One step closer - BK Princess

[kennyp2339]

I took another step closer to ordering the BK Princess, My girlfriend and I were taking a ride up to Middletown NY and we stopped at a stove shop in Goshen NY, the shop was having an open house and seemed very busy, they have a large showroom and had reps from a couple companies there to answer any questions on there particular brand. It just so happened that BK had a rep there. The guy ( young like me) hit it off, he asked if I had any questions on his brand, they had a King, Sircca, Princess, and Ashford all lined up. We talked for a while and I filled out a form, the company promised to call me back on Tuesday when they find out availability, they generally are thinking about 2-3 weeks once the order is placed. Im going to go with the basic Princess setup - no thrills just an all back door, standard black legs - I like the simple look.
The BK rep was awesome, he showed me the ins and outs of the stove, we talked about burn times, he also brought a sample thermostat and showed how it works. He confirmed my suspicion that most people in the lower 48 buy BK's as there second stove, just because most start off in wood burning as just that wood burning, then once you educate yourself that there are better stoves on the market you tend to go to what you want and not really shop around. He also said that BK's are slowly creeping there way into the market in the Northeast, He actually said hearth.com has helped with sales tremendously because its real owners talking to other owners. I want to keep this thread opened so I can start with pics of the install and keep everyone abreast to this purchase from start to finish. I will be more than happy to answer any questions along the way.

 

[Rossco]

Did you get the fan kit?

 

[sumpnz]

I suspect we'll wind up with an Ashford. Not because I'm set on a catalytic stove, but because SWMBO likes the looks of it better than anything else so far that's big enough. Assuming we can get it in a brown enamel anyway.

 

[kennyp2339]

Did not order it yet, I'm not going to get the fan kit, the stove is going to be installed in an open area, so it will radiate fine, plus since its a basement install the plan is to cut some floor registers in and use the up stairs ceiling fans to push the air around. I also have a box fan that I can put in front of the stove to blow cooler air at it.
The ashford is a nice stove, its basically the same thing as the princess only more dressed up, the only con that I saw was the inside of the stove - from the door to the fire brick on the bottom is only about 3" deep while the princess is about 6" but still looks like a great stove

 

[Highbeam]

The princess is a different stove internally than the other 30 series stoves. They are about the same size but the older princess design has that great ash belly, higher emissions, and a couple other minor differences. Neither is a turd.

The fan kit is pretty cheap, integral to the rear heat shield, and in your basement install would be a great help to make more hot air to hopefully be distributed. Don't spend the big bucks on an awesome stove and then skip the blower to save a couple bucks. I suppose you could always add it later.

 

[Parallax]

My wife and I chose the Ashford in brown enamel and couldn't be happier. It's right in our family room so the look was important. Had it been hidden away, might have gone with the Princess. Can't imagine better bang for one's heating buck, though I'm new to all of this and certainly no expert. We've been running the Ashford only a short time but have learned how to use it pretty well. It's not as complex as I had feared. Yesterday, I was outside cutting wood, splitting, schlepping, stacking. It's work but it isn't. Feels so good to be outside doing the kind of work that keeps us warm.

 

[sumpnz]

My wife and I chose the Ashford in brown enamel and couldn't be happier. It's right in our family room so the look was important. Had it been hidden away, might have gone with the Princess. Can't imagine better bang for one's heating buck, though I'm new to all of this and certainly no expert. We've been running the Ashford only a short time but have learned how to use it pretty well. It's not as complex as I had feared. Yesterday, I was outside cutting wood, splitting, schlepping, stacking. It's work but it isn't. Feels so good to be outside doing the kind of work that keeps us warm.

If you don't mind my asking, what did you pay for yours, and which dealer did you go through?

 

[Rossco]

My wife and I chose the Ashford in brown enamel and couldn't be happier. It's right in our family room so the look was important. Had it been hidden away, might have gone with the Princess. Can't imagine better bang for one's heating buck, though I'm new to all of this and certainly no expert. We've been running the Ashford only a short time but have learned how to use it pretty well. It's not as complex as I had feared. Yesterday, I was outside cutting wood, splitting, schlepping, stacking. It's work but it isn't. Feels so good to be outside doing the kind of work that keeps us warm.

Ah the princess is a beautiful stove.

Cutting wood is great. Why would anyone buy a gym membership?

Are you sure it was the wife and I ?

