The BIG PICTURE, differences between stoves.

[bholler]

Focus on the personality! If you don't have to please someone else, it'll grow on you once it's in there.

My stove is plain as can be. Once the fire's going, no one even notices the black iron and steel- the fire is the star of the show.

It is a bk many times there is no fireshow. And yes the look wont bother many people. But i cant get past the looks and goofy proportions of the princess and king.

 

[Bootstrap]

I used to burn coal as well and will never go back. I am from central pa so it was all anthracite but i really dont like the smell or the dirt. And even anthracite although much cleaner than bit or lignite still doesnt burn that clean.

I respect your opinion however, my experience was different. I never ever had smell in my house, and there was never any visual smoke coming out of the chimney so I consider that clean burning. Anthracite burns cleaner than wood.
There was a learning curve involved for sure, its not as simple as burning wood. I had to go through the growing pains of losing several fires till I had it all figured out. I also went through 3 different coal stoves till I had one that worked to my liking.
For me the most annoying thing was the need to empty the ash pan every day. After shake down I would take the ash pan out and empty into my dedicated steel trash can.
I foresee that I wont be returning to coal any time soon. All things considered, I like wood burning better. And with all the woods behind my house and the permission to cut all the dead wood I want out of the neighboring property, I have an easy source of wood 100 yards away.
Plus the visual of a wood stove burning in my living room is so much more appealing.

 

[bholler]

I respect your opinion however, my experience was different. I never ever had smell in my house, and there was never any visual smoke coming out of the chimney so I consider that clean burning. Anthracite burns cleaner than wood.
There was a learning curve involved for sure, its not as simple as burning wood. I had to go through the growing pains of losing several fires till I had it all figured out. I also went through 3 different coal stoves till I had one that worked to my liking.
For me the most annoying thing was the need to empty the ash pan every day. After shake down I would take the ash pan out and empty into my dedicated steel trash can.
I foresee that I wont be returning to coal any time soon. All things considered, I like wood burning better. And with all the woods behind my house and the permission to cut all the dead wood I want out of the neighboring property, I have an easy source of wood 100 yards away.
Plus the visual of a wood stove burning in my living room is so much more appealing.

First off if your only criteria for clean burning is no smoke my stove burns just as clean i only have smoke on startup. You cant see the chemicals being emitted by burning coal. And i simply dont like the smell of the coal itself even before it is burnt. I never had a smell from combustion inside but you do outside and i dont like that smell either. If you like burning coal that is fine but it isnt for me. I used a boiler and yes it was much easier. But i still didnt like it.

 

[Bootstrap]

First off if your only criteria for clean burning is no smoke my stove burns just as clean i only have smoke on startup. You cant see the chemicals being emitted by burning coal. And i simply dont like the smell of the coal itself even before it is burnt. I never had a smell from combustion inside but you do outside and i dont like that smell either. If you like burning coal that is fine but it isnt for me. I used a boiler and yes it was much easier. But i still didnt like it.

I don't like it more than wood. My order of preference is this and based on whats available to me:
1. Wood-in my wood stove insert
2. Anthracite coal- would also be in a coal stove insert
3. Oil- boiler with base boards(which gets used now anyways)
4. Freeze to death
5. Pellet stove
6. Freeze to death again
7. Electric heat.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

It is a bk many times there is no fireshow. And yes the look wont bother many people. But i cant get past the looks and goofy proportions of the princess and king.

Does the appearance of the Princess Insert bother you as much as the freestander, out of curiosity? I think that’s the stove the OP is considering if I’m understanding the options.

Mark8, just reading through your desire for long burns and your statements about climate, it does seem that the turndown on a BK would profit you. The Ashford and Sirocco inserts are pretty new and don’t have many folks here on Hearth reporting on them, but perhaps @mellow or @Tegbert would be able to help you out in thinking about whether they would handle your heat load.

 

[bholler]

Does the appearance of the Princess Insert bother you as much as the freestander, out of curiosity? I think that’s the stove the OP is considering if I’m understanding the options.

Mark8, just reading through your desire for long burns and your statements about climate, it does seem that the turndown on a BK would profit you. The Ashford and Sirocco inserts are pretty new and don’t have many folks here on Hearth reporting on them, but perhaps @mellow or @Tegbert would be able to help you out in thinking about whether they would handle your heat load.

No the insert doesnt bother me quite as much but my really my dislike of the look of the stove should not influence anyones decision. And it should not take away from the fact that it is a fantastic performing stove. Just an ugly one.

 

[Tegbert]

Did I miss the part where he says how big his house is? I just skimmed through the thread so I could have missed it. I know one of his other threads said his house was drafty but that’s all I saw.

