Looking to purchase a Blaze King for our home and am a bit undecided between the Princess freestanding and the Princess insert. I would appreciate additional input.
House: (see attachment for layout) Very typical 1970s-ish 1500 square foot brick ranch with uninsulated basement under every square foot. We moved in this year and so far the house seems to be adequately insulated but improvement could be made in the attic.
Placement optons:
1) Existing gas log fireplace with masonry chimney. Interior dimensions of the chimney at the peak are 10" x 10". Fireplace is located in the family room (see attachment) where "12ft" has been circled.
2) Basement: There is a room in the basement that lies just below the living room on the attached diagram. Two walls are poured concrete and uninsulated, one is drywalled where the stairs come down to the basement and there is an insulated wall with a doorway very close to the bottom of the basement stairs. This room has a chimney that is accessible via two 6" pipes which have been cut into the poured concrete wall. Both are currently capped. Chimney dimensions at the peak (interior again) are approximately 6.5" X 10.5".
My existing system: 7/8 year old natural gas forced air system. My lovely and talented is a bit of a miser and keeps the heat at 64, which we all feel is too cool. Typical gas/electric bills increase by around $125 (total) during the heating months. I'm in MI, so that would basically start in October and go through April with December-March being the coldest. Our bills aren't really that high but a dollar saved.... The other ingredient to this part of my decision is that we would keep the house warmer with a wood stove (we were always comfortable in the 67-69 range).
Family room placement (#1 above): I could have the Princess insert installed here but I am concerned about whether the heat would be able to make it out of this room without a great deal of effort with fans, etc. As you can see from the diagram, there is a fairly long hallway and within the hallway are two headers which in my noviced eye would seem to act as baffles, slowing the transfer of the warm air to the rest of the house. I've thought about putting an inline fan in one of the heat registers with the idea that this would push cool air into the room thereby helpin the warm air out. I just don't know about the lengthy hallway and the rest of the floor plan being one that is more segregated.
Basement placement: (#2) I could put a freestanding Princess in the basement and keep the door open at the top of the stairs where the heat would hopefully rise. I believe I can direct the heat up there without great difficulty by hanging some plastic at the doorway leading into the stove room so that the heat leaves the stove room, hits the plastic and rises upstairs.
I think that should give you a decent picture but please feel free to ask any questions that you feel are relevant.
House: (see attachment for layout) Very typical 1970s-ish 1500 square foot brick ranch with uninsulated basement under every square foot. We moved in this year and so far the house seems to be adequately insulated but improvement could be made in the attic.
Placement optons:
1) Existing gas log fireplace with masonry chimney. Interior dimensions of the chimney at the peak are 10" x 10". Fireplace is located in the family room (see attachment) where "12ft" has been circled.
2) Basement: There is a room in the basement that lies just below the living room on the attached diagram. Two walls are poured concrete and uninsulated, one is drywalled where the stairs come down to the basement and there is an insulated wall with a doorway very close to the bottom of the basement stairs. This room has a chimney that is accessible via two 6" pipes which have been cut into the poured concrete wall. Both are currently capped. Chimney dimensions at the peak (interior again) are approximately 6.5" X 10.5".
My existing system: 7/8 year old natural gas forced air system. My lovely and talented is a bit of a miser and keeps the heat at 64, which we all feel is too cool. Typical gas/electric bills increase by around $125 (total) during the heating months. I'm in MI, so that would basically start in October and go through April with December-March being the coldest. Our bills aren't really that high but a dollar saved.... The other ingredient to this part of my decision is that we would keep the house warmer with a wood stove (we were always comfortable in the 67-69 range).
Family room placement (#1 above): I could have the Princess insert installed here but I am concerned about whether the heat would be able to make it out of this room without a great deal of effort with fans, etc. As you can see from the diagram, there is a fairly long hallway and within the hallway are two headers which in my noviced eye would seem to act as baffles, slowing the transfer of the warm air to the rest of the house. I've thought about putting an inline fan in one of the heat registers with the idea that this would push cool air into the room thereby helpin the warm air out. I just don't know about the lengthy hallway and the rest of the floor plan being one that is more segregated.
Basement placement: (#2) I could put a freestanding Princess in the basement and keep the door open at the top of the stairs where the heat would hopefully rise. I believe I can direct the heat up there without great difficulty by hanging some plastic at the doorway leading into the stove room so that the heat leaves the stove room, hits the plastic and rises upstairs.
I think that should give you a decent picture but please feel free to ask any questions that you feel are relevant.
