2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[kf6hap]

I agree with Scoutin Wyo, Slow, smaller turn downs with a waiting period can reduce smoking a lot. Relatively wet wood will need a longer charring period to drive out the moisture to avoid a smoky exhaust. Some smoke is to be expected from any wood stove but the smoke should not persist for perhaps a maximum of 15 minutes.

 

[Woody harrelson]

What? Where's that flannel nightgown?

First fire of the season, two nights ago, in Ashful house.

View attachment 185516

Yeah where's the picture of the night gown

 

[BKVP]

You're either on the road or you are really an early riser, don't think I could think straight at 5:30am, let alone post on here

Nope...in office this week. Texas next week.
With BK dealers and owers in the east, I get up each day at 4:30 and go to work.

 

[Mr. Jones]

I'm just kinda posting happenings with my fire experience so far. Third fire. Filled the box up more this time around for all nighter. Keeping an eye on cat guage. Gets to 3\4 of the way up on the inactive range. Bypass still open. I look up at the cat, and it's glowing..... Again, still a quarter of the way to go until in the active range on cat guage, and bypass open. So afraid to close the bypass due to possible over firing the cat, I damped it down as much as possible. It won't close yet though since the spring in the T stat hadn't warmed up enough yet. Kinda scary for me. I might stick to smaller fires until I get it figured out.

What was nice though is that's the first time I didn't have to wake up at 3 or 4 am to reload. It went until like 11 am today. That's 3\4 ish full on inferior low BTU poplar that's still a bit too wet for my liking.

 

[kf6hap]

Does your cat thermometer ever go fully clockwise off the silver scale deep into the black area for a long time? In not, then you need not be concerned about overfiring the cat. I understand the concern about overfiring as my previous stove cat could hit 1,900 if I did not watch it like a hawk. When the flue went over 1,000 the paint would smoke, stink and upset my wife. That was scary. The thermometer is the only accurate way to know the cat temp. Close the bypass as soon as the thermometer is in the active region. Leaving it open can overheat and warp stove parts.

 

[drz1050]

The car thermometer has quite a delay. If the cat is glowing, it's well into the active range and it's safe to close the bypass.

The thermostat will always close the air intake, but it ranges on the stove temp. On a cold stove, mine closes around 1.5. As the stove temp rises, the closing point will also rise up the scale. If you have a real hot fire burning with the door open, by the time you close the door, the air intake is also closed- even if the dial is turned all the way up.

 

[webby3650]

When the cat is new, it's overly active. It will fire up in no time flat! I promise you, if the probe is showing anywhere near active you can close the bypass...

But I'm confused, when you think it's too active you open the bypass correct? And you think you are getting more creosote than you should, correct? But you are afraid of the cat getting too hot? The only thing that is able to pass through the cat is moisture. So if the cat is working overtime, the only thing that can cause excessive smoke and creosote is the moisture content of the wood. Stoves don't make creosote, firewood does. Maybe you need to try a different moisture meter as a control?

 

[Mr. Jones]

Actually, the T stat is totally different on the insert, and is open almost a full inch when set to fully closed on the knob. Only when the stove warms up enough, it will close.

Maybe my moisture meter is bad. It's got a resistor I can check it with, and it comes out correct. I dunno. All I know is that the firebox is getting the shiny black stuff building up, to the point it almost looks like it's dripping down in the back of the stove wall. Guess I need to try some different wood.

Yes, when the cat is over glowing to me, I open the by pass until I can get some of the smoke out of the box, and slow the smoldering down. It's brand new cat, so it over reacts I guess. I like a dull red glow, but simply bump the T stat a tiny bit, and the rush of oxygen makes it quickly within 10 seconds bump up to a bright orange yellow that I can see sitting on my couch shining on the floor.

 

[Ashful]

The cat should always glow in the first few hours of a burn. What I don't get is that you were worried about overfiring your cat, but stated your probe wasn't even into the active zone, yet?

Mine, on med-low burn.




