We hope to be in another house before winter, and my next stove will be sitting on a simple hearth pad. I've built three in the last couple of years, and I'm done for a while.
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Very nice Beca sounds like you are ready to be warm next winter... I know this one was reluctant to go away in New England, it hasn't been a warm spring either, when the hot weather comes, I'm betting it will be with a vengeance. Anyway, congrats, we have the King BK on the floor at work, at first the looks are unusual, now I'm liking it. The Ashford still blows me away with its size too. We sell mostly Jotul cast stoves, but I do like the BK cat system and how they very smartly employ it.
Don't be too alarmed if the cat temp gauge goes to the end of the scale and a little more. It happens..for sure the first few fires it could.
The dirty glass after a burn or three is what you're not going to like .
Sometime just burning a hot fire with plenty of flame will clean it up..sometimes not so much.
The dirty glass after a burn or three is what you're not going to like .
Sometime just burning a hot fire with plenty of flame will clean it up..sometimes not so much.
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HotCoals, when we visited Wooden Sun they had a Chinook burning. I did notice that the glass was brown. Our Napoleon pellet stove glass goes gray/brown after a day's burn as well, even if the stove is clean and we are burning good pellets. I'm used to cleaning that glass every day if I want it to stay clean. Of course, it's quicker to shut down and cool a pellet stove to clean it. We use a warm ash vacuum (Powersmith) so I can clean the pellet stove every day if I want, without much difficulty, and often I do.
I doubt I'll clean the wood stove every day but it will get cleaned regularly for sure. We already have another Powersmith here for the wood stove.
That being said, does anybody simply wipe down their glass when they are reloading the stove? If so, how? or is the glass just too hot for anything like that? (Please don't laugh at me, I am trying to get up to speed here...)
At the end of a long burn I'll sometimes leave the door open for 10 mins or so till it's fairly cooled off but warm yet, then clean it with a wet/damp paper towel dipped in ash. Then I wipe it again with a clean damp paper towel.
That said there are times I used a single edge razor blade to get the gunk off. Scraping in one direction only and always using a new blade and I don't flip it over.
Some say that's not good for the glass but I have done it at least 3 or 5 times a season..prolly more for 4 years..no damage yet.
No prob!
BTW if you do end up using the blade I dip it into water after every pass. I think the water lubes it up some.
You may never have to do that..I do it because when the glass is really bad it seems faster..lol.
A dirty glass is not a sign of wet wood either. I have had really dry 16% MC wood gunk up my glass.
The BK on low burn hardly has any air passing over the glass.
BTW if you do end up using the blade I dip it into water after every pass. I think the water lubes it up some.
You may never have to do that..I do it because when the glass is really bad it seems faster..lol.
A dirty glass is not a sign of wet wood either. I have had really dry 16% MC wood gunk up my glass.
The BK on low burn hardly has any air passing over the glass.
and you will find it also makes a mess!
It's not as bad as it prolly sounds. lol
You're going to love that stove when it comes to heating your house!
Please don't put a trivet on it with one of those fancy things you put water into!
Wife insist on it and I hate it when she gets water on the stove when hot!
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OH NO. That *is* the plan! I want to learn to cook on it too! (I'll be careful, I promise!)
Speaking of which- why do you hate it? There is information here...
One thing is that spilled water will spot your paint from the minerals.OH NO. That *is* the plan! I want to learn to cook on it too! (I'll be careful, I promise!)
Speaking of which- why do you hate it? There is information here...
I have painted the stove top twice now in four years!
Aha! OK. Well, I guess I'd better get a couple of cans of flat black stove paint then.
Truly, that is good to know. I am sure that we'll keep a kettle on, for no other reason than to help my sinuses with the dry heat. But, you just told me how to fix the problem when I need to fix the problem- thank you!
no problem. Pick up some triple 0 steel wool while your at it and a tack cloth..lol.Aha! OK. Well, I guess I'd better get a couple of cans of flat black stove paint then.
Bought a humidifier years ago and got right over that kettle on the stove and the mess stuff. 
been trying to get the wife to let me buy one. (broken image removed)Bought a humidifier years ago and got right over that kettle on the stove and the mess stuff.
I concur!
Wife says that the humidifier will take to much of the e stuff though..lol.
I think the lowest our house gets is maybe 35% rh.
She just likes the idea of it and likes to put that smelly stuff in it..girls. lol
Cool mist humidifiers don't even register on the electric usage. Squat for the little fan motor in them.
