Confused on New Buck 91 Efficiency Rating

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Fastdonzi

Member
Feb 18, 2015
208
East TN
Everywhere else says 86%, On the door of my new stove it says 70%.. What am I not getting here?? I Believe my stove has a Build date of Jan 07 or 09 (hard to tell) Is my cat different than a new Buck 91?? are there different versions of this stove?? I'm confused..Ease My Mind, Please.....
 
Sounds like a good question to ask Buck support is how they test and report efficiency. The EPA has a default combustion efficiency of 72% for cat stoves. Some stove companies are now testing to CSA B415.1, but it doesn't look like Buck has done this. This test is still with doug fir. Cordwood testing results would be more meaningful for some.
 
I will contact them Monday and see. Tonight I was going through the packet that came with the stove and it was congratulating me on buying a stove with a 24k gold door, Mine is the Pewter version :( (which is what I wanted) If I drove 250 miles and got deceived on what was in the box I'm gonna be pissed (pardon the expression) I paid top dollar to receive what should be top of the line(of Bucks line) this one has spider eggs and all. I realize they sit in warehouses for a while until sold but something seems fishy... The cardboard wasn't attached to the pallet however it did have the nylon strapping but it was the type with the reusable clips....when they loaded it on my trailer I assumed it was new in the box...it is unused, but I hope its the latest version...I'll know more tomorrow I guess...
 
I didn't see any difference between my '08 and the ones at the stove shop. I think they have been the same for a while. I got mine used so I don't know about the packaging. Did you get yours at a stove shop or what?
 
Yes, I bought it from a stove shop in middle Tn.
 
One thing that you can be sure of, is that its not 86% efficiency, at least not using the accepted higher heating value. The best stoves on the market are around 80 - 83% efficient, HHV, using B415. Manufacturers often cherry pick the best efficiency numbers they can find from in-house testing, and they use LHV numbers to make their stoves appear more efficient than they are. Regardless, as long as the Buck is at least 75% efficiency, I wouldn't worry about it not being being 82% efficient. If you are using dry wood and operating it well, that is one of most important ways to get efficiency out of the stove. We cover this issue a lot in our blog, http://forgreenheat.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-review-of-wood-and-pellet-stove.html.
 
Thanks, I wasnt really concerend that it get 81%-82%-83% ect. I was just concerend that what I got wasn't the Latest/Greatest. If they have been the same for 20 yrs I dont care that I got a 20 yr old one, Just didnt want a 21 yr old one that differs from the newer ones. I just called Buck, the customer service guy wont be in until tomorrow. But i'm a little relieved now to know it is probably fine... Thanks again...
 
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