2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 2 (Everything BK)

[Ashful]

Guys with a thermocouple in front of and behind their cats know.

You're going to need a drill and some copper tubing...

When I was young, and burned in open fireplaces, part of the appeal was the low-tech nature of it. I have a tech job, and somehow missed my calling to be a farmer or a lumberjack, so I went into stove burning with the same idea... low-tech.

Then I ran two Jotuls with multiple thermocouples on each, and now I have a Magnehelic on one of my BK’s, but I’m going to resist my usual natural urge to take it farther. Grandpa used to run his stove with nothing but a very well-trained hand to tell him its temperature.

 

[rwhite]

Ah but this happens automatically, the thermostat does this without asking. Your cat is the major source of heat for the stove, the cat doing it's combustion thing makes it hot and that heats the stove. When the cat is dying it is less able to make that heat and so the stove cools. The thermostat picks up on this and sends more air into the fire in an effort to maintain the desired stove temperature which burns wood faster.

So yes, the failing cat does directly and automatically decrease burn times for a particular desired heat output and stat setting. When my cats have died it is gradual at first and then rapid near the end of life. Near the end this decline is so bad that you will find that you need to actually turn the thermostat up just to keep the house warm. Not sure why that is but it is.

Get a new cat ordered. Have it ready since you have personally hit the expected life in hours on top of whatever the previous owner did. It will not get old waiting and new cats are doubtfully getting any cheaper!

Ah but this happens automatically, the thermostat does this without asking. Your cat is the major source of heat for the stove, the cat doing it's combustion thing makes it hot and that heats the stove. When the cat is dying it is less able to make that heat and so the stove cools. The thermostat picks up on this and sends more air into the fire in an effort to maintain the desired stove temperature which burns wood faster.

So yes, the failing cat does directly and automatically decrease burn times for a particular desired heat output and stat setting. When my cats have died it is gradual at first and then rapid near the end of life. Near the end this decline is so bad that you will find that you need to actually turn the thermostat up just to keep the house warm. Not sure why that is but it is.

Get a new cat ordered. Have it ready since you have personally hit the expected life in hours on top of whatever the previous owner did. It will not get old waiting and new cats are doubtfully getting any cheaper!

Will get one ordered when the paychecks return. I'm one of those federal folks that has to work without pay now.

 

[Highbeam]

Will get one ordered when the paychecks return. I'm one of those federal folks that has to work without pay now.

My father was too, you'll get paid eventually. It does sound like the current cat is still working for you so you should be able to make it for quite some time.

 

[Mnpellet]

Anybody

 

[Mnpellet]

Anybody know how to keep the door latch on the ashford 30 from getting too tight. A couple weeks ago it got so tight it was hard to open and I loosened the nut a little. It helped but it worked back tight again. I have a load in it so won’t be able to open it until tomorrow. Last time I looked at it it seemed the bolt was turning with the handle is that correct? Thanks

 

[MissMac]

BK officianados, correct me if i’m wrong, but with higher BTU wood, you get same heat output at a given setting on dial, but the load will last longer - correct?

 

[Diabel]

BK officianados, correct me if i’m wrong, but with higher BTU wood, you get same heat output at a given setting on dial, but the load will last longer - correct?

I actually find it both. On the same dial setting hardwood will last longer and the stovetop will emit more heat. That goes for both of my stoves.

 

[Ashful]

I actually find it both. On the same dial setting hardwood will last longer and the stovetop will emit more heat. That goes for both of my stoves.

I find the same. The thermostat does a decent job of trying to get a constant even heat thru most of the duration of the burn cycle, unlike other stoves that peak and then fall more without that constant adjustment. But a true room temperature thermostat, it is not. The relationship between thermostat coil temperature and stove top temperature likely varies a bit, with wood BTU.

 

[MissMac]

sounds good. we're into the cold here now so i'm burning up some birch, which i've only ever put through the stove once before. not sure what to expect from it, but hoping it will allow me to keep the burn times long enough but keep the house from freezing into a popsicle. going for 10-12 hour burns - a load in the morning, a few sticks in the evening on high, then a load for overnight. we'll see - i'll let you all know how it goes. got the stove reloaded this morning around 06:30, charred for an hour, then dialed down. main floor temp already down to 18.5*C, basement 10.5. Good enough so far.

