2016-17 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[jetsam]

Thanks we like em both too, I do have double pane vinyl replacement windows they still bleed some air where the top sash and bottom sash come together in the middle. We replaced all 24 single pane windows many years ago.
We have Insulated all we can in the walls and 12" in the attic as well. The main issue is this is a two story house and the stairway is a giant passage way for heat as well as people up to the second floor which we do not use often. We have a second bath up there if not for that I would build an insulated doorway to close it off for the winter months. I can get the main house up to 68-72 but that's it.
We have a forced hot air furnace in the cellar for back up in case of a winter trip or something, but keep the thermostat set to 60* so it does not come on too much. We also have a 20x20 addition off the main floor Bedroom bath and walk in closet . That whole area has radiant floor heat,.. we have an on demand gas hot water heather for that system.
So the stove is really the main source of heat for the home really the radiant heat is good but the stove helps it a bunch I think, keeps it from running too much.
Another issue is the cellar it is not heated and some of the cold seeps up into the main house above. It would benefit from spray foam but with all the wiring and plumbing on the cellar ceiling not sure how that would all work out... Ya know burying all that under insulation and all.

If your windows are leaking between sashes, contact the manufacturer and tell them you need replacement weather seal for that area. Might be free. (Could also be a bowed sash or an out of square frame.)

Basement-wise, if the walls are dry, consider studding them out with 2x4- that lets you put R15 up, and if you want to get fancy you can also put up drywall and call it a 'finished basement'. Insulating the walls and floor of a basement can help it to be less of a heat sink- but I'd bet you could get more bang for your buck elsewhere first.

 

[volunbeer]

Tarzan, lay in a cord or two of pine. It doesn't need to season long, it burns short and hot, and it doesn't coal at all.

Any time I get too many oak coals- if it's warm outside, I just use the coals for heat; if it's cold, I throw some pine on top and burn it hot. When the pine is gone, so are the coals.

I also burn pine when I have a day off and don't mind feeding the stove more often, since there's more pine than oak to be had around here.

I will never run out of pine where I am at! I probably won't run out of fir either. I get free ponderosa pine rounds from a tree service. With that said, in the little over a week of constant burning there is no doubt that my tamarack (really big ones with tight rings) has burned far longer than the fir. The fir definitely burns longer than the pine. I have been clearing my own land because we wanted to get about 10 acres of lightly forested pasture instead of the overgrown clumps of pine and fir that we have now for the cattle. I also have permission to clear/thin a little ways into the dense woods of my neighbors along my driveway/property. There are probably over 100 fir trees that vary from 40 inches down to 8 inches in there and lots of smaller pine with few branches (super easy to cut). That will keep me in wood for many years. I have a few dead tamarack to cut this winter and spring, but not many more on my own property after that. May have to get a permit for the paper company land and go cut some dead ones this Spring.

This old Southern boy sure does miss those hardwood trees, but I have to admit that the evergreen stuff here in the Northwest is easy to cut and split. It's keeping us warm so far - just have to reload more often than you hardwood folks.

 

[claybe]

So, it is clear I am still learning...I have been able to keep the cat temp down by turning the thermostat down in smaller steps while the cat probe is about 1/2 into the active zone. All good there.

But, I still can't get these long burn times folks keep talking about. I mentioned one scenario above and last night a full load didn't make it 12 hours. 11.5 hours from the moment the fresh splits hit the hot coals until I walked up to it this morning; it was only about 1/4 into the inactive zone. Again, 16%-18% hardwood, most are 4-5" splits. We got down to ~20^F last night and it was a bid windy around 20mph. I left the stove at the 3rd dot from low with the fan on med/low. Door and glass gaskets are still good.

I would think I should get at least 16 hours in these conditions. What am I doing wrong? Or is this normal and I over thinking it?

I have a princess insert and tend to reload on a 8-10 hour basis. I have never had a 24 hour burn and kept the needle in the active zone. I think the longest I have been able to keep it active is 12 hours. If you are getting close to 12 hours I think you are doing great!


