Total let down. Dud of a storm. Little bit of lightning and thunder, a little rain, zero hail. I was really hoping for some of that 2.5" hail though I am glad that my roof wasn't damaged by any of it. We were all tucked in at home waiting.
Blaze King Ashford
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Total let down. Dud of a storm. Little bit of lightning and thunder, a little rain, zero hail. I was really hoping for some of that 2.5" hail though I am glad that my roof wasn't damaged by any of it. We were all tucked in at home waiting.
Yes, it was a nothingburger. Just a nice light show with some sound effects. I'm glad it wasn't serious. The east side has already taken a couple big hits this year.
@BKVP @begreen
Interested to hear your take on this black box comment. I’ve seen similar information about this on YouTube.
If the princess / ashford is run without engaging the cat, can you get a nice viewing fire going?
I live in northern New England and currently heat 2200+ with my Manchester 8362 at about 6 cord per year. A robust fire view is not a deal breaker but we do enjoy sitting around the stove on cold days.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
When you run on low and medium low, yes, there is no flame. This is because our low Btu burn rate is generally much lower than other "low" burn rates.
You will get some flame on medium. To increase the amount of flame, load smaller diameter pieces.
On high, lots of flame.
These observations by others, if they owe a BK, are because they use them to their maximum benefit. Large prices, heavy loads tightly packed = longest burn times possible.
Thank you for your question!
BKVP
tabner
Feeling the Heat
I think we should point out - not recommended to run any of these stoves without engaging the cat. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but i don't believe the Cat engagement is optional on these stoves. You could probably damage your bypass assembly or your chimney, etc.
Everyone talks about the quality of flame show in these BKs being a concern, but I really don't see it as an issue. As others have said, you can turn the stove up to medium and definitely have flames, but another consideration which I never see mentioned - I think the flame show in my BK might be cooler than the flame show in a Non-Cat. I don't have any experience with a modern EPA non-cat, so I could be wrong. But when I run my Ashford on medium and i get flames, they're really cool looking trippy flames that float all around the top of the box. I think they're way cooler than your 'typical' fire on a log in a woodstove. Not sure, maybe all the modern non-cats do that too with the secondaries? But anyways, i find the flame show in my Ashford to be plenty enjoyable.
Yes, we see floating flames occasionally in non-cats too. Very hard wood does it best.
Don't run the stove without engaging the cat. You'll break it and pollute and waste wood and on top of that no difference in flames.
At any burn rate/heat output level that would have made flames on your hearthstone you will also have flames on the BK. When you run the BK nice and low you get superior comfort and longer burn times but less flames. I pretty much always have at least visible red coals like a coal fire but not actual flames except during cold starts or reloads.
Sitting around a hot BK is just as nice as sitting around any other hot stove on a cold day. The flames are not the star of the show. If you really want flames though, crank it up but you may have to open the windows!
Another option for having kind of best of both worlds if you’re worried about flame show, would be a Woodstock progress hybrid stove.
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