Screen for Blaze King Ashford

[Bootjack]

We burn our Ashford Princess 24/7 during the winter and take up the challenge to heat by wood exclusively. We burn a lot of Hickory which burns down to ash very slowly....an all day process. In the meantime during burn down on cold days ,the house cools to an uncomfortable levels. I gett complaints from the boss. I would like to speed this process up by adding O2 to the fire triangle. Just opening the door is unsafe due to the sparks from the Hickory. The cat is bypassed during this cool down period as well.

I want to have a screen custom built that fits into the door opening. I would not insert the screen until heat levels were way below nuclear potential. Does anyone have any first hand experience with this? Good or bad idea? Any fabricators with experience? Material specs? Any constructive help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Murray01]

Bad idea. BK doesn’t test or certify their stoves with it running with the door open.

To burn down coals I’ll turn the stove thermostat to maximum about 2-3 hours before a reload. If I’m burning Birch I load the Birch on the bottom and Jack Pine on top, I find that the Birch is long past the coaling stage once the Jack Pine burns down. If you have access to dry softwood it might be worth a try.

If it’s really cold then I supplement heat with electric baseboards.

 

[stoveliker]

Bad idea.

Also, keep the bypass closed until the very end (don't open it in the coaling phase).
Don't ever burn with the door open.
Moreover, it'd cool down your place even more - because with the door open the air flow through the stove and out the flue is so much larger, and all that air needs to be leaking in from the outside (you're not pulling a vacuum on your home).

I burn coals down by raking them to the front, and then 2-3" back, then put one split of a fast burning wood on top. In my case so far pine, spruce, sassafras.
Then burn with the thermostat all the way open (and bypass closed). The air will wash down the window and blow on the coals, and through "tunnels" below the split, creating blast furnaces. This will burn down the coals while providing a decent amount of heat. Sometimes I have to do two splits, so this does take a bit of "stuff to do" for that half hour or so to burn one split down and then put another on top.

You will void your warranty if you burn with the door open.

 

[Bootjack]

I'm wondering if there are other Hickory burners out there and how they deal with the coals. Add a ten to the 2-3 hours yours takes to burn down. I do rake...actualy sift to bring the coals to the surface air...it is still a very slow process. And if you burn hickory you know raking creates the fourth of July with sparking. I have burn marks on my wood floor because of. I keep the the handle forward only when thermot says "active". Most of the burn down time the thermo is well below thatI understand about the warranty...mine is beyond that.

 

[Bootjack]

Clarification: My warranty "isn't" beyond that ( I accidently posted the above before it was finished or proofed). To continue... The manual states that "the door cracked open may damage the combuster" . I am curious if there really is a risk to the combuster if thermo was well in the inactive zone which, it would always be during coal burn down. I will follow your advice and abandon the screen idea. I will try the fast burning split idea. I may post something in another section to see if there are any other ideas on how to deal with the Hickory coals issue. Thanks all for the advice.

 

[all night moe]

As described, fast burning wood will burn down the coals. I'm using a wood furnace in the basement. With an exterior masonry chimney on the north side of the house. During the past cols snap, I burned a lot of white and red oaks, along with honey and black locusts. The locust almost coals as much as hickory.

To help with excessive coaling, I found I like to place a seasoned split or 2 of white pine on the coal bed. I then load those premium coalers on top. The pine will burn down the coals some, while helping ignition of the hardwoods. Win, win......it helps keeping the coal bed manageable before it even builds up excessively. At some point I do end up with a large load of coals but, it's a longer timed spread of loads before I need to burn them down without premium fuels.

Also, you mention Ashford Princess. You described 2 models of the BK line up. The Princess is a steel box and the Ashford is a steel jacketed box. There are fan kits for the Ashford. If that's what you have, perhaps a kit could help you move some additional heat around while burning coals down. Another thing to think about is the envelope of your home. If there are any air sealing improvements that can be made, it'll help tremendously.

 

[BKVP]

Absolutely do not employ the use of a screen. You will destroy the stove and it will not be covered by warranty.

Thank you,
BKVP

 

[Murray01]

“thermo was well in the inactive zone which, it would always be during coal burn down.“

When I’m burning what little coals Jack Pine produces my thermometer is well into the active zone. I would think if your stove is “plugged” with hardwood coals you’re thermometer would be well into the active zone also?

 

[m37charlie]

In Alaska we have pretty much only birch and (white) spruce.
Birch is 23.6Mbtu/cord, white spruce only ~18M. I’ve been heating top 2 floors of my Lindal house (2300 sq ft) with a catalytic BK for 37 years.
I’ve found the excessive coaling characteristic of hardwood is completely mitigated by burning the hardwood only at night, mainly after bedtime, and using (dry) spruce the rest of the day.
Specifically, fill with birch (substitute hickory in your case) at bedtime, set air inlet control to desired heat output depending on outside conditions.
Upon arising, if more heat is desired, turn air inlet control up. If hardwood is too burned down and/or just large coals, use dry spruce all day and especially after sunset but before bedtime.
In my case, that totally prevents the buildup of unburned large hardwood coals.
During a recent cold spell ((4 December- January 9, temperatures -15F to +15F), I burned about 1.5 cords, at least 2/3 spruce.
It helps that around the solstice daylight is only 5-6h/day, even though I have lots of passive solar I rsn the thing full blast (knob at 2.5-3) about 12 hours/day.
I think I dug ashes out only once.
Get some dry pine of some sort and save the hickory for when you’re sleeping.
And look up my thermostatically controlled electric fan controller so you never have to bend over to get at that knob ever again. Described in another thread.