Some good info from BKVP here- > https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-blaze-king-products.152932/
2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)
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Some good info from BKVP here- > https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-blaze-king-products.152932/
No more pet pictures? Calling pet owners to post their pet/pets in front of their Blaze King or any wood stove. If somebody else can post a link here, that would be great!
I want a 10 CF firebox so I only have to load it once a week, and I want to vent it through a piece of standard garden hose. It needs to fit neatly inside my fireplace, be on wheels, and dispense ice cream.
I had to sell my wife on the Princess because she was afraid it wouldn't look as nice as the old fireplace.
While I would personally love to put an Apex with a convection deck and a blower in my living room, it would be a bit of an uphill battle.
(I can't help but notice that it is rated for about the same "low" BTU output as my Princess, and over 2x the firebox... No, baby, I don't know where that big green thing came from... But look at this, it takes 26" logs! )
![[Hearth.com] 2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/178/178335-9f26886fba9f8ffc2e1ed7361669b065.jpg?hash=dUgePU-FKL "[Hearth.com] 2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)")
While I would personally love to put an Apex with a convection deck and a blower in my living room, it would be a bit of an uphill battle.
(I can't help but notice that it is rated for about the same "low" BTU output as my Princess, and over 2x the firebox... No, baby, I don't know where that big green thing came from... But look at this, it takes 26" logs! )
I was wondering the same thing, but didn't want to say it out loud.
As soon as we settle on a house, I'll be posting floor plans and asking advice on which BK is best.
The 25's are fireplace inserts, the 20's and 30's are free standing wood stoves.
Finally got the chick brooder out of the house and into the main henhouse. Looks like that is it for burning this year. Time to sweep out the flue stack and start using the outside clothes line again. I sure enjoyed the Ashford this winter immensely.
We've been burning all week, daily fires. Still shoulder season though. Another month of burning to go.
I got to thinking. Yes, the BK is currently head and shoulders above the rest for long burns at low output. BK knows and capitalizes on the fact that the huge majority of the time woodstoves are run on the lowest possible setting. What would it take, and has it been tried, to lower the burn rate down even more? Like half of what it is now and with the same fuel tank size?
Some way to keep enough heat in the cat that it is active but just barely simmering the wood gasses out of the log.
Maybe a lower temp catalyst.
Maybe a two stage cat, like a four barrel carburetor, the smaller cat stage is for low output and the larger one opens
for high output. Keeping a tiny cat hot enough to be active without making high stove output must be easier than trying to run the full sized cat at low temps.
I'm not interested in a pellet stove or central furnace. I want to burn wood slower and obviously I'm not alone.
I got to thinking. Yes, the BK is currently head and shoulders above the rest for long burns at low output. BK knows and capitalizes on the fact that the huge majority of the time woodstoves are run on the lowest possible setting. What would it take, and has it been tried, to lower the burn rate down even more? Like half of what it is now and with the same fuel tank size?
Some way to keep enough heat in the cat that it is active but just barely simmering the wood gasses out of the log.
Maybe a lower temp catalyst.
Maybe a two stage cat, like a four barrel carburetor, the smaller cat stage is for low output and the larger one opens
for high output. Keeping a tiny cat hot enough to be active without making high stove output must be easier than trying to run the full sized cat at low temps.
I'm not interested in a pellet stove or central furnace. I want to burn wood slower and obviously I'm not alone.
I consistently get the cat to light off in 15 minutes if I stack the wood ( 6 splits) near the front in a triangle so the top pieces are close to the cat shield. The combustion air blows on the glass causing the flames to come up and lick the cat shield. Instant light off even though the cat probe is pointing at "n" on the "Inactive" marking on the thermometer. I close the bypass when the FLUE is ~350 and the burning continues without any problems. The cat is well aglow. Minutes later the cat thermometer shoots up into the active region.
This process could be exaggerated by placing fire bricks in the bottom of the fire box to raise the wood closer to the cat. Use shorter pieces of wood to keep the fire closer to the cat. The trick is to keep the cat above light off (600-600). On average, the entire stove would be running much cooler and at a very reduced burn rate. Next year I will try this. Does this make sense?
This process could be exaggerated by placing fire bricks in the bottom of the fire box to raise the wood closer to the cat. Use shorter pieces of wood to keep the fire closer to the cat. The trick is to keep the cat above light off (600-600). On average, the entire stove would be running much cooler and at a very reduced burn rate. Next year I will try this. Does this make sense?
Predicting us to be in the 70s in a couple days. Comes a point where wood burning is inefficient. Currently with 48-50F overnight our house doesn't go below 68F. If windy a couple short squirts from the heat pump warms it right up. During daytime it warms up pretty well with the sun and holds it.
It's still snowy and cold here in the mountains of Colorado. (10" of wet slop yesterday/last night/today and a high of 45) Combine that with the fact that we have no other permanent heat source.... and yes, we are still burning the Princess nightly here. (and will for another month or so from the looks of it)
We are going to buy a 3rd BK this summer to put in the greenhouse...and after comparing wood consumption for the season...(my 2.5 cords to his 8 in an old Fisher smoke dragon) I'm 99.9% sure my neighbor is also going to order one at the same time.
We are going to buy a 3rd BK this summer to put in the greenhouse...and after comparing wood consumption for the season...(my 2.5 cords to his 8 in an old Fisher smoke dragon) I'm 99.9% sure my neighbor is also going to order one at the same time.
You can't build a stove too big, for the joint I'm heating. Clearances are my only limiting factor.
Santa could climb down my chimney without so much as dieting, so no issue with an 8" flue here. Or a 14" flue, if that's what's required.
All poking aside, these two BK 30's did a fantastic job, this year. I stopped burning at the end of March, 'cuz it was so damn warm for a period that I chose to stop hauling wood up to the house and clean up my stacking area, when I used up the wood I had cribbed at that time. But, we stayed warmer with far less work and dramatically less wood usage, than any prior year with the Jotuls. It's just a shame it wasn't much of a real winter here, to get good data on oil savings.
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Well today turned out to be a bust, 46 deg is the high, right now it is 45, it's raw out with a mist, I'll be liteing the princess again, just a quick over night burn
Well today turned out to be a bust, 46 deg is the high, right now it is 45, it's raw out with a mist, I'll be liteing the princess again, just a quick over night burn
Quick overnight burn. Ha! The noncat guys can barely make it overnight.
Yeah, I have one. When are you ever going to try a cat stove? For research and so that you can know what you're missing?
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