Recently our lows at night have only been about high 30’s low 40’s here. When using the ashford 25 on my low with fans on low I can keep the far end of the house from dipping below 67-68. I do use the lopi on high to bring the temps up for a load but let it go out. House size is 1899 sq ft. The problem I have is when the load runs low but the house is comfortable the wife wont do anything with either stove I have so when the living area gets to 68 and she becomes chilly is when she decides to load up the lopi. For some reason she won’t touch the ashford yet probably because I haven’t showed her how to operate it even though it is very similar to the lopi.

The ashford does put out the heat on high but you really need the fans on to move that heat out of the room. Good thing is that the fans are really not that bad on high and really can’t tell that they are running about medium and lower unless you are right up on it. I want to see how well the ashford will heat the house alone in cold weather but we haven’t had much since I got it installed.

I would have preferred the princess insert but the wife wanted the ashford. She wanted it for looks I wanted it for the slightly deeper belly and sticks out in the room more. In the end the ashford won due to looks for her and I didn’t want to modify more of my hearth to make it work out in the future. Also the huge glass of the ashford is nice...... well when it’s not in boring mode.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[mellow]

Wow this is a big thread. I don't have time to go through all of it but if you have a specific question on how the Sicoco 25 did I can try and answer it.

 

[Mark8]

Wow this is a big thread. I don't have time to go through all of it but if you have a specific question on how the Sicoco 25 did I can try and answer it.

Yes please, that's what this thread is all about, share your personal experiences with your stove, for your situation

 

[mellow]

Yes please, that's what this thread is all about, share your personal experiences with your stove, for your situation

I had posted a review of the stove if that is what you are looking for: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/blaze-king-sirocco-25-insert.157802/

 

[begreen]

Search is your friend. There's only about 11 years of discussion on this topic with comparisons of everything from cats to non-cat to smoke dragons to inserts to freestanders on h.com. And tons of discussions on wood species and tools plus hundreds of reviews. All it takes is picking a topic and searching on it.

 

[jetsam]

The Circle of Thread is now complete, in only 4 pages.

We're getting faster!

 

[bholler]

Search is your friend. There's only about 11 years of discussion on this topic with comparisons of everything from cats to non-cat to smoke dragons to inserts to freestanders on h.com. And tons of discussions on wood species and tools plus hundreds of reviews. All it takes is picking a topic and searching on it.

View attachment 221968

I think i may have said that 3 pahes ago. Just not as diplomatically as you did. Lol

 

[Mark8]

Did I miss the part where he says how big his house is? I just skimmed through the thread so I could have missed it. I know one of his other threads said his house was drafty but that’s all I saw.

Recently our lows at night have only been about high 30’s low 40’s here. When using the ashford 25 on my low with fans on low I can keep the far end of the house from dipping below 67-68. I do use the lopi on high to bring the temps up for a load but let it go out. House size is 1899 sq ft. The problem I have is when the load runs low but the house is comfortable the wife wont do anything with either stove I have so when the living area gets to 68 and she becomes chilly is when she decides to load up the lopi. For some reason she won’t touch the ashford yet probably because I haven’t showed her how to operate it even though it is very similar to the lopi.

The ashford does put out the heat on high but you really need the fans on to move that heat out of the room. Good thing is that the fans are really not that bad on high and really can’t tell that they are running about medium and lower unless you are right up on it. I want to see how well the ashford will heat the house alone in cold weather but we haven’t had much since I got it installed.

I would have preferred the princess insert but the wife wanted the ashford. She wanted it for looks I wanted it for the slightly deeper belly and sticks out in the room more. In the end the ashford won due to looks for her and I didn’t want to modify more of my hearth to make it work out in the future. Also the huge glass of the ashford is nice...... well when it’s not in boring mode.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

Thank you for your help, and great insight. My house is 2400 sq ft single story, I would really be interested to know if your Ashford could keep your size house warm without using your Lopi. Thanks again.

 

[Woody Stover]

didnt say trying to sum it all up was a bad thing. I just dont know how possible it is

That's a lot to sum up and as you said, added variable is what is important to each person...I want something that is as simple as possible.

Yeah, makes more sense to just post your questions about your specific situation, instead of having everyone post their own experiences in their situations, then throw out 90% of it because it doesn't apply to you..

So I'm trying to decide if I should fix the E260 or buy a BK Princess insert....can you give my your opinion how the E260 would compare to a BK Princess or other options

OK, we are finally getting down to brass tacks.
In your situation, I would try to fit a free-stander on that hearth somehow. That will get more heat out of the stove and into the house, as opposed to an insert. I don't like blower noise either. Even my desktop fans and the fridge are a little loud for my liking, though they are pretty quiet. I like sitting in relative quiet with only the sound of ringing in my ears. Some blowers are pretty quiet, though. I'm thinking that many options would work for you, as I'll try to detail next..

