2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
So, I introduced them to tequila. The next morning they were so mad at me! They slept right through all the duration testing.....The four of us drained that full bottle of Don Julio in about 2 hours. HaHaHa....
Believe me, not all alcohol consumed in Germany is in the form of beer. Seems like it has been for those folks, though ;-)

I did find a few companies that do retro-fit cats for installing into the flue, but nothing comparable to the BK stoves.
 
my grandmother was German and when she got angry every living thing in the house
scattered out the door as if their butts were on fire
Did she have a wooden spoon? Opa had a belt, but Oma's spoon scared the heck out of us!
 
Did she have a wooden spoon? Opa had a belt, but Oma's spoon scared the heck out of us!
No fly swatter? That's if we got her really angry lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: charger4406
Just prior to reload last night - nice and toasty on the top, back, and front. sides dont really get too hot. I bet the fan kit would work quite well. The rear temps were not too much different vs the top deck.

Anyone know if you can order the fan kit anywhere online or do accessories need to come direct too?

flir_20210203T165017.jpg
 
Last edited:
Just prior to reload last night - nice and toasty on the top, back, and front. sides dont really get too hot. I bet the fan kit would work quite well. The rear temps were not too much different vs the top deck.

Anyone know if you can order the fan kit anywhere online or do accessories need to come direct too?

View attachment 273622

Those flir pics always make these stoves look hot!

My stove came out of the Bk crate with fans installed but no door. Bk uses the dealer system for everything including gaskets.
 
Madness you helped start!! Glad to see you’re still around!

Is your sister(think that’s who it was) still using the BKK you rebuilt?

Yep. Sold mine with the house, so that’s where I get my fix ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: rdust
And you are in Mississippi (love typing it and saying it as I type)

Yeah, well, that might be the reason for it.
Possibly ;-)

Although we DID have frost on the ground several mornings in the last week. Even an inch of snow, two weeks ago.

And your spelling is dead-on...
 
  • Like
Reactions: BKVP
As my stove has been cold since I let the overnight fire burn out yesterday morning (rationing my dry wood in anticipation of a colder week next week and the week after), I took the opportunity to clean out some ashes (and a few clinkers). Hope it'll help melt the mountains of snow on my driveway...

I also vacuumed my cat as I noted some ash on it when it was orange the last time.
Turns out my flame shield is not planar (anymore?). There is a slight bend to it. Is that design, or has it warped?
It still functions as it should, so it's no problem. I am just curious.

Also I was surprised to not see a clip at the top to hold it; it only has the two angled pieces at the bottom that hold it in place. Obviously it worked, but when I put it back in and was searching to slide it behind the lips I expected at the top, and could not find them, I stuck my head in there to have a look... Lucky it's a 30 box (or shame I have such a big head :p ).
 
As my stove has been cold since I let the overnight fire burn out yesterday morning (rationing my dry wood in anticipation of a colder week next week and the week after), I took the opportunity to clean out some ashes (and a few clinkers). Hope it'll help melt the mountains of snow on my driveway...

I also vacuumed my cat as I noted some ash on it when it was orange the last time.
Turns out my flame shield is not planar (anymore?). There is a slight bend to it. Is that design, or has it warped?
It still functions as it should, so it's no problem. I am just curious.

Also I was surprised to not see a clip at the top to hold it; it only has the two angled pieces at the bottom that hold it in place. Obviously it worked, but when I put it back in and was searching to slide it behind the lips I expected at the top, and could not find them, I stuck my head in there to have a look... Lucky it's a 30 box (or shame I have such a big head :p ).

We make those on a laser and then press brake. So there is usually a slight bend.
 
I let the house get cold last night, it was too warm to start a new fire plus I got lazy after a hard day at work. So this morning I was able to do a hot cleanout burn. BK has recommended a weekly one hour burn on max throttle for those of us, really the majority, that run their stoves on low all the time. Now, this heats up the house a lot so be ready. Also be sure that your system is in proper working order and maintained.

It's kind of scary but you will see the safety mechanism of a thermostat kick in. See, you set the thermostat knob pinned at the max setting but don't forget that you are not actually setting the intake at wide open throttle. No, when the bimettalic coil inside gets hot it will close the throttle and maintain a safe maximum temperature as preset by the BK factory. It's really a confidence boosting excersize as well as important for drying out and cleaning the corrosive gunk in the firebox from low temperature burning.

