2022-2023 BK everything thread
- Thread starter Poindexter
- Start date
-
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
BKVP
Minister of Fire
But you're burning hardwoods. A few years ago, I emptied my King 1107 once, mid season. All I burned was NIELS.
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Not just hardwood, but almost exclusively oak, for the first seven years with my Ashfords. This year I will finally get into some hickory, and then I have miles of ash on deck behind that, but until now it’s been nearly 100% oak. I hear it’s one of the worst woods for coaling and ash accumulation, but honestly don’t have much else in recent years with which ti compare it.
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
Ive burnt quite a bit of Red Oak and its great long lasting wood it does produce a lot of ash and coals. I found if I just pour the air to a bed of hot coals and let them burn down before reloading works best.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
When I burned all the hardwoods, I'd rake them forward, put some well seasoned pine on top and let it rip. Only way to deal with coals filling up my stove...
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
Id like to try some dry pine, but no one sells it around here and I have none on my property
Any tree service would likely drop off more than you can handle,,, for free !!
Ashful
Minister of Fire
When one of our red cedar trees fall (as in last week), I split and stack it for this purpose. But I've also found that just throwing a single split of oak or other harwood on top of this raked-forward bed does almost the same job, albeit taking a little longer.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
That's what I've done too. Especially if you make the row-pile of coals in the front a bit uneven; the air wash will blow thru the holes bridged by the split on top of the coals. The white hot oven there burning up the coals. Works even better with oak because the oak stay in one piece mechanically longer.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
This is the custom coal rake I made because I was burning hardwoods. Never used last winter burning tamarack and Doug fir.
Crummy
Member
I asked about a month ago and the general response was a overactive cat since it was new. Been burning 24/7 for 27 days straight now and it hasn't settled down. This reading is 30 minutes after a hot reload with the thermostat at 6:00 for 15 minutes and 4:30 for 15 minutes. At this point I turn it to 3:00 and it will be high in the active zone for around 12 hours. About 3:30 is as high as I can go without it leaving the active zone and any higher than that I don't know that the needle would ever stop. Still nothing to worry about?
BKVP
Minister of Fire
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
You maybe you should try a new speedometer. I did have one go nuts here a few years back. Condar has them
Ashful
Minister of Fire
They are hardly precision measurement devices. I have at least three, and when inserted into the same hole, they each disagree slightly with the other. I do remember past users replacing a flue or cat probe with another of the same model (usually Condar FlueGard to Condar FlueGard), and seeing a difference of 50 - 100 degrees.
To me, the BK looks like a private-labeled Condar FlueGard, I'd be very surprised if they're not made by the same people, whether that's Condar or third-party to both. There was actually a post a few years back where someone (@Highbeam?) had made a comparison between the two, swapping them in the same hole and noting similarity needle position at a few temperatures between both.
Last edited:
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Getting close.. low to mid 40's every morning this week so far, house still warms well in the daytime, but as the sun angle lowers the burning season will begin
Diabel
Minister of Fire
Strange weather for the next several days. Day high 50s low 60s, night mid 30s with full sun. So not sure.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
I replaced my OEM BK meter with a condar meter with actual numbers. I am happy with this upgrade. There is no way for me to conclude that the BK meter is wound with the exact same coil as the condar unit so that the "o'clock" readings are similar. Maybe, maybe not. But it doesn't matter much as they both indicate that key temperature at which the cat is hot enough to be "active". Your BK cat meter stem will eventually corrode away or the coil will snap and when you replace it I would recommend the condar unit if you can wait that long.
As an engineer and a bit of a gearhead I prefer gauges with numbers vs. idiot lights. The BK cat meter is like a proper speedometer that someone scrubbed the numbers off of!
Even better is the digital thermocouple gauges from companies like auber. Those require power supplies and ugly wires but man are they accurate and responsive.
Crummy
Member
If I recall correctly from reading last year's thread BKVP said they went to a swoosh because silly people like me were too worried about the exact temperature which greatly varies depending on installation specs. No two installations run the same so active/inactive is all they need. With that said I wish they put a stop at the end of the active zone so that it wouldn't keep going and make me nervous. Farthest I've seen it is straight down but my mind tells me that's way too hot when BKVP says it's "good to go", if there was a stop I'd never see it down there. I still think it would just keep going if I left it on high even though the thermostat is supposed to prevent it but I'm too chicken to try.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
There is also another possibility. The ones in the BK are cheaper.
Why? Because the calibration only pertains to one single point: active/inactive. There is no need for a linearity calibration either below or above this point. (I note that the scale in Condar's probes are linear.)
If the manufacturing of the coil has issues that make it behave nonlinear, Condar would not be able to sell them. However, if the coil is rotated so that the temperature where the cat can be engaged is correct, BK can use them. Win-win.
Pure speculation on my side, but it is not impossible, I think.
Why? Because the calibration only pertains to one single point: active/inactive. There is no need for a linearity calibration either below or above this point. (I note that the scale in Condar's probes are linear.)
If the manufacturing of the coil has issues that make it behave nonlinear, Condar would not be able to sell them. However, if the coil is rotated so that the temperature where the cat can be engaged is correct, BK can use them. Win-win.
Pure speculation on my side, but it is not impossible, I think.
Todd
Minister of Fire
Do you monitor your flue temps? It would be interesting to see those while your cat temp is up there and compare with others here.
Crummy
Member
No I haven't. Was told all that mattered was the active/inactive so no flue probe was installed.
Todd
Minister of Fire
Many here find an internal flue probe is a great tool to fine tune your burns. If you had one and it was also reading high it might tell you there’s a problem or not?
- Status
