Don’t know about the Princess but the Ashford is 15’ minimum at sea level with no elbows or t’s. At your elevation my stove would need probably 18’. The princess is probably similar.
2020-21 Blaze King Performance Thread (Everything BK)
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I’m at 750’ with just 12’ total chimney above a 2012 model year princess. Back then, the manual required just 12’ but now they recommend 15’.
I would add as much as possible to the stack without exceeding the limits that require a roof brace. Every bit helps.
Myself, I would risk it if this will be a full time residence. You can always add those braces and a few more feet later if you really feel the need.
I would add as much as possible to the stack without exceeding the limits that require a roof brace. Every bit helps.
Myself, I would risk it if this will be a full time residence. You can always add those braces and a few more feet later if you really feel the need.
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BCC_Burner
Feeling the Heat
Thank you for the input. The cabin will be my primary residence, and the first home I purchase, so I'm pretty excited. It's a single story place that's around 800 square feet with R-15 roof/wall insulation and R-21 underfloor. It does have electric baseboard heat, but based on the number/length of baseboards, it's really there to keep the place from freezing solid if you go away in the winter, the primary heat source is the wood stove.
As I mentioned, the place is at 8600' in the central Colorado Rockies. Winter daytime highs are usually in the 20's (rarely do we have a day where it doesn't get over 20F), and night time lows are consistently in the -5F to -15F range, although it's uncommon for it to get much colder than -20F.
I like the look of the Ashford more, but from a performance standpoint, the Princess seems to have a couple important advantages. Given the short chimney and high elevation I had been leaning toward a PE T5 or T6 due to ease of use, stove aesthetics and fire view, but the long burn times and control-ability of a BK would be really nice in terms of keeping the place a consistent temperature.
It does seem a little silly to install a BK unless you have the chimney set up to take advantage of the full performance range of the stove, which is why I'm a little hesitant with my chimney. The potential reduction in wood consumption would be nice though, particularly given I'll be in a location with a 7 month burning season.
I heated a larger and more poorly insulated rental cabin with an NC-30 for almost 4 winters, and it got the job done without any problem, but I went through a lot of wood.
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From the Princess manual, at 8600 ft, I'd say you need to add 4 ft to the 15 minimum:
Lots of princesses in Alaska. Cold and snow is no problem. Sounds like adding a chunk of pipe along with the braces would be needed to meet the specs. I definitely wouldn’t install a 30 box stove (ashford, scirocco, chinook) on anything less than exactly what the manual specifies.
Instead, or until you do that, the t5 is a nice noncat and 800 sf would heat up pretty fast. They look good and that cast iron can be more comfortable up close than the nc30.
I wouldn’t sweat the wood savings. It’s nice of course but the real benefit of the BK is long burns at low output to keep your cabin warm with minimum effort. You’ll need to load a noncat much more often.
Lastly. Add more baseboard heat. I have a buddy in Junction CO and everything including electricity is cheap. More baseboards are cheap to install and having a sufficient thermostatic heat source is pretty important. You can also consider those electric wall cadet style heaters with the blowers. My home has the wall heaters that haven’t run in over 10 years but I know they work.
BCC_Burner
Feeling the Heat
Not to derail the BK thread (and I'll be happy to take my question to my own thread if I'm venturing too far off topic), but do you think the T6 would simply be too big for the space? I can't imagine getting an overnight burn out of a 2.1 cubic foot non-cat, but I also know I would probably be idling the T6 a lot during the shoulder seasons relative to it's capabilities.
Which, for a non-cat, is probably the worst way to operate it. At least efficiency-wise, and probably even more so regarding emissions.
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
I’m just learning but if you burn 24/7 on a slightly short chimney, would you even notice it? Doesn’t the draft issue only show up on start ups? Or is there a co concern? Maybe like highbeam mentioned, run it till you can make it right?
