Blaze King thermostat

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Yes. Each model has a minimum air inlet.
When my stove was new with the original combustor, I could have welded that flapper closed and achieved a 30 hr burn time without the cat stalling except for maybe the last few hours.

But my wood was dry and had an extremely active combustor.
 
My record was 36 hours out of one load, but I had to keep bumping up the thermostat towards the end of the burn.

This was in a Princess.
 
Incidentally, all state, Federal testing and manufacturer test reports show little to no emissions of particulates in the tail end of the burn. 90%+ are produced within the first few hours of combustion. That is precisely why going "active" as soon as possible is desirable.

Which explains why the cat wont maintain temps once the fuel has turned to charcoal but still gives off heat.
 
And with sufficient draft, air can be pulled into the firebox for sustained combustion. And of course all this works best with dry fuel.

To a point, I’d agree. If the hole in the bottom of the tube would sustain combustion, there would be no need to have a bimetallic spring attached to the flapper.
 
To a point, I’d agree. If the hole in the bottom of the tube would sustain combustion, there would be no need to have a bimetallic spring attached to the flapper.
What about running the stove mid temp or anywhere between minimum and max? Still no need for the stat?
 
Casey, do you have any pics of the Princess installed like you do the King?
 
What's a typical lifespan of the catalyst?
Mine is going on to year #10 in my Princess and seems to work fine. Roughly 25-30 cords of wood.

There's a Midwest Hearth brand on Amazon for about $200. No idea if they are fine to use, or if that's a decent price.


As far as t-stat, I usually set it around 1 o clock position.
 
What's a typical lifespan of the catalyst?
Mine is going on to year #10 in my Princess and seems to work fine. Roughly 25-30 cords of wood.

There's a Midwest Hearth brand on Amazon for about $200. No idea if they are fine to use, or if that's a decent price.


As far as t-stat, I usually set it around 1 o clock position.
Midwest is now the distributor for Applied Ceramics. They are the OEM provider for most of the combustors.
 
We have had lots of discussions about this for years. The King needs an 8" system to run as designed.
Yeah, I know. To me this is an operator that’s never run a BK stove properly before by past post history and it’s installed as not designed.

No wonder there’s issues.
 
We have had lots of discussions about this for years. The King needs an 8" system to run as designed.

I hemmed and hawed about installing this on a 6" chimney specifically for this reason.

What I have found is this stove works just fine on MY chimney. As the idiosycrancy of the stat on MY stove has no relation to the chimney. I can burn a load down to ash with no issues now that I have determined, with your help, that there is nothing wrong with the stat, it simply has a narrower band of operation compared to the Princess I had installed prior.
 
Yeah, I know. To me this is an operator that’s never run a BK stove properly before by past post history and it’s installed as not designed.

No wonder there’s issues.

The stat position while cold has 0 to do with chimney diameter. That was my primary concern that there was something wrong with my stat in that it would go closed, cold, around 3 on the dial.

I can easily operate this stove on my 6" chimney now that I have determined where the sweet spot is for the setting. That means I can, and have, had a complete burn of a load from sticks to ash with the dial set between 4 and 5 o'clock.

I, as well as others that have their Kings connected to a 6" chimney, are fully aware of the recommendation. Some, like me, have a chimney dynamic that works with the King. I will fully admit I was concerned swapping them out. But now that I know the King simply has a narrower range of operation, I can accommodate that idiosyncrasy and move forward.

In summary, because it seems you want to engage an argument..... and as I have stated numerous times.... My issue wasn't draft related. A cold stat doesn't care about chimney diameter. My specific issue, related to my specific stove was a concern on dial indication specifically related to the flapper being closed. Chris has verified that my thermostat is correct and I am satisfied with that verification. I was under the impression, based on the only point of reference I had which was the operation of the Princess, that there was more range of stat adjustment than there is on the King. I was operating the stove under that premise and I was wrong. I have verified that I need to make an adjustment and I have done just that.

At no time have I bad mouthed BK, the Stove or their CS. I love the stove and I have been impressed with the response I have gotten from BK either on the phone, email or via various forums.

If your intention is to simply jab and disparage, then perhaps you should refrain from engaging in the dialog. Or stop when you feel you are about to say something that serves no benefit.
 
As far as t-stat, I usually set it around 1 o clock position.

I could run the Princess on 1 as well, 2 seemed better for our house. I only had it installed at the end of the last heating season so I didnt get a lot of time on it. But what an absolutely wonderful appliance. I was easily getting 24-30 hour burns out of a load.

Im easing into the King so I can determine load size with the intention to load it twice a day. If I can figure out how full to fill the box so I am loading at the end of a cycle, that will be ideal. Eventually once a day would be nice, but I'm not going to get that ambitious yet.
 
I can see having the 'minimum burn' setting adjustable to allow for various heating loads such as shoulder season Vs deep winter heating. An adjustable minimum burn setting also might allow for better optimization when matching stoves to various chimney set ups.

After a good minimum burn setting is achieved it would be nice to have an electrically controlled flapper and thermostat set up so that the stoves output could be varied based on house heating load needs Vs being set to maintain a constant stove temperature as it is now.

Slowing opening the minimum burn setting as the heating season progress into the dead of winter might achieve a more even constant heat output from the wood stove. One might find that the deep winter minimum burn setting is quite a bit higher than the shoulder season setting and that larger splits of wood are easier to burn.

Just some random thoughts from a fellow that spent a lot of time playing with a Riteway 37 with a cat starting in the early eighties.
 
Del, If I understand the mechanical stat on the BK stoves, it will do just that.

Im still learning though.

It sounds like for your stove and chimney set up that the minimum burn setting is not allowing enough air to enter the firebox to keep the fire going.

So the fire goes out.

The bi-metal coil does not control minimum burn air flow. I believe someone mentioned a hole.
 
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