2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 2 (Everything BK)

[webby3650]

Adding the blowers shouldn’t be an issue in a corner install. You’ll be glad you did!

 

[l1011]

I have the Ashford 20.1 on my days off I loaded the stove as full as could get it at 10:30 pm. 2 mornings later at 11:30 am that's 35 hrs. I restarted the stove from coals. There wasn't a lot but enough to get a fire going again. I would not have believed it unless I saw it myself!! My whole goal was to see how long my packed stove would produce heat for. Nearly the whole time the cat temp was at 12:00 until the last few Hrs. I have an Eco fan on top that never quit spinning. The temps outside ranged from a high in the low 40's to lows of upper teens to 20. The stove is on the main floor of a 1300 sg foot raised ranch and the thermostat down the hall never dropped below 70. The air control was set at L for first 18 hrs then moved to the first dot after. I love this stove.

 

[l1011]

I hate winter and the cold that goes with it but can't wait to see what this stove will do when it gets cold out. At least what we call cold in CT. Single digits is cold for us, that is a heat wave for Mr. Poindexter in AK. though.

 

[oldbluedeer]

I get similar results. Same stove.

That's good to hear. Sounds like we're in the same ballpark. Just need to fine tune the operation for what is convenient.

 

[Poindexter]

@oldbluedeer , i wouldnt sweat it for now. Burning mixed woods adds a bunch of complexity.

One finer point, just because your cat is hot enough to be active doesnt mean your fuel is giving off enough smoke for the cat to be doing anything other than sitting there ready to roll.

I have a size 30 box, no experience with a size 20, but i often turn the tstat up to full throttle on sat am to keep the house warm a little longer without having to reload before i leave for work.

One thing you can try a time or two. When you were about to turn up the 'stat, instead go to bypass, wait a couple, then open the loading door, stir your coals around a little, close the loading door, re-engage, leave the 'stat at medium and see what the cat probe does ...

 

[oldbluedeer]

@oldbluedeer , i wouldnt sweat it for now. Burning mixed woods adds a bunch of complexity.

One finer point, just because your cat is hot enough to be active doesnt mean your fuel is giving off enough smoke for the cat to be doing anything other than sitting there ready to roll.

I have a size 30 box, no experience with a size 20, but i often turn the tstat up to full throttle on sat am to keep the house warm a little longer without having to reload before i leave for work.

One thing you can try a time or two. When you were about to turn up the 'stat, instead go to bypass, wait a couple, then open the loading door, stir your coals around a little, close the loading door, re-engage, leave the 'stat at medium and see what the cat probe does ...

That makes sense. When the wood has burned down to a pile of hot coals, there seems to be very little smoke.

I also wonder if the cat meter isn't erring on the cool side. The Sirocco has a bolt-on convection deck that raises the cat meter about 1 3/4" above the factory stovetop, exposing that much of the stem of the cat meter to room air. I say this because at startup after I have closed the stove door, when the cat meter is approaching the "active" zone but not quite there, on occasion I have closed the bypass just to see what would happen, and the cat starts to glow orange from all the smoke that comes with shutting the bypass - even though the cat meter still shows at the upper end of the "inactive" range.

Anyways, the stove is working good. It's just a matter of gaining some more experience with it, and fine tuning the operation to suit my circumstances.

 

[oldbluedeer]

Simply, if you have to adjust the stat during a burn to prevent the cat from stalling then your starting setting was too low. People tend to try and make this harder than it has to be.

Yeah, makes sense. Simple is better most of the time.

 

[Poindexter]

So i tried a new thing tonight.

Those kind loving public minded folks from the EPA have all the woodstoves within 20 miles of here shutdown because of air quality and i am certain they care so much about my lungs that next year some of their burnwise advertising $ will go to DOF and BLM to improve my summertime air quality by paying for smoke jumpers...anyway, while my stove is cold:

1. Brushed the chimney
2. Got my ash bed dialed in perfect
3. Scrubbed the hearth
And
4. I finally gave up and clayed my stove. I have been following the manual since May 2014, just wiping with a damp cloth.

I do run a small distillation plant to feed my humidifer. I often wipe down the stove using a cloth dampened with distilled water.

After 3, not quite 3.5 seasons of following the manual, the enamel on my AF30 looked like butt.

I used "cleansing clay" from H2O at home, distilled water, longstaple Egyptian cotton towels that have only ever been washed with perfume free, dye free liquid detergent, 70% isopropyl alcohol as a drying agent... kidding about a couple of those. Maybe.

If the EPA keeps loving me a long time Ill find a way to get baked on sap off the ceramic tile hearth but for now the stove looks great

 

[Poindexter]

@SuperJ , corner install AF30 here. If you got the minimums without a fan kit and your walls are pretty close to 90 degrees you can (at least i did) add the fans without changing your clearances.

