Eric is a huge Cubs fan and yes, he will talk about the 2016 World Series unprompted. When he's not explaining why he's the only person who should be allowed to drive, he's spending time with his wife and two children who tolerate his dad jokes with impressive patience.
Hello Eric, Glad to hear you like your Blaze King Princess insert. I am considering getting a cataytic stove myself. Can you comment on how often you have to remove the ashes and how much time that takes you? Does the princess have an ash drawer that slides out or do you have to scoop the ashes out of the insert into a bucket?
Hey Brian,
For the most part, I am burning my stove 24/7 from about Dec to the end of Feb. I will burn before and after that date but sometimes with the weather, I don’t need it. I pretty much only clean it out twice a season, then once at the end when I turn it off for the year. The trick is when you clean it, leave about a 1″ layer of ash. For some reason, it holds the heat better, gets the stove up to temp quicker and does a better job. At the end of the year, I will fully clean everything out and start fresh for the next year.
To clean the fireplace out, it takes about 10 minutes. I have a small fireplace shovel I use because the insert doesn’t have a tray. The only downside is I have to leave my stove off for about two days before I can clean it. Even sometimes on that second day, there are hot ashes. If you have a metal bucket, you can clean it out sooner because it doesn’t matter if you have hot ashes. For me, I don’t have a metal bucket, I just use a garbage bag, which I would not recommend. I just haven’t bought a bucket yet. I clean it out and let it sit outside for a couple of days to make sure everything is out before I put it in the trash.
I would highly recommend a cataytic stove.
Bob.wieder2 @gmail .com my chimmy is 32ft. High will i have a problem with cleanig the 6 inch piping and cap.thank you in advance……bob
Mine is tall also and I have a chimney cleaner come over to clean it. They never have any issues. I also know they sell cleaning kits for it also.
I too have a Princess 29 and I have had it over ten yrs. Today the cable which opens and closes the damper/BY-PASS snapped; how’s yours doing? Not sure what it will cost to have it replaced still trying to find someone to do it….
Mine is doing great. Mine just broke last year. I had some cracked bricks also. I ordered the cable and bricks. I also had to change the converter. Changing the bricks was straightforward as I only had to replace three of them. The cable wasn’t bad but there were no directions. Open the side and getting access is easy. However, no matter how I installed the cable, it was rubbing against itself. Not sure if it’s just a bad design or what. I doubt with the design the cable will last considering its a steel cable rubbing against itself. I couldn’t get any answers from Blazeking which was annoying. I ended up just installing it with the cable rubbing against itself so who knows how long it will last. For me, it’s a pain moving and getting access to the side since it is a tight fit and I have a bead of caulk running between the metal and the bricks of the fireplace.
Okay, I’m in for the insert. But how much does it cost???
You would have to look it up depending on what model you want. These do need service. I would also take a look and figure out if you can service it. If not, make sure they have someone by you who can service it. I live outside of Chicago and we only have one person who can service it so they can charge what they want. I service my own and it’s not bad but for some of the service you do have to pull it out, which it can be a little heavy.
Can’t wait to see more updates on the Blaze King Princess! The tools in action look impressive and I’m excited to read more reviews on power tools.