If you want your home warm and your stove still humming along when you get back from work then you want the bk. My temperatures are the same and I only reload once per day. Our climate is where the bk shines.

Any stove should work great in there, with the lowest temps outside being 50 day/30 night. I'm only loading every 12 hrs. with my little 1.5 sq.ft. box in my somewhat leaky and un-insulated house, and the high today is freezing, with a breeze. Temps in here have stayed within a couple degrees. Even if my stove goes out, house temps change very slowly when it's not cold out, so no need for a thermostat on the stove, a constant low burn, and the rest of that BK stuff you like to trot out. Now, granted, my stone stove may flatten out the temp change curve a little more than a plain steel box..
It looks from his other thread that some remodeling was done, maybe insulation and air-sealing were improved (but maybe not in the balmy Central Valley.) At any rate, the stove looks to be centrally-located. I think one of the longer-burning secondary stoves would do the job. Something in an E-W configuration to fit on the hearth. Maybe a Quadra-Fire Explorer...jacketed stove, welded steel box, rear-venting to take advantage of the fireplace. And as @Knots says (and begreen,) there's a lot to be said for the KISS principle...no cat to mess with, etc.
Now, all that said, the OP has been here a month, and is now hanging around the BK thread being indoctrinated. He's chomping at the bit..winter (if he really even has any) is almost over. He's itching to pull the trigger, we've all been there. Researching endless threads and learning a bunch of stuff about stoves..who's got time for that? Look at that huge BK thread..everyone must have one! And they cost more money, there's gotta be a reason why!
C'mon..try the Koolaid..just a little taste..it's grape!

 

[Mark8]

When my thread has almost as many view as the BK thread you know you must be on the right track and I hate grape koolaid, but I get the analogy, and I do prefer to listen to my tinnitus over a fan

Are you saying that BK is just smoke and mirrors?

 

[Woody Stover]

Are you saying that BK is just smoke and mirrors?

Not at all. The BK line has its performance niche, and does those things very well. You just have to get past the initial blast of hype you will find when you first start reading, learn a lot about stoves and their features, and burning them to heat a house, then make your list of priorities based on a fuller understanding of what you are trying to do in your particular situation and what is available to help you do that. Then you have to look at things like build quality, engineering, ease of day-to-day operation and so on. A lot of it is a crap shoot..you can read about and look at a stove, but it is only after running it a while that many things become apparent.

 

[KJamesJR]

No, that's the BK thread.

We haven't had a lot of gas fireplace log discussion yet, but we DID have a discussion about the merits of pex vs. copper, and a pretty great Chevelle.

Just looked at a gas fired stove. Thing was throwing off some serious heat on the sales floor. Kinda defeats the purpose however as id think most stove owners made their purchase trying to get away from oil/lp/electric dependency. I know I am.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, makes more sense to just post your questions about your specific situation, instead of having everyone post their own experiences in their situations, then throw out 90% of it because it doesn't apply to you..

I agree. I'm done posting anything except fuel and fire shows.

 

[Highbeam]

Just looked at a gas fired stove. Thing was throwing off some serious heat on the sales floor. Kinda defeats the purpose however as id think most stove owners made their purchase trying to get away from oil/lp/electric dependency. I know I am.

I have no ductwork or hot water system in my home. If I had ng available and if I grew tired of firewood, a gas stove is an excellent option. Silent, no maintenance, thermostatic, efficient, constant room temps like a cat stove, and a relatively attractive flame show.

No electric is required.

 

[bholler]

I have no ductwork or hot water system in my home. If I had ng available and if I grew tired of firewood, a gas stove is an excellent option. Silent, no maintenance, thermostatic, efficient, constant room temps like a cat stove, and a relatively attractive flame show.

No electric is required.

Agreed if i had ng available i am sure i would still burn wood but it would be allot less. As it is i am considering a lp insert for my fireplace. It is a metal firebox that is rusted out. And i dont need a wood insert there for heat. I just havnt decided between cutting out the steel box and building a new firebox for open wood burning lp or just closing it off.

 

[Mark8]

I want to thank all the people who took my opening question seriously, I learned EXACTLY what I wanted to know from your experiences that you provided in one thread then I ever would have searching through eleven years worth of endless threads to find my answers.

Thank you and take care. If you still would like to share why you selected one style of stove over another please share your story, I know it helped me grasp the big picture and was very helpful.

 

[Woody Stover]

I learned EXACTLY what I wanted to know from your experiences that you provided in one thread then I ever would have searching through eleven years worth of endless threads

Boy, the rest of us were really dumb. We thought, like Ben Hogan, that we had to "dig it out of the dirt."

 

[begreen]

And on that note...