Advice for newbie's first stove: PE vs BK

[jdr7]

Hey everyone! My wife and I are looking to buy our first wood stove. We've done a ton of research, but would love some advice from the community here. We've narrowed our choice down to a PE (I think Alderlea T6, but I honestly forget the exact model), or a Blaze King Princess 32.

Both are sold by our local dealer, who provides really great support and installation. Each appeals to us for a different reason.

Some details:
We're aiming to use this as the sole source of heat in our home (1600 sq ft rancher). We live in eastern PA, so we need moderate warmth in fall and spring, and our winters can get pretty cold (some weeks get single digits, but mostly 20's and 30's).

We're torn, because we like the simplicity of the non-cat PE, and were told it was a bit more forgiving with wood quality. We plan to only use seasoned hardwood, but not having to think about a cat is kind of appealing. We also like that it comes with a cooktop, and from research, seems like the flames might be more visible in it.

On the other hand, we'll be using it for shoulder seasons which can be quite long - so the temperature control of the BK is really appealing. Also, we have some access to wood, but will mostly be buying downed trees from local companies to saw and split ourselves, so efficiency is a priority. I understand the BK cat is very reliable, but takes time to learn and I'm definitely willing to do that.

What we're looking for

• Ability to heat whole house (1600 sq ft) as sole source of heat
• Burn through the night (not have to wake up and add wood)
• Efficient (we'll be buying some wood, so getting through with 4-5 cords, vs 6-7 is a big deal)
• Able to be operated by a newbie, we're both new and not super handy - but willing to learn, also if friends house-sit during the winter, it being user-friendly enough for them

Any advice, or factors we should consider? We're looking to purchase soon, so I thought I'd ask the community here to cover my bases!

 

[begreen]

Ranch home layouts can be a bit more difficult to heat due to a common Tee layout with the bedrooms and bath off of a hallway. That leaves the stove primarily heating the living room, kitchen, and dining area. If this is the case, the Alderlea T5 would suffice unless the house is quite leaky.

 

[jdr7]

Ranch home layouts can be a bit more difficult to heat due to a common Tee layout with the bedrooms and bath off of a hallway. That leaves the stove primarily heating the living room, kitchen, and dining area. If this is the case, the Alderlea T5 would suffice unless the house is quite leaky.

Thanks! The house isn't super leaky, but I do plan to upgrade the insulation next year. Do you think there's a risk that the stove couldn't heat the bedrooms? Do people often have to use fans or something to get the air down the hall, or do the bedrooms always stay a bit chilly?

Just wondering if it's a difference of, the home is 75 and the bedrooms are 68, or if they'll be even colder than that.

 

[stoveliker]

If you want more constant heat input in the shoulder season, I'd go for the BK. No small fires with frequent reloads or restarts, jus a very long reload schedule with constant low heat

But both are good stoves.

Do you already have wood that has seasoned (split and off the ground)for two years? You need that for modern stoves. If not, consider buying a pallet or two of sawdust bricks.

 

[RockyMtnGriz]

Just wondering if it's a difference of, the home is 75 and the bedrooms are 68, or if they'll be even colder than that.

Funny, you made me look - and when I did, the thermometer said it was 56 in here. So, I went and put some wood in the furnace since the night is young yet. I can't imagine wanting 75 and 68, I used to pay for air conditioning to avoid just that .

 

[rijim]

Both great stoves, BK will give the option to run low in shoulder season and still push more heat in colder months. You will need a small fan to push colder air into the stove room with either stove. How will you heat the basement to keep pipes from freezing?

 

[kennyp2339]

I own a BK princess and very happy with its performance, I was also looking a PE t6, one thing to think about is the steady output of the BK, even in colder weather it’s burn times average out to 10hrs a load for myself, steady output is nice cause there is no chasing the dragon like a epa reburn stove which gets its secondary reburn at 1200 deg f, where the BK can cruise 600 - 1000 deg f no problem

 

[jdr7]

If you want more constant heat input in the shoulder season, I'd go for the BK. No small fires with frequent reloads or restarts, jus a very long reload schedule with constant low heat

But both are good stoves.

