2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK) Part 2

[Shoo42]

It's most likely steam rather than smoke.

Have you tested the moisture content of the wood? What was the outside temperature when the pic was taken?

Around 5 deg F outside temp. I have not tested my wood recently, but last time I did the wood I tested was around 5%. It should all be well under 20%.

+2 on that. looks like MC can be the suspect here.

I'll have to check the next batch of wood in to see what it's at.

 

[lsucet]

Around 5 deg F outside temp. I have not tested my wood recently, but last time I did the wood I tested was around 5%. It should all be well under 20%.

I'll have to check the next batch of wood in to see what it's at.

At those outside temp can be possible is normal. lets see what other members with more experience think about it

 

[webby3650]

Around 5 deg F outside temp. I have not tested my wood recently, but last time I did the wood I tested was around 5%. It should all be well under 20%.

I'll have to check the next batch of wood in to see what it's at.

5%? That's extremely low. That was a piece of room temperature wood that was then split for the test? Frozen wood will not test properly.

Either way, at 5 degrees I get a good plume of steam from the stack. The same way your car exhaust will steam almost continuously at those temperatures.

 

[Gotrek]

My scirocco smokes grey for the first 10 mins then with the bypass engaged running on high it dissipates and becomes steam under the recommended 20mins on high


Moisture content of my wood is ~16% average. Wetter wood does make it smoke longer during the high burn but it still clears up within 20min on high

 

[Shoo42]

5%? That's extremely low. That was a piece of room temperature wood that was then split for the test? Frozen wood will not test properly.

Either way, at 5 degrees I get a good plume of steam from the stack. The same way your car exhaust will steam almost continuously at those temperatures.

That makes sense. Thanks.
Yes 5% was tested at room temp following split. I have a lot of dead softwood so it's extremely dry. A pretty good chuck will have hardly any weight to it.

 

[Highbeam]

The white stuff coming from the chimney can happen at any cat temp and any flue temp. My steam (might be smoke, but it's white) plume can be 30-40 feet long on a humid day. Steam comes from actual moisture in the wood but also is a product of combustion. I have decided that it must be steam unless it's blue.

 

[webby3650]

The white stuff coming from the chimney can happen at any cat temp and any flue temp. My steam (might be smoke, but it's white) plume can be 30-40 feet long on a humid day. Steam comes from actual moisture in the wood but also is a product of combustion. I have decided that it must be steam unless it's blue.

I only see the "white stuff" which I believe is steam only when it's down in the single digits or teens. Otherwise, there's no indication that I have a fire at all. After half hour or so of course.

 

[rdust]

That makes sense. Thanks.
Yes 5% was tested at room temp following split. I have a lot of dead softwood so it's extremely dry. A pretty good chuck will have hardly any weight to it.

Wood that is too dry can offgas too fast and overwhelm the cat. I'm surprised your wood is 5%, it will usually reach it's EMC and stop.

 

[Shoo42]

I only see the "white stuff" which I believe is steam only when it's down in the single digits or teens. Otherwise, there's no indication that I have a fire at all. After half hour or so of course.

Ok, I'll have to watch it as we warm up over the next couple of days. Suppose to be mid 30s by Friday.

 

[jetsam]

In today's BK news, we are due for a foot of snow and what passes for very cold temperatures on balmy long island.

In my house, polling shows that this news is unpopular with the opposable-thumbs demographic that has to shovel snow and go to work; it is however very popular with the four legged demographic whose main job is to lie curled up in front of the stove day.

 

[Woody Stover]

I only see the "white stuff" which I believe is steam only when it's down in the single digits or teens. Otherwise, there's no indication that I have a fire at all. After half hour or so of course.

I often see steam at temps in the 30s, and for an hour or more. I don't have a wood shed though, and some of my top-covers aren't all that great...

 

[Ashful]

After accidentally getting the house up to 78F yesterday (hadn't loaded one stove since the day before, but they're BK's), I'm looking forward to 15F tonight.

Wind is howling, and the snow is coming down at 28F this morning. Both Ashfords are chewing on oak today (their normal diet), and the family is warm at home on this snow day, while I'm at work.

