Enviro Venice 1700 insert vs Blaze King Princess insert.

Looking at finally putting my money where my mouth is and purchasing one of the two listed. Do you have any insight between the two?

I can get the Enviro for about a grand less. Will the enviro perform well at lower burn settings? I understand this is where the Blaze shines, but unsure how a secondary combustion stove performs at low settings.

Thanks in advance.

Secondary stoves have a very hard time performing at low outputs. They pretty much don't due to the EPA required minimum air settings. So the way you do low output with a non-cat is by using less wood. Less wood means lower burn times.

If you like the concept of a long and steady low burn to maintain the house temp instead of multiple bursts of heat then the cat stove is your best choice.

I last reloaded the fire 20 hours ago and don't plan to reload for another 4-6, the house will be warm and the reload will instantly ignite from all the coals. You can't do that with a non-cat.

Thats what I thought.

The Enviro salesman was trying to tell me that non cat stoves did better at low burn settings and the cat stove needed to be ran hot to keep the cat active. The worst part is this particular dealer used to be a Blaze Kind dealer. He has old dealer plaques from BK.

Anyway, I'm leaning toward the BK. I'd love to hear from a current non cat stove owner about how there stove behaves at different settings. Can you get it to cruise with secondary burn at medium or low settings?

Thanks for your input.

I have the enviro kodiak 1700 (same stove just different face/front).

I find I can cruise along at medium output and get a good secondary burn if I have a decent coal base to start with and then I run nicely seasoned wood. If the moisture content is a little higher than I like, the secondary burn is more difficult to achieve at lower temps and it takes more air, which means shorter burn times.

This insert is a work horse, heats my house in michigan with no problems. It has a larger firebox than many other models, which can be a plus for wood capacity, but probably hurts it a little with the secondary burn at lower temps. That is why the dry wood helps when running it at lower temps. Not sure if that is the design of the insrt or just the way "burning" goes.

I also feel that different types of wood make the secondarys behave differently, not sure why, not sure if its my imagination, but just something I noticed. KD

I've got a Jotul Oslo in my main living area and a new BK Chinook in the partially finished basement. There is simply no comparison between the 2 stoves re. the "ease of use" and low temp burning. Like highbeam, I can easily get 24 hr burns in milder weather with the house staying consistently warm (approx. 22degrees C ...72 F) for the entire time. I would say that the 1st couple of hours after a reload definitely produces more heat, but then it settles in to a , very long burn with consistent stove top temps/heat.

I love my Oslo, but probably won't fire her up until the colder weather hits. I'm amazed at how well the BK is keeping the main floor toasty warm!

Have had my Princess for a few months now and have to say it's well worth the extra cost in the long run if your a serious 24/7 burner. Best overall control of a wood stove I've ever seen with long burns and nice even heat output.

I run both. If you are looking for long, low burns, cat is the way to go.

Can you get long burns from a non-cat stove? Absolutely. Can you get long burns at a low temp with a non-cat stove? No.

Just make sure the cat stove is the right size stove for your home. Otherwise you will need to run it at higher temps and you will lose some of the benefits of a cat stove.

Well said!

+1

Thanks for all the replies. I have decided to go with a freestanding BK Princess Ultra instead of the insert. I will be picking it up this Friday!

I keep seeing threads concerning people timing their loads and I believe some have included BK owners. I'm a little confused. I was hoping I wouldn't have to plan that much and was planning on just topping it off whenever I had a chance. Is this possible? Is there a reason to let it burn to coals each time?

Thanks again

Good choice!

Some people like to over think things.

Depending on your climate a load in the am and a load at night will probably be enough on the cold days. I personally try to let the load burn down to coals, I "feel" like I'm wasting good coals/heat if I load before I need to. Regardless of the stove you're heating with wood takes some getting used to, after a while your schedule will fall in line and feeding the stove will just be part of your daily routine. The less often you fiddle/load the stove the more efficient it will be since the bypass will be closed more, every time you open the bypass you loss heat up the stack.

I like to think of it as function over form.

Your best bet will probably be to load it twice a day in the colder weather at whatever time you find conveneient, you'll find a schedule after running the stove a while.

Great choice, you will love the stove. I've been doing a 2 load schedule for awhile now with about 3/4 loads but sometimes this varies with the weather and you end up loading more or less wood into the stove or burning a little hotter or cooler. Just takes a little trial and error to figure out what works best for you. This stove is very flexible and user friendly.

Is there a negative to topping the stove off even if it is only half way thru a burn? I would have thought that it would be easiest to keep the cat active if I would reload when the stove is still hot.

Do people worry about timing loads because they aren't trying to burn 24/7?

I have never operated a Blaze King so insight is appreciated before I pull the trigger this friday.

I don't see a problem with topping off once in awhile but if you did it every time you would end up with too many coals. A half load in this stove still has a lot of BTU power left and you can just turn up the t-stat half way through if you feel you need more heat.

So far Iv'e never had a problem timing loads burning 24/7, either 12 or 24 hour reloads have been no problem and I usually have an hour or two to spare either way incase I'm late or in a hurry.

i iust installed a princess last saturday. last night i loaded it up at 7 and set the thermo to 1 3/4. just got up(5) and the stove has probally 5 hours left of good heat but it is in the coaling stage. cat is sitting at the 12 oclock position. i could reload now but why waste the wood. you wont have a problem keeping the cat active. even with it down to minimal coals it still is well into the active range.

you wont regret the princess. although if you like fiddling with stoves this one isnt for you. it truly is set it and forget it!