2019-20 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 1 (Everything BK)

[kennyp2339]

Apparently the weather lady on tv says its 9 deg f outside with wind gusts blowing upwards of 20 mph creating a real feel of -8, wouldn't know it inside, loaded the princess at 10pm, kept the t-stat a few notches above medium with the blower on medium.. upstairs with the wind blowing settled at 68, plenty of wood left this morning to actually throw a few thin splits and burn on high to make room for a bigger load of wood before I leave for work.

 

[Kwehme09]

I am seeing some pictures of glowing Cats. I got my Sirroco good and hot last night, way into the happy zone on the Cat probe and closed the bypass. After a few minutes, I started standing on my head and pressing my face to the glass, and can't see a glow.

It's a 5-year old stove, original Cat. I've cleaned the Cat once or twice, and there was little know build up. I've never been too worried about it because my burns are always smoke-free. Should I be worried about it?

 

[Woody Stover]

can't see a glow. It's a 5-year old stove, original Cat. I've cleaned the Cat once or twice...I've never been too worried about it because my burns are always smoke-free. Should I be worried about it?

Not yet, if you're smoke-free. Can't recall if you've had the stove since new? If so, are you seeing lower stove top temps than before?
Next step would be to do the distilled vinegar/distilled water soak, then rinse well several times with distilled water. That might pep it up a bit..

 

[Kwehme09]

Not yet, if you're smoke-free. Can't recall if you've had the stove since new? If so, are you seeing lower stove top temps than before?
Next step would be to do the distilled vinegar/distilled water soak, then rinse well several times with distilled water. That might pep it up a bit..

I've had it since new, and it's still burning great; no smoke, warm house, long burns, etc. Everything I expect from my BK. My only complaint is I can't get all dirty laying upside down on my hearth in front of my stove and get a fancy glowing Cat pic like other folks on here.

p.s. I encourage you all to Google "Should my cat be glowing" and browse the results. You'll lose a day of your life but you'll be smarter for it. You're welcome.

 

[Highbeam]

I am seeing some pictures of glowing Cats. I got my Sirroco good and hot last night, way into the happy zone on the Cat probe and closed the bypass. After a few minutes, I started standing on my head and pressing my face to the glass, and can't see a glow.

It's a 5-year old stove, original Cat. I've cleaned the Cat once or twice, and there was little know build up. I've never been too worried about it because my burns are always smoke-free. Should I be worried about it?

you should be engaging your cat as soon as the cat probe indicates active, not way into the happy zone.

the cat does not need to glow to be working. Proof is in the pudding, smoke free burn. Good job getting 5 years. I burn full time and have never gotten 3.

 

[spudman99]

Draft question, and that ties nicely into the post just before. Remember that I am now just 7 weeks into my burning experience so I am still quite a novice.

Last night was the first truely cold night at 18 deg. I loaded up the Princess Insert at 8pm, charred the load, cut the thermostate back to about 5 (mine goes from 12 high to 7pm is low) and fan on med high. Got a 12 hour burn no problem with some wood remaining.

I open bypass for 2 min, open stove slowly with cat well into the active zone and load up this mornings fuel. Close door and give it 5 min or so to char, then close the bypass. Still well into active zone and I figured it was ok to bypass since cat would be active.

I look at my magnehellic and the gauge is pegged to the right, basically pulling 0.25wc in inches. This is with the thermo close to open, 30' exterior chimney on a cold day, fire fully engulfed. I turn the thermo to 4 or 5pm and let it settle down, and this is the draft reading:



Is this ok? What are the downsides or problems with what appears to be excessive draft? Can I overfire the insert if running on high and the wc is 0.25 or more?

I am not overly concerned as there is not much I can do, but wanted to run this by the expert community for input and comfort.

 

[Poindexter]

p.s. I encourage you all to Google "Should my cat be glowing" and browse the results. You'll lose a day of your life but you'll be smarter for it. You're welcome.

Thank you.

 

[Woody Stover]

[/QUOTE]

I've had it since new, and it's still burning great; no smoke, warm house, long burns, etc.

You'd probably be shocked at how fast a new cat would light, but I'd delay that if you're satisfied with how it's working. Me, I'd want to wash it to see how much difference it made.

My only complaint is I can't get all dirty laying upside down on my hearth in front of my stove and get a fancy glowing Cat pic like other folks on here.

After you rinse the cat, ask your wife if she'd be willing to lie in the dirt and dust to get a pic, so you can show it to some other stove nerds.
I don't lie in the dust and bark crumbs, I merely have a seat on the couch. This is a shot from my desk, over the back of the couch, from about 25' .

