2012-2013 Blaze King Performance Thread(everything BK)

I don't see how the Princess would be a better fit than the Liberty, unless the goal is longer burn times with less heat. If you need the heat and burn times, the King would be a better solution.

Relatively warm today, so I shoveled out the coals and let the stove cool off. I haven't cleaned the pipe in a full year. Got 2-3 cups of black, powdery soot. Not bad considering all the smoldering burns.

Looks like you swept into the stove. What did you do next to clean all the junk out of the cat chamber? Verify that the gasket wasn't loaded with debris?

What I did was reach up with my hand and wipe the debris off the gasket and the tiny shelf above it. Nothing gets into the cat chamber, as I verified by removing the cat and checking with a flashlight. It takes a minute or two.

I disconnected the pipe and vacuumed the chamber out.

The chamber does indeed accumulate lots of junk from above. I did my best to seck it out from the firebox with a shop vac hose, just the flexible part, and then reached up with my hand to sweep additional debris out and clean the gasket off. That gasket baffles me.

When you shut the bypass and then "lock" it down, the bypass plate slides back on the gasket. It's not locking down tight but shifting when it makes that clunk.

My liberty heats well but only for 6 hours.I need longer heat times.

The Princess will burn a lot longer, with a lower heat output than the Liberty is giving you over that 6 hours. If you're torching 3 ft3 of wood over 6 hours and need all that heat you have a pretty high heat demand a King is probably in order.(as BrowningBAR stated) I made the switch so I could control the heat output better, my Endeavor was a roller coaster and would run me out of the room for those first handful of hours. The up/down game is what got old for me, the Princess is a steady output so I don't need that max number to keep things warm.

I thank you all for your input.The Princess is going for $1850.00 with tax.I'm set up for it.It's hard to turn my back on it.The King would need me to do a major overhaul which I'm unable to afford at present.I was getting inspired by the posts from Alaska who said they were happy with the Princess.

hey Rich.......im getting ready to buy a bk princess or chinook 30.........trying to decide.......have you looked at the chinook 30 ?.......what dealer did you find that price for your princess at ?

That's a great price for the princess Go for it and let us know how it goes....you are in Alaska? Would love to hear from other Alaskan members as to how they do it!?!?

I bought my princess from kitsap lumber near Bremerton in the Puget Sound. The prices were very good there. They also have many floor models of the different stoves to check out and a burning chinook30. Gotta say, I was not impressed with the 30 firebox. It is not deep like the princess so ash will fall out or need to be cleaned out much sooner.

I never saw the Chinook and no nothing of it.It's a dealer in my neck of the woods who has had the Princess for two years without any buyers.He wants it gone so I talked him down by offering $1500.00.He said the lowest he'll go was $1750.00 plus tax.So that's where I'm at.What's the box size of the Princess ?

I'm in Massachusetts.The Alaskans are around somewhere.

Thanks much Highbeam .................went go kitsap lumber today...............great prices compared to what i have been getting quoted from others.........also nice to see the stoves in person.......heh ...seems like most dealers have little or none in stock or on display.........i think the chinook 30 looks better on the brochure than in person and burning........you know what i mean ?

Im not an expert on bk pricing but from what i have seen so far that price you were quoted is a steal..........i would go for it...................The princess box is 2.85 and the chinook 30 is 2.75

I think you are making a mistake.

For that price its wont be a costly mistake if it is one at all. Maybe the long slower heat output will end up making the house comfortable instead of warm/cool/warm/cool.

If he is only getting 6 hours of usable heat from a 3.1 cu ft firebox (which should be providing him with 8-10 hours), says a lot about his heating needs. Now remove half a cu ft from the firebox and a long and low burn is not going to cut it.

Buy the Princess if you must, but do not sell the Liberty until you know this will work. Which I doubt it will.

I have no doubt it'll work as good or better than his Liberty, the Liberty likes to burn hot he doesn't need all that heat he's getting in 6 hours he just has no choice. The Princess is a usable 2.8, I doubt the Liberty really is, I know my Endeavor wasn't 2.2.

I disagree with that. A 3.1 cu ft firebox will offer longer than 6 hours of heat if you are to tell me "he doesn't need all that heat he's getting in 6 hours."

If he is reloading after 6 hours that means he needs more heat when the Liberty is burning lower at the second half of the burn. This means he can not burn "low" on the Princess.

Fine, let's say it has the same amount of usable space. The problem will still exist.

I still think a nice steady temp will offer some benefit over the roller coaster non cat Liberty. Even if they burn the same or similar during the cold time he'll surely benefit from the slow and low burn during the shoulder season. With my Endeavor during the peak of the burn my house would be uncomfortable which is what I didn't want, now I can control the temp and keep a steady low 70 temp instead of wasting wood on a temp I didn't desire. I will agree that if Rich wants it 80 in the house the Princess will not be any better than the Liberty during the cold snaps.

I guess we'll find out if/when Rich makes the swap.

Rich, I'd also recommend the blowers if the stove doesn't already have them.

Rich, didn't you own a BKK in the past?

Yes I had The King.The only problem was I didn't have it going into a 8" flue just 6".Every time I reloaded the stove I got serious smoke splilage.This got old and I sold the stove.So I think I'll give the princess a try.The longer steady heat may just do what I need.

My Princess will spill smoke(not serious though just a wisp) if I'm not careful in the warmer weather and others have reported the same. I definitely can't toss the door open like I could with my Endeavor. The key is to get these things down to coals so there is no smoke in them when you open the door.

If you have any issues take a look here, we helped billsws a while back with his. http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/puffing-princess-pd-partner.102449/