What exactly is

[Wet1]

Mine being installed in a finished basement made the BK the clear choice.

Have you seen the fan kit in action? Did you opt for it?

The fan kit came standard on mine. I know they sell them both ways, (model KEJ vs. KE, the J stands for "Jet"... aka fan), but when I ordered mine they told me they only sell them with the fans, unless ordered otherwise. The fans (there are two) have a rheostat and they can be pretty powerful when turned all the way up.

 

[SolarAndWood]

The fans (there are two) have a rheostat and they can be pretty powerful when turned all the way up.

The design looks like it must be pretty effective. With a lot of the walls and ceiling open in the house right now, I wonder if it would be worth it to run a few cold air returns from the far end of the house to the area the fans draw from.

 

[Wet1]

Well, I suppose you could do that. If you wanted to make it even more effective, I guess you could seal those reture air ducts to the intake side of the fans... that would certainly work better, but I've never looked into doing this.

I have mine setup so the stove is located in a room close to the staircase leading up to the back side of the house. I have a return vent in the floor/ceiling located at the front of the house with a shrouded fan connect to the vent, forces the cold air back down into the stove room in the basement and creats a strong loop. The warm air is forced out of the room, up the staircase, through the first floor, and back down into the stove room. In my case, strong fans on the stove aren't really required. I can open the staircase going to the 2nd and 3rd floors as well, and run a return down from them as well, but I haven't done that... I'm really just using the stove to heat the finished basement and 1st floor since we don't need all the extra space. Here's a generic layout to give you an idea about what I'm talking about:

 

[SolarAndWood]

My location would be at the end of a 50x22 ft room with one of the 50 foot walls being all glass. The house is L-shaped with another 1000 sq feet around the corner. The current setup with the VC doesn't do a great job with getting around the corner and doesn't keep up when it is super cold/windy out. I'm thinking that one of these higher output stoves with a simple return method like you are doing may get the job done.

 

[Wet1]

Hmmm, that's a tough setup to heat with a single space heater. If you're hell bent on using a stove, I'd think you'd be better off with two of them. Although two stove require more work... Otherwise, it's going to be tough pulling heat the length of the house, especially with the "L" in there. Ducted cold air returns will certainly help, but there will still be a decent delta. I think in your situation (and mine as well should I want to heat my upper floors effectively with wood), I think your best bet would be to go with a boiler, or possibly a furnace. At some point I might consider a gassifier, but for now we're fine with the stoves. Besides, I like having the stoves and the ambiance they create. I also kind of like having the warm and cool areas around the house.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Hmmm, that's a tough setup to heat with a single space heater.

It will only get worse when the 50x22 lower level walkout gets finished. That won't happen until I finish all of the mechanicals. I'm trying to buy some time with the stove until I finish the house. The VC did a good job when all we were heating was the 50x22 space. I doubt I'll be able to get around the boiler when the house is done unless I use the electric baseboards to supplement the stove. Maintaining 2 fires for more than half the year sounds like a full time job.

 

[Wet1]

Maintaining 2 fires for more than half the year sounds like a full time job.

I guess that's why I'm a big fan of the BK stoves. With the cat and thermosat, you can pretty much load them and leave them for a very long time. No constant fussing with dampers and no need to reload every 3 hours.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I guess that's why I'm a big fan of the BK stoves. With the cat and thermosat, you can pretty much load them and leave them for a very long time. No constant fussing with dampers and no need to reload every 3 hours.

That is definitely the appeal of the King and the Equinox. Either should extend us to 10-12 hour heat producing burns and be able to keep up when it is cold and windy.

 

[Highbeam]

I guess that's why I'm a big fan of the BK stoves. With the cat and thermosat, you can pretty much load them and leave them for a very long time. No constant fussing with dampers and no need to reload every 3 hours.

That is definitely the appeal of the King and the Equinox. Either should extend us to 10-12 hour heat producing burns and be able to keep up when it is cold and windy.

If long burn times are your primary objective, I think it is extremely important, then go with with the cat stove. I feel pretty confident in saying that it will burn twice as long as the similar sized non-cat. I don't believe that a non-cat can be turned down low enough for a long burn without being too dirty for the EPA. True, either stove can accomplish 10-12 but one stove will get you 20-40 hours.

If looks are primary then the HS is of course very attractive, looks just like my heritage!

 

[SolarAndWood]

Even with that big firebox filled with hardwood, I don't expect to get more than 10-12 hours burn and keep up. The stove is going to sit in a 1000+ sq ft room with 50 ft of glass. I don't see where the cat buys that much for my needs and I'm pretty burnt on cats right now. That said, I am looking for big and bombproof, so based on what I've read here, the King is on the list.