I had to run the oil furnace to maintain comfortable temps in the house. I even ran a few loads of compressed wood blocks to eliminate the wood as an issue. I like the stove but it just isnt great at high btu output.
Catalytic Stove Pros and Cons
- Thread starter Richard Pryor
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@begreen @Highbeam i’m Between bend and sisters. It is indeed high desert but I wouldn’t call it mild. Not as harsh as la pine but certainly not mild. Temps drop significantly at night. This winter and the last one were very mild though.
Area where stove is going to be = 23x28 with vaulted ceiling (17ft at the highest point). Completely open floor plan in that room. Total living square footage is ~2600.
Not sure what you mean by what type of stove will look best. We currently have a regency 1100 in the shop as our sole method of heating and it kind of sucks. It gets too hot in a second and i can’t keep it going in low setting for more than 5 hours at most. I’m guessing this is a non catalytic stove?
Yes, fire looks nice on my 1100 when I just put a few logs in. Will it not look as pretty on a Princess?
Even though I will have an extremely high efficiency heat pump, I can’t help but think that something could happen where we lose power for however many days and having a badass stove will be ideal. A stove you can cook on the top and one you can keep fire going all night without having to open windows because it’s too hot. And one where fire looks nice before the zombie apocalypse.
As to what will look best, i think something with a pedestal not too traditional-looking but nothing extremely modern. I think the Princess looks damn good, but the wife is not crazy about it. I’m paying so don’t really care what she thinks.
Yes the 1100 is a non cat but it is tiny of course you will have short burn times with 1.4 cuft
Yep you and me will not be offering this guy any advice! Love the little plugs for global warming all while asking for help.......
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I misread your stating 15 was the coldest temp and thought you might be more up around Salem. It can get colder up in the high desert. Your avatar just says Oregon. Sounds like you have already chosen the Princess, based on the other thread. It will get the job done. There are big stoves by Enviro, PE, Regency, etc. that would also fill the need.
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So because he has different veiws you are unwilling to help him with his stove questions?
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
New cat stove pro's - most have a metal combustor so they can be active while burning at lower temps (500 deg) what this does is allows a smolder in the fire box (yes black glass) but clean burn since the particles get eaten up by the cat in a self sustained reaction.
The other positive with the BK princess and really any BK cat stove is the ability to turn the stove to your desired heat output, when its cold or you need that extra umphh you can turn it up and if your draft is with in spec you don't have to worry about over firing or damaging internals. When its kind of cool but not to cold you can get an established fire and turn it down for a lower but clean burning heat output, generally have long +12hr burn times depending on wood type and heat load.
Particularly the princess - maintenance is very easy, the cat can be changed out in 1min, the door latch can easily be adjusted with normal hand tools, the door can slid off and gasket replacement is easy since there is a well defined groove to follow. Cleaning is easy to, just remove the stove pipe from the collar after cleaning and vacuum the upper chamber.
Heat out put is nice, no severe riser and fall like your smaller shop stove, its more of a flat output which makes the heat feel consistent and soft.
Cons - Draft …. yes the BK line is fairly particular with draft, while running the stove on high you want a draft output measured at .05" if the draft isn't dialed in you maybe susceptible to problems down the road such as, fly ash plugging the cat, short cat life span, over fire (while few and far between) because the t-stat isn't closing (cooler fire box) but the flames are raging and more heat is sucked through the chimney rather then transferring into the stove room.
Unseasoned wood - these stoves (really all stoves) like dry wood, best results are splits that measure 18% and less.
Hope this provides a little insight, over all I am very happy with my Princess, I've had my issues but since getting my draft under control my issues seemed to have dissolved.
I also want to note wood consumption is lower due to the ability to adjust burn outputs, the cat placement on the stove also provides additional heat to the stove top so you don't need to burn as high for stove top temps in the 600's.
The other positive with the BK princess and really any BK cat stove is the ability to turn the stove to your desired heat output, when its cold or you need that extra umphh you can turn it up and if your draft is with in spec you don't have to worry about over firing or damaging internals. When its kind of cool but not to cold you can get an established fire and turn it down for a lower but clean burning heat output, generally have long +12hr burn times depending on wood type and heat load.
Particularly the princess - maintenance is very easy, the cat can be changed out in 1min, the door latch can easily be adjusted with normal hand tools, the door can slid off and gasket replacement is easy since there is a well defined groove to follow. Cleaning is easy to, just remove the stove pipe from the collar after cleaning and vacuum the upper chamber.
Heat out put is nice, no severe riser and fall like your smaller shop stove, its more of a flat output which makes the heat feel consistent and soft.
Cons - Draft …. yes the BK line is fairly particular with draft, while running the stove on high you want a draft output measured at .05" if the draft isn't dialed in you maybe susceptible to problems down the road such as, fly ash plugging the cat, short cat life span, over fire (while few and far between) because the t-stat isn't closing (cooler fire box) but the flames are raging and more heat is sucked through the chimney rather then transferring into the stove room.
Unseasoned wood - these stoves (really all stoves) like dry wood, best results are splits that measure 18% and less.
Hope this provides a little insight, over all I am very happy with my Princess, I've had my issues but since getting my draft under control my issues seemed to have dissolved.
