About to pull the trigger on a blaze king princess 32
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Ok, for someone who needs a big ash belly, that may be something to consider.
But looking at the specs, mainly firebox size (same) and heat output (almost same), I don't see that much difference.
When I asked my boss which BK to choose (and I did want one due to its performance), we readily agreed on the Chinook. But that is, as mentioned, personal preference.
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
We're picking and choosing between two really great stoves. I don't think there is a bad decision here unless you have a marginal chimney.
The 30 is twice as dirty (0.4gph vs. 0.8 gph) and almost as efficient as a noncat (76% for the 30 vs. 80% for the princess, the best common noncat is at 77% Morso, VC, Travis).
Heat output range for the 2.90 CF 30 is 11553 to 27116. For the 2.91 princess is 10,200 to 31478. So a wider range of outputs.
You're stuck with metal cat in the 30, but ceramic in the princess. Deep ash belly in princess, almost none in the 30.
These are all pulled from the EPA database.
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I honestly don't care about a percentage point or two of efficency. I care if it heats my house and doesn't put a bunch of crap in my chimney.
The princess I am using doesn't put out as much heat as my non cat and puts way more creosote in the chimney. I like the even heat but it falls short in those 2 areas.
In that case either stove is pretty much the same. Choose between these two stoves based on looks, ash belly, cat material, and maybe even cost.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I can work in multiple programming languages, and I've been using chainsaws since I was tall enough to rassle one!
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I can't help but notice that it's still in your house... and criticizing a stove whose specialty is low and slow for insufficient heat output is still odd, especially when it can blow through a full load in 4 hours on high. (Though if you want 4 hour burns, save the money and get an Englander.)
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
Ya, I mean no disrespect for the industry for sure. He was trying to explain the math involved as a character moves through a scene and uh ya. He did just fine with the saw as well it turned out.
I am giving it a fair shot. The first year I was told my wood was to wet and I didn't know how to run it. Even though my wood was at most 21%. The second year my wood was 15 to 18% and I was told I wasn't running it right. I am using it this year and then it should need a cat. I will buy a new one and return it.
I don't dislike the function of the stove over all. This time of year it is great. But when it gets into the low 30s or 20s at 8 hour loading cycles the furnace kicks on allot to keep the house at 69. Yes I could turn it up more but then it wouldn't work with my schedule.
High beam always says the 30 boxes don't perform as well. And in past discussions I got the sense he saw low slow even heat as the best performance. So I asked how the performance differed wondering if they would work better for me. As I said I was simply curious.
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
It’s good to hear the different views and get a better grasp of what to expect as well. Especially for folks like myself that have no clue about any of these new stoves. My old stove at my old house is about 40 years old and still doing everything as advertised. It didn’t bother me to clean the chimney really for the money it saved and it really didn’t care what I burned which was many times was what nobody wanted after a tree job even stinky cotton wood
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I went straight from old pre-EPA stoves to a fancy new BK.
I burn whatever is handy too. There's been entire years when I doubt anything under 30% MC went through that stove.
It's not true that you have to have 15% MC wood to use a new stove. It IS true that if you want to burn 30% wood low and slow, you better keep your brush handy.
I wish you wouldn’t try and declare what I “always say” because you never get it exactly right but yes, the EPA performance specs for the 30 box are all worse than what the princess delivers. Efficiency is much lower. But if those numbers don’t matter to you then that’s okay too. There are lots of stoves out there. Maybe try a Woodstock?
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
I’m going to burn mostly press logs this first year, I’ve got about 1/2 cord of dry fir. I have access to 140 acres of 120’ fir that’s got a bunch of trees dying/dead and cut as much as I want but I hate throwing wood away on tree jobs so I’ll probably end up with a lot of miscellaneous crap wood drying out for maybe next year. Was probably one of the bigger selling points about the bk was its ability to make use of lesser wood. Good to know it’s not end of life as we know it to burn something not perfectly dry though
Prior to my installing new windows,doors,insulation and house wrap I had to run the Princess harder than I thought necessary that first winter(like 3/4 throttle and the stove fans running!)but to be fair it was the coldest winter i had ever experienced with double digit minus temps and that winter prompted me to do the upgrades...fast forward to the start of the 5th season and it is currently 29 outside..inside its 82 in the stove room and 73 in the farthest room...this is from a load of locust that was started 25 hours ago...when we hit lows in the 20s and daytime highs in the 30s...it will be 12 hour cycles..colder than that 8 hour cycles all the while maintaining a very comfortable home..this level of performance came at a significant cost...this stove isnt for everyone one thats for sure...
