I'm looking for a new stove to heat my home. I presently use a Century in the basement with a furnace blower mounted in the wall next to it forcing air from the room into my ductwork. The century has a plate on back with a blower that blows some heat off the stove. I suppose this is intended to be convection heat. Yesterday I asked in another post for recommendations on a stove for my purposes. Several recommended the Blaze King Princess because it was convection heat. I went to their site and it looks like the convection blower is an add on that bolts to the back like the one on my century. How does it differ and what makes this a superior stove?
What makes a stove a convection vs. radiant? Looking at Blaze King
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First off the blower for the BK is a monster that actually moves lots of air quietly. It has actual shrouds and ducts that effectively move this additional air over the stove and into the home. The idea is to heat the air which will move throughout the home either naturally or through your furnace system. Other than that the "convectionness" of the BK isn't much more superior than your century. You just don't want to put a purely radiant stove in a basement. Most stoves are partially radiant and partially convection but some like the soapstones are radiant heaters.
A stove that is built and designed as a convection heater seems to always work better than a stove where you add some sheet metal and a blower to the back. Plain and simple, you want a stove that creates and moves a lot of hot air. A good thing to do is visit local fireplace showrooms that have burning displays and see the product in action.
That's my problem. My local stove dealer only has one stove that burns... and it's a Vermont Castings model, not the soapstone. The closest Blaze King dealer is 75miles away. I do have a Regency dealer in town. My understanding is their stoves have a decent convection setup. Perhaps I should visit their showroom.
The Regency stoves with the best convection system are the S2400 step top model, and the H300 cast iron wood stove. The other stoves they make are nice, but its more of an add on item as opposed to a built in feature. If you have an Enerzone dealer close by, you should check out the 3.4 model. This is a convection heating 100K btu beast. I heated my house with one for 2 years. They retail for a little over $2K and are a great value. Also, they are sold thru a dealer network, not hardware stores/tractor stores. This means you'll get good advice and follow up service if you need it.
All Regency and Enerzone wood burners qualify. If you visit a manufacturers website, each stove should have a place where the tax credit certificate is available for download
In another thread there are folks now thinking that the BK fans are both large and NOT exceptionally quiet. I had previously been told that they were quiet so you'll need to check for yourself on that.
Only the crappiest stoves won't qualify for the credit.
Ooooh, 75 miles. Big deal, that's like 1.5 hours, make a Sunday drive and go look at it. This is an important purchase and you don't want to miss this opportunity to get the best stove you can.
Only the crappiest stoves won't qualify for the credit.
Ooooh, 75 miles. Big deal, that's like 1.5 hours, make a Sunday drive and go look at it. This is an important purchase and you don't want to miss this opportunity to get the best stove you can.
Highbeam said:
Even on low, they are easily as loud as a server fan which I wouldn't want in my living room either. Now, if you are trying to push heat from a basement location, they are probably fine.
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