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

[kennyp2339]

Now we’re cooking! Man I hope my draft isn’t too strong. 22’ flue is one long run.

(3) low fires first, break in that stove and paint, after three burns (that progressively get bigger with more fuel) then off to the races.

 

[Dieselhead]

I've had exactly this happen. The stat will be just a little sticky and keep the stove burning hotter than it should for that setting. Barely touching the dial (not even turning it...just a bit of pressure) is enough to 'motivate' it to click shut. I now take the stat cover off regularly (e.g., pre/early season cleaning, mid-season cleaning, and late season), vacuum any dust out, and apply a few drops of light lubricating oil to the pivots of the air door.

I believe I saw a recommendation for high-temp antiseize to lube the stat? I could also see that potentially gumming things up if it collected dust. I'd be interested in knowing recommendations on what to lube the stat with?

EDIT: As Highbeam indicated below and as the big sticker on the t-stat cover says: there are no user serviceable parts. So please don't take the above t-stat clean&lube as instruction...only an anecdote on what worked for me. I'm sure your dealer would be happy to advise or service. Proceed with caution and understand what you are doing and the risks.

i have had this happen a good handful of times as well, have not lubed anything yet. Good to hear it’s working for you.

 

[darktower007]

(3) low fires first, break in that stove and paint, after three burns (that progressively get bigger with more fuel) then off to the races.

Sounds good. Only problem it will be 65 this Saturday in Tennessee! WTH For once I’m wanting a polar vortex to test my new toy!


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[kennyp2339]

Sounds good. Only problem it will be 65 this Saturday in Tennessee! WTH For once I’m wanting a polar vortex to test my new toy!


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Mid Jan things should be changing for us east of the Mississippi

 

[webby3650]

(3) low fires first, break in that stove and paint, after three burns (that progressively get bigger with more fuel) then off to the races.

3 small fires? Where’d you get that info? It’s not a cast iron stove or soapstone. It’s not a bad idea, just not necessary on a steel stove.

 

[BKVP]

How do you install an insert and liner in a ul listed fireplace without modifying it?

I know you meant insulated liner. The test agencies have hashed "modify" out over the years. I'm certain that there much more that was done by the labs to come up with the method.

My invite was genuine. Our lab and lab nerds might be a fun experience and we always like input from professionals such as yourself.

 

[bholler]

I know you meant insulated liner. The test agencies have hashed "modify" out over the years. I'm certain that there much more that was done by the labs to come up with the method.

My invite was genuine. Our lab and lab nerds might be a fun experience and we always like input from professionals such as yourself.

I meant an insert and liner. I insulate absolutely every liner I install so for me insulated is a given.

If your manual said a fireplace listed to ul127 which allows inserts to be installed I would not take any issue with it at all. Or better yet if it specified fireplaces which it it tested for use in. But it says none of that.

And the next time I am in Washington I would gladly take a tour.

 

[kennyp2339]

3 small fires? Where’d you get that info? It’s not a cast iron stove or soapstone. It’s not a bad idea, just not necessary on a steel stove.

Dry out the bricks from any moisture that they might have collected since being made, and I thought the paint on any stove needed the gradual warm up to cure / bake in.

 

[webby3650]

Dry out the bricks from any moisture that they might have collected since being made, and I thought the paint on any stove needed the gradual warm up to cure / bake in.

Na, not necessary.
BK had a card from stove bright that said to run it up to 450 for an hour and then on up to 600 or something like that to finish the cure. They switched paint manufacturers in the last few years, I’m not sure if they have a guideline. But it would be similar on any steel stove.

 

[BKVP]

I meant an insert and liner. I insulate absolutely every liner I install so for me insulated is a given.

If your manual said a fireplace listed to ul127 which allows inserts to be installed I would not take any issue with it at all. Or better yet if it specified fireplaces which it it tested for use in. But it says none of that.

And the next time I am in Washington I would gladly take a tour.

Tour hell...we're gonna put you to work! And all manuals are a combination of what labs contribute and manufacturers approve.

 

[kennyp2339]

Na, not necessary.

Mehh, no big deal to each his/her own.

 

[bholler]

Tour hell...we're gonna put you to work! And all manuals are a combination of what labs contribute and manufacturers approve.

