King or Princess? (I mean Blaze king stoves)

[Highbeam]

If you have 19' of straight 6" vertical, I wouldn't think you'd have a problem at all running the King. Like I said though, have most of your load burnt down before you re-load.

That happens with the princess too on a spec chimney. Open the door with fuel in there and you'll get rollout.

Single wall reducer fits right into the collar or did you need an appliance adapter? Then the double wall fits right into the reducer. I bet that looks pretty good since the double wall outside diameter is only slightly smaller than the 8" OD.

 

[Idahonative]

That happens with the princess too on a spec chimney. Open the door with fuel in there and you'll get rollout.

Single wall reducer fits right into the collar or did you need an appliance adapter? Then the double wall fits right into the reducer. I bet that looks pretty good since the double wall outside diameter is only slightly smaller than the 8" OD.

Went to the local Owyhee Sheet Metal/Ace Hardware store and bought the reducer ($8 I think). It fits perfect down into the stove collar and perfect right up into the double wall. As far as looks...well it probably would look better with the recommended 8" but we don't think it looks all that bad. It looks a lot better when we start adding up all the money it saved us on new 8" pipe.

EDIT: Finally figured out how to import a pic on this stupid Windows 10 laptop:

 

[unclemoustache]

Curious how the princess is working for your old house.

So you went with the Princess, right? How are you liking your new stove?

Jury is still out. Haven't had cold weather yet, but so far it's OK. I'm disappointed in the heat output. It's certainly more efficient - I'm going through a lot less wood, and I can easily get a fire to last all night, so that's great. I'm starting to burn my oak now, but it's really not cold out yet. I just ran out of my junk wood.

I find it annoying to load. I'm used to stoves that have a bigger box than the door, but here the innards are actually lower than the top of the door. That's annoying.

I'm wishing I would have gotten the King now, but it's too late. I can't exchange, so this'll have to do. Still, it's a great quality stove and would be perfect for any modern house, but this drafty barn needs some serious output.

I would say "when this stove dies then I'll get another" but the dealer told me that they don't yet know how long a BK stove lasts, because they haven't had any wear out yet since they started making them!

 

[Idahonative]

Jury is still out. Haven't had cold weather yet, but so far it's OK. I'm disappointed in the heat output. It's certainly more efficient - I'm going through a lot less wood, and I can easily get a fire to last all night, so that's great. I'm starting to burn my oak now, but it's really not cold out yet. I just ran out of my junk wood.

I find it annoying to load. I'm used to stoves that have a bigger box than the door, but here the innards are actually lower than the top of the door. That's annoying.

I'm wishing I would have gotten the King now, but it's too late. I can't exchange, so this'll have to do. Still, it's a great quality stove and would be perfect for any modern house, but this drafty barn needs some serious output.

I would say "when this stove dies then I'll get another" but the dealer told me that they don't yet know how long a BK stove lasts, because they haven't had any wear out yet since they started making them!

I don't want to say I told you so but.....

"Not sure what size your home is but, in my opinion, the King is the way to go. It heats small houses like ours real well (ability to turn down) and it will heat a large home as well."

"Knowing that, I agree there is only one choice...The King."

I'm just cuttin up with you Uncle. Even the Princess will be better than anything you could have bought (except the King) because of the auto damper. Keep us posted how it runs during colder temps while feeding it hardwood.

 

[jaroh]

I will be heading down to a dealer approximately 50 miles away and see what the damage will be. One way or the other I will be leaving with a blaze king. I have a dealer 10 miles down the road but he was $500 more to purchase from. I asked if that was the delivered and set up price and he said no. So off to Missoula I go!!! The dealer there also told me that if I waited until this Friday and Saturday I would get a $199 valued husky chainsaw. Not quite sure what it will be but maybe I can use it to trade up!! Either way, I can't wait for at least a 8 hour burn time since I have never owned anything that burned that long!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Yeah the inside of the stove being lower than the door is a pain, not really sure the idea behind that. I usually end up having to pull the stove forward a bit after the season as a few hits here and there on that stuff up there over the 6+ months pushes the stove back a bit.
Either that or the gnomes that break my equipment constantly move it!

