BK Ashford Fan kit

[Shane Collins]

When I bought my stove I asked about the fan kit and the dealer suggested I try it without and if it heats fine then obviously I'm fine without it. Good point I thought. But I do find myself wondering how well the fan kit works on the Ashford.

Can anyone with an Ashford or BK in general tell me how good or bad their fan kit works?

My house is pretty large and I do plan on getting new windows next year which is going to help a lot. I'm planning on having the Ashford as my only heat source and so far it's been working fine. But I feel if it can push the air a little further and make the house slightly more even temperature it might be a good buy?

Any thoughts or suggestions on this? I'm not worried about the cost of the fan, though I'd rather spend the money on something else if the fan isn't going to do much.

Is there any other information I can give you to help give me advice?

Thanks for any help/advice.

 

[webby3650]

I used mine for a while before I got the blowers. I really like the blowers and would suggest them. The Ashford is a convection stove, forcing air through that top makes a big difference.

 

[drz1050]

Do you have a ceiling fan?

 

[webby3650]

Do you have a ceiling fan?

No, but we run a box fan on low at the end of the hallway.

 

[jeff_t]

A mainly convective stove should have a blower, IMO. I use mine all winter long. I get an almost immediate rise on the hallway thermostat when I turn them on, or from low to high. I use a tower fan in the hall, pointed toward the living room.

 

[Highbeam]

One thing I have learned about heating with wood is that sometimes it gets cold and you need to open a can of woodheat whoopass. To do that on a BK, you use the fans. They are very effective.

 

[Shane Collins]

I do have a ceiling fan in my living room where the stove is. I just didn't think it would help much in pushing the air into the bedroom and further corners of the house, maybe I'm wrong though.

Thanks for the replies guys, you've sold me. The dealer told me the fan's aren't too much trouble to install, is this true? anything I should know? I'll probably call them in the next few days to get a fan kit ordered.

Thanks again.

 

[Stump shot]

I have a fan kit on an Ashford 30. I only use it when the temps are in the single digit's or lower and when I need to rapidly warm the house. It does help move warm air into the other rooms of the house also. On installing the fan kit, just take the two plates off the back of the stove and install the fans back on. I believe it is six screws per fan. If the stove is set at 6 inches from the wall it may get a little tight getting them on.

 

[Poindexter]

I got the fan kit on mine, have run the stove with and without the fans.

Install is pretty easy, but there is one kinda non-standard bit for some of the screws and a regular #2 phillips for the others. If one of the kids got you a "30 different screwdriver bit set" for Father's day you got the bit already, its a pretty common one. Once you got the bit it is 8 or ten screws, maybe a fifteen minute job. Much easier with a cold stove, I was leaning on the top pretty hard and holding a flashlight in my mouth to get to some of the screws.

Same as running an ECO fan on a regular box stove, the fan kit does a great job of smoothing out the heat gradient in the room holding the stove. If you got an ECO fan left over from your last stove you can set it front and center on the Ashford, directly over the cat, but it will only spin when the indicator needle on the cat probe is more than a finger width up into active.

I too run a box fan on the floor down the hall pushing cold air towards the stove. I get the bedrooms much warmer when the fan kit on the stove is working with the box fan down the hall on the floor, if I turn the stove fan kit off and leave the box fan on the floor running the bedrooms are noticeably cooler.

There are a few rpm settings where the fan kit is I think louder than it needs to be. They are mostly in the low range. I _think_ what happens is the load on the fans changes as the thermostat opens and closes under influence of the bimetal strip. If I am listening to something quiet and trying to read a book I can either ignore it, turn up the music, or move the rheostat on the fan just a hair to make the buzzing noise go away.

If the stove thermostat is set to 2.0 or higher I don't notice the fan at all.

 

[Shane Collins]

Ok, thanks a lot for the info guys. I'll give them a call or go to the store in the next couple of days and see if they've got one or get it ordered. Sounds like it should help even out the temps a little.

 

[shoot-straight]

I was going to put out a long thread on this exact subject. I got an Ashford. Mine is an alcove install, blowers were mandatory per bk specs. I have run the stove with the fans at all times because i thought i had to. it was keeping the house pretty warm, but the burn times were nowhere near what i thought i would get, and nowhere near what are advertised and experienced here. well, i shut my fan off the other day and threw a few logs on. they burned seemingly forever (in the active zone). i knew that the fans strip heat off the stove, and shorten burn times, but it was simply remarkable. i do not think the ashford is a very good radiant heater (at least compared to my hearthstone) simply because of the cast jacket. it seemed to function fine without the blowers, so i think im going to use them as little as possible.

as chris has said many, many times- each stove setup is different.

 

[Shane Collins]

I was going to put out a long thread on this exact subject. I got an Ashford. Mine is an alcove install, blowers were mandatory per bk specs. I have run the stove with the fans at all times because i thought i had to. it was keeping the house pretty warm, but the burn times were nowhere near what i thought i would get, and nowhere near what are advertised and experienced here. well, i shut my fan off the other day and threw a few logs on. they burned seemingly forever (in the active zone). i knew that the fans strip heat off the stove, and shorten burn times, but it was simply remarkable. i do not think the ashford is a very good radiant heater (at least compared to my hearthstone) simply because of the cast jacket. it seemed to function fine without the blowers, so i think im going to use them as little as possible.

as chris has said many, many times- each stove setup is different.

I'm getting pretty good burns. Lowest temp we've had so far since the install is 16*f at night and that load lasted 18 hours. I'm very happy with the stove, and I know each install is different. I just wanted to know what others think of the fan kit. Are you sure the fans shorten the burn time? I thought I read posts on here saying if anything the get a little more heat out of the stove. I can't see how the fan kit could shorten the burn time.

