comparing Blaze King vs. PE T6 opinions,comments needed

Id go with the T6

lol good one weatherguy

two totally different stoves, describe your home layout, existing stack etc, desires for stove placement, and you may get some advice you could use.

If needed, the King puts out a lot more than 47k. BK alludes to this in the brochure with a theoretical output of 91K. Both are great stoves and well regarded. The big tradeoff between these two stoves is aesthetics vs. versatility. You likely would never run your furnace in the 'shoulder' season and experience unbelievable burn times with the BK but you will have something that looks like a piece of industrial equipment in your living space.

SolarAndWood said:

but you will have something that looks like a piece of industrial equipment in your living space.

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lol, i just spit out my beer.

cycloxer said:

SolarAndWood said:

but you will have something that looks like a piece of industrial equipment in your living space.

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lol, i just spit out my beer.

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LMAO

pilot-werx said:

cycloxer said:

lol, i just spit out my beer.

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LMAO

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Someday I will own a BK King. It is the one stove that intrigues me due to its sheer massiveness, impressive heating power, (100k Btu, LOL, I mean come on) and claim as The King.

i am really starting to like the power of the "king" but dont think i can deal with the looks......... for now i will live with a summit insert and my 6-14 hr burns... heating about 2500 sq ft i know its tough call for me to make i gotta do it! i wonder if i had a king full of red/white oak if i could keep it a 500 or more for 24 hrs....

Ah ha guys (gals), it's not peak Btu output that counts in any application. My old Fisher produced way more than my King does. BUT, 50% of the Fisher Btu's wound up heating my neighborhood!

My King EASILY heats the exact same house with ZERO changes on far less wood. In 2002 with almost the same average winter temps as in 2008, I burned 1.5 cords less wood.

In my research before I purchased my King I found lots of brochures and lots of misleading numbers. As one post here noted, BK does explain they can get much higher Btu's in the brochure. What I noted was the the "Overall Efficiency" was 82.5%" and in other brochures it said "Up To 78% efficiency".

I called the certification lab listed on each brochure and found out that a "peak" efficiency percentage was derived during one of up to 5 different tests and because the unit reached that number for 2 seconds-30 seconds, the manufacturer promotes that number. The use of the "Overall efficiency" is the average from all the tests run at the lab. OMNI, Warnock and one other lab all said this was accurate.

The folks at BK would not say bad stuff about their competitors when I pointed this out but did say the test labs are third party neutral and the results speak for themselves. Incidentally, don't believe those new numbers ALL companies are posting for Low Heat Value, that's just to get them qualified for the tax credit and the numbers are not comparable between two stoves, even within the same company because there are different formulas they can use. No apples to apples in the Low Heat Value numbers.

BigBlockChevy said:

Incidentally, don't believe those new numbers ALL companies are posting for Low Heat Value

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Yup, I fully agree with that one. All of these modern EPA stoves burn pretty good around 75%. Beyond that, I would judge them more based on feedback from actual owners rather than a # printed in a brochure. That's why some stoves seem to burn better than others even though the #'s may be similar.

Also, I really think that every stove has a unique signature burn and its own sweet spot. If you spend enough time with it, you can usually figure out how to get it to perform at its best. Also, these are heat engines and they don't always operate at peak efficiency. It's just like your car engine. If you treat it properly and operate it properly, you are going to get great gas mileage. If you don't maintain it, put in crappy fuel, and drive it rough, well your mileage will suffer.

Finally, I think a lot can be said for the reputation of certain stove manufacturers. Strong brands are built up over decades of producing strong performing products. This doesn't happen by printing flashy brochures with #'s.

Where do they sell BK in SE Mass.?

brogsie said:

Where do they sell BK in SE Mass.?

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I couldn't pass this one up, swallow your beer before continuing reading....

Lunkers Bait & Tackle Co, Inc.
159 Main Street
Ashland, MA 01721
508-881-0031

Pretty easy to find another dealer brogsie, if the Lunkers Bait and Tackle isn't close enough for ya, http://blazeking.com/storelocator/store_locator.php

iceman said:

i wonder if i had a king full of red/white oak if i could keep it a 500 or more for 24 hrs....