 

[Diabel]

sounds good. we're into the cold here now so i'm burning up some birch, which i've only ever put through the stove once before. not sure what to expect from it, but hoping it will allow me to keep the burn times long enough but keep the house from freezing into a popsicle. going for 10-12 hour burns - a load in the morning, a few sticks in the evening on high, then a load for overnight. we'll see - i'll let you all know how it goes.

It depends what type of birch you are burning. I assume white birch. I find white birch isn’t much better than hemlock. When both seasoned right will give the same results.

I have a lot of yellow birch (totally different animal). I find yellow is comparable to ash, maybe slightly better.

Never came across black birch.

 

[MissMac]

It depends what type of birch you are burning. I assume white birch. I find white birch isn’t much better than hemlock. When both seasoned right will give the same results.

I have a lot of yellow birch (totally different animal). I find yellow is comparable to ash, maybe slightly better.

Never came across black birch.

ya it's white birch. the only other wood i've put through my stove is jack pine, black spruce, and manitoba maple. so for me, this is the best btu wood i have.

 

[Diabel]

ya it's white birch. the only other wood i've put through my stove is jack pine, black spruce, and manitoba maple. so for me, this is the best btu wood i have.

Yeah,
You guys have been completely cleared out of hard woods replaced with fast growing subpar woods.

 

[charger4406]

Never came across black birch.

I've got some black birch that I had to clear from part of my sugar bush and I find it somewhat equal
to sugar maple/red oak.

 

[Diabel]

I've got some black birch that I had to clear from part of my sugar bush and I find it somewhat equal
to sugar maple/red oak.

I read somewhere that black birch is better than yellow in terms of btu.

 

[charger4406]

I've got some yellow birch and it does not produce anywhere near the heat
that black birch throws, to tell the truth I think black birch is closer to white oak in btu's.
yellow birch is must better then white and doesn't turn punky as fast while it seasons.

 

[Ashful]

According to the sources I’ve checked, they’re all 20 - 24 MBTU/cord, which is higher than I’d have guessed, and I’d not be turning down any of them.

I burn almost entirely oak, a mix of various red and white oaks of all different species, and always figured I’d have trouble doing better around here. But according to the firewood BTU charts Yellow and Black Birch is right up there with most species of oak.

 

[Diabel]

According to the sources I’ve checked, they’re all 20 - 24 MBTU/cord, which is higher than I’d have guessed, and I’d not be turning down any of them.

I burn almost entirely oak, a mix of various red and white oaks of all different species, and always figured I’d have trouble doing better around here. But according to the firewood BTU charts Yellow and Black Birch is right up there with most species of oak.

View attachment 238374

View attachment 238375

Good chart. Thank you

 

[jetsam]

I actually find it both. On the same dial setting hardwood will last longer and the stovetop will emit more heat. That goes for both of my stoves.

I burn almost entirely oak, maple, and pine here. I don't find that I get more heat out of oak and maple at the same thermostat setting, but the burns are much longer with the hardwoods. I feel like the pine burns hotter at the same settings, but I have zero actual data to back that up with. (Hey, thermocouple dataloggers, we need you here!)

Doing long burns with just pine is annoying because if you misjudge your thermostat setting you aren't left with much coal in the stove. Doing short burns with just hardwood is annoying because you get too much coal.

Both are great fuels to have in the woodpile. If I had to have only one of them, I'd pick oak, but I'd miss the pine.

 

[MissMac]

ya, for all the trash talk i sometimes hear about pine, i tell you what - i absolutely love it. it flows freely up where i live, dries quickly, and like you said - it really throws some nice heat. it's the majority of my wood pile, and will be forever because of where i live. now that i've settled into my stove a lot more, i've got the 12 hour pine cycle nailed down, which is really all i need from it. however with this cold i'm hoping that the birch that i've been coveting will let me keep the tstat a bit higher while giving me a few extra hours than i would otherwise get off the load of pine.

and for the record, i would never give up my pine. it's so easy to burn.

 

[Ashful]

I’m probably “pine trash talker numero uno” here, and it comes down to one thing: time. The amount of wood I burn per year is never enough to completely heat my home, and is dictated by only one thing: time.

1. Time to harvest new wood, and drag it home.
2. Time to split and stack, which used to be my primary limiter.
3. Time to load multiple stoves, multiple times per day.