 

[lsucet]

Draft question, and that ties nicely into the post just before. Remember that I am now just 7 weeks into my burning experience so I am still quite a novice.

Last night was the first truely cold night at 18 deg. I loaded up the Princess Insert at 8pm, charred the load, cut the thermostate back to about 5 (mine goes from 12 high to 7pm is low) and fan on med high. Got a 12 hour burn no problem with some wood remaining.

I open bypass for 2 min, open stove slowly with cat well into the active zone and load up this mornings fuel. Close door and give it 5 min or so to char, then close the bypass. Still well into active zone and I figured it was ok to bypass since cat would be active.

I look at my magnehellic and the gauge is pegged to the right, basically pulling 0.25wc in inches. This is with the thermo close to open, 30' exterior chimney on a cold day, fire fully engulfed. I turn the thermo to 4 or 5pm and let it settle down, and this is the draft reading:

View attachment 253768

Is this ok? What are the downsides or problems with what appears to be excessive draft? Can I overfire the insert if running on high and the wc is 0.25 or more?

I am not overly concerned as there is not much I can do, but wanted to run this by the expert community for input and comfort.

If when reloading the cat is into the active zone, load, shut the door and bypass. Let it burn for whatever time need it and adjust to your heating needs.

Measure draft with the air wide open, bypass closed and with a good fire going and the stove to operating temp.
Hope this helps

 

[Kwehme09]

You'd probably be shocked at how fast a new cat would light, but I'd delay that if you're satisfied with how it's working. Me, I'd want to wash it to see how much difference it made.
[/QUOTE]

I've never had an issue with how fast my cat lights. But maybe its not lighting at all? What's the real test, glow or smoke? I put wood in, its burns a bit and gets hot, and I throw the bypass and all is good for awhile. No issues with smoke or smell or performance. I am just trying to figure out if I am missing something.

 

[Woody Stover]

maybe its not lighting at all? What's the real test, glow or smoke?...No issues with smoke or smell or performance. I am just trying to figure out if I am missing something.

Even if it's not glowing, it is burning if you see no smoke out the stack. If performance is diminished somewhat, it might drop out a little sooner, stove top temp will drop sooner and you might see a little smoke at the end of the burn, before the load achieves full coaling status, I don't know.

 

[Indiana wood]

what do you think. 4 year old catalyst. Working fine? Or warranty thru blaze king? Video taken 1hr into full load burn

 

[Indiana wood]

I will add my wood is not ideal. 22 to 25% ash

 

[Woody Stover]

what do you think. 4 year old catalyst. Working fine? Or warranty thru blaze king? Video taken 1hr into full load burn

With that wind, it's hard to say how much of that is steam vs. smoke. With a lighter breeze you will see the steam dissipate in a relatively short distance, with the relative humidity you had today. Guessing from what I see, I'd say there's a little smoke in there. It's also going to depend how far you have the air open. If the smoke is going through the cat fast, it can escape being burned.
If you've been burning 24/7 those four years, and your cat is still working pretty well, I wouldn't call in the warranty just to get a freebie. I'd figure I was getting my money's worth out of the cat, at that amount of hours used. That's just me, though...there are a lot of tightwad scammers in this world, as we know all too well.

 

[jetsam]

The weather has put my stove into Door Cleaning Mode, and the near side of my jeans are 180° as I sit in my stove chair.


Aaaah!



(The door cleaning cycle still has a couple spots to mop up.)



(The jeans are only a couple inches closer than the brown dog, and the surface of the brown dog is 70° cooler. Maybe I've discovered a new kind of high maintenance, hard-to-install thermoreflective surface...)

 

[Woody Stover]

The weather has put my stove into Door Cleaning Mode, and the near side of my jeans are 180°

That's a violation of clearance-to-combustibles for your stove, shame on you!

 

[Ashful]

Twenny bucks ain't gonna get me a bottle of my favorite.

You just need to adjust your bottle size down to 1 oz.

 

[Ashful]

Last night was the first truely cold night at 18 deg. I loaded up the Princess Insert at 8pm, charred the load, cut the thermostate back to about 5 (mine goes from 12 high to 7pm is low) and fan on med high. Got a 12 hour burn no problem with some wood remaining.

I open bypass for 2 min, open stove slowly with cat well into the active zone and load up this mornings fuel. Close door and give it 5 min or so to char, then close the bypass. Still well into active zone and I figured it was ok to bypass since cat would be active.

