Summer Shutdown for Blaze King

[Murray01]

Searched in the owner’s manual and couldn’t find any mention of summer hiatus for BK stoves.

What I’ve been doing is leaving the bypass door open allowing air to circulate through the stove and chimney and not compress the bypass door gasket any more than it already is. Thinking of leaving the door closed but not latched tight, this would allow more air to circulate and not compress the door gasket, maybe give the gasket time to rebound closer to its original shape?

Is there a preferred method to prepare the stove for the summer hiatus?

 

[stoveliker]

I don't think there is a preferred method.
I leave the bypass open as well, and the door closed by not tight, for the exact same gasket reasons.

(I do not have meaningful air circulation as I also close the air inlet with a home-made stop, because I take the stove pipe off, cap the stove exit and the thimble, and put a container of damprid in the stove - but that's not a nice look if one has the stove in a living room.)

 

[BKVP]

Good time to remove ashes, scrape off any interior creosote deposits and of course, a good chimney cleaning/inspection.

Each year, I even inspect bricks because I'm hard on my stove!

BKVP

 

[brenndatomu]

It depends...if the stove is in a spot that is pretty cool, leaving it breath may be a mistake...that could allow warm moist air down the chimney when the breeze is just right, or a bath/kitchen fan is pulling air out of the house (makeup air needed). warm moist air inside, cool on the outside (cool stove body) means condensation mixed with soot/ash/creosote...not good. I think this is partly why some people have issues with their stoves rusting out.
My suggestion would be to block everything off tight, if possible...one of those chimney balloons they make to block off fireplace flues would be ideal, but I know that is not very likely to be practical for most people.
I guess it depends on your setup as far as what's best. For me, I have started blocking off every air inlet on my basement installed wood furnace...that way the furnace/flue is a "blind hole" and warm/moist air is not likely to settle into the furnace (the basement can be 30* cooler than outside) and cause trouble. I have tried to hang a large "Damp Rid" bag in the firebox, and it filled up in 3-4 months over the summer. But I'd prefer to just keep the flow of moisture out...my 2 ¢

 

[Highbeam]

Good idea to leave the bypass open. That way if a bird comes down the chimney at least it can get into the firebox without pecking the heck out of the back of the cat and then dying up there in the cat chamber.

Cleanout the stove and stack sooner than later as ash/creo plus humidity is corrosive. Ideally you would have had a few short and very hot fires near the end to dry up and cause that firebox gunk to flake off to bare metal. Kinda late now but maybe next year. Easier to inspect the bare metal for the BK corrosion that can happen in the back corners. I've had none but have seen some scary examples.

 

[Itslay90]

Good time to remove ashes, scrape off any interior creosote deposits and of course, a good chimney cleaning/inspection.

Each year, I even inspect bricks because I'm hard on my stove!

BKVP

Does it hurt anything if you don’t get of the creosote?

 

[Murray01]

I don't think there is a preferred method.
I leave the bypass open as well, and the door closed by not tight, for the exact same gasket reasons.

(I do not have meaningful air circulation as I also close the air inlet with a home-made stop, because I take the stove pipe off, cap the stove exit and the thimble, and put a container of damprid in the stove - but that's not a nice look if one has the stove in a living room.)

It’s in the living room.

 

[Murray01]

Good time to remove ashes, scrape off any interior creosote deposits and of course, a good chimney cleaning/inspection.

Each year, I even inspect bricks because I'm hard on my stove!

BKVP

Still picking away at the corners. Sure miss the raised hearth in our old house, so much easier on the back!

 

[Dieselhead]

As mentioned clean out the back corners behind the fire brick. My king has some thinning in that area from lack of maintenance so I scraped off the scale and fluid filmed it for the summer months.

 

[Murray01]

Ideally you would have had a few short and very hot fires near the end to dry up and cause that firebox gunk to flake off to bare metal.

Most of the shoulder season fires were just that. Made a big difference on this years firebox clean out. I also got in the habit of running the stove on high for a minimum of 20 minutes after each reload figuring that can’t hurt to minimize creosote buildup.

If I can just figure out how to minimize the soot buildup in the chimney I’d be real happy. This was the 3rd sweep this past burning season and each time I got enough soot to fill a 1 kg coffee each time, minimal creosote but lots of soot.

As mentioned clean out the back corners behind the fire brick.

Still working on it.

