Ashford 30 owners, mid season reviews?

Tenn Dave said:

Long burn times with smoke smell - not sure it is worth the tradeoff. It seems at low burn rates some BK owners experience some smoke smell in the house. Lately there have been a lot of posts about this problem on Hearth.com. Not all owners have it, but certainly some do. Sounds like these stoves are not easy breathers. BK needs to do a little investigative work on this issue.

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I don't know that a lot can attest to the smoke smell. I've spoken with BKVP about my issue but he said that smoke smells aren't normally affiliated with their stoves.

I understand these stoves are VERY draft sensitive and this stove is worth taking extra steps and spending extra money on lengthening/improving the chimney to see if it'll fix the problem. Absolutely love it if I could just get this issue fixed. I'm also going to be moving my wood pile out into the sun from underneath pine trees and trying to burn even drier wood. I want to know I've done everything I can to make this work.

I'd be interested to hear from Woodstock owners with their stoves on low. Do they get smoke smells coming from their stoves?

webby3650 said:

I can't imagine using the ashpan on a BK. The Ashfords pan design is superior to any ash system I've used so far. And way cleaner!

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I agree, I use mine as well. When one shovels ash, so much gets lifted aloft and into the house. Using the system really contains the ash. I will say that I do miss my VERMONT CASTINGS Encore floor grate (about the only thing I miss ). It naturally allowed the coals to stay on top and the ash to fall through. With the BK, I'm left wishing I had a metal kitty litter scooper to sift some red coals out. The gasket was another thing to worry about though and definitely didn't have the capacity of the BK. All in what's important to you I suppose.

So.... I have to ask the Ashford ash pan users. How exactly do you use it on a hot stove? That plug is hard enough to fool with on a cold stove much less one that has hot coals. If its not reseated correctly you can have a potential overfire. Give me the details. I am assuming u leave the hot ash in the roller basket till they cool. Any worry of CO?

I simply push coals to the back and shovel out what I can into a bucket. Put lid on and take outside.

Calentarse said:

I don't know that a lot can attest to the smoke smell. I've spoken with BKVP about my issue but he said that smoke smells aren't normally affiliated with their stoves.

I understand these stoves are VERY draft sensitive and this stove is worth taking extra steps and spending extra money on lengthening/improving the chimney to see if it'll fix the problem. Absolutely love it if I could just get this issue fixed. I'm also going to be moving my wood pile out into the sun from underneath pine trees and trying to burn even drier wood. I want to know I've done everything I can to make this work.

I'd be interested to hear from Woodstock owners with their stoves on low. Do they get smoke smells coming from their stoves?

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I had a smoke smell problem with my PH when it was new but it was related to an early production door gasket design flaw. Fortunately Woodstock investigated this issue and came up with a fix. I now have no smoke smell what so ever when burning low, and since I live in a somewhat warmer climate I burn on the lowest setting all the time. But I will tell you right now that if Woodstock had not solved that smoke problem, I would not be burning a PH today. No one should have to breathe in smoke smell in their own home no matter what the brand is.

shoot-straight said:

So.... I have to ask the Ashford ash pan users. How exactly do you use it on a hot stove? That plug is hard enough to fool with on a cold stove much less one that has hot coals. If its not reseated correctly you can have a potential overfire. Give me the details. I am assuming u leave the hot ash in the roller basket till they cool. Any worry of CO?

I simply push coals to the back and shovel out what I can into a bucket. Put lid on and take outside.

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Sirocco here - I don't find any issues using it on a hot stove. The end tines on my home brew coal rake fit into the loop on top of the plug. Before I reseat the plug, I run the tines around the edge of the hole to clear the ash and coals away. Pretty easy, with no fears of overfiring. I have no worries of CO.

I think the only difference in the pans between the Ashford and Sirocco ash pans is the roller and removable portions.

Tenn Dave said:

I had a smoke smell problem with my PH when it was new but it was related to an early production door gasket design flaw. Fortunately Woodstock investigated this issue and came up with a fix.

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This interests me. I think I've narrowed the slight smell down to the door gasket on my stove. What was wrong and what did they change to fix the issue?

blueguy said:

This interests me. I think I've narrowed the slight smell down to the door gasket on my stove. What was wrong and what did they change to fix the issue?

