blaze king princess 1983 fix up

[kimberly]

I'm so sorry if this has been covered before. I looked for quite a while for my question so that I wouldn't bug anyone but I have had trouble finding answers.
I just bought a used 1983 Blaze King Princess for $75. I currently have a Regency and the inside of these two stoves don't look the same. I can't find any information on the internet as to if this princess is supposed to have a baffle, or where the cat goes. Is the door supposed to come completely off? It also doesn't have burn tubes on the top like the Regency. It has a fan mounted on the back bottom. It doesn't have any inside insulation that I can see either. I would like to recondition it, but am not sure how to find out about what I need to get to do this. If anyone out there has any knowledge or photos I would greatly appreciate any help I can get.
Thanks in advance!!
Kim

 

[daleeper]

Sorry, I have no first hand knowledge of these stoves, but below is the link to the manuals for those stoves. There should be a plate on the back with the model number to match up with the proper manual. Post us with your model number and what your goal is, to burn this stove or resell?

(broken link removed to http://www.blazeking.com/manuals.html)

Blaze King has been around a long time, and the Princess and King models have slowly been refined from the pre-epa era air tight stove to the present catalytic stoves. I'm not sure exactly what date they came out with the cat models, but I'm guessing by the manuals and your date that yours is not a cat model, and will not have any baffles. Blaze King did not make the Princess in a non-cat model so there will not be any burn tubes either. There should be firebrick in there, and I believe the manual will show size and number of brick and layout. Members here have indicated that Blaze King has good phone support. There are some members here who are still burning these early stoves, hopefully someone will come along that can answer you with firsthand knowledge of your stove.


Not sure what your goal is, to recondition and use it or to resell? I would not get a lot of money tied up in this project as it is a pre-epa stove, and you are indicating you have a later model Regency, which if working properly should be the more efficient stove.

 

[mbutts]

Hi there. The door is made to come off easily. I think that is so you can put a fire screen cover on it so you can make it like a fireplace and watch the wood burn.

It should be fire brick lined. Here is a link to fire brick placement, shape and size for the inside on several models. Forget if it covers your model, but it is useful for dimensions of the bricks. Especially the odd shaped ones.
(broken link removed to http://www.blazeking.com/Brochures-En/WoodProductPDF/Brick) layouts.pdf

Here are some inside pics of the king's fire bricks from a couple models.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/51649/

Cat stoves had a handle on the right side of the stove to open the bypass door. Your stove is probably just a air tight type with no cat. The also make non cat secondary burn stove currently, but I never see anyone talk about them in here. Maybe someone can comment on those models.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[kimberly]

Thank you both so much for your help!
The link to the photos of the stove are helpful.
My goal is the have a woodstove that can keep a burn overnight. The Blaze King Princess that we just bought was built in 1983 and the Regency that we already have was built in 1984. We were also hoping for a blower to help with heat distribution. This Blaze King has a fan on the back, but after viewing the photo link I think that it is for air into the stove itself. I'm not sure if either of them would be more effeceint than the other...?
It looks like the link to the manual on the Blaze King website has been removed since it isn't epa approved. The plate on the side calls it a PEJ but the numbers after it are gone or were never there.
I purchased this one after reading some great reviews and reading through this site for a few days. Seems like folks who own the Princess and King are able to keep it burning for a long time. :wow:
My plans are to put bricks in it and then give it a spiffy new paint job. Not sure if its worth it though if it isn't epa approved.
If anyone out there uses an old Blaze King and has any more tips I would appreciate them! :cheese:
Thanks forum!
Kim

 

[daleeper]

I believe the fan on the older Blaze Kings will blow through some sort of piping that goes through the firebox and out the front either just below the top of the stove, or on each side of the door. It should not be blowing into the firebox itself, or you have some broken tubing inside the stove.

On accessing the manuals, there should be a popup that comes up when you hit the link of the older stoves that notifies you that it isn't epa approved, and within that popup, there is a link to download the pdf file. You really need to determine what model it is, so that you can view the appropriate manual.

Tough to say whether it is worth the work/expense on that stove as it depends on a lot of factors. There are areas of the country that have code enforcement that will not allow a pre-epa stove to be installed. If it does happen to be a cat stove, and you have to replace the cat and fabricate the housing, you might have more money in it than you want. Is the flue opening the same size, I believe most of the older Blaze King's had an 8" flue collar, what is the size of your chimney?

That being said, if I had access to a $75. Princess that all it needed was a paint job and firebrick this time of year, I would be painting it, installing the brick and burn it awhile, and if I didn't like it, it would be for sale next fall, anticipating a small amount of profit for my labor and expenses.

 

[kimberly]

Thanks! I went back to the blazeking website and got the manual. Looks like it is a cat stove. The manual for PEJ 1000 is from 1982. Thanks so much to all of you!! I think that this stove is missing some stuff inside on the top of it...like the cat housing. :red: I guess I should have researched a little more before jumping on this one.

I will try to resell it for parts or something.
I'm not a welder and don't fabricate. :-S
Thanks forum!! I'll be back!

 

[BigBlockChevy]

Blaze King made some catalytic stoves prior to the EPA requirement for testing. The PEJ 1000 was not emissions tested...so says Blaze King. I looked at the KEJ1100 to buy used before I bought my King and that is when I found out about the fact that some were not tested...they (BK) were experimenting.

Also, BK did make some non catalytic Princess wood stoves. Their manuals are ont he same web location and are listed as PT instead of PE.