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

[showrguy]

Burning hard with our defunct Oslo, the normal sized ash pan had to be emptied each morning. Our friends and neighbors who convinced us to look then finally buy a VC Encore cat also empty their normal sized ash pans each morning. It is the norm when a wood stove is used for 100% heating at least in chilly places. The Oslo and Encore ash pans are really simple pull outs with or without a fire.
It would be impossible to wait a week to empty a wood stove used for heating....even a magic BK. Comments are welcome.
Why an enamel/porcelain finish ? Plain cast or steel wood stoves look like hell after a season of hard burns: uneven color, splotchy looks, areas differing where there was more intense heat. Lange and Jotul both used enamel on their stoves many many decades ago in the dawn of 'modern' wood stoves; red and green were common then on the Jotul 602 for example.There are beautiful porcelain red Lange stoves still in use here.

Ain't many who have central heat, mini splits, some Firelight 12's, 2 Ashfords, and....and "open fireplaces" . I'm tired just thinking about running around tending them.

I heat 100% with my King, and, I'm heating WAY MORE SQFT than it's rated for..
It gets emptied about every 2 weeks or so when it's really cold..

If I had a stove that needed cleaned out everyday, I'd dig a hole with the backhoe and burry the damm thing..

 

[Diabel]

No BK experience yet. With my Encore I can go 2 weeks without removing the ash (using hemlock) and about 5-6 days on sugar maple and beech pushing the stove hard.

Not sure where Cast is getting his information.....maybe “trusty” manufacturer manuals....

 

[rdust]

Burning hard with our defunct Oslo, the normal sized ash pan had to be emptied each morning. Our friends and neighbors who convinced us to look then finally buy a VC Encore cat also empty their normal sized ash pans each morning. It is the norm when a wood stove is used for 100% heating at least in chilly places. The Oslo and Encore ash pans are really simple pull outs with or without a fire.
It would be impossible to wait a week to empty a wood stove used for heating....even a magic BK. Comments are welcome.

If I had to guess I pull ash out of my Princess every half cord. Usually takes 2 full ash pans at that point.

 

[Cast Iron]

I give up. The pan is emptied each morning during winter.
You deniers maybe using central heat so the stove has to only go up from your 55 or 65 F ? Not much BTU needed.
That's what most here do with the ash whether completely full or 1/2. What a crowd.

 

[Ashful]

If I had to guess I pull ash out of my Princess every half cord. Usually takes 2 full ash pans at that point.

Yeah, but Cast Iron burns a half cord per day... because he lives in the real North.

 

[Ashful]

Burning hard with our defunct Oslo, the normal sized ash pan had to be emptied each morning... It is the norm when a wood stove is used for 100% heating at least in chilly places. It would be impossible to wait a week to empty a wood stove used for heating....even a magic BK. Comments are welcome.

I used to burn two Jotul Firelight 12's, the full-size counterpart to your miniature Oslo. One stove consumed a cord every 8 - 14 days, depending on species, so despite your desparaging comments about folks in PA not needing real heat... I was running them hard.

I emptied the ash pans every Saturday morning and Tuesday night, or every 3.5 days. Yes, if I scraped every bit of unburned fuel thru the grate each day before loading, I'd need to empty the ash pan every morning, but there are good reasons to not do that. Common beginner's mistake, that some folks never learn.

Why an enamel/porcelain finish ? Plain cast or steel wood stoves look like hell after a season of hard burns: uneven color, splotchy looks, areas differing where there was more intense heat. Lange and Jotul both used enamel on their stoves many many decades ago in the dawn of 'modern' wood stoves; red and green were common then on the Jotul 602 for example.There are beautiful porcelain red Lange stoves still in use here.

I had three Firelight 12's until 2014, one in blue/black enamel, one in white enamel, and one in black metallic paint. Now I have two Ashfords in black paint. No issues with either of the Ashfords in black paint, if you're turning them splotchy, you're likely over-firing them.

I will say, my wood usage dropped by about 2 cords per year, when I switched from the Jotul Firelights to the Ashford 30's, and I'm burning even less oil. Magic? Maybe...