 

[stoveliker]

Regarding soot (btw, I'm not entirely sure of the definitions here, but in my view this is the same solids as creosote, only one kept the flue hot enough to avoid water condensing that would capture the soot and create creosote): how tall is your flue?
If you have high draft one can pull the exhaust gases through the cat too fast, leading to less time spent there and incomplete combustion of the smoke, leading to smoke and soot deposits.

In my case this mostly happens when I'm burning high after a reload, when the cat needs to warm up again to be able to fully combust what's being thrown at it. In this initial charring is when I have smoke coming out of the flue.
(Burning a whole load high does not lead to smoke the whole time.)

 

[Itslay90]

As mentioned clean out the back corners behind the fire brick. My king has some thinning in that area from lack of maintenance so I scraped off the scale and fluid filmed it for the summer months.

does that stuff burn off ?

 

[Murray01]

Regarding soot (btw, I'm not entirely sure of the definitions here, but in my view this is the same solids as creosote, only one kept the flue hot enough to avoid water condensing that would capture the soot and create creosote): how tall is your flue?
If you have high draft one can pull the exhaust gases through the cat too fast, leading to less time spent there and incomplete combustion of the smoke, leading to smoke and soot deposits.

In my case this mostly happens when I'm burning high after a reload, when the cat needs to warm up again to be able to fully combust what's being thrown at it. In this initial charring is when I have smoke coming out of the flue.
(Burning a whole load high does not lead to smoke the whole time.)

My definition of soot is the black fine particles of a dust like material. Fine like talcum power. What I’ve been calling creosote is the shiny black flakes that vary in size from tiny flakes to larger pieces that can be 2”-3”. I could be wrong on my definitions!

About 6’ of stove pipe and 9’ of Class A chimney

 

[Murray01]

does that stuff burn off ?

I can burn it off the glass with a hot enough fire. The fine particles I call soot that accumulates in the chimney I’d don’t think I can burn it off since it seems to accumulate in the chimney. Never any soot buildup in the firebox only the cooler chimney.

 

[Highbeam]

As the chimney sweeps on this site have told us, the BK design does not lend itself to a clean chimney. Flue temps are relatively low. If the black stuff that gets swept is flakey and dry or fine and results in a clean chimney (no goo) then I'd say you're doing fine.

 

[brenndatomu]

 

[stoveliker]

I agree with all of the above.
My point is that a smoky burn with a hot flue gives soot.
A smoky burn with a flue that is cold enough for water condensation has the water "catch" the soot particles which creates creosote.

 

[Itslay90]

I can burn it off the glass with a hot enough fire. The fine particles I call soot that accumulates in the chimney I’d don’t think I can burn it off since it seems to accumulate in the chimney. Never any soot buildup in the firebox only the cooler chimney.

Oh no. I’m talking about the fluid filmed

 

[stoveliker]

Fluid film spray is mostly lanolin, which is organic, so it'll burn off.
Basically a natural wax (in spray form here) that covers the metal to keep it from having condensed water touch the metal.

Personally I am a bit anal about these things; it's natural, organic, it'll burn. But it's not wood. I don't like to put stuff in there, that will be seen by the catalyst, that's not wood.

If you have a noncat, it's of course no problem at all.
For a BK some folks do it. I don't (I simply put damprid in after closing the stove off from the room it is in). To each his own.

 

[BKVP]

Does it hurt anything if you don’t get of the creosote?

It can over time. We know a hot fire with dry wood will burn it off too.

BKVP

 

[BKVP]

Regarding soot (btw, I'm not entirely sure of the definitions here, but in my view this is the same solids as creosote, only one kept the flue hot enough to avoid water condensing that would capture the soot and create creosote): how tall is your flue?
If you have high draft one can pull the exhaust gases through the cat too fast, leading to less time spent there and incomplete combustion of the smoke, leading to smoke and soot deposits.

In my case this mostly happens when I'm burning high after a reload, when the cat needs to warm up again to be able to fully combust what's being thrown at it. In this initial charring is when I have smoke coming out of the flue.
(Burning a whole load high does not lead to smoke the whole time.)

And be certain to lock down the bypass!

BKVP

 

[Dieselhead]

does that stuff burn off ?

The fluid film? I don’t think it would burn off due to having a fire brick covering it but I’d expect it to evaporate of sorts with a good hot fire. I didn’t use a lot so I’m not concerned about any issues.

 

[Itslay90]

The fluid film? I don’t think it would burn off due to having a fire brick covering it but I’d expect it to evaporate of sorts with a good hot fire. I didn’t use a lot so I’m not concerned about any issues.

Thank you

 

[stoveliker]

And after evaporation the vapors will burn