Help me chose BK Princes or Ashford 30

[webby3650]

You'll have to dump it a few times through the winter. But you won't have to shut it down, just pull the plug and take it all around. Do yourself a favor and get an ashhoe. It makes cleaning so much easier.
Once I fire it up for the year I won't need to start a fire from scratch again. Even if I go for 3 or 4 days without touching it I can scratch up enough coals to get a fire going again.

 

[HotCoals]

Yes, not a beast in the sense of cooking one out of house and home because the strength of these Blaze Kings seems to be their ability to run at such a slow, throttled down rate. Rather a beast in terms of its capacity. If I installed one in my modern 2650 square foot home with excellent insulation and an open floor plan in the moderate climate of coastal Washington, it would be only on rare occasions that I'd use more than a fraction of its capacity. We get one or two cold snaps (where temps drop below freezing) each year, which last anywhere from a day to a week or so. During those times, I'll have to load the Ashford more often. I don't think it will be a problem because Bellingham pretty much closes down when there's snow, so I'll be home with plenty of time to reload. I guess if it's cold without snow, we could come home to a cold house but we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it.

In a climate where cold temperatures occur more often and snow doesn't shut everything down, it would be important to still be able to count on 12+ hour burn times. If our home were in Montana or Alaska, I don't think the Ashford or other similarly sized Blaze King would be adequate.

You pretty much have it right.
But trust me if I want to impress my friends with flame and a lot of heat ,that also can happen..lol.


What you're cat stove is going to do for you is give you nice even heat through the burn once your house is up to temp.
It wont rush to peak at super high temps then fall off fast. That's the beauty of a cat. You will see in due time.
My old stove was the same one without a cat. My house is warmer all the time now and i have cut my wood consumption by at least 33%

 

[Highbeam]

Our doug fir is an extremely low ash wood. Like more than a cord of wood per inch of ash in the bottom of the firebox. For this reason, I prefer red alder which has more ash to shroud the coals and extend the burn time. In the last few weeks I have cut and split about 5 cords of red alder.

 

[Parallax]

Our doug fir is an extremely low ash wood. Like more than a cord of wood per inch of ash in the bottom of the firebox. For this reason, I prefer red alder which has more ash to shroud the coals and extend the burn time. In the last few weeks I have cut and split about 5 cords of red alder.

Well, since I bought something like 16 cords of Doug fir, that's what I'll be burning for a while (as soon as I finish up the 3/4 cord of hardwood I got from a neighbor). So far, I've got 10 cords of the fir cut up, split and stacked under cover. The other 6 cords I'll cut up and split. Guess I'll have to leave it in the open air for a while.

 

[HotCoals]

Well, since I bought something like 16 cords of Doug fir, that's what I'll be burning for a while (as soon as I finish up the 3/4 cord of hardwood I got from a neighbor). So far, I've got 10 cords of the fir cut up, split and stacked under cover. The other 6 cords I'll cut up and split. Guess I'll have to leave it in the open air for a while.

You're talking face cords right?
Thought we went over this..lol.

 

[Parallax]

You're talking face cords right?
Thought we went over this..lol.

Nope. Full cords. This truck is holding half of it.

 

[HotCoals]

Dang!
Impressive!

 

[Parallax]

No sense messing around.

 

[HotCoals]

Git-er-dun!

 

[Parallax]

Best of all, for approx. 16 cords I paid $1,000. For this town, that's a good deal. I hope the Doug fir works out alright.

 

[HotCoals]

Best of all, for approx. 16 cords I paid $1,000. For this town, that's a good deal. I hope the Doug fir works out alright.

Less then 20/face. That is cheap!
Course you have some cutting and splitting ..but hey!

 

[HotCoals]

BTW I have burned some dry pine in mine. As long as it was on low burn it worked great.
Pine off gasses faster then hardwoods so really watch it the first few loads till you get a good grip on it because it can go nuclear!
But the cat loved it on low burn,heated well. Don't last as long as hardwood but not as far behind as one might think.

 

[Parallax]

That's what I read somewhere; that fir has 70% of the BTUs of the best hardwoods. Plus it dries fast and has very low ash content. I hope mine is ready to go by next season because once my little bit of hard wood runs out, I've got only Doug fir.

As for cutting and splitting, it's a lot to do but I'm enjoying it. Just have to be careful with the chain saw!

 

[HotCoals]

That's what I read somewhere; that fir has 70% of the BTUs of the best hardwoods. Plus it dries fast and has very low ash content. I hope mine is ready to go by next season because once my little bit of hard wood runs out, I've got only Doug fir.

As for cutting and splitting, it's a lot to do but I'm enjoying it. Just have to be careful with the chain saw!

Well if you can get it c/s/s pretty quick you maybe all right. Gotta get it out in the sun and wind. If you can, leave a lot of space between the rows.
You can top cover but I never do. If you can get it down to 20% mc you will be fine..even a few higher aint the end of the world.
Forget it for sure above 25%.

