Blaze king cat question.

[Jeff Lary]

Hi quick question, This is my first day with a fire in the new princess. I have the damper turned down quite low like 2 maybe and I just noticed the cat is not glowing red like it was earlier today when the damper was at about a 3 lets say. The temperature gauge says the cat is well within the active zone ? I guess I assumed that if the cat is in the active zone it is going to be glowing red or am I mistaken.

I may have figured it out, I had closed the by pass after the re-loaded fire go well going then I also cut the damper Knob from wide open to about 1/2 way. I was supposed to let the fire run with the damper knob in the wide open position for 20 - 30 min before closing it to the desired heat setting,....I think. We will see.

 

[Deleted member 135597]

no doesn't need to be glowing to be active. trust your gauge

 

[Deleted member 135597]

I just passed the 24hour mark for this load. there's still a lot of coals left. I think there's a few more hours left in her. this stove is amazing

 

[Jeff Lary]

Ok well read my last edit but thanks for the fast responce

 

[Deleted member 135597]

as long as your cat thermometer isn't dropping out of the active then you are good to go. mine doesn't glow unless it is eating a lot of smoke.

 

[Jeff Lary]

Ok well I let it run some at wide open damper but the planned 20 - 30 min ended up at about 12. The cat thermometer was buried and I was afraid of over firing the cat ? if that is possible. So I turned it down to about 1/2 and in a while I will turn it down even more. Right now we are dealing with an abundance of new stove paint smoke ha ha . I wont keep you all evening but I was in need of an opinion thanks

 

[Deleted member 135597]

you can't over fire it, just don't do anything drastic like open the door. yeah the stink will go away soon, I had some smoke coming off my top too with the first fire.

 

[Deleted member 135597]

http://www.**********/talk/threads/2015-2016-blaze-king-performance-thread-everything-bk.145814/ read the previous years also. you will learn everything you need to know. fill in the stars with hearth .com

 

[Jeff Lary]

ok well I was worried we spent our food budget till 2022 on the stove so I kind of hate to mess her up !

 

[Jeff Lary]

I thought during the winter research I found a blaze king thread on this site but I have not been able to find it maybe this is it. If so thanks again, I get a this page cannot be displayed message ?? I think it is all the asterisks that is not a valid address maybe

 

[Jeff Lary]

Jeepers creepers sorry man I found it, I did not read all of your post I guess...

 

[unclemoustache]

I'm also just breaking in / learning my new Princess as well. That was a lot of smoke coming off the stove! Glad that's over.

I just finished a 6-hour burn, but I've not turned it all the way down yet, and I'm burning pine. I'll turn it down tonight.
We'll see what I get when I go to oak in the cold temps.
I never even checked my cat to see if it was glowing. It is a little bit right now, but my two cats are sure happy in front of the stove.

 

[Jeff Lary]

Well I am off to work soon but here's my overnight result. I filled the stove at 6pm we got up this morning at 5:30 there is about 4" of red coals in the bottom. I turned the setting down to about 2 for the night.
Now I must say for those who will catch this that the new princess stoves do not have numbers on the draft control like they did last year. Just experimenting I took a paper label maker and made a label that says 123456 then I cut each number off and stuck them to the perimeter of the dial so I would have something to go by.
So 6pm to 5:30 am 11.5 hours long way from 30 hours?? Burning all hard wood here cherry maple ash ect. The only thing I can think of is the wood size. Knowing we would have a new stove and that I wanted it to be good and dry I split my wood quite small, smaller that normal,.. and that may be the reason. If I had a piece of wood that was 5" in diameter while still round I split it. I can see that next year I want some round wood maybe that would help with the burn times.

 

[Deleted member 135597]

lots of things can effect burn times. chimney height, moisture content of wood, size of splits, running the fan if you have it, thermostat settings. don't get discouraged yet, it will take some time and learning. It's all still new to me too.

 

[Marshy]

Sorry guys, I had a laugh at your expense about the stove smoke lol. I've always move my newly painted stove outside for their first fire to bake off the new paint. When I get my King I plan to do the same thing. At least the weather is mild and you can open up the house.

 

[Marshy]

lots of things can effect burn times. chimney height, moisture content of wood, size of splits, running the fan if you have it, thermostat settings. don't get discouraged yet, it will take some time and learning. It's all still new to me too.

Also, I believe that run time was based on how long the cat stayed in the active zone. So if you had a healthy bead of coals then you likely had more time left on the clock. I believe they also ran it on the lowest setting. Otherwise all good advice you mentioned.

 

[Deleted member 135597]

Also, I believe that run time was based on how long the cat stayed in the active zone. So if you had a healthy bead of coals then you likely had more time left on the clock. I believe they also ran it on the lowest setting. Otherwise all good advice you mentioned.

I had 27 hr burn with cat active so far. After 34 hrs I still had coals enough to restart a fire and stove warm to the touch

 

[Jeff Lary]

yup that's good, I will be very happy I am sure. I split everything quite small just because it was all going to be new to me and I wanted to be sure the stove had good dry wood. I have noticed something else as well on each side of the fire box there seems to be a way to have those two pieces of wood not get burned. I saw it yesterday at the re-fill and today my wife called to tell me that se could see 2 pieces of wood just sitting there one on the right and one on the left. I told her to open the by pass and the damper and then after a few roll those two pieces into the coal bed. I guess I will have to look closer to see if there is a way to avoid the un-burnt wood issue anyone else seeing this?

 

[Deleted member 135597]

M

yup that's good, I will be very happy I am sure. I split everything quite small just because it was all going to be new to me and I wanted to be sure the stove had good dry wood. I have noticed something else as well on each side of the fire box there seems to be a way to have those two pieces of wood not get burned. I saw it yesterday at the re-fill and today my wife called to tell me that se could see 2 pieces of wood just sitting there one on the right and one on the left. I told her to open the by pass and the damper and then after a few roll those two pieces into the coal bed. I guess I will have to look closer to see if there is a way to avoid the un-burnt wood issue anyone else seeing this?

Mine does the same thing

 

[Jeff Lary]

Well I am home now and the stove is still putting out heat it is 3:26 we loaded it yesterday evening at 6pm so almost 24 hours now . The thermometer is saying the cat is still in the active zone but the cat is not glowing red so I am not sure how the cat is working when not red? maybe it does not have to be red to work? there is probably 4-5 inches of coals inside. Now if it was 15* and not the current 65* that setting of 2 on the draft control most likely would not be high enough.