2014-2015 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)#2

[shoot-straight]

Oh yeah you're only about 30 minutes away from me.

I have a 2400 sq ft Victoria style house. Built in 1891 lol. Just bought it in April so still not too sure about insulation but I assume 0 in the walls. Windows are ancient. I didn't think a house could be well insulated and leaky.

Last night was down right cold for these parts. What's the normal temp your Ashford is able to keep your house? Three loads a day doesn't sound like it's keeping to the whole insanely long BK burn time mantra.

my stove room has cathedral ceilings. it ranges from 70-73 most of the time. My bedroom ranges from 67-71 usually.

based on my experience, i would say you should go bigger than mine given what you have told me. if you run the BK on high, you lose its efficiency and you might as well go with a cheaper tube stove. with a king, you will load alot of wood, but it should last quite a while. unlike a tube stove, you can turn the BK down enough it wont cook you out- IE you cant "over stove" your house as easily as with a tube stove. our 2.2 cu hearthstone pheonix would cook us out if it was warmer, and not put out enough or burn long enough when it was cold. the BK does both things better in my experience.

are there any BK dealers on the shore? we got ours from a dealer in wilmington.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Okay thank you! Finally an honest answer! Although your house is fairly large so I guess results may vary. On another site I frequent there's a guy that's all gung ho about his BK King Ultra and claims insanely long burn times in downright frigid temps. His house is supposedly drafty too and claimed the stove is able to keep his house in the 70s. I just couldn't believe that kind of performance.

Some may exaggerate, also heating loads vary quite a bit from house to house. Nothing exclusive to BK I see them all the time. Even folks with the same stove as me claiming it heats twice the size of house, while I have it and a second stove going and struggle!

The way I understand it is while BK is pretty good efficiency that alone isn't a huge difference so the same amount of btu in is going to produce a similar amount of heat as any stove. The difference with BK is it can idle lower (at reduced heat of course). The King does hold more btu's than most stove though, so you could get longer burns at the same heat, but how much is going to depend greatly on the heating load of the house.

 

[ambull01]

my stove room has cathedral ceilings. it ranges from 70-73 most of the time. My bedroom ranges from 67-71 usually.

based on my experience, i would say you should go bigger than mine given what you have told me. if you run the BK on high, you lose its efficiency and you might as well go with a cheaper tube stove. with a king, you will load alot of wood, but it should last quite a while. unlike a tube stove, you can turn the BK down enough it wont cook you out- IE you cant "over stove" your house as easily as with a tube stove. our 2.2 cu hearthstone pheonix would cook us out if it was warmer, and not put out enough or burn long enough when it was cold. the BK does both things better in my experience.

are there any BK dealers on the shore? we got ours from a dealer in wilmington.

I like that temp range lol. It's kind of miserable in my house right now. The temps hover around the 50 degree mark. I don't mean to be a diva but that's a bit cold while I'm trying to be lazy and watch tv.

The Ashford and the Sirocco is the only models that's somewhat visual appealing to me. No offense to anyone here but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had to look at the other BK models everyday.

 

[Dieselhead]

Okay thank you! Finally an honest answer! Although your house is fairly large so I guess results may vary. On another site I frequent there's a guy that's all gung ho about his BK King Ultra and claims insanely long burn times in downright frigid temps. His house is supposedly drafty too and claimed the stove is able to keep his house in the 70s. I just couldn't believe that kind of performance.

I have R21 in my walls and R40 cielings. I have alot of glass but is is Low-E double pane.

 

[Dieselhead]

The Ashford and the Sirocco is the only models that's somewhat visual appealing to me. No offense to anyone here but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had to look at the other BK models everyday.

Its easy to get past the looks. You know, the dirty looks from the oil man as he drives by without stopping.

 

[ambull01]

Some may exaggerate, also heating loads vary quite a bit from house to house. Nothing exclusive to BK I see them all the time. Even folks with the same stove as me claiming it heats twice the size of house, while I have it and a second stove going and struggle!
The way I understand it is while BK is pretty good efficiency that alone isn't a huge difference so the same amount of btu in is going to produce a similar amount of heat as any stove. The difference with BK is it can idle lower (at reduced heat of course). The King does hold more btu's than most stove though, so you could get longer burns at the same heat, but how much is going to depend greatly on the heating load of the house.

True. Seems as though BK owners are a bit more prone to crazy exaggerations though. Hope I don't get banned for saying that.

