Ashford 30 -2 months old door hinge smoke smell

[aaronk25]

So the pics show the tighter braid to the fiberglass rope gasket than what came new with the unit. I don't have the original mfg of the gasket material but I will get it Monday when the dealer is open. It appears to be a higher quality rope as its more costly to mfg the tighter braids.

But it's pretty obvious from the pic showing the key by the firebox opening and the casting the issue BK is having with getting enough clearance between the two in order to get a wider gasket retainer to work. If they used the same size one as used on the classic stoves I think it would be a better design but that means changing the molds for the casting, which would be costly.

Also with this stove it's important to note its design puts the logs closer to the door than other classic series and that means the rope gasket has a more demanding job right out of the gate.


Let's see how well this lasts but as of now we're going on day 2 of no smoke smell at any setting! Thanks for all the help everyone.



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[Woody Stover]

My dealer ran out of BK door seal and had another mfg door seal there and when compared to a boat rope the BK seal has large webbing/knitting and this Black seal looked like a high end boat rope with very tight knitting.

Great that you are making progress! I don't understand exactly how that Ashford system works from that explanation and the pics, but are you saying you are going to get the OEM replacement gasket and install that? I always use OEM, that way you know you are getting the right stuff. I've never seen any high-density gasket at the farm store, or those bulk rolls at the stove shop.

cruising I end up with this! Picture to follow

Holy Kamoly, that cat is almost white! I would run it lower, like in the medium-orange range, for longevity. But then again, I'm a girlie-man, not an extreme-sports guy; I don't drive a rocket around town, just an old, beat-down Corolla.

 

[aaronk25]

Great that you are making progress! I don't understand exactly how that Ashford system works from that explanation and the pics, but are you saying you are going to get the OEM replacement gasket and install that? I always use OEM, that way you know you are getting the right stuff. I've never seen any high-density gasket at the farm store, or those bulk rolls at the stove shop.
Holy Kamoly, that cat is almost white! I would run it lower, like in the medium-orange range, for longevity. But then again, I'm a girlie-man, not an extreme-sports guy; I don't drive a rocket around town, just an old, beat-down Corolla.

The gasket I Installed is NOT a BK gasket. The BK gasket is 1/2 of the problem. The black gasket is tighter braided and I would speculate it is of higher quality and costs more than the BK gasket.

I would love to use genuine BK parts but preliminary it appears the OEM part is the problem. Look at the picture again compare the black gasket not a BK product and look at the white gasket the 2 month old BK factory gasket. Which one do you think is higher quality??? I'm not saying BK uses some low quality parts, just this gasket appears to be.

Any rope that has a tighter braid is higher quality.





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[WoodyIsGoody]

Any rope that has a tighter braid is higher quality.

I doubt it's as simple as tighter braid = higher quality.

BK has a lot of experience designing high efficiency stoves and knows the importance of superior sealing at the interface of the stove body/door to achieve the longest burn times and efficiencies (especially on catalytic designs. I doubt they tried to save a few cents by compromising a stove selling for thousands of dollars. More likely, they found a tighter braid was not as compliant and could not compress as uniformly when the latch was tightened resulting in more air seepage.

 

[aaronk25]

Sitting here thinking about exchange and the others who have chimed in before me I must say I am disappointed in BK as a company. I logged the problem twice with the dealer and with no help besides giving me a free non-oem gasket to try. No site visit by a tech or contacting BK for support.

So I called BK Corp. and talked to a guy named Chris and he told me there was 8 or so stoves they sold that have been having the same problem with for some time and they have been unable to replicate the problem at their facility. He said their engineering dept always pointed to low draft issues, which obviously I do not have.

Well I'm disappointed in BK because their level of commitment to solving the problem that has repeated with several customers stopped as soon as they couldn't duplicate it in their facility. If you know there is a problem with your product it's unfortunate but it might require shipping the offending stove back or sending a factory engineer to the house of the offending stove to take advantage of the opportunity to troubleshoot the stove in the configuration that is causing the problem so that a engineering design change can take place, improving the product.

