Let’s buy a stove... Princess or King? Pictures

[Dustin]

Hello!
We’re all moved in (kinda) and are going down the rabbit hole of a blaze king install.

Here’s the facts
House: 2600 square feet, single level, open floor plan. The stove will be in the great room that’s wide open to the kitchen, and all bedrooms. (I’ll post some pictures)

the propane fireplace is going to get completely removed. We’ll have a free standing stove put in its place.

we live in northwest Oregon with a pretty mild climate. Usually it’s about 35-45 degrees at night, and 50 during the day most of the winter.

I spoke with my installer who says they think the king will be too much stove. He said he’s worried that if I install a king, we won’t be able to throttle it down enough to keep the house at the right temperature. He’s really pushing for me to install a princess instead.

everything else in the house runs on propane. The stove will be our primary source of heat with the propane serving as backup.

My wife has zero issue running the stove. However, my grandmother will be living with us. I’m a little less confident in her stove running ability. I would love to fill it, leave for work and have there be no reason for her to fill the stove while wife and I are gone (12 hours)

Sorry for the poor grammar.. Tapatalk isn’t working and my phone isn’t a fan of the mobile web sight...

what say you?

 

[spudman99]

Princess for sure. It is a tried and true product, and is about as hands off as you can get. Grandma will not have to touch it, or if she does just turn the thermostat nob higher if she is cold. I think the king may be overkill in that sized space. Many users with Princess's heat larger spaces in colder climates with great success.

 

[pjohnson]

There is only about 1000 Btu per hour difference on low between the king and princes. I’m in Wisconsin and much colder but have a king in a 1000 square foot cabin and it’s perfectly controllable weather its 30 below or 45 50 above and just need to take the chill off. Just think of a king as having a larger fuel tank. My wife has no problems keeping it going during the week when I’m gone.

 

[showrguy]

I have both.. King in the house, Princess in the garage (1800sq.ft.), installed the Princess last winter, King’s been running 5 seasons now..
Wish I woulda put a King in the garage, not for the heat, but for the bigger fuel tank...
I vote King...

 

[jetsam]

King and Princess turn down to almost the same (very low) level.

I'd go King for sure.

The King has a bigger gas tank, but the Princess will cost less to install (6" flue vs 8" flue).

 

[Dataman]

I had King for 8+ years. Great Stove. You can run smaller loads of wood. More felixablty with King.
Since it is 20th Jan I say go KING

 

[kennyp2339]

I've owned a princess since 2014, I heat approx. 1200sq ft from the basement in a colder climate in a house with basic insulation and vinyl double pane windows. One thing to consider is that your stove may be turned to a lower setting more often then not and once a week you will need to burn it wide open to reduce the creosote that builds in the fire box (manufacture recommends this) and this is preventive maintenance since creosote is caustic and can start degrading the steel fire box behind the fire brick. Also chimney components and replacement cats are cheaper in the princess.
With the princess when temps are below 20 deg f I switch to a 10 hr load schedule, when temps are in the 20's to 30's its easily 12-14hrs per load and above 32deg f is 16hr + for me ) basically turns to a convenience in time loading schedule.

 

[Dustin]

Thanks all!
As I was discussing this with the wife, she made an executive decision. She said “I want the big stove, I’m cold.”

My dealer says the King isn’t available until the end of February. Anyone else heard that?

 

[Woody Stover]

King and Princess turn down to almost the same (very low) level.

An interesting aside, and I think it may apply to other brands as well as BK; If you look at the EPA numbers on the new stoves, the high end is lower and the low end is higher.. https://cfpub.epa.gov/oarweb/woodstove/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.search

 

[webby3650]

An interesting aside, and I think it may apply to other brands as well as BK; If you look at the EPA numbers on the new stoves, the high end is lower and the low end is higher.. https://cfpub.epa.gov/oarweb/woodstove/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.search

You bet! I said from the start that a lot of the 2020 stoves will give the user less control over the burn rate.

 

[Highbeam]

You bet! I said from the start that a lot of the 2020 stoves will give the user less control over the burn rate.

Also, the test itself is so different that we can’t compare old specs to new ones.

 

[rwh63]

get a 2019 model while you can!

 

[Woody Stover]

Also, the test itself is so different that we can’t compare old specs to new ones.

I see the 2020 BKs say tested with "crib wood." I think BKVP has mentioned the new tests, but I don't recall if he referred to any specific differences. I know cord wood testing is an option now..

 

[Highbeam]

I see the 2020 BKs say tested with "crib wood." I think BKVP has mentioned the new tests, but I don't recall if he referred to any specific differences. I know cord wood testing is an option now..

From what I understand...

different test methods between crib and cord. non comparable results.

All 2020 test results use a new method as well so we can’t compare the 2020 ratings to anything we have from an old stove. All stoves are retested

In this example, the king may be totally unchanged but the test results make it look like a change was made.

 

[Dustin]

Bringing this up again!

so, in a moment of weakness we thought hard about a pellet stove. I’ve messed with firewood for a lot of years and the idea of not having to do it anymore was kind of attractive.

