Jotul F500 vs Blaze King princess insert

[Erie Snowbelt]

Hello everyone, I am new here but have visited here before to read. What I have now is a Jotul F500 I bought in 2016.
This sits just outside the fireplace on the stone hearth. The exhaust pipe goes out the back then up thru the chimney.
Fully lined and insulated 6 inch diameter. It is a interior chimney with stove on the first floor going up thru the roof of a two story house.
What I want to ask all of you is what will I gain by going to a Blaze king princess insert? My house is 2400 sq ft built in 1978 with normal insulation.
I have oil fired boiler as my other heat source. Thank you for the help.

 

[John Lehet]

I have a different Jotul and never had a Blaze King, but I will venture to guess that the difference will be the Blaze King will hold a fire much better and also do better at low and slow burning while being much easier to control overall with probably a bit more efficiency.

The Jotul, on the other hand, in my opinion, will look better.

 

[Erie Snowbelt]

Thanks John, I just am wondering if there is enough of a difference in convenience and/or efficiency for me to spend a lot of money.
Is the burn time really that much better with enough heat for my house? Will I get almost the same burn time as the Jotul for the heat I require? In the shoulder seasons I would think the Blaze king would work better.

 

[begreen]

Will the Princess fit? It's top exhaust. If so, it's got a much larger capacity and is a true cat stove. It's also the opposite look of the classic Jotul F500.

 

[stoveliker]

Would "low and slow" BTU output work for you?
If you're going to have to burn harder (more BTUs needed), the BK won't be much advantageous - other than its larger firebox so longer burns simply because of that.

I would say that if you are happy with your Jotul, why spend a. lot of money on another stove.
If not happy, what's the problem you're trying to solve?

 

[Erie Snowbelt]

I was thinking I would not gain much for the money. I am attaching pictures. I was hoping for longer burns but I realize this stove has been good. The picture for the back of the stove is a little blurry. It is a tee with a clean out at the bottom.

 

[stoveliker]

While you can sell the jotul, if the burn time now doesn't make your life impossible, I'd say it's not worth it to change.

 

[Erie Snowbelt]

The dealer is willing to give me $1500 for the Jotul but charging $4800 for the insert.