2 months ago I bought the best and most likely the most expensive product on the market because I wanted quality and great support if there was issues. This is the reason I spent literally double for this stove when comparing to other products.

This problem is very solvable and instead of sitting here writing a review about how much I love my new Ashford 30.1 I'm sharing a experience that most likely doesn't look encouraging for someone trying to decide which manufacture to buy their next stove from.



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[Woody Stover]

The gasket I Installed is NOT a BK gasket....I would love to use genuine BK parts but preliminary it appears the OEM part is the problem.

OK, I gotcha. I still don't understand this "gasket retainer" you're referring to. Any door gasket I've seen has just been a channel that you put the adhesive in, then you put in the gasket. There are no retainers.
There is a bunch of gasket here...I think they used to have more bulk gasket of all densities on this website, but I can't find those right now... (broken link removed)

BK has a lot of experience designing high efficiency stoves and knows the importance of superior sealing at the interface of the stove body/door....I doubt they tried to save a few cents by compromising a stove selling for thousands of dollars.

Yeah, you would think so, but it appears to me that they have occasionally cut a few corners with regard to materials or R&D, despite the premium prices they charge.
The fact is, the OP is having more success with a different gasket than he did with the original gasket installed on the stove. Need to figure out why.

I logged the problem twice with the dealer and with no help besides giving me a free non-oem gasket to try. No site visit by a tech or contacting BK for support.

Dealers are a mixed bag, from what I have seen on the forum. I don't have a lot of first-hand experience with them, but the couple we have here don't seem all that knowledgeable about their wood heaters, and I would assume about potential installation issues. Maybe they are more concerned with their spa business or whatever else they are making more money on?

2 months ago I bought the best and most likely the most expensive product on the market because I wanted quality and great support if there was issues. This is the reason I spent literally double for this stove when comparing to other products.

So how did you come to the conclusion that this was "the best product on the market?" I didn't come to the same conclusion based on what I've read here. I know with more certainty what to expect as far as quality, durability and functionality from the brands I do have first-hand experience with...
I would certainly agree that they are one of the most expensive. I'm not sure exactly why...

 

[shoot-straight]

Ashford owner here. In fact I got one of the first ones. I had a few bumps in the road. My dealer was worthless. Bk stepped up and has gone above and beyond to try to make me happy. I had the intermittent smoke smell as well. Bk sent me a new gasket and bolts for it. It's not gone 100%, but it's much much better. I do think when you have pressure spikes within the stove (explosions) it pushes out. Also low settings in warm weather. That's draft.

 

[aaronk25]

So if I get rid of this stove, what is the best stove to get with the priority being long burn rates and somthing that is really well engineered? Any suggestions?


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[Woody Stover]

what is the best stove to get with the priority being long burn rates and somthing that is really well engineered?

You're likely to find many folks here that are happy with their stove. But there have been problems with all brands. And different stoves suit a variety of different preferences and different heating needs. Thing is, nobody has run every stove out there and seen 'em all up close to assess their quality, engineering and ease of use; They can only comment on the stoves they have run, and may have no idea what they are missing by having their stove, instead of some others.
You seem to have decent mechanical aptitude; Why not just get the Ashford working and stick with it for now, since you've bought it and have it installed already? In the meantime, you can read up on a variety of other stoves. But I have to warn you, by the time you finally figure it all out, you'll be an old buzzard like the rest of us.

 

[Niko]

Sitting here thinking about exchange and the others who have chimed in before me I must say I am disappointed in BK as a company. I logged the problem twice with the dealer and with no help besides giving me a free non-oem gasket to try. No site visit by a tech or contacting BK for support.