I did the cooking on the stove thing too early on. Boil over a beef stew one time and have to smell burning stew for a week because it is too cold to shut down the stove and you get right over that too.
I did the cooking on the stove thing too early on. Boil over a beef stew one time and have to smell burning stew for a week because it is too cold to shut down the stove and you get right over that too.
osagebow
Minister of Fire
Beautiful install, Sunshine, Congrats! C-ville is a great town, got my pound pup there.
If you moved the stove to the other side of the hallway, you'd have my house / install. Amazingly similar. Great to hear your install was smooth. Very nice.....
craigbaill
New Member
beautiful stove and install. We are going to the place where we saw the BK Princess tomorrow to arrange for purchase and set up a prelim. inspection date for the stove install. We are getting the exact same stove.
Hello, Everyone!
As always, thank you for the information and for conveying your experiences with kettles and wood stove cooking. I do appreciate it- we always learn from it.
And thank you for the compliments as well.
Bag of Hammers, please post picture of your install. <:3~
This installation location is about as dead center in the middle of the house as it can get. If you look in the hallway immediately adjacent to the stove, you will see the HVAC air returns. I know that the whole "air return/heat distribution" thing rarely works out as well as you'd think because the ductwork is in unheated space, but it's so close to the stove, and we have a return high on the wall. We have to try it. Alternately we'll use the old box fan on the floor trick to pull cool air out of the bedrooms and down that hallway, back toward the stove.
Immediately out of the frame of this picture is the front foyer and the front door, which leads to a covered porch. We have an outdoor wood rack with a cover all ready for storing wood on that covered porch during the winter season. It will be a straight shot: logs in, ashes out. We have an ash can/shovel and a Powersmith ash vac at the ready. In over-think mode, but we are out in the country. Starting a brush fire out here would be bad form. What is your favorite way to dispose of hot/warm ashes outside? Do you have a favored situation/location? I'm always pleasantly surprised at the ingenious ideas you people bring to the table.
We hear you on the humidifier vs. the stove steamer but I will probably have a kettle or a steamer anyway. For those of you who love the steamer, ideas please? I will probably use a standard tea kettle (unless there's a reason not to do so) for heating water for tea, etc. Anyone out there have any favorites for food safe tea/water kettles for the wood stove?
As far as the electricity usage, DOODS, I'M THAT GUY. Well, actually, I'M THAT GIRL but you get the idea. We are electric coop customers here. We love them, they are AWESOME, they do a GREAT job of taking care of us, but a) We are rural, b) We are far-flung, c) We have big winter wind and sometimes big winter storms with winter power outages. A good part of the reason for installing the wood stove is to have the ability to heat, cook, and even humidify when the power is out. Also, our power rates are just a tad bit higher here through the coop; not prohibitively so, but they are higher. And, in order for The Husband and I to keep all of these plates spinning in the air, I keep us/me on a tight budget- so anywhere I don't have to spend a penny, I will try not to spend it.
You are typing back and forth with a woman who uses a Sun Oven to cook in town in order to a) not pay to run the electric oven, b) keep the heat out of the house in the summer, so that c) we aren't paying to run the air conditioner to remove heat from the house that we paid to generate.
I use a clothesline as well, and during inclement weather and in the dead of winter I dry clothes on a rack in the house. The combination of convective and blower heat from the pellet stove is great for this function, keeping a safe distance from the stove, of course.
Jeff is planning to clean the chimney for us- it is a stainless steel pre-fabricated chimney that was installed with the wood stove. Our roof does not have a particularly steep pitch, and the chimney exited the roof near the crest (apex?) (ridge line?) so the installer didn't have to add height to meet code. It's probably as easy as a roof access could be, but I know that a lot of you prefer Sooteaters. We'd sure love your input on chimney cleaning as well.
Thank you all, as always!
P.S. I'm sorry that it took me a few days to get back to this thread. We are wrapping up a couple of weeks at this location, with the stove install in the middle of it. Jeff had the time on the books and he had to use it. The stove, chimney and hearth pad plus the professional install, while in our opinion was reasonably priced, was a chunk of change. We didn't want to "pay" for vacation this year, and we love it here, so why not? It has been quiet and rural and peaceful and beautiful and awesome- definitely a low key vacation but just what we wanted and needed. Our Labrador Retriever is pretty sure he's in heaven. <:3~ And, of course, in the waning days of the vacation, Murphy will strike: I had an old root canal that blew up, required a trip back to town and a bit of an "emergency" dental surgery. Bless my dentist (sincerely) who met us at the office on his day off to alleviate my pain. (It HURT.) I've been out of the loop (way the heck out of the loop, sort of out toward Neptune) for the past 36 or so hours. I'm very sorry I didn't respond to your compliments and ideas in a more timely manner- but it's all good now! <:3~
As always, thank you for the information and for conveying your experiences with kettles and wood stove cooking. I do appreciate it- we always learn from it.
