What Stove to buy???

Is the stove going in the lowest floor (basement) or main floor??

Also the size of the room, location of the room (the more central, the better), and the openness of that room to the adjacent rooms (airflow out).

Are you trying to supplement your main heat? Are you trying to reduce as much usage as possible? Or are you looking to have a fire on weekends and maybe some evenings?

Then there is the efficiency of your home... (Insulation, Windows, Etc). There is a lot that goes into the decision of "What stove"?.

Many different factors come into play. Knowing the full layout of the home, its age, and whether its sealed pretty tight, or leaks like &@!%..

A Blaze King Ultra seems fitting for that size home, but if its going into a 250 sq ft room, with only one standard doorway to get in and out. Then your gonna make that room a sauna and the rest of the house will be cold.

If I were in your situation I'd be looking to get a king too, but Dexter makes a good point about the room where the stove will sit. Some more details will help clear things up. One other thing to consider is do you have the space to store two or three years of firewood? It is my understanding that cats will gunk up with less than seasoned wood. Either way it sounds like you're on the right track and have come to the right place for help.

Based on it being in the basement and being open. Then also fairly open upstairs with floor grates.... Then I would say the King also...

Only thing I would make sure of, is if it will breathe properly w/ a 7" liner. Im sure it would do alright. But maybe there is someone here who has tried it w/ a 7".

The difference in area between a 7" and 8" may not seem like much. But I would want to be sure before spending the cash. Having a liner already puts you way ahead of the game... With it being in outside and surrounded by brick, I would hope its an insulated liner? If not, I would highly suggest looking into insulating it.

I would do everything I could to help that King Breathe well.. My 2 pennies..

(Alien technology in those stoves. So that 7-8 cord should last until 2025 or later)

How tall is the chimney? Seems like someone was running a king on a tall 6" flue with success. Maybe. That was a couple of years ago, so I could be wrong.
The king won't be too much, especially from the basement. If you want to use the basement for a rec room, you can cut it back and be comfortable.
Is the basement insulated?

When we where looking at stoves we looked hard at blaze king. One thing we discovered was the sheer amount of heat they throw out it is enormous when burned properly. We actually decided against bk because it would have been way to much heat for our 1500 sq ft home. The price for the bk stoves is also a big factor around us they receive a big markup based on being sold east of the Mississippi. The main dealer we looked at was heating his 2500 sq ft building with the bk princess and it was very hot in the building too! The downside to the princess was the box size it will eat up a lot of wood if you have it turned up to heat a large space. i guess the consideration would have to be weather it is less wood than the old stove in order to determine princess vs king. Have you looked into add on furnaces as well ? With a house that size that may be the route to take! It is hard to find a stove to heat that amount of space.

Pete

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/buildi...n-black-wood-burning-addon-furnace-65532.html

Englander is a great company I found there add on furnace to show you as an example.

Good luck
Pete

Pallet Pete said:

When we where looking at stoves we looked hard at blaze king. One thing we discovered was the sheer amount of heat they throw out it is enormous when burned properly. We actually decided against bk because it would have been way to much heat for our 1500 sq ft home. The price for the bk stoves is also a big factor around us they receive a big markup based on being sold east of the Mississippi. The main dealer we looked at was heating his 2500 sq ft building with the bk princess and it was very hot in the building too! The downside to the princess was the box size it will eat up a lot of wood if you have it turned up to heat a large space. i guess the consideration would have to be weather it is less wood than the old stove in order to determine princess vs king. Have you looked into add on furnaces as well ? With a house that size that may be the route to take! It is hard to find a stove to heat that amount of space.

Pete

Click to expand...

When burned properly, the blaze king can throw whatever kind of heat you need. You can burn it with electric space heater-like output, or burn it like a big stove. That's the biggest advantage to having one. We certainly don't buy them to look at, according to popular opinion.
Burned hard, I think most with a princess are getting 8-9 hours between loads. About like most 3ish cu ft stoves. With my king 12-14 hours, but that's making a lot of heat.
I'm heating about 1600 sq ft, and because of the control, it isn't too much stove.

