New Blaze King Princess

[matt1@]

I'm so glad for this forum and for everyone who provides tons of useful information. After several years of running my Quadra-fire 4300 step top to heat my house, i've decided to sell the old gal and try a Blaze King. The local dealer had them on sale so I couldn't resist. I fired it up this weekend with the windows open to burn the paint off and can say even though the temps were in the 70's during the day and 50's at night, this stove already burns way longer and hotter than the Quad fully stuffed for a nightly burn. Thank you all for your unbiased advise!

 

[begreen]

Congratulations Matt. Next winter should be a good one for you.

 

[matt1@]

Thank you! I actually can't wait for winter this year.....

 

[rdust]

Don't be surprised when you giggle about how long it burns for.

 

[matt1@]

I did already. I loaded it up at 11pm. At 8am i opened the door and was shocked. Totally amazed to find plenty of wood in there yet to burn. At 3pm it dropped off to 350 stove top temp still putting out heat. 7pm that night (20 hours later) it was around 175 stove top when i could close my windows and screen door. Incredible

 

[Ashful]

I have my dials marked in hours. A little red arrow for the "12 hour" setting, and a little blue arrow for the "24 hour" setting. This is what fits my work schedule. If I turn it all the way down to "low", I can make it 36+ hours on one load.

 

[matt1@]

That's a great idea. When you have time, if it's not too much trouble, can you post a picture of that for a refence point?

 

[Ashful]

I can, but your positions will be different, based on chimney height and other factors. So, you'll have to experiment a bit to get your marks where they should be for your average winter weather.

The beauty of the BK is that they're pretty consistent with variation in outside weather (only the stall point changes), so you can pretty reliably set them to a given "hours" setting, if you burn similar BTU woods all the time.

I just set mine to a schedule that suits my life, and let the oil fired boiler pick up any little slack between that setting and my actual heating needs. It's a great way to roll, and saves me several thousand $ in heating oil every year, without the hassles and discomfort of trying to heat 100% by wood. That last few percent is always the killer. [emoji14]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[matt1@]

You have a good point there that I didn't think of. I'll have to experiment this season and see what works. I have seperate stacks of pine and hardwoods so burn times will probably vary with wood types and outside temps. Good info, thank you again!

 

[jetsam]

I didn't ever expect to be a fanboy for a stove company, but that was before I saw how long a Princessful of oak burns!

Got the thing for supplemental heat, but I don't think my oil burner kicked on once last winter, with the exception of the week we were out of town.

 

[lsucet]

Hi, I have years reading this forums and I have to say thanks to everybody for the good information. Based on that I was able to learn a lot. I end buying early this year a new blaze king princess loaded with all the accessories. I installed it and was able to do just two burns on it due it was the end of season and it is setup at my little ranch and I go over there on weekends.
i will like to hear any tips or recommendations on burn practices to get the best performance out of it.
any help will be appreciated.
regards, lsucet

 

[ohlongarm]

I'm so glad for this forum and for everyone who provides tons of useful information. After several years of running my Quadra-fire 4300 step top to heat my house, i've decided to sell the old gal and try a Blaze King. The local dealer had them on sale so I couldn't resist. I fired it up this weekend with the windows open to burn the paint off and can say even though the temps were in the 70's during the day and 50's at night, this stove already burns way longer and hotter than the Quad fully stuffed for a nightly burn. Thank you all for your unbiased advise!

Excellent choice you'll never look back. I had a Quad 5700 it cracked on both sides,they gave me the money I paid and I bought the BK.

 

[tarzan]

Hi, I have years reading this forums and I have to say thanks to everybody for the good information. Based on that I was able to learn a lot. I end buying early this year a new blaze king princess loaded with all the accessories. I installed it and was able to do just two burns on it due it was the end of season and it is setup at my little ranch and I go over there on weekends.
i will like to hear any tips or recommendations on burn practices to get the best performance out of it.
any help will be appreciated.
regards, lsucet

Good draft and dry wood will get you off to a great start.

Always leave a bed of ashes in the bottom, that helps alot.

Let the stove run hot for about an hour each weak when your burning on a low setting constantly, such as in the shoulder season. This burns out the creosote that can build up in the stove during these times.

When you engage the cat, don't start turning the thermostat down emediately. My suggestion would be, let the cat thermometer get to 12:00 before turning the thermostat down. Then do it in two steps. This will insure no stalls and is the quickest way to get your stove settled in to its operating temp.

Ofcourse, always disengage the cat before opening the door. You'll only do that once anyway

Enjoy!

 

[lsucet]

Good draft and dry wood will get you off to a great start.

Always leave a bed of ashes in the bottom, that helps alot.

Let the stove run hot for about an hour each weak when your burning on a low setting constantly, such as in the shoulder season. This burns out the creosote that can build up in the stove during these times.

When you engage the cat, don't start turning the thermostat down emediately. My suggestion would be, let the cat thermometer get to 12:00 before turning the thermostat down. Then do it in two steps. This will insure no stalls and is the quickest way to get your stove settled in to its operating temp.

Ofcourse, always disengage the cat before opening the door. You'll only do that once anyway

Enjoy!

Thank you for the advise. those two time that I burn on it I let it run on high for almost 45 minutes and closed tstat around 3 o' clock and like half of an hour later i closed around 1 o'clock and i got both time about 17 hrs burn about 325-350 F stove temp and cat probe about noon most of that time. it was not that cold but at night still dropping on the 30s. Every time I just loaded with 4 pieces around 4-5"x17-18" long e/w.

At fist it was almost at 700 stove top and after tstat was at 1 o'clock or so it run under 600 for hrs. By the time i went to bed it was high 400s.
In AM was 300s and it keeps it at those temp for the rest of the burn. i actually dont know how long it burns cause both time i left back into town and let it go off. T that time the tstat probe was just into active zone and temp dropping under 300.

lsucet

 

[tarzan]

Your cat will be over active for a while. What this means is virtually no matter how far you turn the t-stat down your cat will be glowing, happily eating the smoke from a fresh load and temps above the cat will stay around 600*F for hours.

Once it settles in you will quickly learn what t-stat setting gives you your desirable stove top temp. Some place a thermometer elsewhere on the stove but monitoring temps at the cat works well for me.

 

[lsucet]

Thank you Tarzan, I remember reading about it and now you mentioned I am sure that is what's going on. The good thing this season I am going to burn well seasoned wood that is being now seasoning easy for over 3 years. I bought it from a person that delivers to family members here and he already had it for more than a year at that time.
Due to I am here only on weekends or when vacation I still have about two cords left for this winter.
This is a mix of red and white cedar, alligator juniper plus I have half of a Cord of oak that I bought from the same person.
I always say that it is for special occasions but never burn a piece of it.
This year I bought the license for $20.00 and I am doing my CSS.
The picture of my avatar is the stacking I am cutting and splitting. Most of it is pine and some white/red cedar. It will be seasoning easy for two years or more before I start using it. When finish will be about six cords sitting there seasoning.
Thanks one more time for your input.
Regards lsucet