This thing is absolutely silly - AKA Nick's Sirocco 30 Install

[blueguy]

Started out using wood for our primary heat a couple years' ago with a Napoleon 1450. Even though the 1450 heated our 2200 sq ft bungalow from the fully finished basement (1100 down and 1100 up) fairly well, the list of things we didn't like about the stove started my search for something different - massive amounts of heat put out in the first few hours, then the house started cooling off; the stove burned hot, regardless of draft setting and we didn't like the fact there was no control over how hot it got. Don't get me wrong, the 1450 is a great stove, but heating from a basement with an exterior chimney with this stove highlighted all of the things we didn't like about it. What we identified as being absolute requirements for us was control over the heat, longer times between reloads to fit our work schedules, a stove that is 2.25 cu ft or larger, something that wouldn't run us out of the basement rec room where the stove is, a 6" flue if at all possible, something that needed ember protection only, something that had a 7" or less corner clearance and preferably something that was aesthetically pleasing if at all possible. We contemplated going to a 1900 or maybe even the Enerzone 3.4, but after doing quite a lot of research online about the different options, we decided on a BK which would meet all of our prerequisites except maybe the aesthetically pleasing part. Of course, reading all of the rave reviews on here about the "alien" technology didn't help either

With no local BK dealer, we had to rely on the printed brochures from BK's website and narrowed it down to either the Sirocco 30, Princess or the King using a 8" to 6" reducer and hope for no smoke spillage. As the King was only $500 more than the Sirocco 30, I was all set to pull the trigger, but due to draft measurement requirements laid out in the codes here and the extra cost of the 8" connector pipe, we decided on the Sirocco 30. I ordered it up on the 3rd of Feb and it was drop shipped to my house on the 13th.

I decided to order everything I would need in one shot, so I also got the blowers and convection deck.

On to the pics:

The 1450 being replaced:



After waiting all day for the truck to show up, the stove arrived. The stove body is crated on its own, so the owner has option to install the leg kit or a pedestal:



When I got it uncrated, I noticed several blemishes in the paint, most notably a big one on the rear right corner of the stove top where it looks like something may have rubbed off the paint. Based on all of the complaints about shoddy welding in the stove collar I read here, I also wanted to get a close-up look in the collar ASAP in case I had to do some grinding. I am happy to say that the welds all look good, and no booger welds or large amounts of spatter were present:



Everything else was boxed separately, so I unpacked everything.

Pedestal and ash pan:



Plain cast door:





Closeup of the door latch:



Closeup of the latch on the firebox:



The pedestal is mounted to the stove body by 4 bolts. I stripped all of the firebrick out of the firebox and removed the side shields before using my engine crane / shop hoist to lift the stove body to mount the pedestal. Once everything was together, we moved the stove into the basement using a fridge cart I bought when we moved into the house.

Once we got the stove into position, I mounted the convection deck and blowers to the stove. When I attached the slip section of the connector pipe to the stove collar, I noticed that when the flare in the bottom of the pipe was fully seated on the top of the stove collar, the bottom edge of the pipe was above the top of the convection deck. I called the sweep I bought this through, the local stove shop and even to BK in Penticton to check to make sure this was normal, and all agreed. I still think it looks sloppy, but I might invest in another slip section piece which will seat all the way into the collar. An Excel stove adapter would sit in the collar just the same as the current pipe, so I am not going to attempt that. It was a very big pain getting the "self tapping" screws to tap into the collar, so I pilot drilled the holes - 3 drill bits and a bunch of broken screws later, it's all safely mounted and secure.

I reinstalled all the firebrick. When I pulled the brick out of the stove body in the garage, one of the standard sized ones was broken across the width, so I picked up a replacement SBI brick locally for $4. A couple things stood out at me when I was handling the bricks - they all seem to be pumice bricks, very light and not near as dense as the heavier ones that were in my Napoleon, and there is a fabric mat under the layer of bricks across the stove floor. I assume this is an insulating layer of sorts to reduce the amount of heat being transferred through the stove floor:



The ash plug seems tinier than I expected, but I'll give it a whirl and if I don't like it, I kept the sealing plug and bottom plate to reinstall:





I got a pic of the stove side without the shield in place for those who may be interested:



And with the shield in place:



While I was in the firebox, I slipped out the cat and took a pic. The cat is steel, and the gasket was secured to it with a lot of masking tape. The tape burned right off in the first fire.



Dropped the door onto the hinge pins (I like this design A LOT better than the Nappy one of the separate pins that like to walk out) and latched the door shut. All I can say is that is what a lot more effort to get the door closed.

Based on the threads mentioning t-stat operation here, I pulled the cover off and twisted the dial a couple of times. On a stone cold stove, mine clicks closed at around 1 on the dial. The odd thing is that when turned fully open, the stop on the rod contacts at just shy of 3:



I was thinking of loosening the set screw on the dial and readjusting it so that it is sitting at 3.5 at the stop. Any thoughts on that - sound good or just run it as is?

