Another question about Ashford Blaze King

[Ashful]

Would 24/7 heating for 4-6 months of the year be considered "hard core"?

Depends. I suspect I put more wood thru my stoves in that time, than Highbeam does in 9 months.

True "hard core" was when I burned thru a full cord of poplar in one Jotul Firelight in 8 days. Not very productive, but it felt like work.

 

[Highbeam]

I see no spread between my cat experience and the expected cat life from the cat manufacturer. Its crazy how accurate they are about this. I see a pretty huge spread between my experience and what bk seems to expect. Actually, bk makes no statement about this do they? Does bk specify hours of expected cat life anywhere? The 10 year warranty is not applicable to normal wear any more from what I can tell.

Real life experience is what we’re talking about here. My data points all line up with the rated life from the cat manufacturer.

As ashful points out, I’m not hardcore. Just run my bk for 9 months each year on a very low average burn rate. Perfect application of cat technology.

Perhaps the issue is defining a dead cat. When my cats have died there was an obvious and exponentially increasing loss of low end capability, lots of smoke, and increased fuel consumption.

Maybe rather than being hardcore burners, we are hypersensitive to reduced performance and smoke when compared to average burners. I am happy to spend 200$ every other year for the pleasure of running a low output, long burntime, low emission, highly efficient, stove. 10 years is not even close to my reality.

My cat is active right now after loading 20 hours ago!

 

[rdust]

My first cat lasted 5 seasons, I’m on my second with the replacement. While it’s still staying active with decent heat production I’m getting a lot more smoke than I’m used to when the t-stat opens during the early part of the burn.(I’ll post about that in the performance thread at some point)

 

[bholler]

Heavy usage? Nah, some of us burn 9 months of the year or 50% more. Cat life expectancy is rated by the cat manufacturer at 10-12 thousand hours. That’s “active” time whether the stove is running low or high. I personally have worn out just two cats in my princess and can confirm the 10-12k life expectancy. It’s not just bk but Woodstock too, the combustor technology is consistent.

Warranty is an odd issue. I would not be surprised if you run into trouble getting a free cat in the future as some recent posts from bkvp seemed to indicate that the warranty was not meant to cover normal wear and tear.

Regardless, you will save enough money in fuel costs to pay for cats much faster than you can wear them out so it’s a good deal.

I am curious why you say fuel savings will pay for the cat?

 

[Highbeam]

I am curious why you say fuel savings will pay for the cat?

In my experience my wood consumption dropped from 5 to 4 cords per year when moving from a noncat hearthstone heritage to the bk at the same home. That is partially due to efficiency and partially due to better temperature control. Real life reports of similar fuel use reductions were one of the reasons I upgraded to the bk.

Firewood sells for 250 per cord in my market. So I save 500$ per two years and a new cat is just 186$.

That’s my logic anyway. There have been several folks that have upgraded to bk stoves from noncats and this 20% reduction is very common.

 

[bholler]

In my experience my wood consumption dropped from 5 to 4 cords per year when moving from a noncat hearthstone heritage to the bk at the same home. That is partially due to efficiency and partially due to better temperature control. Real life reports of similar fuel use reductions were one of the reasons I upgraded to the bk.

Firewood sells for 250 per cord in my market. So I save 500$ per two years and a new cat is just 186$.

That’s my logic anyway. There have been several folks that have upgraded to bk stoves from noncats and this 20% reduction is very common.

Ok i thought you were referring to gas for saws splitters etc which made no sense to me at all. But yes if wood is 250 per cord near you you are probably right for most people with a bk. Some of the other cat stoves i doubt it.

 

[Highbeam]

Ok i thought you were referring to gas for saws splitters etc which made no sense to me at all. But yes if wood is 250 per cord near you you are probably right for most people with a bk. Some of the other cat stoves i doubt it.

I’ve been buying log loads the last couple of years (dump trucks 5 cords at a time) and even that is no less than 120 per cord. So 240 per cat not including processing costs.

The point is that for me even at just 10,000 hours per cat it’s still worth the cost in pure savings.

 

[bholler]

I’ve been buying log loads the last couple of years (dump trucks 5 cords at a time) and even that is no less than 120 per cord. So 240 per cat not including processing costs.

The point is that for me even at just 10,000 hours per cat it’s still worth the cost in pure savings.

Wow i can get log loads for around $50 a cord.

 

[Ashful]

Wow i can get log loads for around $50 a cord.

Yeah, but you live in the mid-Atlantic, where we don’t deliver log loads via Prius.

 

[Calentarse]

To the OP about the top. I painted my first BK tan and now how an enamel white Ashford so I have always removed the top to do anything on them. It's easy to remove, just lift off. Gotta set it somewhere where it cool off though cause it's iron and obviously very hot if you're stove is on. Heat rolls off way faster with it off. When it's the dead of winter, I remove it on super cold nights if I need to because I don't have the blowers. Hope that helps.

 

[Ashful]

I see no spread between my cat experience and the expected cat life from the cat manufacturer. Its crazy how accurate they are about this.

I have 3 seasons on one cat, and I’m just about ready to replace it. I’m definitely over 10,000 hours, probably pretty close to 15,000 hours, if I had to guess. It’s still working, but it drops out of active more easily than it did, when new.

