Used Blaze King 302 and would like advice.

[thavg]

I just picked up a older Blaze King model 302, top vent and it is the kind with the door that folds down like an oven door. It is in pretty decent shape with only a few cracked fire bricks to be replaced and a missing door emblem. This is my first stove and will be my first year trying to heat with wood. I would have liked a new stove but money talks, especially these days. Being new to this there are a lot of things running through my mind. Such as stove location, as I would like to install this in my basement but I'm not sure the best way to vent it and whether it will provide enough heat for my enitre house if it is in the basement. I do have a spot picked out for it upstairs but I am flopping between which way I want to go. Also I want to clean up the stove and I'm wondering if I should use a media blaster on it or just a wire brush. Possibly any other recommendations on clean up methods and if there is a brand of stove paint that works better than others. I know a guy that fabs cooking grills and he swears by Ace brand stove paint, says "it holds up better". Sorry for kinda rambling any info would be appreciated!!

 

[Wet1]

You should be able to get new bricks at the local hearth or hardware store. I would probably just wire brush off any lose paint (if there is any) and then scuff the stove up with a Scotch Brite pad before painting it. I've had great luck with Stove Bright paint in the past.

As far as location goes, is your basement insulated and can the heat easily be moved to the upper levels? How big is the house?

That stove will throw some serious heat, but she's going to eat a lot of wood...

 

[thavg]

The house is about 1700 sqft and is a ranch, there is no insulation down there and it has block walls. If I don't turn on the heat in the basement and and just run the registers "hot water heat" upstairs the basement will be anywhere around 55 degrees in winter. You say that the stove will be burning a lot of wood huh? I've been told that it throws a ton of heat but do not know anything about efficeincy since this is my first go at wood stoves. I was looking hard at a new Napoleon 1900 stove it seems like a great stove but $1900.00 is out of my budget and I picked up this Blaze King for $300.00 in hopes that it will do good for a couple seasons til I save my pennies for a new unit. Either way that makes me think that maybe I would be better off putting it on the main floor and maybe I will get more comfort in the house with less wood. I wonder what kind of burn times I will be able to get in this stove? Also another thing I was wondering about on it was that there is not a main damper it only has a thermostat adjustment on the backside for slight adjustments. I take in that my first piece of chimney pipe will have to be a section that has a flue built into it, am I correct on this thinking? The top vent is 8'' and when look down through it I see right to the firebox. Seems like a lot of heat will go right up the pipe literally. Thanks for the info

 

[Wet1]

If the basement isn't insulated, dont put the stove down there... you'll lose half (or more) of your heat to mother earth.

I don't believe your older BK has a cat in it, if not, it's going to eat some wood. With that said, you'll never be cold and it should burn through the night since it has a monster fire box. Give BK a call about the specifics on your model, but I believe that stove should have a automatic thermostat on it so there's no need to fuss with the air. You might want to install a flue damper to cut the draft, but I'd try it w/o one first and see how everything goes.