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[drstorm]

Mid teens out tonight.
Temps today hit the mid 20's.
The new thing I am learning is operating with the fans when getting this cold.We may even see near 0 late next week.
Fans do make a difference in the way this thing runs.
Currently seeing success with fan on low and a ceiling fan also on low nearby.
Because of my wood not being truly seasoned,I am mostly burning TSC eco bricks.The little bit of seasoned cherry and oak I have used so far blows those things out of the water heat wise.Not complaining though,I would be lost without them this year.
Any advice from the cold climate 24/7 burners and checking your flue/chimney for build up?
I checked about a week ago from the bottom cleanout when the stove was out with a flashlight.
Didn't see much.Steep roof making it difficult for myself to take a ladder and look from the top down.
I do have the advantage of my master bedroom having a skylight looking at the last 3 feet of chimney pipe and cap.
Can I learn anything from this?

My avatar shows the inside,this vents into an outdoor double wall insulated stainless steel class A with about 20 feet of pipe.
My plan is to pay a pro to do a cleaning and inspect in a few weeks.I think that should give me an idea if I am burning correctly enough to make it until the end,possibly March in these parts considering I have a heat pump.
I am keeping that bypass opened as little as possible,mostly during hot reloads.I have been keeping the cat active for the most part between loads.

Advice?

 

[Poindexter]

@drstorm , do you have a T at the bottom of the outside pipe?

If so, after one cord burnt, brush to see what you get. If it is less than a pint, go two cords and brush again. if its less than a pint, burn four cords and brush again. if it is less than a pint, burn six...

My advice, if you can brush from the bottom is skip the flashlight and just brush the thing out.

 

[jetsam]

I have a princess insert and tend to reload on a 8-10 hour basis. I have never had a 24 hour burn and kept the needle in the active zone. I think the longest I have been able to keep it active is 12 hours. If you are getting close to 12 hours I think you are doing great!

24 hour burns are shoulder season stuff, when it's 45-50 outside. That said, I routinely do 24 hour burns in my Princess insert in warm weather. Cram it full, thermostat fairly low, fan off. Doing 3 a day atm, will probably be more soon if the NWS is right.

 

[Tar12]

Hello....first let me say I am new here and considering a BK Princess or a Ideal Steel Hybrid stove to heat my 1800sq ft. double wide home. It was a eye opener to see how far wood stoves had advanced I have burned wood my entire life using everything from plate stoves to a Wood Master boiler. The boiler served me well for 25 years but finally gave it up this past year. I do not want to play the boiler game again so here I am. I am looking for a SOLID 12-14 hr burn time as we both work.The Princess will achieve this. 40 hr burn times mean nothing to me really as I am looking for day to day consistency.The Ideal Steel stove real world burn times? Do you have to wait till the fire burns completely down in both models before you add wood? What are the chimney height requirements for both?I have access to unlimited amounts of Oak,Ash and Hickory so wood quality will not be a issue. In fact I have approx. 30 rick of seasoned oak and ash waiting to be burned.Thanks in advance! Rick

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Volunbeer
Last evening for the first time ever I put a little fir in the stove, I must say I was very surprised. I had about 4" of coals and wanted to a good full reload at bedtime about 9:30 or so. These guys have suggested that if you have an abundance of coals or are dealing with a coaling issue and need " heat from flames" try some softwood. So this fall I put in a little split fir and now was my chance to try out the advice.
The theory is the fir will supply heat from flames but when it burns out it will not add to the coals you are trying to burn down. So at 7pm I raked the coals forward and then leaned 3 splits from the front of the coal pile to the back of the stove. Then I opened the thermostat up all the way closed the by pass and waited. The adjoining room where I was the temp was 68* when I was just burning coals. About an hour and a half later it was 72* the fir burned out at about 9pm. The coals were mostly burned down as well. I could not believe the fir gave me so much heat it was 22* and very windy at the time . It was 6* at 7:30 this morning too getting colder it is !

I have burned some Tamarack in the past as well and you are right it is almost good as red maple as far as I am concerned. I know now that Tamarack we call it hack and Fir burn well. I remember trying some Hemlock one time I thought it was very poor wood to burn or maybe it was wet? cant remember it was 20 years ago or more. I am going to do some thinning this winter to try to live up to some of the tree growth plan.While in that area there are a few poplars,.. I may split up one of them to try next year as well.

 

[Poindexter]

Got to fooling with my tripod this morning since I have some free time.

Down to just glowing spruce coals and the cat probe indicator dropping i saw this on the stove top:



And this in the fire box:



So I figured I had about an hour more at high Tstat and high fan before it was time to reload.

