Kitchen Queen cookstove update

[Isaac Carlson]

We have been using our Kitchen Queen 480 for about a month now and we LOVE it!
It pumps out heat like crazy and does a very good job of cooking our food. We have yet to burn any of our food on it. Anyway, we loaded it with wet wood last night to give it a test and it burned it up clean and hot. We turned the oven on to simulate a downdraft gassifier and it worked great! The fire burned at the bottom and the wood on top dried out as it settled. The firebox and chimney are cleaner today than they were yesterday. I LOVE this stove! The house was 80° overnight even with wet wood.

 

[pen]

he firebox and chimney are cleaner today than they were yesterday.

So you had a chimney fire? I can understand the firebox being cleaner, but not the chimney.

Why were you burning wet wood? Was it wet with rain / snow? Or was it unseasoned?

 

[Isaac Carlson]

There was some soft, crusty, powdery creosote in there that is now gone, but the stack did not get real hot. My dad taught me to have a good hot fire every day to keep the chimney clean. We have a short chimney but it stays very clean.

 

[bholler]

My dad taught me to have a good hot fire every day to keep the chimney clean.

not true at all you need to bring the temperatures up every time you load the stove. Burning one hot fire a day will help dry out the creosote in the chimney but will not keep it clean at all and lots of times that technique was actually starting lots of chimney fires

 

[Dakotas Dad]

not true at all you need to bring the temperatures up every time you load the stove. Burning one hot fire a day will help dry out the creosote in the chimney but will not keep it clean at all and lots of times that technique was actually starting lots of chimney fires

My owners manual tells me specifically to run the stove at "high" (500-600F) for 30 minutes a day, to keep creosote burned out and prevent chimney fires.

 

[bholler]

My owners manual tells me specifically to run the stove at "high" (500-600F) for 30 minutes a day, to keep creosote burned out and prevent chimney fires.

On what stove? I dont know and manufaturer that condones burning creosote out of your chimney. But 5 to 6 hundred is not terribly high for most stoves. You need to bring each load up to proper temps and them you can shut it back that goes for just about every type of stove some you do it by opening the bypass some just opening up the air but none of them will work right with just bringing it up to temp once a day unless you only load once a day

 

[bholler]

I just read it and no it does not say burn hot to burn out the creosote it says to burn hot to make sure the chimney and pipe are up to temp to reduce creosote buildup. I still don't agree that it only needs to be done once or twice a day or that it needs to be done for 35 mins. It really only needs to be burnt hot for 10 mins or so at the start of the burn to get the stove and chimney up to working temp than you can shut back than as long as the secondary combustion is working till the fire goes to coals you will have very little creosote

 

[begreen]

500-600F is pretty high for a cook stove. If you use the oven, a lot of the time you are running the fire to keep the oven temp just about right . That cools down the flue gases and can increase creosote accumulation. Kind of comes with the territory. I always started each morning with a hot burn. Never had a chimney fire in 2 winters of burning in the stove. Loved cooking on that old beast.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

On what stove? Hearthstone Mansfield. I dont know and manufaturer that condones burning creosote out of your chimney. But 5 to 6 hundred 600 stove top is start of overfire for Hearthstone stone stoves. is not terribly high for most stoves. You need to bring each load up to proper temps and them you can shut it back that goes for just about every type of stove some you do it by opening the bypass some just opening up the air but none of them will work right with just bringing it up to temp once a day unless you only load once a day Wrong

From page 20 of the manual:

HIGH BURN: 500-600 Degrees F. Fully load the firebox with wood on a bed of hot coals or on an actively flaming fire and fully open the primary air control. A high burn rate once or twice a day for 35 to 45 minutes to heat the stovepipe and chimney fully, will help minimize creosote accumulation.


I have owned 2 Hearthstones, and I ASSURE you they said the same thing in both manuals.

