Napoleon or Blaze King

[Alex.O]

Hello all,

First time wood stove buyer here and want some advice from the pros on a couple stoves I'm considering.

I want a smaller stove to heat the main living area of my house.
After days of research, I found two stoves I like.

Blaze King Sirocco 20
Napoleon 1100c

I'm impressed by the advertised burn times and efficiency ratings on the BK and I got a quote of about $2400 for it at a store in Canada (about $1900 USD)

I found a brand new Napoleon 1100c in brown enamel for $1500 locally on Craigslist.

Is the BK worth the extra $400? I like how the Napoleon looks but I'd I don't want to put my money into a worthless stove that looks good.

Anybody have experience with these stoves?

Thanks in advance

 

[webby3650]

The BK is in a league of its own compared to the Napoleon. I'd go with the BK for sure if I planned to heat with it full time. The burn times are unparalleled.

 

[Highbeam]

Get a price for the 30 series version of that BK too. For the additional couple of bucks you get 50% longer burn time and a lower possible burn rate which means you can actually make less heat with the larger stove for a longer time. All good! The only reason I can see to get the 20 size stove is to save a couple of dollars and a couple of inches of physical size.

Do you intend to burn this stove primarily for heat or for ambiance?

 

[jeff_t]

Funny thing is that what you get with a smaller physical size is lost with greater clearance to combustibles, vs the 30 series.

 

[revdocjim]

BK gets pretty consistently good reviews on this forum, which is a significant thing considering how many users there are and the extent of the knowledge pool here. I've never used a BK so I can't really comment. But two years ago we installed a Napoleon 1400 pedestal model in our home as our primary source of heat and have been quite happy with it. It was given to us so I never really had any choice and I don't have enough experience with other stoves to make comparisons. But the 1400 firebox is quite large, allowing for EW and NS loading. A full box of dry hardwood at bedtime leaves us with a very hot bed of coals in the morning that will light right back up with a couple smaller pieces. Napoleon stoves are not luxury stoves by most standards but probably fit well in the "workhorse" category and are quite reliable. For being a relatively inexpensive stove I think ours looks very nice!

 

[Rickb]

Love my 20.....