I currently have a century insert that I'm not happy with. I was looking at the blaze king insert vs a quadrafire voyager 2 free standing in front of the fireplace. I own a 1700 square feet house and not sure if the max 39000 btu's is enough. It looks like the voyager is capable of 60000 btu's if it needed to. The only thing holding me back from the voyager is I will need to extend my raised brick hearth. Any ideas?
Blaze king vs free standing quadrafire voyager 11
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I think you mean the Explorer 2 if freestanding. The Voyageur models are their inserts. Both will probably do the job. The BK insert will provide continuous BTU output over an extended period of time. The Quad Explorer 2 will produce 11,200 to 35,900 BTUs in normal service. The 61K BTUs figure is peak output. You would need to be stoking it very regularly with prime dry wood to achieve that output. It's kind of like stating the max speed of a car. Most will never see that speed.
If you are away from the home for over 8 hrs the BK is a better heater for that need. It excels at long burntimes. If someone is home, the Explorer is a handsome alternative but note that this stove is top vented only. Is the fireplace tall enough for it to sit inside in order to top vent to a liner? If not the Quad Grand Voyageur insert would be a good bet. I'd also look at the Enviro Boston or Venice 1700 insert.
If you are away from the home for over 8 hrs the BK is a better heater for that need. It excels at long burntimes. If someone is home, the Explorer is a handsome alternative but note that this stove is top vented only. Is the fireplace tall enough for it to sit inside in order to top vent to a liner? If not the Quad Grand Voyageur insert would be a good bet. I'd also look at the Enviro Boston or Venice 1700 insert.
Thanks for the reply. I did mean the explorer 2 my bad. Did not realize that the explorer 2 is top vent only that is very useful info as my fireplace is not tall enough for that kind of vent configuration. I believe I am set on the princess. Everyone who owns one seems to love them, can't wait to burn it. Just making sure I'm making the right call before I buy. They told me to call and would deliver it for 3200. You know my northern tool century cb 0005 insert claimed it would put out 65000 btu's I don't think it ever put out that much heat
I had the Princess, it should be plenty big enough to heat your house and on milder days you can get some nice long burns.
iron
Minister of Fire
Yeah break in fire. It put out a lot of fumes for the first hour or so with the new paint. Still learning the stove and how it operates. It's definitely heating the whole house even the upstairs! I just reloaded it with plenty of wood just learning when to cut the thermostat back after a reload. So far I'm very happy with this unit, I'm going to put it on medium low tonight to see how long it can go without a reload I'll keep you posted!
One thing I learned the hard way was not burning my load in long enough hurts you on how far you can turn it down. I realize the manual says what times you should use but I found with a big load of oak I had to extend that time out. Just a little tip that helped me... disclaimer I'm not an expert lol
jetsam
Minister of Fire
We have had ours for a few months now, and my wife is still trying to figure that out (I usually load it).
I found it hard to explain to her how long to let it go on high because it's so variable. The short version is "wait until the biggest wood in the stove is burning nicely", but there's really more to it than that.
Bit of an art I suppose, but it seems to come naturally with experience.
MiserableOldFart
Member
I fired mine up yesterday for the first time. One thing I did note: Pay attention to the instructions to wait a couple minutes on full throttle and then a couple minutes with the bypass open before opening the stove. It makes a huge difference. It's only four minutes, and from what I've seen so far, is only going to be happening at most three times a day, usually only two. We've only been below zero one night so far, and none in the forecast for this week, so I'm waiting for the big challenge event.
MiserableOldFart
Member
I'm thinking 10-15 hour burn times depending on setting according to how cold it is. Got about 15 on last night's burn, but could have set it a little hotter - was 59 upstairs and 61 down when I got up, so a couple degrees more would have been more optimal. 65-66 in the stove room would give about 60-62 in bedroom and be perfect. Was mid teens last night, so not a real stress test.
Ok so first night was pretty good! Beat the 3 to 4 hour max burn time I could get on the century plus could load a lot more wood. I'm figuring out that I need to leave it on high for awhile to clean the glass then adjust it. I loaded it around 8 pm let it get hot and then turned it down to a smolder for the night it was a good 72 degrees and mid 30's outside. I woke up to a 70 degree house and plenty of coals to light off more wood. I'm definitely getting more heat out of the wood then I was getting before. I like the fact that I can really make it burn hot if I wanted to for those really cold nights. I was going to go a cheaper route but I did that before and figured I needed to fork out the cash this time.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Yes I installed a block off plate when I installed the century. The good thing is when I put the blaze king in I didn't even have to bend the chimney liner at all since it was already bent on a 45 degree angle. Luckily I already ran an insulated 6 inch liner with the old unit. Another decision maker for me was the buck stove needs an 8" liner and I couldn't see replacing a liner that's not that old. The quad inserts and free standing really look nice but was sold on a cat unit.
That is a big improvement over the Century. Keep us posted Greg. I am curious to heat about the cold day reload frequency.
Definitely will. It's only going down to the mid forties here in pa tonight so I really have it bogged down. supposed to be cold again starting Sunday night can't wait!
One question? Have any of you found that north to south or a mix of north to south east to west is Better?
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