Buck Model 91

[davidmc]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on changing stoves this season and wondered if anyone had any input on the Buck stoves, model 91 in particular. I currently have a Dutchwest XL and have ran it since '04. The Dutchwest does pretty good most of the time but at times I need more heat. I am heating about 2000 feet and the stove is in a 1000 ft. open room. The only other thing about the Dutchwest is the backpuffing issue. My wood is a minimum 1yr and have a properly installed 8" flue. I ran the same stove in a Large 2 years before the XL. I knew I needed more stove and should have taken the hint on the backpuffing issues....lol.

At any rate I would appreciate any input and advice you guys have and have really enjoyed checking out the forums.

thanks

David

 

[weatherguy]

If you look here you should find a lot of reviews on Buck stoves, I know a couple posters bought one last year and were very happy with them.

https://www.hearth.com/ratings/search.php

 

[BrotherBart]

In five years here I have never heard a bad word about the big Bucks.

 

[ddddddden]

There's an old thread: No Love for the Buck 91??. I can't cut & paste links with my phone, so I bumped up the thread with a clever quip. In 4+ cu ft catalytics (good choice for AL, IMO), there are not a lot of options: Buck, Blaze King, Country Flame. I haven't seen the Buck 91 in the flesh, but it seems like a lot of stove for the $ ($2100 I think.) Buck's cat stoves might not be as finely tuned and able burn for 40 hours like the Blaze King($3500?), but the final analysis on that trick is that a given load of wood contains a given amount of BTU's. Let's say you pack the stove with 80 lbs of wood containing 400,000 BTU. Spread the burn out over 40 hrs, and you average 10,000 BTU per hour. Many people want more output than that, so they're going to open the draft on the BK and burn the load in 12 or 15 hours. Ponyboync reports 10.5 hours on a load of poplar + oak in the Buck 91. Poplar isn't the best wood. . .I gotta think 12+ hours would be possible with a full load of oak in the 91.

 

[ddddddden]

BK's low-output extended burn may be of little interest to you, since you are looking for a larger stove to get more output. That said, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you looked at large cat stoves and did not include the Blaze King. Apparently, not much discount is available on one of their stoves after it passes through the east coast distributor's hands. . .BK handles distribution directly in the western part of the country, and the dealers have room to discount. You might be able to find a good deal in Ms or La, if not Al.

 

[heatwise]

my bother has one of the big bucks , not sure of the model # but it looks like the 91. he has had it for years and it has held up well and irs still running strong. it was bought in 1993 or 4. great stove lots of heat and the firebox is a nice size. theyre are lots of great stoves on the market and this is one of them. happy stove shopping. pete

 

[davidmc]

Thanks for the reply's gentlemen!

I had been looking at the Blaze King post's and watched the video and was impressed but have not seen any in my area...must do more research. All my wood is going to be red,white oak or hickory so I should get the best burn time and btu's with these.

These thoughts of a new stove are a pretty tough sell with my wife but she knows we have 5 yrs on the Dutchwest and I am getting itchy to try a new one. I guess you could have a worse hobby.....
I will continue my research.

thanks again

David

 

[cityhick]

I have the buck model 74.....i know your looking for info on the 91..... anyhow I have been very pleased with it and its made in U.S.A. That's all ways on my mind when making a purchase large or small. I don't know much about the 91 just thought I would let you know as for a stove company I am very pleased with Buck Stove

 

[eujamfh]

I posted below in a previous thread...
--------------------------------------------
We have a Buck 91 and it is a beast. It burns overnight and puts out a lot of heat. We have it in the formal living room so on many occasions, I get it going good and hot to help heat the upstairs. Running with the fan on high it would heat us right out of the room. It obviously can be tuned down and the fan set to low…we would have no problem it we ran it that way. But like I said, we use it to toss a lot of heat and it does not disappoint.