However, the combustor in my other stove has very similar hours on it, and it’s still working like new. I only burn half as many cords per year in this stove, but the hours burned is only slightly less, as I’m burning at half the rate in this stove.

You’re burning a different stove, at a different rate, in a different climate, so I’m not sure what comparison we can make. However, it does appear to me that it’s not as simple as “hours burned”, there is some total cordage dependency, in cat life.

... and yes, I agree that defining “end of life” is ambiguous. So ambiguous as to make putting a number on the hours pretty difficult, without having some means to actually measure the combustor’s performance.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, but you live in the mid-Atlantic, where we don’t deliver log loads via Prius.

Lots of serious logging equipment in the Pac NW and still log loads are expensive.

 

[Ashful]

Lots of serious logging equipment in the Pac NW and still log loads are expensive.

I was just kidding, of course. Why is the pricing so high? Low local demand suppressing the number of firewood sellers? Seems you would have no supply side problem.

 

[begreen]

It's what the market will bear. Heavy equipment operators get good pay and diesel is expensive here. In more rural locations the pricing is better.

 

[Highbeam]

And remember we’re talking about low btu woods here like fir, alder, some maple. We have a healthy lumber industry that buys these saw logs and a healthy paper industry that buys the uglier stuff. I suppose demand is high so prices stay high?

Most of the forests are owned by a few huge timber companies that contract the logging so the logger doesn’t actually own the logs on his truck.

The equipment that delivers logs to homes is usually construction based. Since most log trucks aren’t self loaders it’s not easy to deliver logs to a home.

 

[bholler]

And remember we’re talking about low btu woods here like fir, alder, some maple. We have a healthy lumber industry that buys these saw logs and a healthy paper industry that buys the uglier stuff. I suppose demand is high so prices stay high?

Most of the forests are owned by a few huge timber companies that contract the logging so the logger doesn’t actually own the logs on his truck.

The equipment that delivers logs to homes is usually construction based. Since most log trucks aren’t self loaders it’s not easy to deliver logs to a home.

Yeah it it totally different here there are allot of owner operators or small companies with a few trucks hauling logs here. We get tri axle log truck loads anwhere from 300 to 650 depending on the species. You can get a load of ash now that is 7 to 8 cord for around 300. I just paid 550 for a load of white oak and hickory.

 

[Happy Stacker]

We get tri axle log truck loads anwhere from 300 to 650 depending on the species. You can get a load of ash now that is 7 to 8 cord for around 300. I just paid 550 for a load of white oak and hickory.

Wish I could get those prices. Around here wood is money...

Description
Truck loads of firewood for sale approx. 8 cord per load mixed hardwood. $1200 or poplar $800 a load delivered 6133953748

 

[bholler]

Wish I could get those prices. Around here wood is money...

Description
Truck loads of firewood for sale approx. 8 cord per load mixed hardwood. $1200 or poplar $800 a load delivered 6133953748

Wow $100 a cord for poplar i dont take it for free

 

[Ashful]

Wish I could get those prices. Around here wood is money...

Description
Truck loads of firewood for sale approx. 8 cord per load mixed hardwood. $1200 or poplar $800 a load delivered 6133953748

$1200 per 8 cords of mixed hardwoods works out to about 0.65 cents per kBTU. We pay about 1.7 cents per kBTU for oil, so cost per BTU is still favoring the stove, unless your average efficiency is really bad.

 

[Diabel]

$1200 per 8 cords of mixed hardwoods works out to about 0.65 cents per kBTU. We pay about 1.7 cents per kBTU for oil, so cost per BTU is still favoring the stove, unless your average efficiency is really bad.

Then add your labour hrs

 

[BKVP]

Then add your labour hrs

That's labor...

 

[Happy Stacker]

That's labor...

Not up here neighbour...lol

 

[Cast Iron]

Same $$$ here: good green hardwood CSD is now $250/cord ( real cord ). Log loads run $1-1200. for 10 hardwood cords or so. Never poplar or softwoods.
Ashful with his 18 wood stoves, oil furnace, and multi open fireplaces has to be a Wily Coyote in the winter running around loading, stacking, cleaning ash, adjusting thermostats all over that McMansion. Too much to contemplate. I'm sweating just thinking about the poor guy.

 

[maple1]

Wow $100 a cord for poplar i dont take it for free

I used to feel the same way. But a couple years ago I cut one up that had fallen into a road - since I and it were right there anyway. I am just burning some of it now, and I must say it's doing better than I expected. It certainly doesn't have the BTUs of hard maple or whatever, but seems as good as white birch or white maple. Which I use quite a bit of. So I won't drive past a decent poplar chance any more. Actually, I don't drive past decent chances of anything much any more. If it's right there & easy to get at & put up, it's usually going in my stacks. Unless it's rotten. Making a new fire every day means a good mix in the stack makes lighting up easier.

 

[Ashful]

Then add your labour hrs

I never do that. Aside from the fact that it takes time away from my family, I actually enjoy the work, and it’s a good excuse to not be in the house helping with that cleaning and laundry. And what hourly rate would I even figure it on, if I’m salaried and overtime exempt?