2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[kennyp2339]

I'll be joining you my man!

East coaster's don't use ash pans.. we're dangerous folks and roll our coals to do clean outs!

 

[BKVP]

My Sirocco convection deck starts at the back of the stove top and comes ahead towards the front until approximately the middle of my pipe. Very small and not at all a hindrance to cooking area. Cooking would appear to only require a higher thermostat setting than your normal low setting. Never tried it but expect it could be accomplished.

We call that a blower exhaust, which comes standard. You can buy a "convection deck but it takes up way to much of the top surface. This is a change we introduced in earlier this year.

 

[BKVP]

East coaster's don't use ash pans.. we're dangerous folks and roll our coals to do clean outs!

Heck that ain't nothing! During winter with freezing rain and slick roads, 90% of drivers in the US slow down, in Eastern Oregon we say "hold my beer dude watch this!"

 

[Ashful]

Threads look kind of surreal when two people are posting back and forth to each other, but you have one of them on ignore.

"Who's he TALKING to?"

You must be talking about Woodyisgoody, because I have him on ignore, too.

 

[jetsam]

Heck that ain't nothing! During winter with freezing rain and slick roads, 90% of drivers in the US slow down, in Eastern Oregon we say "hold my beer dude watch this!"

I was in Georgia for a (very rare) snowstorm one time. There was a LOT of "hold my beer" going on. (Also a lot of "Throw me a beer, I'm still in this ditch!")

 

[jetsam]

You must be talking about Woodyisgoody, because I have him on ignore, too. I thought we all did?

Dunno, the message board doesn't tell you that a post is hidden, it just hops to the next one.

Good system, really, because everyone can curate their own list of people they don't want to hear from.

If you have moderators doing that, not everyone agrees with their choices, and banned people just sign right back up under a new name anyway.

 

[Highbeam]

Dunno, the message board doesn't tell you that a post is hidden, it just hops to the next one.

Good system, really, because everyone can curate their own list of people they don't want to hear from.

If you have moderators doing that, not everyone agrees with their choices, and banned people just sign right back up under a new name anyway.

I don't know, I keep even the most irritating people off of the ignore list. Sometimes those folks are just in a funk. Sometimes I am just in a funk. Then later you really appreciate their input. I can't believe that Webby3650 didn't punt me long ago! It's kind of like your brother that you fight with but he's your brother and you'll get over it in time, that is, unless he drinks the last beer.

 

[jetsam]

I don't know, I keep even the most irritating people off of the ignore list. Sometimes those folks are just in a funk. Sometimes I am just in a funk. Then later you really appreciate their input. I can't believe that Webby3650 didn't punt me long ago! It's kind of like your brother that you fight with but he's your brother and you'll get over it in time, that is, unless he drinks the last beer.

You can't make my list by disagreeing with me; you have to be mean-spirited about stuff.

If you drink my last beer, though, you are toeing the line even if you didn't mean anything by it!

 

[kennyp2339]

Hey don't drink my 1st or last beers

 

[Highbeam]

Burned fire #1 for the season yesterday and will do another tonight. We're officially in the fall shoulder season!

During the off season I did a little metalwork on my bypass retainers and now I find that my bypass is too tight. Going to have to take off the flue and loosen the bypass tension bolt a bit. Probably lube the ramp while I'm in there.

 

[tarzan]

We usually begin burning in some capacity by mid October so this is VERY hard for me to say but....we installed a h-h-h-heat pump this summer

We love heating with wood but it's getting tough to do so the new plan is too run the heat pump as much as possible in the shoulder seasons.

 

[kennyp2339]

Burned fire #1 for the season yesterday and will do another tonight. We're officially in the fall shoulder season!

During the off season I did a little metalwork on my bypass retainers and now I find that my bypass is too tight. Going to have to take off the flue and loosen the bypass tension bolt a bit. Probably lube the ramp while I'm in there.

I saw the weather maps shifting that ridge more east and creating a trough for you in the west, I actually thought of you and begreen, I said they're gona be liting up their stoves real soon.
How did you determine that the by-pass was to tight? I'm just curious.

 

[Highbeam]

How did you determine that the by-pass was to tight? I'm just curious.

It was really hard to "clunk" it into place. Took all of my fingers. Same would happen if you replaced that bypass gasket where the new one is thicker, you need to loosen up the bypass plate. I didn't notice this with a cold stove but only after I hit cat engagement temperature.

We needed the cold and rain. Our skiing areas even got snow overnight.

 

[Marshy]

The offsets make a tremendous difference in draft..
Also, It appears this is the first season for the stove.

Seems an offset like that would be quite negligible in comparison to a flue with Two 90's like hooking to a masonry chimney.

I can see it working well, but was wondering if the plug would seat down easily without vacuuming the grove out? The pan does look very clean. I'm just used to shoveling. But if a guy spends that kind of extra dough, he might as well use it.

As mentioned, just use the poker rod end to clean out where the plug sits down into. Even if your not that anal, just leaving some ash in the bottom of the stove to throw over it will seal it up plenty.

I use the ash plug on my 30.0.

Less airborne crud in the house.

Run the tool around the perimeter of the hole like webby described, works great.

