Ashful
Minister of Fire
I get 24 - 30 hours on a full load of oak in an Ashford 30.1, with the fans running on a very low setting. I've never tried running the fans faster, since I find them very annoying (loud).
2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)
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I was getting around 12 hours on low with my Appalachian 2.8 cu ft stove with no thermostat, so I am hoping for 12-16 hours on low to medium with the 25's 2.3 cu ft firebox and thermostat, anything past that is a bonus to me.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Actually, the fans are mounted to two skids (sleds) that can be pulled out and serviced while the unit is burning if needed. The thermostat sits under the firebox, at the front of the unit where room air provides plenty of fresh air.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Electrically commutated motors (ECM) can be completely hum free. Shaded pole motors will produce varying degrees of hum and "sing" depending on the speed setting. It was so bad on my last (non BK) stove that I never used it. Hum can also make bothersome sheet metal rattles. It would be nice if BK would look into using these as it could make a nice improvement to fan usage. If BK does switch over, I will make a purchase. Why does low have to be noisy?
Ok, I went to my BK dealer to buy some door and bypass gaskets. They tried to sell me Meeco gasket and were guessing what size based on visual appearance. Please tell me I can order direct form BK!!
Pretty please!
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Pretty please!
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I always use OEM gaskets; They are the right size and density for the application.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
All combustion and related products must be purchased through authorized dealers.
Haven't heard them side by side but our PE fan is pretty quiet too, especially on low speed.
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kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Ejn - I have a Bk Princess, during the coldest of day temps near zero or in the single digits, i'll run the stove with the t-stat in the 4 o'clock position and the fan on half way, I'll get between 8-10hrs of very good heat before re-loading, as with any stove you have to watch coal build up when running them hard. When running hard I do coal burn offs with small splits in the am when I wake up and in the pm around dinner time, I just get a few small splits, rake the coals forward and turn the t-stat to the max, don't bother adjusting the blower.
We installed our first Sirocco 25 yesterday. The sled mounted fans were very cool! The flue collar design is very innovative as well. Pretty sweet piece!
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
Just as a data point, I have almost the same stove as Ashful, I can get 12-16 hour burns in my Ashford 30.0 with the fans off running spruce. I can get 20- 24 hour burns, with the fans off, running birch.
Wide open with the fans on high in really cold weather I can burn down a full load of spruce in four hours.
The fan kit on the Ashford can pull a LOT heat off the stove and spew it into the room. Oak doesn't grow up here. I suspect if I delivered a truckload of spruce to Ashful in PA he would make sniffing noises.
FWIW if my wife had OK'd the aesthetics I would have gotten a bigger stove, at least a princess. In full on wintertime mode with the distillation unit making clean water for the humidifier, and the humidifier running, and the box fan down the hall supporting the convection loop, the sound of the fan kit on the stove is pretty minor.
I don't think it really matters a ton to make the fan speed match the Tstat setting. Its perfectly logical, but I don't think it is required. At my place I let the wife set the Tstat wherever she wants to be comfortable laying on the living room floor in front of the stove. All I do ask is that the fan kit at least be "on", I don't care what speed.
What I find at my place is with the convection deck fans running the air around the stove is roiling or moving or whatever, but it is amenable to be pushed around by the box fan down the hall so i get a convection loop going. With the convection deck fan kit off I have a ball of radiant heat around the stove that is not amenable to getting jostled. Bottom line, the back bedrooms are lots warmer with the convection deck fans and the box fan on the hall floor running. Turning the deck fans off will cool the back bedrooms.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Years ago we made a gas ZC unit that required nearly complete dissection in order to replace the fan. I was at a shop when a dealer handed me a few tools and said "show us how to take out the fans." 2 hours later!!, I had the old fan out and new one installed.
NEVER AGAIN!
Isn't the Ashford 30 slightly larger than the Princess? Did you mean the King?
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Yes, my comment was not directed at anything unique about BK fans. I just hate to hear fans humming on any woodstove.
A necessary evil, on installations where the stove can't freely radiate. Turbulence is required to pull maximum heat off a surface, but turbulence creates noise. BK has done a pretty good job of finding a reasonable balance between the two.
The ideal situation is designing your space such that you won't need any fan, so as to not to have the serenity of a wood fire clouded by the fan humming along, but some of us don't have that luxury.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Ashford 30 is ever so slightly smaller than the Princess.
2.75 cu.ft. vs. 2.85 cu.ft., or something along those lines (from memory).
Ashful
Minister of Fire
The hum is only there when running at low speeds. At higher speeds, the hum is replaced by the sound of rushing air, which is to be expected.
No comment on the rattling sheet metal, one of my Ashfords has the same problem when I run the fan at medium or higher settings. Since I only ever want the fans on low, it hasn't been a real issue for me, but I always suspected that applying a slight bend to the offending sheet metal baffle would resolve this.
Seems a silly statement to make, unless there are other stove manufacturers with shaded pole motors. I don't think there are.
Listen, no stove is perfect. There are always compromises, whether it be cost vs. performance, or even characteristics that suit one installation more than another. I do believe BK has the best product on the market today, for those of us trying to heat our homes with wood stoves, despite the few small warts they may have.
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Ashful
Minister of Fire
I'm living in good times, here. More oak than I can find time to process, the last few years, and craft ales in every bar! Neither will last forever.
black smoke signals
Feeling the Heat
How about some pictures of a Blaze king with full load of wood getting ready for a 8 hour overnight burn. Could you post a detailed time frame of events like fan speed,cat probe temp,Top stove temp,outside average wind speed? I have an insert and still learning here so post some pictures!
An 8 hour burn from a BK.? That's really hard to do. Even at full mojo we only drop to 12 hour reloads.
Fill her full with large splits and then fill in the gaps with smaller ones.
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Same burn times in very cold weather that kenny2339 just reported. Burn time is not just relative to the stove but also many other factors.
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