2021-2022 BK everything thread

[ABMax24]

I'm really only seeing 3 options here:

1. Replace your existing flue with an 8" and a larger stove like a BK King or F5200 (mucho $$$) that can hold enough wood to heat for longer durations. I don't believe a non-cat exists that will heat for 8-10 hours and also run on a 6" flue for your heating load.

2. Add a second stove and flue to the house, you could find a nice spot and put in a ZC fireplace or simply install another 6" flue and put a cheaper non-cat stove in to help assist on the colder days.

3. Leave the stove as is, and continue to pay the utility company to heat your home on the cold days, maybe use the money instead to explore and install better air sealing or insulation.

 

[stoveliker]

I've been surprised at what some people consider a stuffed firebox. Lots of short loaders on here that had lots of noncat experience and can't understand full cycles. Also, stuffed with what? Lot's of cottonwood in some parts of the country.

Windy and Minnesota and 2600 SF built long ago is quite a load.

If I use pine that's a bit punky, I get 12 hr burns - with burn time defined as "just able to restart on the remnants", meaning that indeed there is not enough heat for those 12 hrs.

 

[Tar12]

I can get a 12 hour burn the problem is the house will be 50 degrees. Coaling is a big issue a stove full stove of coals won’t produce enough heat.

I am heating 2000 sq. feet with a Princess..it was -2 last night with a windchill of -12...I loaded the stove around 6:30 last night with a full load of 18%..locust..set the t-stat at 3:00 ...at 7:00 this morning i woke to a 78 degree stove room temp..a little warm for me lol..I opened the air up and let the coals burn down...loaded up a load of oak and waiting for the coals on it to burn down here at 7:30pm...this was not possible prior to my installing new windows,doors,insulation..and house wrap

 

[Highbeam]

There’s no free lunch. If a 3 cf princess can’t do it hot enough for long enough then a 3 cf noncat can’t either. All modern stoves are very efficient.

 

[stoveliker]

That's why I noted the liberty, it's 3.65 (don't know how much of this is usable....)

That's 21 pct more fuel. (Don't know how quick it eats thru it though.)

 

[sprawlnstall]

I do have a wood pellet stove to help out when needed. Some better insulation may also go a long way. An 8 inch flue would solve a lot of problems. The princess is prob the best option right now, I just can’t help but wonder how a big non cat stove would compare. The JA Roby ultimate looks like a barn heater

 

[jdonna]

I don't have a way to measure stack temps, However over firing has never been an issue. I do notice a much stronger draft when the wind is strong, my solution is to lower the thermostat. A king would be the ideal stove for my situation, the princess works 7 out of 10 days on average. I don't mind a hot reload at 2AM but when your gone at work for 8-10 hours is when things get tricky.

We are in the same state and you are heating roughly about 500 more sq feet than me, but our house was built before MN was a state. I'm still circling back to possibly too strong of draft, door gasket leak, how full of a load in your stove and fuel quality and or how old the cat is in your stove? We had a 10 hour overnight burn last night and coldest part of the house was at 61 degrees.

By no means trying to boast or brag, just not sure any other stove that runs a 6" flue is going to buy you much more?

 

[jdonna]

That's why I noted the liberty, it's 3.65 (don't know how much of this is usable....)

That's 21 pct more fuel. (Don't know how quick it eats thru it though.)

I have a friend with a libery that is very jealous of the BK in our house. He's offered to swap stoves. Ha.

 

[Highbeam]

I have a friend with a libery that is very jealous of the BK in our house. He's offered to swap stoves. Ha.

Aren’t those barrel stove kits set up for 6” flue? Get yourself a big, double, 55 gallon barrel setup for eye melting heat output.

 

[Nealm66]

It’s been perfect princess weather here for the 12hour reload. Fog and about 29-34 steady. Check out the grain in this Doug fir snag I’ve been burning. Made my stomach tighten up when I chopped it up. Almost flooring grade

 

[Tar12]

I do have a wood pellet stove to help out when needed. Some better insulation may also go a long way. An 8 inch flue would solve a lot of problems. The princess is prob the best option right now, I just can’t help but wonder how a big non cat stove would compare. The JA Roby ultimate looks like a barn heater

I took a good long hard look at that JA Roby Ultimate and decided it was to much for my situation..

 

[MissMac]

I'm a little surprised that even on high you can't get a 10 hr burn out of a stuffed firebox.
To me that dies suggest an issue. Too much draft or a leak come to mind.

That is independent of the home situation.

If I run my stove on high, i'm definitely not getting a 10 hour burn. A full load of jack pine stuffed to the gills would give me roughly 4-5 hours depending on if I had the fan cranked, which I likely would if I was running the stove on high. However, I have noticed that I can pretty much get a very similar heat output with the stove dialed down just a wee bit (like a 5 o'clock position) and extend the burn a couple more hours, but still not close to 10 hours. If I need to run my stove wide open in the dead of winter, I'm feeding it and chewing through wood. But to me that's okay because it's minus 40*C outside, and the stove heat is wonderful.

 

[kennyp2339]

Heating about 1500 sq ft from a non insulated basement, -2 this morning, loaded the stove around 9pm with white oak, woke up at 6am to upstairs temp of 67, down stairs close to 80, raked some coals around and reloaded, no complaints here. I did go outside about 1 hour after reloading, I have a 3ft plume of wispy steam and thats it, I'm thinking I've burnt about 1.5 - 1.75 cords so far this winter and the cap looks like I just cleaned it, so I have everything dialed in perfectly.

 

[kennyp2339]

If I run my stove on high, i'm definitely not getting a 10 hour burn.

