Blaze king disappointment

[Woodheat58]

OP, I can assure you that if the 566F was on high, full fire box of fuel as described in prior post, the temp you are seeing is quite below higher recorded temps.

Was this directly in front of the flue collar? What device was used to get temps? IR gun? Bimetallic thermometer?

Yes this was directly over the cat. Full load on high. It was one of those $17 jobbers from amazon, maybe not 100% exact, but close enough

 

[Woodheat58]

If you’re measuring 21% on he outside of an old split face, you are likely burning wood that’s over 30% (or even 35%). That’s not going to work in this stove, period.


I don’t buy this. He’s living in 1800 sq ft, with half of that closed off. Heck, that’s not a house, it’s not even a big room!

The King can heat many times that, in most climates. Heck, one of my Ashfords is heating at least 2.5x his space with no aid from central heating, and bleeding out to 4x his space with some aid from the central heat. That part of the house isn’t “poorly insulated”, it’s totally un-insulated.

I have seen stove top temps, but no mention of cat probe temp? That’s the only one we care about, here.

Man I read replies like this and I'm baffled. THIS is why I bought this thing, to feel like he does with that Ashford. The cat probe on the top of the stove can go all the way to the end of "active" until I turn the fans on, then it kind of hangs out around the 3 o clock

 

[showrguy]

Man I read replies like this and I'm baffled. THIS is why I bought this thing, to feel like he does with that Ashford. The cat probe on the top of the stove can go all the way to the end of "active" until I turn the fans on, then it kind of hangs out around the 3 o clock

I have yet to see that you checked m/c on a fresh split at room temp. /??
That might answer alot of questions here..

 

[lsucet]

Man I read replies like this and I'm baffled. THIS is why I bought this thing, to feel like he does with that Ashford. The cat probe on the top of the stove can go all the way to the end of "active" until I turn the fans on, then it kind of hangs out around the 3 o clock

Depending on your setup and regardless the reading of the cat probe sometimes at WOT, you are sending too much heat up the flue instead of keeping it in the house. Do you have a flue temp gauge or probe? What is the flue temp?

 

[maple1]

Depending on your setup and regardless the reading of the cat probe sometimes at WOT, you are sending too much heat up the flue instead of keeping it in the house. Do you have a flue temp gauge or probe? What is the flue temp?

Unless he isn't making as much as he should. Say from gasses bypassing the cat due to no gasket (but how much would that really pass?), or because of unseasoned wood.

 

[jetsam]

Man I read replies like this and I'm baffled. THIS is why I bought this thing, to feel like he does with that Ashford. The cat probe on the top of the stove can go all the way to the end of "active" until I turn the fans on, then it kind of hangs out around the 3 o clock

Use the blowers for max heat.

The cat probe is being artificially cooled by the blower so it will read low, but you are getting more heat off of the stove. The cat itself is not being directly cooled.

If you want to see the cat probe temp, turn the blowers off for 10 minutes and then look.

You won't even really need to look after a year or two.

 

[lsucet]

Unless he isn't making as much as he should. Say from gasses bypassing the cat due to no gasket (but how much would that really pass?), or because of unseasoned wood.

The gasket is important cause it is the way that the stove was designed Plus what manufacture recommend. How much loss is between cat and frame without a gasket, well is uncertain to me. Is not like the cat is plugged or cover, i assume the easiest path is thru the cat. Maybe i am wrong.

 

[showrguy]

The cat gasket is more than just a gasket to seal up edges..
I suppose it's greatest function is to isolate the cat from it's surroundings, without it the rest of the steel in the cat frame will act as a heat sink, robbing the heat/cooling the cat...

 

[Woodheat58]

ya, agreed - i've spent over $500/month up here...

I don't live in Ontario. Single digits are not common here. My coworkers spend no more than $100 on gas, that is over 2k sq ft. Albeit their houses are insulated well.

 

[jetsam]

So why go on punishing yourself? Insulation is cheap.

 

[Highbeam]

1. Gasket on order.
2. Yes, handle pulled when cat temp is active.
3. Awaiting time to get on roof and measure
4. That's real brick, but the stove doesn't get hot in the back.
5. see 4
8. When I run the blowers, the cat stat goes down, I like it to radiate max heat

Thanks VP!

Uh oh, did you mean it when you said you pull the cat lever when active? That’s backwards, you push it back and down to lock the bypass closed once it is active. Fully clockwise for cat engagement.

