Ashful
Minister of Fire
One (hyphenated) word: back-puff. Many stoves, especially those on the shorter chimneys that would meet the BK max 0.06” WC spec, will back-puff when cut back abruptly.
2017-18 Blaze King Performance Thread PART 3 (Everything BK)
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One (hyphenated) word: back-puff. Many stoves, especially those on the shorter chimneys that would meet the BK max 0.06” WC spec, will back-puff when cut back abruptly.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Affirm, back in march I loaded the stove up during the day, I figured I would top it off before bed since the temps were suppose to drop into the low 20's, I did a newb thing, I opened the by-pass then the door immediately, that initial shot of air on 1/2 a load of heavy char was enough to spark a backpuff, yes lots of smoke into the living space, users def need to turn the t-stat up and wait a little before opening the door if there wood just smoldering in the fire box.
It is entirely possible to go directly from load-char wide open directly to the desired set point in one step. I just prefer the stove to die down a bit before choking off the airflow. This keeps the "mixture ratio" (fuel air mix) a little better in step. This is a personal preference. I believe good burning practice, but not required. Back-puffing is not an issue with my setup. In my BK burning experience it is difficult to get a back-puff. BKs are not known to be finicky back puffers but any stove can give a puff if the combustion air is suddenly choked off whilst the wood is out gassing profusely.
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kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
My winter setting is fairly simple, I do a full char for about 20 min, get the stove hot then back the t-stat down to about 1 o'clock, the desire point for myself is to have just candle like flames, that usually gives me about 12-14hrs of very good heat. I didn't burn a drop of oil for heating at all this past year, I finally have really good wood, a dialed in stove, and good insulation around the house.
You will get a lot of different answers to this question. Because I have a lot of pine "kindling" is not needed My starting load is the same as all other loads, a mix of pine, some oak and madrone. I use a Rutland starting square (a piece of fuzzy stuff saturated with wax) and lighting is easy. Coals from then on out do the job. I leave the door cracked until the flue hits ~350, then shut the door and roll over the bypass. The cat needle will be in the inactive region but as long as flames are shooting up at the cat it takes off instantly. The wood is cut/loaded to just touch the front brick so a wall of flames shoot up to the cat to get it going.
So you stuff it full on the first load? Obviously we want to be able to shut the bypass as soon as possible. I think the first couple starting loads I did were too small, ended up getting smoke spillage.
Nigel459
Feeling the Heat
Yep stuff it full, IF your wood is good and properly dry, with the above-mentioned kindling or firestarter near the top to simply get er going. I've even used just a few pine cones.
You should have zero problems loading n/s on a cold start with proper wood and decent draft. Good luck and have fun
Stuff it full. Completely full! When the flue is hot enough to keep the flames applied to the cat (experimental), latch the door (if you haven't done so already) roll over the bypass and char the load. No "special" first load. Others will do it differently, many ways will work but I like a fast start-up. Mine has a steel cat, the ceramic jobs might take a little more time. Often this start-up process can take less than 10 minutes. Dry pine helps. I load so when looking at the window, you are looking at the ends (N-S).
I should start cutting up the pine I have. Cutoffs from a mill. Probably less than 10% mc as well. Will make killer kindling.
One thing about this stove is it sure doesn't seem to matter how the load is constructed. The other non-cat stove is super sensitive to that especially if things are cool. You need to have a specific size opening at the front bottom of the load.
Kindling/firestarter near the top. hmm...
One thing about this stove is it sure doesn't seem to matter how the load is constructed. The other non-cat stove is super sensitive to that especially if things are cool. You need to have a specific size opening at the front bottom of the load.
Kindling/firestarter near the top. hmm...
jetsam
Minister of Fire
Armload of sticks and twigs from the yard/woods. If I'm not going to be around (bed, work, whatever) I put some splits on top. If I am going to be around I sometimes feed it load after load of sticks to get the brushpile in the front yard under control. It also gives me an excuse to fiddle with the stove all day (lighting the stove usually means it's the first cold day in fall, so I haven't got to play with it for 3-4 months).
If you want the longest burn possible, do a short hot load (stoveful of sticks is good) and then load a proper load in. A cold stove eats a fair amount of wood to warm up.
Nigel459
Feeling the Heat
Yes I have a non-cat as well and totally agree about the configuration not mattering at all on the BK, whereas it's a completely different story with the non-cat.
As for firestarter/kindling/small stuff at or near the top, I find this works well to get things to "take off", both in the non-cat (i.e. the top-down method) as well as the BK. The top of the BK of course is where the catalyst is and the faster you can get that area to 500F the faster you are off to the races and flipping that bypass.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I used to worry about wood gas exploding when I did that (which I guess might be the cause of a backpuff), but it has never happened yet. It just does a cool rolling secondary burn in the firebox until the lack of oxygen slows down the offgassing.
I do have a very short stack that barely meets BK's 15' requirement; never put a manometer on it.
Everyone else's mileage may vary!
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I have two BK Ashfords on two chimneys. One is 30’ tall, and will never backpuff. The other is 15’ tall, and almost never backpuffs. I always cut the one on the tall pipe back in a single step, but my decision whether to cut the short one back in one step or two is dependent on outside weather. When it’s warm out, I’ll go in two steps, just on the off-chance I’m at the edge of its limitation.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Stuff box full of oak, insert Super Cedar, light. Leave door closed loosely against latch for 3 minutes, then latch closed.
I do try to load the smaller splits on bottom, so I’m not trying to light 6” splits directly off the Super Cedar, but I’m not sure this is even necessary.
Mine looks like every other load. Packed!
No such thing as a starting load for me. No kindling (small chunk of Super Cedar only). No more letting my wife collect newspapers (it's a addiction
) No chasing back and forth to add more fuel. Likely my favorite part of using this stove. Easy peasy.on the non-cat I would break up the coals, make a channel down the coals about 3-4" wide. If it was just one piece I would put the bark side facing the front. Exposed down and to the rear. If the wood was placed against any of the firebrick it could kill any secondary burn. Close door keep primary open to encourage the flame to go through the channel and come out the rear. Slowly close primary as it got going. Sure you could walk away after reloading, but you were coming back every couple of hours when it was cold!
Seems like with the BK all that matters is that the load is well charred. I'm sure in the winter the lighting/reloading process will go quicker with a stronger draft.
I put in 3 medium pieces yesterday and choked it right off. Came back earlier today and the cat died leaving a bit of fuel, but there was still heat and some coals!
If you want the longest burn possible, do a short hot load (stoveful of sticks is good) and then load a proper load in. A cold stove eats a fair amount of wood to warm up.
No "trick" burning for me. I stuff mine full and puzzle piece more in. No coming back a few hours later to finish the job. For me, reload is always tomorrow. Then again, I have a rather small house. Some with larger heat loads might reload twice a day. In my situation, the stove operates more like a furnace than a wood stove and I love it.
No "trick" burning for me. I stuff mine full and puzzle piece more in. No coming back a few hours later to finish the job. For me, reload is always tomorrow. Then again, I have a rather small house. Some with larger heat loads might reload twice a day. In my situation, the stove operates more like a furnace than a wood stove and I love it.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
What can I say? Some people value their time less than me. Kindling is a total waste of time, if you have dry wood. Buy a Super Cedar, and get on with life, already.
Same here. I load the stove full, work in a few small pieces and a fire starter into the middle somewhere and let er rip! Since I got the new torch, I haven’t even used a fire starter!
Hmmmm....
Lets see. How can I get the electric charcoal starter in the BK? Taking fire starting to a whole new level of efficiency
Happy Stacker
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