New Install of Blaze King King 40 KE Stove on Six Inch Flue and Chimney

Some wood furnaces, like the famous kuuma, have a hinged hanging metal smoke curtain for the same reason. I don’t know why they don’t just make the door smaller or lower but the curtain seems to be a known solution.

 

I really wish I could have gone with Blaze King. Unfortunately, size and distance to combustibles were issues.

I'm wondering.... If you're aware of your stove temperatures, could you (or anyone who owns a King) report how long the stove is capable of maintaining a given stove top temperature? Like, with a loaded box, the stove will provide X hours with a stove temperature of 400*? Or whatever temp.

 

I think Highbeam could answer this better than myself because we haven't really had cold enough weather yet for me to crank up the heat with the BK yet. From what I'm seeing though, I bet a person could see 400° for at least a good 10-12 hours though.

Highbeam, your thought on this??

 

Ahhhhhhh? Why are you opening the loading door to put in more fuel when your house in uncomfortably hot already Your coal bed is seemingly too productive (instant ignition of fresh splits) at that time to require additional fueling IMO.

I suggest trying this....
let the house temp tell you when to reload. Within your required time constraints naturally.

I mean no offense but I am guessing you may alleviate any smoke rollout if you were to wait longer (possibly much longer) to reload.
My reloads can take 30+minutes to re-ignite on occasion because I wait to reload until the house calls for it. Very used up coals. Just enough for re-light.
Many times in really cold weather I'll also bunch excessive coals and lay a single split on to burn them down with open primary air also. Another hour or better of easy heat. Really wringing the life out of each load! Reducing coaling is nice also.

Just a few random thoughts for any new BK'r to consider trying. May not be for everyone but anywho. Good luck!

 

No offense taken! That's what I like is feedback pro AND con. I wouldn't make a good politician!

What I try to do is gauge my wood load based on when I want it burned down and ready for my next load. Sometimes, based on life, that's not always possible if I want to go to bed for the night and my coal bed is larger than I'd like, or spur of the moment, my wife wants to go shopping and dinner and now we're going to be gone for 4-5 hours (just happened) so I want to throw on a couple pieces to hold until I get back. I try not to reload until my temp gauge on top of the stove is in the 250°-300° range. Doing so seems to give me the cleanest, longest burn.

But, that being said, if I have to put wood on a very hot bed of coals, the tin foil "curtain" seems to be a very effective way to keep all smoke in the stove and zero smoke in the room. Trying to give people having this issue ideas and alternatives based on what I feel works for me., even if they don't have a BK.

 

It's there because the firebox is taller than the door opening...making the door opening shorter would make it almost impossible to fully load the firebox.
As for making a curtain from steel...myself I'd just bend up a piece of 28 gauge duct metal...but I have some laying around, and the tools to do it too, so...but that said, I'd make one up for you if you give me the dimensions and pay for it's ride north...

 

Like that idea. I have a scrap piece of duct in the barn and the tools as well. That's now todays 10 minute project. Thanks!

 

Deleted by Hoytman

 

Stove top temperature on a blaze king is worthless because right under the stove top is a 1300 degree cat. Stove top temp is always pretty much the same until you run out of fuel. Throw that gauge in the trash.

You’ve got to think in terms of heat output. Like in btu per hour. This is why people weigh their fuel loads. If you load in 400,000 btu of fuel (50#) and burn it at 80% efficiency you get 320,000 btu. Spread that over 20 hours and you are getting 16,000 btu per hour the whole time. If you blow through that in 10 hours then you’re getting 32,000 btu per hour.

16,000 btu per hour doesn’t sound like much heat but statistics show that the huge majority of folks run their stoves on low the huge majority of the time. Get your home warm and keep it warm.

I don’t weigh my fuel but use a calibrated eye ball to reduce the fuel charge if the constant low heat output rate is too much heat. If that’s the case I need to let the fire die for a while between fires. When full time burning is warranted it’s just a matter of knowing where to set the stove thermostat.

 

289,000 BTUs net, if the wood is 15% MC...
(50 lbs x 8500 per, x .85, x .80)

 

If you're going to be like that pay attention, I said 50# of fuel. Water is not fuel, the water content should be subtracted from the gross weight of the firewood.

 

Oh comeon man...just pokin at ya a bit, don't get yur panties in a wad!

 

That statement is huge!!! Once everything is warmed up, it's much easier to maintain it than it is to try and heat it back up after it cooled down.

When trying to heat with the Hearthstone Heritage, that was my ongoing battle. I couldn't maintain a decent temperature.

I said all along when I was trying to heat with the Heritage, I didn't need a hotter stove, I needed a stove that could put out a steady heat for a much longer period of time.

 

This was my scenario today:

My wife and I had plans to be gone for the day today.