 

[lsucet]

I noticed that early but i said well maybe is a typo

 

[ShawnLiNY]

Man I read replies like this and I'm baffled. THIS is why I bought this thing, to feel like he does with that Ashford. The cat probe on the top of the stove can go all the way to the end of "active" until I turn the fans on, then it kind of hangs out around the 3 o clock

Woodheat , is there a Reason you are refusing to answer or acknowledge having tested the moisture content of the wood in the proper method suggested by at least 5 separate people ? You quoted ashfuls reply but didn’t answer again .the cat , chimney height , moving stove from brick wall , insulation , new windows , moving to Florida . Won’t change anything if your wood isn’t dry enough , ( 21% on the outside could be 26% in the center of the split ) and if the wood is cold you might be 25% on the exact spot the meter says 21 ! have you used known dry wood or compressed logs/ bricks yet ? And did you get more heat

 

[ohlongarm]

Hello! New guy here so take it easy with the thread title lol. I've searched the web high and low for this topic and have read a lot of threads. But I come to the oracles here for some solid advice!
House is 1800 sq feet with the upstairs door closed off as I don't use it. King is sitting in the middle room. I came from a 70's or 80's model Timberline that came with the house. I really did like it and it would heat the house from 52 after dying out overnight to 76 by 8pm on days when it was in the mid 30s and above. Problem was it would eat wood and would not keep a fire overnight. A LOT of research was done with what to replace it with. I found a used King and jumped on it. It was used because the guy who bought it new hooked it up to a 8 to 6 reducer that didn't have a high enough rise to the 90 and it never would get to temp and made so much creosote that it would not operate properly so he traded it in on a 6in princess. Based on the used condition and knowing it was a catalyst stove I replaced the cat that was pitch black and had cracks with a brand new stainless Condor. This definitely helped the performance of the stove.
Well that was in 2017. I was looking forward to 12 hr burn times on high and being smoked out of the house with being able to get it to 80 based on the "old school" non epa Timberline performance. Now two years later I've about had it with this thing.
Wood is coming in at 21 or less on the meter. A mix of oak, hickory, ash, black locust. Out of the roof is a good 36in. of pipe The house is a poorly insulated 1955 farmhouse yes, but the old Timberline would power through that problem. I really do like it for the overnight burn though, I'll give it that.
Any advice you can give?
I've attached a couple pics of the setup
Many thanks!

My two cents worth,first off i'm sorry for your dissatisfaction with your BK,imo usually these things that would cause that feeling,#1 wood not seasoned long enough,the BK's like dry wood,and this is where they shine,improper installation,poor draft,combuster plugged ,i'm running mine with dry wood,minimum requirement chimney height,and it's a winner. Look closely at these things i believe you'll find the answer.

 

[lsucet]

To the OP. Three good pieces of pine that I tossed in there now after work. Temperatures here all day have been in 20s with snow. House in the 70s. Yes I am running two stoves. The point is they can give you good output, you just need to find out what is going on.

 

[jetsam]

Hm, well spotted by highbeam there. Be sure to check that one. The handle should be pushed away from you until it cams over and stops for normal operation.

We will also need to check your bypass door for proper operation if it has been running on high in bypass mode all this time.

 

[begreen]

Maybe typo?The handle appears to be in the bypass closed position.

 

[Woody Stover]

House in the 70s.

Then how come your hand is purple?

 

[lsucet]

Then how come your hand is purple?

Is good to know that on top of all your abilities, also, you are color blind.

 

[Ashful]

Man I read replies like this and I'm baffled. THIS is why I bought this thing, to feel like he does with that Ashford. The cat probe on the top of the stove can go all the way to the end of "active" until I turn the fans on, then it kind of hangs out around the 3 o clock

Yeah, this one is a head scratcher. But we're all in on wanting to figure it out with you!

First, make sure you're throwing that bypass lever in the right direction, forward to start, then back after the cat reaches active. Make sure you're also pushing it down until it cams over tight, you'll know what these guys mean by that, when you feel it.

I think the next step is to go buy two or three bundles (the King is BIG!) of that kiln-dried supermarket wood, even toss a few 2x4's in with it, and do a test load with known-dry wood. Make it a full load, and let's see what you get from that.

That King should be able to roast you and yours right out of that 900 sq.ft. for a solid day at a time, the fact that it's not pulling it's weight tells us something is very, very wrong. Something as wrong as, maybe... operating the bypass in reverse!

 

[Woody Stover]

I think the next step is to go buy two or three bundles (the King is BIG!) of that kiln-dried supermarket wood...maybe operating the bypass in reverse!

Since the cat is blazing, I'm going with the bypass lever...but would the cat be getting that hot with the bypass open?

 

[Ashful]

Since the cat is blazing, I'm going with the bypass lever...but would the cat be getting that hot with the bypass open?

I had an incident where I forgot about the stove for 45 minutes in bypass, about two weeks ago. Total bone head move, on my part. I think my cat needle was way up around 2 o'clock on the dial (way, waaay past active!), by the time I remembered it and came running back. So, yeah... it's possible!

 

[Woodheat58]

Cats always closed when in active zone, like in my original picture

 

[Woody Stover]

Cats always closed when in active zone, like in my original picture

Yeah, kinda figured that, but we have to ask.
I would let it go cold and go over it with a fine-toothed comb since it is a used stove. Something may be jacked up.

 

[ShawnLiNY]

Stove temps:
566 on top

back behind the flue
480

side of stove
467

pipe starts at 363 to 233 at ceiling

Does this help diagnose any problems??

Knowing the temp can help diagnose problems , because they provides more info than a general statement of the stove isn’t heating right . Were these temps with the wood you had tested at 21% or is this with the pallets and 2x4s you were going to try ? I think after eliminating high moisture wood , you may want to add 2 45* elbows to move the stove forward as much as possible to get it away from corner ( is it possible you aren’t getting enough air flow for heat radiate properly?)