I look at my magnehellic and the gauge is pegged to the right, basically pulling 0.25wc in inches. This is with the thermo close to open, 30' exterior chimney on a cold day, fire fully engulfed. I turn the thermo to 4 or 5pm and let it settle down, and this is the draft reading:

View attachment 253768

Is this ok? What are the downsides or problems with what appears to be excessive draft? Can I overfire the insert if running on high and the wc is 0.25 or more?

I am not overly concerned as there is not much I can do, but wanted to run this by the expert community for input and comfort.

Keep in mind I don't have a Princess, but I do have a 30 ft. chimney on one of my Ashfords, and was seeing draft numbers nearly as high as you. It worked fine, with the exception that I was clogging my Steelcat anytime I ran that stove on a high setting. I believe the airwash is much more aggressive on the Ashford 30, possibly BK's attempt to beat the "dirty glass" reputation they earned on the King and Princess, and that combined with the Steelcat may make the Ashford more prone to fly ash clogging the cat, than the Princess. Other than this one issue, the stove technically worked fine with the severely over-spec draft.

BUT... that's not the whole story. I didn't realize it until I installed a key damper and got my draft down to spec, but the whole stove just heats and behaves a little nicer with the draft dialed down. I suspect that, although I never really noticed or knew otherwise, I was drawing more make-up air thru the house than I really needed.

I see you're running an insert. If it's practical to install a key damper, I'd definitely go for one, on a 30 ft pipe pulling that hard. But if you can't, esp. if you never need to run the stove extended periods wide-open, it's likely not the end of the world.

 

[Poindexter]

What's the real test, glow or smoke?

The combustor is supposed to catalyze volatiles in the exhaust stream, capturing heat that would otherwise be wasted up the chimney as smoke particles. It is not designed to be mood lighting for the love shack.

 

[Kwehme09]

The combustor is supposed to catalyze volatiles in the exhaust stream, capturing heat that would otherwise be wasted up the chimney as smoke particles. It is not designed to be mood lighting for the love shack.

Exactly the wisdom I needed. I’ll assume it also means that it’s design intent is not Hearth dot com BK thread photo porn either. Thank you.

 

[jetsam]

Exactly the wisdom I needed. I’ll assume it also means that it’s design intent is not Hearth dot com BK thread photo porn either. Thank you.

I guess opinions on that vary?

 

[Dieselhead]

Draft question, and that ties nicely into the post just before. Remember that I am now just 7 weeks into my burning experience so I am still quite a novice.

Last night was the first truely cold night at 18 deg. I loaded up the Princess Insert at 8pm, charred the load, cut the thermostate back to about 5 (mine goes from 12 high to 7pm is low) and fan on med high. Got a 12 hour burn no problem with some wood remaining.

I open bypass for 2 min, open stove slowly with cat well into the active zone and load up this mornings fuel. Close door and give it 5 min or so to char, then close the bypass. Still well into active zone and I figured it was ok to bypass since cat would be active.

I look at my magnehellic and the gauge is pegged to the right, basically pulling 0.25wc in inches. This is with the thermo close to open, 30' exterior chimney on a cold day, fire fully engulfed. I turn the thermo to 4 or 5pm and let it settle down, and this is the draft reading:

View attachment 253768

Is this ok? What are the downsides or problems with what appears to be excessive draft? Can I overfire the insert if running on high and the wc is 0.25 or more?

I am not overly concerned as there is not much I can do, but wanted to run this by the expert community for input and comfort.

Reduced burn times and increased emissions come to mind. Only thing you can do is what a lot of us with tall stacks have to do and that is put in a damper or 2.

 

[Dieselhead]

That's a violation of clearance-to-combustibles for your stove, shame on you!

My wood door latch handle is a violation!

 

[Woody Stover]

I didn't realize it until I installed a key damper and got my draft down to spec, but the whole stove just heats and behaves a little nicer with the draft dialed down.

Yeah, even if the thermo cuts the air, that high draft was probably pulling air in through the door gasket, around the glass, etc, and flushing some of your heat up the flue.

You just need to adjust your bottle size down to 1 oz.

I go for the volume discount, and a high percentage of active ingredients.

 

[Indiana wood]

OK so I have taken this forums advice and done some insulating on my poured concrete basement wall. I have done the area around the stove and 10 to 12 feet beyond it each direction there is probably about 30 feet of wall that is still not insulated is it worth doing? How much heat am I losing through that poured basement wall without insulation?