Anyways, here it is all buttoned up and ready to start it's first fire:



I ran my wife's hairdryer up through the bypass for about 5 mins to warm the flue before starting a load of kindling:



So while we're waiting on the kindling to get fully engaged, here is what else came with the stove...

A bag with all of the documentation, a "BK" firestarter (I added it to my 100ct box of Super Cedars), a 2" cat probe, a poker / ash plug removal tool and the cat flame guard:





The bag of documentation came with break in directions from the company that I assume the paint came from, and it said to run it up to 400F for 15 mins and then up to 600F for an hour to cure the paint. As the kindling started to burn down, I figured there was no way a stone cold stove that hadn't been fired ever was getting up to 400 without more wood, so I added about 6 small-ish splits. When I opened the door, I was met with a wall of smoke coming out, which I wasn't at all happy about. I figured after that the smoke was probably not all from the wood, but from the oils and moisture being baked out of the internals (I trialled it again this morning after the load had all caught and very little smoke spillage, so it seems I was right). Once the cat was in the active zone, I closed the bypass and left the t-stat on high.

After several hours of smoke coming off the stove, my smoke / CO detectors going off and every window in the basement open, the paint seems cured. I left the stove on ~2 for the night and went to bed at 9:45ish with the stove top at 600ish and the cat glowing:

 

[blueguy]

I was up this morning at 0530 and the cat was partway in the inactive zone with a stove top of ~250 / 300 and very little ash with a few coals. I raked them all forward and loaded up the stove with 7 medium sized splits. At 0605, I closed the bypass and turned the t-stat to a little over 2 (it's hard to see with my corner install):



At 1105, I checked on the stove, and the cat probe was over halfway into the active zone, the stove top at 537 over the cat, 500 in the right corner and almost 3/4 of the wood remaining:







So far, except for the putrid smell of paint curing, I am extremely pleased with the stove. Even though the long range forecast isn't showing any extreme cold for the next two weeks to test out the stove burning full out with a packed load, I don't have any fears of this being money wasted. As shoulder season comes back on, I am going to try for the longest burns I can get to see if I can surpass the 30 hour mark.

I am definitely a BK convert



For those who may be interested, my stove was built in Penticton, BC in Aug 2013.

 

[blueguy]

At 2 pm, the stove top is sitting at 405F, the cat probe is at about the 10 position and about 1/4 of the load is left:





8 hours after closing down the bypass with roughly the same amount of wood that would fill my 1450 this time of year (which would be down to coals and a 250F stove top by this point), I still have a lot of heat coming off this thing and more to go. This is just silly .....and well, pretty damn awesome!

 

[tcassavaugh]

very detailed, thanks for taking the time to share. I've been thinking about a princess. I currently have a pe summit, which looks very similar, with the ashpan option. the trap is located in the front left and is kind of a pita when you burn 24-7. I much prefer the grate and pan like the old dutchwest or my jotul setup.

 

[Mike M.]

Nice post Nick. So other than reduced wood consumption and burn times, are you seeing any additional advantages? How long did you have the 1450 and did it have the blower option?

 

[craigbaill]

Thanks for the very detailed writeup. I was looking at this very stove on their website not two hours ago. Glad to see it is working out well.

 

[blueguy]

Nice post Nick. So other than reduced wood consumption and burn times, are you seeing any additional advantages? How long did you have the 1450 and did it have the blower option?

Well, I've only had it a couple days, so I'm still playing with it...but the firebox is visibly bigger, so I am assuming if we get another cold snap, even with I turned right up, I should still see long burn times. But the burn times and wood consumption seem to be the major advantages.

I did have the blower on the 1450, and to be honest I rarely used it. The blower just really didn't seem to make much difference. I tried out the blowers on the Sirocco this morning a bit, and they push some HOT air out the end of the convection deck. I think if I need to use them during the next cold snap, they'll come in super handy.

Speaking of the convection deck, I didn't mention it before, but it came with a 4" cat probe. What I found interesting is BK added in an air "deflector" on the underside behind the probe which looks to deflect air from the blowers around the probe so the temp reading isn't affected. I haven't played with them long enough though to check to see if it works or not yet.

 

[blueguy]

At 4:50, my stove top temp was down to 291 and the cat probe falling, so I achieved just shy of 11 hours with that load:





I reloaded with 7 nice sized pieces loosely placed:



By 5:10, the cat was back into the active zone, bypass closed and the temp climbing past 431:



Since it was so warm in here today, I put the dial at 1.5 to see how long this load would burn and what temp it would be in here in the morning. The Mrs and I went out to a movie and came back to at 517 degree stove top at 8:35:





I am very interested to see what the temp is in the morning

 

[rdust]

This is a quote from a post I made after installing my Princess back in 2011.

I have to say this thing is silly or better yet super silly!

So I can say I agree with your thread title.

 

[blueguy]

After making coffee, I sauntered downstairs at 6:05 to see where this thing was in its burn cycle. 13 hours in at 1.5, the stove top is sitting at 361, the cat probe is at about the 10 o'clock position and about 1/2 the load is left:

It's holding the basement at 73, and upstairs in our bedroom all the way to the back it's 66 - with an outside temp of 15 and a howling snowstorm ongoing. I think I'm in love

 

[blueguy]

This is a quote from a post I made after installing my Princess back in 2011.


