BK Princess: fan or rear-shield?

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steve19

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Hi guys,

New to the forum. I just picked up a 2011 BK Princess Ultra (pics to come) and have been debating between purchasing the fan or just the rear shield. My main intent for purchasing either is to reduce clearance. The stove is in my basement and will be my auxiliary heat source for the winter (furnace will be primary). My father-in-law also has a BK princess with the fans but he never uses them. If I want to circulate the heat upstairs I will either setup a oscillating fan which will push the air upstairs, or use my furnace fan, which will help circulate the heat throughout the house using the return-air vents. I'm not trying to cheap out, but are the fans worth the money? Do most of you run the fans 24/7? I've read on other forums that the fans have died within 2-3 years of normal use.

Any advice would be great.
BTW, great forum. Lots of great advice!
 
I don't think you should count on a fan for reduced clearance...maybe I didn't understand you correctly.
 
HotCoals said:
I don't think you should count on a fan for reduced clearance...maybe I didn't understand you correctly.

Fans do count for reduced clearances as far as installation inspections go with BK stoves.
It doesn't mean it always has to run however.
 
For the King...if I'm reading the clearances correctly...the rear clearance is 9" unless the rear heat shield or the fan kit are installed, then the rear clearance is reduced to 6". Not sure how the princess compares.

I don't use the fans on mine too frequently, but I do use them occasionally. Sometimes, over night, or while I'm at work, the house cools a little too much...having the fans helps bring the house back up to temperature fairly quickly. Therefore, I would recommend the fans...you got them if you need them...if you don't need them, leave them off and at least it provided reduced rear clearance.

Although, if the cost difference is significant, maybe go with the rear shield...you can always add the fans later if you find you need them.
 
Hass said:
HotCoals said:
I don't think you should count on a fan for reduced clearance...maybe I didn't understand you correctly.

Fans do count for reduced clearances as far as installation inspections go with BK stoves.
It doesn't mean it always has to run however.
OK..never would have thunk that.
 
Fans are good to have, I usually have to run mine on low to keep the cat temps down during the beginning of the burn.

Also you'll find pushing the cold air towards the stove works better than trying to move the hot air upstairs. The furnace fan usually doesn't work well either, it may help even out temps but most the air cools off in the duct work unless it's insulated. When I first started burning wood I had this great idea that I would just run my furnace fan to move the air, after listening to the furnace fan run for no reason I decided the natural convection in the house works best. I have a small fan on the floor in the hallway blowing cold air into the stove room and a ceiling fan running in reverse.
 
Do you have to have the heat shield in order to have the fan? On my Manny do.

Shawn
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone.

rdust said:
Fans are good to have, I usually have to run mine on low to keep the cat temps down during the beginning of the burn.

Also you'll find pushing the cold air towards the stove works better than trying to move the hot air upstairs. The furnace fan usually doesn't work well either, it may help even out temps but most the air cools off in the duct work unless it's insulated. When I first started burning wood I had this great idea that I would just run my furnace fan to move the air, after listening to the furnace fan run for no reason I decided the natural convection in the house works best. I have a small fan on the floor in the hallway blowing cold air into the stove room and a ceiling fan running in reverse.

My house is only 1000 square feet, so I'm optimistic about the furnace fan idea, but I think you will be right... regardless.. I'm going to try it this winter just to be sure :)

Is a fan necessary to be turned on while you load the stove in order to keep the cat temps down? I've never read that, but am also new to the BK world.
 
steve19 said:
Is a fan necessary to be turned on while you load the stove in order to keep the cat temps down? I've never read that, but am also new to the BK world.

They sell the stove without them so I wouldn't think it's a must. My limited understanding is high temps can/will hurt the cat, if I can use the fans to scrub some of those temps I think it's worth it. Even if it's not helping the piece of mind it gives me is worth it. :lol:
 
When I'm trying to move more heat into the living area of the home I run the fans and the tempature control is set to about 1 on my BK Princess. When its warmer and radient heat will do the tempature control is set almost fully closed. Because my furnace intake is very close to my wood stove I set its fan on to circulate the warmth thought out the home. On a very cold day here in Oregon its only 5 degrees difference from the wood from one end of the house to where the wood stove is. So I would recomend the fan kit...
 
rdust said:
Fans are good to have, I usually have to run mine on low to keep the cat temps down during the beginning of the burn.

+1

That's because you have good dry wood. ;-)

You will really notice the difference when you start burning Your hard wood.

To me the blower is a must have on these stoves for this very reason.
 
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