Considering a New Blaze King "King Model"

[Fort Wisers]

Good day everyone!
OK, I'll try my best not to get too wordy but I want to explain myself fully as well as provide what Information I can.
My wife and I currently heat 100% of our home (aprox 2600 sqft) with a PE Summit Classic. We got the stove 4 years ago (going by memory, so don't hold me to that number) and we are very happy with it.
Since that time, we've added a 400 sqft addition to the home. This addition is currently unheated and can be closed off from the home with a set of exterior double doors but we are thinking it would be nice to heat it on occasion for two reasons:
1. Just so we can enjoy the addition in the winter months as well
2. During really cold days, we can open the double doors to the addition and use whatever woodstove we end up putting out there as supplemental heat.

Now onto an idea that I'm hoping to get some feedback on from current blaze king owners.
I'm thinking of removing the PE and replacing it with a Blaze King, King model. And then putting the PE Summit Classic into the addition. My reasoning is this; although the PE has been a great stove we do find on really cold days it's at it's limit. Also, since we are 24/7 burners from basically October to early April, loading the stove only once a day as apposed to 2-3 times a day seems very appealing.
The current home is 2x6 construction and we re-did all the windows a few years ago. The ceiling is currently R30-35 which I'm hoping to add to soon to bring it to R45-50.
The addition is similarly insulated except the ceiling, which is cathedral and will only be R28.
Our winters can get fairly cold (-35F to -40F on some cold nights in Jan Feb).

The blaze king would be going into the existing location of the PE.
The chimney is quite long (roughly 22' in the straight section) but most is exterior and there are two 90 bends in the basement where the flue comes up from the stove (about 3') then bends horizontal and exits the wall. The chimney then bends another 90 to go vertical again, from there it's straight up about 22' feet.
The PE does fine with this chimney but the Blaze King is a CAT stove so I don't know if it will be more sensitive to drafting etc?

I know the PE will have no problem heating the addition as well as supplying extra heat to the home so I have no fear using this stove for this purpose.
My questions to all of you is how well do you think the big King Model will do as our new primary heater?
Is it as good as all the hype?
What sorts of downfalls or learning curves should I watch out for (one down fall already is my wife doesn't care for the look of it, but if that's the biggest concern we can live with that), especially considering we're moving from a non-CAT to CAT stove?
I know wood dryness is always a concern with ANY stove but it seems to be an even bigger concern with a CAT stove? Consider how much space we currently heat with our PE I'd say our wood is dry but is a CAT stove that much more difficult to deal with regarding dryness? I sweep my own chimneys and have almost no creosote build up each year so I suspect our wood is well seasoned. But again, I have zero experience with a CAT stove.....

I'm hoping to hear of someone in a similar climate with a similar sized home who is currently running this model but also welcome any information any blaze king owners can give us!
The last thing I want to do is change the stove we're currently quite happy with only to find we really haven't gained much.
Our other idea is to simply leave the PE as is and add a smaller stove to the addition (maybe a woodstock or similar).

Sorry for the long post!
Thanks folks, keep up the great work!
Cheers....
BLT

 

[Highbeam]

Before I forget to mention, you will need to accomodate an 8" flue with the king model where your PE product was a 6".

Down in the basement acting like a furnace is the absolute ideal place for the BK king. It will happily chug along on 24 hour reloads and provide more heat than your summit did with less work. The fan system very effective at stripping heat from the firebox and turning that into hot air to move throughout your home. The stove is pretty boring to run since those long burns are steady and there is no futzing with draft settings to maintain a clean, safe, fire.

Dry wood is important for all stoves to attain maximum efficiency. The steam produced from very wet/green wood lowers combustion temps and steals heat from combustion for evaporation. That said, I would rather burn a cat stove on marginal wood than a non-cat. I would rather burn sopping wet or green wood in a non-cat. The folks at BK tell us that the huge majority (well above 90%) of cat failures are from leaky door gaskets and not from wet wood. Since we know that folks on this site are well above average with regards to burning dry wood, I can feel pretty good about saying that whatever you were using for the summit will be fine with the BK.

I would happily recommend stuffing a BK in your home. There is not a single stove on the market with performance specifications that come anywhere near what the king has been able to accomplish. 40 hour burns, highest efficiency available (that's right - #1 on a decades old design), thermostatic air control for steady output, 40 hour burns, durable crack free construction materials, time proven design, 10 year cat warranty, 40 hour burns, but yeah the look is pretty ugly. You'll quickly learn to appreciate the looks.

The ultra model princess was far more attractive than the other princesses when I bought.

 

[HotCoals]

I concur on the king but I'm biased anyhow..lol.

Figure 24 hour loads in the shoulders and 12 hours in the deep cold.
Know that when on low cruise the King will prolly put out less heat then the PE did at it's lowest setting,but will go longer.

