First Burn In New BK...Resulting In A Question???

[fdegree]

I know, it isn't the best time to do this, but I'm impatient and couldn't wait any longer. :red:

Thursday afternoon I fired up the King with a load of kindling...about 11:00 pm Thursday night, I loaded it full with white oak...set the t'stat on 1.5 (it ranges from 1 - 3.5)
Now it is Saturday night, about 10:00 pm and I have enough coals to load it again and get it to fire off...nearly 48 hours on one load.
This whole time, it has kept the main part of my house around 78*, and the bedrooms around 72*...without the stove fan running...only a ceiling fan in the living room running (which is where the stove is located)
Granted, it has been in the high 40's at night and high 60's during the day...not too much of a demand

Occasionally, I tinkered with the t'stat, and caused the catalyst temperature to jump up to 1600* - 1800*...but turning on the stove fan for a few minutes brought it back down...might have gotten more time out of it if I had just left it alone.

Most of the time on Friday, and today (Saturday) the catalyst thermometer has hovered around 300* - 400*...which brings up a question:
Will it harm the catalyst, or anything for that matter, to run it at such low temperatures, for extended periods of time?

 

[Todd]

I'm jealous of you BK guys and those super long burns. The cat is fine at those temps. Once the load is down to coals there just isn't much fuel for the cat to burn.

 

[fdegree]

Thanks Todd, I appreciate the fast response.

Actually, the load wasn't down to just coals until this afternoon. Most of the day yesterday, and over night last night, there were still some splits that were just charred.

Does that make any difference?

 

[Todd]

Sometimes in my little cat stove I see splits in the back that still look intact but if you poke them they fall apart. I still think your ok, did you happen to look at your chimney for any smoke?

 

[weatherguy]

Ive been running into that with my princess since its been warming up to the 50's in the day. I try to keep an eye on it and I turn the fan off when it starts cooling off so the stove will stay warmer longer. I doubt its causing any problems.

 

[fdegree]

Sometimes in my little cat stove I see splits in the back that still look intact but if you poke them they fall apart. I still think your ok, did you happen to look at your chimney for any smoke?

The splits were definitely solid. A couple of times, when the cat temp was low, I poked them and moved them around with a poker and they felt quite solid. Once again, this is something I probably should have just left alone, but curiosity got the best of me.

As for smoke...when there were charred splits, and the cat temp was low, there was dark grey/blackish smoke coming out of the chimney...when there were just coals, and the cat temp was low, no smoke coming out of the chimney.

 

[Todd]

Sometimes in my little cat stove I see splits in the back that still look intact but if you poke them they fall apart. I still think your ok, did you happen to look at your chimney for any smoke?

The splits were definitely solid. A couple of times, when the cat temp was low, I poked them and moved them around with a poker and they felt quite solid. Once again, this is something I probably should have just left alone, but curiosity got the best of me.

As for smoke...when there were charred splits, and the cat temp was low, there was dark grey/blackish smoke coming out of the chimney...when there were just coals, and the cat temp was low, no smoke coming out of the chimney.

That sounds like the cat stalled out on you if the splits were solid and you were getting smoke out your chimney. Give it more air if you see smoke. I still wouldn't worry your still learning the stove, keep playing around with the air settings, maybe you turned it down too soon or that White Oak wasn't dry enough? If you still have solid fuel in the stove and your cat temps drop below 500 the cat will not be burning the smoke.

 

[fdegree]

That sounds like the cat stalled out on you if the splits were solid and you were getting smoke out your chimney. Give it more air if you see smoke. I still wouldn't worry your still learning the stove, keep playing around with the air settings, maybe you turned it down too soon or that White Oak wasn't dry enough? If you still have solid fuel in the stove and your cat temps drop below 500 the cat will not be burning the smoke.

I'm sure the wood was not dry enough...only 9 - 10 months of drying on the white oak...perhaps that was the major problem.

Hopefully, when it gets colder, I'll need the stove to run hotter and this won't happen too much.

Thanks for the guidance...

 

[fdegree]

Ive been running into that with my princess since its been warming up to the 50's in the day. I try to keep an eye on it and I turn the fan off when it starts cooling off so the stove will stay warmer longer. I doubt its causing any problems.

I think my results are 2-fold:
1. less than ideal MC of the wood
2. not cold enough to run the stove at higher settings...same as you are running into.


Thanks for your input...it truly helps me feel more comfortable.

 

[North of 60]

Ive been running into that with my princess since its been warming up to the 50's in the day. I try to keep an eye on it and I turn the fan off when it starts cooling off so the stove will stay warmer longer. I doubt its causing any problems.

I think my results are 2-fold:
1. less than ideal MC of the wood
2. not cold enough to run the stove at higher settings...same as you are running into.


Thanks for your input...it truly helps me feel more comfortable.

Remember that BK is looking for 12-18% MC to get there specified burn.

 

[fdegree]

Remember that BK is looking for 12-18% MC to get there specified burn.

Unfortunately, this is my first year with a wood stove, and as many others have gone through, my wood is not fully seasoned at this time.