Yep, I've heard about the whole total BTU thing a few times. Sounds like one of the primary differences is how a wood stove sends out those BTUs. At least that's what I understand.

The King's firebox is pretty massive. I think it's over twice the size as my tiny insert.

Its easy to get past the looks. You know, the dirty looks from the oil man as he drives by without stopping.

True lol. I have electric baseboards. First month of winter I disconnected them when I saw my bill.

 

[kennyp2339]

Last night it was cold (3 deg) with a north west wind gusting to 30mph, I loaded my princess at 9pm, upstairs was 68 deg, when I woke up it at 5am it was 65 deg, I have an 1800sq ft raised ranch, uninsulated basement, semi ok wall insulation, low end good windows, and decent attic insulation, I suspect I'll have better results when I insulated the basement, reside the house and use the wrap instead of having the vinyl directly to the sheathing

 

[shoot-straight]

low end good windows

thats classic.

 

[kennyp2339]

thats classic.

There not really that bad until it gets really cold out, then you feel the draft lol, It makes me feel better about them, hopefully I will replace them to

 

[Poindexter]

Could someone point me to a thread that details how well a BK heats a drafty house on a long burn? I know it can achieve insanely long burn times but I'm not sure if it's while heating a home to 40,50, 60+ degrees.

This is more or less the thread for that. As has been noted, "it depends". The stove is only one piece of the puzzle. How many sqft are you heating (easy), how is it laid out and where will the stove be in it (hard, subjective), how well insulated, closely related but not the same, how well sealed is it, how warm do you want to be in there and what ambient outdoor temperatures are you expecting.

If you have a brilliantly insulated house and a five year old who leaves the front door open, your brilliantly insulated house isn't very well sealed.

In general I expect you will find a sort of consensus range of stove sizes that should be about right in your application. From there, I would tend toward the largest firebox that makes sense, without going overboard. So for instance if the general range for you is 2.1 to 2.6 cf firebox, I would look at the 2.1s and 2.2s just to see, look real hard for something that seems perfect in the 2.5-2.6 range, maybe look at 2.8s, but not buy a 3.0.

I have no idea what size stove you need.

FWIW I have an Ashford 30, in the 1200sqft upstairs of my house. Downstairs I got another 1200sqft maintained at +55dF with my oil furnace. 2x6 construction, state of the art vapor barrier and multipane windows when the house was built in the 1980s. I have gone bananas plugging air leaks. I do not need an outside air kit (OAK) for my stove yet, but I fell like I am getting close. Most of my remaining air leaks are downstairs. My stove wood is magnificent, I am running birch at 16% MC this year and spruce at 12%MC this year. I have no elbows in my 14 foot of stack.

In shoulder (for me) season I can get 18-24 hour burns out of my Ashford. Does a burn end when the coaling stage starts, or when the coaling stage ends? At the other end of the scale, with overnight lows near -40dF and daytime highs around -25dF I run a full load of birch at bed time and another before leaving for work, and when I get home from work I rip out a full load of spruce in about four hours before reloading with birch around bed time.

If I was seeing -55 to -60dF on overnights and -30 to -35dF for daytime highs I would probably have to add a fourth load, a second load of spruce around 2AM to burn down after the bedtime birch but before the leave for work birch. Thankfully even in severe winters I only expect 15-20 days like that.

No matter what fuel you are using for heat plugging up most or all of the air leaks you got is going to save you money- and it can be a LOT of money leaking out those holes.

 

[Quentin2]

True. Seems as though BK owners are a bit more prone to crazy exaggerations though. Hope I don't get banned for saying that.

Yep, I've heard about the whole total BTU thing a few times. Sounds like one of the primary differences is how a wood stove sends out those BTUs. At least that's what I understand.

The King's firebox is pretty massive. I think it's over twice the size as my tiny insert.



True lol. I have electric baseboards. First month of winter I disconnected them when I saw my bill.

I guess you could also say some bk owners are prone to exaggerations or you could say some bk owners with their particular set up get really good results.

 

[Tenn Dave]

This is more or less the thread for that. As has been noted, "it depends". The stove is only one piece of the puzzle. How many sqft are you heating (easy), how is it laid out and where will the stove be in it (hard, subjective), how well insulated, closely related but not the same, how well sealed is it, how warm do you want to be in there and what ambient outdoor temperatures are you expecting.

If you have a brilliantly insulated house and a five year old who leaves the front door open, your brilliantly insulated house isn't very well sealed.