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Doubt it. That is one big steel box to keep that hot that long. However, you will easily keep the cat active for a lot longer than that at a low burn. I am doing 12 hour burns now at a high burn rate with mixed hardwoods. I have about an ash bucket size load of hot fuel at the end of the 12 hours that I am reloading on.

cycloxer said:

Also, I really think that every stove has a unique signature burn and its own sweet spot. If you spend enough time with it, you can usually figure out how to get it to perform at its best. Also, these are heat engines and they don't always operate at peak efficiency.

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I haven't found this to be true with the King. It seems equally happy burning low or high and everywhere in between. It has been lit since early October and loaded to the top every time. I adjust the wood species and burn rate to match our schedule and the weather.

can't go wrong w/ a PE.... not sayin, but I'm just sayin.....

SolarAndWood said:

iceman said:

i wonder if i had a king full of red/white oak if i could keep it a 500 or more for 24 hrs....

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Doubt it. That is one big steel box to keep that hot that long. However, you will easily keep the cat active for a lot longer than that at a low burn. I am doing 12 hour burns now at a high burn rate with mixed hardwoods. I have about an ash bucket size load of hot fuel at the end of the 12 hours that I am reloading on.

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12 hr burn with mixed? how hot is it at 12 hrs??
i thought those babies were supposed to go alot longer than that??? or is that what you mean by high burn rate??
not for nothng but the debate(pe vs king) i can do a 12 hr burn but it is where is the temp gonna be for my app... in my house... its not good for the stove to be at 300 because my house isnt a typ 2 story ... the rooms furtherest away are a good 50+ away... so if i load my stove 2x a day its not really tht great .. the downstairs will stay 70+ but upstairs will drop in the high 60s ... so i like to do 2 8-10 hr burns and 1 small one when i get home from work..(3pm ~7pm) 7pm~4am 4am ~3pm (i get up at 4 so by the time i am done prolly 430~5am) doing it this way keeps my stove over the 300 mark.... but i was thinking bk for the basement so i could get the 24hr + burn...thats not true?? what is your longest burn

I am doing 12 and 24 hour burns depending on what the weather is doing. The past couple weeks it has just been 12 because of the temps and the wind. I did a 40+ hour burn in October to see if the brochure was BS. It was a very low burn but it is possible and the cat was active.

Are you thinking a 2 fire solution? If so, you will have no problem with 24 hr burns out of a King in the basement.

SolarAndWood said:

I am doing 12 and 24 hour burns depending on what the weather is doing. The past couple weeks it has just been 12 because of the temps and the wind. I did a 40+ hour burn in October to see if the brochure was BS. It was a very low burn but it is possible and the cat was active.

Are you thinking a 2 fire solution? If so, you will have no problem with 24 hr burns out of a King in the basement.

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wow 24hr burn? what was your temp? on the 40 hr burn also, was it really useful heat?
i am thinking of putting a stove in the basement.... but i really would like one of those hearthstone phoenix! as my basement is finished... i need something with a big window ..

kwikrp said:

which one and why?

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I bought a PE this year, but came near to getting a BK instead. Both are great, however living on the east coast you are going to pay an $800 premium for the BKK.

iceman said:

wow 24hr burn? what was your temp? on the 40 hr burn also, was it really useful heat?
i am thinking of putting a stove in the basement.... but i really would like one of those hearthstone phoenix! as my basement is finished... i need something with a big window ..

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I don't know about stove temps as I just have the cat thermometer that came with the stove. And, its just labeled inactive and active. When it is high 30s and warmer, I run it in the lower end of the active range and go for 24 hours. Upper 20s to 30s, I run in the upper range without the fans. Colder than that and the fans come on and it is reloaded every 12 hours. Once every week or two, I do a load of just pine and do a good burn down of the coal bed and dump the ash.

The 40 hr burn in October kept house warm during a period when folks here reported using the furnaces to take the chill off but it wasn't cold enough to burn in their stoves. It was useful heat but the same thing probably could have been accomplished with a sweater. That same load of locust wouldn't go 24 hours and be useful when its cold.

If my wife had seen the King and the Equinox side by side, I doubt we would have the BK. She came home and found the King in the spot formerly occupied by the VC.

Thanks, Madison

I had seen that. But it didn,t sound like it could be a stove shop.

Thank you for looking it up.
Happy Hollidays

Bigg_Redd said:

living on the east coast you are going to pay an $800 premium for the BKK.

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Why is that? I'd head on down to Lunkers and get a BK demo, lol.