BK Princess in small home 720sq ft

[begreen]

Negative mindset. Neither is an insult, just human error.

 

[NHWS]

Negative mindset. Neither is an insult, just human error.

Negative mindset. Perhaps they are both compliments.

 

[Tron]

Oak is definitely slower to get going than just about anything else, it's dense and doesn't have the surface splintering you'll see on elm or hickory.

That may be it. I mostly burn pine, and that just lights off in an instant. Oak or other heavy hardwoods not so much.

 

[MtnBURN]

Not sure where ya went on this @Kulshanburner....

This is my situation/experience (or lack of...as I'm told here...LOL) of going on 8 years with the BK Princess stoves...one of which is in a very small home.

I have 3 stoves with different pipe lengths and different heating needs.... and it does make em run differently and need different maintenance.

45 year old ....800 sq ft home here. Colorado Rockies 7100 ft. 2 x 4 construction. (New) Windows/doors everywhere as we live in the woods with no neighbors/etc.

Fuels: Cottonwood...doug fir...cedar...scrub (Gambel) oak...a bit of maple...a bit of alder (both grow as bushes here, not trees) With 7 acres of trees we burn a lot of smaller stuff/deadfall to clean the place up...and most of the bigger stuff is also dead fall or standing dead wood. About the only thing that needs split is the cottonwood. Most everything else is 6" or below. The wife is always cutting small limbs up off the ground for kindling/etc. We laugh that...with the BK...you could pick up crap wood and never cut a damn thing if you had a place to store 6 million bags of twigs/small limbs. They eat everything and turn it into BTU's.

IMO....the only drawback to burning cottonwood is the amount of ash it produces. Otherwise...nothing will heat up your stove as much/fire your cat off faster than cottonwood. Shorter burns, for sure...but still good overnight burns...just no coals. It's on par with burning Aspen as both as in the same family/etc. No creosote.

Pine/cedar/juniper burn well...but offer little coaling...and far dirtier burns overall. Even with the magical BK...you'll get some creosote in the pipe. I see the most at the double wall to triple wall transition when it happens. If I'm running a lot of pine I'll take the pipe apart and sweep 2X per season...just to clear it. Otherwise I can tell the stove isn't suckin hard as it should.

Oak is also dirty. But....coals! Definitely longer burning...but yeah...don't try to start a fire with it without a propane ice melter gun.

Regardless of what is said here...if you burn your stove on low...choose any fuel you want...you will see >a lot< of creosote building up inside the stove...behind the metal panels...on the incoming air tubes...hell...all over in there. I bent a 1/8" piece of rod so it will fit up/over/behind the panel...and I drag out big, flaky pieces of creosote multiple times per season.

And YES..I burn the stove off ...or try....weekly...if not more....especially early/late season when we are up/down more than burning continuously. But night after night of burning on low for 12+ hours cakes things up in there. I don't care what anyone says to the contrary. It just does. There's just a ton of places for it to adhere in these stoves.

My garage stove...is not the same at all. It has 18 ft of pipe vs 14 or so in the house...and burns hotter because the garage is larger than my house....900 sq ft...10-14 ft ceilings. 1 oclock down there on the dial burns like 3 o clock on the house stove. Far less flaky stuff behind the panels. Far different creosote deposits in the firebox.

Greenhouse stove... I just moved it into the GH from a shed outside where I pumped air into the GH via fans....so am re-learning it's operation. Whereas it was a 12 ft straight shot up/out of the shed....it now has 2-45 degree bends...and about 14 ft of rise. I used a high-temp silicone gasket to go through the plastic wall and supported the pipe via a 16 ft metal pole sunk 2 ft deep in concrete.

The Princess is not too much stove for a small house due to the thermostat/etc.....and you WILL stay warm. There's just a few caveats you gotta deal with. Good luck whatever you decide to do....

