There seems to be a hole in the wood stove market

[Patapsco Mike]

I would like to take advantage of this tax credit and replace my great but very wood-hungry Avalon Olympic with a higher efficiency insert. I get free wood, but I am tired of busting my butt to split, stack, and hump into my house 7 cords of hardwood every season. I am not getting any younger. There is a lot to love about the Olympic, it's a solid stove, but it eats a big wheelbarrow load of wood every day and it's shocking how fast my wood pile dwindles compared to the VC Dutchwest I used to own. While I appreciate the simplicity of the non-cat stove, I will accept the cost of new cat every few years in return for spending less time dealing with wood.

I was sold on the Blaze King Princess until I read through the specs and saw that it only takes logs up to 16." The thought of re-cutting the 7 cords of 18-20" wood is a deal-killer. The Blaze King King takes a longer log, but needs an 8" flue. I have a one season old, insulated 6" flue in perfect shape and there is no way I'm replacing this. I love the look of the Woodstocks, but they also can only take a 16" log on top of having small fireboxes (not to mention the extra money I feel is wasted on the pretty stone that no one will ever see).

Am I overlooking a great catalytic insert that will take a 20" log, have a 3 cubic foot or larger firebox (i.e. support legitimate 10 hour burn times), and be made for 6" pipe? Does anything on the market meet my needs?

 

[SolarAndWood]

I have 3 cord that would have fit in the VC I just replaced with the BK King. Given that it is already stacked in the shed, it is going to get cut an armload at a time with my old chop saw as it comes in the house this winter.

 

[Wet1]

I agree with you regarding the hole in the market, but I don't see it getting filled anytime soon. I hear Woodstock might be coming out with a larger (for them anyway) cat stove, but I expect it to be costly and still a little smaller than 3 cu ft (but this is only my guess).

If you're not worried about the inspector, the BKK will function perfectly on a 6" flue, especially if it has some length to it. I think the majority of guys running the BKK are doing so on a 6" flue... but this still does not make it technically right.

 

[Highbeam]

All of the big cat stoves have 8" flues. Buck, BK, VC, whatever. For some reason, they seem to all do it so either cut your wood down and burn it this year or keep using your Olympic for this season and burn up the wood on hand in your Olympic. You said it takes 7 cords per year and you have seven cords cut, that's one year's worth of wood.

The tax credit is supposed to be around through next year too so any new wood should be cut to 16".

When looking at these other cat stoves, note that only that BK has the thermostat. Running low and slow would make great use of a stat.

 

[mellow]

What is the size of your fireplace and how tall is your chimney?

 

[begreen]

Mike, what can be done to reduce the heat loss of the house? 7 cords of wood in Maryland seems a bit high. Fixing where and why the heat is leaking out may be the most effective way to reduce wood consumption. How much space is being heated by the Olympic? You may get longer burns with the BK, but that doesn't mean burning a whole lot less wood if the btus required to keep warm are still the same.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I have 3 cord that would have fit in the VC I just replaced with the BK King. Given that it is already stacked in the shed, it is going to get cut an armload at a time with my old chop saw as it comes in the house this winter.

How long did you cut your wood? I wasn't aware that there was a larger firebox on the market than the BKK.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I have 3 cord that would have fit in the VC I just replaced with the BK King. Given that it is already stacked in the shed, it is going to get cut an armload at a time with my old chop saw as it comes in the house this winter.

How long did you cut your wood? I wasn't aware that there was a larger firebox on the market than the BKK.

The manual says 18" and load front to back. The length of my stuff is all over the place as it is scrounged and I don't cut a lot of it. 20" plus would go into the Encore.

 

[Todd]

Seems like if your burning 7 cords through your relatively new stove every winter there could be something wrong or your burning wide open and letting most of the heat up the flue? How tall is your chimney and how's your homes insulation?

The BK Princess recommends 16" but the actual firebox size is W21" x L18" x H12", so if you load it east/west your wood should fit.

 

[Wet1]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

 

[TMonter]

You sure there isn't something wrong with your current stove? I have a non-cat and I get 10+ hour burn times on a 2.0 cubic foot firebox.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

Does it make a difference in the burn? It would be nice to not have to trim that 3 cord.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Our old stove would take wood up to 21" and the new stove 16." We had a pretty good supply on hand when we replaced our old stove so the length of wood could be a problem. So the first thing we looked at was exactly what length of wood could we actually fit in the stove. We found in the middle of the firebox it would take lengths up to 18 or 19 inches. That solved part of the problem because all of our wood was not cut to 20" or more.

What we did and are still doing is to sort out the longest pieces, the ones that would not fit in our stove. We just make a separate pile and then in the spring or the next fall I coerce my wife into putting the logs onto a sawbuck while I cut off the ends. These small pieces can then be burned during the daytime.

Some of the long stuff we've lucked out on though as we give a certain amount of wood away each year and if they can use longer stuff, that is where the long pieces go and our problem is solved.