At 10:30 am, I filled my firebox "relatively" full. It wasn't packed in there, just what I could easily fit in it.
Outside temperature at 10:30 am was 35 degrees and very windy. Indoor temperature was 76°. I dialed back my thermostat to about 1/2 or so.

We arrived back home at 10:30 pm tonight. Outside temperature is 28°, and still crazy windy. Indoor temperature is 75°. The stove Cat thermometer is still about 3/4. It was a little higher when we left, but still very active. Below are pictures showing how much fuel I still had in the stove when we got home 12 hours later as well as where I had my thermostat set.

I believe there could easily be another 5-6 hours of good heat from my 10:30am load. I am going to throw on a few more splits because I'll be turning in for the night in a bit.

Note.... The wood was not flaming like that all day. It's only flared up cause I opened the door to take a picture for you.

 

One other thing I might add to fully address your question. Highbeam is correct in saying you really can't judge heat output by stove top temp because so many factors come into play such as outside temperatures, indoor temperatures, etc. What I find when hitting my stove top with an IR thermometer, my temperatures range from 200-300 degrees on the outer edges to 400-500+ degrees directly over the Cat when I have thermostat set approximately 1/2 way as shown in the picture above. Nice thing with this BK is, it will automatically adjust itself as room temperature rises or falls. So, I matter of factly got a full 12 hours of burn at this setting, as well as a potential 5+ hours left on that one load.

Hope this helps give you an idea of actual stove top temps to answer your question.

 

Hitzer says to take IR readings just below the stat box as that corresponds more with what the “box” is feeling. This is the place Dean at Hitzer will ask you to take stove temperature readings from.

I would assume that taking a temperature reading on a BK wouldn’t be much different. That is, taking an IR reading somewhere close to the bi-metal regulator “box” where ever you can take a reading…and this would most likely allow everyone to use the same place to take reading.

The only thing “missing” would be comparing where the dial is set to…and that would be tough considering there’s no dial “indicator” or reference point to compare. Each BK user would need that fancy “add-on” modification someone here did to the dial plate giving it all those fancy marks…which to me helps match a dial setting to a target temperature on an indoor thermometer…which is how I run my Hitzer.

Don’t tell me my stove isn’t similar in how they run, because you’d be wrong. My stove has a double top, so therefore taking a stove top temperature reading is futile and, like the BK, doesn’t give the user a good place to take a stove temperature reading. Actually, my stove top give’s pretty much the same low 165F stove top IR readings all the time…even when temps elsewhere vary from 275F-400F front of stove. If I call Hitzer I give them the numbers from under the stat box because that is where they ask for temps to be taken when dealing with customers. It helps them get consistent numbers from customers instead of numbers like my stove top or front of the stove.

Hopefully this information can be useful to BK users as well. Taking a temp from under the stat box (or to the side of it if it can’t be taken underneath) may help you BK owners make some comparisons.

Just thought I’d throw that out there.

 

Nice! I hate to sound like an idiot, but I'm not exactly sure where you're pointing me to take that temperature reading on my BK. You've spiked my curiosity now to the real temp! I could send pics of all sides of my stove if that would help describe it to me.

 

Was your Heritage one of the newer models with a Cat? If so how much burn time did you get from a load ?

 

I haven’t read any replies beyond this so I will try to answer your question.

I wasn’t trying to direct you or anyone else. My post was in response to someone saying that their stove top temperatures are all over the place and give different readings on the stove top depending where you take the IR readings.

I get the same thing on the front of my stove depending where on the front the temperature reading is taken. Dean at Hitzer is aware of this which is why he asks people to take readings just below the regulator box as that spot is the best place to take consistent temperature readings. The readings are taken near the regulator which is a consistent spot. That’s all I was driving at…that you BK users might also find a spot near the regulator box with which to compare stove temperature readings…

…but it would also help if the BK dials had more clear reference marks for the dial to make the stove temperature comparisons.

Some of the newer stoves that have no way to orient or match the dial to are still going to have a hard time comparing stove temperatures to a given setting.

Does that make any more sense? I hope I conveyed my thoughts well enough to make it easier to understand.

EDIT:
Ok…I think I better understand what you were asking.

Your dial works in conjunction with a bi-metal regulator inside a box on the back of your stove. That box contains a bi-metal spring that is temperature sensitive and opens and closes the air to maintain stove temperature to your felt comfort level in your home. You can match this felt comfort level to a temperature reading via an indoor thermometer. Now you have a target room temperature.

All different BK users need to make stove setting comparisons is a way to match dial settings, aka some sort of factory or aftermarket plate with indicator markings AND a place for every BK user to take consistent stove temperature readings, like just underneath or to one side of the regulator box on the back of the stove.


It’s not perfect because there are still variables that are unacceptable for like home size, house insulation or lack of, air infiltration, etc., but at least it gets you BK users “closer” to making better more accurate comparisons, rather than guessing or everyone taking temperature readings from different spots on the stoves.