 

[Fort Wisers]

Hey Highbeam and Hot Coals! Thanks for the quick replys.....
Hummmm I didn't look close enough originally and didn't realize the King used an 8" flue.
That will be a deal breaker for me.
The outside chimney is 6" liner in brick........
So changing it to 8" would be an undertaking I don't really feel like getting into.
Dang....sounds like an awesome stove.
Specs on the BK princess look similar to our current PE, so I don't know if I want to shell out that kind of cash to get similar heating results.....thoughts?

Maybe I'll throw a chinook 20 in the sunroom and call it a day.....
Thanks again:
BLT

 

[HotCoals]

The 20 in the sun room is not a bad idea at all and I agree about the chimney.

 

[prezes13]

Would it be suitable for you to put the King in the addition? You would still have to go with an 8" chimney system but it won't be nowhere near as expensive as switching the stove and chimneys around.

 

[Fort Wisers]

Would it be suitable for you to put the King in the addition? You would still have to go with an 8" chimney system but it won't be nowhere near as expensive as switching the stove and chimneys around.

The current addition has no chimney so this would be much easier as I'm installing a new chimney regardless of size requirements.

However I think it would be too much stove for in the addition.....
First, the addition is one room, 400 sqft.
Second, The addition is on the far side of the home so I don't think enough heat would get into the rest of the home with out having to resort to fans etc.

The current location of the PE (where I wanted to put the BK king) is in the basement but it's in a more central and open location with-in the main portion of the home, allowing for a lot of heat to move through the main portion as well as move up in levels passively.

Sorry, kind of hard to explain without posting a layout of the home.....


Thanks so far for all the great responses!
BLT

 

[Highbeam]

There is no logical reason, besides physical space constraints or the 8" flue, to choose a small cat stove. Look at the low heat output btu spec to see that on low, all cat stoves seem to be pretty much the same. What you get with a larger cat stove is the ability to crank out more heat and also much longer burntimes. The large size of the stove is like having a large fuel tank.

As such, I think that the 20 series BK is silly. They should be making 30 size boxes and larger. It's got to be a marketing decision.

 

[begreen]

A small stove makes perfect sense in a smaller area. If nothing else it takes up less precious floor space and is visually more proportional. I'm sure BK would not be making them if the market demand wasn't there first.

 

[Fort Wisers]

Hey again gang,
Highbeam, I see what you're saying about the low settings and the BTU output being generally the same (slightly higher on the King).
So, that's a point well taken. Sorry, CAT stoves and the ability to turn down this low is new to me

Begreen, you're correct that in the addition we don't have unlimited floor space.
That being said, there is some room to get into a fairly decent sized stove.

Soooo........maybe a compromise (I hate using that word) between the KING and something as small as the 20;

My wife and I were just on the BK website and both like the look of the Ashford 30.
We did some post and beam work in the addition along with some steel bracketing.
The over-all "theme" of the room is old and rustic....
I think the Ashford would go nice with the current rustic feel of the room, and has some pretty good numbers regarding heat output+burn times (which is what I really care for).

What do you guys think? Anyone out there own the Ashford?
I assume, even though the outer appearance is cast, that the firebox is welded plate steel?
Again, in this scenario, the PE will remain as our 24/7 burner and the new stove will be used to help on colder days (say < -20F) and whenever we want to use the addition in cold weather.
When in use the double doors between the addition and the office will be opened to allow some heat into the rest of the house (mainly the office, obviously).
The addition is 20x20 and the office is about 20x14....

Sorry, I guess I've steered this thread a little off course!
Take care and thanks for all the input.....this forum is great!
BLT

p.s.
Here's a rough (please don't judge me on this) layout of the home:

 

[webby3650]

I have an Ashford and I love it. It's a nice stove! I've also had a King a few years back. The King is a lot of stove! Very few homes actually need a King. Don't get too wrapped in the BTUs and square footage claims either. That Princess will be a big improvement over the PE. In the dead of winter you will likely see similar results, but in the spring and fall it will excel! It will burn two or three times longer on a load of wood while not overheating your house.

 

[Highbeam]

Be sure to layout your new hearth and chimney so that you can swap the PE and the BK. After owning both cat and non-cat, depending on both for 100% of our heat, I would absolutely want to be burning the BK full time and using the non-cat for the casual burner.

 

[Fort Wisers]

OK, given my limitations with my current 6" chimney (limit being, can't go king), do you guys think it would be worth investigating putting a BK princess in the basement and moving the PE out to the addition as the secondary heater?
I guess I' m little old school in that when I compare the BK princess to the PE, it looks like a smaller stove (based on the firebox size etc) but........I'm willing to listen.
What kind of climate are you guys in? Do you hit cold into the -30F range regularly during the winter months? What kind of space are you heating?
Sorry, not trying to get into a "pissing match" in who gets the colder winter etc.
I just want to be sure the BK princess is going to have enough umph when I'm in the dead of winter.
The PE can do it on it's own (and it was a long/cold winter this year) but if you guys think the Princess could outperform the PE, then that this brings me back to my original idea, just with the princess not the king.
Hummmmm.....
I burn maple, cherry and elm....only mentioning it now because I just realized I haven't yet.