And thank you for the compliments as well.
Bag of Hammers, please post picture of your install.
<:3~This installation location is about as dead center in the middle of the house as it can get. If you look in the hallway immediately adjacent to the stove, you will see the HVAC air returns. I know that the whole "air return/heat distribution" thing rarely works out as well as you'd think because the ductwork is in unheated space, but it's so close to the stove, and we have a return high on the wall. We have to try it. Alternately we'll use the old box fan on the floor trick to pull cool air out of the bedrooms and down that hallway, back toward the stove.
Immediately out of the frame of this picture is the front foyer and the front door, which leads to a covered porch. We have an outdoor wood rack with a cover all ready for storing wood on that covered porch during the winter season. It will be a straight shot: logs in, ashes out. We have an ash can/shovel and a Powersmith ash vac at the ready. In over-think mode, but we are out in the country. Starting a brush fire out here would be bad form. What is your favorite way to dispose of hot/warm ashes outside? Do you have a favored situation/location? I'm always pleasantly surprised at the ingenious ideas you people bring to the table.
We hear you on the humidifier vs. the stove steamer but I will probably have a kettle or a steamer anyway. For those of you who love the steamer, ideas please? I will probably use a standard tea kettle (unless there's a reason not to do so) for heating water for tea, etc. Anyone out there have any favorites for food safe tea/water kettles for the wood stove?
As far as the electricity usage, DOODS, I'M THAT GUY. Well, actually, I'M THAT GIRL but you get the idea. We are electric coop customers here. We love them, they are AWESOME, they do a GREAT job of taking care of us, but a) We are rural, b) We are far-flung, c) We have big winter wind and sometimes big winter storms with winter power outages. A good part of the reason for installing the wood stove is to have the ability to heat, cook, and even humidify when the power is out. Also, our power rates are just a tad bit higher here through the coop; not prohibitively so, but they are higher. And, in order for The Husband and I to keep all of these plates spinning in the air, I keep us/me on a tight budget- so anywhere I don't have to spend a penny, I will try not to spend it.
You are typing back and forth with a woman who uses a Sun Oven to cook in town in order to a) not pay to run the electric oven, b) keep the heat out of the house in the summer, so that c) we aren't paying to run the air conditioner to remove heat from the house that we paid to generate.
I use a clothesline as well, and during inclement weather and in the dead of winter I dry clothes on a rack in the house. The combination of convective and blower heat from the pellet stove is great for this function, keeping a safe distance from the stove, of course.
Jeff is planning to clean the chimney for us- it is a stainless steel pre-fabricated chimney that was installed with the wood stove. Our roof does not have a particularly steep pitch, and the chimney exited the roof near the crest (apex?) (ridge line?) so the installer didn't have to add height to meet code. It's probably as easy as a roof access could be, but I know that a lot of you prefer Sooteaters. We'd sure love your input on chimney cleaning as well.
Thank you all, as always!
P.S. I'm sorry that it took me a few days to get back to this thread. We are wrapping up a couple of weeks at this location, with the stove install in the middle of it. Jeff had the time on the books and he had to use it. The stove, chimney and hearth pad plus the professional install, while in our opinion was reasonably priced, was a chunk of change. We didn't want to "pay" for vacation this year, and we love it here, so why not? It has been quiet and rural and peaceful and beautiful and awesome- definitely a low key vacation but just what we wanted and needed. Our Labrador Retriever is pretty sure he's in heaven. <:3~ And, of course, in the waning days of the vacation, Murphy will strike: I had an old root canal that blew up, required a trip back to town and a bit of an "emergency" dental surgery. Bless my dentist (sincerely) who met us at the office on his day off to alleviate my pain. (It HURT.) I've been out of the loop (way the heck out of the loop, sort of out toward Neptune) for the past 36 or so hours. I'm very sorry I didn't respond to your compliments and ideas in a more timely manner- but it's all good now!
<:3~
My golden was (and is, I'm sure) in heaven. I can still see the look on his face, tearing down the old trails in the back 40.
I can't find any really good pics right now - this one is a bit dark, but you can see the similarity in the layout (hallway to the left in my case). Perfect location for heating the entire space.
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