As expected an hour later I could see some brick on the back wall and the probe indicator was down to 10 o'clockish as pictured above.



Chunked that out to maybe a 3" layer of coals in the floor of the stove, reloaded, 20 seconds with the door cracked to burn off the fluff, latch loading door, re-engage. Total bypass time for the cat was maybe 90 seconds, but I am running cord wood plenty under 16% MC.

Glass is clean enough to suit me. It hasn't been cleaned with anything other than fire since the guy from the BK dealer was here back in May.

I still think if I had oak or other long coaling hardwood available I would burn it on low in the shoulders to take advantage of the coaling stage. Right now I need more BTUs than I can get from coals, I need wood gas in the cat, and lots of it. Spruce is a perfect fit for this stove and my needs for the next several weeks, well into March 2017.

 

[Poindexter]

Volunbeer
Last evening for the first time ever I put a little fir in the stove... I had about 4" of coals and wanted to a good full reload at bedtime about 9:30 or so.

The theory is the fir will supply heat from flames but when it burns out it will not add to the coals you are trying to burn down. The adjoining room where I was the temp was 68* when I was just burning coals. About an hour and a half later it was 72* the fir burned out at about 9pm. I could not believe the fir gave me so much heat it was 22* and very windy at the time .

Thank you for actually trying it and posting your findings.

The BK owners on hearth dot com, converting easterners to burning softwood one scientist at a time.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

Well I don't know about a total conversion ha ha , but an open mind maybe. Does anyone else see very slow response time in typing to the text appearing on the screen?. Sometimes I type the same word twice before it shows up on the screen? And I am a two fingered sometimes 3 typist!

 

[kf6hap]

Tar 12 go to the stove review section at the top and type in Ashford. Just a taste of what BKs are.

 

[Woody Stover]

Convective heat is not impressive, but it does warm the room when blowers are on. Can any of you Ashford owners chime in with the square feet you heat with yours? I'm struggling to warm an 1800 sqft farmhouse built like a sieve. Old stove kept us warm but got 4 hour burns and would be stone cold after 5 hours.
Burning ash...Don't know the moisture content yet, but I know it lit easily and burned hot in the old Buck stove.

Until you can get some of the air leaks sealed, the blower will help replace the warm air being sucked out of the house. The BK guys say you want to match blower speed to the thermostat setting. In our neck of the woods, winters aren't too bad and once you tighten up the envelope, that stove should handle your place no problem. Have you got insulation in the walls? I had the mighty Buck 91 at my MIL's house but it had its hands full with no wall insulation, stove at one end of the house instead of central to the layout and 9.5' ceilings. Heating power only goes so far...
I assume you are talking White Ash, which is the only Ash I've seen here so far. I've only been into species ID for about 5 yrs. though. It's good heating wood, on par with Red Oak and hard (Sugar) Maple. I have a moisture meter but after a while you get a feel for how dry it is by how heavy the splits are. It usually has lower moisture when cut than many other woods, so will be drier sooner than say Red Oak. Still, I like to have Ash split and stacked

 

[Woody Stover]

Hello....first let me say I am new here and considering a BK Princess or a Ideal Steel Hybrid stove to heat my 1800sq ft. double wide home...looking for a SOLID 12-14 hr burn time as we both work.

Welcome, Rick, from one of the Hoosier hearth.com brotherhood. Not sure if you have R-13 or R-19 in the walls but if you live in Southern IN like I do, either of those stoves will easily give you those burn times. I'm pretty sure that even the Woodstock Absolute would. It's bigger than the Fireview, and I was getting 10-12 hrs out of it with stove temps still around 250. My BIL and SIL are heating 1500 sq.ft. with my old Fireview and unless it drops to about 20 at night, they only burn one load a day. I'm a fan of the grated ash-handling systems, and of Woodstock's quality based on their soapstone stoves that I've had. I haven't seen their steel stoves yet. Nor have I seen or ran a BK stove but plenty of guys will swear by them...especially on this thread. Will the stove be located in the center of the home? That will give you the best heat coverage. Manuals say 15' chimney for all those stoves.

Do you have to wait till the fire burns completely down in both models before you add wood? I have access to unlimited amounts of Oak,Ash and Hickory so wood quality will not be a issue. In fact I have approx. 30 rick of seasoned oak and ash waiting to be burned.