And i can do it while the stove is hot to keep the ashbed in the floor of the stove in the sweet zone without having to shut down. Just push the coals to the back, ise the tool to pull the plug, get your hockey stick on, replace the plug, spread the remaining ashes, spread the coals, reload, empty the drawer.

I wasnt a believer until i realized i could do it hot, and without making a mess.

The ash pan on my Ultra sealed nice and didn't let any ash get air bore. In fact, if the stove and chimney is still warm/hot, close the main loading door with the ash plug out and when you pull the ash pan from the stove any airborne ash gets pulled into the firebox.

If you were like me and had to empty 2-3 pan full of ash per week this system is well worth the money. My only complain was the size of the pan. It could have been twice the size as they designed it. On the second trip to dump the pan my welding gloves would start smoking. Third trip my fingers felt like roasted hot dogs.

Threads look kind of surreal when two people are posting back and forth to each other, but you have one of them on ignore.

"Who's he TALKING to?"

Ignore is for the thin skinned IMO LOL.

 

[webby3650]

Seems an offset like that would be quite negligible in comparison to a flue with Two 90's like hooking to a masonry chimney.

Well, 90's and Tee's are never good and should be avoided.
On my minimum height flue, back to back 45's made a big difference in my draft. If the flue is real tall, then it probably wouldn't be noticed. On 15' it's gonna be noticeable though.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

First burn in the Chinook 30! Worked like a champ:



A pleasant surprise was the amount of secondary burn and good show of flames on med-low setting. I wasn't expecting it to be this good based on some advice seen here that catalytics weren't as good for flame viewing vs. tube stoves. I could also turn it down all the way and the flames would extinguish but cat temps stayed 2/3 - 3/4 into active zone even as the wood was burning down to not much more than ashes.

I guess I had to see it to believe how long it could "burn" cleanly with no visible flames (unless you count the ones dancing about the combustor).

 

[lsucet]

I think, most of the owner of cat stoves just try to reach the temp the cat need to engage the cat and charr the wood some more and dial it down to whatever is your settings. That can make the stove not to get into those secondaries beautiful flames. but if you burn hot for awhile and dial to low in steps, yeah, you get some nice secondaries. When is not like tube stove and last as tubes, still beautiful and enjoyable. Maybe i am wrong, but i think most of the time we don't burn hot enough to make it happen.

 

[Highbeam]

First burn in the Chinook 30! Worked like a champ:

View attachment 200347

A pleasant surprise was the amount of secondary burn and good show of flames on med-low setting. I wasn't expecting it to be this good based on some advice seen here that catalytics weren't as good for flame viewing vs. tube stoves. I could also turn it down all the way and the flames would extinguish but cat temps stayed 2/3 - 3/4 into active zone even as the wood was burning down to not much more than ashes.

I guess I had to see it to believe how long it could "burn" cleanly with no visible flames (unless you count the ones dancing about the combustor).

Just wait until it's cold enough for you fill it up! You'll start loading like a human, straight in (N/S), to the roof for a full fuel tank and then let it sip wood for 30 hours. Enjoy that nice new cat. They are especially active when new.

 

[Highbeam]

I think, most of the owner of cat stoves just try to reach the temp the cat need to engage the cat and charr the wood some more and dial it down to whatever is your settings. That can make the stove not to get into those secondaries beautiful flames. but if you burn hot for awhile and dial to low in steps, yeah, you get some nice secondaries. When is not like tube stove and last as tubes, still beautiful and enjoyable. Maybe i am wrong, but i think most of the time we don't burn hot enough to make it happen.

Early shoulder season burning means most time is spent warming the thing up fast at full throttle. Really, we are burning it like a non-cat now. Trying for a small squirt of heat. I burned a whole load (about 10% full) on maximum throttle last night. Cat only made it to 1000 degrees and flames the whole time.

 

[lsucet]

I am jealous, I got some early mornings dropping into middle 50s last week, but the house was staying comfortable around 69-70. can't find an excuse to burn. Family looking at me like, REALLY.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I am jealous, I got some early mornings dropping into middle 50s last week, but the house was staying comfortable around 69-70. can't find an excuse to burn. Family looking at me like, REALLY.

You need to "accidently" leave all the windows open before you call it a night. Then you will have an excuse in the morning. That's what I did!

.

 

[BrianN]

They need gaskets! Ignore the misinformed. If you purchase from firecatcombustors.com, they come with the gasket.

Okay, have my CAT on order. Hope it gets here soon, while we may have a bit of warm weather left. Give me a chance to install it and clean the stove out before winter hits hard.
Thanks for your help BKVP.

 

[redktmrider]

I am jealous, I got some early mornings dropping into middle 50s last week, but the house was staying comfortable around 69-70. can't find an excuse to burn. Family looking at me like, REALLY.

I feel your pain! It's forecasted to be almost 90 F here this weekend!

 

[begreen]

I saw the weather maps shifting that ridge more east and creating a trough for you in the west, I actually thought of you and begreen, I said they're gona be liting up their stoves real soon.
How did you determine that the by-pass was to tight? I'm just curious.

The weather changed like someone flipped a switch. I did the same and turned on the heat pump, but it won't be long now before we're burning.

 

[webby3650]

I feel your pain! It's forecasted to be almost 90 F here this weekend!

I was all ready for fall too! Well almost, I still don't have my BK hooked up. No stoves at all for me at the moment.