Blaze King "King" model

The King Ultra has a convection deck on top, and the fans blow air between that and the stove itself..
I'd say that guy has a whole lot of issues that a set of fans ain't ever gonna cure..

 

Plenty of BK burners on the east coast/mid west where winter happens. I don't think any of us are freezing. For me what makes the stove so good is the ability to easily control the burn rate.

With that said there are a lot of stoves available that can get the job done just fine. I've been around for a while and it seems most people think their stove is the "best" stove.

 

Well rdust I hadn't met everybody on this site yet! I was still lurking forums... I guess I am not real brand loyal.. brands get bought out and changed all the time... I am usually amused at the best of the best commentary. ford or chevy.. stihl or husky.. ETC ETC..

it was important for me to see the stove and how it works.. most up here are either hearthstone or big box stores.. and a lot of Vermont castings which I knew I didn't want.. Cousin worked there had a stove and he couldn't get a part... I have no doubt that you Bk owners are staying toasty

 

A few more posts from over there.

Originally Posted by me

I'm not familiar with the BK, do they not come with some type of external fan to push the hot air around?
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bkguy//If you pay for it.

I'd rather have a $35 fan from Wally World sitting behind the stove, than a $200 unit that fits the screw holes on the rear case.

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random guy//Nice work on getting the BK. Once you learn how to run it properly, it will serve you well. Not having the fan is the biggest reason you don't "feel" the heat. The BK blower would be good to have, but if you can arrange a fan to move the heat that would help. Set is on the lowest setting to start. Other thing you should do is find the best spot where airflow comes in and out of the room and put a small floor fan there blowing the cold air into the room. This helps move the hot air out by convection current and will help keep the rest of the house warm.

The most often cited safety issue wrt to non-epa stoves is the amount of creosote they can build up in your chimney, leading to chimney fires. An EPA stove, when burned properly will reduce the amount of creosote in the chimney by a huge factor, less creosote means less chimney fires, and that's what the Ins Cos go by.

If you haven't already, join up at (my edit) affectionately refered to as Darth! there is a ton of very good info on there and very helpful people who can help you with most aspects of life burning wood.
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me//It doesn't have a hole to blow through the stove jacket then? My little stove is an absolute beast once you kick the fan, and it only flows 100? cfm.
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bkguy//Yeah, it does.

I have a hood above my wood stove that is plumbed to feed as intake air to the electric forced air furnace. There is a thermostatic switch on that hood, which can turn the blower motor on, to distribute the heat around the house.

My removed stove, an RSF/Ardent Energy RSF-45, is the runt of the RSF non decorative stoves, and only took a 12 inch chunk of wood (13 and a bit, above the door line), but was able, when allowed to run flat out on the control, to throw enough heat to warm the house and kick the thermostatic switch for the blower.
The new box is quite a bit larger, by my measuring, takes a 20 inch block with a wee bit to spare, but running it flat out against the control does not create enough heat to kick the blower switch.
In short, I need a hot fire that throws a bunch of heat, and could not care much what it costs me in burn time.
Crappy deal, as I am stuck with this one for now.
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bkguy// disagreeing with random guy

I disagree. Not feeling the heat, is because the stove burns long and slow, instead of hot and fast as I want it to.

The renters that were in here ruined the RSF-65 that was the original heat source for this house. I would have replaced the little RSF-45 I was using with an RSF-65 were I able to get it signed off.

Am dissapointed in the heat output of this Blaze King stove, but really PO'd about the crap hanging off the ceiling inside the fire box, that is lower down than the top of the door, and mildly annoyed at the amount of smoke the damm thing spews while loading it up.

With the door open and the bypass pulled out on my old stove, it would suck in the smoke from any chips or sawdust that landed on the door while loading. The RSF-65 before was the same, when it was working correctly.
What I wanted out of the stove was to be able to run it at more or less half throttle, under normal heating conditions. I wanted to be able to load it and have it still be alive enough in the morning, to be able to fire a couple fresh sticks of wood in, and to be able to run the thing bloody hot, when it was really cold out, or when I wanted the house warmed up in a hurry.
A forty hour burn, amounts to useless, as the heat output when burning that low, is so low as to amount to something one could do in summer and not overheat the basement.

 

I've known this, and it's the reason I want a BK, but maintaining a fairly constant temp is what this house needs.
With the DV heater in the back of the house running on low (it's only about 12,000 BTU), I only need to run the stove about 1/2 as much.
The house stays at a fairly constant temp, instead of acting like a roller coaster. It's basically confirmed that I need a BK type stove.
Some folks just don't get it, and don't want to.
I just did a meter check, and in 24 hours with overnight lows of -3 to -4, I used 5 CCF of Gas (plus the 30) to keep the temp up in the house and the pole barn at about 40.
Again, if he needs to run any decent sized stove at 1/2 throttle, he needs heat. That also tells me, he needs heat because he needs insulation. Go to the root of the problem and fix that, instead of blaming everything else. At the very least, allow someone to help understand.
Sorry for the rant, but someone that actually has a great stove like that and wants to throw it in the dump needs a good thump.