2 more questions for you guys is
1. what size are u guys cutting your firewood? are u going with the recommended 16 inch and 8 to 10 inch in diameter?
2. should i consider getting the ash pan or is it fairly easy to shovel the ash through the door. this is currently how I do it and have no problem.
1. what size are u guys cutting your firewood? are u going with the recommended 16 inch and 8 to 10 inch in diameter?
2. should i consider getting the ash pan or is it fairly easy to shovel the ash through the door. this is currently how I do it and have no problem.
1. Roughly 12-16 inch long, by rule of thumb, I don't measure when cutting. Just not so long that it doesn't fit anymore.
2. I have an ash drawer underneath the stove, but never use it. Once in a blue moon I shovel the ashes out through the door, leaving about an inch in there. Really easy and not even messy. Not really necessary that often, but that obviously depends on the type of wood and how much you put through it.
2. I have an ash drawer underneath the stove, but never use it. Once in a blue moon I shovel the ashes out through the door, leaving about an inch in there. Really easy and not even messy. Not really necessary that often, but that obviously depends on the type of wood and how much you put through it.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
My splits can be generally put into 2 different categories, I work for a fairly large power co and sometimes we have to take tree's down that are close to the lines, normally we'll chip what can be chipped and leave the land owner the larger rounds, sometimes we are forced as a condition of getting permission to remove the tree to removal all wood, depending on the size of the tree, forestry will either cut the logs to traditional size or there will cut larger rounds into cookies so they dont hurt themselves loading up the wood, I will grab anything so I end up with a lot of cookie sized wood that just gets split into chunks, I developed a system of staking them, took a pallet and 6ft tall metal fencing, made a cylinder out of the fencing and just toss the chunks into that, works really well, the other wood is more or less traditional split size, I generally like staying between 16 & 18"s, helps with loading to the max in the stove box.
Ash pan - I opted to not have one installed, I burn a princess and take my ashes out once every 3 weeks once I go 24/7 burning, to me the ash pan seemed like more of a hassle, at the time my stove's ash design was in the form of a little plug and I didnt want to try and shove everything down a small hole into the pan, easier to just scoop it out into a bucket.
I have the ash pan. Have not used it once. Metal bucket and a metal shovel is all you need. I can pretty much fit anything below 20” in the Princess, the longer pieces go east west.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
It is not good advice for everybody.
If you're a person who is willing and able to sweep your chimney every week while you get a handle on how fast your wet wood and low burns are gunking up your flue, you can burn whatever you want.
The end user who hires "the guy" to come sweep once a year needs dry wood. They are gonna have a chimney fire if they decide they're exempt from MC requirements AND chimney maintenance.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I shoot for 18, but I don't worry about being a few inches plus or minus. 18 inches fits in the belly, 21 inches fits nicely in the firebox once the belly is full. Longer than that gets too close to the glass.
If you take a square and an awl, and scribe lines on your bars 18" in front of the dawgs, you'll always have a handy ruler to see where 18 is.
When it's cold out, it's ok if everything is over 18" because the belly is always full of yesterday's coal.
Stick a tape measure in the one you are buying, it may be a little different. My numbers are for an insert, and an older one at that. Pretty sure you'll also have two measurements though- the belly of the stove will be one size, and above that will be deeper by the depth of 2 firebrick retainers.
(Honestly not sure about the E/W width, because I never load that way, but it seems like it is pretty close, maybe a touch longer? Too hot to stick a tape in there!
)
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
Nealm66
Minister of Fire
I was under the impression that wet wood was really bad for the cat? Are you running your stove hotter, or different to compensate? I know the standing snags are usually fairly dry after you come up off the butt a ways but this time of year in my area nothing is very dry ha ha
Wet wood, like with a pile of snow on one side can be bad since it dumps a ton of 212 degree steam into a 1500 degree ceramic cat. The ceramic can break and crumble. Of course, you mitigate this by opening the bypass until the snow is gone. Door leaks also allow nonpreheated room air to shoot into the super hot cat which can cause a similar thermal shock and is allegedly the cause of 95% of premature cat failures.
Everything is better with 20% or less fuel for all stoves. It's just a pain to try and make wet wood work, waste of wood since you use up a lot of fuel to boil water off, and the low flue temperatures can really gunk up the system with that tarry corrosive goo. More pollution too.
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