 

[BKVP]

Let the voice of the Fairbanks AK owners guide you! (-60 F routinely!)

 

[Fort Wisers]

Let the voice of the Fairbanks AK owners guide you! (-60 F routinely!)

I look forward to hearing from them
That's so awesome, I'd love to live in a climate like that (what can I say, I like winter).
Did I mention this forum is great?
And addictive.....
It's currently 95F outside with the humidity, and here we are talking about what woodstove will keep the house warm enough in the winter.
My kind of people......

BLT

 

[prezes13]

I look forward to hearing from them
That's so awesome, I'd love to live in a climate like that (what can I say, I like winter).
Did I mention this forum is great?
And addictive.....
It's currently 95F outside with the humidity and here we are talking about what woodstove will keep the house warm enough in the winter.
My kind of people......

BLT

Yes it's very addicting you better stop reading and posting before it's too late... All kidding aside it's the best website for wood burners, you will learn here more in a month than you would in a year of burning on your own. This side has a lot of very knowledgable people.

 

[Fort Wisers]

Yes it's very addicting you better stop reading and posting before it's too late... All kidding aside it's the best website for wood burners, you will learn here more in a month than you would in a year of burning on your own. This side has a lot of very knowledgable people.

Yep, been posting here (very occasionally) for about 1.5 years now but I've been reading the forum for a lot longer than that.
We originally bought the PE because of reviews I found on this forum.
It's funny, I've been burning wood my whole life and yet every-time I come to this forum I learn something new.
I can't express how much appreciation I have for everyone who contributes to make this forum what it is.

My wife and kids went out to some friends this evening, I decided to stay home so I could "work on prepping" the new hearth area.
Funny thing is I haven't done much work yet...and I just poured myself a whiskey and coke, so it's not looking like a lot more will get done
If she get's upset, I'll just claim I'm educating myself to ensure we make the proper decision.

Seriously though, thanks for all the input.
BLT

 

[Charles1981]

Wouldn't want to sway you from getting a BK at all but there are other rather large stoves that run off 6 inch liners.

Obviously Blaze King King (4.2cuft) - wont run on a 6" liner..

Englander NC30 (3.5cuft) biggest and the cheapest of the lot to boot - burn tube stove
Ideal Steel...kind funky looking stove (3.2cuft) - hybrid stove
Blaze King Princess (2.85 cuft) - cat stove
Progress Hybrid... soapstone pretty (2.8cuft...getting smaller unfortunately) - hybrid.

And you already have the PE summit (3cuft) so ...

Number of choices. NC30 would be the least expensive of them all. The Ideal Steel being second least expensive.

 

[webby3650]

The Ideal Steel being second least expensive.

But from the sounds of it, he has a nice house. It'd be a shame to clutter it up with a stove that looks like a high school shop class flop.

 

[webby3650]

But from the sounds of it, he has a nice house. It'd be a shame to clutter it up with a stove that looks like a high school shop class flop.

And ya, I want one! But you would have to pry my Blaze King from my cold dead fingers.

 

[Highbeam]

Let the voice of the Fairbanks AK owners guide you! (-60 F routinely!)

I recall bkvp posting that the princess is the top selling bk in AK in those temps and in houses at or above 2000 sf. Myself, the princess is at 50% throttle to heat 1700 sf of 1963 built craphouse in single digit temps with 12-16 hour reloads.

 

[Fort Wisers]

You guys really have me thinking about going BK princess......
If it can heat 2000sf in fairbanks than that's good enough for me

I'm sticking with the Blaze King brand for now for a few reasons:
1. I'm not unhappy with my current big box PE but LOVE the look of the long burn times (especially in the shoulder months)
2. Seems everyone here has nothing but good to say about BK
3. Burn times, did I mention that yet?

Like I've mentioned, the PE can throw the heat required for our needs, but I like the idea of less loading.
It's funny, when we first got the PE, I was happy to load only 2-3 times a day......now that we've been doing that for a number of years I'd be happy to cut that down even more.

Thanks again, I'll keep you folks posted what we end up doing!

Cheers:
BLT

 

[05ramctd]

Nothing like peer pressure! Once your hooked your hooked.

 

[Highbeam]

I fell for the peer pressure too. Was convinced and don't regret it a bit.

Real wood burners, those of us heating 100% with wood, know that long burn times are of utmost importance. Otherwise you are a slave to your heater and after a few years that can get old.

 

[05ramctd]

Hear ya, since 2007 I have been heating with a joutl insert from the 80's. When I would come home from work it would either be hotter than heck since the wife fed the dragon. Or she would forget about it and it would be cold. I am joining the team and buying a bk king. Started the project this week. By what I have read on this site I will not be disappointed.