BK Princess burn times

[westcoastlarry]

So I just recently bought a gently used princess. I inspected the CAT, bypass and general condition before I bought it and it seemed in order.

My question is about burn times. I filled the fire box at 9am with a mix of well seasoned yellow cedar and alder, our temps are between 11c in the day with lows of 6c overnight. It kept the house at around 22c for 12 hours on low before it was spent and back into the inactive range. Is that an acceptable burn time for that sort of wood in a Princess?

So far I am thrilled with the BK! It sure beats the heck out of my old PE Vista! I just want to get my stove dialed in before winter fully sets in.

If my burn times seem off what are the first things I should check? Door gasket seal? Stove to pipe connection? Sticky thermostat? I noticed the first time I started it up it wouldn't shut the T-Stat until I tapped on the housing a bit. I often check the stove and the temperature is usually half way or better in the active zone with a setting of 1 or less.

Thank you for ANY help. Feel free to call me a newb and point me at the right literature if I'm beating a dead horse with this question =)

 

[Highbeam]

When you got that 12 hours of burntime, what was the thermostat setting? How big is the home, insulation level, and during this burn was the house warming up? Trying to determine if the stove was pumping major heat or just cruising.

Yellow cedar is really low btu wood but red alder is wonderful stuff. I can get 24 hours on low with red alder.

 

[westcoastlarry]

Thanks for the reply!

The thermostat was set at 1.

The stove is is the basement. It is quite drafty in the basement with an insulation level of R12 max. However there are quite a few air leaks down there.

The upstairs is insulated to R14 walls, 24 ceiling. Fresh vapor barrier. Newer renovation so upstairs holds the heat fairly well.

This time was starting from a already heated house just reloading the stove.

I did just check my stove and there was still a little pile of coals, that is 19 hours since my last reload but the cat is at the bottom of the inactive zone.

I did the dollar bill test and it was loose so I think I will start with that then move onto my chimney connection. My wood is also suspect I will try with a full load of alder. Not sure if we have red alder here or what it is. Alder is what I know it as, we leave on the coast by Vancouver BC

 

[Highbeam]

I live near the Puget sound and our trees should be similar. Red alder is the only alder I've ever seen here but there is white alder too. Our red alder turns orange on the cuts and will die your hands orange. Yellow cedar is not as common as western red cedar which is a pretty decent wood to burn. The east folks also have something called white cedar which is low density too.

Here's a fun chart.

(broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm)

When the stove is cold, is your cat meter probe pointing at the bottom of the inactive zone? I can't go as low as a "1" setting on my stat without stalling the cat which results in leftover fuel and smokey chimney. Are you certain that your cat is going inactive after running out of fuel or is it just stalling when the fuel load gets low? Chimney smoke?

If the thermostat thinks that the stove is cold it will open up and feed the fire which will shorten burntime compared to a warm stove in a warm room. Are you running blowers? Blowers reduce the burn time a lot. How full are you filling the stove? A full load means literally every available space is filled in that firebox. Right up to the roof.

19 hours is pretty good.

 

[westcoastlarry]

My cat probe actually points a fair bit below INACTIVE when the stove is cold. About a quarter inch below in fact.

The alder I have here turns red after being cut, must be red alder then! It's about the best we have on the coast I think. I have to go inland to get into birch, so I'd rather just stack more alder. That chart is pretty discouraging! Alder has almost half the BTUs as some of the best woods. Yikes =(

I haven't run it enough to verify your question about when the cat stalls. But I am NOT running a blower. I'm happy with 12 hours of real heat and 19 hours with coals remaining but again this is new to me so I want to make sure I get the best economy I can!

I did notice a bit of white smoke (possibly vapor?) while it was burning well into the active zone. I'm not sure what normal is on these stoves.

Thanks for humoring me highbeam!

 

[kennyp2339]

This can get interesting, 1st congrats on the princess, take your cat probe out and wipe it down with a damp paper towel. Tighten up your door latch to make a better gasket seal.
Make a regular fire, set the t-stat past 3, get that cat probe in the active zone, close the bypass and let her cook up for 15 - 20 min on high, that cat probe should be pointing between noon and two o'clock. After she's been cooking with the by-pass closed look outside and see what kind of smoke you have (you should have some at this point) close the t-stat down to 1.5, let is cruse for at least 30 min, go outside and notice what kind of smoke you have (you should have very very little or just a faint heat wave)
With my setup at 1.5 I had no visible flames in the fire box and the cat had faint glow, I run a straight up chimney that's about 20ft or so using single wall (5ft) ( I know guys, I'm fixing that this year) to double wall insulated 15ft.
Also like everyone else says - get a moisture meter and find out how dry your firewood is.

