2021-2022 BK everything thread

[Highbeam]

It's the same issue with a masonry stove. Once the flywheel is turning, the heat will keep on coming. One needs to watch the upcoming weather in these spring conditions. Once the sun came out yesterday things warmed up nicely. With the predicted temps I didn't light a fire. By noon there was no need for heat. The sun warmed things up quickly and we had a couple of windows cracked open by 2, it was 60º outside. The heat pump didn't come on until around 7.

I certainly would have been using a heat pump on such a warm day if I had one. It would have been too cold in the house to have no fire but my mistake was not taking these large splits to the chopping block to mince them up a bit smaller to right-size the fuel load for the predicted weather. It was dark and rainy and the only available splits were large.

 

[Tar12]

Beta Cat? Talk to me BKVP!

 

[stoveliker]

alpha dog, gimme beta cat ...

 

[Nealm66]

Lol

 

[RustyShackleford]

Just in case another one slipped through the cracks ... https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/blaze-king-thermostat-faulty.48603/

 

[stoveliker]

Back to Tetris. All red oak.

 

[Ashful]

Beta Cat? Talk to me BKVP!

Um... you're about 4 years late, on that.

 

[Kwehme09]

I haven't posted here in awhile and a fair bit has changed.

I sold my small, tightly insulated house in NH along with my Sirocco 20, and moved North to Aroostook County Maine and bought a drafty old farmhouse. In November, before even closing on the house we ordered a BK Princess and FINALLY picked it up today. Leg kit was missing the 1/2" bolts, but I solved that, hooked it up and lit our first fire. First, I will acknowledge that everything is different, house, chimney, stove, insulation, etc. etc., but I'd still like to figure out some of the differences I am seeing. We are experienced BK operators, but, only our BK, so... who knows.

Kindled the first fire and quickly smoked up the house with that wonderful initial burn off; got things good and hot, filled the fire box with big, dry hardwood splits and closed the bypass when things were comfortably in "the zone". Decided to run things on high for a few minutes (directions say 20-30), but the Cat temped quickly spiked higher than I ever saw it go on my Sirocco. Way higher. Beyond the solid white on the dial. I turned the T-Stat counter clockwise to about 3 O'Clock, and while it snuffed the flames in the typical BK way it had no effect on the Cat temp. No real complaint, the house is still only 67 about 3 hours of burning, and the wood looks like its hardly burnt, but is that super high Cat temp a problem? How far do you Princess users turn down your T-Stat to get the cat to start going down? I've now gone around to about 11 on the clock, and while it appears to be damped way down, Cat temp is still cranked. I assume this its a good thing, but just want to check if high Cat temps are ever a problem.

I'm sure Ill be back with more questions soon as we continue learning the new stove.

Also, the guys at Northwinds Stove in Ellsworth have been great to deal with so far. Good communication, and super friendly to my wife who drove down to pick it up.

 

[stoveliker]

It's a new cat. They are hyperactive. It'll settle down in a cord or so. No worries.

Congrats on the new home and new stove!

 

[Kwehme09]

It's a new cat. They are hyperactive. It'll settle down in a cord or so. No worries.

Congrats on the new home and new stove!

Thank you. The house has a Western view looking unobstructed at Mt. Katahdin, and I landed a job as head of Maintenance in Baxter State Park; anyone that knows the place will know how sweet that is.

Just wanted to make sure there was no "over fire" risk. At times I'll be running on the high end, especially the n the wind blows ,which it often does here.

 

[stoveliker]

I'm jealous

Running high should not be a problem; folks in AK run high days (weeks) on end. The thermostat still will (partially) close off the air if the temperature gets above the max that the factory set. This, if everything works well, there are no (gasket) leaks, and you don't have overdraft, should prevent overfiring.

 

[Kwehme09]

I'm jealous

Running high should not be a problem; folks in AK run high days (weeks) on end. The thermostat still will (partially) close off the air if the temperature gets above the max that the factory set. This, if everything works well, there are no (gasket) leaks, and you don't have overdraft, should prevent overfiring.

I figured all was well, kind of just wanted to make sure. So excited to have the Princess.

Below are a couple photos to help with the jealousy. One of wife and daughter skiing in our back fields, the other is from a "work" day of mine.

 

[stoveliker]

Goal achieved (jealousy). ;-)

Have fun, and stay warm (and look at.the insulation of your home; the princess can dial down a lot...)

 

[Kwehme09]

Goal achieved (jealousy). ;-)

Have fun, and stay warm (and look at.the insulation of your home; the princess can dial down a lot...)

We definitely will be. Attic insulation is minimal, old cellulose in the walls has settled, replacement windows are junk and not all the weight pockets were filled, etc. etc. It's good for an old house, but it gets hammered by wind.

Take care.

 

[Ashful]

New cats are hyper-active, and running on high days at a time is no problem... if the stove has no leaks. Based on your observation that turning the dial down stuffed things out pretty well, I'm guessing you're probably good, but perhaps it'd be good to get BKVP's take on that before risking too much.

For the record, I run entire loads on high in one of my Ashfords when it gets cold out, and if I'm going to be around to reload in a few hours. Never an issue, the thermostat does its thing.

