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

[Tar12]

Jetsam...that was a very interesting read....lol

 

[Tegbert]

I remember when I started googling to find what kinds of stoves there were, some of the top search results were long rants about how any stove was good as long as it didn't have a CAT in it because they had to be replaced every 15 minutes and they were hard to light and complicated to run and just didn't work well at all. For example, this page still comes up in the top 5 for me.

Luckily I also found some stuff from people who had a little less emotional investment in the topic, and so here I am.

It's like a religion for some people, I guess. You pick a stove, and having invested in it you know that it was of course the right choice, and go to look for people who think it wasn't so you can tell them how wrong they are. Then you end up with two people who don't know the first thing about each others' stoves, each arguing passionately about how theirs is clearly better.

It's standard human behavior, but I don't get it.

Pretty sure that page you linked to is the dealer that woodyisgoody says won't carry cat stoves at all. I have been in there before and overheard someone talking down on cat stoves. It was quite comical how emotional he was getting about it.


Lopi Rockport

 

[Ashful]

You nailed it with the looks. Wife looked at BK's at the time I was looking and said no way! Went with Quad Explorer 3. Center piece of the room and I wasn't going to win that on functionality.

Precisely why I was rehabbing old Jotuls in 2011 - 2013, rather than buying a Blaze King. We had to wait for the Ashford to hit the market, to have a cosmetically-acceptable option. It is the winning combination of looks and performance, IMO.

Here is crazy. Sometimes between day and night there is a difference of 50 degrees swing or more. My field is not completely dry like other years. The horses still gracing here and there.

75F yesterday and today, and 31F tonight. I know a swing like that is nothing to those of you so far from water, but here in the mid-Atlantic states, it is bizarre!

I'll be pissed if every BK owner was blowing hot air up my butt. Somehow, I don't think that's the situation.

I've seen countless hearth.com'ers switch from other brands to Blaze King, in the last six years. I haven't seen many switch from Blaze King to anything else.

 

[Niko]

So i turned my king back on after a nice cleaning and being off for 2 days. I loaded her up with wood and i never really noticed if it did this before but i can hear like wind being sucked inisde threw the back channel between the fans. I recorded it for you guys to listen but you gotts turn up your speakers a lil but, it kinda sound wierd but the air. I put the microphone in the back of the stove right underneath the air opening. You can her some ticks also whcih is the stove getting hotter. Not sure if the sound id playing threw the uplaod either. Let me know.

 

[tpenny67]

From my 40 years experience burning wood, it's not about "making my money back". It's about improving the wood burning experience. Sure, if I can burn low and slow I'll go through about 40% less wood but it's not about the money because I cut my own. But if I want to burn dry wood, then each fall I need 3 years of wood put up in various stages of dryness (in this climate). That's a lot of wood. If I can reduce it by 40%, I'll need 40% less space to store it. I'll make 40% less trips to the woodshed and I'll open the door 40% fewer times (further increasing my efficiency). I'll go through 40% less gas in my chainsaw and truck and need to sharpen my chain 40% fewer times.

There's no such thing as "free wood". Even if a good Samaritan regularly dumps piles of wood near your house, you still need to keep it covered and pack it inside.

All this gain in efficiency is just a bonus, the real benefit is maintaining better comfort and starting a larger percentage of fires with a hot start.

Yes, but my current experience doesn't leave much room for improvement. 10 years ago we'd stay in my father in law's one room cabin that had a box stove in it. At three in the morning you'd wake up freezing and fumble around in the dark to get the stove relit.

With the quadra in our new (to us) place, a load of wood at bedtime will leave coals for the morning relight. Not having to go outside at 3am to use the outhouse is an additional bonus.

The next big improvement will be adding insulation so we don't need to burn the stove hot in all but the warmest weather. That should reduce our wood use further.

If we retire here, a BK might be perfect. For now, I'm already cutting more wood than I can burn just trying to weed out the dead and overcrowded trees on the property.

