King 40 Install

[Quirke]

The King 40 is getting close to being functional, but my installer has run into a snag. The adapter in the ceiling support that should join the exterior stainless steel to the black double wall does not fit snuggly to the double wall.

I sent pictures to the dealer, who contacted the supplier Olympia Chimney Canada, or Ventis, or SBI - not sure how they structured. They note that the box should come down further through the ceiling, but seem confused why the adapter isn't coming through the box more.

It looks like it's through as far as possible, and the exterior pipe is very snug, but on the double wall side it's very loose and only goes about an inch deep. It's like the adapter is an inch too short on the double wall side. The double wall is definitely the correct orientation and fits the stove adapter on the other end well.

Any ideas what's going on here?

My installer will give them a call tomorrow and try to see if he can get some more detailed instructions about how the parts are supposed to go together because their instructions aren't providing any clues.

 

[Quirke]

I think I may have an explanation. I think the two sections of pipe were put together in the wrong orientation as there's screw holes on the same end, and none on the other, suggesting one set is for the ceiling adapter and the other for the stove side adapter.
Also the two sections are now so tightly bound together that they can't be pulled apart by two people.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

that will do it.

 

[Quirke]

They got it apart this morning, but say that's the only way the two pieces could possibly go together, so back to thinking an adapter is missing.

 

[Tron]

They got it apart this morning, but say that's the only way the two pieces could possibly go together, so back to thinking an adapter is missing.

Not surprising, because that's the way mine is, too. The upper holes are to fix the thing to the ceiling box and the lower ones are to fix the length of the extension once installed.
But mine looks similar, I think there's also only an inch coming out of the ceiling box, but my pipe is snug against it and secured with the screws. At least we don't have any smoke spillage there.
FWIW, that's actually not a very good solution, because when driving the screws in it will create sharp points on the inside of the outer pipe, which then creates visible scratches all along the inner pipe when you collapse it again to clean. Ask me how I know...

 

[Quirke]

They got the adapter to come further through the ceiling support box and were able to get the pipe on nice and snug.
First fire on Saturday. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.

 

[Quirke]

I couldn't wait until Saturday morning and fired up the stove this evening.

Thank you to everyone here who has shared their experience and knowledge of these stoves.

I'd have freaked out over the off gassing smoke and fumes from the paint curing if I wasn't prepared for it. Thankfully the smoke detectors didn't go off.

The cat thermometer is 360° around from zero as expected from a new overactive cat.

I know these stoves are meant to throttle down to a smolder for efficiency, but I can't get over how slowly they burn even when turned all the way up. Watching the wood smolder without glowing coals at the 3 o'clock position made me uneasy.

I started with a half load of 2 year dried poplar to break in the stove. After a couple of hours at the 4 o'clock position most of it was still there and some of the bottom pieces were barely charred.

I'm getting glowing coals and minimal flames at 5 o'clock, and some yellow/blue flames at full 6 o'clock. The chimney is at least 16' straight up (4'+ double wall stove to the ceiling, then 12ft Class A insulated) and the house is right on the cusp of the 15' and 15.5' minimum recommendations.

My Jotul F600 would have devoured that half load in an hour, even with the damper all the way down, but it had 10' more pipe sucking air through it.

After a few hours I added more poplar to fill the stove and then turned the thermostat to max to see what the stove can put out. Visually it doesn't seem more active despite fresh wood and greater surface area. The temperature in the house has slowly climbed from 18C to 19C.
I'm a little concerned that this stove will have trouble keeping up when it's -20C to -30C. It's currently -5C, but was -20C this morning so there's some thermal mass to recover. The house is 1200sqft with 20' vaulted ceilings attached to a 450sqft addition with 8' ceilings. The two new doors in the addition aren't sealed up yet so there's some minor (very) cold air intrusion. It'll be -20C again tomorrow night so I should have some informative cold weather data to compare to the current mild conditions.

Am I likely in need of more pipe to increase the draft and heat output, or is the thermostat possibly limiting airflow to prevent overfiring, and it's holding back a bit of reserve that would becoming accessible with colder indoor or outdoor temperatures?

The Jotul was rated to 49,500 BTUs, which is certainly more than the max 38,500 of the King 40, but so far it feels like a greater disparity.

 

[stoveliker]

I have much more flame at high throttle than you describe.

 

[moresnow]

Post a pic of a fresh load with the loading door open prior to ignition.

Are you running the stove fans on low when trying to disperse the stove generated heat?

Keep in mind that very minute thermostat knob adjustments can have a profound effect on stove operation/output.
Finding the relatively small swing of usable adjustment that matches your install parameters can take time and patience.
And coffee.
And snacks.........

 

[Murray01]

After a reload how long are you leaving the thermostat dial on maximum?

Here’s my Princess after a hot reload, thermostat dial on maxim.