Blaze King Ashford 25 Insert Review

[BronxMatt]

I’ve had the Ashford 25 installed for about a month and a half now and so I wanted to share my impressions so far. I’ve learned a TON from this forum and its members. I hope folks find this review helpful.

Overall, the Blaze King Ashford 25 insert is amazing! My only other experience with wood burning stoves was a Vermont Castings Defiant from the late 70s. It is still in use today at my father’s house. Needless to say, the technology in these stoves has come a long way. I chose Blaze King because they seemed to be leaders in the field, had a strong reputation on this forum, and made several stoves that met the EPA requirements.

Here are the things I really like about the Ashford 25 Insert:

1. They really can go 25 hours on a single load. I was doubtful at first, especially since I’d only known a stove from the late 70s, but I’m a believer now. The stove really can maintain a low temperature over a long period of time. This has been great for us especially since its been a mild winter so far.
2. I mean, its just a gorgeous stove. I’m usually not one for aesthetics, but I can’t help but appreciate the look of this stove. It's simple and classic. The viewing window is huge and cleans up nicely with a hot fire.
3. I’m impressed by the control. I figured with a modern stove there would be more ways to manipulate the fire. This stove just has one gauge and its all I need. It took some time to get to know the dynamics of my stove. Unique factors like climate, fuel, chimney length and draftiness of my home mean I needed to get comfortable with how the stove would react to different settings–but I have a good sense at this point. Most of the impact comes in the lowest settings part of the range.

Here are the things that I haven’t liked as much:

1. It was shipped with two corner trims for the same corner. There should be one for the upper left corner and one for the upper right. I notified the dealer and provided the serial number. He has contacted Blaze King but I still have not received the correct part.
2. The door only opens to about 80 degrees. Its no biggie, but I’d prefer it if it opened wider.
3. The temperature gauge for the cat is on the lower left corner. I guess it made some sense to put this near the control dial, but since my stove is installed at floor level, it isn’t easy to see the gauge. Good news is I do a burpee each time I want to check the temperature .
4. I’ve had some issues with the flapper that controls the air intake. At 3 different times it has gotten stuck in the fully open position even though I turned down the dial. I popped off the lower plate and observed that the metal flap was catching on the wall. I tapped it with my finger and it went down to the correct level. I would strongly suggest keeping the appropriate allen key near the stove at all times so that you can quickly remove the lower panel to access these controls. I’d even say Blaze King should supply one to keep handy. Also, there is a lip meant to catch the ash below the door and above the metal panel that covers the air control. It does its purpose in catching ash, but it doesn’t seal to the fireplace frame and so ash can fall back through a slit and land on the air control mechanism. I believe this may be causing the air flapper to catch on the wall.
5. My guess is that this will happen with any stove, but I was surprised by how much smoke the stove gave off as I slowly cooked in the paint. After I installed the stove I learned that some people light an initial fire in their stove when its still on the driveway to get through the worst of the smoke. I wish I’d read that helpful hint before I installed it, but maybe this hint will find a reader at the right time.
6. When I picked up my stove at the dealer, it was still crated. As we were taking it out, the store rep noted that the quality of the packaging is not too great. He mentioned that Blaze King (like most companies I’m guessing) outsourced packaging and delivery. The result is lower quality care in delivery. When we finished unpacking the stove we noticed some places on the corners where the paint had been scratched. Thankfully the rep had some black paint and a steady hand and was able to have it looking perfect again. This is just to say that you should always look over the stove closely when it arrives.

Looking back on my review I can’t help but notice that the negatives outnumber the positives, and so I want to stress again that I’m very happy with this stove! I should also emphasize that the weight of those first 3 positives has a much bigger impact on my experience than the negatives. If I had to do it all again, I’d 100% buy the Ashford 25–no hesitation and no regrets.

 

[stoveliker]

Letting @BKVP know about points of possible improvement.

Useful write up, thanks!

 

[BKVP]

Letting @BKVP know about points of possible improvement.

