blaze king princess vs englander 30nc

[amh]

After looking at wood boilers and wood gasifiers the return on investment just isnt even close. So with the help of the guys in the boiler room, ive decided between keeping my englander or buying a blaze king princes.

Some background info, i built a chalet about 8 yrs ago, r 22 in walls and 41 in ceiling. Its probably around 2800 sqft with the full basement included. My basement is set inside a hill and i have 2 garage doors that i wheel 2 huge garbage cans on wheel set them right next to my stove. The stove does great till low teens then the electric heat pump will have to kick on to suppliment the rest.

What i dont like about it is loading it 5 times a day with the fifth being at around 3 or 4 in the morning. when it gets below 20, i drink a few glasses of water right before bed to wake me up at 3 or 4am and it doesnt disturb the wife. Smoke coming out when i load it (im assuming the bk will smoke less due to the bypass?) Ash removal is very messy, usually do that every day or 2. And finally i thi k the catalyst would help keep more heat from going out of the chimney.

With that being said, how do u guys and gals think the princess would do compared to the englander?
would the things i dont like about the englander be lessened by the desighn of the princess?

Any info would be great
thx!

 

[mellow]

I doubt it will smoke less, sounds like a draft issue, tell us more about your chimney setup, pictures will help.

2800 is really pushing it for a Princess if you ask me, the englander is going to throw more btu's but go through wood quicker. You might need a King if you want long burns with more BTU's, but that is going to require an 8" pipe.

 

[Highbeam]

I currently own both an NC30 and a BK princess. Love each stove for what they are and don't regret either purchase.

A non-cat running at fairly high throttle is relatively efficient. You aren't going to save much wood using a cat stove if you are demanding the same amount of heat. If the NC30 has a hard time keeping up than a princess will be too small.

The BK is a smoker. More so than a non-cat.

You need to be looking at the king model. With that you get a much larger stove which will be capable of more output and less reloading for the same output. Don't expect to use less wood though.

Honestly, in your basement situation I would be checking out the available wood furnaces which are much cheaper than wood boilers.

 

[Hogwildz]

Loading 5x a day? Something is def wrong there.
Unless you loading a couple splits 5x a day.

 

[Highbeam]

Loading 5x a day? Something is def wrong there.
Unless you loading a couple splits 5x a day.

I can load the NC30 five times a day too. If you run the thing on high output all the time you can really burn through some wood.

 

[ambull01]

I currently own both an NC30 and a BK princess. Love each stove for what they are and don't regret either purchase.

A non-cat running at fairly high throttle is relatively efficient. You aren't going to save much wood using a cat stove if you are demanding the same amount of heat. If the NC30 has a hard time keeping up than a princess will be too small.

The BK is a smoker. More so than a non-cat.

You need to be looking at the king model. With that you get a much larger stove which will be capable of more output and less reloading for the same output. Don't expect to use less wood though.

Honestly, in your basement situation I would be checking out the available wood furnaces which are much cheaper than wood boilers.

You have a great stove combo. The best budget stove and one of the best long burn stoves. If using a cat stove really uses the same amount of wood as an Englander I just wasted my IS deposit money.

 

[prezes13]

2800 sf is a lot. Sounds like you have decent insulation. If I was you I think I would be looking at a king, ideal steel hybrid, kuuma sequoia or equinox.

 

[velvetfoot]

Do you really need to heat the basement? If not, you could be wasting a lot of wood. Could you put a wood stove upstairs where you live and bring the wood in through another entrance? Sitting all cozy by the fire is nice.

 

[amh]

I doubt it will smoke less, sounds like a draft issue, tell us more about your chimney setup, pictures will help.

2800 is really pushing it for a Princess if you ask me, the englander is going to throw more btu's but go through wood quicker. You might need a King if you want long burns with more BTU's, but that is going to require an 8" pipe.

I dont think i have a draft problem, if the exhaust temps drop to much there will be some big chunks left in there and as i load it up, some smoke will come out the door.
and i know ut will be pushing it for a princes, but i thought the englander is pushing it also?
or am i wrong?

 

[amh]

I currently own both an NC30 and a BK princess. Love each stove for what they are and don't regret either purchase.

A non-cat running at fairly high throttle is relatively efficient. You aren't going to save much wood using a cat stove if you are demanding the same amount of heat. If the NC30 has a hard time keeping up than a princess will be too small.

The BK is a smoker. More so than a non-cat.

You need to be looking at the king model. With that you get a much larger stove which will be capable of more output and less reloading for the same output. Don't expect to use less wood though.

Honestly, in your basement situation I would be checking out the available wood furnaces which are much cheaper than wood boilers.

I looked at the king and probably would buy one if i didnt need an 8in flue. Would like to keep and use my 6 inch since there is nothing wrong with it.

i havent looked at wood furnaces, do you know some of the top rated onces?

 

[amh]

Loading 5x a day? Something is def wrong there.
Unless you loading a couple splits 5x a day.

Thats running on high, like highbeam said

 

[amh]

2800 sf is a lot. Sounds like you have decent insulation. If I was you I think I would be looking at a king, ideal steel hybrid, kuuma sequoia or equinox.

I was looking at the ideal steel, do u think that one will give me more btus and a longer burn time than the nc?

 

[amh]

Do you really need to heat the basement? If not, you could be wasting a lot of wood. Could you put a wood stove upstairs where you live and bring the wood in through another entrance? Sitting all cozy by the fire is nice.

Good thought, but the wife wont let me bring wood upstairs cause its to messy. And my basement it also my workshop, so im down there more than anywhere

 

[ambull01]

I dont think i have a draft problem, if the exhaust temps drop to much there will be some big chunks left in there and as i load it up, some smoke will come out the door.
and i know ut will be pushing it for a princes, but i thought the englander is pushing it also?
or am i wrong?