Sent from my KYOCERA-E6560 using Tapatalk

 

[MtnBURN]

We all like what we like....and we have differing opinions on performance/etc. I'd think most here could agree on one thing though...

once you get the wife out of the picture it all becomes much easier. ;-) The bonus comes in at the end when she's extremely pleased with the decision you made. (Fangirl!) I think she loves these stoves as much as I do. The other nod in favor of these stoves here.....and I don't see/hear this much on this forum (quite the opposite!)... is that we both LIKE the styling/looks of the big black box known as The Princess (Parlor). Kinda think that if there was a stove pictured in the movie "Beauty and the Beast"...this would be it. Very "Mrs. Potts"-like with those curvy little legs and overall funkiness.
But hey....like many other things out there...we're always a bit off in our way of seeing things when it comes to mainstream viewpoints. If most folks love it....I'll probably head the other way. (American cars/trucks are a prime example...but that's another topic for another forum)

The whole "pine" myth from "back East" is too funny. I'm lucky here that we have a variety of woods in da woods here on my property.....but up north and in higher elevations...lodge pole pine (beetle kill, mostly) is about all anyone burns because other than aspen and a bit of spruce/fir ...the forest is mostly pine. And with about 80% of the trees dying/dead from the beetle infestation...there's no shortage of (pine) wood to burn. I'm fortunate to have some oak here and there on my land....as well as a bit of cedar/juniper. In fact, this Summer will be spent clearing 3 decent size piles of slag created by either the former owner or the electric company when they cleared out the oaks and junipers under the power lines. I estimate it's all been down 4-5 years....so it should be in the zone for good burning right out of the gate.

You're gonna love all of the hot air these stoves cranks out...for hours on end, Woody is Goody. And hey...if you drop trou and bend over in front of it with the door open...it just might blow a puff of smoke up yer ass. Otherwise...it's true to what they claim it'll do...and then some.

BTW....we just bought the 2.6 acres next to us yesterday.... and damn...is there ever a lot of wood that needs harvested over there as well.

I think some new toys are in order....

 

[kf6hap]

About pine. I used to make every effort to get as much oak as possible to avoid a cold house in the morning but no longer. Like MtnBurn, I have an endless supply of beetle pine and you know what, I have come to prefer pine as it is extremely easy to get going. A stove full of pine is mighty fine. Just love'n the BK long burn. One load a day is the usual.

 

[jetsam]

I never heard that 'burning pine will burn your house down' until I moved to the east coast.

The bizarre part about it is that so many people, even people who have never heated with wood, seem to know and accept it as a truism. Many will tell you that they heard this story about how it happened to this one guy whose name they forgot somewhere this one time.

Nobody knows what the mechanism of action is that goes from burning pine to house fires.

That's people for you, though. 'I heard somebody say that, so it's undeniably true.'

I wonder what exact geographical area this myth lives in. (It must have spread pre-internet, because anyone can just google it now and see that it's an "alternate fact".)

 

[tarzan]

I never heard that 'burning pine will burn your house down' until I moved to the east coast.

The bizarre part about it is that so many people, even people who have never heated with wood, seem to know and accept it as a truism. Many will tell you that they heard this story about how it happened to this one guy whose name they forgot somewhere this one time.

Nobody knows what the mechanism of action is that goes from burning pine to house fires.

That's people for you, though. 'I heard somebody say that, so it's undeniably true.'

I wonder what exact geographical area this myth lives in. (It must have spread pre-internet, because anyone can just google it now and see that it's an "alternate fact".)

The stories of burning pine go back as long as I can remember. Probably were around much longer than that though.

Some surmise that folks would gunk there flues up with unseasoned hardwood and then light it off with a load of lively burning pine, then blame the pine for the fire. That sounds feasible to me.

I can tell you that I have pine in my wood stacks but am careful that my neighbors don't know it. They would literally be knocking on my door to warn me against burning it in my stove and re-telling those old stories that they have memorized over the years.

 

[edyit]

my view on the pine myth is this. if you burn a lot of unseasoned hardwoods or smolder them in an old smoke dragon then throw in some pine, even if its unseasoned it burns hotter than the wet hardwoods this in turn would probably ignite the creosote laden chimney, thus the pine causes chimney fire myth

 

[Tar12]

I remember when I started googling to find what kinds of stoves there were, some of the top search results were long rants about how any stove was good as long as it didn't have a CAT in it because they had to be replaced every 15 minutes and they were hard to light and complicated to run and just didn't work well at all. For example, this page still comes up in the top 5 for me.

Luckily I also found some stuff from people who had a little less emotional investment in the topic, and so here I am.

It's like a religion for some people, I guess. You pick a stove, and having invested in it you know that it was of course the right choice, and go to look for people who think it wasn't so you can tell them how wrong they are. Then you end up with two people who don't know the first thing about each others' stoves, each arguing passionately about how theirs is clearly better.

It's standard human behavior, but I don't get it.