In general I expect you will find a sort of consensus range of stove sizes that should be about right in your application. From there, I would tend toward the largest firebox that makes sense, without going overboard. So for instance if the general range for you is 2.1 to 2.6 cf firebox, I would look at the 2.1s and 2.2s just to see, look real hard for something that seems perfect in the 2.5-2.6 range, maybe look at 2.8s, but not buy a 3.0.

I have no idea what size stove you need.

FWIW I have an Ashford 30, in the 1200sqft upstairs of my house. Downstairs I got another 1200sqft maintained at +55dF with my oil furnace. 2x6 construction, state of the art vapor barrier and multipane windows when the house was built in the 1980s. I have gone bananas plugging air leaks. I do not need an outside air kit (OAK) for my stove yet, but I fell like I am getting close. Most of my remaining air leaks are downstairs. My stove wood is magnificent, I am running birch at 16% MC this year and spruce at 12%MC this year. I have no elbows in my 14 foot of stack.

In shoulder (for me) season I can get 18-24 hour burns out of my Ashford. Does a burn end when the coaling stage starts, or when the coaling stage ends? At the other end of the scale, with overnight lows near -40dF and daytime highs around -25dF I run a full load of birch at bed time and another before leaving for work, and when I get home from work I rip out a full load of spruce in about four hours before reloading with birch around bed time.

If I was seeing -55 to -60dF on overnights and -30 to -35dF for daytime highs I would probably have to add a fourth load, a second load of spruce around 2AM to burn down after the bedtime birch but before the leave for work birch. Thankfully even in severe winters I only expect 15-20 days like that.

No matter what fuel you are using for heat plugging up most or all of the air leaks you got is going to save you money- and it can be a LOT of money leaking out those holes.

Wow, your outside temps are insane. I wish you could send a little of that cold weather down south to Tenn. I would imagine your draft must draw like a jet engine when it's that cold.

 

[Stump shot]

Your house is the biggest factor when choosing a BK. I heat a little over 1400 sq ft and can get 24 hour burns constantly down to 10dF. Colder then that and I will reload every 12 hours. Also my target temp is 74dF.

 

[ambull01]

This is more or less the thread for that. As has been noted, "it depends". The stove is only one piece of the puzzle. How many sqft are you heating (easy), how is it laid out and where will the stove be in it (hard, subjective), how well insulated, closely related but not the same, how well sealed is it, how warm do you want to be in there and what ambient outdoor temperatures are you expecting.
If you have a brilliantly insulated house and a five year old who leaves the front door open, your brilliantly insulated house isn't very well sealed.
In general I expect you will find a sort of consensus range of stove sizes that should be about right in your application. From there, I would tend toward the largest firebox that makes sense, without going overboard. So for instance if the general range for you is 2.1 to 2.6 cf firebox, I would look at the 2.1s and 2.2s just to see, look real hard for something that seems perfect in the 2.5-2.6 range, maybe look at 2.8s, but not buy a 3.0.
I have no idea what size stove you need.
FWIW I have an Ashford 30, in the 1200sqft upstairs of my house. Downstairs I got another 1200sqft maintained at +55dF with my oil furnace. 2x6 construction, state of the art vapor barrier and multipane windows when the house was built in the 1980s. I have gone bananas plugging air leaks. I do not need an outside air kit (OAK) for my stove yet, but I fell like I am getting close. Most of my remaining air leaks are downstairs. My stove wood is magnificent, I am running birch at 16% MC this year and spruce at 12%MC this year. I have no elbows in my 14 foot of stack.
In shoulder (for me) season I can get 18-24 hour burns out of my Ashford. Does a burn end when the coaling stage starts, or when the coaling stage ends? At the other end of the scale, with overnight lows near -40dF and daytime highs around -25dF I run a full load of birch at bed time and another before leaving for work, and when I get home from work I rip out a full load of spruce in about four hours before reloading with birch around bed time.
If I was seeing -55 to -60dF on overnights and -30 to -35dF for daytime highs I would probably have to add a fourth load, a second load of spruce around 2AM to burn down after the bedtime birch but before the leave for work birch. Thankfully even in severe winters I only expect 15-20 days like that.
No matter what fuel you are using for heat plugging up most or all of the air leaks you got is going to save you money- and it can be a LOT of money leaking out those holes.

I was waiting for the "it depends" answer lol. Thanks for the response. You bring up a great point that I really didn't think about. It is exactly what does each person consider a burn cycle. That will vary a ton based on all the variables you mentioned. Also some people have different temperature preferences so may need to reload sooner than others.

