Blaze King Ultra - 1st results are in! (and they are AMAZING)

We installed our BLAZE KING ULTRA KING in March and burned it until about the end of April. I was just getting a feel for it at that time. This summer I went out and bought 2 Stihl 260 chainsaws ($275 total from craigslist). I LOVE the STIHL'S! Cut about 10 cords of birch and spruce and had about another 2 cords of spruce that was already seasoned. This stove is absolutely amazing. I started it on October 22 and it has not stopped since. I have only had to empty out the ashes 3 times and then only got about a half a bucket each time. To empty it I simply brush the coals to one side and shovel out the ashes without letting it go out. My son even broke the glass on it and I had to replace the glass, but there were enough coals that it did not even go out then! I am planning on having it burn 24/7 until late spring. Our fuel bill had been running over $1000 per fill (every 5-6 weeks). We just had fuel delivered and for 6 weeks it was only $258.! A mere 73 gallons for 6 weeks of extreme cold (and I feel most of that was because our boiler has a tankless heater for our hot water - I am looking for a better way to heat our household water, maybe propane as I already have propane for our kitchen stove. This was a very cold period with many weeks of -30 and colder. I cannot say enough for my love for this BLAZE KING. I load it in the morning before I go to work, and then again at night before I go to bed. The house is 2 stories, 2240 sq foot total. The KING is in the basement and we cut vents above the stove to get the air upstairs. The upstairs stays about 74 degrees (my wife used to always be cold, not anymore). The basement is considerably warmer, but she likes that too. Our house has a split entrance where you can go downstairs or upstairs from the entrance landing. It used to be that cold air blasted under the front door and we had to have one of those weather proof door stops to keep it out, but now when you open the front door you feel the warmth, very nice on a cold day. Also before, when the cold air came under the door it would waft down the stairs and set off our smoke detector. Not anymore. It also seems that as we have kept it going the whole house has gotten warmer. Our bedrooms are upstairs and in the back of the house and when we first started burning we had to keep the bedroom door open to keep it warm, but now it seems like the house is actually radiating and we can close the door and it stays warm. It is amazing. My wife was always cold, always. Now she is toasty and so much happier! One downside is that it seems there are always wood chips in the basement. And a few burn spots in the carpet. I can live with that...

Blaze King Ultra plus installation and chimney repair: $5000
Fairbanks North Star Borough Woodstove Replacement Program: -$2500 (they paid me for swapping out the Osburn)
Toyota Tacoma: $2400
Stihl 260 Chainsaws (1 pro, 1 reg): $275
Broken Glass Replacement: $200
Chaps: $80
Assorted Chains and new 20" bar: $100
Gas & Oil: $60
All the exercise, fresh air and warmth to enjoy life: PRICELESS!

P.S. I have gone through a bit less than 1 cord per month and have been burning a bit over 2 months now. Should have plenty of wood to make it to summer, then its time to GET MORE WOOD! I already have a plan.

We have a daylight basement (4 feet underground with windows). The front door opens up and there is a landing about 4 x 6 and if you go straight you go upstairs and if you go to the right you go downstairs. I guess you could call it a split foyer but that may be too fancy a term. So we have 1120 sq ft downstairs, and 1120 upstairs. We built the house in 1983. 6" walls plus a vapor barrier, then we put perlings in (2 x 2s going horizontal) and did the electric boxes on those so there is not break in the vapor barrier. I am including a photo of our house and that is me in the photo. The good looking man in the other photo is my son, Jacob (by the truck). Good looks are hereditary (he got it from his mom)...

HotCoals said:

Man..you get some cold temps!
Glad it's working out for you.
Do you use any fans at all?

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REPLY:
The stove has dual fans and we have an eco fan on top and that is all. I did just buy a little fan to mount somewhere (I had a gift certificate from the WOODWAY). Just dont know where yet. The basement is finished and has floor heat but it has not even come on because of the stove.

Sophie said:

I was hoping someone would answer his question - a better way to heat hot water. We're in central NH and this year have heated only with wood. (yeah!) We set our furnace @ 40 degrees and have used 100 gallons of oil @ about $3.50/gallon to heat our hot water for the past 5 months. I'm not complaining, and we don't want to dismantle our furnace in case we need it, but I wonder if there is a better way. We don't have access to natural gas.

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REPLY:
There is an on demand oil fired burners out there (google it).

http://www.toyotomiusa.com/products/waterheaters/OM-148.php

Hogwildz said:

Congrats, and enjoy. It would suck if that carpet caught on fire though. Might want to make a hearth for the stove next summer.

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REPLY:
It would suck thats for sure. Amazing thing about carpet these days, it just seems to melt. I had an ember about 1 inch long pop out that I did not see but smelled something. By the time I saw it, it had already melted a big hole in the carpet about 4 feet away from the stove. So happy carpet is made that way, though my wife was not too thrilled, about the hole that is...

HotCoals said:

My name is Dave and my BKK does get a smokey window.

Come on BK guys admit it..you will feel better! lol

Reason I'm saying this I spied the smokey window in hotprinter's stove.
Mine looks like that now and then..usually most of it burns off I let it rip some.
But I don't care!

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REPLY:
I have a razor scraper that I scrape it off when I load it. The kind you clean stickers off windows. The glass does get dirty, thats for sure.

maxed_out said:

hotprinter, nice setup, glad you are saving some dough and building character.

that sounds like one tight house. just curious if you'd do any of it again or differently? I'd like to try and build a real tight house someday and I want to have some notes from folks that have really done it.

cheers!

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REPLY:
If I was building another house I would build it smaller. I grew up in a very small ranch style house in colorado, probably about 800 sq ft. Houses have gotten too big so then you end up with too much stuff to fill it with that you dont need anyway. I would do a one story ranch style. I would super insulate it and do an offset wall system. (2 x 6 on the outside and then maybe 2 x 4 for the inside walls offset so the face plates did not touch to conduct cold through the plates. I would love to try a heat pump up here, we have a friend who does that.