Need help deciding on Blaze king princess insert or sirocco

[Locust99]

I am going to be purchasing a new insert soon, and need help deciding on what to do! Ideally I will buy the princess insert depending on how it looks in person. My only issue with the princess is my hearth is only 24" so I would need a hearth extension. Also the wife does not like the look of the princess at all based on pictures. Even though it is definitely the better heater unfortunately.

She does like the sirocco , but I'm worried it might not be enough of a serious heater for me. Also with the sirocco I would need a custom surround as the ones BK sells aren't wide enough for me. My fireplace opening is 28" high by 40" wide.

I live in upstate New York where we get decent winters, but nothing like Alaska. House was built In 1920 with decent insulation for that time, and all new windows. Two story house 1700 square feet total with approximately 900 downstairs and 800 upstairs.

I would ideally like the insert to be able to do almost all of my heating needs, with burn times long enough to still have coals after I come home from a 10 hour work day for a easy restart.

Current set up is what the previous owners put in the house a lopi answer insert with approx a 30(edited from 36.) foot 6" chimney liner. Burn times were extremely short with this insert maybe 4 hours tops. I always had to start a fire from scratch.

If any owners of the princess insert or sirocco insert could help me make a decision that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks !

 

[begreen]

The Sirocco should be able to meet your requirements. It's only slightly smaller than the Princess. My only concern would be the exceptionally tall chimney flue. It could have too strong draft.

 

[Locust99]

Thank you for the response, I just did another rough measurement of the flue and I think it's more like 29 to 30 feet tall. When I clean it this week I'll figure out the actual length. What would occur with too much draft, low burn times?

Thanks

 

[Poindexter]

I was, like begreen, a bit concerned about 36' chimney height.

My local BK dealer has said to me verbally 30' max in fairbanks, but they want us not overdrafting at -30, -40, -50dF.

I would suggest calling or emailing BK tech/ install support to ask about max flue height before you buy.

 

[Poindexter]

Do i remember @Ashful is running 32 feet on one of his in eastern PA?

 

[moresnow]

Guessing you will run your thermo on a rather low setting with your long chimney. Might want to ask member BKVP here for clarification on your concerns. Very few have decided a BK was a poor investment My L.P. delivery outfit just sent my summer fill contract. Included, was my gas usage breakdown from the entire past year. $230..... LP water heater took some LP. Wife and I being out of the house for 3 weeks in the heart of winter took some LP as the BK was shut down. I can dig spending $230 for the year (down from $1000-$1500 per year). BK heat covered the rest of the heating season needs easily. Enjoy.

 

[Highbeam]

Guessing you will run your thermo on a rather low setting with your long chimney.

I believe your theory is that at low stat settings the throttle blade opening is smaller than normal and this would make the high drafted stove work properly since the high draft will be able to suck more air through the smaller opening. That's fine if you were talking about a non-thermostatic stove like a Woodstock but with the BK thermostat and super high draft I don't think it works the same way. The thermostat setting you choose is simply your input about how hot you want the stove to be. Once it hits set point, the throttle blade will keep closing, maybe completely, to prevent the stove temperature from rising farther.

I propose that the OP will set the thermostat knob to the desired stove temp like anybody and the thermostat will just spend most of it's time closed in an effort to hold down the burn rate.

The amount of leaks around the closed throttle flapper (some have a hole drilled in them for minimum flow as well) will determine the lowest possible output from the OP's stove and it will be higher than a normal install. This means that the minimum burn rate will be higher and maximum burn times lower. The real question is whether this difference is 1% or 30%.

It has to be a huge step up from the little Lopi.

 

[BKVP]

30' of chimney will not be an issue for the two inserts, both thermostatically controlled. A few observations to the two models. The Princess is deeper and the firebox is square. This will permit for a uniform loading of piece size and also less frequent cleaning out of ashes. The Sirocco is a flush insert, so the firebox is tapered to maximize use of the fireplace footprint. So whereas the Princess is square, the SC25 is not.

BKVP

 

[Locust99]

Thanks for the help guys, hopefully this week I will clean the flue and get an actual measurement, but 30' should be pretty close and I do have a cap that is about 2 feet above the flue with a large screen on the sides. My lopi never drafted too hard to get close to overfiring it or anything , but it had a super small firebox. I could hear a slight howl sometimes though.

