Ashford 20.2 repair project

[tabner]

I was going to post in the general 22/23 BK thread, but my guess is I’ll end up with a string of questions over the next few weeks so I’d just have a self-contained thread here.
I picked up a new/used Ashford today. It’s stamped June of 2020, never been fired. Internals are all smoke/soot free, masking tape still on the cat, etc. it somehow ended up in an auction in New Hampshire, the guy I bought it from picked it up at auction, didn’t really know what a Cat stove is but thought he could make a few bucks on it, and it sat in his storage compartment for a year until he got around to selling it. It had a broken leg when he got it, so I’m guessing it was damaged during transit and the dealer dumped it at auction. I took off the sides and top and inspected everything and I think all looks good. I need to order a new rear leg, bypass handle (missing) and cat probe (missing). My first couple questions are: - the little silver metal piece pictured below I found loose inside the bypass chamber, I think it’s just a piece of packaging, chuck in the garbage? - the thermostats housing box is somewhat loose, or I should say the bead of sealant is degraded. Should I reseal this? What with?

 

[stoveliker]

Congrats. Treasures ARE found these days - just in different places.

I think I remember that piece of metal is a deflector for behind the cat.

Download the manual (not the brochure) from the BK site, I think it's in the drawings there.

@BKVP?

 

[BKVP]

You are correct, it is a rear baffle hangs behind cat.

 

[tabner]

Thanks. I got the baffle hung in the right spot. And i found another thread where BKVP explained the process for sealing Thermostat housing back on - got some High Temp RTV on order.
Will get the other parts on order today. Not sure if I'll get to try it out this season, or be waiting until November. But I'm sure i'll be back here looking for some more guidance before then

 

[stoveliker]

Is the wood you have dry?
You're not new here, so you will know, and I am not trying to be an a-hole. It's just that most folks only realize that BKs really like their food dry when they get to give it dry food....

If not ideal, get some softwood split, off the ground, covered now as that may be good next season.

 

[tabner]

Is the wood you have dry?
You're not new here, so you will know, and I am not trying to be an a-hole. It's just that most folks only realize that BKs really like their food dry when they get to give it dry food....

If not ideal, get some softwood split, off the ground, covered now as that may be good next season.

yes, thank you, no offense taken. Yes, i have heated with my GM60 for two winters now. Although it's a "Hybrid" stove it does have the Cat, and i would say it is very picky about dry wood. Anything that's not super dry i get backpuffing and poor heat output and smoke roll out...it sucks.
I've definitely changed the way i stack and store wood. I have wood that's been split and stacked for 4 or more years, but i've learned if it's Oak under tarps, that isn't good enough. This year is either going to be a full blown wood shed, or i may end up doing single row stacks with tin metal on top. But yeah, no more multiple rows stacked tight together and covered in tarps. The dryer the better as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Highbeam]

I wonder why the thermostat was removed. It would also take a pretty big impact to knock that baffle off of the hangers.

 

[tabner]

The thermostat doesn’t appear to have ever been completely removed. Most of the seal is still holding, but portions of it are falling off. The stoves definitely been loaded/moved several times in its life. I’m guessing either dropped or tipped. Every time they moved it they were wrapping straps under it and just lifting with a backhoe, causing some flex/distortion in those back tin metal shroud pieces, I’m thinking that probably put a little pressure/torque on the thermostat box seating.
I took off the top of the stove and both side panels and the ash drawer and examined the steel firebox as much as possible, all welds and seams look perfect as far as I can see.

 

[stoveliker]

Ok. When you burn, carefully look at how controllable it is, and post pics of any strange flames or creosote in the firebox.

Also, I'd first burn it on the driveway with 6-8 ft of stove pipe to burn off the paint smell.

 

[tabner]

If I light up outside to cure the paint and burn the fumes off before installing in the house, how much stove pipe do I need on the stove? Unfortunately I just don’t have any excess pipe laying around at the moment. Seems a waste to buy a 4’ piece just to scrap it.

