2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)

[kf6hap]

I keep hearing of BK super long burn times. This is paramount in my book. It’s not so much a money issue as I’m saving the cash for it, but an concern with other units chewing up wood so fast.

Boy, did you come to the right place. I too was a skeptic but took the plunge. Now I am on season 3. Yes, the burn times are as advertised. These stoves represent the pinnacle of catalytic stove technology.

 

[darktower007]

Boy, did you come to the right place. I too was a skeptic but took the plunge. Now I am on season 3. Yes, the burn times are as advertised. These stoves represent the pinnacle of catalytic stove technology.

Which one did you end up getting?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ratsrepus]

Off topic here from maintenance....but should I go with princess or Ashford? If so why one over the other?

I have both, different animals. I like both, the ashford is a real looker and a true convective stove, where as the princess is a blaster. I keep her in the shop chained up in the corner. burn times about the same, wood capacity about the same. Price wise, the Ashford is a bit pricier. If its going in your home Id go with the ashford.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kf6hap]

The Ashford .

https://www.hearth.com/talk/ratings.php?do=viewrating&ratingid=3995

 

[kf6hap]

The Ashford is the heaviest stove BK makes @500 pounds. It is "clad" with heavy, removable cast iron plates. The airspace between the plates heat air that rises and convects out so it is a combination radiant / convective heater. Great for heating adjacent rooms (with hot air) as opposed to an all radiant stove the heats like light from a light bulb.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Which one did you end up getting?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just a note again that these users are referencing their freestanding models. Inserts are also good, but don’t read their burn times and expect those to apply. I think you need to hear from users like @jetsam and @Tegbert. I’m sorry if the latter is wrong.

 

[darktower007]

Just a note again that these users are referencing their freestanding models. Inserts are also good, but don’t read their burn times and expect those to apply. I think you need to hear from users like @jetsam and @Tegbert. I’m sorry if the latter is wrong.

Okay thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chemie]

I loaded our stove in the morning around 9:30. I just got home now and there is almost nothing left. Maybe one more hour burning left. That would make it 12 hrs. The fan was on like 3-4 hours. Before, I was using mostly pine and some catalpa to save oak for winter. Today, for the first time I used all oak in one load. I wanted to see if I could get a 24 hr burning time.
I used well seasoned oak but may be pieces were not so big?
Does fan shorten burn time dramatically?

Especially for Ashford 25 insert users @Tegbert, @jetsam, and others , what is your burning times?

 

[Ashful]

No experience with the Ashford 25, I know it's a little smaller (2.3 cu.ft.?), and that will affect burn times, but that's still 85% the size of a 30 or a Princess. The Ashford 30 can go past 30 hours on a full load of oak.

Your splits are on the smaller side, but not so much so that it should be a problem with achieving long burns. Most of my splits are at least the size of the two largest in your stove, but again, I don't think this should cut your burn time in half.

A few questions:

1. Are you sure you're not just under-estimating the remaining burn time of what was left?

2. I know it's already been discussed, but to save us from digging back, what is your chimney height and configuration?

3. What happens if you try to dial down farther than you were?

Yes, everyone here reports fans will affect burn time. But, you only ran them 3 - 4 hours, so I can't believe that caused you to max out at 12 - 13 hours.

 

[Tegbert]

I keep hearing of BK super long burn times. This is paramount in my book. It’s not so much a money issue as I’m saving the cash for it, but an concern with other units chewing up wood so fast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have the ashford insert. It does a superb job of heating our 1900 sqft house by itself in weather down to about 32° on lowish with consistent 12hr burn times keeping the house about 74 on the far end. I’ve been experimenting with different low settings trying to get longer burn times and keep the house a little cooler. The longest time I have gotten so far is 19 hours on a load with the cat just dropping out of active. Unfortunately that doesn’t help with my schedule unless I load a little bit in the stove to only last 8-10 hours or reload a full stove and hot reload when I get up. I’m hoping that if the house is already heated and it’s below 30° that I can still heat the whole house on a 12hr load without firing up the other stove.

That is also with Doug fir and some of it is not fully seasoned as I was extremely busy last winter to stock up in time. Some are measuring at 22%. Also with just under the minimum stack height probably isn’t helping much. I had about 3ft more but I’m getting the roof redone and to be honest I didn’t like the look of the 6ft of class a above the chimney. I had a short chimney and need to transition to class a so you wouldn’t have this problem if yours is 15ft or more.

I honestly wanted the princess insert but the wife vetoed that idea. I prefer the cat gauge on that and the freestanding ones more and it has a bigger belly for ash And that it protrudes out more for more heat but the ashford definitely is a beautiful stove so I don’t regret it one bit.




Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Tegbert]

I loaded our stove in the morning around 9:30. I just got home now and there is almost nothing left. Maybe one more hour burning left. That would make it 12 hrs. The fan was on like 3-4 hours. Before, I was using mostly pine and some catalpa to save oak for winter. Today, for the first time I used all oak in one load. I wanted to see if I could get a 24 hr burning time.
I used well seasoned oak but may be pieces were not so big?
Does fan shorten burn time dramatically?