So, when you want to maximize capability while minimizing time, you need to find the fuel that packs the most BTU per hour of investment. I can split and stack BTU’s in oak at a rate almost twice that of pine. This is why I always say I’ll never waste a minute on pine, but others have different factors controlling what and why they burn.

 

[jetsam]

I’m probably “pine trash talker numero uno” here, and it comes down to one thing: time. The amount of wood I burn per year is never enough to completely heat my home, and is dictated by only one thing: time.

1. Time to harvest new wood, and drag it home.
2. Time to split and stack, which is really my primary limiter.
3. Time to load multiple stoves, multiple times per day.

So, when you want to maximize capability while minimizing time, you need to find the fuel that packs the most BTU per hour of investment. I can split and stack BTU’s in oak at a rate almost twice that of pine.

You also don't do a lot of high burns, because your stoves go at a normally-fixed burn rate and the difference gets made up by central heat.

If you were heating entirely with wood, you'd be a pine fan in the winter because you'd burn short hot loads when you were home. (You'd probably also have a third stove... maybe one of the new 15cf Super Kings!)

 

[Woody Stover]

Good chart. Thank you

Every BTU chart you look at will have a couple numbers that don't match your experience. And some will list the values in "recoverable BTUs" which are lower than what you might see on other charts.

The amount of wood I burn per year is never enough to completely heat my home, and is dictated by only one thing: time. 3.Time to load multiple stoves, multiple times per day.

What you need is a couple of Kings in that cavern of yours, so you don't have to load as often. Then get a couple of these to shield your eyes from the King's ungainly appearance.

 

[Ashful]

You also don't do a lot of high burns, because your stoves go at a normally-fixed burn rate and the difference gets made up by central heat.

If you were heating entirely with wood, you'd be a pine fan in the winter because you'd burn short hot loads when you were home. (You'd probably also have a third stove... maybe one of the new 15cf Super Kings!)

Maybe true, but just to be completely open, I have been doing some short hot loads when it’s cold this year. We’ve only had a few cold spells, in an otherwise unusually warm fall and early winter, but I’ve been jamming an evening load thru it at wide-open throttle, when I get home from work. That load is usually 3 splits of oak, which does a good job of burning down the main coal load left at the end of a 12 hour day, while throwing some serious heat for 4-5 hours. Then I throw another big load of oak (stuffed to the gills) in for the overnight, and run the stove just shy of wide-open for the 7-8 hours until the morning reload. Doing this, I’m able to keep the heat from running even in the larger/older wing of the house, down to about 20F.

 

[lsucet]

I’m probably “pine trash talker numero uno” here, and it comes down to one thing: time. The amount of wood I burn per year is never enough to completely heat my home, and is dictated by only one thing: time.

1. Time to harvest new wood, and drag it home.
2. Time to split and stack, which used to be my primary limiter.
3. Time to load multiple stoves, multiple times per day.

So, when you want to maximize capability while minimizing time, you need to find the fuel that packs the most BTU per hour of investment. I can split and stack BTU’s in oak at a rate almost twice that of pine. This is why I always say I’ll never waste a minute on pine, but others have different factors controlling what and why they burn.

Everything depend to what is available. For me the differences on burn time and little of more btus is not worth it for me that i will have to pay for it high prices on this part of the country. I have two tree companies that they drop a few times a year some good amount of rounds etc. It is a mix of lot of species from town ( hard and soft wood). For $20.00 i can buy a permit and they give right to 5 cords plus i can spend $ 20 more and get another 5 cords. 10 total during the season. labor wise is okay at this time for me, I need it to stay on shape. lol. in the future when it becomes hard to do it, including, buying by cords, with $1000.00 a year i can cover my heating needs and have wood left. CSS by somebody else. Is not bad in my opinion. This stoves shines with any species of wood.

 

[MissMac]

well, in another 45 minutes i'll be cranking the stove and getting it pumping some heat again for a few hours, but i must say the experiment today went well enough. mixed load of white birch, jack pine and manitoba maple in early this morning, daytime high was -21*C, and my living room where the stove is has fallen to only 17*C while the basement temp has held steady at 10. not bad at all given the crap weather. i set my stove between 3.5-3.75 o.c., with 3 being my lowest setting. not bad. it's warmer than my furnace program would have kept it while at work anyway. we'll see what happens tomorrow though. supposed to be about 7 degrees C colder. oy!