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I will put the video Woodstock sent me to solve the PH smoke smell. They also sent me all the necessary materials to make the fix at no cost to me. Hope this gives you some ideas about what might be causing your problem. I know first hand how frustrating this can be. Good luck.



click on the sentence 'watch this video' to go to youtube

Has anyone who has the smoke smell let their stoves go cold then place something like a smoke machine inside it to see where it's leaking? Maybe pull the ash plug and run the cord through the plug hole and seal that up before turning the machine on. Not sure if it would work but I know I've seen similar things be done to find leaky door/window seals in cars.

shoot-straight said:

So.... I have to ask the Ashford ash pan users. How exactly do you use it on a hot stove? That plug is hard enough to fool with on a cold stove much less one that has hot coals. If its not reseated correctly you can have a potential overfire. Give me the details. I am assuming u leave the hot ash in the roller basket till they cool. Any worry of CO?

I simply push coals to the back and shovel out what I can into a bucket. Put lid on and take outside.

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I can find the plug with the provided tool with my eyes shut. I use an ash hoe to rake the ashes down the hole. It works beautifully!

Tenn Dave said:

I will put the video Woodstock sent me to solve the PH smoke smell. They also sent me all the necessary materials to make the fix at no cost to me. Hope this gives you some ideas about what might be causing your problem. I know first hand how frustrating this can be. Good luck.



click on the sentence 'watch this video' to go to youtube

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Interesting. So in essence, they identified that the door gasket wasn't sealing well on the hinge side and corrected it using some flat glass gasket? And the additional bracket is to keep any smoke that does seep through from riding up the trough in the hinge side? Seems like a relatively easy and cheap fix


When I installed my Sirocco, it was noted that the joint in my door gasket was wrapped in what looks to be flat gasket, which I think stiffened that part of the door gasket and is preventing it from sealing properly to the knife edge. Are the Ashford doors, specifically those with the smoke smell, coming with the door gasket joint wrapped like this as well?




In my case, I think the hollow in the door frame is maybe acting the same as the hollow in the PH door WS provided the extra bracket for - it is acting like a small chimney and the smoke is moving up to the top of the door and out, causing difficulty in pinpointing where the leak is coming from. When I reload tonight, I will take a pic of the area I originally thought it was coming from, and what the wrapped area looks like now.

As I said in another thread, the amount of smoke smell in my case is very slight, and doesn't bother us (even though my wife is allergic to smoke as well), so any fix can wait until warmer weather when I can shut down the stove for a day. But at this point, I think I may try a couple things to see if they work or not - apply a strip of glass gasket down the knife edge on the hinge side of the door opening on the firebox a la WS and if that doesn't work, remove that wrap on the gasket and either fluff up the gasket in that area or (depending on what the underside looks like) replace the door gasket in its entirety with a new one.

I'm also intending on a connector pipe rework in the spring / summer as part of the addition of stone veneer behind the stove, so I will also be sealing up the connections at the stove and chimney adapter at the thimble, although most likely with tape gasket and not cement.



Edit: I just stuck my nose as far as I could get it into the hinge side between the door and the forward edge of the side shield. The smoke smell starts at just about where that wrap is. I also noticed the faint trace of a grinded down weld in that spot, where the ends of the flat plate that makes up the knife edge would be joined. I'm now wondering if it's a due to a combination of stiff(er) area in the gasket and the weld not being ground flat enough?

blueguy said:

Interesting. So in essence, they identified that the door gasket wasn't sealing well on the hinge side and corrected it using some flat glass gasket? And the additional bracket is to keep any smoke that does seep through from riding up the trough in the hinge side? Seems like a relatively easy and cheap fix


When I installed my Sirocco, it was noted that the joint in my door gasket was wrapped in what looks to be flat gasket, which I think stiffened that part of the door gasket and is preventing it from sealing properly to the knife edge. Are the Ashford doors, specifically those with the smoke smell, coming with the door gasket joint wrapped like this as well?

In my case, I think the hollow in the door frame is maybe acting the same as the hollow in the PH door WS provided the extra bracket for - it is acting like a small chimney and the smoke is moving up to the top of the door and out, causing difficulty in pinpointing where the leak is coming from. When I reload tonight, I will take a pic of the area I originally thought it was coming from, and what the wrapped area looks like now.

As I said in another thread, the amount of smoke smell in my case is very slight, and doesn't bother us (even though my wife is allergic to smoke as well), so any fix can wait until warmer weather when I can shut down the stove for a day. But at this point, I think I may try a couple things to see if they work or not - apply a strip of glass gasket down the knife edge on the hinge side of the door opening on the firebox a la WS and if that doesn't work, remove that wrap on the gasket and either fluff up the gasket in that area or (depending on what the underside looks like) replace the door gasket in its entirety with a new one.

I'm also intending on a connector pipe rework in the spring / summer as part of the addition of stone veneer behind the stove, so I will also be sealing up the connections at the stove and chimney adapter at the thimble, although most likely with tape gasket and not cement.