I agree with the other guy, you have have insanely cold weather. I don't really understand why people voluntarily choose to live in a freezer lol.

I guess you could also say some bk owners are prone to exaggerations or you could say some bk owners with their particular set up get really good results.

Exaggerator!

Your house is the biggest factor when choosing a BK. I heat a little over 1400 sq ft and can get 24 hour burns constantly down to 10dF. Colder then that and I will reload every 12 hours. Also my target temp is 74dF.

If I can get 24 hour cycles I will be one happy camper. My wife will never have to touch a split of wood.

 

[Highbeam]

Could someone point me to a thread that details how well a BK heats a drafty house on a long burn? I know it can achieve insanely long burn times but I'm not sure if it's while heating a home to 40,50, 60+ degrees.

So you're coming at this the wrong way. We can tell you how much heat that a BK makes at high and low settings, that is specified in the owner's manual. On a long burn the amount of heat it makes is the low burn number. An entirely different number that you need to bring to us is how much heat your house loses. We have no way of knowing that and we can guess, assume, or try and help you figure it out.

Then we can compare the two numbers (stove output and house losses) and hope that one of the BK models has an output range that includes the heat loss from your home. Hopefully near the bottom of the stove's ability so that your burn times are still long.

If your stove is making more heat than your home is losing then your room temperature will continue to climb. 50 is too cold for me, so is 60, heck we run well into the 70s all the time.

 

[ambull01]

So you're coming at this the wrong way. We can tell you how much heat that a BK makes at high and low settings, that is specified in the owner's manual. On a long burn the amount of heat it makes is the low burn number. An entirely different number that you need to bring to us is how much heat your house loses. We have no way of knowing that and we can guess, assume, or try and help you figure it out.

Then we can compare the two numbers (stove output and house losses) and hope that one of the BK models has an output range that includes the heat loss from your home. Hopefully near the bottom of the stove's ability so that your burn times are still long.

If your stove is making more heat than your home is losing then your room temperature will continue to climb. 50 is too cold for me, so is 60, heck we run well into the 70s all the time.

Good point. I have no idea how much heat my house pees out. I have no clue how to even start to figure that out.

Anyway, I've kind of settled on a Ideal Steel so I was just curious about the BK long burns. Although if I could get a decent priced Ashford model I may change my mind.

Yep, 50 is too cold for my whole family lol. I love working outside when it's around the 50s or lower but sitting still at that temp gets a bit old.

 

[Poindexter]

Good point. I have no idea how much heat my house pees out. I have no clue how to even start to figure that out.

One thing you can do is figure up your sqft-age, measure how high your ceilings are so we no how many cubic feet you are talking about, then measure your degree loss per hour.

With your house warmed to target temp (mine is +80 to +85dF), with the furnace off and the stove cold, how long does it take you house to cool five degrees? You can time a one degree loss, but its hard to duplicate. If you are timing five degree losses its easier to come up with similar times repeatedly.

Also, the colder it is out the faster heat is going to leak out, so you might have one number say "1 degree lost per hour" at +32dF, but then at zero dF you might be losing 10 degrees per hour.

One thing you can do today for five bucks is take a roll of masking tape around the house and tape all the leaks you can find shut. Those are the window and door frames that will need attention first once you get to working on the house weather. Even better, measure your degrees lost per hour every day after work this week so you know where you are really starting, then tape up your leaks over the weekend and then measure your degrees lost per hour again next week.

If you measure first and then tape and then measure again you will see your utility bill (or your wood pile) in a whole new way. I like saving money on my oil bill by burning wood, but I like burning less wood by having my leaks sealed up even better.

 

[Calentarse]

Good point. I have no idea how much heat my house pees out. I have no clue how to even start to figure that out.

Anyway, I've kind of settled on a Ideal Steel so I was just curious about the BK long burns. Although if I could get a decent priced Ashford model I may change my mind.

Yep, 50 is too cold for my whole family lol. I love working outside when it's around the 50s or lower but sitting still at that temp gets a bit old.

Living on the Eastern Shore with our mild winter temps, I have really not regretted the BK Ashford. I can make it hot when I want it hot and I can make it burn long and slow when I want as well. I will mention that if I wanted a lot of heat out of it, I'd need to put on the fan kit. I didn't order it because I was afraid that the stove was going to be too much heat for me. Turns out, it's just right for our climate. Even on our coldest nights, I turned it up to 3 and put on the ceiling fan, left the bedroom door open, and came out to a 67df house and a 65 degree bedroom. Needed reloading obviously after ten hours on high. If I lived somewhere colder, I'd still have this stove because of its operability; I'd just install the fan kit. As you've probably read, my only issue is a smoke smell problem in the house due to my single wall pipe (hopefully) releasing too much heat and decreasing my draft. If you go BK, be sure to install double-wall in the house as well as out.

