2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)

[showrguy]

First lay it flat. Then, using a hammer and piece of bar or rod, tap lightly on top of ramp.

It will bend downward about 1/4" and then slide out. When you put it back in, it will be fine. All the adjustment is on the bottom of the ramp.....

Thanks Chris,
I managed to get it, I-removed the plate from it’s resting place and slid it to the rear, proped it up so it gave me enough room to work ..
I looked at every angle I could to remove the plate, came to the conclusion something would need cut or bent to remove it..

 

[Highbeam]

Burning season is done in my house so it was time to send up the soot eater and call it quits.
This is out of my blaze king ashford insert. 2nd year running pretty much full time since November. Close to 8 cords through it. It lights off consistently, still even has a nice glow at times. I removed it to clean the crud out from behind after sweeping. Yes I have new gasket.
I brushed both sides with old paint brush and blew it out with compressor but turned psi way down. It’s difficult to see in pictures but some passages are still constricted with a hard idk crust? It was kind of built up like a honey comb. The brush could knock it off the face.
It’s working well so I don’t think it’s ready for a vinegar bath just yet. What is it and is it worth dealing with yet?View attachment 276925View attachment 276926View attachment 276927View attachment 276928

Now that you have the cat out, I wouldn’t put it back looking like that. Any gunk coating the catalyst is preventing that surface from working so clean it. Vinegar followed by distilled water.

A @jetsam, why are you weakening the vinegar by cutting it with water? Regular white vinegar is already very diluted. I would just use it straight.

We’re burning right now but it’s shoulder season and house temperature tends to swing a bit more. Burn season lasts another 2.5 months here near the mountains when you are a full timer.

I used much less wood this year than previous years. I believe truly dry wood from a woodshed, split big, beats the heck out of top covered firewood that can get sideways rain on it. I’m jealous of you guys that have snow and frozen ground. We get mud, rain, and darkness all winter.

 

[Highbeam]

Thanks Chris,
I managed to get it, I-removed the plate from it’s resting place and slid it to the rear, proped it up so it gave me enough room to work ..
I looked at every angle I could to remove the plate, came to the conclusion something would need cut or bent to remove it..

Please take pics and let us know how the bypass gasket replacement goes. Be sure to loosen the adjustment nut and bolt. I’m curious how much your old gasket had crushed.

 

[showrguy]

Please take pics and let us know how the bypass gasket replacement goes. Be sure to loosen the adjustment nut and bolt. I’m curious how much your old gasket had crushed.

Welp, Once I finally realized “this damn thing ain’t comin out”..
It went pretty good..
Did not take pictures, old gasket was definitely deteriorated on the right side, the front of the gasket was really black/grey..
stove has been smoking way more than it should, so I figured it had to be the bipass gasket..
Did not reinstall the 1 year old CAT yet, but a fire in the stove will tell me if I was right ?? Maybe tomorrow..
Oh, and the retainers are not sagging, drooping..

 

[Diabel]

I am not completely following this thread lately. I believe the most recent discussion is about cleaning, removing and reinstalling the cat. If that is in fact the case, it sounds very compex... @BKVP (Chris)...drinks, meals, accommodation and partial travel is on me...if you are willing to demonstrate how it is correctly done, using my stove. Utube feed will also be provided.

 

[BKVP]

I am not completely following this thread lately. I believe the most recent discussion is about cleaning, removing and reinstalling the cat. If that is in fact the case, it sounds very compex... @BKVP (Chris)...drinks, meals, accommodation and partial travel is on me...if you are willing to demonstrate how it is correctly done, using my stove. Utube feed will also be provided.

I don't think the border is open.

 

[Diabel]

I don't think the border is open.

Damn covid. Invite is open ended.

 

[AndrewU]

Damn covid. Invite is open ended.

If @BKVP wants a non-boarder crossing Ashford to film a cat clean and reinstall I’d be happy to host!

 

[Highbeam]

If @BKVP wants a non-boarder crossing Ashford to film a cat clean and reinstall I’d be happy to host!

Are you guys seriously talking about grabbing on and pulling the cat out of the hole? Cleaning it, gasketing it, and shoving it back in?

I just changed the oil in my daughter’s Honda CRV and it was harder.

 

[jetsam]

Now that you have the cat out, I wouldn’t put it back looking like that. Any gunk coating the catalyst is preventing that surface from working so clean it. Vinegar followed by distilled water.

A @jetsam, why are you weakening the vinegar by cutting it with water? Regular white vinegar is already very diluted. I would just use it straight.

We’re burning right now but it’s shoulder season and house temperature tends to swing a bit more. Burn season lasts another 2.5 months here near the mountains when you are a full timer.

I used much less wood this year than previous years. I believe truly dry wood from a woodshed, split big, beats the heck out of top covered firewood that can get sideways rain on it. I’m jealous of you guys that have snow and frozen ground. We get mud, rain, and darkness all winter.

I think I cut it because I got the idea for the vinegar spraydown from some stove manufacturer's owner's manual, they said use 50/50, I figured they had some kind of reason, maybe even backed up by their engineers.

So I really don't have a reason other than it's slightly cheaper and some company whose name I don't even remember said so!

We should reach out to some cat manufacturers and see what their tech guys recommend, stove manufacturers don't make cats anyway.