Usefulness write up, thanks!

Thank you...I'll look into shroud corner trim issue...

BKVP

 

[broadhead]

Great reading your review. I have been reading this site a lot but have not posted yet. I would like to share my reviews as well. I installed my Ashford 25 Jan 23, so about a month ago as well. I too am extremely pleased. My door opens the full 90 but it does swing back shut and stops at 80. Doesn't bother me too much but it is a thing as you mentioned. Took some messing around to figure out the air control and how to work the cat. This being my first year burning an insert and moving into my first home, I am picking through the best of my wood to get the best output of the stove. Much of the dead standing locust I cut down on my property splits and reads around 15% MC at room temp but I mix in some stuff around 20% that includes cherry, oak, or soft stuff. Probably have burned some wetter stuff too on accident. With a 25 ft chimney with two bends in the flue near the fireplace opening, I get great draft. I was pushing the stove hard initially but began turning it back to lengthen burns. The result, similar temps in the basement, less wood, and less coaling. It brings my 900 sq ft basement with adjacent garage up to mid 70s. I was hoping to heat my upstairs with it but I see that below 35 the boiler still runs. I am turning down just above where the dial stops (marked optimum range with a silver sharpie.) I have seen 14 hour active cat range burns with sufficient heat in the basement during that time. I have seen well over 24 hour burns as well but losing reliable heat somewhere after 14 hours. Totally a great stove and wish I could have put another one upstairs but it won't fit. Wanted to put a princess insert in upstairs too but my hearth is too pretty to have to extend and alter. Settled with a Kuma for upstairs and am installing tomorrow. I am trying to talk my father into a BK PI29 or AF25 for his masonry fireplace.

 

[Jedi]

@BronxMatt @broadhead thanks for the review. Do your A25 cat meter/guage go to inactive zone when it is clearly active and glowing? My dealer/installer said this is normal, but I don't really believe this. I think mine is faulty. It's a pain for reloading because if the cat isn't glowing I don't know to close the bypass immediately or wait 20-30min.

What size home are you heating? The longest burn I got once was about 13hrs heating about 1300sqft single story (living area since I close all rooms off). But I do have vaulted cielings with various skylights that I know loose a lot of heat.

 

[BKVP]

@BronxMatt @broadhead thanks for the review. Do your A25 cat meter/guage go to inactive zone when it is clearly active and glowing? My dealer/installer said this is normal, but I don't really believe this. I think mine is faulty. It's a pain for reloading because if the cat isn't glowing I don't know to close the bypass immediately or wait 20-30min.

What size home are you heating? The longest burn I got once was about 13hrs heating about 1300sqft single story (living area since I close all rooms off). But I do have vaulted cielings with various skylights that I know loose a lot of heat.

Glowing IS NOT a sign of "time to close bypass". Your cat thermometer is a switch. If it's right around 500-600F, it can switch on or off. This only applies to AF25 and SC25 models.

Glowing is only an indication of a large amount of gases at the front of the combustor. Often, cats glow most brilliantly after going from a high burn to low burn.

Hope this helps.

BKVP

 

[broadhead]

@BronxMatt @broadhead thanks for the review. Do your A25 cat meter/guage go to inactive zone when it is clearly active and glowing? My dealer/installer said this is normal, but I don't really believe this. I think mine is faulty. It's a pain for reloading because if the cat isn't glowing I don't know to close the bypass immediately or wait 20-30min.

What size home are you heating? The longest burn I got once was about 13hrs heating about 1300sqft single story (living area since I close all rooms off). But I do have vaulted cielings with various skylights that I know loose a lot of heat.

Jedi,
To your first question, no, it never has gone to inactive while still glowing. Are you shutting down all air too quick and stalling the cat? That could result in a quick drop. Make sure your bypass is closed all of the way. Other than that, I am no expert so not sure. Doesn't sound right but its very tough to tell without knowing your routine. If once it is on high and the cat is active does the needle only drop when you turn down air, or would it drop at the end of the fire or just randomly? I am heating a 1450 sq ft upstairs and 900 sq ft (estimates) downstairs. Due to my layout, I had to get another stove for upstairs for lower temps but I have no doubt this Ashford would heat 1500 sq ft from the basement with the right layout. Let us know what you find out.

