the blower kit yet, I love not hearing anything and it seems to be keeping the house comfortable. The stove top is about 425 to 450 for these burn times and the setting is on the high end of "normal". My wife was very skeptical of all the wood scrounging and the large investment for the stove, but she spends all of her time next to it now and is very satisfied. I will load some pictures in a bit on the computer because my ipad can't seem to figure it out. Thanks!

Siray13 do your burn times go up or down with more ash in the bottom of the stove.?

 

[BKVP]

You may wish to try only preheated air into the cat. Cold air seems to cause thermal degradation to cooderite and mulite. What are the cars guys using? I suppose DuraFoil stainless substrates.

That would be a cool graph of a stove with 4 T/C's hooked up.
I do Catalyst testing for a living. That was a light off study on 4 Auto Cats. Was just showing how fast temps rise when Oxygen is introduced to a Cat in a rich state and hot.
aka. Exotherm. That graph is a very mild temp bump, .4 seconds of air injected. Should have seen the ones the tech typed in 4 seconds instead of .4.. NUKED...lol
Keep in mind i am running them to and sometimes beyond the edge for testing reasons. Today’s Catalyst should not be feared at all, they are very robust.
I hope to have a few temp profiles of the ol BK running with an electronic air automation system soon. It's already an awesome stove. Just playing with some different control strategies.
Once the wife gives in I’m putting a Lambda sensor in it, i am dying to know the air/fuel profile of a burn cycle.
Turbo install will be next year..

Joe

 

[turbojoe]

Agree, cold air into most all Ceramic Substrates = bad news. We have trending away from stainless cats except some High Flow applications.

 

[Siray13]

Siray13 do your burn times go up or down with more ash in the bottom of the stove.?

I haven't figured that part out yet. I know for sure just the volume of ash prevents me from getting an extra 3-4 splits in when it's high. I'm just not sure how the ash impacts the efficiency yet.

 

[NinjaTech]

Got a question for BKVP, just curious about the actual size of the insert firebox. On the website it says 2.54 on one page, on the next 2.85.

 

[Quentin2]

Was out of town for a couple days so I let the stove go cold. Full tuneup, swept chimney from roof shoveled ash and lifted the pipe off of stove so I can get that creosote that falls behind bypass up against cat. Heres a pic of my ash in a five gallon bucket about six weeks non stop burning, spruce, birch and cottonwood.

The other shows what can't be removed unless you pull the pipe. I haven't pulled the pipe to get that last bit but one other time last year. I'm pretty sure that everything you see in the pic is from this brushing I just did. That tells me that the other times I brushed but didn't remove the pipe that the light creosote gets burned up the flue or at a minimum blown away from cat. I usually just reach my hand up there and brush everything down with bypass up.

Anyways, it feels good to have everything clean, gained 5" or so of depth in the box, she's chocked full and idling along for another 20+ hours I reckon.

 

[firefighterjake]

Was out of town for a couple days so I let the stove go cold. Full tuneup, swept chimney from roof shoveled ash and lifted the pipe off of stove so I can get that creosote that falls behind bypass up against cat. Heres a pic of my ash in a five gallon bucket about six weeks non stop burning, spruce, birch and cottonwood.

The other shows what can't be removed unless you pull the pipe. I haven't pulled the pipe to get that last bit but one other time last year. I'm pretty sure that everything you see in the pic is from this brushing I just did. That tells me that the other times I brushed but didn't remove the pipe that the light creosote gets burned up the flue or at a minimum blown away from cat. I usually just reach my hand up there and brush everything down with bypass up.

Anyways, it feels good to have everything clean, gained 5" or so of depth in the box, she's chocked full and idling along for another 20+ hours I reckon.
View attachment 148708
View attachment 148709

Dumb question . . . and pretty sure I know your answer . . . but I've got to ask anyways since hot coals can be buried in ash and still remain hot for a long, long time . . . and I've seen this before . . . so . . .

I assume that the plastic bucket is used for only a very, very short time . . . as in . . . take ash out and dump it outside in a covered metal can or some other place where any errant coals will not ignite combustibles?

