Good Value

[Brentwood]

I'm considering buying a used Blaze King King (KEJ1107, I think) for $750. Can't go wrong at that price, right? Or no?

From another thread:

The only thing that I would be looking for on a used bk is the presence or lack of heat damage to the bypass retainers. The rim around the bypass opening on the inside roof of the firebox where the bypass door closes. These things (like a picture frame around the opening) can melt down and are extremely difficult to replace requiring cutting and welding.

I would have to drive 150 miles to see it, and I know that much driving will make it hard to come home without the stove. I'd like to know what problems I could should look for before bringing it home. It's my understanding that I can't really check the cat or the cat thermostat without running the stove. I can see the cat, but I can't really test it without running the stove, is what I understand.

I realize that I'd have to either replace my 6" chimney with 8". I mentioned that to the seller, and he said he's selling it for his father-in-law, who (and this is third-hand, of course) used a reducer with this stove to run it with 6" pipes, and found that he had to replace his 6" chimney (Class A, if I understood correctly) every two or three years. The ad says he installed a propane furnace so didn't need the Blaze King. This all raises red flags to me, but it's not necessarily a deal-killer to me. I can see how both might be true.

Any idea what happens when a 6" flue is used instead of the recommended 8"? Could it be that the exhaust would flow at the same speed or rate (feet per second), but because of the smaller cross-sectional area, the volume of air would be lower? And lower volume, higher flue temperatures, shorter chimney life? I have trouble believing that the difference would be great enough to cause such damage. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Woody Stover]

Sounds like he is using connector pipe instead of stainless Class A chimney, and burning wet wood so that the connector pipe is rusting out every few years. I used to do the same thing..eventually I went to stainless connector pipe and luckily I was able to put out the occasional chimney fire pretty quickly, and never damaged my masonry chimney as far as I know.
I would think it would be hard to overfire the stove with wet wood, so there's that.. I would go ahead and bite the bullet, and get 8" chimney...especially if your stack isn't real tall.

 

[bholler]

Sounds like he is using connector pipe instead of stainless Class A chimney, and burning wet wood so that the connector pipe is rusting out every few years. I used to do the same thing..eventually I went to stainless connector pipe and luckily I was able to put out the occasional chimney fire pretty quickly, and never damaged my masonry chimney as far as I know.
I would think it would be hard to overfire the stove with wet wood, so there's that.. I would go ahead and bite the bullet, and get 8" chimney...especially if your stack isn't real tall.

If you had several.chimney fires in a clay liner you damaged it. And it is very common to over fire with wet wood. This is because it takes a long time to drive that moisture out. Because of this people leave it open to far or leave the bypass open.

 

[Brentwood]

especially if your stack isn't real tall.

How tall is tall? I've got 5' in the room with the stove, so that's double-wall, and then it passes through an upstairs bedroom (8') and I need another 8" about the roof.

The first time I talked to the seller, I thought he said it was Class A chimney that was burning out. I figured I'd pass on it since I didn't feel like changing out my 6" for an 8", but it may not be as hard as I originally thought. I will talk to him again and clarify that.

 

[bholler]

How tall is tall? I've got 5' in the room with the stove, so that's double-wall, and then it passes through an upstairs bedroom (8') and I need another 8" about the roof.

The first time I talked to the seller, I thought he said it was Class A chimney that was burning out. I figured I'd pass on it since I didn't feel like changing out my 6" for an 8", but it may not be as hard as I originally thought. I will talk to him again and clarify that.

It will need 8" to work correctly. As far as if it is a good deal we have no way to know without seeing it. If it is in good shape its a great deal. If it has been abused and overfired it is not.

 

[Woody Stover]

If you had several.chimney fires in a clay liner you damaged it. And it is very common to over fire with wet wood. This is because it takes a long time to drive that moisture out. Because of this people leave it open to far or leave the bypass open.