I also want to note wood consumption is lower due to the ability to adjust burn outputs, the cat placement on the stove also provides additional heat to the stove top so you don't need to burn as high for stove top temps in the 600's.
2600 square feet, a large portion with 17 foot ceilings. I’d bet the rest has 10 foot ceilings but at least modern construction so well insulated. High desert means cold and wind. Think single digits. This stove needs to be backup heat for extended power outages, always smart to be prepared for that even if your primary use is supplemental heat.
Oh and wood will likely be pine.
Your house is too big for the princess. I would use the king model. 40 hour burns on low when that’s all the heat you need or you can turn it up and choose to burn through wood faster for more heat. The king model requires an 8” flue.
There is also this stove company from Idaho, Kuma, that makes a fairly similar stove that doesn’t have quite the same maximum burn times but does have high output.
If you don’t like cat stoves then your space will not be too small for even the biggest noncat stove. Don’t get anything smaller than 3 cubic feet. Most of them require the regular 6” flue.
Oh and wood will likely be pine.
Your house is too big for the princess. I would use the king model. 40 hour burns on low when that’s all the heat you need or you can turn it up and choose to burn through wood faster for more heat. The king model requires an 8” flue.
There is also this stove company from Idaho, Kuma, that makes a fairly similar stove that doesn’t have quite the same maximum burn times but does have high output.
If you don’t like cat stoves then your space will not be too small for even the biggest noncat stove. Don’t get anything smaller than 3 cubic feet. Most of them require the regular 6” flue.
lsucet
Minister of Fire
No, you will not get the same. You will have more like a normal fireplace type of flame and depending the setting you can get a combination of flame and ghost flames. you will be burning in the hot side to get that effect and sometimes that type of heat is not desired. Non cat you have no choice unless you control it with amount of wood etc. Well you do have a non cat, you know then what i am saying.
If the stove is burning at a reasonable rate the fire view could look ok, though it won't be as clean as the Regency. Highbeam just posted a picture of what his glass looks like. It's dark in the lower corners and clearer in the upper middle. Owners are reporting that the Ashford and Sirocco do a better job at keeping the glass clean when the stove is run at a moderate clip. This could be due to the difference between a slightly sloped door face on the Princess and a perpendicular door face plus maybe a bit better airwash.
This is a shot of typical cat window glaze
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...t-2-everything-bk.173198/page-10#post-2325968
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The fire in a regular cat stove is like a campfire, very nice and I know I’ve had lots of pleasant hours staring at a campfire. The noncat flameshow adds more flames like from a bbq on the stove top. You know, you own one. The quality of fire is fine on both.
The real difference will be that the glass on a noncat is usually cleaner because they always burn hot enough to keep much from accumulating on the glass. If you choose to run a cat stove on low for a few weeks (you will, it’s awesome) then your flameshow is partially obstructed by the glass gunk in the bottom corners until it burns off. Most of us only get a small amount of gunk on the glass but extreme low temperature burners with wet wood can blacken most of the window. Honestly, if I try I can blacken the glass on my noncat too but most folks burn clean enough to avoid that.
Ouch. My regency also gets dirty. A little wet newspaper with ash takes care of it in no time.
Any pics of the fire burning in a cat?
And btw @Highbeam, just did the calculations. It’s a 2 story house, 28x48 each floor but first floor there’s a 22x24 garage so that makes the total square footage 2100. And one room in the first floor is controlled by a wall unit so ducting doesn’t go to that room. Do you still I need the king or will the princess be enough?
That's after low and slow burning. Here is a video of the princess with freshly cleaned glass burning well.
When there is a intent to interject a liberal political view into a question, then yes I am done helping. Looks like others are doing a fine job helping our our global warming friend.
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Mate, I’m as conservative as it gets. Global warming has nothing to do with left or right. At least I don’t think it does. Call it what you want. Doesn’t have to be that term.
Yeah, I thought he was making a pretty big leap there. That said, things are starting to seem rather unusual..
Like the color of your skin, your income, or your sex, I don’t care what your opinion is on global warming! I didn’t feel like anybody was trying to sell it. Anyway.
You seem to be decided on a princess or other bk. That’s good, I really like mine.
Do you “need” a king? I think the question is why put in a princess when you could be fortunate enough to run a king. Your home size, especially with the tall ceilings, puts you over the princess’ recommended capacity but those recommendations are just a rough guide.
The princess would keep you warm safely and efficiently but you would have to run it pretty hard when the weather is cold which would result in shorter burn times. Maybe that’s okay because you would get more flames.
The king has a huge fuel tank and wide range of available outputs. It can run almost as low as the princess but that huge fuel tank means that at any chosen output level it runs way longer.
Oh and that photo of aaronk’s glass that bg posted is worse case scenario. You would have to try to get it that bad. The bark is best removed by scraping with a blade or even a little chunk of kindling.
Is this stove to be in the lower level? If not, the lower level won’t get much stove heat and the princess could be better suited.
Oh and Fremont is one of my favorites too. We especially like the blue cans, universale. My family has visited that brewery several times and been treated well. The whole operation is top notch. Just like Georgetown brewing company.
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