I dont understand it either...I once lived in a very drafty uninsulated farm house and my current BK princess would not have cut the mustard trying to heat that place! I don't know if a BK King would have got it done either! That placed needed a 10 cu ft firebox box stove to try and maintain.Man it sucked...lol We were burning hedge almost wide open on the coldest nights...the point being of this is far be it for me to judge someones situation and slap a one stove will do it all sticker on it...thats not reality.

 

[kf6hap]

Edyit hit the nail on the head. With old stoves damp wood could be burned like dry but the creo was building. Dampering it down for the night made things worse. The creo was building. A hot pine fire sending flames up the chimney would start the creo burning. Modern cat stove users are much more knowledgeable about the combustion process and cat stoves eat most of the creosote so the problem has been largely negated.

 

[Niko]

So i turned my king back on after a nice cleaning and being off for 2 days. I loaded her up with wood and i never really noticed if it did this before but i can hear like wind being sucked inisde threw the back channel between the fans. I recorded it for you guys to listen but you gotts turn up your speakers a lil but, it kinda sound wierd but the air. I put the microphone in the back of the stove right underneath the air opening. You can her some ticks also whcih is the stove getting hotter. Not sure if the sound id playing threw the uplaod either. Let me know.

anybody see this? I counldt open the sound with my ipad but it did play on my computer.

 

[Highbeam]

Ok bk guys, I've got a smoking problem. Burning 14% mc Doug fir mixed with a little red alder also at 14 as checked again today. It's snowing and we're warm inside. From inside the house everything is great, cat probe is way up into the active range, glass normal, top of firebox nice and brown, wood burning down to ash. Problem is lots of white smoke (heavy, lingering, stinky) at my normal setting of about 40% and flue temp of 400. If I crank up the stat to 75% after a while I get blue smoke, 600 flue temp. The only way to get no smoke is max stat setting and 800 flue temp plus flames.

I don't like smoke. Steam is cool. The steel cat glows and runs up to 1400 with high settings. I swept the cat face and it looks great. 2 years on this cat.

Any ideas?

 

[Niko]

Ok bk guys, I've got a smoking problem. Burning 14% mc Doug fir mixed with a little red alder also at 14 as checked again today. It's snowing and we're warm inside. From inside the house everything is great, cat probe is way up into the active range, glass normal, top of firebox nice and brown, wood burning down to ash. Problem is lots of white smoke (heavy, lingering, stinky) at my normal setting of about 40% and flue temp of 400. If I crank up the stat to 75% after a while I get blue smoke, 600 flue temp. The only way to get no smoke is max stat setting and 800 flue temp plus flames.

I don't like smoke. Steam is cool. The steel cat glows and runs up to 1400 with high settings. I swept the cat face and it looks great. 2 years on this cat.

Any ideas?

Could the wood have been tainted, like i dunno some type of chemical on it? What kind of stink is it?

 

[Highbeam]

Could the wood have been tainted, like i dunno some type of chemical on it? What kind of stink is it?

Smells like regular smoke. Something you'd smell at a bbq. I just know it isn't steam. I have never burned such dry wood, evergreens, do you think it's possible the rapid gassing is just too much for the cat? Or maybe cat is dying? The cat is certainly less responsive than it used to be.

 

[jetsam]

Ok bk guys, I've got a smoking problem. Burning 14% mc Doug fir mixed with a little red alder also at 14 as checked again today. It's snowing and we're warm inside. From inside the house everything is great, cat probe is way up into the active range, glass normal, top of firebox nice and brown, wood burning down to ash. Problem is lots of white smoke (heavy, lingering, stinky) at my normal setting of about 40% and flue temp of 400. If I crank up the stat to 75% after a while I get blue smoke, 600 flue temp. The only way to get no smoke is max stat setting and 800 flue temp plus flames.

I don't like smoke. Steam is cool. The steel cat glows and runs up to 1400 with high settings. I swept the cat face and it looks great. 2 years on this cat.

Any ideas?

If the problem was your cat failing to keep up, I might expect more smoke at high thermostat settings, not less (though maybe I'm wrong and it just burns itself off in the firebox when it's that hot).

Then again, my stove doesn't emit wood smoke smells normally.

Maybe your cat gasket is allowing significant smoke past it, or your bypass isn't shutting fully?

 

[Niko]

Smells like regular smoke. Something you'd smell at a bbq. I just know it isn't steam. I have never burned such dry wood, evergreens, do you think it's possible the rapid gassing is just too much for the cat?