Edit: I just stuck my nose as far as I could get it into the hinge side between the door and the forward edge of the side shield. The smoke smell starts at just about where that wrap is. I also noticed the faint trace of a grinded down weld in that spot, where the ends of the flat plate that makes up the knife edge would be joined. I'm now wondering if it's a due to a combination of stiff(er) area in the gasket and the weld not being ground flat enough?

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Nick, these slight smoke smell problems are tough to find and equally tough to find a fix especially when not directly related to a weak draft. But you have identified some interesting leads which just might lead to a solution. Don't give up - keep at it. Good luck.

While reloading tonight, I had a look at the area in question, and I think I may have it narrowed down. I noticed a couple things in particular:

- if you follow the creosote marks down the inside edge of the door opening, you can see that in the area of the gasket wrap, the edge of the mark moves out toward the edge

- there is a large "crinkle" in the inside, top edge of the wrap

- right above the "crinkle", the outer portion of the gasket is pushed into the door channel, sitting just below flush

Based on the pics I've seen of others with the smoke smell in the 30 series fireboxes, the one thing that sticks out at me is that the door gaskets all appear to be scrunched up or out of place in the same area between the hinges.




If you've ever seen the way smoke swirls around when it hits the air wash coming down over the glass, I'm thinking that with the door gaskets out of place in this area, coupled with low stat settings, the air wash turbulence might be working a slight amount of smoke past the gasket. If you add in stoves without the connector pipe sealed to the collar that might be drawing air into the pipe (further reducing draft slightly) that might be a good explanation as to why this is happening.

Potential easy solutions would be to adjust the door gasket between the hinges and seal the connector pipe to the collar. If the smell continues, I think using WS's flat gasket fix along the knife edge on the hinge side would probably help.

If that still doesn't work, then I think BK would need to do some investigation into it with their design.

blueguy said:

While reloading tonight, I had a look at the area in question, and I think I may have it narrowed down. I noticed a couple things in particular:

- if you follow the creosote marks down the inside edge of the door opening, you can see that in the area of the gasket wrap, the edge of the mark moves out toward the edge

- there is a large "crinkle" in the inside, top edge of the wrap

- right above the "crinkle", the outer portion of the gasket is pushed into the door channel, sitting just below flush

Based on the pics I've seen of others with the smoke smell in the 30 series fireboxes, the one thing that sticks out at me is that the door gaskets all appear to be scrunched up or out of place in the same area between the hinges.

If you've ever seen the way smoke swirls around when it hits the air wash coming down over the glass, I'm thinking that with the door gaskets out of place in this area, coupled with low stat settings, the air wash turbulence might be working a slight amount of smoke past the gasket. If you add in stoves without the connector pipe sealed to the collar that might be drawing air into the pipe (further reducing draft slightly) that might be a good explanation as to why this is happening.

Potential easy solutions would be to adjust the door gasket between the hinges and seal the connector pipe to the collar. If the smell continues, I think using WS's flat gasket fix along the knife edge on the hinge side would probably help.

If that still doesn't work, then I think BK would need to do some investigation into it with their design.

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Nice detective work............I hope this solves your problem.

blueguy said:

Potential easy solutions would be to adjust the door gasket between the hinges

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A quick test would be to lay a thin gasket in that area when you close the door. Run it that way and if the smell is gone you can pursue a permanent fix.

If everyone thinks the gasket is the problem, why not just regasket the door? That seems to be the most logical solution don't you think?

I love the Ashford 30. And what do you mean mid season? Spring is on it's way! I've used about 3.3 cords so far. In my old forced air wood furnace I would have used at least 6 cords by now. The house is much warmer too. As to the smoke smell. I don't think many people are getting it at all. You may see a couple of people who post with the problem, but how many thousands aren't posting to tell us they have no problem? People typically only post when they need help fixing a problem. I have had a very faint smoky smell a couple of times. It seems to only happen when I set the stove very low and it's hardly noticeable. Usually if my wife and I go out and it's a little warmer I'll set it pretty low and when we get home we can smell a very faint sweetish smoke smell. If I turn it down when we're home we've never noticed it. I do have double wall pipe and good draft.

The only thing I can see improving is my wood supply! Currently burning 18-23%mc wood. I have about five cords css so far for the future. Three of which have been CSS since last winter. They will have had a good two years seasoning and the other two cords a year and a half. Should get by on the first three cords. Hoping that should bring the MC down below 18%. I look forward to seeing how differently the better seasoned wood will make my ashford perform.

The stove is so good my in laws just bought one and they love it. We installed it two weeks ago. My father in law isn't too happy that he has to cut down 13 cords of css wood that is 23" in length though.