Hello from BKVP

[Idahonative]

lol! Got a heap of them indeed - nine. Oldest is getting married in a couple weeks, and the youngest is still spitting up. I might be interested in trading off one of them - he's a mix between Curious George and Dennis the Menace.




My kids are home-educated. They will rule the nation before long.


I do have a serious question for you though - I'm torn between the King and the Princess. Here's my set-up:
big old drafty victorian house with no insulation.
About 950 sq. ft. on each floor, plus a finished attic (plus basement as well, but that's of no concern here).
Stove is not central, but in one corner of the house. Rooms are quite open (8' openings between rooms) with 9' ceilings. Air flow is limited, but could be helped with fans.

My main desire is long burn times - I want to be able to get the stove going in the morning, then damp it down and leave it so the family doesn't have to mess with it all day until I get home. I don't need 40 hours, but I would like a very consistent 10 hours. I burn mostly seasoned hardwood, oak as much as possible. Sounds like the Princess would work, but I'd hate to need something larger and not have it.

Current chimney is 6", but I'm willing to replace that if it's determined I need the King, which means there's at least $1,000 price difference between the two, and with 9 hungry kids and a wedding to pay for, that's a lot of bucks for me to swing, so I don't want to do that for 'just-in-case' reasoning.
So with all that info, what is your recommendation? (Yeah, I know - a King on each floor with TWO new chimneys! )

Unc, I'm no wood stove expert so take my advice for what it is. We have a King for our small (1250 sf) home. Do we wish we had bought the Princess instead? Absolutely not and I will tell you why. We don't have the luxury of burning hardwood. If we did, we probably would have went with the Princess. Most of what we burn is pine so for us, being on a 24 hr. load schedule would be difficult on cold days with any other stove including the Princess. After 24 hrs. of heat from the King we simply open it up, reload, do a burnoff for about 15-20 minutes, set the auto damper, and forget about it for another 24 hrs. We had two really cold snaps last winter and not once did the King run out of fuel during the 24 hr. cycles running pine.

Many people have questioned why we put such a large stove in our tiny house. Even our sales lady tried to talk us into the Princess. She told us the King would "run you out of the house". Which really just proves that even she doesn't fully understand how these stoves work. The combination of the auto damper and the cat allows for some serious "turn down" capability. Turn it down and it will smolder (creating a lot of smoke) which the cat gladly eats up and spits out as heat into the home.

Knowing what I know about your situation, I don't think it's a question of the King or the Princess. I think it is a question of where are you going to put your two Kings.

BTW: We don't "build" fires. We light the fire at the beginning of the season and don't light another until spring (unless we have to shutdown for ash dump). There are always a healthy heap of coals for firing up the reload.

 

[BGE541]

Unc, I'm no wood stove expert so take my advice for what it is. We have a King for our small (1250 sf) home. Do we wished we had bought the Princess instead? Absolutely not and I will tell you why. We don't have the luxury of burning hardwood. If we did, we probably would have went with the Princess. Most of what we burn is pine so for us, being on a 24 hr. load schedule would be difficult on cold days with any other stove including the Princess. After 24 hrs. of heat from the King we simply open it up, reload, do a burnoff for about 15-20 minutes, set the auto damper, and forget about it for another 24 hrs. We had two really cold snaps last winter and not once did the King run out of fuel during the 24 hr. cycles running pine.

Many people have questioned why we put such a large stove in our tiny house. Even our sales lady tried to talk us into the Princess. She told us the King would "run you out of the house". Which really just proves that even she doesn't fully understand how these stoves work. The combination of the auto damper and the cat allows for some serious "turn down" capability. Turn it down and it will smolder (creating a lot of smoke) which the cat gladly eats up and spits out as heat into the home.

Knowing what I know about your situation, I don't think it's a question of the King or the Princess. I think it is a question of where are you going to put your two Kings.

BTW: We don't "build" fires. We light the fire at the beginning of the season and don't light another until spring (unless we have to shutdown for ash dump). There are always a healthy heap of coals for firing up the reload.