Somebody at BK was thinking of corner installs when they drew up the fan kit, you should be fine

 

[oldbluedeer]

So i tried a new thing tonight.

Those kind loving public minded folks from the EPA have all the woodstoves within 20 miles of here shutdown because of air quality and i am certain they care so much about my lungs that next year some of their burnwise advertising $ will go to DOF and BLM to improve my summertime air quality by paying for smoke jumpers...anyway, while my stove is cold:

1. Brushed the chimney
2. Got my ash bed dialed in perfect
3. Scrubbed the hearth
And
4. I finally gave up and clayed my stove. I have been following the manual since May 2014, just wiping with a damp cloth.

I do run a small distillation plant to feed my humidifer. I often wipe down the stove using a cloth dampened with distilled water.

After 3, not quite 3.5 seasons of following the manual, the enamel on my AF30 looked like butt.

I used "cleansing clay" from H2O at home, distilled water, longstaple Egyptian cotton towels that have only ever been washed with perfume free, dye free liquid detergent, 70% isopropyl alcohol as a drying agent... kidding about a couple of those. Maybe.

If the EPA keeps loving me a long time Ill find a way to get baked on sap off the ceramic tile hearth but for now the stove looks great

View attachment 216797

Looks good, much more princely than my plain Jane sirocco.

Yeah, it would seem that those managing the forests would rather watch them burn than log them or otherwise reduce the fuels buildup. At least burning a wood stove helps a little bit in that regard. In all fairness, though, the misguided environmental groups sue to prevent most any significant new logging operation that is proposed, so in some ways those agencies have their hands tied.

 

[Poindexter]

@oldbluedeer , management of this website has made it clear, repeatedly, that this website is about heating with wood and not a soapbox for political opinion.

I did not say jackbooted thugs. I did not explicitly describe narrow minded bureaucratic zealotry masquerading as altruism. I did not use any profanity.

What woods can you get in large quantities? For two seasons I ran a mix of birch and spruce in my BK. I switched to all spruce last winter, this is my second year running all spruce. At 18M v- 22M BTU/ cord they sound pretty similar, but birch makes coals that last for hours, where spruce makes coals that last for minutes.

By letting go of birch and burning spruce only, i have eliminated a variable. All i pay attention to now is the depth of my ashbed, forecast temps and air quality alerts from my friends at the EPA.

 

[drz1050]

If the EPA keeps loving me a long time Ill find a way to get baked on sap off the ceramic tile hearth but for now the stove looks great

Gasoline and a green scrubby will probably take that sap right off... then wash with warm soapy water afterwards to get the gas smell away. The stove does look great!

 

[oldbluedeer]

Looks good, much more princely than my plain Jane sirocco.

Yeah, it would seem that those managing the forests would rather watch them burn than log them or otherwise reduce the fuels buildup. At least burning a wood stove helps a little bit in that regard. In all fairness, though, the misguided environmental groups sue to prevent most any significant new logging operation that is proposed, so in some ways those agencies have their hands tied.

@oldbluedeer , management of this website has made it clear, repeatedly, that this website is about heating with wood and not a soapbox for political opinion.

I did not say jackbooted thugs. I did not explicitly describe narrow minded bureaucratic zealotry masquerading as altruism. I did not use any profanity.

What woods can you get in large quantities? For two seasons I ran a mix of birch and spruce in my BK. I switched to all spruce last winter, this is my second year running all spruce. At 18M v- 22M BTU/ cord they sound pretty similar, but birch makes coals that last for hours, where spruce makes coals that last for minutes.

By letting go of birch and burning spruce only, i have eliminated a variable. All i pay attention to now is the depth of my ashbed, forecast temps and air quality alerts from my friends at the EPA.

Gosh, I am glad you didn't say those things.

I live in Northern California, just shy of the Oregon border. Very diverse in terms of tree species. The main choices in my area are oak, madrone, fir, pine, alder, and sometimes cedar or juniper. The oak has the highest heat value, madrone is almost as good as oak and very clean to handle, fir is a little less than madrone and seems to have an edge in holding coals longest, cedar is easiest to split, the right variety of pine is good for starting quick hot burning fires, the alder is lowest on heat value and doesn't seem to leave much ash, and I have never tried the Juniper.

I am not too worried about perfecting the operation of my stove, as I cut the wood myself and take what is convenient and available. But I do enjoy tinkering with it and learning about how it works...

 

[shoot-straight]

Gosh, I am glad you didn't say those things.

I live in Northern California, just shy of the Oregon border. Very diverse in terms of tree species. The main choices in my area are oak, madrone, fir, pine, alder, and sometimes cedar or juniper. The oak has the highest heat value, madrone is almost as good as oak and very clean to handle, fir is a little less than madrone and seems to have an edge in holding coals longest, cedar is easiest to split, the right variety of pine is good for starting quick hot burning fires, the alder is lowest on heat value and doesn't seem to leave much ash, and I have never tried the Juniper.

