2022-2023 BK everything thread

[Crummy]

It's already in the name. The 30 and 20 fireboxes are able to get 30 and 20 hrs burn time.

I thought it was 20 holds 2 cu ft and 30 holds 3 cu ft 🤔 Guess I stand corrected.

 

[stoveliker]

I thought it was 20 holds 2 cu ft and 30 holds 3 cu ft 🤔 Guess I stand corrected.

me thinks it's both.
Apparently, for a well regulated stove as the BK (thermostat), one gets about 10 hrs per cu ft.

 

[Ashful]

I always operated under the same assumption as stoveliker, 20 and 30 hours. But I'll admit that was only my own assumption, never got the back-story on it from BK.

But I do believe the firebox on the Ashford 20.2 is only 1.8 cu.ft... and they didn't call it the Ashford 18!

 

[stoveliker]

And the 30 box is 2.9 cu ft, I think I remember.

 

[Highbeam]

And the 30 box is 2.9 cu ft, I think I remember.

It used to be smaller but BK now lists the ashford 30 and princess as 2.9 cubes.

Princess now makes half the emissions and is 80% efficient vs. 76% efficient for the ashford 30.

 

[stoveliker]

That's a 5% difference in efficiency! Time to swap my Chinook out for a Princess

-nah, just joking.

 

[Nealm66]

I thought my princess was only rated for 24 hour burns? I’ve gotten 30 but that was with press logs. 20-24 seems to be about where Doug fir puts me in the longer burns

 

[Crummy]

That's a 5% difference in efficiency! Time to swap my Chinook out for a Princess

-nah, just joking.

Naw your good it's only a 4% difference not 5%. Mine is 77% so I'm in even better shape 😁

 

[Crummy]

I thought my princess was only rated for 24 hour burns? I’ve gotten 30 but that was with press logs. 20-24 seems to be about where Doug fir puts me in the longer burns

From the Blaze King website

Constant Heat output on Low
12,576 BTU's per hour for up to 30 hours

 

[stoveliker]

Naw your good it's only a 4% difference not 5%. Mine is 77% so I'm in even better shape 😁

4/76 = 5.2%
(I'm talking relative increase in performance).

@Nealm66 :

 

[Nealm66]

8-14 average burn times seems incorrect. I’d say 12-16 unless Alaska? Maybe they need to take a poll. I’m hot reloads at 12 and really have to go light on the refills or no room.

 

[DonTee]

I can put 5-6 regular size splits in my Princess and get 8 hours. Finishing with the cat still active. So I’d say those numbers are a little low.

 

[TheElementalCashew]

8-14 was pretty common for me depending on how high my draft was on a particular day. I probably never got better than a 14.

 

[stoveliker]

8-14 average burn times seems incorrect. I’d say 12-16 unless Alaska? Maybe they need to take a poll. I’m hot reloads at 12 and really have to go light on the refills or no room.

This may be the bulk of your burning, but the Princess (if the chimney is tall enough) should be able to go down lower, and thus burn longer, with a full firebox. Given your often noted "it's still too hot" and "too much fuel still in there" after 12 hrs, I suggest you look into burning on 24 hr cycles?

I've done 36 hrs on my Chinook... (as measured until the cat falls out of the active range)

 

[Ashful]

I can... get 8 hours. Finishing with the cat still active.

If the cat's still active, then you're not finished, Don!

 

[DonTee]

If the cat's still active, then you're not finished, Don!

Hey hey now, I read that if I reload when the cat is still active, I can turn and burn. Not going through the relight procedure

 

[Ashful]

I usually try to find the setting at which the combustor is right at minimum of active range, or even falling into inactive at reload time, to avoid coal build-up. But even so, it's best to leave it in bypass a few minutes before opening the door, and then burn the new load in bypass 5+ minutes before re-closing the bypass. I usually turn air wide open, then open bypass, then fetch wood, load, set 5-10 minute timer (depending on how "hot" the reload was). re-close bypass, run 20 minutes on high, turn down.

 

[Nealm66]

8-14 was pretty common for me depending on how high my draft was on a particular day. I probably never got better than a 14.

With a princess?

 

[ratsrepus]

On the coldest day I can go minimum 16 hrs on a full load of oak. This so called shoulder season iv been in the active range as much as 30 hrs with either of my stoves

 

[TheElementalCashew]

With a princess?

Yep. I have excessive draft issues, and it was impossible to turn down low, it always ran hot. I added a pipe damper this summer and hope to have some better control this year without overheating the house.

 

[Nealm66]

I hope it works for you. Nothing worse than an out of control princess

 

[TheElementalCashew]

I hope it works for you. Nothing worse than an out of control princess

Speaking from experience, an out of control Vermont Castings is worse

 

[DonTee]

I had one of those last year. Anyone who has used one of the Vermont Castings “everburn” stoves would agree I think.

 

[Ashful]

I ran a little experiment on one of my BK Ashfords last night. Learned / confirmed I could only expect about 24 hours active cat on a short 15 chimney when the temperature was > 50F outside on a 4-year old combustor, which is still miles beyond any other similar size stove on the market, but short of what it can do with good draft in January.

The experiment was run with only a 75% wood load, as it was 50F outside and this 3 cu.ft. stove is only heating something like 1200 sq.ft., depending on how you count it. So, when I say "24 hours for a full load", I mean I measured 18 hours on a 75% load of wood.

I initially pushed for a longer burn, turning the dial below my usual 24 hour setting, and using only 25% of a full load in 10 hours. Impressive, but the warm weather, short chimney, and 4-year old combustor were all conspiring to push me toward a cat stall, so I increased the air at the 10 hour mark. You will see this reflected in the 100F jump in cat temp at that point in the graph.

Summary point 1: I think my combustor is doing fine after 4 years, now into its 5th season, and after roughly 12 cords.
Summary point 2: You need to have an ideal setup to push toward 30 hours... and 15 feet of pipe at 50F outdoor temperature is not ideal. But hitting 24 hours is easy, even under poor conditions.



In the future, I'll try the same on my other stove, which sets under 30 feet of insulated pipe and is straddling a cat with more than 30 cords on it over the last 4+ years. I may also repeat the above on the short pipe stove, but in colder weather, seeing if this old cat can still hit the 30 - 36 hour times it did when new.

 

[DonTee]

Is your “pipe” temp the surface of the stove pipe temperature, and the “out” temp the flue gas temperature? Also how are you measuring the cat temp?

You have a single wall stove pipe on this stove correct?