Which Blaze King is right for my house

[mavrick81]

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of having a house built and am trying to decide on what the right Blaze King would be for my house. Location is Shelton, Washington (average low in winter is 33f); house is 2350 sq ft, 2 story with 1450 on 1st floor and 900 on 2nd. Additionally, the 1st floor has 9 ft ceilings and the 2nd floor has 8 ft (although portions of the ceiling are not full ceilings). We will also have another heat source (heat pump), but we would like to use the Stove as our primary source.

The 3 stoves I'm looking at are the King, Princess, and Ashford 30. We like the looks of the Ashford, but the King and Princess seem to be the most efficient (the old form or function debate). The salesman at the store wasn't very helpful but he did mention that the Princess would basically have to be at full blast in order to heat the home and didn't recommend it (said it went up to 1500 sq ft, although the sign said 2400). He didn't seem to have any concerns with the Ashford, but then when I compared the specs between the two they seemed pretty similar so I'm not sure what to believe.

With that said, would the princess be sufficient to heat our house, or do I need to go with the larger King? I would assume if the princess isn't sufficient than the Ashford would also not work.

Thanks Everyone,
Eric

 

[BKVP]

Eric,

One of the coldest cities in the USA, perhaps North America, is Fairbanks AK. Our dealer there sells 10 or 15 Princess models to every King.

The BTU range between the models is negligible. So long as your fuel is season, below 20% on the face of a fresh split, you can use either model.

Highbeam will tell you to get the biggest one possible. It really is a matter of fuel carrying capacity and the King is appropriately named. Keep in mind the King does require an 8" system which can add significantly to the cost of the project. Also, try to make certain the chimney is an up and out install (all vertical).

I live in the Walla Walla area and burn a King. But I do have to remind myself to run it hot a few times a week to keep in the innards all nice and clean. If the room you are putting the stove into is large and has plenty of air movement, a King would be fine.

If the room is a bit smaller, a Princess or Ashford will get the job done just fine. You just can't add as much fuel. I'm off hunting quite a bit in the winter months, so I went with the King.

Hope this helps....let the others now comment.

 

[Dieselhead]

Simply put, you cannot overbuy. Easy stove to turn down where you won't bake yourself out of the house and have the fuel capacity to get up to a 24 hr burn.

 

[Poindexter]

How many stairwells?

If you have a stairwell at each end of the 900 ft upstairs and can put the stove close to one and far away from the other you have a shot at setting up a convective loop with the woodstove to heat both floors.

Anticipated as built R value? I think i have something like R60 to R 80 in the ceiling ans something in the R30s for my walls on 1200sqft.

Honestly if the house is pretty airtight and pretty well insulated any of thise three stoves at plus 33 dF can put enough heat into 1400 sqft for you to keep your wife warm enough for her to stay nekkid all winter. The only two variables left are how does the stove look, and how often are you willing to reload.

 

[Poindexter]

I think probably the most important variable for you, as bkvp already mentioned, is to make sure your framing is built to allow a straight up and down chimney with no elbows in it.

 

[tarzan]

Since you are starting from scratch and have decided to be a dedicated wood burner, I would put much thought into stove placement and go with the King.

All BK stoves are known for long burn times but the King is the King of long burns. Hunting, working, hospitals, life in general. If your burning 6 to 8 months a year, there will be times that longer burn times will be desirable if not needed.

 

[ohlongarm]

I think probably the most important variable for you, as bkvp already mentioned, is to make sure your framing is built to allow a straight up and down chimney with no elbows in it.

Good advice however I'm running BK'S recommended minimum chimney height with one 90 degree elbow before a straight run and i've experienced no problems. However shoulder season burning takes a little longer to get a solid draft cracking the stove door an inch helps the process.At some point i'll add an extra 3 feet of class A to where the chimney cap connects to my liner.

 

[Highbeam]

Hello neighbor. The princess is actually more capable than the Ashford, slightly bigger, more efficient, and higher max btu but they are very close. If you like the looks enough and have the physical space then the only drawback to the king model is the odd 8" chimney. It's weird and only a small percentage of modern stoves require it though most 6" stoves can use the 8".

I have the princess for 1700 sf of old house near enumclaw. The princess runs on the lowest setting 90% of the time. I think your salesman was underselling the princess. I bought mine in Bremerton.

With your heat pump you can avoid most of the warm weather burning that makes our heating season so dang long. Like 9 months! Instead, you can run your king only when the low burn rate is not too much.

Hard to choose wrong here. The king burns 40 hours which means easy once per day reloads on lots of coals. That's a really big deal. My princess can do 30 hours on alder or fir but there's not much left after 24. I usually need some kindling. Most folks in Shelton commute a long ways so their work days are more than 12 hours. It's really nice to just wake up and leave every morning with the knowledge that your fire from the night before will still be pumping out heat after you return from work. Really nice.

Go king! I've never read of anyone who did and wished they had gotten the princess.

 

[begreen]

If the house is well sealed and well insulated with new construction the Ashford 30.1 would do fine if you like the look better. Our regional power cost is reasonable so heating with a good heat pump in milder weather is often more efficient and definitely cleaner during our long mild fall and spring. This year for example has been the latest I can recall for starting the stove. We've only had a couple nights and a couple fires so far with nighttime temps in the mid-40s. Finally next week it looks like we will start burning 24/7.

Regardless of stove choice, you will need a good supply of fully seasoned wood. Modern stoves don't perform well with partially seasoned or damp wood.