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[Mr. Jones]

I hadn't charred it enough yet, the flame went out, and smoke was boiling around in there, so I knew if I closed it, it would super glow indicating over firing that I've heard on here is bad for it over certain temps leading to premature failure. I'd rather not have to buy a new one every year or two from it hitting 2k plus degrees for any amount of time. See, I think most on here are referencing to the cat guage when mentioning over firing, but I'm worried about the cat when it glows that much so quickly, even before the guage can catch up ten min later.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Yours looks great. Nice dull red. Look at my pic again. The outsides were like yours, but the middle was yellow it was so bright, like a light bulb in there. It'll die down after 3 to 5 min or so, but I was worried of the 5 min this thing has to be over 2k degrees. Too bad I can't point my laser thermometer at it, but it would be measuring the glass and not the front of the cat.

 

[kennyp2339]

All I know is that the firebox is getting the shiny black stuff building up, to the point it almost looks like it's dripping down in the back of the stove wall

I took a look at my stove box and I have the same thing going on, its normal for the stove box to get all tarred up, that's why BK recommends doing a
30min burn on high once a week, as far as the cat glowing to much, its a new cat so it should be supper sensitive at first, If you moisture content it good <20% it would just let that baby rip on high (not all the way high) for a good half hour turning on the blower after the 1st 20min.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Mr. Jones,
If you are certain that you are following the operation instructions in your manual. Then I would say the coating you are seeing inside the stove Is being caused by damp if not wet wood. I have only had mine one season so I am no pro but... Build your fire watch your cat gauge when it enters or as some say when the needle is close to active close the by-pass and set your thermostat where you want it . Now go sit in another room don't stare at the cat or the Thermo. just leave it be, you should be fine if you are getting excessive smoke you have wet wood.

 

[kf6hap]

The cat thermometer does truly indicate the true cat temperature. The thermal lag is an insignificant ~90% at 1 minute. The cat can overfire ONLY if the loading door or the ash plug are leaking excess air into the chamber, but the thermometer will show it. Both are very easily checked. A leaking bypass will not cause overfire, just waste good smoke that could have been burned to heat your house.

Blaze king ended cat overfiring by limiting the maximum CFM of combustion air entering the chamber! The thermostatic control damper minimum and maximum CFM flow rate have been very, very carefully worked out. The sensitivity and response time of the thermostatic bimetal control element has been set to govern the combustion in all cases. These things are why the BK stoves are far superior to other cat stoves.

Non BK stoves can and do easily overfire. Opening the bypass to protect the cat is commonly done. I had one of these stoves.

Dollar bill test the loading door gasket and make sure the ash plug is plopped into the socket. No other air leak points exist. After having done these two things your BK stove will NOT overfire because it can not! Don't be misled by a so called stove expert, things have changed.



Anybody on this site-where am I wrong?

 

[webby3650]

The cat thermometer does truly indicate the true cat temperature. The thermal lag is an insignificant ~90% at 1 minute. The cat can overfire ONLY if the loading door or the ash plug are leaking excess air into the chamber, but the thermometer will show it. Both are very easily checked. A leaking bypass will not cause overfire, just waste good smoke that could have been burned to heat your house.

Blaze king ended cat overfiring by limiting the maximum CFM of combustion air entering the chamber! The thermostatic control damper minimum and maximum CFM flow rate have been very, very carefully worked out. The sensitivity and response time of the thermostatic bimetal control element has been set to govern the combustion in all cases. These things are why the BK stoves are far superior to other cat stoves.

Non BK stoves can and do easily overfire. Opening the bypass to protect the cat is commonly done. I had one of these stoves.

Dollar bill test the loading door gasket and make sure the ash plug is plopped into the socket. No other air leak points exist. After having done these two things your BK stove will NOT overfire because it can not! Don't be misled by a so called stove expert, things have changed.



Anybody on this site-where am I wrong?

I Agree. Cat stoves are not all created equal! I've said for years that BK is unparalleled in cat performance and technology.

Now, everyone can unleash the volley of fanboy insults!

 

[tarzan]

I'm just kinda posting happenings with my fire experience so far. Third fire. Filled the box up more this time around for all nighter. Keeping an eye on cat guage. Gets to 3\4 of the way up on the inactive range. Bypass still open. I look up at the cat, and it's glowing..... Again, still a quarter of the way to go until in the active range on cat guage, and bypass open. So afraid to close the bypass due to possible over firing the cat, I damped it down as much as possible. It won't close yet though since the spring in the T stat hadn't warmed up enough yet. Kinda scary for me. I might stick to smaller fires until I get it figured out.

