I'm hoping BKVP can chime in here, as I've heard this is a common issue. Pictures included for your pleasure.
I have one of the earlier built catalytic blaze kings (King), and the metal between the bypass and the seat that the cat sits on is severely warped. It's bad enough that the bypass won't close all the way, and the cat can't be seated and sealed properly. It's going to require some cutting and remanufacture of the interior framework. I'm pretty good with metal, so it's doable. You can see where I used a torch to get it hot and tried to hammer it back into a decent shape. It didn't work at all, and I think I made it worse.
I bought another stove of the same model and vintage to use, and will fix and sell the warped one.
My first question is what conditions cause this warping. Obviously high heat. I recently started leaving the door cracked open for a short time while getting a load up to temperature, and I'm betting this practice creates temperatures that are just too hot. If anyone has experienced this problem, I'd love to hear their opinion. Either way, I'll be trying to keep the temps lower during startup.
Second, has anyone welded on some additional bracing to help with this issue? I have some preliminary ideas. Nothing major; just plan to slap on some 1/4" stock.
Third, and this is for BKVP. I basically need to replace the entire cat seat and the front portion of the bypass seat. Does BK happen to have these parts lying around ready to be welded in, or am I stuck creating them myself?
Thanks,
Doug
![[Hearth.com] Blaze King KEJ-1101 interior warping](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/219/219947-4842f802d4fcfc16c08732592d7b2932.jpg?hash=QxSMR_Mmdi "[Hearth.com] Blaze King KEJ-1101 interior warping")
![[Hearth.com] Blaze King KEJ-1101 interior warping](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/219/219948-d3260678ddf4ca02c56a3b1ac4299bed.jpg?hash=SXmrb0buWs "[Hearth.com] Blaze King KEJ-1101 interior warping")
![[Hearth.com] Blaze King KEJ-1101 interior warping](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/219/219949-b5c5de1371303a869c494ce228bbdc92.jpg?hash=w-dxwnSy44 "[Hearth.com] Blaze King KEJ-1101 interior warping")
I have one of the earlier built catalytic blaze kings (King), and the metal between the bypass and the seat that the cat sits on is severely warped. It's bad enough that the bypass won't close all the way, and the cat can't be seated and sealed properly. It's going to require some cutting and remanufacture of the interior framework. I'm pretty good with metal, so it's doable. You can see where I used a torch to get it hot and tried to hammer it back into a decent shape. It didn't work at all, and I think I made it worse.
I bought another stove of the same model and vintage to use, and will fix and sell the warped one.
My first question is what conditions cause this warping. Obviously high heat. I recently started leaving the door cracked open for a short time while getting a load up to temperature, and I'm betting this practice creates temperatures that are just too hot. If anyone has experienced this problem, I'd love to hear their opinion. Either way, I'll be trying to keep the temps lower during startup.
Second, has anyone welded on some additional bracing to help with this issue? I have some preliminary ideas. Nothing major; just plan to slap on some 1/4" stock.
Third, and this is for BKVP. I basically need to replace the entire cat seat and the front portion of the bypass seat. Does BK happen to have these parts lying around ready to be welded in, or am I stuck creating them myself?
Thanks,
Doug
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