I've been playing around with my highest t stat setting for my application, when it gets really cold I'm finding that my point with the damper set a certain way will yield great flames, but more importantly a vibrant glowing coal base but not full on high to where I feel like I'm sending more heat up the stack then necessary. My burns at that magic setting are right at that 10hr of useful heat, after ten hours the basement stays warm but I will start to gently loose upstairs heat according to my graph on the weather station. Its a balance of gain or holding a certain line which makes for longer burns. If I go higher on the t-stat setting I'll get more heat, also loose more up the stack but I will also shorten the burn time and loose more upstairs net heat due to faster cool off since I'm 2x4 cons.

 

[stoveliker]

If I run my stove on high, i'm definitely not getting a 10 hour burn. A full load of jack pine stuffed to the gills would give me roughly 4-5 hours depending on if I had the fan cranked, which I likely would if I was running the stove on high. However, I have noticed that I can pretty much get a very similar heat output with the stove dialed down just a wee bit (like a 5 o'clock position) and extend the burn a couple more hours, but still not close to 10 hours. If I need to run my stove wide open in the dead of winter, I'm feeding it and chewing through wood. But to me that's okay because it's minus 40*C outside, and the stove heat is wonderful.

Ok, your outside is of course quite a bit colder (but I don't think that affects the thermostat of the stove much as it's not set up to measure room temperature). And I don't have a fan. My pine has been pitch-pine. And the outside (of 7" splits) has been 1/2" punky.

Ah well, every install is different. And I don't know how consistent my observation is, as this year was the first year with a face cord or so of fairly good quality (and bigger splits) of pine.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Howdy folks, I've been looking at a Princess insert for the main fireplace and have read mention of outside air kits available for these, but haven't seen any literature.

Can anyone point me in the direction of literature regarding the kit? We had a Hearthstone at our old place that I added one to and it made a huge difference in drafts around the windows. I'd really like to utilize one when my Princess comes in.

 

[BKVP]

Howdy folks, I've been looking at a Princess insert for the main fireplace and have read mention of outside air kits available for these, but haven't seen any literature.

Can anyone point me in the direction of literature regarding the kit? We had a Hearthstone at our old place that I added one to and it made a huge difference in drafts around the windows. I'd really like to utilize one when my Princess comes in.

I'm sorry we do not have fresh air kits for any of our 3 inserts.

BKVP

 

[MissMac]

I've been playing around with my highest t stat setting for my application, when it gets really cold I'm finding that my point with the damper set a certain way will yield great flames, but more importantly a vibrant glowing coal base but not full on high to where I feel like I'm sending more heat up the stack then necessary. My burns at that magic setting are right at that 10hr of useful heat, after ten hours the basement stays warm but I will start to gently loose upstairs heat according to my graph on the weather station. Its a balance of gain or holding a certain line which makes for longer burns. If I go higher on the t-stat setting I'll get more heat, also loose more up the stack but I will also shorten the burn time and loose more upstairs net heat due to faster cool off since I'm 2x4 cons.

For sure, agree with your comments. I was simply commenting on the fact that there's no 10 hour burns on high at my place. To me when someone on here says they're burning on high, that means throttle maxed out/wide open. Not the adjusted sweet spot.

 

[begreen]

For sure, agree with your comments. I was simply commenting on the fact that there's no 10 hour burns on high at my place. To me when someone on here says they're burning on high, that means throttle maxed out/wide open. Not the adjusted sweet spot.

bholler noticed the same thing. Makes sense, when the stove is being pressed for heat, the burn time will drop considerably. Same thing happens with our stove. It goes from 12 hrs burns to 8 hrs when I need to push it.

 

[bholler]

Looking for input from anyone who has had a princess and a non-cat stove. The princess is a great stove but just a little undersized for me, I'm often running it wide open or waking up to a 55 degree house. I'm considering a PE Alderlea T6, Englander NC30, or Drolet HT300. I'm open to other options also. Currently I can get a good 8 hour burn with the princess when the temps are around 0. Once it dips below zero the stove struggles. Can I expect something better from a non cat stove? The princess will be missed in the shoulder season.

I went from a regency 3100 to a princess and I have the same issue. The regency heated the house comfortably down to single digits on 8 hour burns. The princess can't keep up in the lower 20s running on 8 hour cycles.

 

[bholler]

There’s no free lunch. If a 3 cf princess can’t do it hot enough for long enough then a 3 cf noncat can’t either. All modern stoves are very efficient.

My experience says otherwise.

 

[Tron]

bholler noticed the same thing. Makes sense, when the stove is being pressed for heat, the burn time will drop considerably. Same thing happens with our stove. It goes from 12 hrs burns to 8 hrs when I need to push it.

Which is totally not surprising. As the stove contains a fixed amount of fuel, or energy, and a burn rate is defined as energy divided by time, raising the burn rate will inevitably lower the burn time. Math doesn't lie.

 

[Tron]

I went from a regency 3100 to a princess and I have the same issue. The regency heated the house comfortably down to single digits on 8 hour burns. The princess can't keep up in the lower 20s running on 8 hour cycles.

The only two explanations for this are:
- the regency is more effective (less waste heat through the stack, rather unlikely as it's a non-cat) or
- the regency can be loaded with more fuel (mass) because it has a larger firebox. That I do not know.

 

[Highbeam]

My experience says otherwise.

It’s basic thermodynamics. There is only so much energy in a lb of wood.

How do you explain the perceived extra delivered heat from the same amount of fuel?

 

[Tron]

It’s basic thermodynamics.

Very basic. One does not even need to factor in entropy, it's all enthalpy. ;-)