The Blaze King thread, new combustor & good wood.

I had a hearthstone heritage noncat before the BK. I could barely get 10 hours and restart without matches. Non-cats heat the house, burn clean, look nice, but for a guy that wants to heat with wood for 100% of the house heat a cat stove is vastly superior. The flexibility to burn hot and fast or low and slow for 24 hours is key. I sold the noncat, no regrets.

 

New very little about the new EPA stoves when I got the new BK catalytic.
Was a skeptic but after a few weeks, I was convinced I got the right stove for me.
Got some state energy $$ rebates too, for buying an efficient clean burning one.
1st year saved near 40% on wood usage. From 9 - 10 cord to 5 - 6.
Last year was near 7 cord,
New cat now, less wood.

With the new SS cat
I'm back to being impressed.
Amazed it can burn so long & put out as much heat as it does.
Don't ever see myself going back to non-cat.

 

14 hours since last nights load.
A low orange glow on the combustor
Front & center of the load is gone but lots of charcoal inside.
guess 1/3 of the space is full, all the way up the back & sides .
Little more black glass burning on a lower setting.



No fan, house 74°
32° , clear light wind.

Will be no problem getting thru to tonights load with plenty of heat output .

 

Good post, and I have also found what you are saying about a cat. stove (though not specifically limited to the B.K. brand necessarily) to represent my experience as well.

The unfortunate thing is that what seems to be happening is that a lot of potential customers do not want to buy a catalytic stove knowing the cat. is a maintenance, 'replacement needed' item. In turn, the mfg.'s seem to be extending the expected, published lifespan of the cat. to frankly ridiculous lengths and that is leading people to run a stove too long with an old cat. that is not working or not working as well as it should. I think a much better approach for everyone would be to encourage people to change out the combustors more often and lower the price of them to make that more attractive. If new combustors were, say, $75 and lasted two years, people would be a lot more apt to change them to get the better performance back I would think. Perhaps with tighter wood stove emission requirements coming, a much higher percentage of new stoves will be catalytic types and a few more mfg.s will jump into the catalytic combustor manufacturing arena and drive the price down?

Brian

 

Good point
Platinum & Palladium high priced metal
Palladium from $375 on 2009 to $900 in Sept, 2014

Platinum been as high as $1255/ oz

More cat stoves, more manufacturers, more competition .
Might lower the prices.

 

Sure, highs are close to 40 here, but I'm getting close to 12 hrs of heat with a 1.4 cu.ft. stove, burning Oak chunks which don't pack the box. The Dw will burn coals for several hrs and keep the stove top above 300.

 

I had a 1982 stove prior to this one. Lots of heat up the chimney.
The technological improvements and efficiencies of many stoves since then amazes me.

I can only describe mine, but like you & others here, impressive burn times, even in the non cats.
I only see & read about secondary burns here, never had a stove that does that.
Be fun to experiment with a new stove every couple years,
but not sure I'd remove the one I have, impresses me but only have the old one to compare it to.

I don't know much about cat or non cat stoves. Learning curve still bending here.
Hard to believe I could get a better stove (maybe equal) than what I have for my conditions .

Was lucky the rebated state energy audits happened & one recommendation was a Blaze King, Catalytic King for my set up.
State rebates helped with a % o the purchase price too.

Used to burn green wood too Now 3 + year seasoned birch.

 

I never had a tube stove either but I'd like to run one sometime. I went straight from the '84 Englander to the Dw cat, about 12 yrs ago. I burned 3-month Red Oak until a few years ago though. Stove is working a little better on this Oak that's been stacked 3 summers... I'm coming up on 12 hrs, burning 4 Oak chunks that left all kinds of air space in the box. I've got the air open on some coals, 340 on the stove top and 70 in da hizzouse.

There's always a better stove out there...or there will be. Never lose sight of that fact, Dave.

What exactly was the deal you got? You'd think Alaska wouldn't offer any rebates, and would want you to use more fossil fuel, seeing as how is part of the economy. I scored the Keystone when they had the 30% federal tax rebate....not too shabby. Well, all this chattin' with a golf guy has me in the mood to burn a little Persimmon!

 

Has anyone asked Woodstock what the life in hours, not years is for their stainless cats are? If they are similar as the ceramics at 12000 hours that pretty much means if your a 24/7 burner in a cold climate you can figure on changing it out every 2-3 years. At the current price of $125 I don't think its such a bad thing and the price is probably cheaper with the pro rated warranty.

 

Big problem in the interior is air quality.
No NG & most all burn diesel , coal, wood for heat, (elect is expensive)
They get temp inversions in Fairbanks real bad & air quality sucks big time.
Still have some rebates in some areas for efficient EPA wood stoves to replace old barrel stoves types.

Many are afraid to change, need dry wood for epa stove to burn efficient
Lots of word of mouth misinformation out in the bush about the new cleaner burning stoves.

Got energy credits points for the different improvements , some based on income & location.
Brought the stove cost way down to affordable . Good incentives.

Fossil fuels not easy to distribute around Alaska, no roads & bridges.
Many villages have only aircraft to haul in all supplies (expensive $$$ fuel )
Some have water access. Distribution cost make fuel expensive. (Short window too, boats need liquid water )

 

Last nights reload after a 24 hour burn
Could've got a few more hours of good heat , some wood left .


Reload lite off fast, hot reloads & birch does that. Raging fire prior to closing the bypass


Was 18° outside so a medium low setting, fan just above low speed.


Cat glowing , well into the active range:


15 hours later, cat temp just below active range,
wood left, good heat output.
25° outside, should make it to early evening:

 

I was thinking mine cat starting to suffer a little but I loaded the stove with almost all ash last night and it performed great. After 12 hours I still had a lot of heat left in the stove. I've been burning silver maple up until last nights load, I guess there is a bit of difference between the two wood types. I'm sure it's down on efficiency compared to new but if I can burn two loads a day during the cold stuff it's all good.

 

I loaded ash, oak, and cherry last night before I went to bed When I got up at 11 to go to work, the cat probe was just under the last tick, stove top was at 650, and the temp on the hall thermostat was 75. Thermostat a little under 2. I guess it's still working.

 

Sounds good

Had to add this afternoon. High was 28° today.
Down to a few coal & not much heat when we got back form town.
Added 6 splits , got them burning well & cat lit off just great.
Good till 10 tonight.

 

That was fast