 

[Diabel]

Are you guys seriously talking about grabbing on and pulling the cat out of the hole? Cleaning it, gasketing it, and shoving it back in?

I just changed the oil in my daughter’s Honda CRV and it was harder.

Ohhh, in this case no need for Chris. I will never forget the oil changes on my VW rabbit while exploring alaska to mexico

 

[Nealm66]

Isn’t there some cat replacement videos on YouTube? Not the furry kind although our two cats just cost $600 at the vet so maybe I should check for that too

 

[Highbeam]

Ohhh, in this case no need for Chris. I will never forget the oil changes on my VW rabbit while exploring alaska to mexico

My first car was a 1980 VW scirocco with mechanical fuel injection. Miss it.

 

[kennyp2339]

Stove has is shut down, low 60's outside for high temps since Saturday, the house passively warms from the sun now, I'll keep 5 days worth of splits in the garage rack for rainy days, but I think we're getting our early spring in the east this year, we've only been waiting for this since 2015 when the winters suddenly started stretching out to the end of April.

 

[Diabel]

My first car was a 1980 VW scirocco with mechanical fuel injection. Miss it.

Nice. I had a 1979 dark green Scirocco, it was a total chick magnet back then.....

 

[BKVP]

Nice. I had a 1979 dark green Scirocco, it was a total chick magnet back then.....

Back in the 70's no "chick" is the USA would go for any VW! Camaro's, Stangs, Hemi Cuda, GTX's...but no VW's! (Except hippie chicks)

 

[begreen]

(Except hippie chicks)

The best Back in the early 70s I had a '67 Cuda Formula S. Never picked up a date in it. Sold that after an accident in a blizzard and eventually ended up with a Volvo wagon. That was a great dating car.

 

[Diabel]

Back in the 70's no "chick" is the USA would go for any VW! Camaro's, Stangs, Hemi Cuda, GTX's...but no VW's! (Except hippie chicks)

Agreed. I grew up in a very urban area. Not that many hippie chicks, mainly preppy ones.
Plus, some of the US chicks would unlikely fit in the VW scirocco......and I am talking front seat.....

 

[Highbeam]

Agreed. I grew up in a very urban area. Not that many hippie chicks, mainly preppy ones.
Plus, some of the US chicks would unlikely fit in the VW scirocco......and I am talking front seat.....

Mine was the dark green too with gold pinstriping and gold honeycomb wheels. I swapped in a hotter 1.8 gti engine. At 100 mph the single wiper would lift from the windshield, The chick I picked up in it, in the 90s, is my wife!

 

[Diabel]

The chick I picked up in it, in the 90s, is my wife!

Perfect! I am certain, many American (intelligent) ladies would go for a 1980 VW scirocco with gold rims and one wiper (forgot about that). Not just Camaros, stangs and f150s. I picked up my chick (current wife) in a 1984 VW rabbit TD with clutch so burnt out... it would not make it up any small grade hills without a solid run at it and hope foe green lights all along the way.
@begreen might step in (about now) to let us know to get back on track.

 

[begreen]

@begreen might step in (about now) to let us know to get back on track.

Must be spring, we're completely derailed.
I picked up some college folks in Seattle and then Denver/Boulder on the return back east from my first visit to WA state in 1974 in my 66 Volvo wagon. They helped pay for the gas and with driving. Two could sit up front and with the backseat down, two could get some rest in the rear. I was on the resting shift in the back with a cute young lady heading back to NY. Suddenly, we were playing footsie. A few months later that led to her moving in with me for a few years. No, that was not my future wife. I knew her from earlier. And she drove a cool 66 VW convertible.

 

[BKVP]

Must be spring, we're completely derailed.
I picked up some college folks in Seattle and then Denver/Boulder on the return back east from my first visit to WA state in 1974 in my 66 Volvo wagon. They helped pay for the gas and with driving. Two could sit up front and with the backseat down, two could get some rest in the rear. I was on the resting shift in the back with a cute young lady heading back to NY. Suddenly, we were playing footsie. A few months later that led to her moving in with me for a few years. No, that was not my future wife. I knew her from earlier. And she drove a cool 66 VW convertible.

Be careful begreen, that "footsie" thing can happen while horizontal in front of a fire too!

 

[BoilerBob]

When the “honey “ asks me what I’m doing on my phone, I jokingly say I’m on the “stove porn” site.
We are getting close

 

[Nealm66]

Whoops, didn’t realize how warm it was going to get today. Stuffed the princess full this am before work. Turned it down but I’m guessing I probably just raised the global temperature a digit

 

[kennyp2339]

Temps this evening / tonight and for the whole week are in the shoulder season territory, going to bring in some firewood before the rains start and get the stove ready to burn again, its been a funny winter here mentally, A normal winter with above average snows, decent cold outbreaks and a fairly normal, perhaps early spring. Under normal conditions I would be kind of burnt out from burning, but I'm not this year, actually looking forward to getting the stove going again, also even with working from home I've only burnt about 2 maybe 2 & 1/4 cords worth of wood which is my lowest year ever for burning 24/7 since mid Nov. Just weird, the only things I can contribute to that is I'm finally in the larger splits I made almost 4 years ago, and the damper to slow my draft, no other house improvements have been made.