Wood Stove Newbies, Pellet Stove Veterans, Blaze King Princess

[becasunshine]

Hello!

I/we are long time participants in the pellet stove section of Hearth.com. We use a Napoleon NPS40 free standing pellet stove to heat our 1410 sq. ft. bungalow in town. The Napoleon NPS40 is rated to heat 2000 sq. ft. and yet we've had to do quite a bit with insulation and air leak mitigation to stretch those BTUs.

We have acquired a home in the country to which we hope to retire in a few years. It is a single story ranch design, approximately 2000 sq. ft., new construction, with open floor plan living space on one end and the typical rancher hallway with bedrooms and bathrooms off of that hall.

We have recently contracted a stove shop to install a wood stove in this residence.

We have chosen a central installation spot in the open floor plan portion of the house. The spot is close by the opening to the hallway and close to the HVAC return, which is high on an adjacent wall. The return and the HVAC fan can be used to help move the heat around the house.

The stove will be supplied and installed by a professional stove shop. The shop guarantees their installations for the lifetime of the installation as long as we own the house and stove. There is no fireplace nor chimney in the house, so the stove shop is also installing a stainless steel chimney for us in addition to the stove, a hearth pad and stove pipe.

We have also contracted a local provider for fire wood so that we can put by seasoned fire wood for next year. This provider provides hardwood that is one to three years seasoned prior to delivery. (We plan to get a moisture meter nonetheless.)

We have chosen the Blaze King Princess in the Parlor configuration for this installation.

We are excited about the Princess. I have only one nagging doubt about it- the upcoming EPA regulation changes. As someone on another thread pointed out. the Princess will not meet the upcoming, tighter EPA regulations- so we'd not be able to re-sell it ourselves once all of the regulations were enacted in 2019.

We hope to own this wood stove for a long, long time and we aren't planning to re-sell it- but we do tend to buy things with an eye toward both longevity and resale value.

We considered the Ashford 30 as well, but it seemed like we would be paying more money for less efficiency and less stove. Our experience with heating our 1410 sq. ft. house in town with a pellet stove that's rated to heat 2000 sq. ft. informs our choice on size of wood stove. The house in the country is newer construction with better insulation, but we now know from experience that it's better to have more capacity than you need than just enough capacity or less.

So, how much credence should we give the new EPA standards in respect to acquiring a Blaze King Princess? I was feeling quite certain about our decision until I read that particular point of view. I have to admit, it's given me pause.

Also, do any of you know whether we'll need a county building permit for the installation of the stainless steel chimney through the ceiling and the roof? I've left a message/question with the appropriate county office but I've not yet heard back from them.

Thank you all for your time!

 

[jeff_t]

I probably wouldn't let changing regulations five years up the road influence me too much. I'm pretty sure you would be able to sell the stove to someone under the radar. Even so, a five year old Princess in good shape probably wouldn't bring much over $1k anyway. I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.

I'm guessing you should have permits/inspections for the whole install. I didn't, but I don't have nosey neighbors, and I contacted my insurance company first.

Welcome to the Dark Side.

 

[BrotherBart]

The EPA regulates new stoves sold by manufacturers. States take it from there. It will be a cold day in hell when Virginia starts regulating the resale of wood stoves. And I gotta look at that statement about it not meeting the upcoming EPA regs. I can't believe that.

Tell ya what. Five years from now I will give ya a grand for it. Put in writing right here, right now. Delivered to Northern, VA of course.

 

[becasunshine]

I probably wouldn't let changing regulations five years up the road influence me too much. I'm pretty sure you would be able to sell the stove to someone under the radar. Even so, a five year old Princess in good shape probably wouldn't bring much over $1k anyway. I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.

I'm guessing you should have permits/inspections for the whole install. I didn't, but I don't have nosey neighbors, and I contacted my insurance company first.

Welcome to the Dark Side.

