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

I've never had any issues with my cat lighting off. Couple handfuls of kindling on top of some splits and it's in range before kindling burns down. That's why I had such a hard time accepting the fact that my cat was bad. But, it obviously was!

 

You may have got more time out of your old cat if your chimney wasn't reduced. What you may of experienced is that once your cat dropped some in efficiency that chimney temperature dropped some too. Lower chimney temperatures make less draft and your set up reached the critical point and started leaking smoke into the room.

New cat. Higher chimney temperatures. No smoke leaking into the room.

With the suggested chimney you may get and additional two or more years of usable cat life per cat.

Just guessing here.

 

That makes a lot of sense on one hand, but what doesn't make sense for me, is, why would this happen even on strong burns with higher temps in stove pipe. Additionally the chimney drafts strong, even on cold starts. I have no issues drawing smoke up chimney on cold startup, or struggling to burn. Only had a draft problem one time years ago but it was an atmospheric pressure issue when it was a warmer, foggy, rainy evening. Since then, in those conditions, I burn a handful of kindling and problem solved.

If I could be convinced why the 8" would burn better than a perfectly burning 6", or if BK could guarantee me years more life out of a cat if I'd switch, I'd spend the money in a second. It's a $3500 "guess" for me to "try" it with fingers crossed. I'll have to buy 10 additional cats to break even. Even more costly if I gain no additional time. And like Highbeam and brenndatomu have stated, there's only so many hours to a cats life. Mine pretty much died on the "hours" they said I should expect to get. That's the only reason I'm so hesitant to change. I wish I knew the answer. It's not that I wouldn't spend the money, I just hate to spend the money and gain absolutely nothing.

 

In your situation I'd probably do exactly the same as you. I was just rambling on.

I can't take the smell of a wood smoke in the house. We get by with our Jotul F600CB with the minimal suggested chimney length of 14ft. and sometimes in the late spring or early fall if the stove has been off for a day or so and is stone cold we use a hair dryer blowing through a small piece of carboard blocking the door to get the draft going. Without the hair dryer heat we get a backdraft as soon as we try to light up a new fire. This is only a dozen times or so during a whole heating season. It's surprising after just 60 to 90 seconds of hair dryer heat how it jump starts the chimney air flow. I realize that this is not the situation you are describing with your Blaze King and cat, just sharing.

 

I never thought you were rambling for one second. I'm actually enjoying all the "food for thought!" And, I'm hoping this helps a fellow reader down the road solve a similar problem they may be having.

 

So, here's a question my wife just asked me:

Has anyone burning a BK Princess (or similar cat stove) ever experienced the same problem of smelling smoke that we are? The Princess was designed around a 6" pipe, so if any have, that's an interesting twist to this.

I'll post this same question to my other thread regarding the actual issue of the smoke smell.

 

Nope.. 11th season on my King, Ceramic CATS only !

 

I feel like I recall reading of it a lot, yes.

 

Hmmmmm, that's interesting!

 

Interesting! 8 inch chimney in assuming??

 

Well, off and on today, my wife has said she's been getting whiffs of smoke. Crazy thing, I haven't. She's said it's really strong at times and I don't get a hint of anything. Now I'm just plain baffled.

I told her she's just looney, she disagrees. But then again, if a person were nuts, would they actually realize it.

 

What's your height difference?

 

Glowing is ONLY an indication large amounts of gases pooling in front of the combustor. Cats work on temperature, not glowing. Steel cats get to 550F in half or less than ceramic.

 

Nope. Cat stoves work great in low and medium low tests. Secondary combustion stoves work great as temperatures increase, as in medium high and high runs. The combination, when correctly down, brings down overall emissions.

BKVP

 

Yepper ! 35’ Stack, 2 key dampers.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/puxhqzppliQ?feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/puxhqzppliQ?feature=share

Can we embed YouTube videos?

 

Sorry, that doesn't help. So half as many seconds? It takes just as long to establish a fire with 550 degree flue temps and the bypass open whether you have a steel or ceramic cat. So once the bypass closes the steel starts "working" in half as many seconds? Seems like a pretty insignificant benefit.

 

Of course you are entitled to your observation...but, nevermind.
BKVP

 

So no explanation? Did you even read my question?

Without filling in the huge blanks, it just sounds like you're blowing smoke up our butts. Good pun?

Or is the reality that you manufacturers just have a hard time dealing with the more fragile ceramics and the metal cats suffer less physical damage and so less warranty claims?

I suppose it's possible that you just aren't fully informed so can't provide a complete answer.

 

You should get a job in the woodstove manufacturers world. Then you'd be able to trust data.
BKVP