 

Just had to come back here to mention something. I had told a few guys that what I originally posted was not from "over there" but from a hunting forum. Reading one of the fellows posts on the hunting forum, it turns out he did post" over there". Just wanted to apologize to the guys I had said (at the time) were wrong, that it was a different person.

 

When this thread was made it wasn't "over there". He didn't post over there until the 23rd.

 

Oh okay. Someone had mentioned he should check out there, and he said he already had posted there.

 

I guess I'm one of those BK guys. I roasted a couple VCs trying to heat exclusively with wood before I found the King. Mine came full of creosote from someone who said it threw no heat. Needless to say, it has had none since the first burn and has put out plenty of heat. Not sure there are too many stoves that will efficiently torch 140 lbs of wood in 12 hours if needed or burn that same load over days on low. Mine needs a pretty good rebuild after almost a decade of being run hard (8-10 cord/yr) and being put away wet but absolutely no complaints. A couple of tweaks I would make but its a pretty cool stove.

 

Just my opinion but I would not take much stock in that post. The gentleman changes from a full load at 1/2 draft to a 'less than full' load at 100% draft and makes comparisons. Also, he is burning pine so that is an entirely different animal from hardwood, which is what most data seems to be generated using. It also seems that he is more interested in how much of the wood was burned than how the stove heats his space, which again makes his whole post suspect to me regarding his opinions on woodstoves in general. Finally, he seems to like the 'olden' days', probably not liking fuel injection, running water, etc. And finally, if it is a new Blaze King then it has a thermostatic damper so where he set the draft will be greatly offset by the intermediate override of that thermostat.

I have never owned one but have looked at them and done a lot of research: Blaze King, the brand, seems to be a high quality stove that has many satisfied customers. Lots of other feedback that directly contradicts that particular post so again, I would just ignore it.

Brian

 

yup,he dont have a clue

 

This guy is trying to burn wet wood.

 

you are right it's the stoves fault it won't burn water!

 

dry hardwood would make the difference, also reasonable expectation, if for whatever reason his stove wants to burn for an incredibly long time at lower heat, accept the stove for what it will do. the house might be a bit cooler but it won't freeze. you have plenty of difficult customers out there. if you are a pine or fir burner you are going to have to live with how that wood wants to be used. i wouldn't take the post all that seriously.

 

Aww heck, the "bkguy" just had some unrealistic expectations. I've used the BKK since '10 and while a great stove, it's not the ultimate stove.
Yes- you need a blower.
No- If you have a leaky house with inadequate insulation, it won't cure that.
Yes- It burns for a long time, if you know how to adjust it correctly.
Yes- There is a learning curve.

As far as the "heat now, right dam now" thing, stick with softwood. I'll take my Lodgepole any day over Mulberry or Ash. I know that sounds weird, but I burned a bunch of that last year and the coal beds were too much with little heat. I know how to burn the pine for maximum effect, so there you go.
If the guy doesn't care about CAT life, he could run that sucker as hot as his flue will take. His call.

 

You must have been one of the guys in 2010-2011 that convinced me to move to a BK. Too good to be true? I was worried but took the leap and every bit was true! I burn only softwood and low btu hardwoods, not a problem in the BK. Not sure how super high btu woods would perform.

I have a blower and it is only used 1% of the time for a few hours when I need to catch up. The stove makes plenty of heat without them to heat my home that is apparently a good match for the stove and climate.

 

More from the same guy, on another forum (not the "other" forum).
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Well, here I sit a few months in, with my new Blaze King King, and the best I can suggest to any 'Nutter looking at one is to walk or run in the other direction.

Might be an OK stove IF you are only expecting it to heat a room or two on the same floor it is on, but I didn't buy it for that, and it flat doesn't work well at all.

I doubt I will ever bother darkening the door of the Kamloops Fireplace Center ever again too. I was pretty clear with my desires, more than just pretty clear, with the description of the chimney that I have (and am not going to tear out for the sake of the wood stove, as had been suggested to me on another site), I have had three different retailer/installers tell me now, that my stove is running as well as it ever will, and it had been running balls out for the duration of the time it has been in my house. And my wife complains about being cold.

The manual goes to great length to explain that the testing was done with wood between 20% and 25% moisture content, yet the guys claim it won't work on anything over 15%MC. Great! Fawk!!!!!!!

This is a VERY efficient stove! I can put in a full load of wood, burn it completely to ash, and hardly any heat escapes out into the house from it! Yay. I have spent hours at a time sitting within a few feet of this stove, and I have only rarely been uncomfortably warm. When the weather warmed up. In all seriousness, if I had wanted that low of output, for that long a burn time (40 hours claimed), I would have bought a frikken candle and got some useful heat out of it.

