New Blaze King Princess Owner

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On every reload you do not need to go to the high t-stat setting. The numbers are different on the insert so I do not want to confuse you or myself. This will save alot of your wood from burning up in the start up. If you have a good temp in the active range just add more wood.
 
You need to get some stove top temps. Also, not familiar with the markings you describe on your cat probe. Can you post a pic? Does the cat glow brightly? A new cat should be very active.

Moisture content of your wood is suspect, and could be a major factor. Draft may be borderline with the elbows, as mentioned.

The fans make a huge difference in heat output, given the already convective nature of the stove.
 
not to hijack, but I have experienced similar burns in my new ashford. After much to-do, i was told that my 30'+ of lined chimney has too much draft. i installed a turn damper, and it has helped a bit, but im still not getting the length of burn others are getting- but at least im getting through the night now for the most part. i have a new t-stat from BK to install when the wx allows, but i dont think its the problem. all gaskets seem to be tight.

i am curious to see where this thread goes.
 
I think that I both, bought the wrong stove, and am under insulated.
 
Yes the cat is burning brightly when it is engaged.(broken image removed)
 
Is the needle pointing there at the very bottom of the range, lower than the lowest tick, lower than the bottom of the inactive range, where you all are adjusting your cat meters to read when cold?
 
Yes, but just so you know that's not my thermostat it's just an image I found on the net.
 
Jbels said:
I bought 3 face cord to get me started thinking it would get me through the end of the winter, but at this rate, I'll be through that in a month.
Click to expand...

You just bought the wood, or you bought it two years ago and now it's totally dry?
 
Op is saying between 1/2 and 2/3 of a face cord with a face cord being 1/3 a cord in a admitted dafty 2100 sq ft doesn't sound that crazy it's cold, but I don't have one of those crazy BK's so maybe it should do better
 
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ckitch said:
Op is saying between 1/2 and 2/3 of a face cord with a face cord being 1/3 a cord in a admitted dafty 2100 sq ft doesn't sound that crazy it's cold, but I don't have one of those crazy BK's so maybe it should do better
Click to expand...

I can easily burn thru 1/6 of a cord in a week, in my drafty and underinsulated, 1600 sq ft ranch.
 
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It's probably too wet to burn well. I've never, ever seen anyone sell truly dry wood. The Princess is picky about wood, and if your moisture content is too high the stove will not run nearly as well as its capable of.
 
I burn about a 1/3 cord or "face" cord every two weeks in this cold with my Princess heating just under 2K loading twice a day. What you're burning doesn't sound out of line for an drafty old house. The wood is suspect, well dried and bought 2 weeks ago don't go hand and hand even if it is ash. This winter has been bad, I doubt there is a wood seller in business selling seasoned wood right now. It'll be dry enough to get by but far from what us wood nerds will consider well dried.

I can't imagine burning a load in 5-6 hours I'm not even sure how I could begin to do that. Can you take some pictures of how you're loading the stove?

New stove, suspect wood, drafty old house and one of the coldest winters we've seen in years. It can be hard to figure it all out right away. As Jeff said above invest in the fan kit, it will move the heat off the stove a lot better.
 
jeff_t said:
I can easily burn thru 1/6 of a cord in a week, in my drafty and underinsulated, 1600 sq ft ranch.
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I've been torching a 1/3 cord every two weeks for months now. It's going to start getting a lot easier soon though.(fingers crossed!)
 
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rdust said:
I've been torching a 1/3 cord every two weeks for months now. It's going to start getting a lot easier soon though.(fingers crossed!)
Click to expand...

I'm ordering a fan kit tomorrow. And a big project for me is to really go through the house and try and button her up this summer. At least as well as you can in an old house. I also need to pick up a moisture meter just to figure out what I'm burning. Thanks for the input.
 
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I'm curious because I'm wondering now if I have too much draft. I've noticed that my stove definitely has a "hot spot" in it. Right in the front middle it will burn right through that wood in no time while the rest of the wood burns more slowly. I've found myself needing to rake some of the large coals into that spot to really get it to burn down, like when I need to take ash out, or I'm preparing to put in a full load.
 
Jbels said:
I'm curious because I'm wondering now if I have too much draft. I've noticed that my stove definitely has a "hot spot" in it. Right in the front middle it will burn right through that wood in no time while the rest of the wood burns more slowly. I've found myself needing to rake some of the large coals into that spot to really get it to burn down, like when I need to take ash out, or I'm preparing to put in a full load.
Click to expand...