When you say way up in the cat range I assume the stove has been in that range before? If not maybe your buring off all the crap that has been embedded in the steel cat in and around it! I just cleaned my stove the other day and i had at least a small cup of creasote literally right behind the cat, it was like a find sand and all loose nothing was stuck to walls. I don't have a steel cat so dont know if its properties are much different.

On another note is red alder a smokey wood? I burned some wood last year that was very red in color and made my stove smell a lil more smokey but it actually smelled better.

 

[Highbeam]

The cat is tight in the dome and fully installed. The bypass still makes that healthy click when shut. I did a dollar bill test on t that and it held tightly. Doug fir (maybe alder too) is a relatively high smoke wood according to the charts.

The cat face is clear but I haven't shop vacuum ed it out. The whole thing glows at times. The cat temp, as always, usually is 50-75% of max. It really is acting normally from inside the house. The exception is that cat temps fall pretty low as I approach my low cruise setting of about 40%. It didn't used to do that. Almost like it's dropping out early.

 

[tarzan]

Ok bk guys, I've got a smoking problem. Burning 14% mc Doug fir mixed with a little red alder also at 14 as checked again today. It's snowing and we're warm inside. From inside the house everything is great, cat probe is way up into the active range, glass normal, top of firebox nice and brown, wood burning down to ash. Problem is lots of white smoke (heavy, lingering, stinky) at my normal setting of about 40% and flue temp of 400. If I crank up the stat to 75% after a while I get blue smoke, 600 flue temp. The only way to get no smoke is max stat setting and 800 flue temp plus flames.

I don't like smoke. Steam is cool. The steel cat glows and runs up to 1400 with high settings. I swept the cat face and it looks great. 2 years on this cat.

Any ideas?

Maybe your a candadate for BKVP's suggested air duster cat cleanings?

With my old ceramic cat, toward the end of its career, when I had smoke at a normal setting I could run the stove on high for about 30 minutes and then it would run clean on a lower setting for the remainder of that load. Does your stack go back too smoking once you run it on high and then adjust the thermostat back down?

 

[shoot-straight]

My ashford is smoky for the first few hours too. Got the bbq smell too. I sweep 2x a year. Happens with dry oak, pine, poplar, ash, whatever.

I'm east and love pine. We have a beetle problem locally with Virginia and scotch pine. I have all I can cut. Best part is quick drying and splits so easy. I burn oak too, but selectively. Too much damn work and time drying. I spend time each summer fishing out west and there certainly no shortage of beetle wood to burn.

 

[Highbeam]

Maybe your a candadate for BKVP's suggested air duster cat cleanings?

With my old ceramic cat, toward the end of its career, when I had smoke at a normal setting I could run the stove on high for about 30 minutes and then it would run clean on a lower setting for the remainder of that load. Does your stack go back too smoking once you run it on high and then adjust the thermostat back down?

I've been trying to burn it off. Will even go the full 60 minutes at max setting, cat meter at top of range. Then back to first blue and then white smoke when I turn the stat down to 60%. Then I can change smoke colors after that by turning the stat back up to abnormal levels for my home. I'm almost 10 hours into a burn cycle now and 25% of the full load remains. my burn times are way down, heat production low, and smoke levels way up. The manual calls for a cleaning which I will do next. I think my cat died.

I checked the cap and top of chimney. All clear. Icky but clear.

Bk does not seem fond of vinegar baths. I do have an extra cat gasket on hand.

 

[Tegbert]

I've been trying to burn it off. Will even go the full 60 minutes at max setting, cat meter at top of range. Then back to first blue and then white smoke when I turn the stat down to 60%. Then I can change smoke colors after that by turning the stat back up to abnormal levels for my home. I'm 10 hours into a burn cycle now and 25% of the full load remains. my burn times are way down, heat production low, and smoke levels way up. The manual calls for a cleaning which I will do next. I think my cat died.

Bk does not seem fond of vinegar baths. I do have an extra cat gasket on hand.

You just listed a lot of the signs of a failed cat. And with as many hours as you have on it I would probably say that is true.


Lopi Rockport

 

[kf6hap]

How to clean a cat:

https://www.condar.com/combustorcleaningmanual.pdf

Costco sells vinegar very inexpensively. Automotive and grocery stores still sell distilled water.
Hope it helps.

 

[Tar12]

Smells like regular smoke. Something you'd smell at a bbq. I just know it isn't steam. I have never burned such dry wood, evergreens, do you think it's possible the rapid gassing is just too much for the cat? Or maybe cat is dying? The cat is certainly less responsive than it used to be.

Is this the second cat for this stove? and if so how long did the first last?