No issues here heating my house with the Princess. I didn't go with a King because I didn't want it taking up half my living room Even the Princess takes up a pretty good sized corner.

 

[Idahonative]

I will be heading down to a dealer approximately 50 miles away and see what the damage will be. One way or the other I will be leaving with a blaze king. I have a dealer 10 miles down the road but he was $500 more to purchase from. I asked if that was the delivered and set up price and he said no. So off to Missoula I go!!! The dealer there also told me that if I waited until this Friday and Saturday I would get a $199 valued husky chainsaw. Not quite sure what it will be but maybe I can use it to trade up!! Either way, I can't wait for at least a 8 hour burn time since I have never owned anything that burned that long!

Prices can vary ALOT! We got a quote here locally last year for a King Ultra and it was $3,800. Put a call into a dealer 50 miles away in Oregon (Shirley's) and her price was $3,000 out the door and Oregon has no sales tax.

P.S.- Unless you have a huge, poorly insulated home, 8 hour burn times are child's play.

 

[Highbeam]

Went to the local Owyhee Sheet Metal/Ace Hardware store and bought the reducer ($8 I think). It fits perfect down into the stove collar and perfect right up into the double wall. As far as looks...well it probably would look better with the recommended 8" but we don't think it looks all that bad. It looks a lot better when we start adding up all the money it saved us on new 8" pipe.

EDIT: Finally figured out how to import a pic on this stupid Windows 10 laptop:

Thanks for the picture Idaho. That doesn't look bad at all. No convection deck on your king, do you have fans?

For me it's not the cost of the 8" pipe upgrade as much as the huge effort to reframe the ceiling for a larger support box, replace the roof flashing with a larger flashing, and then be stuck with 8" pipe when modern stoves seldom use 8" pipe anymore. Not even great big 4.9 CF furnaces.

The junk that hangs down below the top of the door is, in my opinion, the biggest reason that so many of us have smoke roll out issues. Since the opening to the bypass is lower than the door opening you're asking hot smoke to fall down. They've got a good total design though and I wouldn't change it for fear of screwing up the long burn times.

 

[Marshy]

Where are these photos Idaho, can you post them? Maybe of the firebox and the part that hangs down too? I wonder if someone could add a door flapper at the top to keep smoke spilage in the firebox.

 

[Idahonative]

Thanks for the picture Idaho. That doesn't look bad at all. No convection deck on your king, do you have fans?

For me it's not the cost of the 8" pipe upgrade as much as the huge effort to reframe the ceiling for a larger support box, replace the roof flashing with a larger flashing, and then be stuck with 8" pipe when modern stoves seldom use 8" pipe anymore. Not even great big 4.9 CF furnaces.

The junk that hangs down below the top of the door is, in my opinion, the biggest reason that so many of us have smoke roll out issues. Since the opening to the bypass is lower than the door opening you're asking hot smoke to fall down. They've got a good total design though and I wouldn't change it for fear of screwing up the long burn times.

Yes, ours came with a convection deck as standard equipment for the Ultra model. We did not want/order the fans and after receiving our stove, we removed the convection deck. We wanted a nice big flat surface for seasoning cast iron pans, heating water, etc.

I think you make a good point about why the smoke rolls out. I'm thinking now that you could install a King model and probably have the same or less smoke spillage as you do with your Princess. I don't hesitate at all recommending running the King on 6" as long as it is straight up vertical and has good draft. @bkvp will disagree but it has worked fantastic for us.

 

[Idahonative]

Where are these photos Idaho, can you post them? Maybe of the firebox and the part that hangs down too? I wonder if someone could add a door flapper at the top to keep smoke spilage in the firebox.

Photos? I posted the pic of our 6" reducer above. Will try to get a pic of the firebox later tonight when I get home from work.

It's funny you mention the door flapper. I've been thinking about playing around with something like that.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I've had my stove for going on 6 years and I've never had a problem with smoke coming out of the stove. Most people that come by don't even realize that that stove is heating the place until they walk near it. I guess they are used to a house smelling like smoke... inside.... and out.

