Older Blaze King Stove question

The house we bought came with this circa mid-80's Blaze King stove. Not having used a stove like this before, I down loaded the manual, but it leaves out any information or instructions about the fan. Is it necessary to always have the fan going? Is the thermostat (flue control) independent of the fan or must the fan be on for the thermostat to work? Any help would be appreciated.

Don't know much about them.  I would suggest a call to Blaze King and talk to a tech.  Those stoves are extremely popular here in Alaska due to the ability to hold a fire for a long time and heat a large area.

Thanks guys!

Hi Susan,

I never owned a Blaze King but I had another high end brand catalytic stove insert.  I looked at some of the Blaze King stove manuals and as with many of these stoves the fans are part of an optional kit that you can buy with the stove or as a later add-on.   In some of the Blaze King manuals I saw some reference in certain installations such as mobile homes you had to have either the optional heat shield or the fan kit.  The implication being that in the riskier applications the fan kit would help reduce the risk of a fire (outside of the stove).  In my experience with my stove I used the fan based on how quickly I wanted to heat the room and or as a balance on the running temp of the stove.  There were other factors influencing the burn temp such as amount and type of wood and how much external air you let in.  If you want the fire to burn a long time and don't need a huge amount of heat output you would turn the fan on low or off completely and shut the air inlet to a minimum.  This would make the fire burn hotter and for a long time.  If you turn on the fan to low the fire temp will go down and possibly too low for the catalytic element to function at its maximum efficiency and more importantly life span.  I do not know if the stove you have is a catalytic one or not, but those beasts like to run pretty hot to extend the life of the expensive catalytic element.  I hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Ralph

Hello! Do you still happen to have the manual for this that you can send me? I'm looking for the manual and cannot find it online anywhere. I can only find the ones for the newer models.

Sorry Helen, but it had been 5 years since I posted on this thread and have no idea where I had found the manuals mentioned in my prior post.   Best wishes on your search.

Sincerely,

Ralph

I’ve heated with a Blaze King (Anchorage) for 37 years and over 200 cords.
I strongly suggest buying an Inkbird thermostatic switch and taping the thermocouple to the upper back of the air plenum coming from the fan. With heat resistant metal tape. So you’re measuring the temperature of the air after it has run past the back of the stove, just below where it exits on top rear.
Experimentation will result in finding a temperature where the fan cycles on and off, only going continuously when the air inlet is well past “2”, and the catalyst is bright red.
And you don’t come downstairs in the am listening to a fan blowing not so hot air.
Should have done this decades ago.
Currently 24 cords split on deck and in yard. Gotta pick up 4 cords of rounds from neighbors’ yard; getting 50k lb logging truck load of birch trees in a couple of days.
40 cords…. Hopefully I will last till 2031-32.

I have this stove. I love it. I use the fan to heat the entire house at night. I do not use it during the day. I will look for my manual but not sure how i can get you a copy.