Will blaze king princess ultra heat semi open 2200/2300sqft house?

[Skidooer]

Looking for some real world advice if a princess will be big enough for my side split bungalow installed in the basement. House has oversize rooms and double wide hallways for lots of air movement but only 2x4 walls and moderately insulated. Not drafty but not super air tight either. Id like to achieve 10- 12 hr burns while at work and away so thats why the BK. I like the contol and burn times of the BK but am worried that il pay alot of cash for an undersized stove, and im limited to the 6" flue. I also hear they work well with softwood which i have a plentiful supply of. Last few winters have been moderate but im sure -30 will be back again soon!
The other candidate is an osburn 2400, much cheaper but less control and burn times.
Thanks everyone.

 

[begreen]

Location will have a bearing on that answer. If up north, maybe in a well insulated house, but I would be leaning toward the King. However, in warmer regions, yes it might work out fine.

 

[fossil]

For the folks here to help out, your (geographical) location would help...as would a simple diagram of the floor plan. Basement intstallations have some real challenges to overcome to be successful. The 6" flue is certainly a consideration, but not necessarily a deal breaker. Tell us more about where you are and what your house layout is like. Welcome to the forums! Rick

 

[rdust]

I heat just under 2K(2 story) with mine without any issue while getting unreal burn times. We don't see -30 anything here though. Our house typically aren't nearly as well insulated as houses were -30's happen so you may be ok. I think a King would fit better but since you're limited by the chimney the Princess will heat as well as any other 3 cubic foot stove out there but burn times will suffer.

Here is detailed good burn for me.(pulled from the BK performance thread)​

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"Loaded up 54lbs of oak, ash and silver maple around 9PM. Probably the most I've filled it with so far this year. Couldn't fit much more unless I was real creative. :lol: Low is supposed to be around 16*, we usually get a couple degree's cooler than what is posted on the weather sites for our area. Hallway with the t-stat is 70*, I really need to get a thermometer for the stove room. ​

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Time 12:45am

Outside temp 19​

Inside Hallway temp 70​

Stove top 53x above the cat​

t-stat 1.75, fans on low​

Time for bed.....​

​

Time 6:55am
Outside temp 17
Inside Hallway temp 69
Stove top 350
t-stat 1.75 fans on low

Wife moved the coals into the middle, turned the stove up to 3.5, warmed stove up for 10 minutes, turned it back down to 2 with fans on, stove top @430.

Time 10am
Outside temp 18
Inside Hallway temp 70
Stove top 350
t-stat on 2 fans on low

Time 11:15am
Outside temp 18
Inside hallway temp 70
Stove room 73(grabbed the thermometer from the kids rooms)
Stove top 30x
t-stat on 2 fans on low

I turned the fans off and stove down to 1 at this point, I wanted the room to cool off a little more before I reloaded.

Time 12:00 pm
Outside temp 20
Inside Hallway temp 69
Stove room temp 72
Stove top 275
t-stat on 1 fans off
Reloaded with chunks and uglies

This stove continues to impress me, when I bought this stove I thought my house would need a 500* stove top to keep meaningful heat in the house when it was cold. I find with this stove since you don't experience the temp swings you don't need a big stove top number to keep the place warm once it's already there. 15 hours of meaningful heat with temps in the teens is more than I ever expected when I bought it."

 

[Skidooer]

hello, im located in eastern ontairo close to NY border, common temps are -10 to -20C most of the winter with maybe 2 or 3 weeks -25 to -30C. House is 2x4 construction, side split bungalow. Its says 17-1800sqft but thats without the basement i think (more like 2300). I can take actual measures tmrw if that helps. One side of basement is cheaply insulated crawl space (4 ft high) and other half is finsihed and insulated. The finished half is split down the centre, utility room and rec room, rec is where current stove is. Then go up wide stairwell to big open living rm wraping around to dining area (all same open room "is L shaped") kitchen seperated by small "L shaped" wall opposite living rm and dining, so all very big and open. Being a side split entry is ground level, then centre of house are stairs going up/down. Upstairs overtop the rec/utility rooms are double wide hall (8- 9 FT) going to big bath, and 3 big bedrooms and one small. So the stove is pretty much centred under the upstairs, only obstacle is the 30" doorway from rec room leading up the stairs to living room/kitchen. The old stove heats the house well and fairly even when u crank it, but is not relaible and overfires everytime. And very inefficient, lasting maybe 6 hrs at the most on hardwood. Only drawbacks are alot of big windows "which are nice", and also some air leaks which i plan to fix up this summer. One plus is my cold air return for propane stove hangs down creating a bit of a dam in the rec room, i was told if i put a big ol grate in there the fan will help circulate the hot air in the basemet to the rest of the house. I want to make a long term investment for our house that will save money and pay off, so i dont want to screw this up and kick my arse later.
Thanks for the help guys

 

[weatherguy]

I have the insert on the first floor which is about 1200 sf, that floor gets to 80, the upstairs (about 1800 sf) varies but the middle rooms get above 70, the bedrooms are cooler. It all depends on your layout and where you put the stove. Ive learned over the years how to move the warmer air around better. If I could have put a freestander I would have got the King and dealt with the larger flue.

 

[nate379]

I heat ~1400 sq ft with no trouble at all even in the coldest of temps. (-30ish) I do sometimes have to kick on the floor heat in the bedrooms, though that is because I am limited on flowing the heat that far down the hallway.

 

[BillsWS]

From what you describe and from what I read here I think you will be good with the Princess. You know what you can do with your current stove so you know how the heat travels in your house, etc... Keep us posted and pics are nice. And welcome to the forum.

 

[Wood Duck]

I would select the stove with longer burn times and more control rather than focus only on peak output. You will get more heating value from long burns than from the occasional higher output you'd be able to achieve with a larger stove ( I gather the Osburn is larger and has potentially higher peak output than the Princess). I would also focus on the typical winter conditions rather than on the rare cold snaps, when you can supplement the wood stove with the furnace if you need to. If your old stove heated the house reasonably well then I think the princess will do so as well.

 

[begreen]

Can you add your general locale to your profile so that we don't repeat ask for it?

The BK could be a good start if you follow through with thoroughly sealing up cracks, especially in the crawl space, then to a good job of insulating in there all the way up across the sill and rim joist. Seal up windows and doors and consider investing in insulating curtains, panels or honeycomb curtains for the windows. To help the heat circulate, look at passive options first. For example, maybe open up that wall with the 30" door if it is an impediment to air flow.

If on the very coldest days you need to supplement a bit with the furnace, but are covered for say 90% of the time with the stove alone, then I would call it a good solution. In milder winters you may not need the furnace at all.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Location will have a bearing on that answer. If up north, maybe in a well insulated house, but I would be leaning toward the King. However, in warmer regions, yes it might work out fine.

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