You don't have to wait until the load burns all the way down but that's what I usually do unless it's very cold and windy out. If it's normal temps out, I can open up the air a bit on the remaining coals and get the stove top back up around 300, which is enough heat to hold room temp in those conditions. It sounds like you could run two loads a day and open the air up on the coals like I do on the great woods you mentioned, that we are blessed with. If you have 30 "ricks" I guess that's about 10 full cords, and you should be all set for several years, a great position to be in.

 

[volunbeer]

Volunbeer
Last evening for the first time ever I put a little fir in the stove, I must say I was very surprised. I had about 4" of coals and wanted to a good full reload at bedtime about 9:30 or so. These guys have suggested that if you have an abundance of coals or are dealing with a coaling issue and need " heat from flames" try some softwood. So this fall I put in a little split fir and now was my chance to try out the advice.
The theory is the fir will supply heat from flames but when it burns out it will not add to the coals you are trying to burn down. So at 7pm I raked the coals forward and then leaned 3 splits from the front of the coal pile to the back of the stove. Then I opened the thermostat up all the way closed the by pass and waited. The adjoining room where I was the temp was 68* when I was just burning coals. About an hour and a half later it was 72* the fir burned out at about 9pm. The coals were mostly burned down as well. I could not believe the fir gave me so much heat it was 22* and very windy at the time . It was 6* at 7:30 this morning too getting colder it is !

I have burned some Tamarack in the past as well and you are right it is almost good as red maple as far as I am concerned. I know now that Tamarack we call it hack and Fir burn well. I remember trying some Hemlock one time I thought it was very poor wood to burn or maybe it was wet? cant remember it was 20 years ago or more. I am going to do some thinning this winter to try to live up to some of the tree growth plan.While in that area there are a few poplars,.. I may split up one of them to try next year as well.

Fir burns really well and glad you enjoyed it. Dries fast and puts out good heat with very little ash. Very easy to handle and split and the limbs on the larger trees make really good firewood on their own - especially when you save up a huge pile and hit them with the chop saw. The limbs have more BTU's and I have been surprised that a limb can last as long as a split that is almost twice as big on the sides. Easy to stuff in between splits. I wish it lasted a bit longer because it is the majority of my cords, but as everyone says - you burn what you have available. I have also been supplementing the fir splits with some pine. Really gets hot fast. I am finding the sweet spot on the stove finally - definitely runs the best around the 3:30 setting as suggested above.

My pine really gets the fire going, but they don't last very long. I have to watch those because I grabbed a few off the racks in the garage today and they were too heavy. I took those back out to the stacks and split one and it was very fragrant - guessing it was too punky. We are going to be down to zero degrees for about 3-4 days this week so I might be burning more Ponderosa pine because we will be doing shorter and hotter burns.

On a side note - can't wait to get my wood shed built and I am going to buy about 8 of those liquid tank metal pallets. Can just cycle those with the tractor from the shed into the garage and back to the shed. Will be so much easier than what I am doing now - CSS and then move and stack again. I have about two cords stacked neatly in the center bay of the garage, but this is still not the most efficient way to do this!

 

[Tar12]

Welcome, Rick, from one of the Hoosier hearth.com brotherhood. Not sure if you have R-13 or R-19 in the walls but if you live in Southern IN like I do, either of those stoves will easily give you those burn times. I'm pretty sure that even the Woodstock Absolute would. It's bigger than the Fireview, and I was getting 10-12 hrs out of it with stove temps still around 250, and the Absolute has a bigger box. My BIL and SIL are heating 1500 sq.ft. with my old Fireview and unless it drops to about 20 at night, they only burn one load a day. I'm a fan of the grated ash-handling systems, and of Woodstock's quality based on their soapstone stoves that I've had. I haven't seen their steel stoves yet. Nor have I seen or ran a BK stove but plenty of guys will swear by them...especially on this thread. Will the stove be located in the center of the home? That will give you the best heat coverage. Manuals say 15' chimney for all those stoves.
You don't have to wait until the load burns all the way down but that's what I usually do unless it's very cold and windy out. If it's normal temps out, I can open up the air a bit on the remaining coals and get the stove top back up around 300, which is enough heat to hold room temp in those conditions. It sounds like you could run two loads a day and open the air up on the coals like I do on the great woods you mentioned, that we are blessed with. If you have 30 "ricks" I guess that's about 10 full cords, and you should be all set for several years, a great position to be in.

