Hi everyone, I'm in my second season with a pre-owned Blaze King Princess and I'm having some trouble.
We got the stove halfway through last winter and didn't do any maintenance on it before hooking it up. I was burning mixed hardwoods and getting about 10 hours of burn time, which I was okay with considering I knew it needed some work. I've since re-gasketed, replaced the Cat, and confirmed the t-stat is working properly, and am now managing about 18 hours during in the shoulder season/mild days and 12 hours on cold days. I was hoping for the famed 24 hour burn but based on the manual, I'm right at the average burn time for heat output so I'm not that worried about being on a 12 hour cycle.
My problem is with keeping the stove at a consistent temperature. I was expecting a set-it-and-forget-it type stove but that hasn't been my experience. Even after re-gasketing and replacing the cat I'm having to fiddle with the t-stat throughout the day to keep the stove producing heat. I close the bypass as soon as the stove is in the active zone, let it get hot (around 3/4 - the top of the range) and then slowly start turning it down. But as soon as I get the t-stat around 2 the temperature starts to drop.
To keep the stove producing heat, around halfway into the active zone, I need to keep pretty active flames, which of course cuts my burn time. If I drop the t-stat to the point where there are no active flames (around 1.75), which I thought was how the stove was meant to operate, my temp drops to the edge of the active zone and I don't get any measurable heat from it.
I'm sure this is user error but is it possible that the new cat I installed was faulty? It seemed to be working fine when it was new and the stove was producing decent heat. Am I turning the stove down too fast or too far? My wood is somewhere between 20-25% moisture - could that be the issue?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
We got the stove halfway through last winter and didn't do any maintenance on it before hooking it up. I was burning mixed hardwoods and getting about 10 hours of burn time, which I was okay with considering I knew it needed some work. I've since re-gasketed, replaced the Cat, and confirmed the t-stat is working properly, and am now managing about 18 hours during in the shoulder season/mild days and 12 hours on cold days. I was hoping for the famed 24 hour burn but based on the manual, I'm right at the average burn time for heat output so I'm not that worried about being on a 12 hour cycle.
My problem is with keeping the stove at a consistent temperature. I was expecting a set-it-and-forget-it type stove but that hasn't been my experience. Even after re-gasketing and replacing the cat I'm having to fiddle with the t-stat throughout the day to keep the stove producing heat. I close the bypass as soon as the stove is in the active zone, let it get hot (around 3/4 - the top of the range) and then slowly start turning it down. But as soon as I get the t-stat around 2 the temperature starts to drop.
To keep the stove producing heat, around halfway into the active zone, I need to keep pretty active flames, which of course cuts my burn time. If I drop the t-stat to the point where there are no active flames (around 1.75), which I thought was how the stove was meant to operate, my temp drops to the edge of the active zone and I don't get any measurable heat from it.
I'm sure this is user error but is it possible that the new cat I installed was faulty? It seemed to be working fine when it was new and the stove was producing decent heat. Am I turning the stove down too fast or too far? My wood is somewhere between 20-25% moisture - could that be the issue?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
