Yep.. terribly difficult Let's see.. start fire.. notice when stove is in cat range.. engage cat.. reduce air.. repeat in about 10 hours. Old stove.. Light stove.. reduce air.. repeat in 4 hours.. including getting up at 2 AM to repeat. Yeah.. I'm happier now.
Not to continue derailing this thread...here you go Warner... This is the Hitzer version of a dial, the "throttle cable" and the "throttle plate". NOTE: The Hitzer bi-metallic thermostat dial does have marking and numbers on it, makes it nice to operate and easy to get back to the same running temperature. BKVP can correct me if I am wrong, but the Blaze Kind dial is accessible off to the right side rear of the stove, connected by a shaft to a "throttle box" near the middle of the stove that contains a bi-metallic coil and plate that opens and closes. The BK air intake is at the box up higher on the stove. The Hitzer air intake, as you can see is down on the bottom left. Most of the BK mechanism is mostly hidden, which is real nice, and there is no chain or "cable", as it's sort of what you might call "direct drive" so-to-speak...contained inside the box...and is a neat thing to see. Again, BKVP, feel free to correct any mistake I may have made describing this, or feel free to add to it.
And the insert uses a little cable or chain linkage with pulleys to open a flapper. Not direct drive like the free standers. On edit, the princess insert has the chain but fancy new models don’t.
Even my 21 year old ford f350 is "fly by wire". No pump the gas to squirt the accelerator pump and set the choke plate, or even older, pull the choke knob!
LOL! Well, maybe I;m not explaining this right... I'm really not looking for a "visual marker". More of a physical feel, which is repeatable. Currently we are turning a knob that depending on how hot or cold the stove is, feels and works completeley different. When it's hot, the knob is tight and hard to turn (has some resistance from the expanded hot metal). When it is cold, it is flimsy/floppy and easy to turn. And you have no real reference other than "muscle memory" as to where to put it. My woodstock also has about a 3 oclock to 12 oclock "effective" range, but once you are hot and running normally, the real range is from 12 minutes after to 15 minutes after. At 15 minutes after the air is shut down almost 100% except for some small space they leave to allow it to never be completely choked off. And at 12 minutes after your letting enough air in to blaze the entire town! That is the section, the last 5% or so I'd love to have a geared control with detents. Ideally it would be a 10:1 gear or something, so you get a very fine adjustment out of it, and it would be repeatable. Anywho, just food for thought.
huh, that sounds perfect, then just add some clicks or detents to it! I don't think so, becuase I've emailed this idea to them at least once a year for the last 8 years! If they did make it, they sure forgot to tell me!! ;-)
OK, are you all asking your friends (wood nerds) and family that burn wood to take the survey? I'm in Fairbanks and the rest of Alaska this week. Speaking with dealers about the survey and their customers. Getting data from these folks way up here to the North is also vital. All you guys/gals stay well! BKVP
there’s some chatter about it on the “other” wood stove place... looks like it’s been in the works a few months and about to be released any day now.
You can see the dial on the Hitzer. It can be turned from 5pm to 7pm roughly with a counter clockwise movement. Generally it’s factory adjusted so the stove runs somewhere in the middle of the range, at the 12 noon position, so there is adjustment each direction to turn the heat up or down. I have found to maintain the perfect temperature in our house when it is really cold to mildly cold I only use an adjustment size from number 3 to 4, sometimes to 4.5, not much when the stove is running and the house has acclimated to the temp we wants. One thing I have noticed, is that by adjusting the balls on the chain I can set the dial to never allow the stove intake air flap to fully close...keeping it open a micro amount. That sort of defeats the purpose though as the entire system is a fail safe. Should the mechanism ever fail, it is supposed to close and shut the stove down. The only reason I mention this is because by adjusting the balls on the chain or the dial (so long as it’s factory set in the middle) it will only get so hot as well before it closes some...going back and forth maintaining the temperature. BKVP can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the BK operates in a similar fashion, as far as opening and closing, maintaining stove temps...which also coincide with room temps, and outside temps. If it is set to keep your home at a certain inside temperature, say 70F inside while it is 40F outside for a week, then when the outside temps warm up to 55F-60F the house will begin to get too hot, and then so will the stove, the mechanism then senses the stove temp is now too high so it adjusts and maintains the 70F home temps. Sure it’s maintain the stove temp mostly, but the setting relies on an acclimated home. At least that’s how the Hitzer works. I’m guessing the BK works the same way. I can run this Hitzer stove on a setting that keeps our home at a certain temperature and if someone leaves the front door open for an hour the stove metal temp where the stat is at drops, so the stat sense the drop and then opens the intake for more air and will attempt to stabilize the stove temp setting via sensing the temp. She will roar if the door is left open too long because the house temp inside is falling and that works on dropping the stove temp as well while the thermostat tries to prevent the fall in stove temp. Seems complicated until you realize it’s all tied together. If the BK works similarly, then I know I would love it as a wood burner, plus the savings on wood. I can burn wood in the Hitzer 354 using the stat, or without it, but either way it’s going to eat it. It might be slightly better than a pre-EPA stove, but I can’t verify that yet. Haven’t burned enough wood in it yet to see. I know this...I had a chance last winter to experience the warmth and thermostat on an old Earthstove and I was impressed. That, and the stat on my Hitzer, is what has peaked my interest in the Blaze King wood stove. I love burning the coal so far. Last year was my first year and I just bought another ton of nut coal for this year. However, emptying ash twice a day. I’m hearing some only empty their BK once a season for fur wood even after burning 3-4 cords of it, hardwood being likely different, but still...with the deep fire boxes and wood burning efficiency it sure would make for less loading and ash emptying and therefore less opening of the house doors saving heat. House loses a lot of heat opening and closing a door 4 extra times a day. The BK can help a lot with that heat loss. I hate to mention my coal stove in this forum, but I bought it cheap. Wasn’t ready to buy a new stove yet...afraid to spend a lot of money on a new stove until I was more sure of what I wanted. Recently bought a Lopi tube stove cheap as well to try, but I have to admit...the bi-metallic on this Hitzer has caused me to see the writing on the wall with regard to finalizing my decision on buying a new stove, spending a few thousand dollars...and I’m heavily leaning towards the Blaze King strictly for wood burning. I’ll be keeping the coal stove though. It isn’t going anywhere except maybe my shop. Sorry so long...sorry for detailing this thread further.
Well...you can thank Highbeam for that one. He had told me he rarely emptied the ash pan burning Douglas Fur. Never even realized what I had written, but it was funny since you brought it to my attention.
The nice thing about a product that burns coal is it is not a regulated product. When we made a warm air furnace, the exposed beaded chain (being able to change or alter the low burn setting) was something some burners were looking for. However, warm air furnaces are now a regulated category and if we were still making that unit, we would have to reconfigure access to the beaded chain. In short, minimum and maximum burn rate settings are not to be altered by the consumer. Perhaps we can have a PM on the topic so the thread stays focused on the survey? Or a new thread? BKVP