Keep your eyes out for old pallets and any deals you see on eco-bricks or the like just in case.

 

[webby3650]

BTW I have burned some dry pine in mine. As long as it was on low burn it worked great.
Pine off gasses faster then hardwoods so really watch it the first few loads till you get a good grip on it because it can go nuclear!
But the cat loved it on low burn,heated well. Don't last as long as hardwood but not as far behind as one might think.

That's what I found too. Softer woods do just fine! People around here won't take soft maple if you paid them. I can't tell much difference between it and most hardwoods in the Blaze King. I'll take all I can get!

 

[HotCoals]

That's what I found too. Softer woods do just fine! People around here won't take soft maple if you paid them. I can't tell much difference between it and most hardwoods in the Blaze King. I'll take all I can get!

A couple weeks ago I bagged two free small trailer loads(4x8) of soft maple that nobody wanted . It was 20 miles away but it was already cut at least...so yeah I'll burn it! Works fine!

 

[BKVP]

Yes, not a beast in the sense of cooking one out of house and home because the strength of these Blaze Kings seems to be their ability to run at such a slow, throttled down rate. Rather a beast in terms of its capacity. If I installed one in my modern 2650 square foot home with excellent insulation and an open floor plan in the moderate climate of coastal Washington, it would be only on rare occasions that I'd use more than a fraction of its capacity. We get one or two cold snaps (where temps drop below freezing) each year, which last anywhere from a day to a week or so. During those times, I'll have to load the Ashford more often. I don't think it will be a problem because Bellingham pretty much closes down when there's snow, so I'll be home with plenty of time to reload. I guess if it's cold without snow, we could come home to a cold house but we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it.

In a climate where cold temperatures occur more often and snow doesn't shut everything down, it would be important to still be able to count on 12+ hour burn times. If our home were in Montana or Alaska, I don't think the Ashford or other similarly sized Blaze King would be adequate.

You might be surprised to learn how well homes in Fairbanks are built. I travel to AK 4-6 times a year and have seen first hand the construction techniques. In fact, we sell far more Princess models in (-60 degree Fairbanks) than King models. Thank you for your purchase!

 

[HotCoals]

What's a average size house in Fairbanks?

 

[begreen]

I would expect Fairbanks homes to be very well constructed, sealed and insulated. Anything else would be foolhardy in a -60F environment.

 

[Parallax]

You might be surprised to learn how well homes in Fairbanks are built. I travel to AK 4-6 times a year and have seen first hand the construction techniques. In fact, we sell far more Princess models in (-60 degree Fairbanks) than King models. Thank you for your purchase!

Thanks for making such an awesome stove!

 

[Parallax]

That's what I found too. Softer woods do just fine! People around here won't take soft maple if you paid them. I can't tell much difference between it and most hardwoods in the Blaze King. I'll take all I can get!

That's really good to know. I've heard that Blaze Kings were designed for the softer types of woods we have in abundance here. Maybe I heard it from you.

 

[Parallax]

Well if you can get it c/s/s pretty quick you maybe all right. Gotta get it out in the sun and wind. If you can, leave a lot of space between the rows.
You can top cover but I never do. If you can get it down to 20% mc you will be fine..even a few higher aint the end of the world.
Forget it for sure above 25%.

Keep your eyes out for old pallets and any deals you see on eco-bricks or the like just in case.

Old pallets? Are they safe to burn? I figured I might stack wood on top of pallets to keep the splits from rotting in the near-constant rain we get from September through May.

 

[webby3650]

Old pallets? Are they safe to burn? I figured I might stack wood on top of pallets to keep the splits from rotting in the near-constant rain we get from September through May.

As long as the pallet doesn't have paint or stain on it. They burn good, but its a lot of work for a very small amount of wood.
I think most people on here stack their wood on skids, its a great way to keep wood of the ground.

 

[Highbeam]

That doug fir will be great and if you have it split and stacked already that wood will be just fine this fall. Those small logs are already fairly dry.

Most folks in the NW love the doug fir (aka red fir east of the pass). I envy your log load and price and if I could get that deal, I would take it here even though I have a 15 acre woodlot of free wood to cut. How did he unload that truck? Was there a grapple on the front?

I too have burnt willow, cottonwood, pine, red cedar, doug fir, and red alder in the BK and other that the low ash quality of the doug fir and the high ash of the cottonwood, it would be hard to tell the difference in burn times or heat output.

 

[Parallax]

As long as the pallet doesn't have paint or stain on it. They burn good, but its a lot of work for a very small amount of wood.
I think most people on here stack their wood on skids, its a great way to keep wood of the ground.

Everything that doesn't fit in the wood shed will have to be raised off the ground so I'll try to get hold of some pallets. Is there a good way of acquiring them free or cheap?