I watched the flue temperatures climb to 900, the cat temperatures sit at 1700 for better than 30 minutes before slowly falling back down as the thermostat closed the intake blade in response to the climbing stove temperature. The stove has now settled to a steady state with a medium amount of blue flame, flue temps of 800 and cat temps of 1600. This is really max output for the stove and I can't leave it there all day without overheating the house.

Honestly, I don't understand why this would be significantly less efficient. The exhaust is smoke free, rain drops are popping into steam as they hit my chimney cap. The throttle blade is mostly closed so the high flue temp is occurring with very little flow through the stove. This stove is ripping hot and making just as much btu output as any other 2.9 cubic foot stove at the same temperature so I don't buy the argument that a BK doesn't do "hot".

Anyway. It's fun. I don't think it will clean my glass off because I used regular large splits of fuel and did not stack a criss cross stack of 3" kindling up next to the glass. I do expect that the glass will be cleaner and the remains will be dry and easier to remove.
 
As my stove has been cold since I let the overnight fire burn out yesterday morning (rationing my dry wood in anticipation of a colder week next week and the week after), I took the opportunity to clean out some ashes (and a few clinkers). Hope it'll help melt the mountains of snow on my driveway...

I also vacuumed my cat as I noted some ash on it when it was orange the last time.
Turns out my flame shield is not planar (anymore?). There is a slight bend to it. Is that design, or has it warped?
It still functions as it should, so it's no problem. I am just curious.

Also I was surprised to not see a clip at the top to hold it; it only has the two angled pieces at the bottom that hold it in place. Obviously it worked, but when I put it back in and was searching to slide it behind the lips I expected at the top, and could not find them, I stuck my head in there to have a look... Lucky it's a 30 box (or shame I have such a big head :p ).

When reinstalling that flame shield be sure that the top is tipped toward the front of the stove so that you don't slide the sharp corners across the face of the cat as you lift it into place. I like that it just sits there with gravity instead of being bolted or pinned in place. One more easy maintenance feature.
 
When reinstalling that flame shield be sure that the top is tipped toward the front of the stove so that you don't slide the sharp corners across the face of the cat as you lift it into place. I like that it just sits there with gravity instead of being bolted or pinned in place. One more easy maintenance feature.

Yes, did that. It's parallel to the angled lips at the bottom. Ty.

I also did a high burn not too long ago, and the glass became nice and clean. 5-7 small splits, criss cross. Not a full load. I am not sure it took all the shiny coating off of the walls (back and sides) though.
Should I do a longer high burn (i.e. out more fuel in)?
 
Yes, did that. It's parallel to the angled lips at the bottom. Ty.

I also did a high burn not too long ago, and the glass became nice and clean. 5-7 small splits, criss cross. Not a full load. I am not sure it took all the shiny coating off of the walls (back and sides) though.
Should I do a longer high burn (i.e. out more fuel in)?

The 30 box does have a more effective air wash design. Several factors contribute but bottom line is that the glass is easier to keep clean.

It's supposed to be "safe" to do a high burn on max for the entire load of fuel. Near the end of the season I have found that loading small 3" splits with a loose criss cross stack, like 2 one way, 2 the other, 2 on top with the whole stack a few inches away from the bricks and back centered in the firebox and running the whole load at higher throttle settings seems to really dry up the firebox innards to the point that the deposits flake off to bare metal. It may help pop loose the dry creo flakes that the firebox goes from cold to hot to cold.

I like to clean it up for the summer this way. I think it also helps prepare the chimney for sweeping too.
 
I’ve kind of wondered about the heat output on a high burn vs a regular stove. Seems like a design might help radiate but the same load of firewood burning the same amount of time seems like it would produce the same amount of heat but what do I know. The whole btu that a stove can produce on max seems like it would depend a lot on how quickly it can burn the fuel. Thanks again for the info highbeam.
 
Ok, but where should it be applied exactly?

You need to remove the thermostat cover. That one with the labels that tell you not to. Just the two lower screws and turn the stat to full cold for removal and installation. If you aren’t 100% certain that you’re qualified to do this then you can call a guy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BURNard
Status
Not open for further replies.