Especially for Ashford 25 insert users @Tegbert, @jetsam, and others , what is your burning times?
View attachment 231748View attachment 231749

I have burn times listed above in another post. The longest burn time of 19 hours was no fans. With fans it would be 12-14.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Tegbert]

No experience with the Ashford 25, I know it's a little smaller (2.3 cu.ft.?), and that will affect burn times, but that's still 85% the size of a 30 or a Princess. The Ashford 30 can go past 30 hours on a full load of oak.

Your splits are on the smaller side, but not so much so that it should be a problem with achieving long burns. Most of my splits are at least the size of the two largest in your stove, but again, I don't think this should cut your burn time in half.

A few questions:

1. Are you sure you're not just under-estimating the remaining burn time of what was left?

2. I know it's already been discussed, but to save us from digging back, what is your chimney height and configuration?

3. What happens if you try to dial down farther than you were?

Yes, everyone here reports fans will affect burn time. But, you only ran them 3 - 4 hours, so I can't believe that caused you to max out at 12 - 13 hours.

I see what you are saying about burn times and fan usage and I’m not quite sure where the freestanding thermostat is but on the inserts at least the 25 series the thermostat is directly below the firebox right in the airflow for the intakes of the fans. I suspect this plays a part in cooling off the thermostat a little bit. But I could be wrong. While a previous post you said that you should be able to turn it down lower to compensate for it and I agree with that but I end up stalling the combustor sooner.

I don’t know if it’s the difference in flappers as yours has a hole in it and ours has a raised section on one side. But it’s probably my short flue and not entirely optimal Wood.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[chemie]

No experience with the Ashford 25, I know it's a little smaller (2.3 cu.ft.?), and that will affect burn times, but that's still 85% the size of a 30 or a Princess. The Ashford 30 can go past 30 hours on a full load of oak.

Your splits are on the smaller side, but not so much so that it should be a problem with achieving long burns. Most of my splits are at least the size of the two largest in your stove, but again, I don't think this should cut your burn time in half.

A few questions:

1. Are you sure you're not just under-estimating the remaining burn time of what was left?

2. I know it's already been discussed, but to save us from digging back, what is your chimney height and configuration?

3. What happens if you try to dial down farther than you were?

Yes, everyone here reports fans will affect burn time. But, you only ran them 3 - 4 hours, so I can't believe that caused you to max out at 12 - 13 hours.

1) Before going upstairs to change clothes, I had increased the swoosh because it was barely on active zone. Now came back and it is not in the active zone.


2) I have about 25 feet of chimney. Double wall liner with ceramic blanket stuffed below the cap at the end of the chimney.

3) I try to dial it down and up to find the lowest stop. If I go below 3 o’clock, after sometime cat stalls. Here is the lowest I could go:

But I may need to tweak it a bit if it stalls again.

 

[Tegbert]

1) Before going upstairs to change clothes, I had increased the swoosh because it was barely on active zone. Now came back and it is not in the active zone.
View attachment 231758

2) I have about 25 feet of chimney. Double wall liner with ceramic blanket stuffed below the cap at the end of the chimney.

3) I try to dial it down and up to find the lowest stop. If I go below 3 o’clock, after sometime cat stalls. Here is the lowest I could go:
View attachment 231759
But I may need to tweak it a bit if it stalls again.

I leave mine alone if I have enough heat output and it’s barely on active unless I’m gonna reload it. I’ll wait till it drops off but mine too will cool off considerably if I open up the air most likely because you are introducing a lot of cooler room air to a barely active combustor.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[darktower007]

I have the ashford insert. It does a superb job of heating our 1900 sqft house by itself in weather down to about 32° on lowish with consistent 12hr burn times keeping the house about 74 on the far end. I’ve been experimenting with different low settings trying to get longer burn times and keep the house a little cooler. The longest time I have gotten so far is 19 hours on a load with the cat just dropping out of active. Unfortunately that doesn’t help with my schedule unless I load a little bit in the stove to only last 8-10 hours or reload a full stove and hot reload when I get up. I’m hoping that if the house is already heated and it’s below 30° that I can still heat the whole house on a 12hr load without firing up the other stove.

That is also with Doug fir and some of it is not fully seasoned as I was extremely busy last winter to stock up in time. Some are measuring at 22%. Also with just under the minimum stack height probably isn’t helping much. I had about 3ft more but I’m getting the roof redone and to be honest I didn’t like the look of the 6ft of class a above the chimney. I had a short chimney and need to transition to class a so you wouldn’t have this problem if yours is 15ft or more.

I honestly wanted the princess insert but the wife vetoed that idea. I prefer the cat gauge on that and the freestanding ones more and it has a bigger belly for ash And that it protrudes out more for more heat but the ashford definitely is a beautiful stove so I don’t regret it one bit.




Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

Great news! Thanks for all the info!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ashful]

I see what you are saying about burn times and fan usage and I’m not quite sure where the freestanding thermostat is but on the inserts at least the 25 series the thermostat is directly below the firebox right in the airflow for the intakes of the fans. I suspect this plays a part in cooling off the thermostat a little bit. But I could be wrong. While a previous post you said that you should be able to turn it down lower to compensate for it and I agree with that but I end up stalling the combustor sooner.