 

[Jedi]

I talked about it with bkvp and it seems to be an issue with the grey/red label needing adjustment. Or my needle needing adjustment. But the cat seems to be working fine. Even when needle drops to inactive zone it keeps burning well and no visible smoke from chimney.

 

[dafattkidd]

How on earth are you guys getting 24/25 hour burns? I’m not even close to that. What are you doing to get such long burn times? Thanks!

 

[broadhead]

How on earth are you guys getting 24/25 hour burns? I’m not even close to that. What are you doing to get such long burn times? Thanks!

Based on this post I saw that you submitted, you are on the right track. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/show-your-night-load.195348/post-2641329

By no means am I an expert. This is my first year with the AF25 and first year with indoor burner experience. Most of the factors could be out of your control, long stack, too much draft etc. I would go for bigger rounds maybe two that fill up your stove or 2 -3 large splits and pack around those. I get my longest burns with Locust but with Ash I can still heat the basement all night. How far down are you turning your stove? How long is your chimney? Any bends? I have a mark that I made for warmer days, but on cold days, I turn down to just about closed. 26' stack interior chimney, double walled, not insulated. Though it is a long stack, there are two bends in the masonry just above the insert and it keeps from drafting too hard.. I do not think my setup is perfect but that could be the wood. Lately, I have been having trouble getting coals to reignite, could be subpar wood, or I am wondering if the cat needs cleaned out in the back end. Also seems like I get more smoke on reloads, not a whole lot more, but noticeably more than with the new stove. Maybe I have been pushing cycles longer though.
I always shopvac and brush the front when it goes out, so far it has been about 1 time each month due to warm days. I plan to run a soot eater and clean my cat better next warm day and see how I have been doing these past few months.

I think with that Osage or another hard wood in some bigger rounds and proper turn down, you will get 24 hours. I wouldn't consider 24 hours of heat but definitely enough coals a day later to reignite. Check out these pics of loading and air control. Not to insult your intelligence, but to turn down this low, it helps to get everything raging and have all of the wood nicely coaled. If you had a nice bed of coals with that Osage load and heat at 14 hours, I am sure at 24 you would have enough coals to reignite, but you would be far out of the active zone. On cold days, if you want more time, try turning down just a bit more and you will stretch that heat to at least 16 hours.

 

[dafattkidd]

Thank you! Looks like larger splits is the big difference. It's been a very mild winter, so I have a feeling next year I will be burning a bit differently.

 

[mellow]

Can't believe the sticking air intake flapper issue hasn't been talked about more, that was an issue years ago and a fix was done so it wouldn't happen, did this one miss getting the fix?

Blaze King Sirocco 25 insert

@BKVP- That's really cool. Why Doug fir if you are going for a low-and-slow record? Isn't that high-BTU hardwood territory? Also, what was the definition of 'burn' used for the record attempt (how did they determine the end of the burn)? (Sorry, I've just got some stove geekery leaking out...

www.hearth.com

 

[broadhead]

I talked about it with bkvp and it seems to be an issue with the grey/red label needing adjustment. Or my needle needing adjustment. But the cat seems to be working fine. Even when needle drops to inactive zone it keeps burning well and no visible smoke from chimney.

Jedi,

Did you end up getting a surround? I have one but unsure if I like it and don't always use it. I may be willing to part with it....

 

[Jedi]

Yes I did. I initially ordered the small surround but the dealer messed up the order and installed the large surround. But I can't notice the difference and it looks great.

 

[broadhead]

Yes I did. I initially ordered the small surround but the dealer messed up the order and installed the large surround. But I can't notice the difference and it looks great.

View attachment 311057 View attachment 311058 View attachment 311059

It indeed looks great. Nice setup!