Link to owners manual:

Link

Now... I will admit to not following this procedure exactly. My wood is very well seasoned, and I use a flue thermometer that allows me to see the flue gas temps, so I don't have to go by the stone/stove temp.

I will also say it works.. this is 2 years between cleanings, 26 feet of chimney. Just under a cup of buildup.

(broken image removed)

 

[bholler]

I read it and what they recommend as far as starting the fire and getting the wood fully burning before shutting back should be fine i don't see any reason to burn an additional hot fire to heat the chimney if you burn right the rest of the time but hey they designed it so they should know. What i was saying is that it is wrong to assume like allot of people do that as long as you burn one hot fire a day you can smoulder it the rest of the day which is absolutely not true.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

But, back on topic.... I would like to see some instal pics of the cookstove.. if we were to build again, we would for sure have one. I have threatened to put one in here anyways..

 

[coaly]

But, back on topic.... I would like to see some instal pics of the cookstove.. if we were to build again, we would for sure have one. I have threatened to put one in here anyways..

How many square feet are you heating? There are two sizes of the Kitchen Queen.
Here's the larger 480 that heats up to 3000 sf.
If you search posts by me containing "Kitchen Queen" you'll find plenty more as well as the thermostat I added.

Another new cook stove to check out is the Grand, by Grand Stove Co. It is a very close copy to the Nectre Stove from Australia called Vermont Bun Baker in the US. Available from Obidiah's, Lehmans, or the LLC holder Ed himself at Antiquestoves.com. (small at approx. 700 sf heating) The lids are identical to the Queen but smaller, and the holes punched in the sides are identical to the Queen, so it may be built at Duane's shop, the owner of the Queen. They are advertised "Amish built" and a Amish owner would never use his religion in a business name or advertisement, so Ed being the liaison to the Amish can do that with them building it for him.

 

[coaly]

We have been using our Kitchen Queen 480 for about a month now and we LOVE it!
It pumps out heat like crazy and does a very good job of cooking our food. We have yet to burn any of our food on it. Anyway, we loaded it with wet wood last night to give it a test and it burned it up clean and hot. We turned the oven on to simulate a downdraft gassifier and it worked great! The fire burned at the bottom and the wood on top dried out as it settled. The firebox and chimney are cleaner today than they were yesterday. I LOVE this stove! The house was 80° overnight even with wet wood.

I never mentioned to you that we clean around the oven weekly, sometimes skip a week. They always have a certain amount of circulation around oven since the flap doesn't preclude the exhaust from going around it as well as across the top when the oven is off. We keep the oven door open at night when more heat is needed.

Most readers don't know the Queen oven circulation is not from the top down like all other cook stoves. It is sideways off the fire, up the side, and across the oven top to get to the flue outlet. Your wet wood on top is in the firebox above the fire that is being drawn sideways and steams the firebox and oven circulation area.
Glad you're happy with it. This is the best stove we've had as the sole heat source too. I wanted one for years to increase cook top with the added benefit of the oven and water heating. I had Duane send me a summer grate and we use the cook top year round without adding any noticeable heat to the house.

 

[coaly]

Pictures building and flow diagrams here;

http://www.antiquestoves.com/kitchenqueen/index.htm

Oven OFF fire rises into firebox towards stove top;



Oven ON, the exhaust is blocked at top with oven control flap and sideways it goes under oven; This pic same fire through top lid with oven ON;

Opening the oven flap (OFF) does not prevent chimney from drawing under oven as well. The path of least resistance being out the top, so the oven heats slightly for added heating capacity when door is left open. Ours runs 300, door closed with normal fire before turning it on.

 

[Kitchen Queen]

Beats a Fisher too!

coaly's wife said that

 

[BrotherBart]

Beats a Fisher too!

coaly's wife said that

Welcome. Been waiting two years to post that haven't ya?

 

[begreen]

Welcome KQ!

