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.

 

[Highbeam]

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.

I've also never stalled a cat after closing the bypass and chopping the air control. I find the smoke plume cleans up quicker if I leave the thermostat on a high setting for a while until the cat meter really gets high before turning the thermostat down. Less glass accumulation too. Minor stuff. I think you can safely do whatever you want here once the cat mater says active.

 

[m37charlie]

Right now it’s 14 hours since I filled up with birch (hardwood). Last night it was about 14F but right now partly cloudy but some solar gain and over 20F so stove thermostat is at 1.9, stove top in catalyst downstream chamber 250F but glass door 310F, single wall stack 130F outside surface. Catalyst not glowing and I conclude it’s inactive.
The stove is currently has a bed of black coals that start glowing immediately when I open door to peek.
The Ecofans are still spinning vigorously.
This long winded description points out that most of the work done by the catalyst is for a few hours after putting new wood in, burning the complex organic compounds that are volatilized. Now, the big coals are producing just CO2 and CO.
When I reload it in an hour or 2 (that’s after 16-17 hours heating 2300 sq ft in <20F), then I’ll turn the thermostat up to 2.5 to make absolutely sure there’s enough air for the new wood (spruce, in order to finish consuming the birch coals). The catalyst will quickly ignite and start glowing.
When I have big coals that are active, I don’t even bother to leave bypass open and door cracked, though if things haven’t taken off in 15 minutes, I open bypass and crack the door at which point things burst into flame in <1 minute.
I’ll reload for the 2nd time in 24h with birch just before going to bed. Between 10pm and midnight.
This management system has worked well for me for >30 years and >200 cords, same stove.

 

[m37charlie]

Regarding thermostat air inlet turned down to 1.0 position, but putting out too much heat with open flame:
There must be air leaking in somewhere, most likely door gasket.

 

[reaperman1]

I dont understand how anyone can keep their stove on high for 15-30 minutes after a reload without overheating their flu. My stack temps crawl into the 7-800 degree range if I dont keep an eye on it and are almost always in the 600's during a normal burn. I dont know how they can be any lower considering the probe is only 18" above a 1200+ degree cat and fire in the stove. If I dont have a little flame after a reload the cat temps will spike and almost pin the gauge. And the stove will get hot, hot. And this will continue as long as the wood off gasses which can be a long time.

 

[m37charlie]

Based on color, my catalyst regularly reaches 12-1800 F. It’s called black body radiation.
Yet, at the same time, the outer temperature of my thin single wall sheet metal stack is usually about 200-240F.
It seems that most of the tremendous catalyst hest is being radiated to the surrounding metal, and the very hot gas immediately downstream of the cat also radiates rapidly, especially the top of the stove.
I don’t have a probe immersed in the flue gas itself immediately upstream of the flexible bend piece that I need to go somewhat at an angle upto the entrance to the Selkirk 8” “metalbestos” in the ceiling.
But I’d like to, I’m curious.