Again . . . I only ask . . . or maybe it's more of a statement of advice to newbies posed as a question . . . since some folks may not realize that putting ash into plastic buckets, cardboard boxes, plastic bags, etc. is not always a good idea.

 

[Quentin2]

The ashes were dumped in my burn barrel immediately. I knew better than to post a pic of unsafe burning habits. Hopefully now the pic and your response can be a reminder to the people looking through this thread about proper ash removal.

 

[privatejoker75]

I haven't figured that part out yet. I know for sure just the volume of ash prevents me from getting an extra 3-4 splits in when it's high. I'm just not sure how the ash impacts the efficiency yet.

I have noticed that if i leave less than an inch of ash in the bottom, i get a lot of smoke when i open the door. So these days i try to keep the ash about level with the bottom of the door opening and it seems to work a lot better. I'm assuming the instruction manual says how much to leave in there but mine disappeared

 

[Edav]

Well I was an idiot today and left the front door open during a reload to get it nice and hot before engaging the cat.

It got pretty hot and I smelled that "break in" paint smell and checked the stove. The chimney collar on top of the stove was red hot. When I reloaded, the pieces on the top caught fire first and were roaring pretty good.

I quickly shut door, turned down thermostat, and engaged cat and the glow went away within seconds.

Do you think I damaged the bypass door/latch or anything near that hot stove collar?

 

[kennyp2339]

I had the same thing happen Saturday night, I was lucky and didnt damage anything, the cat seems fine, I was more worried at the time that I damaged the door gasket, but everything leveled off fairly fast and now the stove 2 days later is acting like nothing ever happened

 

[kennyp2339]

It's 23 deg out today, my coldest day since installing the princess, I've been just burning ash, cherry, and a little maple, this afternoon I threw in a load of red oak, this stove is simply amazing, oak is its favorite, I've had ghost flames for the past three hours and a hotter stove top

 

[johnstra]

-8F here right now. The high today was 0F and we're headed for a low tonight of -14F. It's 73 in the house. I've run the King hard enough today that the glass is clear

Thermostat is pointing to the 'o' in Normal, which is significantly more air than I usually give it. At this setting I get 14-16 hours out of a load with the cat just barely in the active range at the end of the cycle. I am running with the fans on, but I run them pretty low.

Happy to have my King!

 

[Quentin2]

Every time you guys down south are in cold snaps I'm in a warm snap. I guess it's more than that, come New Years it will be the first time ever anchorage did not get below zero in a calendar year. It's about 40 degrees right now and my glass is solid black.

 

[Rich2343]

It's 23 deg out today, my coldest day since installing the princess, I've been just burning ash, cherry, and a little maple, this afternoon I threw in a load of red oak, this stove is simply amazing, oak is its favorite, I've had ghost flames for the past three hours and a hotter stove topView attachment 148951View attachment 148952

Wow for 3 hrs that's nice I have to run mine on 2 to get major ghost flames and then the stove is over 500*

 

[Highbeam]

I still am impressed with the BK's ability to bust through a totally packed load of douglas fir in 12 hours OR consume that same load in 24 hours all while burning cleanly, efficiently, and putting out whatever amount of heat you want. It's like running a BBQ. We were in the mid teens last night and I got to run the fan all night.

I did shove two full loads through my 3.5CF noncat in the shop within two hours. It was making major mojo but after two hours the STT was under 400 after the second load. Raised the temp of that shop from 41 to 55 at floor level.

 

[Rossco]

Weather here has let up a little.

Currently 12F and will drop to 1F over night. BK doing good, blasting through loads every 12hrs but worth the extra leg work.

 

[becasunshine]

OK, interesting that I popped back into this thread at just this time.

DUMB QUESTION ALERT! DUMB QUESTION ALERT!

When do you clean out the firebox? At what point do you know that it's time to shovel out the firebox?

We usually burn for two or three nights, and we reload the stove on the last night before we go to bed. On the last day we don't reload the stove, even if it gets a little cool in the house. We let it burn down and we leave the stove on "low" when we leave the house. Typically by the time we leave, we are down to a reasonable bed of ash with burning embers embedded in it.