 

[coaly]

Little does she know, the stove STAYS.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

We do not smolder our Kitchen Queen. It runs hot or not at all. We have not cleaned around the oven yet and have been running it for a month. I have looked inside and it is still very clean. The oven will cook a pizza in less than 3 minutes and will easily climb to over 600°. GOOD PIZZA. We try to burn dry wood and keep a pile near the stove to help remove any extra moisture. This is the BEST stove we have ever used. I have 5 others laying around and I will use the Kitchen Queen any day. We still need to install a bottom air intake like Coaly. I like hot fires and 600° or hotter on the stovetop is not uncommon for us. My tempering chart says we have been running at 800° and hotter at times. It was 100° in the house last week with a window open, and we were not trying to get it that warm. These stoves put out an amazing amount of heat for the amount of wood that they burn. We are burning about as much wood as we did with our EPA stove but we are getting twice the heat output. Amazing, simply amazing. My wife used to have trouble starting a fire in the epa stove, but the Kitchen Queen practically does it for you. We have not cooked a meal with the electric oven/range in over a month and we love it. This stove makes your food taste better, prove me wrong.

 

[bholler]

Wow are you a kitchen queen dealer or rep? lol Glad you like it but i will warn that burning that hot all the time your stove will probably not last that long i would be carefull

 

[coaly]

Ha! Kitchen Queen doesn't have or need reps. They don't advertise or have a web site either. The only way to get the builders number is off the front of the manual. They couldn't make them fast enough even when the original inventor was making them. A wagon load (yeah pulled by horses) taken into Amish settlements doesn't last long. Word of mouth and the Budget Publication is all that is needed.

Most Amish products are made for their use first since that is their only heat and hot water source. The overflow goes to English users. There is normally a wait time for a stove.

We've heated with a European coal stove, Fishers, and a Hitzer EZ Flow hopper fed coal stove. None had the capability of the Queen. The cheaper Suppertime stoves (Bakers Choice, Pioneer Maid or Pioneer Princess) will cook just as good. Antique stoves cook as good too, but the smaller firebox doesn't hold near the amount and requires much smaller cutting. They have shaker grates for coal use. A cook stove that accepts over 24 inch is unheard of. The Queen has a larger capacity water heater too. Don't even need the water coil in the firebox unless this is your only hot water source. You will over humidify the house with the open tank. Use the stainless U pipe in firebox for heating a water tank for radiant or circulating baseboard, or radiators. They all have sealed ovens that steam as well as bake. Their line has stainless firebox better suited for coal (adding an intake below grate for coal burning) But they all loose their UL rating when burned with other fuels or modified.........
They also are not as heavy as the 1/4 inch steel plate Queen. They are gauge steel and don't hold up to commercial use like the Queen. Amish use their stoves like a commercial user would and overnight canning sessions with many families together warps and burns the others out. They burn the Queen harder then you ever will for extended periods of time.

Careful when you add the thermostat under grate. If you add up the 3 intake holes in the stock intake through door, you get 5.29 square inches. DO NOT make your intake larger, you will be over firing. I keep the stock air inlet open a touch to admit air above the fire all the time as well. The thermostat isn't needed to control heat on and off as much as a safety that closes when you get busy or gives it a shot of air like the supercharger. I have not used the supercharger since adding the T-stat.

You won't burn anything in the oven since the moisture isn't driven off the food, but it also won't brown the top of casseroles. ONCE my wife burned the bottom of a cookie batch. We have a commercial Garland gas range in the kitchen that doesn't get used all winter with the fire going. So she was taking baking sheets out of the oven and cooling on the range top. She ran out of room and sat a done cookie sheet on the stove top a few seconds to make more room. Instant burn on the bottoms.

Have a kitchen towel on the floor under oven door when opening to turn a large bird or baste. Obviously you've learned to keep face and body back when opening oven door due to steam, but the open door will condensate and drip on the floor when open. All wood ovens do that.