What stove is this? Please PM me with details

 

[Idahonative]

What stove is this? Please PM me with details

If you are asking what stove we are running, it's the one in my sig (King Ultra).

 

[unclemoustache]

Thanks for the answers, bkvp and Idahonative. I think I'll do the princess. I only need 10 hours (tops) for burn time, and I have loads of hardwood here.

I'd much rather go back West where the wood selection is very limited, but you get mountains and low humidity in return!

 

[bkvp]

And Elk!

 

[HarvestMan]

I think I'll do the princess.

Too bad. I was hoping you would install two kings so that you could load those babies up and get on a 48 hour load cycle .

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

The coldest city where we have a dealer is Fairbanks Alaska... And don't tell anyone but they have really crappy wood up there! Heck they'd give me a free kid for a cord of hardwood fuel!

Chris

Not to be rude, but birch is 23.6mbtu per cord. It's right in line with most other "good" firewood.
Not sure I understand how that's "crappy"?

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Thanks for the answers, bkvp and Idahonative. I think I'll do the princess. I only need 10 hours (tops) for burn time, and I have loads of hardwood here.

I think you'll be just fine unless your house is really drafty.
I get easily 10 hrs on a load when it's -20*.

The auto damper and all that... yeah.. haha.
It sort of works, but not as well as I'd like. There's been a few times I've woken up to a chilly house. Some wood still in the stove but the "auto" damper didn't do its job well enough and let the fire die.
Usually was those nights it when from 25* to -10* in a few hrs.

You can't just fill the stove to the gunnels and choke it right down expecting miracles. It can only choke so low, and even with dry wood it's going to really soot up everything.

I'm not "poo-pooing" on the stoves, I really like mine, but just trying to be realistic with how it has worked.

Example if it's 30* outside, I'd only put a few pieces of wood in the stove, and maybe just spruce even.
If I filled it right full with birch, and cut the air off (low) it would run me out of the house and gunk up the stove.
I ran it like that the first year, was how I was told. The glass was non-see-thru within a week. To the point of have easily 1/4" of sticky cresote.



As far as having the cost of chimney if you do 8" with the King don't know about elsewhere, but Metalbestos chimney is $$ here. 8" is about $50 a ft for straight pipe double wall.

 

[bkvp]

Not to be rude, but birch is 23.6mbtu per cord. It's right in line with most other "good" firewood.
Not sure I understand how that's "crappy"?

Although I do not reside in AK, I know plenty of wood burners in the interior that would gladly take oak over birch. And you're not being rude. Residents in Fairbanks line up to pay $300 for energy logs shipped up to AK just so they can burn Douglas Fir....

 

[unclemoustache]

I think you'll be just fine unless your house is really drafty.
I get easily 10 hrs on a load when it's -20*.

The auto damper and all that... yeah.. haha.
It sort of works, but not as well as I'd like. There's been a few times I've woken up to a chilly house. Some wood still in the stove but the "auto" damper didn't do its job well enough and let the fire die.
Usually was those nights it when from 25* to -10* in a few hrs.

You can't just fill the stove to the gunnels and choke it right down expecting miracles. It can only choke so low, and even with dry wood it's going to really soot up everything.

I'm not "poo-pooing" on the stoves, I really like mine, but just trying to be realistic with how it has worked.

Example if it's 30* outside, I'd only put a few pieces of wood in the stove, and maybe just spruce even.
If I filled it right full with birch, and cut the air off (low) it would run me out of the house and gunk up the stove.
I ran it like that the first year, was how I was told. The glass was non-see-thru within a week. To the point of have easily 1/4" of sticky cresote.

As far as having the cost of chimney if you do 8" with the King don't know about elsewhere, but Metalbestos chimney is $$ here. 8" is about $50 a ft for straight pipe double wall.