Do you already have wood that has seasoned (split and off the ground)for two years? You need that for modern stoves. If not, consider buying a pallet or two of sawdust bricks.

I had no idea these bricks even existed! Researched them, and they look incredible. We don't have seasoned wood, we were planning on buying from 2 local tree removal companies who sell by the cord: 1 year old hardwood, split. Will that be aged enough? Is it more a matter of moisture content or age? Am I looking at < 20% moisure? Thanks in advance!

 

[jdr7]

I own a BK princess and very happy with its performance, I was also looking a PE t6, one thing to think about is the steady output of the BK, even in colder weather it’s burn times average out to 10hrs a load for myself, steady output is nice cause there is no chasing the dragon like a epa reburn stove which gets its secondary reburn at 1200 deg f, where the BK can cruise 600 - 1000 deg f no problem

This is so helpful, thank you! Do you find it's as "finicky" or hard to learn as some people claim?

 

[jdr7]

Both great stoves, BK will give the option to run low in shoulder season and still push more heat in colder months. You will need a small fan to push colder air into the stove room with either stove. How will you heat the basement to keep pipes from freezing?

Great question. The basement is only partial, about 500 sq ft (of the 1600 sq ft total). We plan to run a space heater if needed, but last year we didn't do anything and it covered in the 40's or 50's (though, I guess we were running the boiler down there which emitted some heat). I read that it wouldn't really be a concern since it's underground and won't dip below 40~ if the whole home is 75ish. HVAC folks came out to evaluate mini splits (the low temp ones) and said I wouldn't need to worry about the basement. That said, I'm a novice and that was one of my early concerns - do you think I should look at another option?

As far as pushing air, I was told I'd want to blow hot air down the bedroom hallway. But what you're saying makes more sense. Do you typically put a fan down the bedrooms and push it out into the furnace room?

 

[stoveliker]

I had no idea these bricks even existed! Researched them, and they look incredible. We don't have seasoned wood, we were planning on buying from 2 local tree removal companies who sell by the cord: 1 year old hardwood, split. Will that be aged enough? Is it more a matter of moisture content or age? Am I looking at < 20% moisure? Thanks in advance!

Yes, they do, and they are great (or so I'm told). Do get the ones without any additions, i.e. no wax, or whatever. Just compressed sawdust.

1 year hardwood likely is not good enough. <20% is best. <25% might work. Oak surely will not be. Maple might.
Cherry or Ash could very well be. However, most folks work off of a 2 year drying plan. And oak can be iffy then.
I have a three year rotation.

1 year old hardwood "split" might have been split just before you bought it. Moreover, if it was in a big pile on the ground, it doesn't dry nearly as fast as it needs to reach "ok" stage in 1 year.

So, I would get those bricks now. AND I would get wood now. Just think it's green. Stack it off the ground, top covered. If it is Cherry, Ash, pine, you'll be ok with that next year.

Get a moisture meter so you can measure what you have. Get a split in your home, let it get up to room temperature for a day. Then split it and measure in the freshly exposed surface.

 

[stoveliker]

Great question. The basement is only partial, about 500 sq ft (of the 1600 sq ft total). We plan to run a space heater if needed, but last year we didn't do anything and it covered in the 40's or 50's (though, I guess we were running the boiler down there which emitted some heat). I read that it wouldn't really be a concern since it's underground and won't dip below 40~ if the whole home is 75ish. HVAC folks came out to evaluate mini splits (the low temp ones) and said I wouldn't need to worry about the basement. That said, I'm a novice and that was one of my early concerns - do you think I should look at another option?

As far as pushing air, I was told I'd want to blow hot air down the bedroom hallway. But what you're saying makes more sense. Do you typically put a fan down the bedrooms and push it out into the furnace room?

