Blaze King Contact

[BKVP]

Good morning one and all. My name is Chris Neufeld and I am the Vice President of Blaze King Industries, Inc. I am certain that many of the hearth.com members and I have spoke with one another. I have been encouraged by the legions of members to join the Forum groups and until just yesterday, I have resisted.

So why now? First off, thank you all for the great laughs I get reading your many posts. The most recent line that we possess "alein technology", just got me rolling in stitches! But more seriously there was a post about someone looking to perhaps purchase a Princess 1103 for $2,000. Then there was another post about Blaze King no longer using stainless steel combustors.
I have joined you folks to add to or at least clarify some of these issues and to address any concerns you might have.

First, we never made a Princess 1103, not yet anyway. We did make a 1003, but that was last made more than a decade ago. $2,000 for a stove that was made a decade or more ago seems a bit steep, unless it was in a box for many of those years. When the owner claims the stove is only be a few years old, I think you folks should have a way to verify that information. I will be happy to be that guy to help address those concerns.

As for stainless steel combustors, we are most definitely still using them. We never stopped using them in fact. We have had our supplier make changes and as a result, we have experienced delays in delivery, but far and away they do provide for quicker light-off than the corderite (ceramic material) substrate combustors. Stainless substrates do also handle higher temperatures. And beofre you ask why then do you still use ceramic, the answer is they both work quite well and we purchase from the industries two leading providers and we do not wish to put all our eggs in one basket. To be clear, so long as you all burn well seasoned dry cord wood in all wood stoves, the type of combustor in your Blaze King is not an issue.

Thank you all for the many fine compliments made about our products. I take great pride in my position with Blaze King and when I travel (and boy do I travel), I get so many "Oh, I have a Blaze King" comments. I like those comments and that is why I always wear apparell with the Blaze King name.

Have a great day!
Chris

 

[rdust]

Welcome Chris! I'm sure you'll bring some great information to the board and help clear up questions when misinformation starts flying around.

This season will be my first with the Princess, I'm anxious to see how it performs compared to my previous stove.(Endeavor)

 

[spacecowboyIV]

Welcome Chris, first and foremost I want to let you know that typically when an industry insider joins they do a stove giveaway of some kind on the forum....something you might want to look into. I think I speak for everyone when I say we just don't want you to look foolish by not knowing this.

 

[rdust]

Welcome Chris, first and foremost I want to let you know that typically when an industry insider joins they do a stove giveaway of some kind on the forum....something you might want to look into. I think I speak for everyone when I say we just don't want you to look foolish by not knowing this.

Nice, :lol:

 

[BrowningBAR]

Welcome Chris, first and foremost I want to let you know that typically when an industry insider joins they do a stove giveaway of some kind on the forum....something you might want to look into. I think I speak for everyone when I say we just don't want you to look foolish by not knowing this.

Usually, the winner of the stove is the fourth post in the thread... hey, what do you know!


Seriously, though, I think it's great that a Blaze King representative is here.

 

[ddddddden]

Welcome to hEarth! ;-)

 

[Highbeam]

Howdy neighbor. Welcome aboard and if you're in the question answering mood then:

1) Can you tell us about the apparent price difference east of the mississippi? Members have reported very significant price penalties for living east of this river.
2) There have been reports about a new door latch and apparent design problems. They break. Is this being looked at?
3) The new chinook is a great idea and suits those wanting a contemporary looking stove. Do you plan on introducing any other versions of your cat stove that might look more conventional?

I've said it before but the BK cat line is the leader in stove technology. There are no other stoves available that can compete with the long burn times and consistent heat output made possible by the cat, large firebox, and thermostat. Nobody can beat the BK in performance. Unfortunately, the king/princess stoves don't look as nice as the other options.

Thank you again for speaking up and making a presence. The alien technology is appreciated. Go Washington!

 

[jtb51b]

Howdy neighbor. Welcome aboard and if you're in the question answering mood then:

1) Can you tell us about the apparent price difference east of the mississippi? Members have reported very significant price penalties for living east of this river.
2) There have been reports about a new door latch and apparent design problems. They break. Is this being looked at?
3) The new chinook is a great idea and suits those wanting a contemporary looking stove. Do you plan on introducing any other versions of your cat stove that might look more conventional?

I've said it before but the BK cat line is the leader in stove technology. There are no other stoves available that can compete with the long burn times and consistent heat output made possible by the cat, large firebox, and thermostat. Nobody can beat the BK in performance. Unfortunately, the king/princess stoves don't look as nice as the other options.

Thank you again for speaking up and making a presence. The alien technology is appreciated. Go Washington!

Good questions. Subscribing.

Jason

 

[Todd]

Welcome aboard Chris,
Good to see a major manufacture join the forum. Very impressed with the Blaze King line and if I win the stove I'll even put one of my Woodstocks in storage to give the BK a try out. ;-)

 

[BKVP]

Alright, so this is why I have joined the forums...

First Woodstock Soapstone is owned by Tom M. a very good friend and a great (better yet, superb) individual! I would never suggest that anyone put such a beautiful stove away in the garage so as to use a Blaze King...rather put it on the front porch for all to see.