Of course, I live in PA, so we don't really need heat. I'm just splitting and stacking ten cords per year for fun.

 

[Diabel]

Yeah, but Cast Iron burns a half cord per day... because he lives in the real North.

In my opinion, he burns NG (if available there) and nothing else....

 

[moresnow]

Burning hard with our defunct Oslo, the normal sized ash pan had to be emptied each morning. Our friends and neighbors who convinced us to look then finally buy a VC Encore cat also empty their normal sized ash pans each morning. It is the norm when a wood stove is used for 100% heating at least in chilly places. The Oslo and Encore ash pans are really simple pull outs with or without a fire.
It would be impossible to wait a week to empty a wood stove used for heating....even a magic BK. Comments are welcome.
Why an enamel/porcelain finish ? Plain cast or steel wood stoves look like hell after a season of hard burns: uneven color, splotchy looks, areas differing where there was more intense heat. Lange and Jotul both used enamel on their stoves many many decades ago in the dawn of 'modern' wood stoves; red and green were common then on the Jotul 602 for example.There are beautiful porcelain red Lange stoves still in use here.

Ain't many who have central heat, mini splits, some Firelight 12's, 2 Ashfords, and....and "open fireplaces" . I'm tired just thinking about running around tending them.

Sorry to hear you have had such poor performance/results with your wood heat attempts. Stoves that look like hell after a season of hard burns Impossible to wait a week to empty ash

Heck I'd be looking for a local BK user. Friendly up. Bring a thermos of coffee and have a look/chat. You might truly be enlightened.
Comments welcome
3:39 AM and I'am on Hearth delving into yet another deep conversation..... Gotta love it!

 

[webby3650]

I give up. The pan is emptied each morning during winter.
You deniers maybe using central heat so the stove has to only go up from your 55 or 65 F ? Not much BTU needed.
That's what most here do with the ash whether completely full or 1/2. What a crowd.

In case you haven’t noticed, you are the only one that is having this experience. Then when someone else gives their real world experience you discredit them and berate them. If your stoves look like hell and are hemorrhaging ash you are overfiring them. Maybe you should look into getting a central heating system to help out? Your Jotul didn’t handle being overfired, the new VC certainly won’t either...

 

[Cast Iron]

I give. Experience is experience. No fakes. No need to fake this "real world" experience.
Now honestly: all of you deniers seem to have wood supplementing a central furnace at a low thermostatic temp.
Is it so difficult to accept that there are those with only space heating backups year-round ?

 

[webby3650]

I give. Experience is experience. No fakes. No need to fake this "real world" experience.
Now honestly: all of you deniers seem to have wood supplementing a central furnace at a low thermostatic temp.
Is it so difficult to accept that there are those with only space heating backups year-round ?

I’ve done that for years! So have many others, why can’t you believe that? I’ve always been smart enough to have a back up heat source, but I chose not to use it.

 

[Tegbert]

I have backup heat as in baseboard heaters throughout the house. I also choose not to use them and as a matter of fact the breakers to them stay off.

I used my rockport exclusively for heat the year prior and half this last season. Although we don’t get nearly as cold or cold snaps for very long so most of the heating is done on low I would only empty that one every week and a half two weeks. Now it only gets used when the temp is real low for extended periods of time or to bring the house up to temp quicker when we have been gone for a while.

Halfway through this season I put in the ashford 25 insert. Now that one is used as the sole source of heat since it is at one end of the house and almost has a clear shot to the other end and also heats the rec room better since it is right off the room with the ashford. Most times it stays on low sometimes medium depending on weather and I empty that one about every week to week and a half and that only has about an inch of room from the firebrick to the lip for the door. If I had to empty ashes everyday I wouldn’t be burning wood.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[kennyp2339]

Whoa hold on there! I'm always looking for more hunting buddies (so long as they have land access)

True, and don't forget drinking buddies to.

 

[bholler]

I give. Experience is experience. No fakes. No need to fake this "real world" experience.
Now honestly: all of you deniers seem to have wood supplementing a central furnace at a low thermostatic temp.
Is it so difficult to accept that there are those with only space heating backups year-round ?