 

[begreen]

Best bang for the heating buck is a good quality free stove. Second best is probably an Englander or Drolet.

 

[Parallax]

Ah the princess is a beautiful stove.

Cutting wood is great. Why would anyone buy a gym membership?

Are you sure it was the wife and I ?

Well, the wife insisted on the brown enamel. And the slate for the hearth pad I made. And she wouldn't let me put a flu temperature probe in the stove pipe. And now she wants a humidifier.

 

[Rossco]

Well, the wife insisted on the brown enamel. And the slate for the hearth pad I made. And she wouldn't let me put a flu temperature probe in the stove pipe. And now she wants a humidifier.

Ha Ha Ha. My BK is in the depths of the basement so anything goes.

How's she gonna feel when the glass is black with a slight red'ish glow.

 

[Parallax]

Ha Ha Ha. My BK is in the depths of the basement so anything goes.

How's she gonna feel when the glass is black with a slight red'ish glow.

So far so good. She's been running it. In fact, she's surprised me by what a quick study she is. Reloads it when I'm not around, keeps it active, knows to disengage the cat when opening the door and to not re-engage until it's back in the active range (if it dropped out to begin with). Not that any of this is rocket science but I think many women have a block around this sort of thing.

 

[begreen]

What? Why would a BK need reloading?

 

[Parallax]

LOL. She's home all day with our two month old son and, unless I've loaded the stove to the gills before leaving in the morning, she'll slowly set the thermostat up throughout the day while the load burns down. Eventually, it needs another piece of wood or two, though I've noticed that sometimes there's still plenty of wood in the box but some of it hasn't caught. We're still new to all of this and still learning. Seems to need to be opened good at the beginning of each reload to get the wood going before throttling it back down.

 

[kennyp2339]

Well just a quick update, I had to call our township inspector to see if I could vent the flu strait through the floor, being a basement setup that would mean the stack would go through the dinning room ( in the corner of two walls, I will pad it out to cover the pipe, thus making an interior chase) and then through the attic and roof, total run from stove collar to chimney cap would be about 23ft. The inspector seemed annoyed while on the phone, he first asked why would I not got outside the house and then strait up? I told him that I wanted the straightest run possible, and that my existing soffit is not long enough to take 8" od double wall pipe without taking off and cutting the gutters that I just put on, and I don't want to put a bend in the pipe to go around the soffit, cleaning would be a nightmare. Secondly I told him that I studied chimney's and have found out that it is better to have the majority of it inside the house so it stays warmer and doesn't condensate gases as quick (condensation of gas is what causes creosote) plus it would be a strait run making cleaning easy. The inspector was NOT impressed with any of my logic, he said before I even fill out the paper work for a permit he would need cut sheets of the type of pipe *all fuel, and it would be up to him to decide if double wall would be sufficient, or triple wall may need to be required, which that has me puzzeled, I thought that if its double wall pipe whether on the inside of your house or outside it wouldn't matter, manufacture's clearance is the clearance that you need to follow since they have to have the pipe tested to nfpa and UL standards... I'm a little confused but still determined

 

[HotCoals]

Well just a quick update, I had to call our township inspector to see if I could vent the flu strait through the floor, being a basement setup that would mean the stack would go through the dinning room ( in the corner of two walls, I will pad it out to cover the pipe, thus making an interior chase) and then through the attic and roof, total run from stove collar to chimney cap would be about 23ft. The inspector seemed annoyed while on the phone, he first asked why would I not got outside the house and then strait up? I told him that I wanted the straightest run possible, and that my existing soffit is not long enough to take 8" od double wall pipe without taking off and cutting the gutters that I just put on, and I don't want to put a bend in the pipe to go around the soffit, cleaning would be a nightmare. Secondly I told him that I studied chimney's and have found out that it is better to have the majority of it inside the house so it stays warmer and doesn't condensate gases as quick (condensation of gas is what causes creosote) plus it would be a strait run making cleaning easy. The inspector was NOT impressed with any of my logic, he said before I even fill out the paper work for a permit he would need cut sheets of the type of pipe *all fuel, and it would be up to him to decide if double wall would be sufficient, or triple wall may need to be required, which that has me puzzeled, I thought that if its double wall pipe whether on the inside of your house or outside it wouldn't matter, manufacture's clearance is the clearance that you need to follow since they have to have the pipe tested to nfpa and UL standards... I'm a little confused but still determined

The chimney itself I believe has to Type A triple wall.