Replaced a Princess with a King, and not getting a royal outcome :-(

[morai8]

I just purchased a refurbished Blazeking, have no idea what model, but it's an old one, has a blower, and is the biggest one they used to make (has an 8" stove pipe). I bought a reducer and installed it, as the Princess which the King has replaced had a 6" pipe. I have been using the stove for a few days now, and it started off doing ok, but now I seem to be having a very hard time getting a fire going, and once I do, I get a lot of smoke in my face when I open the door. I'm worried that it may be the fact that I'm using a reducer, and that it isn't going to work long term.

Money is an issue for me, as I just bought the house and have spent about all I can afford on getting it liveable. I've only ever used a newer Stove That Jack Built at my last residence, and I knew how to operate it pretty darn well, but this old Blazeking is a beast of a different nature, and turning the little knob on the back for only a tiny little inch opening from a flap just doesn't seem to cut the mustard... Can someone who knows Blazekings help me out with some suggestions? Is it the reducer? Is there a different method I should be using for getting the fire going than with the Stove That Jack Built?? I'm new to this stuff and facing a long cold winter with this as my only heat source...kinda nervous.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[wildwildwest]

I'm new too, but had the same experience with a blaze king, king model insert in the home we bought a year ago. Ours had large black knob that needed to pushed in to open the damper, as well as the little turn knob all the way up till the wood gets going.

Also, ours had a cat in the top, I heard those can get clogged. Make sure its not your chimney smoking to be safe.

 

[wildwildwest]

I just purchased a refurbished Blazeking, have no idea what model, but it's an old one, has a blower, and is the biggest one they used to make (has an 8" stove pipe). I bought a reducer and installed it, as the Princess which the King has replaced had a 6" pipe. I have been using the stove for a few days now, and it started off doing ok, but now I seem to be having a very hard time getting a fire going, and once I do, I get a lot of smoke in my face when I open the door. I'm worried that it may be the fact that I'm using a reducer, and that it isn't going to work long term.

Money is an issue for me, as I just bought the house and have spent about all I can afford on getting it liveable. I've only ever used a newer Stove That Jack Built at my last residence, and I knew how to operate it pretty darn well, but this old Blazeking is a beast of a different nature, and turning the little knob on the back for only a tiny little inch opening from a flap just doesn't seem to cut the mustard... Can someone who knows Blazekings help me out with some suggestions? Is it the reducer? Is there a different method I should be using for getting the fire going than with the Stove That Jack Built?? I'm new to this stuff and facing a long cold winter with this as my only heat source...kinda nervous.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Also, call Blaze King on the phone, I called once and they fixed me up within a few minutes, awesome customer service.

 

[daleeper]

I'm guessing the reducer is not helping at all, but don't give up yet. You are going to need a good draft, as you are reducing the amount of air that the stove can get and exhaust with that reducer. Did you have a good draft with the other stove? We need to know if the King is a cat stove or a model prior to the cat. How tall is your chimney, what kind of chimney. What happened to the princess?

 

[Lanningjw]

Can we get some pictures?

 

[begreen]

The model number should be on the back tag. That would help. I'm wondering if this is a catalytic model or not.