Blaze King Princess everything has gone haywire.

[Hunderhill]

This is a four month old stove.

Three weeks ago, I noticed that our catalytic thermometer range had gone from within the painted inactive/active zones to at the coldest straight “south” and will heat more than 360 degrees around when I have it ripping. Not sure what happened?

then two days ago, we noticed that the thermostat has sort of done the same thing. Instead of stopping at either end of the swoop, it takes nearly two rotations to hit the ends of the range. Also, the damper doesn’t seem to be actually coordinated with the spinning. The flame goes up and down at random times throughout the two rotations so we have no clue when the damper is open or shut except for guessing.

Our fires have been going out in six hours, and I haven’t seen the cat glow for days, despite the fire at times being very very hot.

The bypass is opening and closing properly.

Any ideas?

I also noticed that we didn’t get the stove registered for warranty. Does anyone know how mean BK is about that? Even if I wanted to, the installer didn’t fill out the information they were supposed to. I’d love this to be covered.

 

[huauqui]

The first thing I would make sure of is that the set screw on the knob for the air setting "swoosh" knob is tight. If it is loose than that could mean it is not where you think it is and could be making the stove run way hot too.

I am sure some others with much more wisdom will chime in soon.

huauqui

 

[Highbeam]

This is a four month old stove.

Three weeks ago, I noticed that our catalytic thermometer range had gone from within the painted inactive/active zones to at the coldest straight “south” and will heat more than 360 degrees around when I have it ripping. Not sure what happened?

then two days ago, we noticed that the thermostat has sort of done the same thing. Instead of stopping at either end of the swoop, it takes nearly two rotations to hit the ends of the range. Also, the damper doesn’t seem to be actually coordinated with the spinning. The flame goes up and down at random times throughout the two rotations so we have no clue when the damper is open or shut except for guessing.

Our fires have been going out in six hours, and I haven’t seen the cat glow for days, despite the fire at times being very very hot.

The bypass is opening and closing properly.

Any ideas?

I also noticed that we didn’t get the stove registered for warranty. Does anyone know how mean BK is about that? Even if I wanted to, the installer didn’t fill out the information they were supposed to. I’d love this to be covered.

Call BK, there is a procedure for properly locating the knob prior to tightening the set screw which has become loose. Your dial, when fixed, will only turn about 3/4 of a full revolution.

The cat meter sounds junky. It’s a decent unit but I easily replaced and aftermarket meters are only about 30$. BK wil help you test this meter too.

Most troubling is your inability to set the thermostat. You really can’t hurt anything but it’s no fun.

The cat glows less when the primary fire is burning up the smoke. There’s just less for it to eat. The glow is not required. It can be functional without glowing.

 

[ratsrepus]

you can remove the cover that goes over the thermostat. make sure the dial is turned down 12 oclock when removing or re installing the cover. you will be able to see whats going on once the cover is removed. do not take the center screw out, that a positive stop for the butterfly. just the two outer ones

 

[Hobbler]

So my princess was new in the spring and I started using it this fall.
GREAT stove.
A few days ago the swish started to have some play.
Then more play until it was spinning around and I pulled it off.

I used pliers to adjust the rod as I was using it and talked to the shop that installed it.
They had a new Princess in inventory doing almost the same thing.
I looked at the set screw and it seemed stripped inside, or intentionally round inside?
I wondered if there was a special swish tightening tool .

Great folks.
I am not thinking warranty as, yikes, busy season and money is good.

We agreed I would go to the local building supply and find a new set screw that wasn’t stripped or a swish installation tool .

So, the store didn’t have the exact pointed set screw.
I had to ask for help.
They weren’t busy so someone spent way to long helping me.
We couldn’t find the right set screw, but eventually we hit on a special swish instillation tool that was perfect. It was an ‘Allen wrench’ of the right size as it wasn’t stripped at all.
I don’t remember the exact size. Take in the Swish.

So, there is a ‘line’ on the ‘top’ of the rod when fully open.
I aligned the set screw with that.

Works even better now.

It has been mild.
I have just used softwood in the princess up to now.
I got a note from bk saying if I had a nice new stove like her I really needed to stop feeding her such crap.

I have a really great shed of beautiful dry hard wood and a TON of ‘okay’ (they disagree it seems) of soft wood (I need to disappear it). But, the Princess does such a GREAT job with the iffy stuff I just can’t resist.

The house is right where we want with temperature and comfort In that part.
We are also running a PE summit classic in another part.
That is a different stove for a different area and set up.
Also perfect for where it is.

 

[Highbeam]

Mine has a belly full of primo softwood right now. Works great.

 

[jetsam]

You have a loose set screw on your thermostat knob, and your cat probe needs to be calibrated.

If you have 5 minutes, Allen keys, and a pair of pliers, you can fix it right up.

Lift the cat thermometer out and set it aside to cool.

Tighten the set screw on the thermostat knob (it's ok if it's pointing the wrong way). Gently close the thermostat fully, ignoring the dial indicator but paying close attention to how hard it is to turn (give it normal operating pressure, don't force it). Now loosen the screw again, and position the knob so the indicator points to the minimum position, and tighten the screw.

Come back to your cat probe after it cools to room temp. Loosen the nut on the bottom, set it to read room temp, tighten the nut.

It's normal for flames to come and go as the stove operates. When the firebox gets too cool, the thermostat opens the air intake and you get pretty flames.

Get the knob fixed and we'll discuss your short burn times... something else is going on there. (For now, next time the stove is cool, take the flame guard out and run a shopvac across the face of the cat.)

 

[Highbeam]

Tighten the set screw on the thermostat knob (it's ok if it's pointing the wrong way). Gently close the thermostat fully, ignoring the dial indicator but paying close attention to how hard it is to turn (give it normal operating pressure, don't force it). Now loosen the screw again, and position the knob so the indicator points to the minimum position, and tighten the screw.

This is not what BK says to do for the freestanders. It's the opposite, turn the thermostat shaft to max hot against the stop full clockwise. Then orient the knob so that the knob points down at the 6 o'clock position when setting the set screw.

 

[Highbeam]

Come back to your cat probe after it cools to room temp. Loosen the nut on the bottom, set it to read room temp, tighten the nut.

Woops, this is not the way that it's done. Clamp the probe in vise grips and then loosen just the very top nut which is like a bolt head. This frees the meter faceplate to turn. Set it to the bottom of the inactive range. Then tighten. Little box end wrench is great. Be sure the cat meter is fully cooled to room temperature.