BBAR, I have not used the free standing princess but I am nearing the end of my first season with the princess insert. I replaced a jotul oslo. A bit of info for you... I think I read in one of your posts you considered the insert for your kitchen? Before I say anything, keep in mind the cold winter we are having and this being my first year with the insert. On the good side: Silly burn times. Everything they say about BK is true. Chit simple to operate. It sips wood. I'm not going through as much wood. It really doesn't look nearly as ugly as people say, especially covered by the surround. On the bad side: When it gets really cold, I miss my free standing oslo. At 500 stove top temp, that oslo is a heating beast, from all sides. I don't miss reloading it, but I miss the heat. 500 on the insert pours nice heat out the front with the blower going. Not like the oslo though. It was a trade off I was willing to make for my situation. I havnt quite figured out how to run it hot for a shorter amount of time. The long and medium burns I'm good. Short hot ones give me trouble trying to dial it in without melting it. The blower has rattled a bit from time to time. I've never had a blower before so I didn't have much to compare it to. Overall I have to say I am a little disappointed with the heat output when it gets real cold (keep in mind the cold winter this year and me being new to the stove) but it has exceeded my expectations with everything else (burn times, easy operation, convenience, etc) I am confident I made the right decision for my situation.
I only have burned the insert too but it doesn't have a high top end, not sure if the free stander is any different in that regard. I know the free stander gets longer burn times but it's because it's a tad bigger, a couple more splits adds a lot of burn time in these stoves. All that said I do love the stove, I just need a bigger stove with a higher top end for my size house.
Correct. This is for the kitchen. During cold periods and when you are running the stove hot, what are the burn times for the two of you?
Here's my tip for burning hot when it's really cold out.- Smaller loads, more frequent reloading, a bit more air, and blowers on high. My first year I dropped to -34 for a while and the stove could not keep up. But I was loading it full, with Pine. After listening to advice ( from a lot of folks here now), I tried 4-6 splits only and more air. Worked like a charm. Just figure on re-loading more often, 1 hr. per split is all you should look for on a fresh load. Give it a shot. JB
This is one of the reasons I decided to just go with to Kings (with the kitchen being a toss-up at this point) The size of the stove should allow me to heat the area no matter the outside temps without having to run the stoves really hard.
B-Bar, you really can't go wrong with the King. If I had the coin for all the new 8" Class A and another King, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Just to heat 300 sq. ft. It's that controllable.
I can burn through a load in 8 hours if I'm there to keep on eye on it, I turn the tstat up every now and then so it burns hotter. I'm heating 2800sf, if I was only heating 1500 sf or less I'd get two 12 hour burns a day probably even in frigid weather. I'm going to try that this week beetle, supposed to be cold for the next 4 days so its a good time to try that method. I work from home so its not a problem for me but I'd rather not mess with the stove all day if I don't have too.
8 hours isn't bad when burning hot. I always like to hear worst case scenarios since my home is... different. I would like to assume since I am heating a much smaller area that I would have 12 hour cycles during the worst of winter. But I have learned that that is not always the wisest decision.
I have started getting away from the massive oak splits in cold weather. I have about two cords of ash and elm rounds from about 1.5-4" diameter. Stuffed with that leaves lots of room for air to get thru the load, and it burns HOT. The oak, even at 15-16%, leaves tons of coals for many hours. The smaller stuff burns more completly, faster, and I can still get about twelve hours of good heat. I was saving it for more moderate weather and shoulder season, but I've done a 180 and I'll burn the oak in the two day loads I think a lot of us have learned a lot of things about staying warm this winter.
My issue with the short hot burns is time to babysit it. If I load it up, char the wood, get it up to temp, then set the tstat, it can be a crap shoot. If I get it to say 500. Then shut the tstat down to the second dot, usually where it likes to run, the look of the fire dictates things. If I have a little flame with hot coals I get a more even steady temp. If the flames go out and I have a black box I'm nervous. Usually the stove top temp will fall along with the cat temp. After a bit I start to see an orange glow from the coals, then smoke from the wood, then the cat goes nuts eating smoke. Depending on the load, the temps could rise to the point my stove top therm and my cat temp are pegged. Not fun. The temp swings can be from 350 to 800. I guess it has to do with the wood out gassing driving the temp up. This is where I have problems leaving the air open a bit more for a hotter burn. If I take my time, cut the air back in stages, and let it settle in at 500 with a little flame, she tends to cruise with only moderate temp swings with minor adjustments to air. Sometimes I just dont have the time to babysit it. Still learning here.
