Old Blaze King KFF-403

was wondering how many of these stoves are still in use, and maybe if someone out there still heating with one maybe you could chime in!

Howdy Brett, welcome to permies!

I have used a few different types of wood stoves in my life but cannot remember if any of them were blaze kings.

Do you have a specific question about them?

That is the King Fireplace Furnace.
Was made in Walla Walla in the 80's or 90's,
one of the better non catalytic woodstoves to go into an existing fireplace.

The air inlet is on the right side and is thermostatically controlled, once you set it the stove self regulates output.
The long rod on the top right is the exhaust damper, open to start the stove,
but close it down when the chimney gets warm and starts to draw.

That looks to be in good shape, and if the fans work they are nice stoves.

Hello Miles and Pete sure do appreciate your time! I have been trying to get some info on this stove, basically is it safe and legal to use? I have came across some ideas that this stove may or may not be legal. And that a liner may or may not need to be used. So I guess any solid info to help iron out these concerns would be great. I bought the stove for 300. It had two door's one with glass, it came with a spare fan setup, extra bricks, and a little dust that we finally got cleaned up. looks better now that it is clean and installed. I notified my insurance agent beforehand that I was shopping for a wood stove, he told me to just let him know what make and model # I buy and I could go ahead and install it. I hope that I didn't waste my time and money on this stove. because now we are kind of excited about starting are first fire in it. And Pete I didn't know that about self regulation that is good to know.

From the blaze king website.
It is a good stove, it just doesn't have the EPA tag.

THE MANUAL YOU HAVE REQUESTED IS ASSOCIATED WITH A MODEL THAT IS NOT EPA APPROVED
AND IS ILLEGAL TO SELL, TRADE, BARTER, GIVE AWAY OR INSTALL IN MANY REGIONS OR STATES.

link to download the manual:

http://www.blazeking.com/EN/epawarn.php?pdf=KFF-403_PFF-403_BFF-403.pdf

My oppinions follow:
And it will leave gobs and gobs of creosote inside your flu, unless you are burning very dry wood.
They still make stainless steal adapters to connect that stove to an 8" stainless liner for the chimney.
1000 to 2000 bux of real shinney pipe to keep you house safe.
Or you can clean the chimney every half cord of burned wood, to keep the creosote at less than "scary chimney fire" levels.

Hey Pete you say they still make adapters for this stove to connect this to a liner, any ideas who I would go through to find one?

Sorry:

Last time I looked, they still made adapters, but I can't find one now.
The generic adapter will not work on a blazeking, the generics are all square and about 100 bux.
New inserts will have the 6 or 7 or 8 inch round outlet to make installing easier.

The size of the fireplace opening determines what can be done from here.
You need lots of room in the fireplace and above the stove to get your hands in there to attach a liner.
P M me with the wheres whens and hows, we might work it out.

OK Pete I will get that info to you in the next day or so, until then are there many of these stoves still out there?

Blaze King made them into the 90's but the EPA would not let them be sold on the west coast.
They were available in Idaho and Montana till about 99 or 2000.
If you are in the dryer area on the other side of the mountains, the stoves work great.
They did not fair so well on this, "the rainy side" of the hill.
Most folks around here cannot dry wood for a year and a half before use.
So the smelly nasty sticky catch your house on fire stuff, creosote, made lots of folk
use the kff for emergency use only. And then only clean the chimney once a year.

Brett, i have a FF-402 Blaze King insert, very similar, and I am looking for a door with glass. Would you be interested in selling the door with glass as I see you have the other door on the unit in your pictures.

Hey Scott, the pictures I have posted I did have the solid door on the stove mainly because I didn't want to break the glass during transport and install. as of now I am using the glass door, and I think I will hang on to both just in case a seal begins to leak I will have a back up. If I hear of one I'll be sure to pass it on though. you say your stove is a FF-402 What is the dimensions on the exhaust opening? and are you using a liner?

Stove look the same design as yours, in a weekend cabin we only use in the winter. Just bought it in the spring, pulled the unit and had the chimney cleaned and everything checked out. Looking to put a liner in if I can find a door with glass, otherwise looking to replace with a new unit with glass front/door.

Thanks for the fast reply, good luck with your installation, we have used ours several weekends now and it works great, lower 80's in the house and great burn time length. Main reason i would like to keep this unit is the large fire box size, can load it up and it burns all night.

