Considering a New Blaze King "King Model"

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Hear ya, since 2007 I have been heating with a joutl insert from the 80's. When I would come home from work it would either be hotter than heck since the wife fed the dragon. Or she would forget about it and it would be cold. I am joining the team and buying a bk king. Started the project this week. By what I have read on this site I will not be disappointed.

Boy that scenario of coming home from work sounds familiar.
My wife and I both work and sometimes one or both of us are gone from the home for 10-12 hours.
On a -30 day after 12 hours, there's not much left in the PE and it's throwing little heat.
The house is well insulated so it takes some time to cool off, but once the mass of the house starts to cool even a little you're into a lot of heat to get everything back up.
Boy, I might even re-evaluate putting in a king:)

Cheers:
blt
 
My wife and I were just on the BK website and both like the look of the Ashford 30.
We did some post and beam work in the addition along with some steel bracketing.
The over-all "theme" of the room is old and rustic....
I think the Ashford would go nice with the current rustic feel of the room, and has some pretty good numbers regarding heat output+burn times (which is what I really care for).

What do you guys think? Anyone out there own the Ashford?

I'm brand new to wood stoves, learned about the Ashford here and never get tired of posting this:

Ashford.jpg

Even a newbie like me, who's run this stove (his first) for just a few days, can see that it's amazing. I'm sure the same is true of the Princess. My BK dealer tells me people who have owned one for 20 years will come in to order exactly the same model so clearly it has its charms. But that little beast is ugly. If you want something beautiful, get the Ashford.
 
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I doubt you will be better off with the Princess (or Ashford) compared to the Summit. Their firebox sizes are comparable which means the Princess will struggle to heat your home like the Summit when it gets really cold. There are only so many BTUs in a given amount of wood. What you need is either something bigger or a second stove. As truly bigger implies switching to an 8" flue, a second stove in the sunroom may be the best option and also allow you to heat that part of the house. Do you know how well the warm air travels around your place? Maybe a small to medium cat stove like the Chinook 20 or Woodstock Fireview would be enough and also help to keep the rest of the house warm when the Summit has stopped providing heat.
I will also throw out the option of a thermostat-controlled pellet stove. That stove could run on low when the Summit is in its early burn phase and then slowly increase its output when the Summit tapers off. You won't have such a nice view of the fire, though, and require electricity to run the pellet stove. However, it will probably be the most convenient and fuel-efficient way of heating your house. (Instead of overheating it early on with two stoves to be able to come back to a house that is still comfortable.)
 
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