2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 3 (Everything BK)

[ratsrepus]

A buddy of mine has been looking for a BK and I found one for him. Picked up a BK Ultra with fans for $1K. It even has a new steel cat!
I hooked it up in place of an XL Dutchwest.
After a week of running it He said “there’s always been 2 chapters in my life, life before I did acid and life after acid. Now there’s a new chapter, life before Blaze King, and life after Blaze King”. He said he would have switched a decade ago if he had known.

I was going to fix the DW and hook it up in his finished garage, now he just wants to sell it. He said he can’t imagine burning anything other than a BK now.

My DW went right where it belongs, the scrap yard

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

We’re just bored. We own BK’s.

Well played, Ashful.

I guess I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to reload, and pay special attention to the air on the way up and back down to avoid melting the stove down.

Now, back outside to restack a couple of the fallen stacks that I stacked too high. Some of us like to do things the hard way...

 

[Alpine1]

It’s the more pertinent description on how a BK stove works: boring.
No dampers to open/close, secondary air intakes to fiddle with, leaking ash pans to fix... nothing... just boring.
And, I love to get bored at times.

 

[lsucet]

It’s the more pertinent description on how a BK stove works: boring.
No dampers to open/close, secondary air intakes to fiddle with, leaking ash pans to fix... nothing... just boring.
And, I love to get bored at times.

Yeah, is hard if you don't have other activities during the day.

 

[begreen]

It’s the more pertinent description on how a BK stove works: boring.
No dampers to open/close, secondary air intakes to fiddle with, leaking ash pans to fix... nothing... just boring.
And, I love to get bored at times.

Funny, folks seem to have to fiddle with them like other stoves. More so if your stove has no bypass damper. There's the bypass damper to open or close, it's recommended to set the thermostat to high before and after reloading (air damper open, then close), ashpan trap door needs to be checked to avoid a clinker gettting stuck. Seems like the usual stuff.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Funny, folks seem to have to fiddle with them like other stoves. More so if your stove has no bypass damper. There's the bypass damper to open or close, it's recommended to set the thermostat to high before and after reloading (air damper open, then close), ashpan trap door needs to be checked to avoid a clinker gettting stuck. Seems like the usual stuff.

Keeping it real!

 

[Woody Stover]

A buddy of mine has been looking for a BK and I found one for him. Picked up a BK Ultra with fans for $1K. It even has a new steel cat! I hooked it up in place of an XL Dutchwest...I was going to fix the DW and hook it up in his finished garage, now he just wants to sell it. He said he can’t imagine burning anything other than a BK now.

Dutchwest cat? Heck, I would put that thing in the garage, for no cash outlay. Some flame in that un-shielded cast iron box would toss serious radiation heat.

Funny, folks seem to have to fiddle with them like other stoves.

If they get too bored, they can always shovel 'em out.

 

[jetsam]

Yeah, is hard if you don't have other activities during the day.

I'm all good there.



Trail clearing- got a little pine for next year and a little maple for 2021 (jeez). Will go back for another truckload of maple from the same down tree. Got everything cleared off the trails for today, though.

 

[webby3650]

Funny, folks seem to have to fiddle with them like other stoves. More so if your stove has no bypass damper. There's the bypass damper to open or close, it's recommended to set the thermostat to high before and after reloading (air damper open, then close), ashpan trap door needs to be checked to avoid a clinker gettting stuck. Seems like the usual stuff.

Once the cat is active, (which typically still is when I reload,) I shut the bypass, set the air to the desired setting and don’t come back. No fiddling whatsoever. I haven’t ever had any issue with the ashpan door trap, not once.

 

[jetsam]

I fiddled a lot this year, because it was so cold and I had laid in less than a cord of pine. I had coals galore.

I found BKVP's method to be the best- turn the air up, pull the coals forward, maybe throw some small pine splits on top if you need lots of heat right now.

 

[lsucet]

Fiddle the stoves every 24 hrs and with data of how the house is staying to desired temp, now,that, is keeping it real. there is fiddle with any brand and that is for sure but BK makes it simple. Many issues mentioned here lately have been due to setup and operation. I said MANY not ALL. We have been seeing shorter chimney with bents, smoke coming thru seamings, creosote leaking down and out of pipe, etc, etc, etc. those will have problems regardless which stove they are using. But a BK with a good install and operation is hard to beat. Just saying.