I am still trying to find out if there is a liner adapter available for this stove, the dimensions for the exhaust are 20" X 3.5". Not even sure if one could be adapted to it. We have had some pretty cold nights already just below freezing and it burns great. As Pete Arthur mentioned it would be best to use dry wood (hey Pete the opening of fire place is 28"H X 34"W) I found a source of Ash which has been drying for two years (14.6% moisture) $35. a heaping truck load (Long Bed). not to bad considering it is split!

Hey there I’m Kalen. The place I recently moved into has this old blaze king wood stove. Doesn’t seem like it is putting out as much heat as it should and I thought I’d see if you guys have  any advice on regular maintenance or anything that could be a potential issue with efficiency. I’m also open to any advice on operating this stove as effiently as possible. Thanks a lot! One of the handles was busted so I cut and made some knee ones for er.

Hey Kalen, door looks a little cattywampus... Maybe seal is bad? I have the green ceramic center piece for that stove if'n you'd be interested in a bit of horse trading.

Moved into an old drafty, rental house with an FF-402 installed in very good shape. Have not seen anything on the web about the 402. It looks like the users manual has been removed everywhere due to lack of EPA compliance. Does anyone have any advice on proper use for efficiency? Trying to figure out the right balance for the fan versus bellows. We are on the dry side of the cascades and using very dry wood. Landlord said the chimney had been cleaned two years ago.

Is that a crack in the bottom of the door?

Or is it a dribble of creosote? Either way, not a good thing...

The skewed door ....the concave top....the "crack" .....The more I look at this, the more concerned I get.

Seeking a ceramic insert for the KFF-403 door.
Any available?

I bought a house with one of these stoves I don't know much about these stoves . Used other wood stoves . first seen one like this . See these on line. I was going to have chimney  cleaned. If this stove safe to use?  I live in Arkansas.  Is it really safe? Try find someone nows about them. It would be great to use specially when we get another ice storm.

I would get a WETT inspection as part of the chimney cleaning. It doesn't cost much. Certainly less than a house fire.

Our Montana mountain log home was built in 1991. We purchased in 2017. This is the stove they installed all those years ago. We close up the house at Thanksgiving and open it mid April again. We only burn fires in those outside months as temps dip or are still low at night. It is a traditional log home...1600 sq ft, 2 bedrooms at the end and a loft above the fireplace living room. This stove can cook the whole house if you even put one too many pieces in. Hard to burn a small fire as the thing is so large. My parents installed a Blaze King in our 3000 sq ft home in Washington in 1975 and it always performed well as a primary heat source. We are planning on retiring here and know this will service winter heating well. Ours has been maintained and is in good shape and regardless of epa approvals ours is grandfathered in so we are not planning on replacing it. We can load it before bed and still have a bed of coals in the morning. This home was lived in full time from 1991 to about 2008. It’s only been part time for us and the last owner so I know it got heavy constant winter use with average winter temps in the single digits and teens. Wish I could figure out how to add a photo because it really is in fine shape.

Hi Debb,  Welcome to Permies!  
This link should help with posting a picture:  How to Post an Image on Permies
If you have any further problems come on back and we'll help you out further.

As to fabricating a liner adapter for that.  Any good HVAC guy or Insulator Tradesman should be able to make anything you want.

Hello, I'm new to this side. Got a wood stove insert from a friend in the 80ties! Can't see the name or model, 'cause its inserted, but could see from pics in this forum it's a Blaze King Brand. Never any issues with it. Now for my insurance I need to fill out a form for my stove and a WETT inspection. Live in BC/Canada, no idea how I should proceed and would appreciate any help! Thank you!

I have an blaze king with a glass door for sale if anybodys interested, also, I read something about an adapter to fit the stove to an 8 inche pipe..where can I find one? Thanks

where is the damper rod ? mine has a high low knob on right side . rod going to middle of stove with a copper coil .you can hear a noise like a flap closing when you turn the knob. i know nothing about this stove and need input on operation.

I am still using an old Blaze King model k almost exactly like the one pictured at the top of the page. Anyone that might have an old one like it and would be interested in selling the door, I would be very interested.

Hi Curtis,  welcome to Permies.