On to the questions at hand:

1) Can you tell us about the apparent price difference east of the mississippi? Members have reported very significant price penalties for living east of this river.

We flew to Raleigh last week and reviewed this issue at length with our distributor. Clearly the discount we have provided to them was not significant enough and with distributor markup and then retail markup, the difference in retail prices was and is too great. For that reason, when our current agreement expires early next year, Blaze King will undertake the necessary steps to make certain retail pricing is no more than 10-15% different coast to coast, which is common in our industry due to shipping such heavy products.


2) There have been reports about a new door latch and apparent design problems. They break. Is this being looked at?

The new Chinook does in fact offer a different design both in the door latch and also the hinges and we have no problems whatsoever. I think you may be referring to the King and Princess door latch catch bolts. As for breakage, every single latch catch bolt that is sent out due to breakage goes out of our office here in Walla Walla, unless it is in Canada. On average fewer than 10 such bolts break each year. So yes we are consdiering make a slight change, not in materials but design. On the inside of the stove we weld a keeper nut. Unfortunately for the 10 or so folks where the bolt breaks each year, the keeper nut being wleded in place results in a need for drill or easy out. We are contemplating not welding the inside nut and if the bolt should break, it would only require a few seconds to replace the latch catch. Harder maetrials are not the answer in our review, they break occasionally as well and are even harder to remove when the break off flush. Mostly the latch catch bolt breaks when someone attempts to adjust the door gasket tension. We coat the bolt with antiseize at the time of manufacturing and if the door is adjusted once a season and more anti sieze is applied it should not be any issue. Second, if anyone should try to turn the bolt and it resists, they should apply a small amount of penetrating lubricant and then let it sit for a day or two. To be clear, this is on our radar and we are looking to make the minimal number of these a zero factor.

3) The new chinook is a great idea and suits those wanting a contemporary looking stove. Do you plan on introducing any other versions of your cat stove that might look more conventional?

Yes. We will be showing new product at the Hearth Exopo in Atlanta next February. Long before any new product is introduced on the market, we torture test them. We most deinitely will have new products next year, but we are not quite finished with our hammers.

I’ve said it before but the BK cat line is the leader in stove technology. There are no other stoves available that can compete with the long burn times and consistent heat output made possible by the cat, large firebox, and thermostat. Nobody can beat the BK in performance. Unfortunately, the king/princess stoves don’t look as nice as the other options.

Thank you for the compliments...and opinion. We have been selling the "look" since 1977. We once contemplated making a sweeping design change and dropping the other look. It's a good thing we asked our dealers before doing so...here are a few samples of their repsones:

a) "Great, now you can look like every other stove"
b) "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not just a handful of eyes"
c) "Customers will say ""That's not a Blaze King, I have a owned a few"

The last one is very important. Most folks do not realize how many Blaze King's have been sold in 35+ years. Dealers tell us folks walk into their showrooms and say, "That's the one my grandparents had...." or, "that's just like the one I have in the house right now and it will fit perfect" and the sale commences. We did have 6 factories in the United States and one in 1 in Canada (which we still have).

As for efficient, don't get me started on the entire LHV issue but suffice it to say the catalytic models are clearly the most efficient. And as for clean burning, on the wall in my office is the VERY FIRST clean burning woodstove certificate, number 001. It was issued December 21st, 1984 for our KEJ1101, a catalytic wood stove. The certificate was issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Thanks for the questions, answering them was well overdue.

 

[Todd]

So what's your take on these new hybrid cat/non cat stoves by Woodstock and VC? Something your company may be looking at?

Oh, and you can't just give us a tease on a new BK stove without giving us some little hints or details, it's against the forum rules. ;-P

 

[KevinG]

That was a fascinating read. I congratulate you on being willing to step up and answer those questions very clearly.

While I'm not currently in the market for another stove, I do have a friend with a Blaze King Princess insert and it is very impressive to watch it burn. Or maybe I just like wood stoves!

Perhaps your example will encourage more manufacturers to get some official representation here!

 

[fossil]

Welcome to the forums, Chris. We have many happy BK campers as active members here. Industry reps are (unfortunately) few..but the ones who participate here purely for the purpose of informing and clarifying are most certainly appreciated. If I happen to outlive my current stove (unlikely, at best) a BK would definitely be on my short list. I think I've learned the most about the capability of your stoves from one of our members who lives up in the Yukon with a username of north of 60. Rick

 

[mellow]

I hope the issue with the east coast distributor (fireside) gets fixed and pricing becomes more affordable, it is pretty bad when you have customers driving cross country to pickup a stove to save a thousand $$.

I would have loved to have installed a princess but the cost with fireside being involved made that impossible, but I always have my eye out for a used one.

 

[BrotherBart]

I hope the issue with the east coast distributor (fireside) gets fixed and pricing becomes more affordable, it is pretty bad when you have customers driving cross country to pickup a stove to save a thousand $$.

I would have loved to have installed a princess but the cost with fireside being involved made that impossible, but I always have my eye out for a used one.

Auto-Rain in Spokane used to ship them anywhere at a decent price until Chris took them out to the woodshed. Now you have to pick them up at their store.