So far I haven't found a shop nearby that has both the sirocco and princess on their showroom. So we will look at the princess first and if she's okay with it then I'll just buy a hearth extension and put that over the end of the existing hearth for the burn season. It won't look the best , but I don't plan on adding a permenant extension to it.

If we have to go the sirocco route I'm hoping the installer could make a custom surround that is just a little larger to fill my large fireplace.

 

[begreen]

They show a larger 44" wide surround for the Ashford 25 in the product brochure. Would that work?

 

[Locust99]

I will ask about that working when I see them. I almost think I like the normal ashford more than the sirocco for my spot which would mean I wouldn't need any adjustments. I just hope I wouldn't be missing out on too much heat output difference from the princess.

 

[Rickb]

Make sure you post back once you get something installed. I have loved my sirocco 20 for the 3 years I have had it. I could not imagine a stove I would rather have. Even the wife wanted to light it off the other day when the low was in the upper 50's just cause she missed it over this summer. lol

 

[Ashful]

At 1700 sq.ft. total house, I wouldn't be worried about the Sirocco carrying that load. The tapered firebox might bug me, though.

Is there a reason you haven't considered the Ashford, right off the bat? It's far more attractive than either the Princess or Sirocco, and as begreen pointed out, lists a wider surround.

I woudn't want to deal with any hearth extension, unless it was permanent masonry.

 

[Locust99]

I originally didn't consider the ashford because I saw the chestnut brown enamel, and thought that there was only that coating . Which I don't like at all, but seeing that it is also in the normal black metallic I like it a lot better than the sirocco!

Also this stove shop I've been in contact with has it on display, so I'm going there next weekend and see how it is and price it out. I think the ashford is what we will get. I can deal with the looks of the princess, but sticking out that far won't work for our living room because it's like 23x11 and my fireplace takes up 3 feet of the depth. So the princess would bring me down to about 7 feet where the fireplace is.

So it looks like the ashford is it! Hopefully the firebox will work for me, and it can give me long burns!

 

[Locust99]

Also can you clean the ashford insert from the bottom up with a soot eater? Because I won't be getting on my roof, it is way too steep and high.

 

[Ashful]

I own two Ashford 30's, the freestanding model. We clean those bottom up, but by disconnecting the chimney pipe from the stove. Others do clean bottom up, thru the Ashford 30 bypass damper.

I'm not sure how similar the Ashford 25 is, I suspect they have little in common other than a pretty front door, but I also suspect they can be cleaned with a sooteater up thru the bypass door. Many folks clean their BK's this way.

I don't think I'd try putting a traditional brush thru a bypass damper, though. Too easy to knock off the gasket, I would think.

 

[BKVP]

I own two Ashford 30's, the freestanding model. We clean those bottom up, but by disconnecting the chimney pipe from the stove. Others do clean bottom up, thru the Ashford 30 bypass damper.

I'm not sure how similar the Ashford 25 is, I suspect they have little in common other than a pretty front door, but I also suspect they can be cleaned with a sooteater up thru the bypass door. Many folks clean their BK's this way.

I don't think I'd try putting a traditional brush thru a bypass damper, though. Too easier to knock off the gasket, I would think.

The bypass plate slides towards the front, not hinged as in the freestanding models. So it is much easier to clean from down below. The Soot Eater should easily be able to get around the "handle" handle that runs across the flue adapter. When the OP visits the dealer he should take along his brush or Soot Eater and check it out.....

 

[Locust99]

Went to the dealer today, they didn't actually have the ashford on the floor , but that's what I want after seeing how much the princess sticks out. They quoted me at 3600$ for the ashford and with approx a 30, insulated liner installed for between 5000 and 5500. Seems wayyy too high for me going to shop around.

 

[begreen]

$1400 for an insulated liner install is pretty reasonable. How tall is the chimney?

 

[Locust99]

Approximately 30', i wasn't too sure about how accurate his quote was though because before I said anything about the liner he said they charge 1500$ just for installation. So they must factor the liner into that.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the install will be more like $1900 which is not out of line for a 30' stack.

 

[Locust99]

Yeah it's too bad my current liner is smashed from the last installer, I wasn't planning on another couple grand on top of a stove , these things aren't cheap!

 

[begreen]

these things aren't cheap!

Yep, that's for sure!