Blaze king Ashford 25 Lowest setting, still seeing decent size flame, shorter burn time

[JZ333]

Hello,
This is my first season ever using wood insert. So still in the process figuring out things.
Last night and this morning when I ran the stove, I got it going pretty easy, reached the CAT temp in 25mins, closed the bypass door, waited another 20mins, slowly turning down the temperature setting. 2 hour after, the CAT is still in the active range, but I can see a medium size fame going on in the insert. Last night I loaded the stove around 11pm and by 8am this morning the needle just dropped the active zone, so roughly 9 hours before I have to reload the stove.
My question is that is the active flame shorten mu burn time? It is new stove installed in October. Since I have already closed the bypass door and the temp setting to the lowest, how can I put out the fire to have a long burn time.
Thank you!

 

[moresnow]

Post a pic of the load you put in the stove next round. Prior to lighting.

 

[JZ333]

Post a pic of the load you put in the stove next round. Prior to lighting.

Thanks for responding. this is how it looks this morning.
Loaded the insert 11pm last night. At 8am this morning nice coal in the stove, the needle is still in red zone.
I load the insert 8am. Pic1
Went to get ready for work and had some breakfast. Temperature setting at highest level and bypass open to get the fire going, roughly 20 mins Pic2
Closed the bypass and turned down the temperature setting to lowest, left for work. Asked wife to take a picture around 9:40AM. The cat is glowing, and you can also see the fire roaring Pic3&4 (apologize for the pic quality)

 

[moresnow]

Closed the bypass and turned down the temperature setting to lowest, left for work

Soooo. Normally closing the bypass and immediately reducing the temperature setting can risk stalling the cat.
The BK recommended approach is to engage the bypass as soon as possible/gauge indicated.
Burn at a high rate for 15-30 minutes.
Then reduce temp setting to your desired burn rate/output level. Sometimes doing a few adjustments on the way down.

Another tidbit for consideration. On every BK install the effective/useable amount of therm knob movement may be much, much less than what is available.
Wide open is the same position for everyone.
Your stove's "low set point" may be a completely different knob position than the next BK owner.
Many (not all) find that all effective adjustability occurs from wide open back down to the halfway point or somewhat less. All dependent on variable's like venting length and install location (main floor vs. basement), dwelling elevation, current weather etc.
In a nutshell your therm knob can make a 180 degree swing. It would be common to only use 90 degrees (+,-) of that adjustment range for complete stove control.
Food for thought.

Don't fear filling in the left over space above your pictured load with more splits. Stuff it.
To get the advertised performance.
My experience and opinion only! Enjoy your learning curve.

 

[BKVP]

Your piece size creates tremendous surface area. More surface area = shorter burn times & more flame activity. Also, your load isn't a "full" load. Grab some much larger diameter pieces first, then, use the smaller pieces and play wood stoves metric!

Otherwise, your burn times and rolling flames are normal...especially in the first 30 minutes or more after closing the bypass.

BKVP

 

[Tron]

use the smaller pieces and play wood stoves metric!

Some people call it playing Tetris.
But it's the same issue as with the game: you never pull out the pieces that you actually need...

 

[Tron]

Soooo. Normally closing the bypass and immediately reducing the temperature setting can risk stalling the cat.

Not really. With fresh fuel and the fire established, the wood outgasses so much the cat has plenty of fuel to stay active.
I don't even keep it on high after closing the bypass, I immediately dial it down. Then the flames die down and the cat thermometer really takes off.
But I agree that @JZ333 should load more wood into the firebox and stuff it full.
The split size makes a difference, but not as much as one would expect. At least not as much as the thermostat setting, i.e. airflow into the stove.