Yes, those double-wall's aren't cheap. And southern IL doesn't get that cold, but we did have a gorgeous winter 2 years ago - got down to 10 below, and lots of snow. I loved it.
I'm expecting a learning curve here, but anything will be better than my Lopi Leyden. What a hunk of junk. I'm going to give it away to a friend who has a fireplace. That's the only thing where the Leyden can compare favorably. Although I do like the top-loading feature, I gotta admit.

 

[Idahonative]

I think you'll be just fine unless your house is really drafty.
I get easily 10 hrs on a load when it's -20*.

The auto damper and all that... yeah.. haha.
It sort of works, but not as well as I'd like. There's been a few times I've woken up to a chilly house. Some wood still in the stove but the "auto" damper didn't do its job well enough and let the fire die.
Usually was those nights it when from 25* to -10* in a few hrs.

You can't just fill the stove to the gunnels and choke it right down expecting miracles. It can only choke so low, and even with dry wood it's going to really soot up everything.

I'm not "poo-pooing" on the stoves, I really like mine, but just trying to be realistic with how it has worked.

Example if it's 30* outside, I'd only put a few pieces of wood in the stove, and maybe just spruce even.
If I filled it right full with birch, and cut the air off (low) it would run me out of the house and gunk up the stove.
I ran it like that the first year, was how I was told. The glass was non-see-thru within a week. To the point of have easily 1/4" of sticky cresote.



As far as having the cost of chimney if you do 8" with the King don't know about elsewhere, but Metalbestos chimney is $$ here. 8" is about $50 a ft for straight pipe double wall.

Wow, that may be your experience but it differs greatly from ours. Sounds like a wood problem and/or possibly a draft problem the way you described it. And your problem with cresote??? Again, sounds to me like a wood problem (^moisture). Do you do daily burn offs? A 15-20 minute daily burn off will keep things nice and clean. Haven't touched the flue with anything yet except hot gasses once a day and don't ever plan to. Matter a fact (& I got banned on another site for saying this) between my parents house and mine, we have been burning for 35 years. In that time, neither of us has EVER cleaned, or hired someone to clean our flues. I realize that is a controversial thing to say but it is the truth. No matter the name brand of the stove, everyone should practice DAILY BURN OFFS.

DISCLAIMER: Practicing daily burn offs is an ALL OR NOTHING thing. If you are gonna do it, you have to do it everyday without fail and you have to start with a clean flue. You can't do it whenever you feel like it. That is a recipe for a chimney fire. You have to be religious about it.

And I strongly disagree with your statement: "You can't just fill the stove to the gunnels and choke it right down expecting miracles". The auto damper on the Blaze Kings IS the miracle in the way they function. We fill ours once per day (with pine), do a 15-20 minute burn off, set the damper and forget it for another 24 hrs. Not once has our stove failed to provide consistent heat in relation to where we had the damper set. It has been flawless. It is the closest thing you can get to a thermostatically controlled gas furnace without having a gas furnace IMO.

EDIT: I got banned from another site when I took the position (against one of the staff members) that daily burn offs should be part of every wood burners daily routine. I got told such a thing is an "old wives tale" and "doesn't work" and that it was dangerous and irresponsible to suggest such a thing to other members (as part of flue maintenance). I can tell you with 100% certainty daily burn offs not only work, but make burning wood much safer. That could be why Blaze King recommends something similar in their owners manuals.

 

[brenndatomu]

Wow, that may be your experience but it differs greatly from ours. Sounds like a wood problem and/or possibly a draft problem the way you described it. And your problem with cresote??? Again, sounds to me like a wood problem (^moisture). Do you do daily burn offs? A 15-20 minute daily burn off will keep things nice and clean. Haven't touched the flue with anything yet except hot gasses once a day and don't ever plan to. Matter a fact (& I got banned on another site for saying this) between my parents house and mine, we have been burning for 35 years. In that time, neither of us has EVER cleaned, or hired someone to clean our flues. I realize that is a controversial thing to say but it is the truth. No matter the name brand of the stove, everyone should practice DAILY BURN OFFS.

DISCLAIMER: Practicing daily burn offs is an ALL OR NOTHING thing. If you are gonna do it, you have to do it everyday without fail and you have to start with a clean flue. You can't do it whenever you feel like it. That is a recipe for a chimney fire. You have to be religious about it.