Thank you, jeff-t. As with our used cars and most of our other belongings, the five year old Princess will be worth much more to us installed and functioning in our house than $1k on the used stove market.

We've already talked to the insurance company as well, but good point.

The stove company is a bona fide stove installer thingy with credentials and all that. But yeah, we're talking to the county as well. At least I am trying to talk to the county- they ain't talked back yet but they are good about calling us back, and they've been easy to work with. I think you are right, there will probably be permits and inspections involved. On one hand, it's a stove, and a pre-fab chimney. It's not like we are building a masonry chimney. On the other hand, I've recently been surprised at the things that require inspections.

 

[becasunshine]

The EPA regulates new stoves sold by manufacturers. States take it from there. It will be a cold day in hell when Virginia starts regulating the resale of wood stoves. And I gotta look at that statement about it not meeting the upcoming EPA regs. I can't believe that.

Tell ya what. Five years from now I will give ya a grand for it. Put in writing right here, right now. Delivered to Northern, VA of course.

LOL, Brother Bart, I'm surprised you are so easy. I would have guessed that you'd expect me to throw a batch of home made cookies in the mix as well.

 

[BrotherBart]

LOL, Brother Bart, I'm surprised you are so easy. I would have guessed that you'd expect me to throw a batch of home made cookies in the mix as well.

Cookies! Love cookies!

Easy offer to make. You ain't ever gonna need to call it in.

 

[fossil]

The return and the HVAC fan can be used to help move the heat around the house.

Well...maybe, maybe not. As they say, "It depends...". Lots and lots of folks report that this falls far short of their optimistic expectations. The duct work for that HVAC system is designed to have really hot air pumped into it to distribute. The insulation on it isn't eye-popping. The ducts generally run either in an attic or a crawl space, neither of which is routinely heated, so what little energy (heat) was in the air returned from the stove room is pretty much all gone by the time the air is delivered anywhere else...just cool air issuing from those registers. There are rare instances where folks report good results...maybe you'll luck out. Rick

 

[becasunshine]

We also researched the Woodstock Progress Hybrid, considered waiting for the Woodstock Ideal Steel to get out of beta testing, strongly considered buying an Englander from AM FM Energy, and also considered the Lopi Cape Cod and the Vermont Castings Defiant. We ended up going with the Blaze King Princess because, well, BLAZE KING, legendary burn times, the ability to burn efficiently on low settings, and the ability to control the burn. We felt that the Blaze King platform would be most forgiving to us newbies.

The Woodstocks and the Englanders fell off of the list because our home owner's insurance requires a certificate of professional installation. This location is remote, and we are paying an additional travel charge to get a stove shop to come out there to install their own stove sale. I talked to a couple of other shops about installing an Englander or a Woodstock and no one was interested in installing a product they didn't sell- especially in a remote location. So anything that was a self-install or a hire out to install fell off of the list relatively early.

We really like the Lopi Cape Cod but it was a more expensive stove, and it didn't have the longer burn times. Also the shop with whom we spoke about the Lopi didn't seem particularly excited about the remote install, and never got back with us with a written estimate.

The stove shop from which we bought the Blaze King sells Vermont Castings as well, and we seriously considered the Defiant- but it seemed like, feature for feature, we were getting more of what we want with the Princess, and for less money. The Defiant is a gorgeous stove- a real head turner- and we especially liked the grate floor and the ash drawer. But, at the end of the day, we don't mind if a wood stove looks like an old school wood stove (especially in our rural application, there's no need to dress up where we are going.) And we'll probably buy another Power Smith ash vacuum from Mills Fleet Farm. We like the one we bought to clean the pellet stove that much. Yes, we will also buy an ash bucket and an ash shovel for hot ashes- but we can use the ash vacuum to clean up around the stove.