One other way would be to cut the pieces in half and load the stove N to S.

 

[Wet1]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

Does it make a difference in the burn? It would be nice to not have to trim that 3 cord.

A little bit, given a choice I'd go N/S. I think it's easier to load 18" pieces N/S than it is to load 21"+ piece E/W. While you can fit the longer splits towards the back half doing E/W, you'll still need a few shorter splits for the front half since a full 23" wont fit through the door when the stove is mostly full. So either way you might find that you're going to need to cut some of that wood down a little. My best advice is to not go crazy cutting your wood at this point. Try a few fires both ways and see what works for you.

 

[gpcollen1]

I would struggle to burn 7 cords in my Olympic. You need to give us more info on what and how you are burning so that we can help you keep that thing.

I burned just a hair under 7 cords with my Olympic and my Castine. My Olympic goes from approximately Nov 1 until April-ish. I think burning 5 cords would be a lot to go through - - - and that is with a drafty house...

 

[SolarAndWood]

My best advice is to not go crazy cutting your wood at this point. Try a few fires both ways and see what works for you.

Cool, thanks.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

Does it make a difference in the burn? It would be nice to not have to trim that 3 cord.

I don't think the stove knows how the fuel is situated. I'm guessing the manual recommendation came from a lawyer, not a stove user or maker.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Not really too big of a hole, this forum is not really that representative of the actual market (in my area). If i had cat stoves, i would not be able to give them away. My market must be somewhat representitive of the national market because there are very few manufactures making cat stoves today. Personally, i like cat stoves, but the overwhelming market share that non cats have pretty much makes them extinct relative to the entire market.

 

[Patapsco Mike]

I have an 18' flue length and I'm heating about 1,600 square feet. The house was kept toasty but it's an all brick and block house with interior insulation and sealed new windows. The insulation isn't tremendous it is not at all leaky. I've heated exclusively with wood for 8 years so I'm no novice.

The stove was run continuously from the end of October until the end of March. It only went out a few times during that span. I burned very dry cherry and ash last season- this season I'll have almost all red oak so I'm sure I'll burn a bit less this year. I would fill the stove three times a day, so I was getting nice long burn times.

If I made my fires smaller, I'd burn less wood but I'd need to fill 4x per day which is difficult because I'm away from home for 10 hours during the day. I'd rather not have to start a new fire every day when I get home from work.

If I can get an 18 or 19" log in the Blaze King Princess I'll probably buy one. They should be careful what they put in their specs...

 

[Patapsco Mike]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

Is that King or a Princess?

 

[Wet1]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

Is that King or a Princess?

The King. The Princess I believe it takes a 16" log N/S and up to a 20" E/W. North of 60 has a Princess, you might want to PM him to confirm it will take up to a 20"going E/W, and see how it burns in that configuration.

 

[Todd]

Typically you will get a longer burn loading e/w vs n/s because the splits in front will keep the combustion air from circulating through the load. My stove is set up as a side loader so it can only be loaded e/w and it burns fine. The BK has the front door so I suspect most people will just load straight in.

 

[North of 60]

Yeah, the BK is 18" north/south, but it will take up to about a 23" east/west.

Is that King or a Princess?

The King. The Princess I believe it takes a 16" log N/S and up to a 20" E/W. North of 60 has a Princess, you might want to PM him to confirm it will take up to a 20"going E/W, and see how it burns in that configuration.

Hello Mike, 17.5” is max after the bottom is full up to the lip. 17” before that N/S if E/W
22”is max but 20” would be more comfortable. I load N/S as it help gets the air chugging through it faster to char it up. BUT I would not rule out the stove due to a load of firewood being to long for this season. You will have many more heating seasons to go. + side is it will be easier to split the wood @ 16” next year. ;-) Just load E/W till its all gone. Make sure your wood is DRY.
N of 60

 

[Apiator]

I am a bit dissappointed as I read this thread. I've just ordered an Avalon Olympic insert, and based my decision on information I had read on this forum and the efficiencies they (Avalon) currently publish....up to 12 hour burn times for the Olympic. I had been looking at a Lopi, but aesthetics turned me to the Avalon since they're the same under the hood.

Will I be dissappointed with the stove???? Hope I haven't made a mistake. That's a lot of money for a "gas" guzzler.

 

[Wet1]

The Olympic insert looks like a nice stove.

If you're interested in cat inserts, the two cat inserts that I can think of off the top of my head are the BK Princess (2.5 cu ft box) and Buck 91 (4+ cu ft box). There might be others in that size range as well. The Avalon Olympic is sized in the middle of these two, but both of the cat stoves will burn longer and lower if required. They should also burn a little more efficiently (cleaner and a little less wood consumption) as well. With that said the Avalon Olympic is a sharp looking stove and it is EPA rated so it's no major gas guzzler.