BK Princess / Chinook Questions (Burn Times, Prices, etc)

[burnt03]

Just curious about a couple things for all the BK Princess and Chinook Owners out there?

1) Burn times. The chinook specs a 30+ hr burn time and the Princess a 20 hr, wondering what it is in reality.

2) Price. What did you pay for your stove?

3) What size/layout is your place/stove and what temp do you typically keep it at during a low/med burn?

Thanks!

 

[Todd]

From what I've heard here on the forum, those burn times are reality.

 

[rdust]

20+ on the Princess is doable in the shoulder season when you can run the stove on "1" with no fans running. I think the longest I managed was 26 hours or so with an easy restart. Over the weekend it was in the high 30's/low 40's for daytime highs, high 20's/lower 30's at night. I was able to get 18-20 hours stretches in that type of weather. During the week I try to stick to a 12 hour load schedule since it fits my day better. The stove burns better if you fill it full every time but with this mild type weather we're having I'd have to load on top of a lot of solid wood so I haven't been loading full during the week.

The Chinook will burn longer but the heat output is also lower(obviously) which may work or not depending on your layout.

 

[Highbeam]

Canadian dollars or US dollars. I wonder if the canadians get the huge markup from the east coast distributor or do they enjoy the west coast prices?

The chinook user on this site has been able to get more than 30 hours on softwood! Freaking beautiful.

 

[burnt03]

Curious on either Canadian or American.... I got a quote for about $2500 for both the Chinook and the Classic Princess (with blower fan on Princess for about 350 extra)

Another guy is selling the Chinook for 2800 but throws in a log splitter (according to him, worth about 700)

 

[burnt03]

20+ on the Princess is doable in the shoulder season when you can run the stove on "1" with no fans running. I think the longest I managed was 26 hours or so with an easy restart. Over the weekend it was in the high 30's/low 40's for daytime highs, high 20's/lower 30's at night. I was able to get 18-20 hours stretches in that type of weather. During the week I try to stick to a 12 hour load schedule since it fits my day better. The stove burns better if you fill it full every time but with this mild type weather we're having I'd have to load on top of a lot of solid wood so I haven't been loading full during the week.

The Chinook will burn longer but the heat output is also lower(obviously) which may work or not depending on your layout.

Looking at the spec sheets, they both show 40,000 BTU's for "real world BTU cordwood". BUT, the Chinook is only rated for 1200 sq ft while the Princess is 1500+. The firebox on the Princess is only 0.10 cub ft bigger (2.75 vs. 2.85). Why is the heat output lower?

 

[rdust]

Looking at the spec sheets, they both show 40,000 BTU's for "real world BTU cordwood". BUT, the Chinook is only rated for 1200 sq ft while the Princess is 1500+. The firebox on the Princess is only 0.10 cub ft bigger (2.75 vs. 2.85). Why is the heat output lower?

The t-stat in the Chinook is different from the Princess. Mine on low will burn around a 300* stove top for most of the burn, I believe I read Hass post his Chinook has a stove top in the low 200's when he's dialed down. I'd guess max btus will be close but low burn on the Chinook will be lower?? I don't believe BK has listed the low burn btu's on the Chinook, the Princess is listed as 6400 btu's.

 

[North of 60]

I would not heat with anything else. The prices you have mentioned are a steal compared to here. If you could fill one of those stoves you mentioned with seasoned dry apple wood from one of your converted orchards that switched to grapes would = record burn times. Ponderosa pine or Douglass fir will also put you way ahead in the 15+hr burn times. Nothing shabby about that. ;-)

 

[rdust]

I would not heat with anything else. The prices you have mentioned are a steal compared to here. If you could fill one of those stoves you mentioned with seasoned dry apple wood from one of your converted orchards that switched to grapes would = record burn times. Ponderosa pine or Douglass fir will also put you way ahead in the 15+hr burn times. Nothing shabby about that. ;-)

Everyone knows the pine up there is like our oak! :lol:

Don't listen to North of 60 or you'll have a BK sitting in front of you long before you ever planned! Don't ask how I know! :lol:

 

[North of 60]

I would not heat with anything else. The prices you have mentioned are a steal compared to here. If you could fill one of those stoves you mentioned with seasoned dry apple wood from one of your converted orchards that switched to grapes would = record burn times. Ponderosa pine or Douglass fir will also put you way ahead in the 15+hr burn times. Nothing shabby about that. ;-)

Everyone knows the pine up there is like our oak! :lol:

Don't listen to North of 60 or you'll have a BK sitting in front of you long before you ever planned! Don't ask how I know! :lol:

And thats a good thing.
Cheers rdust. Glad all has worked as good or better than expected.

 

[Hass]

Wow, I don't even need to post in here.. You guys covered it all for me!

36 hours was the longest I managed to get on softwood, it was Scots pine to be exact... That was somewhere around 47lbs if I recall correct. I have it all written down in the other room. I haven't done as much testing as I'd like to... Been working 12-14hr days 6 days a week so I can't really pay any attention to the stove (go figure, work picks up when it's time to play with the stove) In reality I load the stove 2 times a day. It's easy for me, the fire burns clean and great. No need to be picky about how to load the stove, just throw a couple splits in and away I go.

But yes, the stove sits at about 230-240 fans off on low after it gets settled in. Highest I've been able to get the stove top on my softwood was about 540... That absolutely will roast me right out of the house in no time.
BK hasn't listed any BTUs for the Chinook, when I asked I was told that it's proprietary information and can't give that out yadda yadda. But yet they give it out for the other stoves? Confusing...

18' stack, no problem burning in low-mid 40 degree weather. When it's in the high 40s and 50s, I'll open the T-stat a couple hairs above 1 to help maintain draft on long burns.

Stove was $3499, My total after OAK and ash pan + taxes was somewhere around $4200.
Blowers are included in the stove price... They come already attached, it's not optional like the manual would have you think they are.

I did the math in another thread somewhere about the actual BTU output of the Chinook. By comparing the burn times of the princess/chinook and min burn times with the Chinook burn time being x. I think it came out in the neighborhood of 4600-4800... Would have to look it up... that's the BTU output before efficiency don't forget. So the actual output is 4/5 of that. I tell people to run 1500W space heater on high.... If that won't overheat your house, then neither will the Chinook (or princess for that matter). A 1500W space heater is around 5100 BTU with 100% eff.