Regarding burn times, I've never owned a stove or known of a stove that operates for so long. I simply could not believe it when I left it for the first time with a load of oak on 1.5 and came back 30 hours later (a night in NYC) to find coals in the ash. I actually rustled them around, put wood on top, and was able to rekindle the fire with some blowing. Amazing and such a huge upgrade from what I had. Obviously, that didn't keep the house warm after the fire was out, but there were still live coals and to me that's amazing.

On a normal basis, depending on the weather, I load anywhere from every 10-20 hours keeping our house anywhere from 70-75.You know how much our temps fluctuate and that's exactly what's so nice about the BK. Always within your control and easily regulated.

 

[blueguy]

I guess you could also say some bk owners are prone to exaggerations or you could say some bk owners with their particular set up get really good results.

This


With 2400 sq ft of leaky house, I think a King would be in order. FWIW, I am heating just shy of 2400 sq ft (1200 up, 1200 down) from a basement with a Sirocco 30 on an exterior chimney. My house was built in 2010, so it's fairly well insulated (now, after I added more blown-in into the attic and fixed some of the doors) and I am able to get 24 hours of useable heat (300*+) on 8 splits for 24 hours out of my 2.75 cu ft firebox and keep the upstairs at 70* when outside temps are above the mid 20s. Below the mid 20s, I switch to 12 hour loading cycles solely for simplicity's sake. Even with overnight temps down into the -30* range, a full firebox will give me a 70* upstairs in the morning when I go to reload after 12 hrs. We've not been below -30* since I installed this stove last year, but I have no doubt I would be able to keep it at 70 in here using a 8 - 10 hr burn or burning at a lower setting and turning on the blowers.

And that's no exaggeration

 

[ambull01]

One thing you can do is figure up your sqft-age, measure how high your ceilings are so we no how many cubic feet you are talking about, then measure your degree loss per hour.
With your house warmed to target temp (mine is +80 to +85dF), with the furnace off and the stove cold, how long does it take you house to cool five degrees? You can time a one degree loss, but its hard to duplicate. If you are timing five degree losses its easier to come up with similar times repeatedly.
Also, the colder it is out the faster heat is going to leak out, so you might have one number say "1 degree lost per hour" at +32dF, but then at zero dF you might be losing 10 degrees per hour.
One thing you can do today for five bucks is take a roll of masking tape around the house and tape all the leaks you can find shut. Those are the window and door frames that will need attention first once you get to working on the house weather. Even better, measure your degrees lost per hour every day after work this week so you know where you are really starting, then tape up your leaks over the weekend and then measure your degrees lost per hour again next week.
If you measure first and then tape and then measure again you will see your utility bill (or your wood pile) in a whole new way. I like saving money on my oil bill by burning wood, but I like burning less wood by having my leaks sealed up even better.

How does age of the house come into play? Is that to give a ballpark as to the insulation?

I'll try the target temp thingy you mentioned. I already did the ghetto tape and plastic film sheets to all my windows and taped my front door shut lol. I wanted to test out how much cold air was coming in. Turns out there's a lot.

Living on the Eastern Shore with our mild winter temps, I have really not regretted the BK Ashford. I can make it hot when I want it hot and I can make it burn long and slow when I want as well. I will mention that if I wanted a lot of heat out of it, I'd need to put on the fan kit. I didn't order it because I was afraid that the stove was going to be too much heat for me. Turns out, it's just right for our climate. Even on our coldest nights, I turned it up to 3 and put on the ceiling fan, left the bedroom door open, and came out to a 67df house and a 65 degree bedroom. Needed reloading obviously after ten hours on high. If I lived somewhere colder, I'd still have this stove because of its operability; I'd just install the fan kit. As you've probably read, my only issue is a smoke smell problem in the house due to my single wall pipe (hopefully) releasing too much heat and decreasing my draft. If you go BK, be sure to install double-wall in the house as well as out.
Regarding burn times, I've never owned a stove or known of a stove that operates for so long. I simply could not believe it when I left it for the first time with a load of oak on 1.5 and came back 30 hours later (a night in NYC) to find coals in the ash. I actually rustled them around, put wood on top, and was able to rekindle the fire with some blowing. Amazing and such a huge upgrade from what I had. Obviously, that didn't keep the house warm after the fire was out, but there were still live coals and to me that's amazing.
On a normal basis, depending on the weather, I load anywhere from every 10-20 hours keeping our house anywhere from 70-75.You know how much our temps fluctuate and that's exactly what's so nice about the BK. Always within your control and easily regulated

Another chicken necker! Where are you on the ES? Winter has been really mild this year. I've only been living on the ES since April so I have no idea what the average winter temps should be but if it's like this year I'll be happy.