So your setup works fine? I thought the chimney had to extend at least two feet or so from the highest part of the house. Only asking because I wanted to put a wood stove in my family room which is more centrally located vs my living room. Chimney is in living room so I would have to run chimney pipe out of my house and up the exterior. I live in a three story Victorian style house so that would be a really tall chimney and quite expensive.

 

[Highbeam]

You have a great stove combo. The best budget stove and one of the best long burn stoves. If using a cat stove really uses the same amount of wood as an Englander I just wasted my IS deposit money.

A properly sized stove won't need to be run at full blast to almost keep up. When you dial the output down to medium levels, the hybrid and cat stoves become much more efficient than the non-cats. Efficiency is not really that important and all modern technologies will burn similar amounts of wood when doing the same jobs.

I would not replace an NC30 with an IS unless I expected to utilize the medium to low settings quite often such as 100% heating of a home.

 

[velvetfoot]

Good thought, but the wife wont let me bring wood upstairs cause its to messy. And my basement it also my workshop, so im down there more than anywhere

Doesn't it get super hot down there if the stove is cranking away trying to keep the upstairs warm?
I think you could still play up pluses of the cozy factor, vs. the messy factor, because it is very nice being near the fire.

 

[brad wilton]

if your running the englander wide open your losing all your heat up chimney. close the air down in steps 1/4 inch increments there is no way you should be burning that much wood i think you are running it like an old smoke dragon ? i have an old 1780"s old stone house with as brother bart would say a big honking steel stove fill it morning evening and before bed thats it

 

[prezes13]

Ideal steel should give you more steady heat out put. But I was thinking about having two stoves. The nice looking ideal steel in the living quarters of the house, and keeping nc30 in the basement. Now knowing that your wife doesn't want a stove in the living quarters and you want to keep 6" flue I think you would try the king. Some people here run it on 6" even tough it's not recommended.

 

[Highbeam]

if your running the englander wide open your losing all your heat up chimney. close the air down in steps 1/4 inch increments there is no way you should be burning that much wood i think you are running it like an old smoke dragon

Wide open means different things to different people. You find out pretty quickly that the NC30 runs hotter (stove temps) at part throttle than at full throttle. So max output is not at full throttle. When running the NC30 at max output I can easily chew through five reloads in one day. If you don't need that much heat and only reload twice then you are not getting as much heat as you could since you're running at low output. 12 hour reloads is about as low as you can go.

 

[amh]

So your setup works fine? I thought the chimney had to extend at least two feet or so from the highest part of the house. Only asking because I wanted to put a wood stove in my family room which is more centrally located vs my living room. Chimney is in living room so I would have to run chimney pipe out of my house and up the exterior. I live in a three story Victorian style house so that would be a really tall chimney and quite expensive.

Here in pa i believe the code is 2ft above anything within a 10ft radius

 

[amh]

Doesn't it get super hot down there if the stove is cranking away trying to keep the upstairs warm?
I think you could still play up pluses of the cozy factor, vs. the messy factor, because it is very nice being near the fire.

Agreed, im sitting in front of thefire right now. The basment steps leads right into the greatroom and we leave the door open which causes a good draft to the upstairs. Probably only 5 or six degrees different. I also have a big fan runing in the basement which helps.

 

[amh]

Wide open means different things to different people. You find out pretty quickly that the NC30 runs hotter (stove temps) at part throttle than at full throttle. So max output is not at full throttle. When running the NC30 at max output I can easily chew through five reloads in one day. If you don't need that much heat and only reload twice then you are not getting as much heat as you could since you're running at low output. 12 hour reloads is about as low as you can go.

Agreed

 

[amh]

Ideal steel should give you more steady heat out put. But I was thinking about having two stoves. The nice looking ideal steel in the living quarters of the house, and keeping nc30 in the basement. Now knowing that your wife doesn't want a stove in the living quarters and you want to keep 6" flue I think you would try the king. Some people here run it on 6" even tough it's not recommended.

So far this sounds like my best option.
alot of people run the king in6 inch?
does it cause any draft problems?

 

[Hogwildz]

Here in pa i believe the code is 2ft above anything within a 10ft radius

That is correct, it is not from highest point, but from anything in a 10' radius.
Are you running with the air wide open?
I understand HIghbeam may load 5x per day, but I think he is burning soft wood, he can correct me if i am wrong.
If you are burning hard woods, I would think you would be getting a crapload of coals from reloading so often.
I am heating 2666sf with similar sized firebox, and I couldn't run 5 loads a day of hard wood if I tried.
The basement if uninsulated, is prolly sucking up 1/2 your heat output.
If you really need to burn that much wood to heat the place, you may need some serious insulation. I doubt any stove will make enough difference worth the cost. Not even the King.

 

[amh]

That is correct, it is not from highest point, but from anything in a 10' radius.
Are you running with the air wide open?
I understand HIghbeam may load 5x per day, but I think he is burning soft wood, he can correct me if i am wrong.
If you are burning hard woods, I would think you would be getting a crapload of coals from reloading so often.
I am heating 2666sf with similar sized firebox, and I couldn't run 5 loads a day of hard wood if I tried.
The basement if uninsulated, is prolly sucking up 1/2 your heat output.
If you really need to burn that much wood to heat the place, you may need some serious insulation. I doubt any stove will make enough difference worth the cost. Not even the King.

i do get alot of ash from my hardwood.
the basement is insulated with r12.5.
my biggest problem is the 2 garage doors i have down there. They are insulated but u can seal around the outside.

So new idea, keep the 30nc, and get a small pellet stove for the great room when twmps get in the 20s.
im assuming pellet stove are alot less dusty, smokey and messy, am i correct?