And I strongly disagree with your statement: "You can't just fill the stove to the gunnels and choke it right down expecting miracles". The auto damper on the Blaze Kings IS the miracle in the way they function. We fill ours once per day (with pine), do a 15-20 minute burn off, set the damper and forget it for another 24 hrs. Not once has our stove failed to provide consistent heat in relation to where we had the damper set. It has been flawless. It is the closest thing you can get to a thermostatically controlled gas furnace without having a gas furnace IMO.

EDIT: I got banned from another site when I took the position (against one of the staff members) that daily burn offs should be part of every wood burners daily routine. I got told such a thing is an "old wives tale" and "doesn't work" and that it was dangerous and irresponsible to suggest such a thing to other members (as part of flue maintenance). I can tell you with 100% certainty daily burn offs not only work, but make burning wood much safer. That could be why Blaze King recommends something similar in their owners manuals.

I can agree that burnin 'er out once a day can help extend the time between cleaning intervals, especially if you have so-so wood or bad burning habits, but never cleaning/inspecting your chimney in 35 years...foolish!
Just 'cause you can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea...

 

[Idahonative]

I can agree that burnin 'er out once a day can help extend the time between cleaning intervals, especially if you have so-so wood or bad burning habits, but never cleaning/inspecting your chimney in 35 years...foolish!
Just 'cause you can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea...

Well I respect your opinion. It's not a matter of "can" do...it's a matter of "should" do. And I didn't say it was a good idea to never inspect the flue. I take the position that (for our situation) hiring a chimney sweep is a waste of money and time. Keep in mind: We are religious about burn offs, burn quality well seasoned conifer, don't have stacks over 15' high, and we live in a very dry climate. We check the flue every year to make sure it's in good working order. But as far as creosote buildup goes, every year it looks the same...thin, light colored film of ash. Just like it should.

 

[Marshy]

@bkvp, can you explain the combustion process in the BK stoves, are they considered gasification systems? Can you talk about how cresote forms and how the BK stoves fair against buildup?

 

[stihly dan]

Ehh, I don't clean my chimney either. I don't even check it anymore. That 5 min could be better spent napping.

 

[stihly dan]

Oh yeah, white spider may want to know how the BK works. He doesn't believe in magic.

 

[bkvp]

I'm in Fairbanks and time is short. I will respond, time permitting. But according to another web site "it's alien technology".

Chris

 

[brenndatomu]

We check the flue every year to make sure it's in good working order. But as far as creosote buildup goes, every year it looks the same...thin, light colored film of ash. Just like it should.

Ahh, so you do inspect it. I thought you were sayin you hadn't checked your chimney in 35 years.
Even if there is only a light film in the flue, cleaning it would allow for a closer inspection...

Ehh, I don't clean my chimney either. I don't even check it anymore. That 5 min could be better spent napping.

Hey, you pipe down Mr! Anybody that owns one of those fancy pants furnaces that burns wood on cruise control and poops flower scented oxygen out the stack doesn't have a horse in this race! Go back to sleep

 

[brenndatomu]

Oh yeah, white spider may want to know how the BK works. He doesn't believe in magic.

according to another web site "it's alien technology"

Well, judgin by his old avatar, I say @Whitespider would buy the alien technology argument...

 

[Whitespider]

So... my attention has been called to this thread by brenndatomu tagging me

Sorry boys... ain't buyin' the magic or the alien technology.
Ain't cleaned my chimney in 23 years using 5 different appliances... and only one of them, used for only one year, was of new-fangled technology.
And, just as the side note... I burn 70-80% oak.
What did ya' expect from me?? Did ya' think I'd be wowed??

Y'all remember one of my old signatures?? Burnin' it should be the easy part.
It ain't better technology if I gotta' do more than open the door, toss in the fuel, and slam the door (occasionally yank the ash pan and dump it... even when the fire is goin' full-tilt)
*