3500 feet? GO AS BIG AS YOU CAN! What are your plans for the woodstove? If you plan on using it for heating the house, you want to go big for sure. If you are wanting it for a casual fire in a family room, then that is a different story. But a small stove to heat the house is NOT going to do the job, I guarantee it. So, start with a plan. Plan on doing some venting and maybe fans here and there in the house (depending on how you have it laid out), and I would consider putting the stove in the lower part of your house and letting convection work in your benefit. Basements are not always a good place for a woodstove as the masonry foundation usually saps a lot of the heat up. I would consider putting the stove in an insulated low room (if your exterior basement walls are insulated INSIDE the masonry footprint, you'd be good to go). Its really hard for us to give you a recommendation without seeing a sketch of your house layout, and knowing your full intent as to what you plan on doing with the stove. I am heating around 2850 square feet easily with my Napoleon 1900p and a 6" class A chimney. It has a real big firebox and secondary combustion, and does the job I need it to. I have not turned my furnace on in over 4 years (other than to make sure it works seasonally). House rarely ever goes below 72 all winter long I like the Blaze King King but I DON'T like the looks of it. Being you are up in Canada, the BK may be the way to go......

jeff_t nailed it. Get the King. Plus it's a good looking stove- (in the dark).

Peter Norman said:

I really need a new wood stove, can't decide what to buy. Seems like everyone I talk to has a different opinion about how to go about sizing the stove. I have a 2 1/2 story house, the basement and main floor are app 1300 ft2 and the1/2 story is app 900 ft2, for a total of 3500ft2. I was planning on purchasing a stove to heat 3500 ft2, but the last dealer I talked to said that I need to purchase a stove to heat the size fo the room that the stove will be in and I should not focus on the total size. I has planned on purchasing the b.k king ultra or the regency f3100, but now I am wondering if the B.K princess will do the job. Also, I have a 7 inch flue, and am wondering how the 6 inch that's required by most stoves would perform.

Click to expand...

Your dealer needs to close up shop and find a new line of work.

Buy the BK King.

Welcome to the dark side.

Hopefully it will work with your 7" liner. You're looking at 75% of the cross sectional area vs 8". You might want to put a call into BK and get their thoughts before you write the check. Your insurance company and AHJ may want an approval as well.

Cat stoves run with relatively cool flue temps, thus the emphasis on adequate draft and proper chimney construction.

Also be aware that the open grate above the stove may also be a code violation.

Is the liner insulated? And what the overall height of chimney (outside, not counting the 3 ft of vert in basement)?

I would do as Jeff-t stated. Maybe call Blaze King and get there thoughts.

If its not insulated, I would see to it that it be done before this November. Especially on an exterior chimney. Lots of cold brick there. You wanna keep the gases as warm as possible.

Congratulations on the purchase.

jeff_t said:

Welcome to the dark side.

Hopefully it will work with your 7" liner. You're looking at 75% of the cross sectional area vs 8". You might want to put a call into BK and get their thoughts before you write the check. Your insurance company and AHJ may want an approval as well.

Cat stoves run with relatively cool flue temps, thus the emphasis on adequate draft and proper chimney construction.

Also be aware that the open grate above the stove may also be a code violation.

Click to expand...

I could have sworn there is at least one member here that is using a King with a 7" liner.

Interesting thoughts in this thread https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/blaze-king-king-on-6-chimney.56497/#post-707597

I'd do it. Probably not with 6", but I think 7" would work.

DexterDay said:

Based on it being in the basement and being open. Then also fairly open upstairs with floor grates.... Then I would say the King also...

Only thing I would make sure of, is if it will breathe properly w/ a 7" liner. Im sure it would do alright. But maybe there is someone here who has tried it w/ a 7".

The difference in area between a 7" and 8" may not seem like much. But I would want to be sure before spending the cash. Having a liner already puts you way ahead of the game... With it being in outside and surrounded by brick, I would hope its an insulated liner? If not, I would highly suggest looking into insulating it.

I would do everything I could to help that King Breathe well.. My 2 pennies..

(Alien technology in those stoves. So that 7-8 cord should last until 2025 or later)

Click to expand...

How much do these kinds of stoves normally run for? What is the most reliable place to get one?

With that big of a house there's no way I would try and heat it with only 1 big stove in the basement. You will be disappointed and be right back here on the forums looking for ways to get the heat out of the basement. I would either look into a wood furnace like Caddy or think about 2 stoves, one on each level.