So I called BK Corp. and talked to a guy named Chris and he told me there was 8 or so stoves they sold that have been having the same problem with for some time and they have been unable to replicate the problem at their facility. He said their engineering dept always pointed to low draft issues, which obviously I do not have.

Well I'm disappointed in BK because their level of commitment to solving the problem that has repeated with several customers stopped as soon as they couldn't duplicate it in their facility. If you know there is a problem with your product it's unfortunate but it might require shipping the offending stove back or sending a factory engineer to the house of the offending stove to take advantage of the opportunity to troubleshoot the stove in the configuration that is causing the problem so that a engineering design change can take place, improving the product.

2 months ago I bought the best and most likely the most expensive product on the market because I wanted quality and great support if there was issues. This is the reason I spent literally double for this stove when comparing to other products.

This problem is very solvable and instead of sitting here writing a review about how much I love my new Ashford 30.1 I'm sharing a experience that most likely doesn't look encouraging for someone trying to decide which manufacture to buy their next stove from.



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We all understand your frustration as i had some also when i first got my stove. It takes a while to get used to something and maybe even longer then one would expect especially when your dealer doesnt help. Most dealers Dont want to spend time figuring out problems even when they install em. But you learn the stove better every time you load it and become more efficient at making it work for you. Sorry for your problems but you have fixed it hopefully. The woodstove business is not cut and dry as one would hope, i wish whenever i had a problem someone came over and fixed it. But im happy for a place like this where we get to learn and ask questions about what to do. If you take the time and read around the forum you see that a lot of us BK owners are very happy with what we got and the comany is pretty good. The money you invested will pay itself off sooner then later from all the wood you save from chopping, stacking and loading. I look at it like my time is worth something so the less i have to tend to my stove the more time i have to do something else, like being with me family. This is the first woodstove i ever purchased and hopefully my last. I researched for over 1 year on this site before i got my King.


I know you pissed and mad now but i think with somemore experience with your stove you will understand why you bought it in the first place. You also have a huge group of members on this website that will help you they best they can. Which in my opinion is way better then the so called dealers that sell you the stove.

Its funny cause i can never really get my dollar bill test perfect in all the corners of my door, i don't mess it with that much either. I get 24 burns with a pretty much loose load of wood as i dont perfectly load my logs in like a tetris game and im happy with that. Its up to you what you wanna do, but like I said their tons and tons of pages of guys and girls enjoing the Blaze King products so please take a look and see yourself.

 

[Highbeam]

No other woodstove has performance specs that match the bk. Maybe a pellet stove with a giant hopper?

If bk was no longer a possibility, the next closest brand in terms of performance specs is the Woodstock line.

 

[Ashful]

So if I get rid of this stove, what is the best stove to get with the priority being long burn rates and somthing that is really well engineered? Any suggestions?


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There is no other stove with burn times even remotely similar to BK. To continue your Lamborghini analogy, you push the limits, you're likely to have a few more issues than a Toyota Corolla.

I would be surprised if you cannot find a setting on your BK, where you have a burn rate high enough to avoid smoking, yet not still lower than any other stove. Or put otherwise, do you really believe there is another stove that will run lower in your same installation, without sharing the same problem?

 

[webby3650]

Sitting here thinking about exchange and the others who have chimed in before me I must say I am disappointed in BK as a company. I logged the problem twice with the dealer and with no help besides giving me a free non-oem gasket to try. No site visit by a tech or contacting BK for support.

So I called BK Corp. and talked to a guy named Chris and he told me there was 8 or so stoves they sold that have been having the same problem with for some time and they have been unable to replicate the problem at their facility. He said their engineering dept always pointed to low draft issues, which obviously I do not have.

Well I'm disappointed in BK because their level of commitment to solving the problem that has repeated with several customers stopped as soon as they couldn't duplicate it in their facility. If you know there is a problem with your product it's unfortunate but it might require shipping the offending stove back or sending a factory engineer to the house of the offending stove to take advantage of the opportunity to troubleshoot the stove in the configuration that is causing the problem so that a engineering design change can take place, improving the product.