As for the cat, we are still new to this stove, but done right you will get years of service before replacing the cat. Dry would is key and I try to make sure I adhere to that which thus far has served us well.
----------------------------------------------

I then added that we generally get 10-12 hours of heat with a mixed poplar/oak load. Always enough coals with a mixed load to restart in the morning. If burning just poplar, I get probably 7-8 hours. I am basing the time on the blower remaining on, and throwing some degree of heat.

I hope this year those times get even better because we replaced the door seal which should allow an even slower burn, and added an insulated 8" flue up through the original masonry chimney. A neighbor gave me the stove, so all I had to pay for was the 25ft of flue...which seemed like a great deal to me.

I think I have a couple other posts about the Buck 91, but in a nut shell its been a great addition to our home. One thing I do like about it is it is readily serviceable. On our Hampton, the dampener weld busted and since it is completely sealed inside the unit, we would have been screwed if we were outside the limited warranty. Fortunately Hampton gave us a new stove with no hassle.

 

[ddddddden]

Thanks for the reply's gentlemen! I had been looking at the Blaze King post's and watched the video and was impressed but have not seen any in my area...must do more research. All my wood is going to be red,white oak or hickory so I should get the best burn time and btu's with these. These thoughts of a new stove are a pretty tough sell with my wife but she knows we have 5 yrs on the Dutchwest and I am getting itchy to try a new one. I guess you could have a worse hobby.....I will continue my research.thanks againDavid

There's a dealer locator gadget on the BK site. Like I said, you may want to look westward for better pricing.

 

[davidmc]

Well guys and gals, after much looking and reading and reading and looking..........I decided on a 91. Now I have to come up with a flue connector for my double wall flue.
Gotta get my paint cured.....

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

i sold a few of them many years ago// never gotten a call for ANY kind of repair etc
very well made stove (or was in 99-01

 

[Pagey]

Now that's a lotta stove! I think you'll be very happy with that beast.

 

[davidmc]

Yea my wife thinks thats a lot of stove too. I think she is afraid it will be reminiscent of the '80's when we ran the box heaters like the Atlanta Homesteader and the Ashley and kept it HOT....with the windows up and doors open....lol.
I decided after the week of 10 to 12 degrees back in January we would not be cold anymore.
I will have a small learning curve from the Dutchwest but I think I can handle it!

 

[Todd]

She's a beauty! Keep us posted on those burns, It would be nice to see some friendly competition for all those Blaze King guys.

 

[heatwise]

That's great. Nice to see the pictures. Should give you years of service. Bucks great to deal with . Pete

 

[Shari]

davidmc,

Looks like a beast! What is that grill in the wall to the left of the stove?

Shari

 

[southland]

My dad had a model 91 installed as an insert about 10 yrs ago. He passed away a couple of years ago, but my mom still runs it. It's run 24/7 in the cold weather. They've had to replace the fan once (it was never cleaned or oiled) and the cat once. My mom loves it (as my dad did also) and says she wouldn't take anything for it.

I have a Buck 51 (predecessor to the model 74) and it's also an excellent stove.

Enjoy your new Buck.

 

[begreen]

That'd definitely a big boy. FWIW, I believe code says the return air grille must be at least 10' away from the stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

I want one dang it. Big honkin steel stove with the door handle on the correct side.

But an eight inch pipe. Whoops. >:-(

 

[davidmc]

Thanks for all the comments guys.
Shari, the grill is for the cold air return for the hvac.
BeGreen, I did not know about the 10' rule. BTW, what does that do? I figured it was in a good location to pull some warm air to distribute thru the house.

 

[begreen]

I would guess that the reg is so that smoke and CO from a stove is not pulled into the HVAC system directly in case of the stove malfunctioning.

 

[BrotherBart]

Gives the smoke detectors time to light off before that duct becomes a chimney right up through the house.

 

[davidmc]

That is probably it. That should not be a problem. I don't think I will need to run the fan with the stove fan and I keep the thermostat set on 65 just for when and if the stove dies down during the night.
thanks for the reply!

 

[Deron]

I originally wanted the Buck 91 but it was a little too big to fit in my firebox.
Nice looking stove.