New BK40 up and running

[WASPKFD]

Before we left on Vacation, I had a chance to run the BK40 for a couple days but was worried about overfiring as there was no way to check flue temp.
While I was away the flue gage arrived. only concern is that now I know I was getting close to 800+ in the flue waiting for the fire ( 30 min as book says) holy crap.
With the flue gage I can regulate a little, LOVE IT!
as far as loading e/w compared to N/S my splits are a little long, so I have to go E/W does it matter other than possible rolling into glass?
The smaller ones I loaded N/S but can't get as many in as they are larger splits made for THE BUCK STOVE.
Do any of you use water (kettle) on the stove for humidity? will it scar the finish or is there a pad for it?
I love the stove so far. It was 11 this morning house was 67 in the back but warm up front. Just need to play with it a little more to figure how to dial in for more heat. Home furnace did NOT kick on all night.
The BK40 puts off a nice even heat, I do miss the BUCKS BLAZING FURNACE OF HEAT when needed lol,,
MY splits are on the larger side so only able to get 3 maybe 4 in at a time with an easy 12-14 hr burn for that same timeline I would have had to fill the BUCK 3 or 4 times lol!!

 

[EbS-P]

How big are your splits that you are only getting 3-4 in a BK40 box? Remember to pack it tight!

 

[WASPKFD]

average split is about 9 or 10 thick x 18 long thats laying e/w. Cant really load n/s due to length. If I stack more than 2 high I would be rubbing the bump shield on the cat or close to it? also seem when I get closer than the 4 splits the flames find the cat.
I thought we wanted to keep the flames out of the cat?

 

[EbS-P]

10” is big and probably to big to pack really tight. Many will load them right to the top. You need smaller pieces to fill all the gaps.
There are many threads in how long to bake/char the load before turning down.

the thermostat regulates the air so you don’t have to worry about flames on the cat. It’s designed well.
I’m a bit jealous. This time a year I could hear my whole house on one load a day with the 40.

Hop on over to the everything BK thread it sees lots of traffic from BK owners. A lots of good info and BK discussion

 

[WASPKFD]

Ive only had limited time on this, load up go to work, come home and load again.. lol 3 or 4 pieces,, today ive had some time and now house is quite warm. mixture of fan and therm dialed to about 330.
you say I can pack it in there? so when it flames up it does not hurt the cat? THANX!!

 

[stoveliker]

I have a Chinook, not a King.
I pack it up all the way touching the bottom frame around the cat. Not a problem. Sometimes the flames will leak behind the flame screen. Not a problem.

800+ is not a problem; proper pipe can handle more. However, I'd try to keep it under 900 - no sense wasting the heat up the flue. You can dial it down a bit if the flue temps reach that before your charring time is done. THat's what I do too, depending on the wood (pine = fast hot, oak takes longer). Just dial it down a bit, and you'll see the flue temps stabilize, while keeping a vigorous fire in teh firebox during charring time. Once all is ablaze and black, my view is you can dial down to the setting you need.

I would indeed split a bit smaller as well. Nice big pieces and fill the rest with smaller ones. The thermostat will keep things in check, and the burn time is not that dependent on the piece size anymore with this stove. Burn time will be longer the more pounds you can cram in there.

Welcome to the club.

 

[Highbeam]

Pack it tight and enjoy the long burn times. No need to worry about flame impingement on a BK.

Lots of folks have had the problem of many cords of too long wood. Cut them down. Chop saw one at a time or a small rack to trim a whole stack at once. Loading N/S is so nice that it’s worth it.