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Its more about the possibility of cat stalls and smoke roll out when the door is open
I would pm @BKVP with your chimney height concerns. He has pointed many here in the right direction with his non-biased input.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
800 Sf I would not choose the t6 unless you plan to frequently need to heat the place from 50-75. If you keep it warm the t5 is right sized. Folks that own them have no problem keeping a fire overnight. One factor helping that is unlike almost all other noncats, the secondary air feed is regulated so that it can burn a bit slower. It’s a good stove.
I purchased a blaze king princess in June. We started using the stove in November. First burn was great 18 hours on low and still have good coals. But since then if the thermostat is set below 1/2 the stove goes inactive. Contacted where I purchased ( they also installed the stove) they said not enough draft they had me purchase another 3 feet if chimney pipe. We now have 15 ft of pipe and stove still goes out it thermostat is below 50%. Now they are saying we need an external piece to increase air flow. Anyone who can help. I’m not getting anywhere with them and I really want to get this stove working correctly
Describe the complete flue setup from stovetop to chimney top. Include, elbows, connector length, etc. If you can post some pictures too, that would be helpful.
First verify that your knob has not slipped on the thermostat shaft by turning the knob to max clockwise hot. It should stop with the pointer pointing straight down. Hard stop there. It is not uncommon to have a loose knob.
Thank You, I checked and yes it stops straight down. I’m burning seasoned oak tree has been down 1 year and cut and split last year. I have 15 feet of stove pipe. The stove company I purchased from cam out and checked the thermostat and said it was working. We added another foot of stove pipe, they said it was possible it was not drafting properly.
It is a straight 15 ft pipe, (double wall), it goes from the stove to the ceiling threw the collar then straight up, no elbows just straight pipe. We have taken the stove pipe and cap completely apart and checked for obstructions
We took the stove pipe apart cleaned and checked for any obstructions, also removed the cap and I make sure nothing was blocking the top
Straight up is good. Where are you located? The United States covers a whole lot of climate zones. What have your outdoor temperatures been like the past week?
I’m in south east Missouri. Temps were in the 20 at night last week. This week in the 50’s crazy weather here. I started the first fire in this stove in October. Temperatures have fluctuated from the mid teens to the 50’s during this time
It’s takes a lot more air and a higher thermostat setting to burn wet wood without stalling the cat.
Oak just cut and split last year. Do you have a way to verify the moisture content of your wood? Or to get some known dry wood?
When the stove shop that installed the stove came back out they did check the wood we are burning and said it was definitely well seasoned. The wood we are burning is from some dead trees we took down in late 2019.
Get yourself a $25 moisture meter from Amazon or any big-box store like Ace or Home Depot. Take one or more of the bigger splits from your stack and split it in half. Jab the pins from meter in a couple inches from each end and in the middle of the freshly split face. Anything over 25% shouldn’t be burned, and over 20% should be avoided if possible.
Oak takes a looooong time to dry. The clock doesn’t start until it’s split and stacked. Standing alive or dead when cut down doesn’t make as much difference as you think.
Or, see if you can find North Idaho Energy Logs. Buy 3, maybe half a dozen and try burning them. Should cost you easily under $10 for 6. Note - without a bed of coals they can be a little hard to get going. Once lit, if they work well that says it’s your wood that’s the problem.
Oak takes a looooong time to dry. The clock doesn’t start until it’s split and stacked. Standing alive or dead when cut down doesn’t make as much difference as you think.
Or, see if you can find North Idaho Energy Logs. Buy 3, maybe half a dozen and try burning them. Should cost you easily under $10 for 6. Note - without a bed of coals they can be a little hard to get going. Once lit, if they work well that says it’s your wood that’s the problem.
What’s your elevation? 15’ is the minimum height for the chimney (measured from the collar on the stove), but that’s at sea level. You might still be 1-2’ short on chimney for minimum draft if you are at higher elevations, and adding another 3-4’ might be worthwhile.
To meet code we had to go at least 8’8” above the roof penetration (8/12 pitch, more than 10’ from the peak). As a result my chimney is right about 18’, perfectly straight. I’m only about 150’ above sea level. I get a nice, decently strong draft even when it’s 55F outside.
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