2 months ago I bought the best and most likely the most expensive product on the market because I wanted quality and great support if there was issues. This is the reason I spent literally double for this stove when comparing to other products.

This problem is very solvable and instead of sitting here writing a review about how much I love my new Ashford 30.1 I'm sharing a experience that most likely doesn't look encouraging for someone trying to decide which manufacture to buy their next stove from.



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First of all I'd say it's your dealer that's lacking here more than BK.
With what other product would the factory send an engineer to your home for a service call or inspection? A refrigerator costs as much a stove these days, they sure ain't sending someone out the house! The dealer should be making a visit to your home, not the manufacturer..
I doubt there is any other stove manufacturer out there except maybe 1 that you could call up and talk to anyone about your problem, especially someone with the experience level of Chris. It would be very advantageous of you to continue in talks with him so this issue can be resolved.

 

[aaronk25]

First of all I'd say it's your dealer that's lacking here more than BK.
With what other product would the factory send an engineer to your home for a service call or inspection? A refrigerator costs as much a stove these days, they sure ain't sending someone out the house! The dealer should be making a visit to your home, not the manufacturer..
I doubt there is any other stove manufacturer out there except maybe 1 that you could call up and talk to anyone about your problem, especially someone with the experience level of Chris. It would be very advantageous of you to continue in talks with him so this issue can be resolved.

I appreciate your comment but I can't agree with the part about the factory not sending someone. In home factory service isn't something that is realistic however when a mfg has several stoves out with a fundamental design flaw that they can't repeat in the factory it's time to go to the treating ground. Maybe they have a customer closer than me that they could evaluate and then ultimately come up with a fix and send their dealer network, or sub-contract a local fab/welding shop to carry out the fix.

If none of the dealers have been able to service this issue it becomes a factory issue.

I can remember several times in my tenure as director of sales where we dispatched factory engineers to go to a customers site to come up with a solution when the problem was out of the dealers capability especially with newer products.

It just comes down to what is the level of commitment to the customer.

And the problem is back, in part, not as bad, but it appears that new gaskets preform better the first couple days but after they get broken in allow some stink by on low. This tells me that the gasket size and most likely retainer system is undersized and it takes a perfect new gasket to make it perform well.

I'll be call king BK today to see what they plan on doing. If they don't want to commit to a fix on this stove they can have this new one back, and give me a different model, I'll even pay more just can't live with this smoke smell.


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[aaronk25]

Does anyone know, that is still following this thread if the BK princess stove has ever had any issues with smoke smell? Anyone ever hear of anyone complaining? That might be my next move if we can't fix this Ashford 30.


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[Ashful]

Does anyone know, that is still following this thread if the BK princess stove has ever had any issues with smoke smell? Anyone ever hear of anyone complaining? That might be my next move if we can't fix this Ashford 30.


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I guess my memory could be flawed (okay, I know it is...), but I believe every smoke smell complaint I've seen in the last two years in which there haven't been obvious and extreme issues with improper installation, have been Ashford 30's.

 

[webby3650]

I appreciate your comment but I can't agree with the part about the factory not sending someone. In home factory service isn't something that is realistic however when a mfg has several stoves out with a fundamental design flaw that they can't repeat in the factory it's time to go to the treating ground. Maybe they have a customer closer than me that they could evaluate and then ultimately come up with a fix and send their dealer network, or sub-contract a local fab/welding shop to carry out the fix.

If none of the dealers have been able to service this issue it becomes a factory issue.

I can remember several times in my tenure as director of sales where we dispatched factory engineers to go to a customers site to come up with a solution when the problem was out of the dealers capability especially with newer products.

It just comes down to what is the level of commitment to the customer.

And the problem is back, in part, not as bad, but it appears that new gaskets preform better the first couple days but after they get broken in allow some stink by on low. This tells me that the gasket size and most likely retainer system is undersized and it takes a perfect new gasket to make it perform well.