 

[shoot-straight]

yes i am sure they shorten burn time. on mine, its very significant. like in half.

 

[Shane Collins]

I'm surprised it shortens the burn time so much. I still think I'll get the blowers, I'll see how it works for me. Could be I just use them on the cold cold days where I need a little more heat pushed out. Thanks for the help.

 

[Quentin2]

I would not be able to heat my whole house without blowers simply put. I comfortably do with blowers.
For my situation my burn times are not cut in half, I'd have to try it again to know exactly.

 

[Highbeam]

The stat does its job of increasing burn rate to maintain stove temps. The fact that running fans cuts burn time way down proves two things. That your stat is working and that the blowers are extracting major heat from the stove. Both good. The real question is whether to run the fans on high with a low stat setting or to run the fans on low with a higher stat setting.

 

[shoot-straight]

One other thing. I can't seem to run my stove much below 2 with the fans on. It will stall. Without the fan, I had it down by 1 with no issues with cat stalling.

 

[webby3650]

I was going to put out a long thread on this exact subject. I got an Ashford. Mine is an alcove install, blowers were mandatory per bk specs. I have run the stove with the fans at all times because i thought i had to. it was keeping the house pretty warm, but the burn times were nowhere near what i thought i would get, and nowhere near what are advertised and experienced here. well, i shut my fan off the other day and threw a few logs on. they burned seemingly forever (in the active zone). i knew that the fans strip heat off the stove, and shorten burn times, but it was simply remarkable. i do not think the ashford is a very good radiant heater (at least compared to my hearthstone) simply because of the cast jacket. it seemed to function fine without the blowers, so i think im going to use them as little as possible.

as chris has said many, many times- each stove setup is different.

I really doubt the blowers are shortening your burn times. I assume you mean the thermometer falls into the inactive zone way sooner if the fans are on? My also does that, I added a small brass bushing between the inner top and cast top to shield it while the fans are on. It helps some. The blower cools off the therm giving an inaccurate reading I think.

 

[Rickb]

One thing I have learned about heating with wood is that sometimes it gets cold and you need to open a can of woodheat whoopass. To do that on a BK, you use the fans. They are very effective.

I agree with this 100%. I run fan less, 75%. But when I need the heat fast or its really cold out the fans make it a heating machine....

 

[shoot-straight]

Nope. My clock doesn't lie. Logic doesn't either

By stripping heat off the stove you cool it. Stat opens, let's more air in and burns more wood. Pretty simple actually.
Same phenomenon is the reason I am having trouble with lower settings with the fan.

 

[Rickb]

I really doubt the blowers are shortening your burn times. I assume you mean the thermometer falls into the inactive zone way sooner if the fans are on? My also does that, I added a small brass bushing between the inner top and cast top to shield it while the fans are on. It helps some. The blower cools off the therm giving an inaccurate reading I think.

I can say for 100% sure if I run my fans it shortens the burn time.

 

[Dieselhead]

One other thing. I can't seem to run my stove much below 2 with the fans on. It will stall. Without the fan, I had it down by 1 with no issues with cat stalling.

Does it actually stall or do the fans cool down the cat temp indicator making you think it stalled?

 

[webby3650]

Nope. My clock doesn't lie. Logic doesn't either

By stripping heat off the stove you cool it. Stat opens, let's more air in and burns more wood. Pretty simple actually.
Same phenomenon is the reason I am having trouble with lower settings with the fan.

Sounds like you've got everything all figured out!

 

[webby3650]

I got the fan kit on mine, have run the stove with and without the fans.

Install is pretty easy, but there is one kinda non-standard bit for some of the screws and a regular #2 phillips for the others. If one of the kids got you a "30 different screwdriver bit set" for Father's day you got the bit already, its a pretty common one. Once you got the bit it is 8 or ten screws, maybe a fifteen minute job. Much easier with a cold stove, I was leaning on the top pretty hard and holding a flashlight in my mouth to get to some of the screws.

Same as running an ECO fan on a regular box stove, the fan kit does a great job of smoothing out the heat gradient in the room holding the stove. If you got an ECO fan left over from your last stove you can set it front and center on the Ashford, directly over the cat, but it will only spin when the indicator needle on the cat probe is more than a finger width up into active.

I too run a box fan on the floor down the hall pushing cold air towards the stove. I get the bedrooms much warmer when the fan kit on the stove is working with the box fan down the hall on the floor, if I turn the stove fan kit off and leave the box fan on the floor running the bedrooms are noticeably cooler.

There are a few rpm settings where the fan kit is I think louder than it needs to be. They are mostly in the low range. I _think_ what happens is the load on the fans changes as the thermostat opens and closes under influence of the bimetal strip. If I am listening to something quiet and trying to read a book I can either ignore it, turn up the music, or move the rheostat on the fan just a hair to make the buzzing noise go away.

If the stove thermostat is set to 2.0 or higher I don't notice the fan at all.

I think every screw on a BK is a #2 square head.
Where is the buzzing humm coming from? You could have a fan out of balance. Or possibly a shroud is loose? Mine are loud on high, but I have no buzzing or vibrating sounds.

 

[shoot-straight]

Sounds like you've got everything all figured out!

No, still learning. But this I'm pretty sure of hence my language. Of you took offense, I aplogize. I watch my stove very carefully. Still have a long way to go to be able to operate it at 100%. That's why I'm on here. To learn and share what I learn.