I don't think your basement will freeze, with the heat input from the boiler there. Only if your water lines are touching uninsulated walls that are (at that point) above grade, then I'd have a slight concern - but "above grade" would then be near the top (ceiling) of the basement, and that's the warmest point.
I think you'll be fine. Just put a thermometer there so you can read what the temperature does. And if you loose sleep over it in the coldest 3 nights, you can run an electric space heater (far away from any combustible!) on low.

And yes, moving cold air with a fan is more effective.

 

[jdr7]

Yes, they do, and they are great (or so I'm told). Do get the ones without any additions, i.e. no wax, or whatever. Just compressed sawdust.

1 year hardwood likely is not good enough. <20% is best. <25% might work. Oak surely will not be. Maple might.
Cherry or Ash could very well be. However, most folks work off of a 2 year drying plan. And oak can be iffy then.
I have a three year rotation.

1 year old hardwood "split" might have been split just before you bought it. Moreover, if it was in a big pile on the ground, it doesn't dry nearly as fast as it needs to reach "ok" stage in 1 year.

So, I would get those bricks now. AND I would get wood now. Just think it's green. Stack it off the ground, top covered. If it is Cherry, Ash, pine, you'll be ok with that next year.

Get a moisture meter so you can measure what you have. Get a split in your home, let it get up to room temperature for a day. Then split it and measure in the freshly exposed surface.

This is amazing, thank you so much for the info. I knew we'd be behind, but I didn't realize we'd be starting 3 years behind 😅. The bricks sound like a great option. I did some research on reddit and heard high praise about them - and yes, will def. look for the sawdust only ones. Apparently the trick is finding the right brand. Some burn hot and clean, and others not so much.

How much space does 3 years of wood take up for you? Seems like we'll need 5-6 full cords to heat Oct. to April/May in eastern PA (if not more) if we use a BK Princess, so I'd imagine that's 18-20 cords on our property at all times?

 

[jdr7]

I don't think your basement will freeze, with the heat input from the boiler there. Only if your water lines are touching uninsulated walls that are (at that point) above grade, then I'd have a slight concern - but "above grade" would then be near the top (ceiling) of the basement, and that's the warmest point.
I think you'll be fine. Just put a thermometer there so you can read what the temperature does. And if you loose sleep over it in the coldest 3 nights, you can run an electric space heater (far away from any combustible!) on low.

And yes, moving cold air with a fan is more effective.

Awesome, thank you! Our boiler is actually broken (so we're planning to use the stove as the sole source) but we'll definitely run space heaters if the temp gets lower down there. Thanks for all your advice 🙏

 

[stoveliker]

This is amazing, thank you so much for the info. I knew we'd be behind, but I didn't realize we'd be starting 3 years behind 😅. The bricks sound like a great option. I did some research on reddit and heard high praise about them - and yes, will def. look for the sawdust only ones. Apparently the trick is finding the right brand. Some burn hot and clean, and others not so much.

How much space does 3 years of wood take up for you? Seems like we'll need 5-6 full cords to heat Oct. to April/May in eastern PA (if not more) if we use a BK Princess, so I'd imagine that's 18-20 cords on our property at all times?

This is hard to say, though I highly doubt you need 5-6 cords to heat in one season.
I think 3-4 is more likely. Though this depends on the level of insulation etc. Others may have more insight.

I think you should start with the mindset of "getting ahead". But it's not do-able to get 15 cords now and start with that amount of work - unless you heavily invest in splitters, chain saws etc.

So, if I were you, I'd see if you can get 6 cords of wood now. Work on that (split, stack, cover). I'd separate out the oak and make a separate stack of that. Either it's good in 2 years (depending on sun, wind exposure), or you have nice wood for your third year.