 

[unclemoustache]

I don't want to say I told you so but.....

"Not sure what size your home is but, in my opinion, the King is the way to go. It heats small houses like ours real well (ability to turn down) and it will heat a large home as well."

"Knowing that, I agree there is only one choice...The King."

I'm just cuttin up with you Uncle. Even the Princess will be better than anything you could have bought (except the King) because of the auto damper. Keep us posted how it runs during colder temps while feeding it hardwood.

Yeah, I should have listened. It was a challenge to talk the wife into spending as much as I did, and going another grand (or more) for the King and pipe would have been tough. Still, I'm not complaining about a great upgrade - just wish I would have gone bigger.

 

[jaroh]

Well I went to Missoula today and purchased a princess ultra with some new single wall pipe and was able to upgrade the chainsaw to a husky 455. All under $3100. Got it home and fired it up on the back of my trailer. Two hours later it started to rain and the wind started blowing so I decided that was a waste of time. I proceeded to take the remaining wood out and let it cool for about an hour. Then the fun of moving it into the house started. Wife was not to excited as she is having back problems and I was not to excited as I have back and hip problems. In the end it all worked out and turned out pretty easy, total time probably 45 minutes of install time. Fired it back up and now it is learning time. It is putting out heat but I am just not used to it as I am used to the last two stoves peaking a lot quicker in heat output. Here's to a long happy warm life!!

 

[HarvestMan]

It is putting out heat but I am just not used to it as I am used to the last two stoves peaking a lot quicker in heat output. Here's to a long happy warm life!!

Once you have been running it enough to "fill up the bucket", the continuous even heat should keep it filled. I try to do that with my non-BK, but I'm sure the t-stat should make this a much easier task. I'd like to see your impressions after a few weeks.

 

[BoBDoG2o02]

Uncle m. You'll get used to it, the constant heat output when you start 24-7 will do the job. Do you have convection deck and fans? I run my fans on the lowest setting almost all of the time....

The reason for the big shelf at the door opening is to hold more ash and extend clean out timing, you should only need to shovel it out every 2 weeks or so when 24/7 burning.

 

[unclemoustache]

I'm pretty much burning 24/7 right now. Last night was good. Plenty of burnable material left, so I can open it up a bit more with the oak. Hickory leaves so much ash I have to shovel more often, but I have mostly oak, so that should be OK.

 

[flotek]

Uncle I have a question why was a wood furnace not considered for your home .online I see a lot of people who put a wood stove in their basement hoping to get the heat upstairs and from my research that usually yields poor results and cold bedrooms . Was there a special reason a forced air wood furnace wasn't an option because they do such a wonderful job and make all the rooms consistent in temperature

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I clean mine out maybe every 4-6 weeks with 24/7 burning. Probably the deal that different woods make for more or less ash.
When I empty it out, it usually pretty well fills a 5 gallon metal pail.

Uncle m. You'll get used to it, the constant heat output when you start 24-7 will do the job. Do you have convection deck and fans? I run my fans on the lowest setting almost all of the time....

The reason for the big shelf at the door opening is to hold more ash and extend clean out timing, you should only need to shovel it out every 2 weeks or so when 24/7 burning.

 

[Marshy]

Uncle I have a question why was a wood furnace not considered for your home .online I see a lot of people who put a wood stove in their basement hoping to get the heat upstairs and from my research that usually yields poor results and cold bedrooms . Was there a special reason a forced air wood furnace wasn't an option because they do such a wonderful job and make all the rooms consistent in temperature

I'm not speaking for Unc' but I will say that it might not be considered if they don't already have the duct work for forced air and most of those older home were setup for a hydronic systems. My home was constructed in mid 90's and has baseboard heat and oil boiler. I heat the whole home with a free standing stove from the basements. The disadvantage is there is one bedroom that dose get cold if the door is shut for the night. I'm considering adding a vent in the floor to allow heat to rise up through but my main concern with that was if I have smoke seepage during reloading. I plan to address that by getting some magnetic covers for the vent. When I go to reload the I can cover the vent from the basement and reload. Then remove the cover as needed.