Blaze King Princess T-Stat Cover Mod

[Todd]

As per request I'm starting this thread hoping it may help some of you other Blaze King burners that are having smoking issues or sluggish restarts. As my burning season began to wind down I took the cover off to check the operation of the t-stat and when I was done I tried to install the cover back on and noticed it didn't line up with the mounting screw holes if the butterfly t-stat was open a ways. The cover was resting on top of the butterfly.

After awhile of tinkering I noticed that the holes would only line up if the stat was below a setting of about 2.5, this leaves a lot of air leftover in reserve since the numbers go up to 3.5. I ran the stove for a few days with the cover off and noticed a big difference in performance. No more smokey reloads, faster take offs during reloads and cold starts. It also helps to have that extra air to burn down coals when needed.

I was thinking of just leaving the cover off but I have an OAK hooked up and figured it would be pulling room air with it off so I ended up modifing the cover. All I did was take some tin snips and cut up from the bottom to the mounting holes and made it adjustable so I could slide the cover up and the butterfly can go to it's max setting.
View attachment 102711 View attachment 102711 View attachment 102713

 

[Todd]

Here's a pic of the butterfly at full or 3.5. With the old setup the butterfly only went about 45 degrees. Pretty much straight up and down.

 

[Todd]

Also notice the rod has an adjustable screw stop if you need to line up your numbers to where the butterfly sits. Mine is right at 3.5 with the butterfly straight up and closes at 1.

 

[alforit]

Nice........good info

 

[Highbeam]

So the stat cover is not seated. How large are the leaks of room air now? Is it just those screw slots? Are the sides open?

I see you also removed your full throttle butterfly stop.

 

[Todd]

I don't think the cover was ever fully air tight. The cover still fits over everything but there is still places where room air can get in. I will probably silicone to make a tighter seal.

That butterfly screw stop was cutting off even more air than the cover. I think it was there to keep the butterfly from getting wedged under the cover. I just don't get why BK didn't make the cover fit right?

 

[Highbeam]

Must have been easier/cheaper to run a screw in the back. Maybe they had already made 5000 of the covers before they realized that they were too small. Is there any chance of the suction pulling the butterfly over center.

 

[Todd]

I don't think the butterfly can flip over unless that stop screw on the rod loosens up or fails.

 

[BKVP]

Hello all. I want to mention the modifications made are not a good idea. There are three screws in the cover of the thermostat housing. Two of which secure the cover. The third screw (removed in the image provided by OP) is to prevent over firing. The thermostat blade and it's calibration was never intended to open to the degree indicated. Doing so may cause over firing of the stove and in fact such modifications are a violation of Federal Law.

Additionally, the increase in temperatures will take a toll on the catalytic combustor as well. To the original OP, I might suggest you reinstall the cover and replace the screw that was OEM to prevent the blade from opening further than tested and approved for BOTH safety and EPA tests.

You may have noticed the warning label on the cover of the thermostat cover. That is a requirement under law. If your stove over fires and you have additional issues, I am certain modifications made could raise insurnace carrier concerns.

 

[Todd]

oops

 

[rdust]

I have an older Princess(2006) and it doesn't have the third screw. They must've added this later or changed the t-stat design to require it. My guess is the flapper got caught on the cover a time or two and caused an overfire situation. Mine has caught on the cover once before but I figured it out long before it could overfire. When I got the t-stat down to 2 I thought hmmm those flames should be getting lazy not raging. A couple turns of the t-stat closed to open solved the issue.

 

[rdust]

oops

 

[webbie]

Thread closed. Obviously the manufacturer and labeling warns against it.....
If something were to happen and those mods discovered during the lawsuit process, you'd be in for some trouble!