That's the nature of the beast. It is more pronounced in my King, which is about the same depth but much wider.
 
I am watching this thread with great interest. We just this afternoon confirmed our order for a Blaze King Princess for a relatively new construction (2007) well insulated 2000' sq. ft. rancher. At the recommendation of the stove shop owner (who has many years of experience with wood burning appliances, chimneys, etc.) we did NOT order the fan kit with the stove. It is in the backs of our minds that, if we think we need it, we can order it and add it on later.

We do very much understand the insulation (or lack of it) effect. The Princess is going into the house in which we hope to retire in a few years. In the meantime, we live in a 1950s brick/block bungalow with plaster walls and no wall insulation. We use a pellet stove in this house. Our Napoleon NPS 40 free standing pellet stove is rated to heat 2000 sq. ft., but in the coldest weather it could not carry this 1410 sq. ft. bungalow by itself. And that was *before* this winter. The attic had insufficient insulation when we moved here- the original rock wool with much more recent R19 batting over top of it. We had a radiant barrier installed on the underside of the roof and on the gable walls, and my husband rolled out R30 batting over the R19 and the rock wool, leaving the prior insulation in place.

The additional insulation helped a lot but it wasn't the complete solution. Early in the fall, before this cold weather hit, we made a full on effort to seal what air leaks we could in this house. We put UL approved insulating inserts behind every switch plate and outlet plate on ALL walls, both interior and exterior perimeter walls. With no wall insulation, any piercing of the wall envelope caused the walls to act like chimneys, funneling our conditioned air up to the attic. Ditto openings for ceiling fixtures. When my husband pulled back the newer R30 insulation to examine the attic side of our ceiling fixtures, he found dark dust marks on the underside of the white batting insulation that directly correlated to the ceiling fixtures below. Obviously our ceiling fixtures were leaking conditioned air into the attic. Using guidelines from approved sources (Google "sealing attic air leaks" and "sealing air leaks in your home," there are lots of .gov resources) my husband sealed up the air leaks into the attic. We already have replacement windows so there wasn't much to do there, but we did check the weather stripping on the doorways and we added weather stripping to a couple of casement windows.

We even added paintable, clear drying caulk around the baseboards and quarter round next to the hardwood floors; a few rounds of floor sanding and refinishing had left a gap in between the floors and the baseboards, and with our non-insulated walls, we could feel the cold drafts coming in under the baseboards.

Air sealing has made a significant difference in the pellet stove's ability to carry this house through this winter. We have a natural gas furnace and a natural gas water heater, and so far this winter our highest gas bill has been $56.58.

Insulation and air sealing- I'm a Believer.

Thank you for this thread, Jbels- we will continue to watch it with interest!
 
I just want to know where in Virgina where you found a Blaze King dealer?
 
It was a mild, sunny day here yesterday. I loaded my stove around noon, and let it smolder all day. I was up about three hours ago, and the temp on the hall thermostat was 67. I turned the fans on low, and now it is 71.....

The Parlor, without side shields, may give off more radiant heat. Perhaps the fans won't make that much of a difference, but I would consider it a mandatory option with an Ultra.
 
Jbels said:
I'm curious because I'm wondering now if I have too much draft. I've noticed that my stove definitely has a "hot spot" in it. Right in the front middle it will burn right through that wood in no time while the rest of the wood burns more slowly. I've found myself needing to rake some of the large coals into that spot to really get it to burn down, like when I need to take ash out, or I'm preparing to put in a full load.
Click to expand...

My Sirocco burns from the centre out as well.
 
Do you think I should take the side shields off?

Also, as an update, I stopped by the stove shop yesterday to order my fan and was talking to the dealer and installer about what was going on. They sent me home with 6 big red oak splits just to try. Last night I burned from 2000-0600 this morning with two large splits on like 1.75. I also bought a chimney thermometer. I have a feelin that a combination of the wood I'm using and allowing the flu temp to get too high, waisting heat.
 
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Leave them on.

Without even a general idea of how hot you're burning, it's very hard to nail down what settings you need. A stovetop thermometer will also go a long way to figuring out what settings you need. Coming from a tube stove, the biggest change I have had to force myself to make is to understand that the t-stat can be set lower than you would think in order to keep your house warm. With my stove anyways, warm house doesn't always equal high stat setting.

Dry wood will allow you to run the stove at a lower setting while producing more heat for a longer time :)
 
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