Any East Coast Stoves?

[Homebody]

Given the fairly good practical research that has been done on this forum on low budget solar kilns, its at the point where if someone has the sunny space in their yard, in most climates they can dry wood in three to 4 months to dry and ready to burn in the summer if they follow the basics, so its not too late.

Very good idea. I did some reading about the Solar Kiln. Seems easy and shouldn't be a problem for me to do.

 

[Ashful]

Also finding truly seasoned wood to start burning this fall. I might have to burn biobricks this first year unless standing or laying dead trees are considered "seasoned". So a Cat stove might not work for our inferior wood this year.

I think you may have received an incorrect impression, on this point. Cat stoves can burn very low and slow, and to push their burn rate as low as possible without stalling, yes... you need good dry wood.

But when run at more moderate rates, similar to the bottom end of a non-cat, there is no unique requirement on wood quality of one tech versus the other. Neither will run well on wet wood or garbage, but owners of both have gotten away with less than perfect wood supply.

 

[Homebody]

I believe the Wife and I have settled on the Blaze King Princess with the parlor legs.

We have a brand new brick chimney built to code. It is around 30ft tall. Anything to watch out for with the Princess and a tall chimney? Or just run it this winter and keep an eye on the draft; install a key damper if needed? I understand that the key damper is frowned upon these days, but I'd rather have one and not need it all of the time than not have one and need it.

 

[moresnow]

Great stove. What liner does the chimney have? I.D. ? Composition? Rather crucial for ease of performance/operation. Curious.

 

[Homebody]

It's clay liner with 6" thimble. I'm not sure on the diameter of the flue liner. I know that's not much of a help. I can get a measurement on it tomorrow.

 

[Ashful]

BK exhaust temperatures can run very low at the lowest burn rates. All modern high-efficiency stoves share this challenge, putting less heat up the flue is precisely how they achieve that high efficiency. However, with it's super-long burn capabilities, BK really pushes the envelope, in this regard.

Your tall pipe might cause control problems with many stoves, but not a BK, I'm actually running one on roughly 30 feet of pipe myself. No issue with control, even without a pipe damper. But, you may have two other issues:

1. If it's a clay liner all the way to the top, rather than an insulated steel liner, you may have trouble with the exhaust cooling TOO much, on its way to the top. This can increase creosote deposition. Not a huge problem, but it might lead you to sweep every 2-3 cords, instead of every 4-6 cords. This will likely be more an issue if you run it low and slow, than at more moderate burn rates.

2. A very strong draft can cause stirring of fly ash, which can get drawn into the combustor. This isn't much of a problem on the Princess, there have been more of these issues reported on the BK 30 models, and I can only think of one Princess owner (ever) mentioning this issue, here. In either case, it's easily resolved with a key damper, which I run on my BK 30.

If you're wondering why my item 1 is implying low draft, and my item 2 implies too-high draft, just remember that your draft will vary with flue temperature and air inlet control (restriction)... among other factors.

 

[Homebody]

BK exhaust temperatures can run very low at the lowest burn rates. All modern high-efficiency stoves share this challenge, putting less heat up the flue is precisely how they achieve that high efficiency. However, with it's super-long burn capabilities, BK really pushes the envelope, in this regard.

Your tall pipe might cause control problems with many stoves, but not a BK, I'm actually running one on roughly 30 feet of pipe myself. No issue with control, even without a pipe damper. But, you may have two other issues:

1. If it's a clay liner all the way to the top, rather than an insulated steel liner, you may have trouble with the exhaust cooling TOO much, on its way to the top. This can increase creosote deposition. Not a huge problem, but it might lead you to sweep every 2-3 cords, instead of every 4-6 cords. This will likely be more an issue if you run it low and slow, than at more moderate burn rates.

2. A very strong draft can cause stirring of fly ash, which can get drawn into the combustor. This isn't much of a problem on the Princess, there have been more of these issues reported on the BK 30 models, and I can only think of one Princess owner (ever) mentioning this issue, here. In either case, it's easily resolved with a key damper, which I run on my BK 30.

If you're wondering why my item 1 is implying low draft, and my item 2 implies too-high draft, just remember that your draft will vary with flue temperature and air inlet control (restriction)... among other factors.

Thank you. Yes, I understand the draft will change with many factors. On our coal stove we have a barometric damper and I also have a manometer on the wall that is connected to the flue pipe.

We went with the standard brick and clay chimney because we were originally going with another coal stove at the new house and coal does well on a masonry chimney.

 

[bholler]

Thank you. Yes, I understand the draft will change with many factors. On our coal stove we have a barometric damper and I also have a manometer on the wall that is connected to the flue pipe.

We went with the standard brick and clay chimney because we were originally going with another coal stove at the new house and coal does well on a masonry chimney.

Yes for coal clay liners would absolutely be my choice as well. But modern woodstoves really like insulated liners much more. Not that it can't work through a masonry chimney just not as well. Does your chimney have the proper clearances from the outside of the chimney to Combustible materials?

 

[Homebody]

Yes for coal clay liners would absolutely be my choice as well. But modern woodstoves really like insulated liners much more. Not that it can't work through a masonry chimney just not as well. Does your chimney have the proper clearances from the outside of the chimney to Combustible materials?

Yes. The chimney is detached from the house to create an air gap.

 

[bholler]

Yes. The chimney is detached from the house to create an air gap.

Good most don't have that

 

[Homebody]

Ran into complications with the dealer we chose. Without going into details we will not be getting the Blaze King Princess.

My wife is just fed up with the whole process at this point and went ahead and ordered an Ideal Steel while I was working today. It was quite the surprise this evening and I wasn't sure what to say but managed an "oh great" at least. I'm sure it will be fine.

Looking at end of October build date. So it gives me some extra time to season some wood.

 

[Ashful]

Congratulations! I never liked their appearance, but you'll have to search this forum long and hard to find anyone saying anything bad about Woodstock's performance or customer service, they're right up there with BK.

Speaking of which, you may want to PM user @BKVP with your experience, I'm sure he'll want to know what happened. I also had a negative experience with one of his (then) newer retailers, and he was able to send me to a better one, as well as give some attention to the former.

 

[BKVP]

Congratulations! I never liked their appearance, but you'll have to search this forum long and hard to find anyone saying anything bad about Woodstock's performance or customer service, they're right up there with BK.

Speaking of which, you may want to PM user @BKVP with your experience, I'm sure he'll want to know what happened. I also had a negative experience with one of his (then) newer retailers, and he was able to send me to a better one, as well as give some attention to the former.

Absolutely!! Always, always want input.

 

[Homebody]

I'm not real fond of the look of the Ideal Steel. My wife really likes the different designs. I think she bought or wants at least 4 different sets of designs for it as well to change with the holidays or something. She got me the Game Birds design; so at least she was thinking of me a little.

While I would enjoy running the dealer over the coals, I'm hesitant to do that. Our initial visit to their shop was nice and that's why we went with them, and I may need to use them in the future for things like gaskets, pipe, or something else. I'm content with them losing a sale and probably any future business from us and leave it at that. Times are tough for people right now.