 

[ratsrepus]

So far, all that I have burned in the new princess is some really good ash, picked up a meter and it was reading anywhere from 3 to 8%. Dug out behind the ash my secrete stash of 4 or 5 year old red oak. Holly mother of wood stoves. got 27 hrs of heat out of a pretty hefty load. Enough coals for an quick relight. Note to self, save red oak for the really cold weather

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Fiddle the stoves every 24 hrs and with data of how the house is staying to desired temp, now,that, is keeping it real. there is fiddle with any brand and that is for sure but BK makes it simple. Many issues mentioned here lately have been due to setup and operation. I said MANY not ALL. We have been seeing shorter chimney with bents, smoke coming thru seamings, creosote leaking down and out of pipe, etc, etc, etc. those will have problems regardless which stove they are using. But a BK with a good install and operation is hard to beat. Just saying.

The level of loyalty to this product is off the charts, well, at least here. It's 2018, and the technology isn't rocket science, I don't think. Why isn't someone copying it? I

 

[jetsam]

The level of loyalty to this product is off the charts, well, at least here. It's 2018, and the technology isn't rocket science, I don't think. Why isn't someone copying it? I

Alien magic. When you study the thermostat coil, the loss of uncertainty makes the magic evaporate and it stops working.

 

[tarzan]

Funny, folks seem to have to fiddle with them like other stoves. More so if your stove has no bypass damper. There's the bypass damper to open or close, it's recommended to set the thermostat to high before and after reloading (air damper open, then close), ashpan trap door needs to be checked to avoid a clinker gettting stuck. Seems like the usual stuff.

Yeah, it's the usual wood stove stuff every reload. Good thing we only reload every 24 hours

 

[webby3650]

The level of loyalty to this product is off the charts, well, at least here. It's 2018, and the technology isn't rocket science, I don't think. Why isn't someone copying it? I

Because it’s extremely difficult to pass the epa test with a thermostat that is controlled by the heat the stove is producing. The epa test has highly regulated guidelines, and costs tons of money for testing. Each fail cost money and time, it could easily put a manufacturer out of business. Big manufacturers already have their own technology that they’ve sunk tons of money into, switching to the thermostat would be like starting over completely. It’s BKs thing, has been for 40 years or more.

 

[Woody Stover]

really good ash, picked up a meter and it was reading anywhere from 3 to 8%.

3-8%? Did you shovel that ash out of the stove?

Because it’s extremely difficult to pass the epa test with a thermostat that is controlled by the heat the stove is producing.

Can you explain why that is? Seems to me that a thermo setting is just an air setting, although that will change a little bit as the stove cruises along at that burn rate. I'm not sure of all the parameters of testing, though..maybe you know.

 

[webby3650]

3-8%? Did you shovel that ash out of the stove?
Can you explain why that is? Seems to me that a thermo setting is just an air setting, although that will change a little bit as the stove cruises along at that burn rate. I'm not sure of all the parameters of testing, though..maybe you know.

The stove is tested at low/medium/high burn rates. If the stove shuts down during the high burn test, or ramps up on the low test, then the stove will fail the test. Gotta pack everything up and go home, pony up the cash and come back weeks later... to try again. Not sure if the time between tests, might be a month.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, it's the usual wood stove stuff every reload. Good thing we only reload every 24 hours

Except when it's cold outside.

 

[webby3650]

Except when it's cold outside.

Hardly.

 

[begreen]

Hardly.

Depends on the house. 10-12hr reload times have been reported commonly this winter.

 

[Diabel]

Depends on the house. 10-12hr reload times have been reported commonly this winter.

That is what I have been reading too.

I am ok with it. But that is what I get with the "hated encore" now (almost)!

If I have to load the Chinook every 10-12 hrs., twice the amount of wood, run the fans to get the heat distributed and pay 4000k for it! I might just as well put my old 0028 back in service...

 

[lsucet]

When I do 12 to 14 hrs with the BK cause cold outside, it used to be maximum 6 to 7 with previous stoves with bigger belly. In the same house, location and setup. Before I did any remodeling. The BK shows it's potential on burn times and better heat distribution.

 

[Woody Stover]

Except when it's cold outside.

QUOTE="webby3650, post: 2241492, member: 6398"]Hardly.[/QUOTE]Well, OK then, when it's hardly cold.

 

[Highbeam]

Depends on the house. 10-12hr reload times have been reported commonly this winter.

12 hour reloads when it’s cold but those noncats only last 3 hours when they are being run hard. Weird. Where does all the wood go?