Ashford 25 Insert - New Install/Operating Concerns

[slodo]

We just had a new BK Ashford 25 installed and the installers seemed knowledgeable and did a good job with the install from what I could tell. I had asked for a block-off plate and they said they couldn't fashion one with metal, but they noted that the previous installer just left the flue opening entirely uninsulated. They happily stuffed the flue opening extremely full with rockwool to seal the airflow. They inspected the SS liner and discovered it wasn't insulated for the final 5-6ft before the chimney cap. So they were thorough and seemed far more trustworthy than the previous installers.

The new insert is up and running since Friday and of course there is a learning curve involved here, but I have studied these inserts and read through a plethora of forum posts to understand how to operate it. I have read the instructions several times for both the Starting A Fire and the Reloading techniques. I have used my top-shelf reserve red oak that has been dried and covered for over 5yrs and was producing boiling hot heat in the Quadrafire Grand Voyager insert that was replaced with this BK Ashford 25.

The problems that I have immediately noted are the following:

1. Very Loose Door Gasket On side with the Door Handle

• ~60% of the side with the handle fails the dollar bill test, and it falls out quite easily with almost no resistance
• I had asked the installer if he had checked and he said he did the dollar-bill test, which clearly he didn't test this critical area
• He also said that the door has been adjusted at the factory and that it'll take awhile for the gasket to break-in before it seals better?
  • I find this statement to make little sense, as the gasket from factory should be at it's tightest/stiffest
  • Perhaps he's referring to the gasket on the other side of the door and when that becomes looser the portion near the door is expected to become tighter?
  • Regardless, he recommended not adjusting the door because other customer had over-firing issue after adjusting their door tighter

2. Jamming Bypass Door/Slide After Heat-up

• Opening the bypass door has been difficult since Friday
• The first fire it was able to open up, but required tremendous force to get open and even more to push back in
• After 2 or 3 fires, the bypass door is no longer able to be opened after the stove heats up
• The knob that you push/pull goes up and under the edge of the shroud, which is where it gets stuck after you start the fire
• Seems like an alignment problem and when the heat expands the metal, it becomes inoperable
• This makes it impossible to follow the actual Starting A Fire instructions in the manual

3. Thermostat Plate Doesn't Move When Adjusting Temperature Control

• I don't know if this is expected behavior, but I suspect it is not
• I watched this video from the BK factory where they review the Ashford 25 and show the thermostat
• The steel plate on the thermostat in the above video is loose and moves freely; when opening it, it returns to perfectly horizontal
• When I took my shroud off, I discovered my thermostat plate is stuck open at ~30 degrees and does not close
• It does not move freely and there is clearly something there that is keeping it from moving freely
• When moving the temperature rod, if I open the entire way, this plate opens to 30 degrees, but does not return when turning the temperature back down
• This essentially keeps it open 30 degrees from horizontal at all times

4. Burn Times and Heat Output

• Let's just say that I am extremely disappointed with this insert at the moment and my decision to go with BK over the QF/Osburn non-cat inserts
• Not only does it barely keep my home warm, it chews through my wood faster than my old non-cat insert by 3X
• I am loading it full to the brim, which represents almost a days worth of wood anyhow on my old QF insert
• It only puts out useful heat for the first few hours until it becomes so cool that the temps in the room begin to drop
• The flames are seemingly too wild at the lowest temperature setting (potentially due to thermostat plate issue?)
• I have managed a few 8hr+ burns, but as stated above, it is not usable heat after a few hours and just basically keeping some hot coals

I fully expect everyone to start questioning the wood MC and the loading techniques, and I will gladly answer them. However, I am certainly not new to burning a wood stove insert and operating air controls and learning how to fine-tune a burn with air control etc.

I will post some pictures/video in a follow-up post of a full load, the thermostat, inoperable bypass etc.