Total let down. Dud of a storm. Little bit of lightning and thunder, a little rain, zero hail. I was really hoping for some of that 2.5" hail though I am glad that my roof wasn't damaged by any of it. We were all tucked in at home waiting.
Blaze King Ashford
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Total let down. Dud of a storm. Little bit of lightning and thunder, a little rain, zero hail. I was really hoping for some of that 2.5" hail though I am glad that my roof wasn't damaged by any of it. We were all tucked in at home waiting.
Yes, it was a nothingburger. Just a nice light show with some sound effects. I'm glad it wasn't serious. The east side has already taken a couple big hits this year.
@BKVP @begreen
Interested to hear your take on this black box comment. I’ve seen similar information about this on YouTube.
If the princess / ashford is run without engaging the cat, can you get a nice viewing fire going?
I live in northern New England and currently heat 2200+ with my Manchester 8362 at about 6 cord per year. A robust fire view is not a deal breaker but we do enjoy sitting around the stove on cold days.
BKVP
Minister of Fire
When you run on low and medium low, yes, there is no flame. This is because our low Btu burn rate is generally much lower than other "low" burn rates.
You will get some flame on medium. To increase the amount of flame, load smaller diameter pieces.
On high, lots of flame.
These observations by others, if they owe a BK, are because they use them to their maximum benefit. Large prices, heavy loads tightly packed = longest burn times possible.
Thank you for your question!
BKVP
tabner
Feeling the Heat
I think we should point out - not recommended to run any of these stoves without engaging the cat. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but i don't believe the Cat engagement is optional on these stoves. You could probably damage your bypass assembly or your chimney, etc.
Everyone talks about the quality of flame show in these BKs being a concern, but I really don't see it as an issue. As others have said, you can turn the stove up to medium and definitely have flames, but another consideration which I never see mentioned - I think the flame show in my BK might be cooler than the flame show in a Non-Cat. I don't have any experience with a modern EPA non-cat, so I could be wrong. But when I run my Ashford on medium and i get flames, they're really cool looking trippy flames that float all around the top of the box. I think they're way cooler than your 'typical' fire on a log in a woodstove. Not sure, maybe all the modern non-cats do that too with the secondaries? But anyways, i find the flame show in my Ashford to be plenty enjoyable.
Yes, we see floating flames occasionally in non-cats too. Very hard wood does it best.
Don't run the stove without engaging the cat. You'll break it and pollute and waste wood and on top of that no difference in flames.
At any burn rate/heat output level that would have made flames on your hearthstone you will also have flames on the BK. When you run the BK nice and low you get superior comfort and longer burn times but less flames. I pretty much always have at least visible red coals like a coal fire but not actual flames except during cold starts or reloads.
Sitting around a hot BK is just as nice as sitting around any other hot stove on a cold day. The flames are not the star of the show. If you really want flames though, crank it up but you may have to open the windows!
Another option for having kind of best of both worlds if you’re worried about flame show, would be a Woodstock progress hybrid stove.
Those stone look great and people love them but the clearances are considerably more and I don’t think it would work with our setup unfortunately.
While it is another option, it's not because the PH makes more flames. Like the BK, if you want a higher burn rate then flames are there. The PH from woodstock is a great small stove, smaller than a princess, but no thermostat, sketchy catalyst availability, and the stone may look good but has major drawbacks.
In Woodstock, the 3.22 cu ft Ideal Steel may be a better alternative in this case. Though the PH, at 2.8 cu ft, is not a small stove. It's just .1 cu ft smaller than the Princess.
One thing I am seeing that could be a thorn in the first year or two is that my wood is cut to a mix of 16-23.5. The majority of pieces are between 17-19.
I get that it should be one year to get through, but is it worth considering the Lopi Liberty to save that headache?
Not to be a hater, but the Liberty seems like a less efficient and ‘less good’ stove for a very similar price to the Princess.
Anyone have thoughts on that comparison.
I get that it should be one year to get through, but is it worth considering the Lopi Liberty to save that headache?
Not to be a hater, but the Liberty seems like a less efficient and ‘less good’ stove for a very similar price to the Princess.
Anyone have thoughts on that comparison.
So the liberty is a 3.65 cubic foot plate steel noncat that says it takes up to 24" wood. It's less efficient and has less burn rate control than the princess. Plus you have to manually control the intake air. It is very simple and very big so should be a dependable stove.
Look, I currently own a very similar 3.5 CF modern noncat that I use in my shop and it's much less appropriate for home heating than the princess. In my current home I previously had a 3.5 CF Lopi Freedom and it worked as designed but burn times were short and hot. You just don't have as much control with a noncat and that means more extreme temperature cycles in the home.
I would not base a stove purchase decision on the length of one year's worth of stored fuel.
The Liberty is now a hybrid, with a cat, for the past couple seasons. They made some nice changes including enlarging the firebox. It's not a stove for small, well insulated homes, but in a larger home or one that is poorly insulated, it's a good performer. If the home needs low and slow most of the time, the Princess is a better fit. This is often the case in the Pac NW. However, in other parts of the country like New England where winter temperatures often dance around single digits, a big hunk of stove like this is very much appreciated.
I live in northern New England and the biggest challenge for us is the shoulder season. Even with a cast iron stove we cook ourselves out even with the lowest air control settings.
We do get plenty of 15 and below days. If I run the princess on a higher setting, will it be able to keep up in a 2400+ heating space similar to a liberty?
Being able to truly go low and slow would be a major boost for us in the shoulder seasons but being able to keep up with well below freezing temperatures even if it means less efficient burning is critical for us.
We do get plenty of 15 and below days. If I run the princess on a higher setting, will it be able to keep up in a 2400+ heating space similar to a liberty?
Being able to truly go low and slow would be a major boost for us in the shoulder seasons but being able to keep up with well below freezing temperatures even if it means less efficient burning is critical for us.
Yeah princess should keep up but you’ll probably be cutting yourself down on burn time to closer to 8 hour or so reloads since you’ll have the thermostat turned up at that outdoor temp unless the house has good insulation and windows and is sealed up decent.
Yeah that’s a shame. I still am kind of intrigued by why most stoves have way less clearances than the Woodstock stoves as that is the route I was going to go until I looked up the clearances. I don’t really understand it. And it’s a shame as I would have loved to put a progress hybrid here. But oh well
Thanks for the feedback.
Last year got new windows from the original 80s single pane windows and insulating a few weak spots in the knee wall and are already noticing a difference.
We generally load 3 times a day, so 8 hours works well. We would also likely turn down during the days when we are not home and do have backup heating.
I wonder if it’s a liability thing that they’re afraid to walk the line with as a smaller supplier. I spot checked the Mansfield which also has slightly higher clearances than some metal construction counterparts but the corner is still 3” further in clearance even with a heat shield on the Progress.
tabner
Feeling the Heat
I'm a fan of the blower kit, for keeping up on real cold days. Gives you the ability to turn the stove up to Med/High and run the blower for an hour or two - of course you burn through wood quicker, but you can really pump out some heat when you need to.
Are blowers more directional? The stove isn’t really facing the direction we’d like the air to go.
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