What was nice though is that's the first time I didn't have to wake up at 3 or 4 am to reload. It went until like 11 am today. That's 3\4 ish full on inferior low BTU poplar that's still a bit too wet for my liking.

I'm not sure your cat should be glowing with the bypass open. I got to admit I've never looked but just assumed a bypassed cat shouldn't glow since most of the smoke and heat should be, well, bypassing it.

 

[Ashful]

You're overthinking things, Jones. If your probe needle isn't pegged, you're not overfiring, and the only way to practically over fire that stove is if you have an air leak. Yes, the cat will get very bright when it's new, don't sweat it.

1. Load with dry wood.
2. Get cat up to temp, without overheating your chimney.
3. Close bypass when cat glows or needle indicates active, whichever happens first.
4. Turn on fans, if you have em, after needle registers solid active burn. Fan doesn't affect stove or cat, but it does affect gauge reading.
5. Burn on high 20 - 30 minutes, then lower to your desired setting.

Do note that, when it's not blistering cold out, you may need slightly higher settings, due to reduced draft. The thermostat manages the burn very well, but can be defeated by settings that are very low.


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[Highbeam]

I Agree. Cat stoves are not all created equal! I've said for years that BK is unparalleled in cat performance and technology.

Now, everyone can unleash the volley of fanboy insults!

Embrace the fanboy insults. When the insulter drops to that level it is just confirmation that you're right!

There's only one weak link in these stoves and that is the bypass gasket retainers. They can melt and are not replaceable without welding if that is even economically feasible. Usually damaged by burning with the bypass open after it should be closed.

This is why Jones should NOT be opening the bypass just because the cat is glowing. It's supposed to glow. Jones will cause much greater (expensive and maybe unfixable) damage by opening the bypass than by just letting the dang thing work as designed.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Alright guys, thanks for all the feedback. I suspect my wood may be a little wetter than my new guage is letting on. This issue goes away after awhile, and only happens when starting the fire. I only opened the bypass so I could relight the new fire with a small piece of paper, since it won't relight by opening the T stat alone. "Damp wood I suspect". This gets rid of the boiling smoke you can't see one inch into the stove it's so thick rolling around in there. Pretty sure I'm damping down too quickly with less than ideal wood causing this issue. I'll just let the cat glow as bright as the sun until it finally levels itself out to a nice dark red, and eventually no glow in low cruise mode. With the fan off, I'm usually at high noon on guage, and about 10 to 11 with fans on.
As far as the wet looking shiny black buildup in the stove, I got two conflicting responses. Seems like this should be normal for a stove that smolders wood in it's design on low, but the wet shiny black should probably be more of a dry powder like normal soot?

 

[Scoutin Wyo]

Inside the box mine can also be black and shiny. If I stick with a high burn for the first 30 minutes it minimizes the shiny black inside the box. Totally normal and no big deal. The cat will eat any fuel the shiny black produces when heated up.

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[mellow]

I get the shiny black creosote in my catalytic insert as well, nothing to worry about as it will burn off with a hot fire with the bypass opened. If it is "wet" then you have way too much moisture in your wood.

 

[Highbeam]

The back of my princess will get black and shiney but not gooey. The top of the stove stays brown. The black stuff will occasionally peel off or I can break it all off with a scratch from a piece of kindling. It's mostly on the back wall of the stove which is the only part not protected by firebrick.

Oh and deposits on the window so thick that I have to scrape it off with a razor blade.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Anyone's glass bubled on the lower sides? I usually use a razor as well to clean off my glass, but it doesn't work as well where it's bumpy. Bought it like that. Didnt notice it till i got home. Any idea what new glass runs?

 

[Ashful]

My glass is always dirty in the lower corners, often with flaky-bubbly looking crap, after a low burn. The middle of the window cleans up nicely after a hot burn, but it never quite gets those lower corners clean.

If your gauge is only running high noon, you're not even pushing it. Mine runs around 2 o'clock for hours on end, no harm.

 

[Ashful]

Tell me if this looks familiar, right down to that little hex head screw holding the dial on.


Now note, your 10 o'clock temperature is only 700F, quite cool to run a cat. Most will run their cat 1000F to 1500F, in other brand stoves, which would be maybe 12:30 to 4 o'clock on the dial.