 

[tabner]

Just above my stove top i have a 12"-18" adjustable length of double wall Selkirk. It has a probe thermometer in it, plus the three small screws that secure the pipe at it's adjusted length. The probe thermometer hole does pierce both layers of double wall. The three small screws are only the outer layer. When I switch out my stove it's likely these holes will not line up again. Am I OK to reuse this piece of adjustable Selkirk? I'll reuse the exterior probe hole, and drill a new probe hole in the internal pipe layer, most likely the existing internal pipe hole will be covered up if I rotate the pipe an inch.

 

[Highbeam]

Just above my stove top i have a 12"-18" adjustable length of double wall Selkirk. It has a probe thermometer in it, plus the three small screws that secure the pipe at it's adjusted length. The probe thermometer hole does pierce both layers of double wall. The three small screws are only the outer layer. When I switch out my stove it's likely these holes will not line up again. Am I OK to reuse this piece of adjustable Selkirk? I'll reuse the exterior probe hole, and drill a new probe hole in the internal pipe layer, most likely the existing internal pipe hole will be covered up if I rotate the pipe an inch.

I've reused pipe as you describe. If your probe was in the overlap then you actually drilled through four layers of metal.

 

[tabner]

Thanks highbeam. It looks like the pipe was stretched to the full 18”, so the probe hole was only through two layers. The Ashford is about half an inch lower, and I don’t like how sparse/light the adjustable overlap is so I ordered a 6” solid length of selkirk double to bring it up higher, and then I’ll have significantly more overlap on the adjustable piece. Preston trading post got in my new parts two days ago so I’m good to go now (one part they shipped me wrong, but it’s just cosmetic). Got the stoves swapped out on my own (floor jack and four of the little 3-wheel dollies from harbor freight). Cleaned the whole chimney. Unfortunately stuck waiting for my piece of selkirk before I fire up this week

 

[stoveliker]

Looks great!

 

[tabner]

Couldn't help myself (we have a storm coming in tonight/tomorrow so I wanted to make sure I had wood heat available). I sat the stove up on some .375" thick tile pieces and was able to re-use all the existing Selkirk screw holes. Been running the stove since 8am. Obviously it's early to give a thorough review, but so far I love it. Being able to open the front door while the fire is burning, or on the initial light off I followed the manual specifically with the 'light up a bunch of kindling then open the door and load wood on top' instructions, is awesome. With the GM60 I had to be very cautious when I opened that door, anything other than just glowing coals at the end of a burn and I'd get a huge and steady plume of smoke in the house. Even in the morning on the relight the GM60 would spew fly ash all around the room while you raked coals - the bypass location on the Ashford is superb. I'm having no problem keeping the flue temps at a steady 350/400, and getting zero smoke out of the chimney. The Ashford lights off great and gets the flue up to temp much faster than the old stove. Turn the thermostat down and stove oscillates between no flames and flames very smooth, no back puffing like the GM60 wanted to do. Flame is incredibly sensitive to the thermostat adjustments, which I like, makes you feel in control of the fire.

So far just annoyed the stove's initial paint curing/oil burning break in has been terrible. Smoked/stank up the whole house. Much better now. Hoping it goes away 100% soon though, as the thoughts of "ashford creosote smoke smell in house" threads floats around in the back of my mind.
I did notice the one time i opened to reload, the door gasket was wanting to stick to the knife edge a bit. I opened it slow and it stayed seated fine on the door, but i could see it pulled out just a bit. Can i dab some high temp RTV on the back of that gasket next time the stove is cool? just to ensure it doesn't pull off completely?

 

[tabner]

Man, this stove is boring!! 😂 you fill it up and walk away, and every time I come back to check - the flue temp, stove top temp, Cat Temp, and Room Temp are all the exact same.... But seriously, loading this thing up, opening the door with no smoke, new load takes right off, cat glows all the time, thermostat works great, overall this thing is awesome.
Still gives off a faint hot metal smell, I'm hoping dissipates. Also remains to be seen how well the BTU output at the high end works for my specific setup as far as heating the upstairs and during very cold weather. Worst case i think i'll have to buy the fan kit.

 

[stoveliker]

Welcome to the (spoiled) club.

 

[moresnow]

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