Thanks for replying Woody...I live a hour north of Indy. The stove will be centrally located in a large living room adjacent to a large kitchen with a very open floor plan.What is a BIL and SIL you speak of? lol...I am not up to date on the lingo...

 

[Tar12]

Tar 12 go to the stove review section at the top and type in Ashford. Just a taste of what BKs are.

I will do that..Thanks

 

[Tar12]

Firebox thickness in the BKs?

 

[webby3650]

Hello....first let me say I am new here and considering a BK Princess or a Ideal Steel Hybrid stove to heat my 1800sq ft. double wide home. It was a eye opener to see how far wood stoves had advanced I have burned wood my entire life using everything from plate stoves to a Wood Master boiler. The boiler served me well for 25 years but finally gave it up this past year. I do not want to play the boiler game again so here I am. I am looking for a SOLID 12-14 hr burn time as we both work.The Princess will achieve this. 40 hr burn times mean nothing to me really as I am looking for day to day consistency.The Ideal Steel stove real world burn times? Do you have to wait till the fire burns completely down in both models before you add wood? What are the chimney height requirements for both?I have access to unlimited amounts of Oak,Ash and Hickory so wood quality will not be a issue. In fact I have approx. 30 rick of seasoned oak and ash waiting to be burned.Thanks in advance! Rick

So 1 years worth of wood left over from the old boiler huh?
If your modular is on the newer side, like 2000 ish it'll heat very easily. I had a 1500 square foot one with 2x6 walls and our stove blew us out! I'd personally go with the Blaze king because of how controllable it is.

 

[kf6hap]

My Ashford is lined with 1-1/2" brick and flame deflector shields. The very back upper half is bare metal but the flames are always sucked away from that area. I don't know the combustion chamber's thickness but it sounds like heavy plate when rapped.The entire unit is 500 lbs. and outweighs the King! Chamber burn through would take many decades and I have not heard of one doing so.

 

[Tar12]

So 1 years worth of wood left over from the old boiler huh?
If your modular is on the newer side, like 2000 ish it'll heat very easily. I had a 1500 square foot one with 2x6 walls and our stove blew us out! I'd personally go with the Blaze king because of how controllable it is.

The boiler liked its wood...lol Thats why I am not going back..dont get me wrong it was nice just throwing in wood once a day and walking away but once you fire one up you are married to it...My modular is a 1988 model...kind of drafty actually due to windows that need replaced.They will be replaced in the spring.Controllability will be key here as I have experienced a over stoved situation before...only place in the neighborhood with windows open during a blizzard....lol How loud are the fans on the BKs? It will be in my living room close to the TV. I may or may not go with a fan set up.

 

[Tar12]

My Ashford is lined with 1-1/2" brick and flame deflector shields. The very back upper half is bare metal but the flames are always sucked away from that area. I don't know the combustion chamber's thickness but it sounds like heavy plate when rapped.The entire unit is 500 lbs. and outweighs the King! Chamber burn through would take many decades and I have not heard of one doing so.

Are you saying the Ashford has side heat shields?

 

[kf6hap]

I was describing the firebox insides. The stove itself is a wonderful hybrid of a welded plate steel basic unit covered with heavy cast iron pieces. The space between them allows for the creation of natural convection currents so you get a balanced mix of radiant and convective heat.

 

[webby3650]

The boiler liked its wood...lol Thats why I am not going back..dont get me wrong it was nice just throwing in wood once a day and walking away but once you fire one up you are married to it...My modular is a 1988 model...kind of drafty actually due to windows that need replaced.They will be replaced in the spring.Controllability will be key here as I have experienced a over stoved situation before...only place in the neighborhood with windows open during a blizzard....lol How loud are the fans on the BKs? It will be in my living room close to the TV. I may or may not go with a fan set up.

They are as quiet as any blowers. It's a very nice option in the deep winter.

The ultra models have side heat shields, the Ashford is a steel box wrapped with a cast iron jacket.

 

[Tar12]

They are as quiet as any blowers. It's a very nice option in the deep winter.

The ultra models have side heat shields, the Ashford is a steel box wrapped with a cast iron jacket.

Thanks for the additional info. and clarification.