 

[Tar12]

Um... you're about 4 years late, on that.

Thats unfortunate..lol

 

[Kwehme09]

Ok, here's a new one for me:

Loaded the brand new princess before bed and set it how I usually would with my Sirocco. Came downstairs in the morning (8 hours later) and all was well with the stove itself; plenty of fuel remaining, CAT still well in the burn zone, etc. However, I clearly had a fair bit oof water running out through my thimble in the wall.

We've been in the house 4 for months, burnt plenty oof wood on the old wood stove (total blow torch that overtired and flew through wood) and never had this issue. Perfectly clear skies, so its not a weather and leak issue. It's not tar like, so its not creosote.

It's a masonry chimney, with a liner. Stove pipe goes up out of the woodstove vertically for 3 feet, does a 90 and goes into the wall where its connection to the liner is made.

I am guessing this is a condensation issue because the gases from the BK are so cool due to being so efficient? I am a little surprised that it is finding its way in, since if it was condensing in the chimney liner itself I'd think it wouldn't make 90 degree turn to come into the house.

Any thoughts on cause and/or prevention?

 

[Tar12]

Ok, here's a new one for me:

Loaded the brand new princess before bed and set it how I usually would with my Sirocco. Came downstairs in the morning (8 hours later) and all was well with the stove itself; plenty of fuel remaining, CAT still well in the burn zone, etc. However, I clearly had a fair bit oof water running out through my thimble in the wall.

We've been in the house 4 for months, burnt plenty oof wood on the old wood stove (total blow torch that overtired and flew through wood) and never had this issue. Perfectly clear skies, so its not a weather and leak issue. It's not tar like, so its not creosote.

It's a masonry chimney, with a liner. Stove pipe goes up out of the woodstove vertically for 3 feet, does a 90 and goes into the wall where its connection to the liner is made.

I am guessing this is a condensation issue because the gases from the BK are so cool due to being so efficient? I am a little surprised that it is finding its way in, since if it was condensing in the chimney liner itself I'd think it wouldn't make 90 degree turn to come into the house.

Any thoughts on cause and/or prevention?

Insulated liner?

 

[Kwehme09]

Insulated liner?

Yes.

 

[kennyp2339]

Loaded the brand new princess before bed and set it how I usually would with my Sirocco. Came downstairs in the morning (8 hours later) and all was well with the stove itself; plenty of fuel remaining, CAT still well in the burn zone, etc. However, I clearly had a fair bit oof water running out through my thimble in the wall.

Your going to have to find that balance of burning at a higher rate to prevent the condensation from forming, also back to the cat probe being pegged, understood that its a brand new cat and hyper active, but turning the stove's rate of burn down believe it or not makes the cat burn even hotter since it will have more fuel, try to find the setting that you have small rolling flames in the firebox, this will protect the cat even further by reducing the particle fuel it would need to consume and may keep the chimney between the liner and masonry above that condensation zone.

 

[Kwehme09]

Your going to have to find that balance of burning at a higher rate to prevent the condensation from forming, also back to the cat probe being pegged, understood that its a brand new cat and hyper active, but turning the stove's rate of burn down believe it or not makes the cat burn even hotter since it will have more fuel, try to find the setting that you have small rolling flames in the firebox, this will protect the cat even further by reducing the particle fuel it would need to consume and may keep the chimney between the liner and masonry above that condensation zone.

Ok. It sounds like its a bit of a tight rope walk, which I don't really expect from the BKs. Currently, I am around 3 o'clock on the T-Stat,. which I considered low on my Sirocco. The Cat is pegged right at the highest end of silver paint on the dial (4 o'clock) but I can set my hand on my single wall stove pipe about 3 feet from the collar. So the cat is on the high side of what I feel like I'd want, but the flu gas is too low, so which way do I go? Also, the condensation issue is back. BKs aren't supposed to be finicky, so I am scratching my head a bit here.

 

[stoveliker]

Do you have a flue probe?
A flue probe is most useful to keep the exhaust hot enough.

Is it double wall pipe from stove to thimble?

 

[Kwehme09]

Do you have a flue probe?
A flue probe is most useful to keep the exhaust hot enough.

Is it double wall pipe from stove to thimble?

No probe. just a useless magnet one. Single wall pipe, so being able to set my hand on it is a pretty good indicator that it is too cool. But again, cat is way hotter than I am used to.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes that indicates too cool a flue. (And the cat is normal for a new cat. It will settle down over time.)

I do think that you need.to increase your flue temp. Condensing water (and every pound of perfectly dry wood burned (completely) gives about half a pound of water!) is the perfect trap for smoke particles. And those should go out of.the chimney.

Given that you run it cool, it is highly advised to change the single wall into double wall pipe. It'll keep the heat better. And then to add a flue probe.

 

[Tar12]

Yes that indicates too cool a flue. (And the cat is normal for a new cat. It will settle down over time.)

I do think that you need.to increase your flue temp. Condensing water (and every pound of perfectly dry wood burned (completely) gives about half a pound of water!) is the perfect trap for smoke particles. And those should go out of.the chimney.

Given that you run it cool, it is highly advised to change the single wall into double wall pipe. It'll keep the heat better. And then to add a flue probe.

^This^