A cord, if stacked 4 ft tall only needs an 8x4 ft piece of land to sit on.
So doing 6 cords, it could fit in a strip of 50 ft x 4 ft at a property border line (without solid fence, to allow wind to go thru the stacks).

Go to the wood shed forum for shed ideas. They range from all fancy to "on pallets with a tarp". Remember, it is *what you can do now* that works. There are always better ways - but if you can't do it now, it won't work for you.

It's a fair amount of work to get ahead. But once you are ahead, you'll be only processing as much wood each year as you burn in one season. I.e. if you do 6 cords now, and remain on a 2 year rotation cycle, you only have to do 3 cords each year.
I would advocate to get ahead in one big bang on a 2 year cycle. And then add a 3rd year (you'll either be hooked already then, so that addition is going to be easy, or you'll hate it and won't heat permanently with wood...)

I have a 1700 sq ft range (consisting of 1200 on the main floor and 500 on a second floor). My stove is in the basement (additional 825 sq ft). I burn about 2.5 cords a year in my BK. But I use a minisplit to heat in shoulder seasons (first used a few weeks ago when we had 5 days of rain due to that last hurricane, so no solar gain, likely will use it in the next few days), because we have solar panels that produce enough. I think that this would correspond to about 1 cord of usage (because in shoulder seasons you burn less splits per day). I have about 8 cords seasoning.

 

[EbS-P]

It’s pretty easy to process a cord a month if you have the logs or rounds on site. Winter may not be very productive. I don’t have a splitter. It’s a workout. You really want a woodshed. I’m hopeful I can get one built and install solar panels on the roof. Tractor supply had the redstone sawdust bricks, 6 per package. I burned 10 packages my first winter. They were good.

 

[TheElementalCashew]

It’s pretty easy to process a cord a month if you have the logs or rounds on site. Winter may not be very productive. I don’t have a splitter. It’s a workout. You really want a woodshed. I’m hopeful I can get one built and install solar panels on the roof. Tractor supply had the redstone sawdust bricks, 6 per package. I burned 10 packages my first winter. They were good.

Regarding those Redstone bricks, how many of those would you burn at one time?

 

[Hoytman]

I had no idea these bricks even existed! Researched them, and they look incredible. We don't have seasoned wood, we were planning on buying from 2 local tree removal companies who sell by the cord: 1 year old hardwood, split. Will that be aged enough? Is it more a matter of moisture content or age? Am I looking at < 20% moisure? Thanks in advance!

Having zero experience with these bricks you should proceed with extreme caution and do NOT load the stove full. No more than two at a time until you gain experience and see how the stove runs while using them.

 

[Ashful]

First, where in eastern PA? Bucks? MontCo? DelCo?

Second, anything you've heard about BK being "finicky" pertains only to burning extremely low and slow. These stoves have an ability to burn way lower than others on the market, and that comes with some caveats. You'd better have a reasonably ideal setup, if your goal is chasing minimum burn rates of 10 hours per cubic foot.

On the other hand, if not chasing that dragon, BK's are very simple and notably not finicky to operate. They're extremely controllable and predictable stoves. If burning a BK at what would be the minimum rate on the PE, which is really like "medium" on the BK, expect no hint of "finicky" from it.

That said, I wouldn't say anything negative about PE, they have a very solid reputation, and are one of the few brands about which we almost never see any complaints. You really can't go wrong with either BK or PE, they're among the top few choices (if not the top choice) in their respective technology groups (cat vs. non-cat).

 

[begreen]

Seems like we'll need 5-6 full cords to heat Oct. to April/May in eastern PA

I suspect it may be more like 3 cords a year. Modern stoves are pretty efficient.

Regarding those Redstone bricks, how many of those would you burn at one time?