What does it matter if we have backups???
Yes i have a furnace but it is turned off unless we are going away for more than a day. And i still only take ash out about once every 2 weeks. My father has no backup and takes ash out once a week or so. Everything about your experience tells us you were seriously overfiring your jotul. And if you do that with your delicate new vc it wont last more than a few years. And damage will not be covered under warantee becauseyour stove was abused. But what do webby and i know we only do this for a living. You obviously know much more about it than either of us.

 

[BKVP]

We should point out that each stove model has a different belly depth. My King is 9" deep. When burning larch or fir, I empty it about every 3/4 of a cord.

Also, my home was built in 1895. R value, what's that? Yes I have a NG furnace, but it only comes on when we drop to zero. Not because house is cold but to keep pipes in basement from freezing. That's where the furnace is located.

But also keep in mind species. Hard wood has distinctly different properties and creates large coal volumes. Is it possible the belly is very shallow and he is burning hardwoods?

If so, he may need to empty more often than those with other, deeper stoves.

Got to go...boarding.

 

[Ashful]

...my home was built in 1895. R value, what's that?

I see you got one of those new-fangled places.

@Cast Iron, why would the existence of lack of another heating system matter, in this conversation? Cords burned is cords burned, buddy. No one should have to empty an ash pan after every five or ten cubic feet of wood burned, period.

 

[Alpine1]

I have to disagree Ashful, my thermosuprema has such a tiny ash drawer that I have to empty it every morning.

 

[begreen]

I see you got one of those new-fangled places.

@Cast Iron, why would the existence of lack of another heating system matter, in this conversation? Cords burned is cords burned, buddy. No one should have to empty an ash pan after every five or ten cubic feet of wood burned, period.

After the first year of burning with the Castine I stopped emptying the ash pan and let it build up to above the grate. The stove actually ran better than way. I don't use the ashpan on the Alderlea either.

FWIW, ash cleanout interval varies dramatically depending on the wood species burned. It's why I like burning doug fir.

 

[bholler]

After the first year of burning with the Castine I stopped emptying the ash pan and let it build up to above the grate. The stove actually ran better than way. I don't use the ashpan on the Alderlea either.

FWIW, ash cleanout interval varies dramatically depending on the wood species burned. It's why I like burning doug fir.

I agree i always have atleast 1" of an ash bed it works much better

 

[Diabel]

I agree i always have atleast 1" of an ash bed it works much better

+1

 

[ratsrepus]

BKVP, so is my ashford 30 paint or porcelain? its the pewter finnish

 

[BKVP]

BKVP, so is my ashford 30 paint or porcelain? its the pewter finnish

BKVP, so is my ashford 30 paint or porcelain? its the pewter finnish

It is a painted finish. Sorry did not respond sooner. Sat next to Delta pilot that has a Citation and flew Chuck Yeager to a fishing event with his buddies.

 

[Ashful]

I have to disagree Ashful, my thermosuprema has such a tiny ash drawer that I have to empty it every morning.

Yeah, I should have qualified my statement to be specific to the stoves I know: Jotul and Blaze King. Sorry about that. Cast Iron was complaining about the Jotul Oslo, and that ash pan is not particularly tiny.

@begreen, that's the cool thing about the Jotul ash grate system. It's sized just right to keep a good ash bed above, if you never touch it. Rake 'em and they fall thru, but left alone you can keep a good 1" - 3" above. It really is a great system, if you watch your ash pan door gasket condition.

 

[Ashful]

...and flew Chuck Yeager to a fishing event with his buddies.

I have rather unscientifically determined that Chuck Yeager ultimately defines the difference between the sexes. Say his name in any crowded room and every woman says, "who?" While every man says, "fastest man in the world."

 

[ratsrepus]

It is a painted finish. Sorry did not respond sooner. Sat next to Delta pilot that has a Citation and flew Chuck Yeager to a fishing event with his buddies.

Cool, i once flew a fat Indian with garlic breath from Moosanee Ont to hawley lake Ont.