No, the fires were in the connector pipe that ran to the top of the clay liner, so I may have gotten away with it. I don't know for sure..I don't have a camera to closely inspect the clay liner. At any rate, I now have Homesaver Roundflex to the top, with 1/2" insulation wrap. I think I'm good..
My wife moved back here before I came down. Her grandma bought her the old Englander in my sig. Hackin' handyman that installed it put 1/4" steel plate over the fireplace opening and ran the rear-flue connector pipe into the fireplace a couple feet. She had a fire going, filled the fireplace with smoke apparently, then opened the stove door and ignited the smoke/gas in the smoke chamber, and it blew the door out of her hand and knocked her on her butt! My wife told her cousin about it and she, being a former sweep, told her she needed to go to the top with pipe. She failed to mention that we were supposed to use chimney, not connector pipe. I would change it every few years, after it rusted through from the wet Red Oak I was burning. With the wet wood, the fire seldom generated enough heat to ignite the creosote, so I was lucky in that respect. When I threw the old connector pipe off the roof, it would sometimes squash flat when it hit the ground.
When I started coming here, I finally learned how to do it right.

How tall is tall?

So you've got a total of 21' vertical? It's possible the King might work on a 6" at the height, but I know some of the other BKs are picky about draft, so I couldn't say for sure that it would work..

 

[MikeK]

@ Brentwood, did you get that stove? Keep us posted on install and performance also, I am excited to hear your results.

 

[Brentwood]

@ Brentwood, did you get that stove?

Someone beat me it. I had a longer talk with the seller on Friday night, and I was considering either trying it with the 6" chimney I already have, with the option of installing an 8" if the 6" wasn't satisfactory. I wouldn't have been able to pick it up until next weekend at the earliest, so i told the guy that if someone showed up with money in hand, he shouldn't turn it down. Someone showed up the next morning.

I called a couple of places to get quotes on Princess and Chinook 30 stoves. I like the looks of the Chinook. I'm not in a hurry. Maybe I'll get a deal on a stove in the spring, or maybe I'll find another one on Craigslist or something. I'm also rethinking my stove's location. I've always had some remodeling ideas in the back of my head, and if I removed some walls in my house, I might have a better location for the stove, in which case, I'd need to install a new chimney, so I'd be more inclined to install and 8" and buy a new King.

I've watched most of the videos at blazeking.com, and I'm really liking the idea of a catalyst stove with a thermostat that keeps the stove at a proper temp. The only thing seems kind of backwards to me is that it opens the draft as the fuel supply gets low. It would be cool to have a stove that closed the draft to save the coals when there's not enough fuel to keep the catalyst active. That's just a nitpick, though. I understand why it is the way it is, and the BK technology seems like the best I've seen.

I'd like to talk to one of the engineers at Blaze King. I called Walla Walla on Friday, and the person who answered the phone said the technician (Francisco?) was on the phone and that I could call back later. I'd like to know the rationale behind the recommendation for the 8" pipes on the King but 6" on the other models. All the manuals I've seen recommend the same draft measurement: 0.05" w.c., and give 0.06" as a maximum. I'd like to know what the draft is in my current 6" chimney.

 

[OldSchoolPyro]

Sorry, pretty sure that was me. If it helps, I first contacted him over a week ago. Some of the pictures he sent made me pretty sceptical about it, and I'd offered him less in case I got there and it was burned out, but then Friday, he said he had someone else offer full asking price. I was wondering if he was just trying to squeeze me, but apparently he legitimately had another interested party.

 

[Brentwood]

Sorry, pretty sure that was me. If it helps, I first contacted him over a week ago. Some of the pictures he sent made me pretty sceptical about it, and I'd offered him less in case I got there and it was burned out, but then Friday, he said he had someone else offer full asking price. I was wondering if he was just trying to squeeze me, but apparently he legitimately had another interested party.

No worries. I did kind of wonder about posting about it in the off chance that someone would buy it out from under me. He offered to save it for me, but I have a hard time counting on someone to do that when we really don't know each other, and I didn't really want to commit without seeing it in person.

I hope it works out well for you!

 

[OldSchoolPyro]

No worries. I did kind of wonder about posting about it in the off chance that someone would buy it out from under me. He offered to save it for me, but I have a hard time counting on someone to do that when we really don't know each other, and I didn't really want to commit without seeing it in person.

I hope it works out well for you!

That's why I hadn't posted about it on here. However, I assure you I didn't find it from your post. I was on the hunt for a good used stove after I found out I couldn't use my forced air wood furnace anymore.