The interior design of the BK stove is crap. Very large interior volume, very large door, but the catalyst housing hangs down and blocks the upper portion of the door, preventing you from actually loading wood all the way in, without having to get down on your hands and knees to peer inside. The housing being lower than the top of the door causes smoke to pour out the door, as the smoke otherwise must pass downwards from the top of the stove interior, to get to the bypass door (about the same size as a heat vent register hole for a forced air heating system in a house, about 4 by 10 or so inches) which is far smaller than the door of the stove, and, not at the highest point, so my house stinks of smoke every time I load it while it is still hot. Per the manual, you are supposed to be able to load onto hot coals. Maybe that means something else to whoever wrote that manual, because all that got me was a stinky house, and smoke stains I didn't want.

I am now looking to throw more good money at a new stove. This time, not a Blaze King, never owning another catalyst stove again, and would advise same to anyone that asks, without reservation.

One Stove Retailer here in town, says he simply stopped bringing in catalyst stoves, as he had so many returned, he will not stock them and warns against them to his customers.

Not particularly thrilled with the usefulness of the folks at hearth.com. Got treated like I must be stupid, by some, got lots of repeated advice from folks that had obviously NOT actually read what had already been written, as well as having to fend of one particular fanboy that was a staunch defender of the Brand, to the extent that he was willing to jump upon, and dump on, anyone that so much as asked a question about the Blaze King Stoves, that he saw as being in any way negative. Had folks suggest moving the stove into the Living Room, folks suggest that I didn't have a clue as to whether my wood was dry or not (bought a moisture meter, disproved that), was told I should spend another 3-4K on tearing out my clay lined chimney and putting in an insulated stainless one, and generally got told a lot that I don't have a clue as to how to run a wood stove.

Anyways, there IS some good reading over there, but, beware the stupid, it is strong in some!

#### Blaze King!

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Tough to do with the way it's put together. Pretty much would have to decapitate it, then rebuild, then reassemble it. Might as well make it from scratch. Same end result, no coverage, no pass on the inspection.
The latter I could wait until afterwards to duck with the structure. The former, well, not my own house, belongs to family, insurance cover, and esp., to not do anything stupid to allow them to weasel out of coverage, is a pretty strong priority.

Dunno if I got a dud or if this one is running like all the rest. Not spending ANOTHER $4K to find out, and not spending the same amount to figure out that it wasn't the chimney causing this either.

I know it's not the wood, got some that ran to single digits on the moisture meter.

Guy that sold it to me 'kindly' offered to take it in trade, against a much more expensive wood furnace. Or maybe I never go there again, which is a bunch more likely.

General consensus between three different retailers, is that it is running about as well as it will, ever, based on surface temperatures.

Paid a premium for a quality product. Not happy with it.
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I have a King, plain jane, no fans, no glass in the door.

So the guy from Blaze King, who posts on hearth.com, asks me what is going on when I turn the fans off, and whether there is a glow from the catalyst when I crank it up.
Just one of VERY many there who were apparently unable to read my original post and comprehend what was written there.

The only instrument I have not bought was a manometer. I dropped a bunch of money I'll never see again on a moisture meter to prove that my wood was actually dry enough. Used a friend's temp gun to measure the temperatures on the stove top and chimney.

No negative pressure issues, the house isn't THAT airtight. air is from inside the house. I was told that outside air direct to the stove needs to come in from a point lower than the stove, so the only available path for that would require I run ducting across the floor at the bottom of the stairs, in the path. Nope. Not happening. Had guys recommend running the stove with the door or a window open, to check, as well as guys recommending that I seal the doors and windows as best I can. Since the window doesn't open, and there is only the one door, pretty easy to try both, with no net effect for good or bad.

I was able to heat the whole house before, with a half fried out RSF 45, a very small stove, that only took a 12 to 13 inch chunk of wood into it's firebox. Pretty PO'd with the results I got.

I have loaded this stove full with as few as three or four very large blocks of wood, to uncounted multitudes of smaller splits with essentially the same results. The wife wants to know if there is any wood in the fire, because she isn't comfortable!

I have a 30 foot chimney up through the middle of the house, it stays somewhat warmed by the house heat, and draws pretty well, but you can only stuff so much air up a hole the size of, basically, a heat vent register. I was using my poker to prop the door open on start as it did not seem to want to burn vigorously when the door was rested on the latch, which leaves a crack open.

My measured stove top temps behind the cat were 800-840 degrees Fahrenheit and according to pretty much everyone, are about what they should be.

Am currently getting by, it works sorta OK now that spring is sprung, but I need something that will actually make my house warm. I was really hoping that this one was it, it was sold to me as being THE stove, and I am grossly disappointed with it. I was really hoping I could actually run it at half open settings and jack the heat up if required, instead of running it flat out and still barely comfortable sitting beside it.

 

And personally I don't have a dog in the fight, I wouldn't know a BK if it bit my nose, but wow, the everyone is wrong, I'm right attitude is almost overwhelming.

 

He made up his mind before asking for help.
I have no time for people that won't learn.

 

800-840 stt's? Holy moly

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