I am not too worried about perfecting the operation of my stove, as I cut the wood myself and take what is convenient and available. But I do enjoy tinkering with it and learning about how it works...

here on the east coast high btu, high coaling woods are available in abundance. I am actually burning all pine right now in my BK and loving it.

 

[lsucet]

I started to love burning just pine. I used to mix loads on past winters cause of the bad experiences with other stoves, always running at the edge of running off on me when burning only pine. A full load of pine was a NO NO, only small loads or mix. With BK no problem at all actually i can dial it lower and still getting good burn times and staying warm. This year all what i am burning is pine, other pile with different species are just sitting there. Plenty of pine for at least two winters and more. Have been drying for two years, the meter sometimes don't want read MC and when it does is single digit.
Bk is the Therapy of my trauma with previous stove and full load of pine.

 

[kf6hap]

A full load of pine was a NO NO, only small loads or mix.

A completely full load of anything was a bad thing with my other stoves. Has anybody ever had a red glowing top on a properly functioning BK?

 

[jdonna]

With these unseasonably warm temps we have had lately, I have joined the club in the easy + 24 hour burn with the new princess. Pretty cool to experience first hand.

I know what you guys are referring to about a bit of smoke roll out the door now, never had that before with any of my other stoves. Not complaining, I just need to let it sit longer wide open before I open the door.

 

[kennyp2339]

With these unseasonably warm temps we have had lately, I have joined the club in the easy + 24 hour burn with the new princess. Pretty cool to experience first hand.

I know what you guys are referring to about a bit of smoke roll out the door now, never had that before with any of my other stoves. Not complaining, I just need to let it sit longer wide open before I open the door.

The "fiddlers" have the smoke roll out problem, just leave the stove alone, pick up a new hobby to occupy your time..joking around.

 

[lsucet]

I know what you guys are referring to about a bit of smoke roll out the door now, never had that before with any of my other stoves. Not complaining, I just need to let it sit longer wide open before I open the door.

Just do that. When ready to reload, open air wide open, open bypass and let those coals in there start lighting up for awhile.

 

[drz1050]

How long of a burn can you guys get with a full load of pine? I burn it mixed in with some hardwoods now, but just got a big free pine delivery from a local tree service that I'll probably be burning next fall/ winter, and was wondering what to expect.

 

[lsucet]

How long of a burn can you guys get with a full load of pine? I burn it mixed in with some hardwoods now, but just got a big free pine delivery from a local tree service that I'll probably be burning next fall/ winter, and was wondering what to expect.

With the type of weather on my area a 20 to 24 hrs reload schedule works for me and a good amount of coals light up when open draft. I don't touch the thermostat after I dial it in the night before after reload.
The temp here is dropping for about a month or so to low 30s at night with a few days only dropping into low 20s. During the day, temp can reach for the most part, high 60s to into 70s.
I should have good draft cause I never stall the cat or have unburned wood under those high temp during the day and with the setting on low. We can say about 2 o'clock. I think everything depend on heat demand and setups. I also has a good solar gain. As long the sun comes out for a few hours, it helps a lot a good part of the house. I will just to stick to pine this winter when it gets real cold outside to see how only pine works for me.
On a side note I have to let you Know that at that time I will be running two Princess at the same time, what can make me just keep running them on low 95% of the time regardless outside temps. Let see, I will let everyone here know how everything works with two stoves.

 

[drz1050]

24 hrs on pine?? What kind of pine do you have out there, guessing not white... longleaf?

 

[kf6hap]

I just did a load of fat ringed beetle killed pine, 13 hours with enough coals to relight about 2 hours from now. I love pine. Easy to carry in in the wood bag. I did not stuff and puzzle piece the firebox.

Pine burn time can be highly variable. The more dense 12 rings per inch lasts longer than 6 rings per inch. Also if it is riddled with beetle tunnels makes a difference too. All this assumes dry wood.

 

[lsucet]

24 hrs on pine?? What kind of pine do you have out there, guessing not white... longleaf?

Yes, just pine. I don't know the species but that's what is available here and BK makes the miracle. Here are some pictures. I have different piles of pine and red cedar. Low BTU but it is doing good job. i have oak for years sitting there in a separate pile, about half of a cord and for some reason I always say, This is for when real cold outside but i never use it. just some pieces here and there over 3 years. lol

 

[black smoke signals]

I see some of you like pine my experience Beatle kill ponderosa doesn’t work with my BK insert. I quit burning it found it was to dry at 6-8 M/C the cat set at slow burn would cruise at 6oclock. I switched to Spruce better control over the cat life.