 

[blueguy]

My cat probe actually points a fair bit below INACTIVE when the stove is cold. About a quarter inch below in fact.

When your stove is cold, the needle should point directly at the little tick on the dial at about the 7 o'clock position. If it is higher than that while cold, you should adjust it so you're not closing the bypass too early if you're going solely by the cat thermometer to know when to close the bypass.

 

[Highbeam]

When your stove is cold, the needle should point directly at the little tick on the dial at about the 7 o'clock position. If it is higher than that while cold, you should adjust it so you're not closing the bypass too early if you're going solely by the cat thermometer to know when to close the bypass.

When cold the needle is supposed to point at or near the bottom of the inactive range. If his is way below the bottom then he will actually be engaging the cat later than required which is not a big deal. The manual does have a section about this though.

If you're getting white smoke with an active cat I tend to think you've got wet wood. Blue smoke with an active cat is just fuel that the cat missed, sometimes due to high burn rate or sometimes a tired cat.

 

[Seanm]

This summer I was visiting family in Richmond, Surrey, White Rock area and when we were driving around on the many highways I was noticing how much birch there was in undeveloped "bush" areas. Having moved away over 20 years ago I wouldnt know the first thing about how to find out who owns all that land. It would be great if it was crown land but I doubt it.

 

[blueguy]

When cold the needle is supposed to point at or near the bottom of the inactive range. If his is way below the bottom then he will actually be engaging the cat later than required which is not a big deal. The manual does have a section about this though.

The tick I mentioned is at the bottom of the inactive range.

 

[Highbeam]

The tick I mentioned is at the bottom of the active range.

You mean inactive range right?

 

[blueguy]

Sorry, yes. I fixed the post.

 

[ohiojoe13]

I attached a picture of what my gauge looks like cold. It's an ashford 30 but I would think they would be the same.

 

[Highbeam]

I attached a picture of what my gauge looks like cold. It's an ashford 30 but I would think they would be the same.

Cool, that's how I set mine when I've adjusted it. This is an important guage.

 

[Rossco]

This summer I was visiting family in Richmond, Surrey, White Rock area and when we were driving around on the many highways I was noticing how much birch there was in undeveloped "bush" areas. Having moved away over 20 years ago I wouldnt know the first thing about how to find out who owns all that land. It would be great if it was crown land but I doubt it.

Always pack the saw.

Burn times?

8 hours if I run the grass out of it. At the moment without fans and snuffed the unit will get 18 hours and sometimes over 20. This is with Pine / Fir / Larch

 

[Seanm]

Burn times?

You wont get much longer burn times from birch than you will with larch. Maybe a smidge but you'll only notice that in the lab.

 

[Cynnergy]

Yellow cedar is really low btu wood but red alder is wonderful stuff. I can get 24 hours on low with red alder.

Yellow cedar is a high-elevation species, so I would have thought it was fairly dense due to slow growth at high elevations? I've never burnt it, but my dad and my cousin are currently fighting over a yellow cedar log for firewood. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Doug fir is also a very nice firewood for us coastal BC/PNW'ers. Almost no ash. Alder will be my go-to firewood this year - it grows like a weed near me, whereas Doug fir is less available.

 

[Highbeam]

Yellow cedar is a high-elevation species, so I would have thought it was fairly dense due to slow growth at high elevations? I've never burnt it, but my dad and my cousin are currently fighting over a yellow cedar log for firewood. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Doug fir is also a very nice firewood for us coastal BC/PNW'ers. Almost no ash. Alder will be my go-to firewood this year - it grows like a weed near me, whereas Doug fir is less available.

No experience with the yellow cedar.

Doug fir and red alder. That along with the occasional maple or hemlock makes up the majority of our PNW firewood supply. People seem to love the doug fir and it is rated as high energy but the lack of ash makes it burn fast for me. I can go months burning doug fir without having to empty the ashes. It's pretty remarkable.

 

[westcoastlarry]

Thanks I think my cat thermometer is reading a bit low. Just about on 20 hours now with a load of red alder on low. Can't complain =)