 

[Ashful]

IMO....the only drawback to burning cottonwood is the amount of ash it produces. Otherwise...nothing will heat up your stove as much/fire your cat off faster than cottonwood. Shorter burns, for sure...but still good overnight burns...just no coals. It's on par with burning Aspen as both as in the same family/etc. No creosote.

I believe what you guys out west call "cottonwood" is what we call poplar, here on the east coast. I bought home a cord of poplar once about 10-12 years ago, and after drying a year or two, managed to rip through a full cord of it in something like 7-8 days! A cord of oak or hickory last me about 21 days, by comparison.

Never again will I touch such a horribly low-BTU wood. It's just not worth the space it takes up in the racks, or the time it takes to split it. Oak splits just as fast as poplar.

 

[MtnBURN]

I believe what you guys out west call "cottonwood" is what we call poplar, here on the east coast. I bought home a cord of poplar once about 10-12 years ago, and after drying a year or two, managed to rip through a full cord of it in something like 7-8 days! A cord of oak or hickory last me about 21 days, by comparison.

Never again will I touch such a horribly low-BTU wood. It's just not worth the space it takes up in the racks, or the time it takes to split it. Oak splits just as fast as poplar.

@Ashful ... If your poplar grows to be 3 ft in diameter and 100 ft tall...yup...same basic thing. Aspen is also a species of poplar.

Like I said above...we burn all sorts of wood. Whatever makes the property look like no one cares/GAF gets burned unless it's rotten...then we haul it out. The cottonwood deadfall we cut needs very little time, if any, before it can be burned...that's why it came down in the first place. For us, it's shoulder season wood and wood we use in the garage stove. FWIW...I think I split maybe 20 rounds here in total this year from the one, 12" diameter cottonwood tree that fell that I removed. The remainder of the 3 cords or so I brought in off the property is 25% cedar and 75% oak... none of which had to be split. The majority of wood here isn't BIG wood like back East...but every single stick is free. Every BTU is free.

FYI...."Firewood" sold on the market here isn't dirt cheap like it is back East. IF<< you can find it...you'll pay $200-250 a cord for pine...or pine mixed with Aspen...dumped in your driveway. If you want to buy a cord of "oak" and can find one for sale... you'll pay $350-$400 per cord. I wouldn't touch the soft woods here if I could buy $40 cords of hardwood like my family tells me about in Misery...er...Missouri...but that isn't the reality of the market here.

 

[Ashful]

I'm not sure what people pay for wood around here, I've always hauled and split my own, but I don't think you'll find many buying or selling pine. In fact, I suspect most east-coasters outside of this forum still think that pine is a dangerous wood to burn, and wouldn't even consider it. We know that's not correct, but it's a wide-spread belief, in these parts of the country.

For as long as I've been burning, it seems there's always been enough oak, ash, hickory, elm and walnut, either blown down by storms or wiped out by pests and disease. So while I'm sure the soft woods burn just fine, it's really hard to justify stepping over an oak to pick up a poplar or pine, or giving up any of the ever-limiting space in the wood shed to these woods.

 

[MtnBURN]

The entire West runs on lodgepole/Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, cedar/juniper, and Spruce. Most folks here would laugh at such a statement if they heard an Easterner say it fireside out here. Then they'd sit you outside to smarten you up a bit.

It is what it is... we all have things in our area that exist elsewhere that aren't so great that we make the best of because we have to. It's like comparing the size of deer/elk/etc. of each region...or the size of the mountains in each region. Both of those things pale seriously in the East compared to the West but folks in the East still hunt and climb/hike just the same...lacking as it may be to those of us in the West who know what real critters and mountains are. LOL.

 

[Highbeam]

I'm not sure what people pay for wood around here, I've always hauled and split my own, but I don't think you'll find many buying or selling pine. In fact, I suspect most east-coasters outside of this forum still think that pine is a dangerous wood to burn, and wouldn't even consider it. We know that's not correct, but it's a wide-spread belief, in these parts of the country.