Find a commercial Wok and use over firebox with lid removed. A 30,000 gas burner on a commercial gas range isn't enough for a thicker wall commercial wok. They sit in the hole fine but keep the food moving. Same as stove top cooking with lid removed. You can't step away from food, keep it moving.

One more thing I have to run by the builder is making insert type lids that progressively get larger as you remove the smaller center first. For smaller pans or less heat to the pan, antiques had adjustable eyes you remove like rings to make the exposed area fit the pan. I know they don't have time to make the small parts, but I have a lathe big enough to turn 11 inch lids to make a 1/4 inch "step" or overlap on each insert from 1/2" steel plate. The 1/4" lid over fire runs almost 100* f hotter anyway. So closed should be about the same temp as stove top. Canning would be back to the original 1/4" lid. I won't make them commercially, they would only be available to Amish households since they loose the UL listing and they self insure.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

How many square feet are you heating? There are two sizes of the Kitchen Queen.
Here's the larger 480 that heats up to 3000 sf.
If you search posts by me containing "Kitchen Queen" you'll find plenty more as well as the thermostat I added.

Another new cook stove to check out is the Grand, by Grand Stove Co. It is a very close copy to the Nectre Stove from Australia called Vermont Bun Baker in the US. Available from Obidiah's, Lehmans, or the LLC holder Ed himself at Antiquestoves.com. (small at approx. 700 sf heating) The lids are identical to the Queen but smaller, and the holes punched in the sides are identical to the Queen, so it may be built at Duane's shop, the owner of the Queen. They are advertised "Amish built" and a Amish owner would never use his religion in a business name or advertisement, so Ed being the liaison to the Amish can do that with them building it for him.

View attachment 148035 View attachment 148036

This house is about 2100 sqft that we are heating, but if we build again we will go a little smaller, and have more woods. I swear if I won powerball I still wouldn't build a bigger house.. but I would have a buttload more "room". lol

Thanks for the info on the other brands.. Hearthstone makes a cook stove also.. but have never seen one in person, or heard any reports...

BTW Coaly, even though we have never met.. I thought of you this summer.. we were camped in the Daniel Boone NF, in Eastern Kentucky, and wandered into the ranger station near Twin Knobs.. they have a HUGE Fisher in the lobby. I guess a Grandpa, looked like it might eat a 30" split.. Perfect shape, and still on duty. Didn't have a camera..

 

[bholler]

coaly i know them pretty well i work on quite a few the only cook stove better that i have worked on was an esse and it was very nice but allot more money

 

[coaly]

The couple I compared are all Amish made to compare apples with apples. They are utilitarian stoves made to get the job done and that's all. Chrome or any scroll or artwork would be out of the question. Notice when you compare these other brands they are almost half the weight, and made for ease of controls and such. The only thing the Deva and Esse have that the others don't is fancy looks. And they are missing some very basic needs. Lots of hot water for instance. When you have 6 or 7 kids that need baths, you would need another fire and another appliance. You don't want a stove that needs to cool to replace door gaskets when it's your only heat source either. You fold them and push into place on the queen with no cement. Glass doors ???? What happens if one breaks? They're made that way for a reason, but not pretty.

The Deva has to cross draft across the stove top to get out all the time. The flue outlet is on the other side of the stove than the firebox ! How could you possibly cook in the summer and not have a bypass outlet over the firebox to dump excess heat into the chimney? Cast Iron legs in the Esse doesn't make them strong enough to move out onto your back porch for those that need to bake in the summer. It's a different lifestyle and most wouldn't think of moving their stove each season. But most don't double as a wash tub heater, laundry stove, hog scalder, chicken plucker............. It's all about no competition or pride, and having a simple plain life. One stove design is accepted in a church district and everyone has the same. That's why buggies match, clothing, silos.... They believe any invention accepted today will be a necessity for the next generation. That's how they keep change in check.

 

[begreen]

Wouldn't mind taking one of these out for a season or two of use. 885 pounds and looks to be a very even cooker.
(broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/hlartisan.htm)