Follow the directions and start off with maybe 3. The key to controlling the burn with brick style fuel is in the air space between them. When burning a small amount, place 2 on the bottom about 1-2" apart. Place the starter between the bricks in that gap, then light. Place another brick on top as a bridge across the gap. For full loads, it is the opposite. There should be no gap between the bricks. Several years ago I burned a full load of BioBricks in our Castine with some trepidation but followed their instructions to create a solid wall of bricks, 2 high, with no gaps between. The fire burned very steadily and without any drama. Here are the test results.

BioBricks

Compressed log fuel wiki This wiki is for reporting compressed wood log results. Please use this format and include all specifics in future additions. Copy this wiki and paste into a new one to create another review. Change the last child...

www.hearth.com

 

[TheElementalCashew]

I suspect it may be more like 3 cords a year. Modern stoves are pretty efficient.

Follow the directions and start off with maybe 3. The key to controlling the burn with brick style fuel is in the air space between them. When burning a small amount, place 2 on the bottom about 1-2" apart. Place the starter between the bricks in that gap, then light. Place another brick on top as a bridge across the gap. For full loads, it is the opposite. There should be no gap between the bricks. Several years ago I burned a full load of BioBricks in our Castine with some trepidation but followed their instructions to create a solid wall of bricks, 2 high, with no gaps between. The fire burned very steadily and without any drama. Here are the test results.

BioBricks

Compressed log fuel wiki This wiki is for reporting compressed wood log results. Please use this format and include all specifics in future additions. Copy this wiki and paste into a new one to create another review. Change the last child...

www.hearth.com

That's helpful info, thanks. I've been considering picking up a couple boxes of Redstone bricks to try out for the shoulder season, but had wondered about the best procedures for burning them.

 

[EbS-P]

Regarding those Redstone bricks, how many of those would you burn at one time?

I mixed them in with marginal wood. I burned 3. I think there is a thread in here with an F400 that burned a full fire box.

 

[begreen]

Firewood will not start really drying until it is split so be skeptical when someone says the firewood is 1yr seasoned. Often this means that the trees were downed 1 yr ago, but they were split this summer or just a month ago. That wood will not be dry inside unless it was standing dead to start with. Get a moisture meter to test the moisture content of firewood - before - accepting a load. Resplit a thick log in half, then test on the freshly exposed face of the wood.

That's helpful info, thanks. I've been considering picking up a couple boxes of Redstone bricks to try out for the shoulder season, but had wondered about the best procedures for burning them.

I haven't tried Redstones yet, but am tempted to test them. It will cost about $20 to run a big load of 12 in the T6 and that would only be about 1/2 full.

 

[EbS-P]

That's helpful info, thanks. I've been considering picking up a couple boxes of Redstone bricks to try out for the shoulder season, but had wondered about the best procedures for burning them.

BioBricks

Compressed log fuel wiki This wiki is for reporting compressed wood log results. Please use this format and include all specifics in future additions. Copy this wiki and paste into a new one to create another review. Change the last child...

www.hearth.com

 

[Highbeam]

I have used a BK princess for the last 10 years for sole heat in a 1700 SF single story home, I don't know what a "ranch" house is but I have no basement and my insulation is improved a bit from the 1963 original build. I have been burning about 9 months per year and only use about 4 cords of softwoods. I agree with BeGreen that perhaps 3 cords of hardwoods is more realistic per year in PA and with a smaller home.

We go to sleep all night and we go to work all day so nobody is home to reload the stove. The BK cat and thermostat technology allow you to choose a burn rate that keeps the fire going all day and night while you're away so the house is warm when you wake up and warm when you get home from work. I use 24 hour reloads for 95% of the year, when it's single digits and blowing we throw in some fuel at the 12 hour point and increase the burn rate.

If I was going to a noncat stove it would be a PE alderlea for the house or a plate steel drolet for the shop. Oh, also, if I was regularly using another heat source like a fossil furnace or a heat pump I would be more inclined to choose the noncat. Oh, also, if I was retired and home all day to load it, I would be more inclined to choose a noncat.

Primary heat and working away from home, the properly sized cat stove has some huge performance advantages.