Blaze King Princess Insert install. From the beginning.

[gastone21]

Well, joined a few years ago and have finally gotten around to moving forward with my wood burning insert dreams. I lucked out and found a member willing to sell me their new (unused) BK Princess insert substantially cheaper than I could get it retail. So this weekend my FIL and I headed north about an hour top pick her up. Of course having a stove and not having a lined chimney make me even more anxious to move forward. I'd done a fair amount of research and though I'm relatively handy, my wife has nixed me getting on the roof... especially after she saw me do it last week. The house is a 1924 2-story Victorian (let's call it 1600sqft). The chimney is located in the center of the house. Despite the fact that it's an older house, it's square in plan and fairly open. When I was on the roof last week I dropped a tape measure down and from the top of the chimney to the bottom of the firebox was 27'. Which leads me to believe that a 30' liner will be required. I've talked to a few installers in the area and given that this is probably about the absolute worst time of year to drop in a liner, the lowest price installed for an insulated liner was around 1600 (including a *discount* if I purchased his stove (oops))... and then way up to 3600 (no thanks says I). So I'm playing a bit of waiting game to see where we stand. In the meantime...

The surround/shroud is the standard size, which is 28 5/8" x 43 1/8". The existing masonry fireplace is a standard 30"x30". So therein lies a dilemma.


As you can see there's a bit of a gap. So my options as I see them are to procure a larger surround, or.... Would it be possible to put in a layer of firebricks on the bottom, raising the stove by 2 1/2-3", mitigating the gap. At the same time introducing a gap below the shroud at the bottom, that I would probably try to cheat with by either putting in a brick veneer course at the bottom or come up with some other solution.

Sorry for the sloppy photo. I'm using the camera on my chromebook for expediency sake.

Garrett.

 

[webby3650]

Just have a metal fab shop make you a piece of sheet metal angle to fill the void. We do it pretty often.

 

[begreen]

Or splice on to the bottom of the shroud legs with black painted steel.

 

[webby3650]

Or splice on to the bottom of the shroud legs with black painted steel.

Then the aluminum trim won’t be long enough.
The metal angle painted black mounted to the lintel is very simple and barely noticeable.

 

[begreen]

Then the aluminum trim won’t be long enough.
The metal angle painted black mounted to the lintel is very simple and barely noticeable.

Not sure about the trim fit to the surround frame metal, but I have picked up longer legs for trim from the local frame shop. That was for a Quad stove.

 

[Hogwildz]

Cover that fugly brick with stone veneer, and cover the gap with a nice header stone.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I think the brick is just fine, for what it's worth.

I also like the idea of raising the stove on firebricks just because I'd like the door a little higher than floor level. I've never done something like that, so I thought I'd bring it up again and hope more experienced folks will chime in on that aspect of the original question.

Good luck with that install. You'll love having wood heat once you're able to get it up and running.

 

[gastone21]

I think the brick is just fine, for what it's worth.

I also like the idea of raising the stove on firebricks just because I'd like the door a little higher than floor level. I've never done something like that, so I thought I'd bring it up again and hope more experienced folks will chime in on that aspect of the original question.

Good luck with that install. You'll love having wood heat once you're able to get it up and running.

Thanks Rachel... and thanks for the stove.

My grandfather was a brick mason and my uncle is a stone mason. I'm fine either way, but if I had my druthers it'd be board formed concrete.

 

[gastone21]

I ended up paying an installer to do the job for me. His price to do the install was $550 (I supplied the stove and liner kit - including insulation). He even included a cut up piece of sheet metal to close off the surround. That was on 11/11. He left the house and we fired up the stove and haven't stopped burning since. I purchased one chord of well seasoned mixed wood (moisture meter has it reading between 14-15%), then I scored another chord of seasoned oak free, which is reading at 16-17% moisture.

My current question is:

I've been doing a lot of reading on the BK big thread, among others, and I keep hearing mention of 1, and 2, and 3 settings on the thermostat. The princess insert doesn't have any numbers. I'm assuming that these are dots away from the low setting on the 'stat? Am I reading this correctly?

Thanks in advance.

Garrett.