So I can say I agree with your thread title.

I don't know of any other way to put it ....IMO, being able to get still get lots of heat off the stove after 13 hours is so ridiculously crazy. Maybe BK should change the name of this stove to the Silly-rocco 30

I think I may have inadvertently infringed on your description after going blind from all the reading of BK threads here

 

[blueguy]

Well, I've only had it a couple days, so I'm still playing with it...but the firebox is visibly bigger, so I am assuming if we get another cold snap, even with I turned right up, I should still see long burn times. But the burn times and wood consumption seem to be the major advantages.

The other thing I am really liking about this is the reduced reload time. With my 1450, it would take anywhere from 30 to 60 mins (depending on wood dryness) to get the stove cruising from a reload to ensure the secondaries stayed active. I had the Sirocco cruising last evening in 20 mins tops. So add in reduced loading time to my list

 

[blueguy]

very detailed, thanks for taking the time to share. I've been thinking about a princess. I currently have a pe summit, which looks very similar, with the ashpan option. the trap is located in the front left and is kind of a pita when you burn 24-7. I much prefer the grate and pan like the old dutchwest or my jotul setup.

To be honest, I was a little worried after reading about some issues BK owners were experiencing especially with my less than perfect wood and exterior chimney. After seeing what this thing is capable of just in the two days or burning, I am very glad I made the switch.

Depending on which look you like, either the Princess or Sirocco 30 are pretty much the same firebox size. The Princess Ultra was about $30 more than the Sirocco 30 dressed out the same. Based on what I am seeing here so far, I don't think you could go wrong

 

[blueguy]

Thanks for the very detailed writeup. I was looking at this very stove on their website not two hours ago. Glad to see it is working out well.

No problem. Lack of detailed pics and reviews on this model were the reason I went a little overboard

 

[blueguy]

At 0820, the stove top was down to ~296 degrees and the cat probe dropped to the line between active / inactive with a couple charred splits left on the left side of the firebox and very little glow from the coals on the right side. I was about to turn it up, but decided to wait and see. At 0900, the stove top is back up to 350, the cat probe at 10 o'clock and the coals are glowing again.

Gotta love the t-stat

Edit: 16 hours in and more to go!

 

[Kevin Dolan]

The other thing I am really liking about this is the reduced reload time. With my 1450, it would take anywhere from 30 to 60 mins (depending on wood dryness) to get the stove cruising from a reload to ensure the secondaries stayed active. I had the Sirocco cruising last evening in 20 mins tops. So add in reduced loading time to my list

Blue guy you sound like one happy camper. Are you burning maple?

 

[blueguy]

Happy doesn't describe it

My stacks are all mixed hardwoods with a mix of yellow birch, rock maple, beech and some other stuff I haven't positively ID'd yet.

 

[HotCoals]

Very nice!

I see you like the faster reload to cruise times and of course the longer burn times with a cat stove.
You really are going to love the shoulder season and trust the money was not wasted on the fans. When it gets really cold out they will come in handy. I rarely run mine but when I do they do make a diff. I see one error in your posting! There were 8 pieces of wood in the stove when you said 7..lol.
Now you gotta go back and look right? lol

 

[blueguy]

I did go back and look

I went for the faster reload time just to see if the cat would light or not. And to be honest, the fact that I could do it after 20 mins instead of 60 was just icing on the cake

 

[blueguy]

I was thinking of loosening the set screw on the dial and readjusting it so that it is sitting at 3.5 at the stop. Any thoughts on that - sound good or just run it as is?

Any BK diehards have an opinion on this one?

 

[Rickb]

Pretty much the only difference in shoulder season and really cold days is weather I turn the blower on or not lol.when its under 35F I turn the blower on if its over that I don't. Basement stays around 75 and the main floor at 71.

 

[Fechmup]

Great write up! Thank you for taking the time.

 

[HotCoals]

I did go back and look

I went for the faster reload time just to see if the cat would light or not. And to be honest, the fact that I could do it after 20 mins instead of 60 was just icing on the cake

When your bored and have some free time and it's fairly warm out load the stove then give it just enough air to have some flame. instead of giving it a lot of air to char.
It will come up to temp way slower but the cat should come alive on it's own and if the t-stat is in the sweet spot it should close off the air when everything is up to temp. It takes some practice but pretty cool if you get it to work. Extends the burn time even longer that way.

 

[CenterTree]

I'm holding out for a BK Ashford 20.

I can wish and hope, right?

 

[blueguy]

I'm holding out for a BK Ashford 20.

I can wish and hope, right?

Absolutely, although based on the response to the PM I sent Chris while I was still in research mode, you may be waiting a while. I asked him about the possibility of a Sirocco 40, and it sounded like BK is engrossed in meeting the proposed new EPA regulations, meaning new models are on the back burner.