Well after measuring my fireplace and hearth I found out the osburn 2400 wont fit without extending the hearth and moving the mantle. Darn minimum clearances So now I need to find another insert. I would like to get overnight burns, 20" logs, 2300sqft house. Suggestions would be welcomed.
I'm not sure if it would fit your fireplace but I've been running my new BK princess insert and this thing is just plain silly! Everything I've heard about BK is true. Amazing heat and burn times, super convenient, etc. like me, you would have to cut those 20" splits down to around 16", but IMHO its worth it.
What did you have before the BK? I remember you having something else. Oslo or a Fireview, I thought.
My brick would extend 13" out from the unit door. It seems like every picture I see of osburn 2400 that all the setups dont seem to have the 16" or 20" of hearth in front of the door. Can I just put a hearth extension pad down in front? My hearth is about 6-8 inches raised off the floor.
Yup, Oslo. The BK was a "gift" to my wife. The gift was that she would never have to deal with the stove or firewood ever again. The burn times make this a breeze. She does not share the enthusiasm for wood burning that most of us do. It was an easy sell to her.
You went with the Princess stove and not the insert, right? How does it compare to the Oslo in terms of heat?
If a non-combustible material floor protection needs to be added in front and level with the hearth extension masonry fireplace (see Figure 2.6a), an R factor equal to or greater than 1.00 is required. If the extension of the masonry hearth is raised at least 4" from the floor protection (see Figure 2.6b), a non-combustible material without an R factor is sufficient. So basically as long as your extension is made of non-combustible material you are good to go since you are more than 4" off the floor.
Insert. Comparing the two...the BK insert is a whole different animal, very different. The insert itself doesn't get all that hot. The fan blows a ton of hot, I mean HOT, air when cranked. When the Oslo read 200 deg stove top, it wasn't throwing much heat at all. The BK reads 200 and is still cranking heat out of the fans. This is LONG after the Oslo would have been dead cold. All the BK rumors are true. Long, even heat. I have yet to fill it up and it amazes me. The Oslo is a great heater, for the first few hours, then it seemed to taper off rather quickly. It would take some work to get it established and dialed in for the perfect long burn, I could get 10 hours (6 usable heat) with effort. The BK is silly. Easy, no effort at all, 14 hours usable heat 1/2 to 2/3 full. I'm going to guess I will use about 20% less wood also. I have been reading your posts for years . If you can get by the looks I would think the BK would be the perfect stove for your set up. The princess insert actually doesn't look bad at all. The only thing that sucks about it is the price.
That is interesting. The kitchen fireplace will need a new stove when the Encore is sent out to pasture. The Encore and Oslo are very similar in terms of heating capacity with the edge to the Encore for burn times. I was thinking about gutting the fireplace to be able to fit a free standing 3 cu ft stove, but if I could get an insert in there that would be very different. Yes, the Encore, when done right, is a solid 8-10 hour stove during the shoulder season, occasionally to 12 hours, and 6-8 during very cold temps. Since you are coming from the Oslo, I have to assume this is your first experience with a blower. How is it? The blower on the 30NC I find to be loud even on low. Which is fine due to the location. But, the 30 blower in the Kitchen wouldn't cut it. It would be too annoying for that location.
I was worried about the blower noise. I grew up with wood stoves (no blowers) and it always seemed foreign to me to hear fan noise coming from the stove. This is my first so I don't have any others to compare it to. I usually keep it on low. It's in the living room with the tv. On low it is pretty quiet, like white noise in the background. At medium it starts to get a little annoying. At high, it's a little ridiculous. I just got home from a weekend trip tonight. The house was down to 59 deg. I started her up, dialed her down, and kept the fan on high. It was nice to have that jet engine heat pouring out to heat up a cold house. Other than that, I can't think of when else I would keep it on high. That being said, on low it is fine for me. That's where I keep it.
