As I am looking to upgrade to a better stove this year , these are the two that are available locally and fit my needs that I am considering. Can anyone tell me th pros and cons of going with either.
Blaze King Princess vs Quadrafire Millenium 2100
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The Quad steel units have an ACC system, as I explained here.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/17076/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/17076/
I have a neighbor with a Blaze King Princess he's had for 7+ years now and he swears by it. I have a Quad 3100i insert and I love it and I have several other neighbors with Quads.
The princess is a cat stove which is going to require the catalyst be replaced every 3-5 years. Cat stoves are good burners and from what I can tell can get slightly longer burn times when turned down. Cat stoves do have a sharper learning curve so you don't foul the catalyst and knowing when to light off the cat.
The Quads offer a solid burn system that is well proven and I can speak from personal experience that they stand behind their warranty 100%.
What's the heating application? Square Footage? House Type? Wood Type commonly burned? Help us get a better feel for your heating application.
The princess is a cat stove which is going to require the catalyst be replaced every 3-5 years. Cat stoves are good burners and from what I can tell can get slightly longer burn times when turned down. Cat stoves do have a sharper learning curve so you don't foul the catalyst and knowing when to light off the cat.
The Quads offer a solid burn system that is well proven and I can speak from personal experience that they stand behind their warranty 100%.
What's the heating application? Square Footage? House Type? Wood Type commonly burned? Help us get a better feel for your heating application.
This stove will primarily be supplement heat to the house oil furnace. It will heat about 1000-1200 sq ft of living area with some passive heating down the hallways to the bedrooms aided by a 7 ft wide ceiling fan. I have an el cheapo that I bout at Lowes locally and the burn time is horrible, I am looking for something that will provide me longer burns, but that is not huge so as to not burn us out of the living room.
What model stove did you get from Lowes? If its one of the englanders or summers heat it might be worth keeping and just learning how to use.
In another post you stated the temp got down to -50? I wouldn't screw around and I'd get the Blaze King Princess. It's larger than the Quad, you don't have to fill it up and run it full blast all the time, but you have the extra capacity when you need it. I like the cat stoves, longer more even burns and they seem better for those low range BTU burns.
My stove is a CFM Incorporated stove that I got at Lowes.
And yeah it gets real cold here, we saw temps of -30 or colder from early to mid Jan to early to mid Feb with lows at night right around -45 each night and I saw -50 at my house a couple days. It is cold up here, beyond what many of you could imagine. I spent almost $5000 in heating oil this winter (1600 gallons) heating my house and dont plan on doing it again next winter hence the woodstove posts. Heating oil went up $1.30 gallon from sept to April with my most recent fill up at $3.66, its gotten plain ridiculous!
And yeah it gets real cold here, we saw temps of -30 or colder from early to mid Jan to early to mid Feb with lows at night right around -45 each night and I saw -50 at my house a couple days. It is cold up here, beyond what many of you could imagine. I spent almost $5000 in heating oil this winter (1600 gallons) heating my house and dont plan on doing it again next winter hence the woodstove posts. Heating oil went up $1.30 gallon from sept to April with my most recent fill up at $3.66, its gotten plain ridiculous!
I don't know anything about the blaze king but sure do like the qudrafire. We have one of their steel units and it is a great stove
which doesn't have to run full open to heat our 1700 sqft second home when we go there.
With those fuel bills I would sure be doing what you are. Can you get good cheap wood where you are? If so your savings
will pay for the stove in one winter easlily as long as you burn it regularly.
which doesn't have to run full open to heat our 1700 sqft second home when we go there.
With those fuel bills I would sure be doing what you are. Can you get good cheap wood where you are? If so your savings
will pay for the stove in one winter easlily as long as you burn it regularly.
At those oil prices a good wood stove will pay for itself in one year. I guess you will burning soft woods, so if you want to hold a fire for overnight your going to need a big firebox, something over 2cu ft.
From the looks of it and knowing you got that CFM recently it is probably not too bad of a stove, although it is probably vastly undersized for your temps you get.
Anyway... as Todd suggested you might want to get a bigger stove. Possibly the Quad 3100 if you decide on Quad. I looked at the Blaze King info and its got a nice big 2.8 cuft firebox and boasts some good BTU input.
Anyway... as Todd suggested you might want to get a bigger stove. Possibly the Quad 3100 if you decide on Quad. I looked at the Blaze King info and its got a nice big 2.8 cuft firebox and boasts some good BTU input.
Carl said:
All I can haul pretty much, theres wood everywhere. I went and filled the bed of my truck and a Car hauler trailer in about 2 hours with already fallen stuff from last year , just last month and coulda cut about 10 more equivalent loads if I wanted to. But as you all know this is soft wood, mostly spruce and birch with a few cottonwoods. But whos to groan, it is free!
This is the stove I got.
(broken link removed to http://www.vermontcastings.com/content/products/productdetails.cfm?id=321)
It was onsale from $450 to $330 when I happened to go in and get it.
(broken link removed to http://www.vermontcastings.com/content/products/productdetails.cfm?id=321)
It was onsale from $450 to $330 when I happened to go in and get it.
Northof60 runs a BlazeKing Princess and he sees low temps like you do. Send him a PM with any questions you have.
With your available wood and cold temp I think you could use the quad 3100. I don't think it would overheat your place
and once the secondary burn kicks in you can close it down for a longer burn than the smaller one. If you don't need so
much heat in spring and fall you don't have to fill it to the top and can then control the amount of heat it puts out somewhat.
One thing we like about the steel quads is the triple heat shields so they have close clearances from combustables. They
heat more in a convection mannor so you won't get that brutal overheating feeling right a way since the heat is moved
through the shields before it hits you.