Since we’ve lived here we’ve been trying to watch our propane use with the furnace. What we’re learning is this house is really, really well insulated. We’re running electric heaters on and off and keeping the house warm and the furnace isn’t really running all that much.

long story short, I’m having second thoughts about switching to pellets. Thinking hard again about a blazeking and just buying cordwood. Would buying cordwood (I’ve never done it, only cut my own) be cheaper than buying pellets?

my big hang up is, I don’t want to spend every single weekend splitting wood (I like to fish) and my 84 year old grandmother lives with us. She won’t be loading the stove.

But, I just love wood heat. I like the no power requirements and I like saving money. This will be our “primary” source of heat but I won’t cry if the furnace has to turn on every once in awhile.

I’m torn... really torn...

Dustin

 

[Woody Stover]

this house is really, really well insulated....I don’t want to spend every single weekend splitting wood (I like to fish) and my 84 year old grandmother lives with us. She won’t be loading the stove.
But, I just love wood heat

I feed at least three stoves, help to feed a fourth, and I don't spend much time at all supplying wood for those stoves. Most of the wood comes from our land, so that's handy. But even if I had to scrounge it all off-site, or hook up with neighbors or tree guys working in the area, I wouldn't get anywhere close to spending every weekend doing it.
With good insulation, in that relatively mild climate, a few hours a day for a couple weeks and you should be set. Getting a couple years ahead would be additional work for the first year..

 

[Highbeam]

Provide us with your market’s price for delivered split firewood and your price for pellets plus what your burning appliance is and we can tell you the price difference per unit of heat.

I’m would guess that buying wood is cheaper than buying pellets. Almost always is. You pay extra for the convenience of packaged and factory manufactured fuel.

 

[Dustin]

Provide us with your market’s price for delivered split firewood and your price for pellets plus what your burning appliance is and we can tell you the price difference per unit of heat.

I’m would guess that buying wood is cheaper than buying pellets. Almost always is. You pay extra for the convenience of packaged and factory manufactured fuel.

HB,

I can look across the River from my back porch and see your house likely...

Torn between a princess or a king...

But it will be a blazeking.

wood is generally about 225 a cord here delivered “dry”. I’ll cut some myself to offset cost

 

[Dataman]

What is your Age? Pellets are lots easier. I switched 2 years ago. Went from Free off our Property or paying $225 per cord to $800 for pellets. I would go thru 3 cords of mixed wood (Pine). Use about 4-4.5 tons of Pellets, but burn longer now. With Wood I could not burn when it was too warm.

 

[jetsam]

With the BK and seasoned wood, you can burn when it's 60 out if you want to. I do!

 

[Dustin]

M

What is your Age? Pellets are lots easier. I switched 2 years ago. Went from Free off our Property or paying $225 per cord to $800 for pellets. I would go thru 3 cords of mixed wood (Pine). Use about 4-4.5 tons of Pellets, but burn longer now. With Wood I could not burn when it was too warm.

Mid 30’s

I guess it’s more a cost thing for me. I live on some property but I don’t really want to take any of my trees down. I will, however have some that blow over through the years but I certainly don’t have enough mature trees to completely heat my house every year without cutting everything down. So, I’ll have some from around here and will probably buy the rest.

I can’t control the cost of pellets and that bothers me.

I have a few hobbies that keep me away. I also have 18 acres to take care of. I don’t want to spend a ton of time cutting and

I have a generator... so power isn’t really an issue with the pellet stove but.. generators needs

I’m over thinking this

 

[Highbeam]

The fuel is obviously cheaper with firewood. The heat is cheaper too. With a bk burning 24 hour cycles like mine the daily labor is about the same. The bk stove is cheaper than a similar “level” pellet stove.

The elephant in the room is noise. Pellet stoves are noisy! At least three different noisy and maintenance sucking motors making racket.

 

[Dustin]

The fuel is obviously cheaper with firewood. The heat is cheaper too. With a bk burning 24 hour cycles like mine the daily labor is about the same. The bk stove is cheaper than a similar “level” pellet stove.

The elephant in the room is noise. Pellet stoves are noisy! At least three different noisy and maintenance sucking motors making racket.

Since we live basically in the same climate, how much are you burning a year? If I remember right, you have the princess? It’s a softwood show for us so, I think I can get the most accurate numbers from your setup

 

[webby3650]

The fuel is obviously cheaper with firewood. The heat is cheaper too. With a bk burning 24 hour cycles like mine the daily labor is about the same. The bk stove is cheaper than a similar “level” pellet stove.

The elephant in the room is noise. Pellet stoves are noisy! At least three different noisy and maintenance sucking motors making racket.

Maintenance is something that many overlook when considering a pellet stove. They have a lot of moving parts that are prone to failure.

 

[Highbeam]

Since we live basically in the same climate, how much are you burning a year? If I remember right, you have the princess? It’s a softwood show for us so, I think I can get the most accurate numbers from your setup

Im up at 750’ ASL near the cascade range. It was 27 this morning and blowing. I live in a 1963 built single story home of 1700 sf with no trees. Use my princess for all heat which means my burn season is 9 months long. 95% of thus burn season I load the stove once per day and run it on a very low setting.

I burn the normal stuff we have like Doug fir, red alder, and maple. But have also burned lots of red cedar, pine, hemlock, and even cottonwood.

This current year and next is 100% Doug fir from a shed. We burn about 4 cords per year and keep the stove room in mid 70s, far bedrooms just under 70.

I have heard that pellet stoves require tons of regular maintenance for all of those computers and motors and igniters to stay buzzing but I don’t know.