For as long as I've been burning, it seems there's always been enough oak, ash, hickory, elm and walnut, either blown down by storms or wiped out by pests and disease. So while I'm sure the soft woods burn just fine, it's really hard to justify stepping over an oak to pick up a poplar or pine, or giving up any of the ever-limiting space in the wood shed to these woods.

Funny you mention pine. I just brought home three cords of it from my mother’s home. The logger would have charged 1500$ to remove it. I drove an hour each way to pick it up. We’ll see how the BK does with it because I’m not sure if I can sell it. Definitely a stigma.

It’s pretty heavy when wet. These pines were about 24” at the butt.

 

[ABMax24]

I like pine, over 50% of the wood I burn is pine. I like Aspen (white poplar as its called here) too, it's relatively dense and heats well. Black poplar (also called balsam poplar, bam, or black poplar, aka cottonwood) is garbage. It burns with so much ash it snuffs itself out, and has very limited btu content. Spruce is decent. White/paper birch and Tamarack are the primo species in this part of the world.

 

[MtnBURN]

Funny you mention pine. I just brought home three cords of it from my mother’s home. The logger would have charged 1500$ to remove it. I drove an hour each way to pick it up. We’ll see how the BK does with it because I’m not sure if I can sell it. Definitely a stigma.

It’s pretty heavy when wet. These pines were about 24” at the butt.

View attachment 319902

We bought a semi-truck load of Ponderosa pine that was a similar size one Spring. The guy said it had been down for a year....so I freaked when I started splitting it and saw water actually come out of the log...like some green/wet cottonwood can do. I called the guy and told him I was bummed because I wanted to burn it that Fall and it was just wayyyy too wet. He laughed and said "I can tell you've never had any Ponderosa before. Split it...stack it....and call me back in October". Sure enough...I had to call him in the Fall and tell him I jumped the gun on my freakout. It burned very nicely and dried out in 6 months. Like cottonwood...you don't stack certain woods here and leave it for years to season. It either dries out too much or gets pithy. It's also not good practice here to store huge amounts of wood on your property due to fire. Most folks here buy wood every year. Ready to burn wood.

LOL on the tag of "garbage" for cottonwood. That's a fairly common take...even here. To each their own. We took down 70 of em...2-3 ft in diameter 7 years ago...and buried 90% of the trunks in a huge ravine. I burned 2 seasons on some of the bigger stuff. Lots of ash...but again...FREE...and it makes BTU's. I wouldn't mess with it with any other stove but the BK burns it up AOK for my needs. I'll take anything free/down cus I hate falling trees and I'm purposely leaving the standing dead on my property for future years. (mostly cedar).

You can sell just about any wood here because...with 40% of this state being owned by the Fed...and another nice chunk owned by the state.... and the steepness of the terrain in general....wood is hard to source....much less bring in...and you can only cut with permits/in certain areas/etc. Many of these areas get purchased by the sawmills/guys with the semis....so while you'd think otherwise with all of the forests we have here (dying forests)...there just isn't that much wood available here for the little guy to source. I don't know anyone here who goes out with their truck/trailer and gets wood out of the forest. It's just too far to make the economics work. You just call someone...if you can find someone...and get out your wallet.

 

[moresnow]

Funny you mention pine. I just brought home three cords of it from my mother’s home. The logger would have charged 1500$ to remove it. I drove an hour each way to pick it up. We’ll see how the BK does with it because I’m not sure if I can sell it. Definitely a stigma.

It’s pretty heavy when wet. These pines were about 24” at the butt.

View attachment 319902

Looking forward to hearing what you think after burning some of this.
Looks like a few potential stove stuffers in that load!

 

[Ashful]

The entire West runs on lodgepole/Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, cedar/juniper, and Spruce. Most folks here would laugh at such a statement if they heard an Easterner say it fireside out here. Then they'd sit you outside to smarten you up a bit.

Again, I noted it's safe. Just undesirable, as it takes up the same amount of time and space as our other more prevalent woods of much higher BTU content. Who's going to make time and space for cedar, when we have tens of millions of standing dead ash and oak all around us?