Interesting. In the case of the Ashford 30, the thermostat is completely out of the fan airflow path, so there is no direct effect. It's very possible that the dynamics of the system would behave as you describe, stalling the cat at some point during the burn, when you turn down to compensate for the fan's effect on the thermostat. What I had described previously, turning down to compensate for the fan, is a static solution to a dynamic problem. In other words, the amount of compensation may need to vary, as the thermostat does it's thing as the wood load is beginning to wane.

1) Before going upstairs to change clothes, I had increased the swoosh because it was barely on active zone. Now came back and it is not in the active zone.

I've seen several here report that their cat probe thermometers are out of adjustment, and indeed, one of mine arrived out of adjustment. Likewise, one of my fan sets arrived adjusted with a "low" setting that was roughly equal to "medium" on the other. Both minor issues, that were easily remedied, but how sure can we be that your cat probe is actually adjusted correctly? Is it possible it's active, when it's showing otherwise?

 

[BKVP]

T

1) Before going upstairs to change clothes, I had increased the swoosh because it was barely on active zone. Now came back and it is not in the active zone.
View attachment 231758

2) I have about 25 feet of chimney. Double wall liner with ceramic blanket stuffed below the cap at the end of the chimney.

3) I try to dial it down and up to find the lowest stop. If I go below 3 o’clock, after sometime cat stalls. Here is the lowest I could go:
View attachment 231759
But I may need to tweak it a bit if it stalls again.

Your reading is near normal. Remember it's a switch, once active, it's active. Posted this previously that this is normal. No bimetallic spring like other models. Once it hits 550, it's active.

 

[bholler]

Off topic here from maintenance....but should I go with princess or Ashford? If so why one over the other?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ashford because the princess is ugly lol.

 

[chemie]

T


Your reading is near normal. Remember it's a switch, once active, it's active. Posted this previously that this is normal. No bimetallic spring like other models. Once it hits 550, it's active.

Thanks.

Since it is not bimetallic, no need to be worried about if cat probe thermometer is out of adjustment as Ashful suspected?

Is the burning time I am getting normal?

Once it falls from the active zone, should I wait to dial it up to put it back to active zone or it could go back on its own if there is enough wood in it. I’m experimenting to find out the lowest spot to get the longest burn time.

 

[Tegbert]

Thanks.

Since it is not bimetallic, no need to be worried about if cat probe thermometer is out of adjustment as Ashful suspected?

Is the burning time I am getting normal?

Once it falls from the active zone, should I wait to dial it up to put it back to active zone or it could go back on its own if there is enough wood in it. I’m experimenting to find out the lowest spot to get the longest burn time.

What is your temperature where you are at?


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[chemie]

What is your temperature where you are at?


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

I’m at NYC . It is 40 to 50 F nowadays.

 

[BKVP]

Thanks.

Since it is not bimetallic, no need to be worried about if cat probe thermometer is out of adjustment as Ashful suspected? Correct.

Is the burning time I am getting normal? Within range of expectancy. Larger diameter pieces can extend burn times, less surface area to combust.

Once it falls from the active zone, should I wait to dial it up to put it back to active zone or it could go back on its own if there is enough wood in it. I’m experimenting to find out the lowest spot to get the longest burn time.

Adjust thermostat. The reason it drops inactive can be lack of draft (gets better as it gets colder) or moisture content in your fuel.

 

[chemie]

Several chimney sweeps and installer told me that I have a great draft. The chimney is about 25 feet. The moisture content of the wood I have all below 20 %. Most around 16%.

 

[Ashful]

Several chimney sweeps and installer told me that I have a great draft. The chimney is about 25 feet. The moisture content of the wood I have all below 20 %. Most around 16%.

Just to be sure we’re on the same page, this was tested on a just freshly split face, near room temperature?

Proper MM technique:

1. Pull three or more pieces of wood from a stack, distributed through the stack, for a good average stack reading. Put them indoors, somewhere near 70F, or at least not below 50F. Let it sit a day, it takes the inside a long time to warm up.

2. Split the wood.

3. Measure moisture reading (resistance) at full probe penetration at three places, once near middle and once within 1/3 length of each end. Measure only on face grain, never on end grain. Probe orientation, relative to wood grain, is not important.

4. Average the three readings, then repeat on other pieces. Average these numbers together.

 

[chemie]

Just to be sure we’re on the same page, this was tested on a just freshly split gave, near room temperature?

Proper MM technique:

1. Pull three or more pieces of wood from a stack, distributed through the stack, for a good average stack reading. Put them indoors, somewhere near 70F, or at least not below 50F. Let it sit a day, it takes the inside a long time to warm up.

2. Split the wood.

3. Measure moisture reading (resistance) at full probe penetration at three places, once near middle and once within 1/3 length of each end. Measure only on face grain, never on end grain. Probe orientation, relative to wood grain, is not important.

4. Average the three readings, then repeat on other pieces. Average these numbers together.

Yep, we are on the same page.