 

[Highbeam]

Good advice however I'm running BK'S recommended minimum chimney height with one 90 degree elbow before a straight run and i've experienced no problems. However shoulder season burning takes a little longer to get a solid draft cracking the stove door an inch helps the process.At some point i'll add an extra 3 feet of class A to where the chimney cap connects to my liner.

How can you have just one 90 from a top vent stove? Are you not counting the tee where the pipe hits the liner? The old king/princess manual only required 12'. Now 15'. I'm at 12' all vertical and it works fine but I think it could be better at 15'.

 

[Highbeam]

If the house is well sealed and well insulated with new construction the Ashford 30.1 would do fine if you like the look better. Our regional power cost is reasonable so heating with a good heat pump in milder weather is often more efficient and definitely cleaner during our long mild fall and spring. This year for example has been the latest I can recall for starting the stove. We've only had a couple nights and a couple fires so far with nighttime temps in the mid-40s. Finally next week it looks like we will start burning 24/7.

Regardless of stove choice, you will need a good supply of fully seasoned wood. Modern stoves don't perform well with partially seasoned or damp wood.

It has been an odd year. I have been burning one full load every other day since October. We are full time wood heaters so if it's cold, we burn.

 

[begreen]

Yes, normally I am burning by mid-October.

 

[ohlongarm]

How can you have just one 90 from a top vent stove? Are you not counting the tee where the pipe hits the liner? The old king/princess manual only required 12'. Now 15'. I'm at 12' all vertical and it works fine but I think it could be better at 15'.

I'll post a picture maybe I'm wrong

How can you have just one 90 from a top vent stove? Are you not counting the tee where the pipe hits the liner? The old king/princess manual only required 12'. Now 15'. I'm at 12' all vertical and it works fine but I think it could be better at 15'.

Here's what I have.It then goes through the wall and has a horzontal run of about 1 foot and then straight up.Twelve feet total from stovetop.

 

[Woody Stover]

Those 45s have to be a little better than a 90 there, I'd think.

 

[Poindexter]

@ohlongarm , that pipe looks like a major pain in the neck to clean compared to a straight shot no elbow pipe that runs vertical only from collar to cap.

The OP is starting with new construction and i stand beside my opinion that he should avoid all that elbow foolishness - because he isnt retrofitting.

 

[bholler]

@ohlongarm , that pipe looks like a major pain in the neck to clean compared to a straight shot no elbow pipe that runs vertical only from collar to cap.

The OP is starting with new construction and i stand beside my opinion that he should avoid all that elbow foolishness - because he isnt retrofitting.

I agree totally. Through the wall like that does not draft as well and is much harder to clean. Yes it can work fine if that is your only option but starting from scratch I would always recommend going straight up with it.

 

[begreen]

Those two 90º turns effectively lop off about 6ft of drafting performance. It's a tribute to the stove that it is functioning.

 

[mavrick81]

Wow, i didn't expect so many responses! Thanks everyone for taking the time to provide your thoughts.

I didn't realize there was a benefit to having the pipe go straight up, so thank you for the insight there. My only concern is that there is room directly above the family room (the loft) and looking at the dimensions for the King and Princess and it appears that the pipe has to be at least 30" from the wall. That won't be an issue down in the family room, but then what about the room on the 2nd floor? I'm sure I'm not the first to have this scenario; what do others do? Do they just have the pipe going through the room? Is it possible to gradually angle the pipe so that by the time it gets to the ceiling it is a bit closer to the wall?

I think I have decided to go with either the Princess or King at this point. I'm just waiting to hear back on the cost for the two. My wife and I both work in Olympia so we'll have about a 45 minute commute each way, so the idea of not having to worry about dealing with the fire in the morning would be a big plus.

 

[begreen]

Yes you can offset the stove pipe in first floor so that the chimney pipe in the loft is closer to the wall. The loft chimney pipe will need to be chased (walled in). Not sure how the 30" came up though, is this a corner install?

 

[mavrick81]

That is good to know about offsetting.

Yes it is a corner install. I got it from the brochure that they gave me for the Princess/King. The diagram shows the adjacent wall to flue center at 28" for the princess and 29 5/8" for the King.

 

[begreen]

Ah, that explains it. That can be reduced down to 20" for the Princess with side and rear shields or fan kit.

 

[Poindexter]

Check your local codes for the chimney chase on the second floor.

I can rattle off the alaska specs and i think they are reasonable. ur inspector will not be from alaska. i suspect your code is either the same or more stringent than mine.

 

[Highbeam]

In my non corner install with all vertical and double wall pipe I'm at 10" from the back wall. Corners Make things harder. Once you go through the first floor you have to be in class a chimney pipe which only requires 2" clearance.

 

[Highbeam]

I'll post a picture maybe I'm wrong

Here's what I have.It then goes through the wall and has a horzontal run of about 1 foot and then straight up.Twelve feet total from stovetop.View attachment 187894

Ah, yeah, I would consider that to be two 90 degree bends.

 

[ohlongarm]

@ohlongarm , that pipe looks like a major pain in the neck to clean compared to a straight shot no elbow pipe that runs vertical only from collar to cap.

The OP is starting with new construction and i stand beside my opinion that he should avoid all that elbow foolishness - because he isnt retrofitting.

The section of pipe that you see never gets dirty,trust me I know,I just clean the vertical run outside. The pipe you see slips up and I check it periodically never anything but a very fine almost non existent powder. And those are two 45 degree runs.