I know manuals are a joint effort. I just don't know how some of the stuff gets through yours are much better than many that part really is the only part I don't like. I just don't think it is complete

 

[kf6hap]

New cat supplier? New and improved? Better than Condar?

http://www.stovecombustors.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8Dj6sbR3wIVGwytBh3IuAVvEAEYASAAEgJPlvD_BwE


Very interesting hearth add-on products.

 

[webby3650]

New cat supplier? New and improved? Better than Condar?

http://www.stovecombustors.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8Dj6sbR3wIVGwytBh3IuAVvEAEYASAAEgJPlvD_BwE


Very interesting hearth add-on products.

Are those diesel foil?

 

[chazcarr]

I did an initial cleaning today after about 3 months of burning and took a pic of the crack in my cat. There is some ash in the flue for sure, but nothing too bad, and no shiny stuff yet. Stove is running well, but this is definitely a crack, and such a short time into the hours used.

Maybe the company @kf6hap linked to has a better cat for situations like mine where the draft is strong with no real way to lower it without some large project.

@BKVP is this normal use wear or is this something that is a factory defect? I know it is under warranty and am wondering if this qualifies? If you folks think so I will call my supplier.

 

[Woody Stover]

New cat supplier?

Ah, yes, the old "brillo pad" cat. It pops up here every once in a while.

Are those diesel foil?

No, it's like a luffa..very porous. Those bass turds ripped me off, never shipped my second unit and failed to respond to multiple emails. I put the one I got in my SIL's Dutchwest. It worked OK for a while, but I wasn't there to observe it as much as I would have if it was in my own stove at home.

 

[Highbeam]

I did an initial cleaning today after about 3 months of burning and took a pic of the crack in my cat. There is some ash in the flue for sure, but nothing too bad, and no shiny stuff yet. Stove is running well, but this is definitely a crack, and such a short time into the hours used.

Maybe the company @kf6hap linked to has a better cat for situations like mine where the draft is strong with no real way to lower it without some large project.

@BKVP is this normal use wear or is this something that is a factory defect? I know it is under warranty and am wondering if this qualifies? If you folks think so I will call my supplier.
View attachment 237316

I tried telling you before, that’s not a crack. Your cat is actually three square cats pushed together and you’re looking at the butt joint. I see a normal cat with one or two cell walls broken. Totally okay.

 

[chazcarr]

Ah, yes, the old "brillo pad" cat. It pops up here every once in a while.No, it's like a luffa..very porous. Those bass turds ripped me off, never shipped my second unit and failed to respond to multiple emails. I put the one I got in my SIL's Dutchwest. It worked OK for a while, but I wasn't there to observe it as much as I would have if it was in my own stove at home.

So they are to be ignored then?

 

[chazcarr]

I tried telling you before, that’s not a crack. Your cat is actually three square cats pushed together and you’re looking at the butt joint. I see a normal cat with one or two cell walls broken. Totally okay.

Yeah I read that post, the question is if it is supposed to come brand new this way. I said it is working, but I don't feel it should come this way and if I had ordered a new one like this I would not install it.

 

[Highbeam]

Yeah I read that post, the question is if it is supposed to come brand new this way. I said it is working, but I don't feel it should come this way and if I had ordered a new one like this I would not install it.

The new cat I got from applied ceramics was also built out of three squares banded together. I’ve never seen a ceramic bk cat that was one solid piece except the really old round ones.

Woodstock cats are the same way.

It’s never been a problem but if it bothers you then a steelcat is a single chunk.

 

[kf6hap]

Are those diesel foil?

No, some kind of ceramic material-from the appearance. They have a stove pipe add on, I guess for older stoves. Supposedly non clogging. Anybody for a "double cat" system? It just might be the ticket for those in smoke policed areas.

 

[Woody Stover]

some kind of ceramic material-from the appearance...Supposedly non clogging

I think they are some kind of wire mesh that is then coated with catalyst. Imagine a steel wool pad, but a larger, coarser version with more space between the wires; You can see part way through the cat mesh. The smoke would certainly get a lot of "turbulence" going through there.
I see that they do detail the white vineger/distilled water cleaning procedure...

So they are to be ignored then?