Next year, my wood will have been drying for 21 months...thereafter I will have my wood on a minimum of 2 year drying cycles.

But, this year, I just have to deal with what I have.

 

[North of 60]

Remember that BK is looking for 12-18% MC to get there specified burn.

Unfortunately, this is my first year with a wood stove, and as many others have gone through, my wood is not fully seasoned at this time.

Next year, my wood will have been drying for 21 months...thereafter I will have my wood on a minimum of 2 year drying cycles.

But, this year, I just have to deal with what I have.

Keep that by-pass disengaged a little longer after reloads to help out with the rapid cooling and flashing of steam on your convertor. Best of luck in your 1st year.

 

[weatherguy]

Remember that BK is looking for 12-18% MC to get there specified burn.

I dont think my wood was quite there last year, this year I have great wood. Bought 4 cords of oak seasoned 3 years and I notice a huge-huge difference in the way my stove runs.
I got the 4 cords for $325 and the guy threw in a woodchucker wood hauler. He has 6 cords left and Im going to try and get 3-4 more off him.
I have 4 cords seasoned 3 years and 3 cords seasoned 2 years and Ill get 3-4 more cords of green this winter to keep up on it if the guy doesnt want to sell any of the six he has left.

 

[begreen]

Is that 4 full cords or 4 face cords? If that is 4 real cords, oak, seasoned for 2+ yrs., I'd buy everything he's got and would kiss his feet. $81/cord was cheap 20 years ago.

 

[weatherguy]

Yeah, its 4 full cords, he has 10 cords stored in a wood shed. He burned a finnish contra flow heater but its undersized for his house. He switched to a pellet stove. He said he wants to keep some wood in case he loses power and has to use the wood burner. I figure once hes more comfortable that the pellet stove will meet his needs he'll be receptive to selling off more wood. I wait....

 

[SolarAndWood]

I turn the tstat all the way down in the morning if it doesn't look like we need a lot of heat during the day. I load in the evening so this is about 14 hours into the burn cycle. The cat goes inactive but there is no smoke. When we get home from work, it gets turned back up and the cat shoots right back up.

 

[fdegree]

Remember that BK is looking for 12-18% MC to get there specified burn.

Unfortunately, this is my first year with a wood stove, and as many others have gone through, my wood is not fully seasoned at this time.

Next year, my wood will have been drying for 21 months...thereafter I will have my wood on a minimum of 2 year drying cycles.

But, this year, I just have to deal with what I have.

Keep that by-pass disengaged a little longer after reloads to help out with the rapid cooling and flashing of steam on your convertor. Best of luck in your 1st year.

Thanks for the advice...I'll certainly keep that in mind

 

[fdegree]

I turn the tstat all the way down in the morning if it doesn't look like we need a lot of heat during the day. I load in the evening so this is about 14 hours into the burn cycle. The cat goes inactive but there is no smoke. When we get home from work, it gets turned back up and the cat shoots right back up.

When you say "all the way down", do you mean to the number 1, or well past the number 1 to the stop?

 

[SolarAndWood]

I find as long as I am at least 8 hours in, I can turn it all the way down to the stop and still turn it back up after 8 to 10 hours. This is with full loads and "burning" 24/7. Not sure how well it would work if you are doing partial load take the chill off shoulder season fires as we go right to 24/7.

 

[fdegree]

I find as long as I am at least 8 hours in, I can turn it all the way down to the stop and still turn it back up after 8 to 10 hours. This is with full loads and "burning" 24/7. Not sure how well it would work if you are doing partial load take the chill off shoulder season fires as we go right to 24/7.

I gotcha...that seems quite impressive...turning the t'stat all the way back to the stop for 8 - 10 hours and it comes back to life just by turning the t'stat back up.

The fire I started this past weekend was strictly due to impatience on my part...I wanted to test it out and get a feel for how it was going to behave...shoulder season burning is not likely to become a habit.

I doubt I will fire it up again until it is cold enough for 24/7 burning.

Thanks for sharing your experience

 

[Treacherous]

Those long burn times sure are impressive. Of course even with my Lopi my burn times and overall heat output are many times better than the old Centennial smoke dragon it replaced. I had some pretty significant clearance issues so a BK wasn't even an option. Of course wife didn't like look so that killed it early for consideration anyway.

 

[fdegree]

Those long burn times sure are impressive. Of course even with my Lopi my burn times and overall heat output are many times better than the old Centennial smoke dragon it replaced. I had some pretty significant clearance issues so a BK wasn't even an option. Of course wife didn't like look so that killed it early for consideration anyway.

Actually, the Lopi Liberty was my first choice...until I learned about the Blaze King. My wife didn't seem to care too much as long as I painted it...she hated the standard black. I must admit, I think the Liberty is much nicer looking stove...but I really like the functionality of the BK. Painting the BK has helped its appearance...a little.

 

[nate379]

I think the Blaze King looks better than many other stoves. I am used to the $100 boxwood stoves or 55 gal drum stoves though.

I don't think my stove would even burn if I set it to the stop! I set it straight up and down and that is the lowest I go with it.