 

[Gotrek]

-30c(-22f) for us the BK is pretty much on high 24x7

 

[kennyp2339]

Got about 12" at the house, lows tonight in the lower teens, BK is running low, gonna turn her up high and raise the upstairs to 75 before bed, then go back to medium and maintain low 70's

 

[Highbeam]

I only see the "white stuff" which I believe is steam only when it's down in the single digits or teens. Otherwise, there's no indication that I have a fire at all. After half hour or so of course.

If you have natural gas burners in your area, look at their little chimneys. See the steam plume? When run at lower outputs, our BKs emit "smoke" at such low temperatures that the smoke is barely above condensation temperature in the flue so the water in the smoke can/will fall out into visible steam whenever those people with gas chimneys are steaming. Certainly is common to get white stuff from a BK for part of the burn when weather is consistent with visible steam. Some of you folks live where it is so dry that steam is never visible so it is hard to understand why the rest of us get visible steam.

 

[Marshy]

Here are 3 pics with half load burning for about 20 min like this.View attachment 194377View attachment 194376View attachment 194378

Looks like water vapor to me. With a fresh load of wood I can see the same thing until the wood in the back of my firebox gets good and chared. At that point the stuff nearest the glass has been reduced almost to coals.

Currently 15F out and only able to keep the house 66-67 today without some electrical space heater assistance...

 

[webby3650]

If you have natural gas burners in your area, look at their little chimneys. See the steam plume? When run at lower outputs, our BKs emit "smoke" at such low temperatures that the smoke is barely above condensation temperature in the flue so the water in the smoke can/will fall out into visible steam whenever those people with gas chimneys are steaming. Certainly is common to get white stuff from a BK for part of the burn when weather is consistent with visible steam. Some of you folks live where it is so dry that steam is never visible so it is hard to understand why the rest of us get visible steam.

I see steam from the water heater and the fireplace on these cold days. If they are steaming, so does my stove typically.

 

[lsucet]

You guys are lucky. I will be off three days starting tomorrow but temp will be in the 70s during the day and 40s at night for the rest of the week. No hot burning for me

 

[tarzan]

You guys are lucky. I will be off three days starting tomorrow but temp will be in the 70s during the day and 40s at night for the rest of the week. No hot burning for me

A three day weekend and temps in the 70's. Yeah, we're the lucky ones! Lol

 

[Woody Stover]

-30c(-22f) for us the BK is pretty much on high 24x7

Which model, and how many sq.ft. are you heating? Stove centrally-located? Tight house?
Manitoba...that's not in the balmy southern part of Canada, is it?

A three day weekend and temps in the 70's. Yeah, we're the lucky ones! Lol

Right, we don't have to worry about dehydration and heat stroke.

 

[lsucet]

A three day weekend and temps in the 70's. Yeah, we're the lucky ones! Lol

Yeah, we don't have to worry about getting sunburned.

I get it and yeah, but remember this are my opportunities to play with flames. the days that are going to be cold next week, i am not going to be there.
I don't know what to do. Oh ok I am going to burn in the fireplace in town

 

[Gotrek]

Which model, and how many sq.ft. are you heating? Stove centrally-located? Tight house?
Manitoba...that's not in the balmy southern part of Canada, is it?
Right, we don't have to worry about dehydration and heat stroke.

Scirocco 30.1 and about 2200 sq ft but all spread out so we probably only effectively heat half if it at this temp. Which is fine no one is using the other half of the house at the moment

Not balmy although supposed to go to -3 on weekend

 

[Woody Stover]

Oh ok I am going to burn in the fireplace in town

That's gonna bug you, sending all that heat out the flue. Since you would be around to tend the stove more often in town, you could put some other cat stove in there with a short burn time, say only 14-16 hrs. This would give you the added benefit of more often getting to see big flame for a while, when you reload.

 

[lsucet]

That's gonna bug you, sending all that heat out the flue. Since you would be around to tend the stove more often in town, you could put some other cat stove in there with a short burn time, say only 14-16 hrs. This would give you the added benefit of more often getting to see big flame for a while, when you reload.

Hmmmmmm, I will have to think about it.

 

[lsucet]

thinking about it , I will install the Madison big BROTHER. I am going to melt the house