I'll be call king BK today to see what they plan on doing. If they don't want to commit to a fix on this stove they can have this new one back, and give me a different model, I'll even pay more just can't live with this smoke smell.


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No manufacturer is going send someone out. This is where your dealer comes into play. If they won't work with, then take it back...

 

[Woody Stover]

Blast you fanboys!

No other woodstove has performance specs that match the bk.

Ah, phooey! Balderdash! Horse hockey! Bull roar!

There is no other stove with burn times even remotely similar to BK.

Whoop-dee-doo! You may like that because you are running two stoves, but it really doesn't amount to a hill of beans to most people that live where they need heat and don't want their furnace coming on. No sir, if you need heat you're not getting a super-long burn no matter what stove you run. The guy lives in Rochester, fer crapsake, not Philly cheese-steak land! Or in Seattle where it's 45+ all the time (except maybe this year, for once.) Heck, even in this leaky house, I'm only loading once every 24 hrs in shoulder season and the temp doesn't vary more than a few degrees.

To continue your Lamborghini analogy, you push the limits, you're likely to have a few more issues

Well, that wasn't his analogy, but it doesn't really apply to a BK anyway; The Lamb goes faster than everything else, the BK goes slower.
@aaronk25, try to get the AshFORD working. Look upon it as a challenge to your deductive mechanical skills. If not, get your money back and put a Woodstock in there, because you are going to appreciate the cleanliness of having a good, grated ash-handling system and it will pay off in less screwing around, much more than having a 30-hr. burn with the output of three candles ever will. And you could spend about a thousand less.

 

[rdust]

Does anyone know, that is still following this thread if the BK princess stove has ever had any issues with smoke smell? Anyone ever hear of anyone complaining? That might be my next move if we can't fix this Ashford 30.


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My Princess would smell on occasion when I dialed it down too low before I installed a flue collar that sealed properly.

 

[tarzan]

I agree with aakron25, there have been enough smoke smell complaints about the Ashford 30 that if BK can't duplicate it in house they should send someone out on a house call or two just too verify what is going on.

Like it or not, Ashford 30's have become known for this issue.

Webby mentioned the experience Chris has. Chris flies all over the United States so if a customer with the smoke smell issue was willing too let him into there home it shouldn't be hard to hook up with a few out of all the areas he would already be visiting over the course of a winter.

 

[webby3650]

I agree with aakron25, there have been enough smoke smell complaints about the Ashford 30 that if BK can't duplicate it in house they should send someone out on a house call or two just too verify what is going on.

Like it or not, Ashford 30's have become known for this issue.

Webby mentioned the experience Chris has. Chris flies all over the United States so if a customer with the smoke smell issue was willing too let him into there home it shouldn't be hard to hook up with a few out of all the areas he would already be visiting over the course of a winter.

If the dealer was worth a damn that could probably be arranged.

 

[webby3650]

Blast you fanboys! Ah, phooey! Balderdash! Horse hockey! Bull roar!
Whoop-dee-doo! You may like that because you are running two stoves, but it really doesn't amount to a hill of beans to most people that live where they need heat and don't want their furnace coming on. No sir, if you need heat you're not getting a super-long burn no matter what stove you run. The guy lives in Rochester, fer crapsake, not Philly cheese-steak land! Or in Seattle where it's 45+ all the time (except maybe this year, for once.) Heck, even in this leaky house, I'm only loading once every 24 hrs in shoulder season and the temp doesn't vary more than a few degrees.
Well, that wasn't his analogy, but it doesn't really apply to a BK anyway; The Lamb goes faster than everything else, the BK goes slower.
@aaronk25, try to get the AshFORD working. Look upon it as a challenge to your deductive mechanical skills. If not, get your money back and put a Woodstock in there, because you are going to appreciate the cleanliness of having a good, grated ash-handling system and it will pay off in less screwing around, much more than having a 30-hr. burn with the output of three candles ever will. And you could spend about a thousand less.

