Which Blaze King is right for my house

[mavrick81]

So I heard back on pricing and the Princess is about $600 more than the Ashford and the King is about $440 more than the Princess (that for everything including installation). I think at this point I am leaning towards the King since it isn't that much more.

My builder has another supplier that he uses as well and while they don't carry the Blaze King brand, they said to look into Legacy And Performer from Iron Strike. Both are about the same price as the Ashford. I'm not familiar with that brand so I have some more research to do. Anyone know much about them?

 

[begreen]

Those are Country stoves made in Auburn, WA. Good solid non-cat steel stoves.

 

[Highbeam]

Those are Country stoves made in Auburn, WA. Good solid non-cat steel stoves.

Country was a local manufacturer that sold out to big brand Lennox several years ago. The old designs were solid with a good local reputation. If you actually want to heat full time with wood then a cat stove is the only way to get a reasonable burn time. 40 hours for the king or 8-12 hours for the best non-cat. Big difference.

I have a hard time believing that the ashford is 600$ cheaper than the princess. Did you personally call Bremerton dealer or is this all though your builder? Dealers selling non-cats are a dime a dozen. Heck, home depot sells the big Englander NC30 for like 700$.

Only paying 440$ more for everything on the upgrade from king to princess is an excellent upgrade price. I wonder if the estimator realized that you need 8" chimney. It's not common pipe but absolutely required for the king to have 8".

 

[begreen]

The Country plant in Auburn is still making the stoves. Name changed with ownership, but the core products remained the same. Lennox and now IronStrike are just resellers.
"Based in Auburn, WA, Country Stoves is now a proud member of the IronStrike family of product. Many of our earliest employees and dealers are still with us. We believe that their loyalty is earned by our continued commitment to uncompromising quality, the latest technology, superior performance, and graceful style. The result: thousands of families have put their trust in us by inviting a Country Collection stove into their home."
(broken link removed to http://ironstrike.us.com/country-collection)

 

[tarzan]

I have had both the Performer and the Princess. The Country/Lennox/Iron Strike are WELL built stoves but there's just no comparison.

They simply can't hold a candle to the BK stoves in over all performance.

 

[bholler]

And those are two 45 degree runs.

Where do you see 45s I see a 90 going out then you have a 90 at the tee. That means 2 90s yes it can work fine but it will never work as well or be as easy to clean properly as straight off the stove would be. So straight up is the preferred method period.

 

[Highbeam]

Two 45s bolted together to make a long radius 90.

 

[mavrick81]

I have a hard time believing that the ashford is 600$ cheaper than the princess. Did you personally call Bremerton dealer or is this all though your builder? Dealers selling non-cats are a dime a dozen. Heck, home depot sells the big Englander NC30 for like 700$.

Only paying 440$ more for everything on the upgrade from king to princess is an excellent upgrade price. I wonder if the estimator realized that you need 8" chimney. It's not common pipe but absolutely required for the king to have 8".

The quote is from my builder who went through Olympia Fireplace. I would imagine that they know an 8" pipe is needed for the King since they are the experts, but I will double check to make sure. I'll also bring up the shields and fan kit as I would like to get it as close to the wall as possible. How much do the shields and fan kit typically cost?

I still think I'm still leaning towards the King. The extended burn time is a big plus and hard to beat.

 

[Highbeam]

The quote is from my builder who went through Olympia Fireplace. I would imagine that they know an 8" pipe is needed for the King since they are the experts, but I will double check to make sure. I'll also bring up the shields and fan kit as I would like to get it as close to the wall as possible. How much do the shields and fan kit typically cost?

I still think I'm still leaning towards the King. The extended burn time is a big plus and hard to beat.

Good choice on the king. I believe that there is a special right now on the fans and yes you want them.

Just an hour ago I came home and reloaded full size splits of red alder on top of coals from a fire started over 24 hours ago in a cold stove. Even the smaller princess can live up to the 30 hour claims. 40 would be excellent.

 

[tarzan]

The quote is from my builder who went through Olympia Fireplace. I would imagine that they know an 8" pipe is needed for the King since they are the experts, but I will double check to make sure. I'll also bring up the shields and fan kit as I would like to get it as close to the wall as possible. How much do the shields and fan kit typically cost?

I still think I'm still leaning towards the King. The extended burn time is a big plus and hard to beat.

Beware of so called experts. You may indeed be dealing with experts but I can tell you from experience that I can walk into any stove shop in my area and know more about there products than the salesmen. Not saying I'm a book of knowledge but unfortunately I've discovered a quick Google search is all that's needed to get the upper hand on most sales persons.

 

[BKVP]

The free blower promotion end last month...sorry.

 

[Niko]

I own a king ultra and love the stove. I drove 4 hrs away to buy one, the dealers in my area do not sell blaze king. It Was well worth the drive and I would do it and recommend the same to others. I have had it now 3 years. When you have it for couple of years and compare the years of burning everything these guys say make sense. Density of the wood, is your wood dry, pipe length, elbows etc. I am buring a mixture of Locus and black oak now for the first time ever and OOOO man it is like a night and dy difference. Too much heat so i have my thermostat much lower then usual. I get 24+ burn times the coals from these specis burn extremely hot. I never run it where i completely have no coals left i just reload it once a night. If i forget or am busy with work the stove still is plenty hot the next morning and still has coals in it to start a new fire easily. Thats at the 36 hr mark. So usually at 9pm i Put in a half load cause the bottom is coals and dont fill it again unitl the next night at 9pm.

My house is 3,000 square feet, stove is downstairs. House has lots of rooms, downstairs temps are usually 80 degrees and upstairs between 72-67, 67 being the farthest away from the stove. I am adressing my homes insulation bit by bit which is not bad, but can be better. The temps above are for the 30 degree temps. When they reach 0 degree i dont turn up the stove really because then my downstairs would be like 90+ degrees and upstairs i only see a 1 degree increase in the colder part. So we set our thermometers fot 67.

My setup has paid me back in one year. If you take the temps my house is at and use oil at those same temps the fuel bill would be a lot more then what i paid to buy everything.

 

[mavrick81]

Do I need both the shields and the blower/fan in order to have the stove placed closer to the wall, or is it one or the other? looking at the brochure it states "Must use fan kit or rear shield and double wall pipe" for reduced clearance.