 

[shoot-straight]

there used to be numbers or dots on the stat to show the setting. they went away and were replaced with the swoosh!

now most of us use the clock method- like the hands on the clock. i run my ashford at 3:00 most often, its about midpoint on the dial.

 

[gastone21]

there used to be numbers or dots on the stat to show the setting. they went away and were replaced with the swoosh!

now most of us use the clock method- like the hands on the clock. i run my ashford at 3:00 most often, its about midpoint on the dial.

That's what I was wondering. But then I see people speak of turning it 'down' to one or two... and on my thermostat, low is at the bottom. So for me, one o'clock would be wide fricken open.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hope he installed a block off plate...

 

[black smoke signals]

Garrett BK stoves knobs turn opposite BK inserts turn clockwise so 12oclock is wfo-straight down is closed. Watch your set screw inside the knob mine came loose. Swoosh did you understand how to do this?

 

[Hogwildz]

What does WFO mean????
Please explain in great detail...

 

[Blazing]

What does WFO mean????
Please explain in great detail...

With flap open or maybe with flow open

 

[black smoke signals]

Garrett BK stoves knobs turn opposite BK inserts turn clockwise so 12oclock is wfo-straight down is closed. Watch your set screw inside the knob mine came loose. Swoosh did you understand how to do this?

What does WFO mean????
Please explain in great detail...

Wide Freaking Open is when operator turns knob counter clockwise till knob stops good enough?

 

[kennyp2339]

I purchased one chord of well seasoned mixed wood (moisture meter has it reading between 14-15%), then I scored another chord of seasoned oak free, which is reading at 16-17% moisture.

How are you testing the wood? When testing for wood moisture content a split should be room temp, then re-split the split and test the fresh split face with the meter going parallel with the wood grain.
FYI its not a chord of wood, but a cord of wood which should measure 4ft x 4ft x 8ft or total 128sq ft.

 

[Hogwildz]

Garrett BK stoves knobs turn opposite BK inserts turn clockwise so 12oclock is wfo-straight down is closed. Watch your set screw inside the knob mine came loose. Swoosh did you understand how to do this?

Wide Freaking Open is when operator turns knob counter clockwise till knob stops good enough?

I am thinking Freaking was not the word in mind, but just checking. Thanks for the clarification

 

[gastone21]

Garrett BK stoves knobs turn opposite BK inserts turn clockwise so 12oclock is wfo-straight down is closed. Watch your set screw inside the knob mine came loose. Swoosh did you understand how to do this?

Wide Freaking Open is when operator turns knob counter clockwise till knob stops good enough?

Thanks for the clarification regarding the different stoves. So on the stoves, does the thermostat cover a semicircle, same as the insert? In which case our three o'clocks would be the same??? Just curious at this point.

No block off plate installed. I'll get to it when I do something about those fugly bricks.

 

[gastone21]

How are you testing the wood? When testing for wood moisture content a split should be room temp, then re-split the split and test the fresh split face with the meter going parallel with the wood grain.
FYI its not a chord of wood, but a cord of wood which should measure 4ft x 4ft x 8ft or total 128sq ft.

Just to verify, I split a split and just checked at room temp was 11.7% at one end, 13.1 in the middle and 13.1 at the other end. I'll round up to the nearest 13% on that one.

Gotta work on my spelling it seems. Cord it is. The math part I got covered though. 4ft x 4ft x 8ft is 128cu. ft.

 

[gastone21]

On a side note, I contacted Chris (BKVP) because the stove came with two right side shroud trim pieces and no left side piece. I was able to miter one of the ride side pieces and install it upside down. Most people would never notice...

Chris sent me a full replacement shroud trim kit, even though I purchased the insert used (though not yet installed). I'm very impressed with that level of commitment to customers, as well as his constant presence on this forum. Thanks Chris!

 

[kennyp2339]

Just to verify, I split a split and just checked at room temp was 11.7% at one end, 13.1 in the middle and 13.1 at the other end. I'll round up to the nearest 13% on that one.

Gotta work on my spelling it seems. Cord it is. The math part I got covered though. 4ft x 4ft x 8ft is 128cu. ft.

Sounds like you have a good wood dealer, I'd grab another cord now, its going to be a cold winter, but warm house