Once again, BKs are no good and Woodstocks will solve all the issues. Hardly...

The fact that a BK can run slow continues to be looked at like that's all it can do. That is not the case, they will absolutely blow you out of the house if needed. The ones who can't make that happen have an extreme situation, -40, mega big stone house, or improperly installed. I can run this 70's ranch up in the 90's with mine, or I can keep it in the 70's even when the outside temps are high, with ease. I don't see how that could ever be a bad thing? I heat 24/7, wether it's super cold, or barely cold and have a comfortable home.

 

[Woody Stover]

Once again, BKs are no good and Woodstocks will solve all the issues.

Not saying that at all, my friend, but the question was the following, and it was met with the same tired replies, which I don't think hold much water:

what is the best stove to get with the priority being long burn rates and somthing that is really well engineered? Any suggestions?

From seeing and using the two Woodstock straight cats, I would say they fill the bill of burning long and being well-engineered. I haven't run one of their hybrids yet, but when I finally get around to putting in an Absolute Steel (sight unseen,) I doubt I'll be disappointed.
It looks like I'm about to get an all-week burn out of my little Keystone...hard to beat that! I'll probably take the opportunity to run a poker through the ash and pull the pan before I fire up again Sat. morning.

 

[Ashful]

Once again, BKs are no good and Woodstocks will solve all the issues. Hardly...

The fact that a BK can run slow continues to be looked at like that's all it can do. That is not the case, they will absolutely blow you out of the house if needed. The ones who can't make that happen have an extreme situation, -40, mega big stone house, or improperly installed. I can run this 70's ranch up in the 90's with mine, or I can keep it in the 70's even when the outside temps are high, with ease. I don't see how that could ever be a bad thing? I heat 24/7, wether it's super cold, or barely cold and have a comfortable home.

Agreed, although I do suspect I was cited as one of your exceptions.

However, if we're going to talk about running on high, the Ashford has a fatal flaw that may not be shared with the King or Princess: the cats seem to clog with ash when the stove is run on higher settings.

Perhaps I was unable to get the combustor fully vacuumed 100% clean (internally) the first time it clogged, although it certainly looked clean from the surface I could view, or perhaps it was actually clean and has completely clogged a second time in a month. I don't know yet, but I have watched my fire go from raging to almost instantly dead the last two nights, when closing my bypass damper on a well-charred load. That has only happened with a plugged cat, in the past. I let the stove go cold today, so I can investigate (again) tonight.

My second Ashford (yes, I have two) always runs at a lower setting, and has not experienced this problem after two seasons of 24/7 operation. Same stove, same install date, same wood, same house, same operator... so it comes down to differences in burn rate and chimney height, as to why one clogs and the other does not.

 

[tarzan]

Agreed, although I do suspect I was cited as one of your exceptions.

However, if we're going to talk about running on high, the Ashford has a fatal flaw that may not be shared with the King or Princess: the cats seem to clog with ash when the stove is run on higher settings.

Perhaps I was unable to get the combustor fully vacuumed 100% clean (internally) the first time it clogged, although it certainly looked clean from the surface I could view, or perhaps it was actually clean and has completely clogged a second time in a month. I don't know yet, but I have watched my fire go from raging to almost instantly dead the last two nights, when closing my bypass damper on a well-charred load. That has only happened with a plugged cat, in the past. I let the stove go cold today, so I can investigate (again) tonight.

My second Ashford (yes, I have two) always runs at a lower setting, and has not experienced this problem after two seasons of 24/7 operation. Same stove, same install date, same wood, same house, same operator... so it comes down to differences in burn rate and chimney height, as to why one clogs and the other does not.

I've never needed to do so, so can't verify but I figure if you could get a light behind the cat without much trouble it would take a lot of the guess work out of cleaning it.