So you guys probably only have to start one freaking fire a season right? lol. I freaking hate starting a fire.

 

[ambull01]

This


With 2400 sq ft of leaky house, I think a King would be in order. FWIW, I am heating just shy of 2400 sq ft (1200 up, 1200 down) from a basement with a Sirocco 30 on an exterior chimney. My house was built in 2010, so it's fairly well insulated (now, after I added more blown-in into the attic and fixed some of the doors) and I am able to get 24 hours of useable heat (300*+) on 8 splits for 24 hours out of my 2.75 cu ft firebox and keep the upstairs at 70* when outside temps are above the mid 20s. Below the mid 20s, I switch to 12 hour loading cycles solely for simplicity's sake. Even with overnight temps down into the -30* range, a full firebox will give me a 70* upstairs in the morning when I go to reload after 12 hrs. We've not been below -30* since I installed this stove last year, but I have no doubt I would be able to keep it at 70 in here using a 8 - 10 hr burn or burning at a lower setting and turning on the blowers.

And that's no exaggeration

See with this kind of performance coupled with the range of BK stoves plus their ability to heat long and slow/low or fast and hot leads me to question why anyone would buy anything else. The only reasons I can think of is if cash is extremely tight, you need a particular vent option and BK doesn't offer it, or you're just dead set against the BK looks. I have to re-evaluate my decision to buy an IS.

 

[blueguy]

The downsides are cost and top vent only. I am a form over function guy, so the looks didn't really sway my decision at all. Although, if BK had a Sirocco 40 on a 6" flue, I would have been all over it

 

[ambull01]

The downsides are cost and top vent only. I am a form over function guy, so the looks didn't really sway my decision at all. Although, if BK had a Sirocco 40 on a 6" flue, I would have been all over it

Damn you just killed my dreams. I want a rear vent free standing. If I go with top vent I'll either have to place it in the chimney firebox or use two 45 deg pipe thingies.

 

[Calentarse]

How does age of the house come into play? Is that to give a ballpark as to the insulation?

I'll try the target temp thingy you mentioned. I already did the ghetto tape and plastic film sheets to all my windows and taped my front door shut lol. I wanted to test out how much cold air was coming in. Turns out there's a lot.



Another chicken necker! Where are you on the ES? Winter has been really mild this year. I've only been living on the ES since April so I have no idea what the average winter temps should be but if it's like this year I'll be happy.

So you guys probably only have to start one freaking fire a season right? lol. I freaking hate starting a fire.

lol, never heard chicken necker until I met someone from Baltimore and I've been on the Lower Shore all my life. I live in Berlin. You?

This winter has been average, I feel. We rarely get in the single digits here, and if we do, it's normally only for a couple hours in the morning. Teens aren't that common either, maybe 20 nights in the winter will be in the teens. Mostly 20 degree temps or above. Last winter was an exception; we had hardly shrubs and trees die here from the excessive cold. JANUARY 30 WAS -2.5 in the morning, which I don't EVER remember having negative temps in my lifetime here, but hey, I'm on 29.

Rarely do I have to start a fire. Only if I let the fire go out to clean the ash out do I have to restart it and even then, I usually push the red coals off to the side and use them to relight.

 

[rdust]

I should probably take the time to read this whole thread to find my info but it seems like a lot of the posts are off topic. Could someone point me to a thread that details how well a BK heats a drafty house on a long burn? I know it can achieve insanely long burn times but I'm not sure if it's while heating a home to 40,50, 60+ degrees.

A lot of varibles go into this since houses/weather vary so much.

I'm heating just shy of 2k 1980 construction in Michigan with a Princess Ultra and load the stove twice a day when it's cold. Single digits cold or colder it's usually two full loads a day, when it warms a little I usually load full in the am and adjust the overnight load as needed so I don't end up with too much left over wood in the morning. 30's for overnight lows and 40's for daytime highs one load a day usually gets it done if I'm using good wood.(not chunks and uglies)