Well, you could try one and report back. They probably don't rip off a lot of people, not shipping the goods, but my deal was never completed.
I remember that back then (6+ years ago) the 6" round was $40, so they have doubled in price.
I don't recall the particulars of how much the brillo pad had declined in performance when I swapped it out for a steel cat in my SIL's stove, which was about 1 year. I think I was just been chomping at the bit to try one of the "new" steel cats in her stove, and the brillo pad still had some amount life left.
I see the warranty is "two years, with an additional third year protection against crumbling," which won't happen to that cat, due to how it is made.
I would say that when in doubt, fall back on the old maxim "You get what you pay for." That doesn't always apply though, if ya know what I mean.

 

[Diabel]

New cat supplier? New and improved? Better than Condar?

http://www.stovecombustors.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8Dj6sbR3wIVGwytBh3IuAVvEAEYASAAEgJPlvD_BwE


Very interesting hearth add-on products.

Stay away from these cats. Horrible product and don’t ask how I know.....fell for the cheap price...

 

[Ashful]

I have an Ashford 30.1 that I've had since February 2016.

I've been starting to have problems with my cat clogging. Last night marks the second time in about 2-3 weeks. Basically the stove runs like it is on a lower thermostat setting when it is opened up wide open. I haven't had luck trying to run it hot to burn itself out of the clog. I brushed the face with a soft brush to unclog it the last time, but I could see that there was still more ash deeper into the honeycomb. I could not get my vac in position to do any good. It looks like some compressed air would be just the thing, but I've seen the book says not to. Any suggestions?

Also, my cat has never really seemed to be that great, but it has no visual defects similar to the images in the book. It often stalls around the time the wood is about the the size of charcoal briquettes. I've had half a mind to try it for warranty a couple times.

Yes, I've got two year seasoned dry wood, a tight door, and tight bybass.

One more thing, a few times this year my stove has burned significantly hotter than the stat setting I put it on. I wake up and the house is super hot, I just barely turn the stat knob left and I hear the click of the stove shutting down right away. Any chance my stat inner-workings is getting partially seized up or something? Maybe my wood is too dry? I've had readings of 11-13 on the inside of fresh splits.

Thanks for the help guys.

I found that I could clog the steelcat in one of my Ashfords after just a few hours of burning it on a high setting. I cleaned and re-clogged it several times, very repeatable. On lower settings, it never seemed to clog, and so my theory was that turbulence generated by my very tall (30 feet) chimney would stir up enough fly ash at higher burn rates, to cause the problem.

I checked my draft, and found it was running around 0.18”WC on a high burn, whereas BK spec’s 0.06”WC maximum. I installed a key damper, and used that to dial the stove down to 0.05”WC on a high burn, before I’d set it to whatever burn rate I intended for that load. It seemed to work great for the rest of that year, and I experienced no more clogs for the remainder of that year using the original SteelCat.

This year, I noticed the cat was starting to fade and was due for replacement, I probably had close to 15,000 hours on it. I replaced it with a ceramic cat, which I figured might be even less prone to clogging due the larger passages, but I’m not really sure that is true. Either way, I’m still using the key damper to dial the stove to an ideal 0.05”WC on a high setting, and have had no further trouble with cat clogging.

BKVP’s comment about adjusting the door has me embarrassed. I have never touched the door adjustment on either of my stoves, and I have over 30 cords thru the pair of them. I’ve asked before how one checks the tension on this stove, the dollar bill test doesn’t seem to work like it did on my past stoves, given the overlap in the castings. One stove is noticeably tighter than the other on door handle feel, but both achieve my desired burn times without any issues. If there is a written procedure for checking door tension on an Ashford, I’d appreciate someone posting it, or maybe I need to dig out the manual and see if I just missed it in there. I did NOT use it for my first fire, Chris. :lol

 

[BKVP]

I did an initial cleaning today after about 3 months of burning and took a pic of the crack in my cat. There is some ash in the flue for sure, but nothing too bad, and no shiny stuff yet. Stove is running well, but this is definitely a crack, and such a short time into the hours used.

Maybe the company @kf6hap linked to has a better cat for situations like mine where the draft is strong with no real way to lower it without some large project.

@BKVP is this normal use wear or is this something that is a factory defect? I know it is under warranty and am wondering if this qualifies? If you folks think so I will call my supplier.
View attachment 237316

Both mullite and cordierite expand and contract. That is why we use the metal band and interam gasket material. A vertical crack or horizontal crack is not uncommon and does not effect performance. However a diagonal crack across a block is another issue.