Good luck with your new stove whatever brand you get.
and once the secondary burn kicks in you can close it down for a longer burn than the smaller one. If you don't need so
much heat in spring and fall you don't have to fill it to the top and can then control the amount of heat it puts out somewhat.
One thing we like about the steel quads is the triple heat shields so they have close clearances from combustables. They
heat more in a convection mannor so you won't get that brutal overheating feeling right a way since the heat is moved
through the shields before it hits you.
Good luck with your new stove whatever brand you get.
If you're going to compare apples/apples take a look at the Quad 4100 in comparison to the Blaze King. It's got a bit smaller firebox but will throw heat like the Blaze King. I'd also look at the 5700 (3.4 Cubic Foot) as it's a big stove and would help you heat entirely without oil.
Are your temps in Fahrenheit? That is brutally cold. It is good that your fairly modern house has such impressive insulation since you still are going through so much oil. What do you do there in that brutal place? It must be oil or fish related. Are you able to tend the fire all day? Is length of burn vitally important?
I burn a non-cat soapstone and would jump on a cat blaze king in a heartbeat in your situation: burning softwood, needing a large range of output for a maximum amount of time, and with very little tolerance (also a high likelihood) of creosote buildup.
I burn a non-cat soapstone and would jump on a cat blaze king in a heartbeat in your situation: burning softwood, needing a large range of output for a maximum amount of time, and with very little tolerance (also a high likelihood) of creosote buildup.
Well I went to look at both stoves in question today and there is a huge difference between them , my bad. I thought they were similar in size. For the location of my stove the Blaze King is too big, it will cook us off the couch. On the flipside the 2100 and even the 3100 will fit my house better and though they are not Catalytic they are very efficient and supposedly burn pretty clean. I am gonna wait till the end of the month to decide.
Oh and yeah my temps are in Fahrenheit, its a cold son of a gun here for 5-6 months of the year. Though I know it would suprise you but I live in a town of about 75,000 people with 4 military bases inside a radius of about 100 miles. You think the cold tough is , try fighting fire at -35 or -40 it adds a whole new element to firefighting. Thats what I do for a living. During the warm months of the year I hunt and fish till my heart is content!
Oh and yeah my temps are in Fahrenheit, its a cold son of a gun here for 5-6 months of the year. Though I know it would suprise you but I live in a town of about 75,000 people with 4 military bases inside a radius of about 100 miles. You think the cold tough is , try fighting fire at -35 or -40 it adds a whole new element to firefighting. Thats what I do for a living. During the warm months of the year I hunt and fish till my heart is content!
Wow! you must deal with a crapload of ice putting out fires in those conditions. I'd need an 8 month fishing season. Don't forget, with the Blazeking, as big as it is, it's a cat and you can shut it down pretty low so it doesn't have to pump out big heat.
Cub from Alaska: the blazeking princess is what you need. you will use far less wood,specially burning nothing but softwoods. Load it up at night and you won`t have to worry about not waking up in the morning cause you have been frozen. If it weren`t for the fact that I live in the mild pacific north west, I would have bought it myself.
For your climate it would be a no-brainer for me. yes, ya gotta replace the cat every 4-5 years,and maybe a bit of a learning curve. but for where you live it is the crem=da-la-cream!! best of the best.!! Not cheap though, last I priced it around here it was $2700 plus liner etc. but for your local,I wouldn`t piss around with anything else.
For your climate it would be a no-brainer for me. yes, ya gotta replace the cat every 4-5 years,and maybe a bit of a learning curve. but for where you live it is the crem=da-la-cream!! best of the best.!! Not cheap though, last I priced it around here it was $2700 plus liner etc. but for your local,I wouldn`t piss around with anything else.
I'm late to the game...
I have a Quadra Fire 4100 and could not be less happy. The burn time is 4-6 hours tops and I go through about 2.5 cords a year to heat a 500 sq ft room with catherdral ceilings.
I load it up at 11pm before i go to bed and have to work hard to get it started again at 6am. I would die for a true 12 hour burn time not to mention a 20 hour burn time.
Plus QF puts everything back on to the local dealer who are ussually small mom and pop stores.
I have a Quadra Fire 4100 and could not be less happy. The burn time is 4-6 hours tops and I go through about 2.5 cords a year to heat a 500 sq ft room with catherdral ceilings.
I load it up at 11pm before i go to bed and have to work hard to get it started again at 6am. I would die for a true 12 hour burn time not to mention a 20 hour burn time.
Plus QF puts everything back on to the local dealer who are ussually small mom and pop stores.
I am heating a 1,400 size house with the BK princess insert, the house is a 1931. I try not to fire up the insert until the weather gets down to 30 degrees because it does gets to hot for me. From 30 degrees down it works great, if it gets to hot you just turn it down. Last night 10 degrees, I loaded it up around 5 pm and it was warm in the house all night. In the morning 5 am it was still heating the house at 68 degrees but needs to be reloaded. I will not reload unitil I get home tonight at 6p, should be enough coals to get a small load started.
I have a Quad 2100M - great stove, but I don't see it being a good choice for 1000-1200 sq ft in Alaska, unless the space is hyper-insulated. I'd look at something in the 2 cu ft or so firebox range.
Cat stoves are great becuase you can turn them down. My little stove is in a 425 sq ft area and that area includes the bathroom and storage room that are mostly closed off. On weekends that I'm hanging out down there watching tv I just turn the stove down and don't load it as much. When I go to bed I can fill it and let it crank throughout the night. Same as when I am away at work. The cat gives me more options because I can turn it down and after 12-16 hours, I will have plenty of coals left for a quick relight.
AlaskaCub said:
Actually not. One of the advantages of the BK's with the cats and thermostats is that they can be dialed as low and steady as you like, without falling out of secondary burn. It will cook you less, and can burn low and slow, or fast and hot. FYI, HTH.
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