But to use your unnecessarily confrontational language: If you honestly believe that convincing any "easterner" to pass up oak, and to burn pine is going actually "smarten" them up, then they'd be the one laughing at you. Have you even looked at the comparative BTU content? Honestly, stupid statement.

It might be one thing if we actually HAD more pine than hardwood, there might be some merit in actually using it. But we don't, at least in this region. As an exercise, I just did a quick count of the trees on my own property:

Hardwood: Roughly 200 trees. I honestly stopped counting at 120 and was only about half way thru. Prevalence in order of descending numbers is walnut, ash, oak, maple, hickory, mulberry, hackberry, cherry, other. Oak and ash were close enough in count that I might have them reversed, debatable, but walnut is clear majority in this neighborhood.
Pine: 1 stinkin' tree. Used to have two, but one died due to disease about five years ago. So, your noble pine makes up 0.5% of the trees on my property. In fairness, "Pennsylvania pine" was once a thing, so there's at least one variety that grows in PA, but I think it was all at higher elevations (Pocono / Appalachian mountains), not the foothills that dot the southeastern part of the state.
Doug Fir: Zero native, but I planted 8 in the few areas far from any walnut trees. They are completely incompatible with walnut, so they don't naturally do well in much of our area, where walnut is so prevalent. Walnut will always dominate, and the juglone they put into the soil will kill many non-native things trying to grow under them.
Cypress: Zero native. I planted a dozen, they all died due to fungus (needle cast). I tried treating them, and kept a few of them going longer than I should ($$$$), they're just too susceptible to disease in our climate.
Hemlock: Zero native, although I know hemlock does grow in this area, again north and west (Poconos). I planted 40, most are surviving, but they are extremely susceptible to one of our local pests if not treated. They're also too fragile, several have been completely crushed or snapped off their trunks when branches from other trees fall on them.
Juniper: I don't think I've ever seen a Juniper out here.
Cedar: We have a lot of these, Eastern Red Cedar, but only in very young woods or on the edges of fields. They're the first thing to pop up when a field is left dormant, but they die off after the hardwoods shade them out in a mature woods, and they also fall over in our heavy winter snows if not held up by each other in a cluster. I have a few skirting the woods that lie at my property lines, but they're always falling over and uprooting themselves in winter storms. Their BTU content appears to be only slightly higher than corn puffs, but they make good kindling, and they're a useful aid for burning down coal build-up when burning oak or hickory.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Just a note, @Ashful , Eastern Red Cedar is actually a juniper.

 

[Ashful]

Just a note, @Ashful , Eastern Red Cedar is actually a juniper.

Well, that would explain why I've never heard anyone point out a Juniper around here! We call those things "cedar".

 

[Diabel]

It is simple.
My property contains 70% of hemlock. The rest is a mix of hardwood and other softwood. What goes in my stove is 70% hemlock😝.

@Ashful, appears to have 95% hardwood on his property. 95% of that hardwood is what he burns.

 

[Highbeam]

Being a “wood snob” is a real thing when presented with several options of plentiful logs. Pine is less desirable than other woods IF you have those other woods as an option. I’ve never even seen a stick of oak firewood.

Oh and Doug fir is not a fir.

 

[NHWS]

Being a “wood snob” is a real thing when presented with several options of plentiful logs. Pine is less desirable than other woods IF you have those other woods as an option. I’ve never even seen a stick of oak firewood.

Oh and Doug fir is not a fir.

I'd probably be a wood snob, too, if I had East Coast choices. I don't; I've got lots of hemlock and alder, a bit of fir and pine, and very occasional ornamental cherry or maple. Even scrounged 1/2 cord of what turned out to be larch a few days ago from a landscaping company (sigh).

I've got one large oak growing on my property. It's too rare and valuable to cut for firewood.

I did, however, just get a line on a trailer load (1/3 cord) of mixed hardwood scraps from a woodworking business.