Also typically the stove is cool enough to do a wet ash wipe down of the glass to remove most of the creosote so that the next week's cleaning isn't a bear.

Then, when we return several days later, the stove is stone cold, the embers are out, and clean up is a breeze. We shovel out the biggest part of the ash (metal ash can regardless) vacuum up the rest (PowerSmith ash vac) and dump the cold ashes onto the gravel driveway.

SO NOW- it's in the 20's outside. I can't give you our very local wind chill right now because we need to replace some batteries in the outdoor components on our weather station but local weather is showing no wind chill at the moment. (Sometimes our very local wind chill is different due to wind off of the water.) Low tonight is expected to be 18'.

We've been burning steadily for a little over 48 hours, and we have an incredible bed of glowing embers built up to the lower lip of the door opening. We can lay three or four logs north to south on this bed during a reload but no more than that.

Stove is purring along like a kitten at 1.5. House is 73'

I know we will have to shovel out eventually but at this moment I am loathe to do anything to disrupt this wonderful heat. Do we just let it burn down for a while- no reloads until the ash/ember level falls below the lip of the door?

When exactly do you decide that it's time to shovel that wonderful layer of embers out of the stove???

 

[rdust]

When exactly do you decide that it's time to shovel that wonderful layer of embers out of the stove???

I have never decided it was a good idea to shovel coals out of the stove. Pull some of them forward, crank the air and burn them down for a while. After a reasonable amount is in the stove I move them to one side, shovel out some ash, move them to the other side and shovel out more ash, pull them forward again and reload.

 

[turbojoe]

I usually go a few weeks.
Burn down those coals some before adding wood. There is about 3 hours of heat left. Now that the temps are colder i was also ending up with alot of coals near the end of a burn cycle, Once in the coaling stage i will start to turn up the stat to get more heat from the coals and burn them down. I will usually go to about 2.5 for an hour or so then when the stove top starts to drop off again i go right to 3.5, that gets me at least another hour of usable heat.
Also i always leave an inch or two of coals in the bottom.

Joe

 

[becasunshine]

I usually go a few weeks.
Burn down those coals some before adding wood. There is about 3 hours of heat left. Now that the temps are colder i was also ending up with alot of coals near the end of a burn cycle, Once in the coaling stage i will start to turn up the stat to get more heat from the coals and burn them down. I will usually go to about 2.5 for an hour or so then when the stove top starts to drop off again i go right to 3.5, that gets me at least another hour of usable heat.
Also i always leave an inch or two of coals in the bottom.

Joe

Aha. Perfect. So far we've been keeping the t-stat steady and adding wood. The house temperature has stayed remarkably consistent but obviously there's a limit to this method.

Letting the coals burn down for another three hours would be just about perfect tonight! And if needed we'll turn up the t-stat to get more heat.

Thank you for a cogent (and courteous!) response to a question that I knew in my heart was sort of dumb. I figured that the answer was some variation of "Well, let it burn down!" but I needed someone to fill in the spaces for me.

 

[turbojoe]

Aha. Perfect. So far we've been keeping the t-stat steady and adding wood. The house temperature has stayed remarkably consistent but obviously there's a limit to this method.

Letting the coals burn down for another three hours would be just about perfect tonight! And if needed we'll turn up the t-stat to get more heat.

Thank you for a cogent (and courteous!) response to a question that I knew in my heart was sort of dumb. I figured that the answer was some variation of "Well, let it burn down!" but I needed someone to fill in the spaces for me.

No question is a dumb one I asked a few weeks back...lol
Turning up the T stat ( Air ) burns them down faster too. 3 hours was just a rough figure, you know how it goes, every set up is different.
I wish i could keep the T Stat steady on these cold days. Full load, i end up at 1.5 = 500 Stove Top, To mantain that temp i have to bump it up a little every few hours.
I usually end up running 1.75 to 2.25. If i start out at 1.75, S.T. gets to 650 plus before i see any sign of the flap closing. Once it does close, it doesn't want to open again until it drops 200 degrees S.T. I think my T stat is lazy