The stove shop that carries Blaze King has been most responsive to our inquiries and endless questions and our pickiness about details. They also didn't balk at traveling a good distance to install the stove. They are charging us for the extra travel- that's fair- but they have not once acted like we are asking them to install the stove on top of Mt. Everest. That responsiveness and patience with our learning process carries a lot of weight with us- we notice it, and we appreciate it. So, Blaze King it is, and the Princess meets our needs at a competitive price.

 

[jeff_t]

We've already talked to the insurance company as well, but good point.

The stove company is a bona fide stove installer thingy with credentials and all that. But yeah, we're talking to the county as well. At least I am trying to talk to the county- they ain't talked back yet but they are good about calling us back, and they've been easy to work with. I think you are right, there will probably be permits and inspections involved. On one hand, it's a stove, and a pre-fab chimney. It's not like we are building a masonry chimney. On the other hand, I've recently been surprised at the things that require inspections.

My insurance company didn't require any professional installation or inspection. After I was finished, my agent came out and I printed him a copy of the manual, he took some measurements and pics, and said "Wow, I don't even smell any smoke"

The building inspector around here at the time was known as 'Drive-by Dave'. I couldn't bring myself to pay for a permit when there is nobody qualified to make an inspection.

Whatever you decide to do, you are paying someone else to do the job. Make sure it is done right. 'Professional' installations aren't always so.

 

[becasunshine]

Well...maybe, maybe not. As they say, "It depends...". Lots and lots of folks report that this falls far short of their optimistic expectations. The duct work for that HVAC system is designed to have really hot air pumped into it to distribute. The insulation on it isn't eye-popping. The ducts generally run either in an attic or a crawl space, neither of which is routinely heated, so what little energy (heat) was in the air returned from the stove room is pretty much all gone by the time the air is delivered anywhere else...just cool air issuing from those registers. There are rare instances where folks report good results...maybe you'll luck out. Rick

Rick, we agree. We found this out pretty quickly with our pellet stove. We'll try it, and if it doesn't work, well then it doesn't work. We are not ordering the Princess with the fans on it, the guy who owns the stove shop doesn't think we'll need the fan kit, but we have the idea in the back of our minds that it if we need it, we'll order it and add it on. We are getting the heat shield option on the back of the stove, and double wall stove pipe, since we don't have a fireplace with a brick hearth/chimney in which to install it.

The living room, which is completely open to the large, middle of the house dining area in which the stove will be installed, has a ceiling fan, as does the adjacent kitchen and the sun room on the other side of the dining room. I've read that people have better luck with ceiling fans and wood stoves than with wood stove blowers/fan kits.

^^^ I don't know, we are learning, so if there are opinions about that as well, we are happy to hear them!

 

[becasunshine]

Cookies! Love cookies!

Easy offer to make. You ain't ever gonna need to call it in.

Brother Bart, I have this recipe for oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies that will make you forget all about that Blaze King Princess wood stove!

 

[becasunshine]

My insurance company didn't require any professional installation or inspection. After I was finished, my agent came out and I printed him a copy of the manual, he took some measurements and pics, and said "Wow, I don't even smell any smoke"

The building inspector around here at the time was known as 'Drive-by Dave'. I couldn't bring myself to pay for a permit when there is nobody qualified to make an inspection.

Whatever you decide to do, you are paying someone else to do the job. Make sure it is done right. 'Professional' installations aren't always so.

jeff-t, thank you for the head's up. I think that we are going to be happy with this company- so far they've been great. The two owners have a LOT (years and years) of experience with installing and maintaining wood burning appliances, and are all credentialed up. In fact, one of the things that impressed us immediately when we were inquiring about installation were the questions that were asked about the structure of the house. We know very little and we are learning as we go along (hence we are here, thank you, everybody!) but these people ask intelligent questions, and we can see where they are going with the questions that they ask. They've also been consulted in cases of house fires caused by wood burning appliances (NOT their installs.) I'm extrapolating that The Powers That Be consider them experts, and they've seen what goes wrong, how and why. Anyway, yes, we will keep a head's up!