 

[Caw]

I'm not sure what people pay for wood around here

As of last year on average I can get a 5 cord truck load of pine logs basically for free just throwing the guy $100 for his effort whereas the same truck of mixed hardwood is $400. Nobody here burns pine so they just give it away. Green split mixed hardwood is around $275 a cord and "seasoned" closer to $400. Truly dry hardwood $600-$800.

The local tree guy I've been using for a while now drops me a trailer full (about 1.5-2 cords) of mixed hardwood logs for $100. Best deal I've found and 2 cord loads are more manageable to process. Takes up less space in the driveway and feels like progress versus chipping away at an infinite 5 cord pile.

 

[Ashful]

That's about what I had guessed, Caw. I occasionally see ads on bulletin boards or C'list, around those prices.

If you're willing to take mixed branch wood with crotches and elbows, stuff too big to chip, but not primo enough to sell as logs or put thru an automated processor, several tree companies around here seem to be willing to dump the stuff for free. There's a local guy who used to use me as his dump for that stuff, back before I had set up better supply lines.

 

[Caw]

Yeah I think for folks in tight spots financially that would be a great way to heat on a budget. That and slab wood if you can find it.

For me personally $200 for 3-4 cords of nice logs is well worth the money. Same cost as 2 weeks of oil and I get the exact size and shapes I want.

 

[MtnBURN]

Again, I noted it's safe. Just undesirable, as it takes up the same amount of time and space as our other more prevalent woods of much higher BTU content. Who's going to make time and space for cedar, when we have tens of millions of standing dead ash and oak all around us?

But to use your unnecessarily confrontational language: If you honestly believe that convincing any "easterner" to pass up oak, and to burn pine is going actually "smarten" them up, then they'd be the one laughing at you. Have you even looked at the comparative BTU content? Honestly, stupid statement.

It might be one thing if we actually HAD more pine than hardwood, there might be some merit in actually using it. But we don't, at least in this region. As an exercise, I just did a quick count of the trees on my own property:

I'm not trying to convince you of anything @Ashful ...nor is what I said any more confrontational than some of the comments I receive back on my posts. (loose handle, anyone?) I try to only speak to >my< experiences...not what I think others .>should be< doing.

To clarify....I was insinuating that if an Easterner came here to CO and started critiquing the pine we burn...because 90% of the wood here IS PINE/etc...you'd need to be schooled/clued in that we don't have oak/etc here to burn unless yer very lucky. It's NOT about having a choice here. You either burn pine here or you buy propane/natural gas/electricity. We'd burn all oak here if we had it! DUH.

Ditto on messing with trash wood. You see no value in it...I'm making big money cleaning up my property by doing it...and I get free BTU's....so I see huge value in it/as a 2 birds with one stone/etc. kinda thing. I'm retired...I have the time....it really doesn't matter if it's worth it to you...I didn't comment for your approval...I commented to let folks know that these are great stoves that HEAT well...even with deadfall/etc. ...especially in a small, 700'ish sq ft home...which mirrors the size of my (downsized for retirement/etc.) home.

Sounds like a nice property you have there. I wouldn't even try to count trees here. My 7 acres is all treed except where my house/garden/garage footprints are. We have more variety of trees here in this area than in most areas of the state...but nothing exists in any quantity that allows anyone to cut it down simply to burn it...other than beetle kill pine...which is all anyone takes out of the forest here because the USFS designates where you can cut. It's just a DIFFERENT set up....so things gonna be...um...DIFFERENT.

It's like cannabis...in some places of the country it's valued like gold...here you just give it away...like folks do back there with junk wood! WHY? Supply and demand (and legality)...like anything else. And talk about snobbery. Some weed/hash folks are far more snobby than wood burnin' folks here are... but they're also not likely gonna rag ya about what yer smokin'...they just won't join in if it doesn't meet their standards. Gosh...what a concept.

Mostly pines...some 100 ft tall/2 ft in diameter. (old growth) A quick shot from where I'm sitting...

Gambel Oak behind the house...regrowth...so only 3-4" at the largest.