 

[BKVP]

I apologize for not observing forum rules! The new stoves (2) utilize the same new firebox, 1.7 cubic foot. One is traditional steel stove in design and the other is more contemporary, like the Chinook. Thermostat, catalytic and long, long burn times. That's all you get out of me for now....

As for the hybrid stoves. I don't like to comment on competitors products, especially when I have not had the chance to burn them. As for the Woodstock model, Tom and his group are without peers. Tom is a wood stove guy through and through. Although we compete with one another for consumer sales, he invited me into his R & D last year and gave me a close up, first hand review of the new stove. Their combustion engineering is solid and Tom just enjoys making fire and making clean burning stoves. No other company would have such confidence and share their products so openly. Again, this is before they went to market! If Tom and his group say it works, it works. (I only wish his taste in scotch was in my price league)

Thank you

Chris

 

[fossil]

I apologize for not observing forum rules!...

I don't think that happened, Chris. If I gave you the impression that I thought you had failed to observe the forum rules, I apologize...not so. Rick

 

[Todd]

I apologize for not observing forum rules!...

I don't think that happened, Chris. If I gave you the impression that I thought you had failed to observe the forum rules, I apologize...not so. Rick

I think that was directed at me, I was just having some fun with the new guy.

 

[BKVP]

Todd Watson is the owner of Auto-Rain. He is a friend and customer. If you knew Todd, you would know that no one takes Todd out to the wood shed!

No dealer is permitted to sell a stove outside their service area. This policy has been in place since long before my tenure with Blaze King. Regardless of who they are, we stand firm on this policy so as to limit our exposure and liability. Families that purchase our products deserve to have top notch service from the dealer that sold it to them...and that's tough to get when you live thousands of miles away. Any dealer can sell any product they like for any price. You as the consumer choose to pay the asking price or not. We will fix the coast to coast retail price issue early next year, as mentioned in my earlier post.

 

[BKVP]

The new guy is not offended in any way. I can take it because I can also dish it out!

 

[pen]

Thanks for joining up BKVP.

Hope you are prepared for lots of questions from folks! Everyone seems to like to go straight to the top and you have graciously given them an avenue.

Welcome,

pen

 

[Hass]

Hi Chris!
I just purchased a Chinook last weekend.
It will be installed soon after I finish the house... I have many tests to run on it

Although I have been disappointed with the lack of information available about it compared to the king/queen.
Like how it says a 30+ hour burn time on softwood, with a max capacity of 40lbs of softwood.
Assuming it's loaded with 40lbs of wood, that's just over one pound of wood an hour with average softwood containing 640 btus per pound.
So does that really mean the stove is capable of approx 1k btu/hr?
Info is coming from the brochure near the bottom.
I understand there's a huge amount of variables so nothing can be exact... Nor am I expecting 30 hours on softwood (I would be ecstatic if it burned a full load of softwood for 8-10 hours on low)

But going off the information that's what I see. For people who have nobody to talk to and do all their research on the internet, what's in the brochure means everything (in my opinion)

edit;
Lol Pen, I bet the questions will be flowing as we have already started asking.

 

[fossil]

...average softwood containing 640 btus per pound...

Well, you're about 8% correct. All firewood has about the same BTU per pound. Non resinous wood has around 8000 to 8500 BTU per pound and resinous wood has around 8600 to 9700 BTU per pound. Rick

 

[Hass]

...average softwood containing 640 btus per pound...

Well, you're about 8% correct. All firewood has about the same BTU per pound. Non resinous wood has around 8000 to 8500 BTU per pound and resinous wood has around 8600 to 9700 BTU per pound. Rick

wait hollld on.
I crunched numbers wrong then.
Indeed, I left out a 0.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Anyway.
That makes more sense compared to my older thread I had floating around that placed it around 6k after efficiency.
Which places it on par with a 1.5kW space heater, and slightly less than the queen. (which is a good thing)

I'm in dummy mode.
Actually, I'm side tracked right now doing something else, my apologies.

P.S.
8% is higher than most of my grades in high school, so at least I'm getting smarter with age!

 

[BKVP]

First and foremost thank you for purchasing the stove. My kids needed new shoes for winter.

Second, you are really going to love the stove. We are receiving amazing feedback from the new owners of Chinooks.

As for the burn time issue, we have never made a Queen by the way, just a Princess and King model. The firebox is smaller and many folks ask "how does it burn longer than a Princess". The answer is the thermostats in the stoves are not all the same. Without giving out too much information for prying eyes, each thermostat has a bi-metallic coil spring. The actual length of the spring and the amount of time the spring is baked (creates memory) as well as actual calibration varies from model to model. Because the Chinook can actually run at a lower Btu output than the Princess, it can burn longer on the same amount of wood. To be clear, the thermostats are not interchangeable.

Bottom line, both stoves, Princess and Chinook will allow you to sleep through the night. No other stove can give you that piece of mind. When you get the stove running, you'll forget about all the details and just enjoy the burn.

But thank you for this question, the brochure will be changed to better address your observations.

Thank you
Chris