Blaze King Princess Insert

[Rearscreen]

A couple that I know who are getting on in their years and live 3+ hours away, and used to burn a Garrison. Once that gave out, they had a used Sierra stove they already had and it actually would fit the hearth so we put that in. Lo and behold, the first fire, after engaging the cat, they both glowed red! No smoke out of chimney! I explained what was happening and how to operate and thought all was good. Fast forward 2 years. The cats had crumbled, the innards are warped, and, at the moment, only the wife is in the house and will be for possibly the rest of her life alone. But she has no problem burning wood. So, here's my question, if we put a BK insert into the raised hearth, is it relatively easy to operate? I ask because, as much as I love my Progress, it does have some design flaws one of which is the ability to open the door with the cat engaged because of the handle design. For an older person, not understanding how it operates, I'd like something more safe for her to use.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like keeping things as simple as possible would be a good plan.

 

[Nealm66]

I believe the cat has to be bypassed on a blaze king as well and the door can be opened with it not

 

[kennyp2339]

Might not be a good idea, I'm with @begreen on keeping things as simple as possible, it isnt that the BK stoves are hard to run, its just that in order to run the best you need dry wood, then be concision of the t-stat and closing the by-pass after a certain amount of time.

 

[webby3650]

I don’t know, if she’s used to running old stoves, they likely had a pipe damper right? If you could explain the bypass operation in a way that she can associate with a pipe damper it might work ok. Open it anytime you open the door, and don’t close it until the cat is active. Seems so simple to me I have a hard time thinking it would really be an issue.

 

[Highbeam]

Us macho cat stove experts love to say how easy it is and how a caveman can do it but cat stoves are much more complicated to run than a modern noncat. I’ve had to teach a few people and they don’t even want to look at a thermometer, much less perform lever pulling based on certain temperature triggers.

Big, basic noncat with nothing but a single “hotter or colder” lever and directions to not let anything glow red is much much easier.

The extra complication is very much worth it for me but we need to be real.

 

[weatherguy]

I've had both, have the PH now, both a relatively easy to run, both about the same in my opinion.

 

[stoveliker]

In my experience it is best to get something that *operates* as much as possible like the old stove they had.

The more "life experience one has" (to say certain things in a polite way), the harder it becomes to learn new tricks
(I'm trying to be respectful but my choice of words may not be ideal.)

I remember my grandma with a new microwave. Any could do it: set the time hit start. Did not go well...

 

[Rearscreen]

I guess my grandmother had it all figured out. She had a fireplace with fake birch logs with a ragged cut out in the center, an orange light bulb and inside a rotating drum with crinkled tin foil that would reflect the light. Worked like a charm.

 

[Nealm66]

I guess my grandmother had it all figured out. She had a fireplace with fake birch logs with a ragged cut out in the center, an orange light bulb and inside a rotating drum with crinkled tin foil that would reflect the light. Worked like a charm.

That’s awesome

 

[BKVP]

Keep it simple. Respectfully, big difference between operating a unit at 9 years of age and 80+ years of age. My 9 year old can do anything we adults can do, except buy beer! But I would not want my 83 year mother to try to operate our stoves or any stove for that matter. It'd be different had she owned one for 5-10 years and aged with it.

We are talking fire here. Get her a really good used post 2010 secondary burn insert. Call numerous stores in your area and tell them what you are looking for. So long as there is a chain of non commercial ownership, stores can sell used, previously EPA approved, wood inserts/stoves.

And thanks for helping her!!