I have two Ashford 30’s, and I can’t say enough good things about them. There is really no other brand I’d even consider, if buying another stove, today.
BKVP has acknowledged there have been a very small pool of users with a smoke smell issue. The total count was less than a dozen, out of many thousands of stoves sold. I believe by last count, all but two of these cases have been resolved. There was no single smoking gun, each situation and solution was unique. What’s important is that BK supported these users, and resolved their issue, in at least one case sending out a new stove. You should read the thread, and satisfy yourself, but it appeared BK went above and beyond to make sure every one of these few cases gets resolved. Admirable.
On stove performance, BK is a Ferrari in a world of Camrys. No other stove can match their range of burn rate. Heck, most can’t even cover a third of their range of burn rates.
Their thermostat is the shiznit, increasing air as the fire wanes, to maintain more constant output throughout the burn. They’re so rote and automatic, some accuse them of being boring.
I load my stoves on a schedule that suits me, namely every 12, 24, or 36 hours, and just set the thermostat to the setting that will consistently nail those burn times. It is very consistent, in all weather conditions. I’m no longer slave to feeding two stoves on the schedule they demand, like I was with my Jotuls. Find me another 2.65 cu ft stove that can burn 30+ hours, and I’m all ears, but I don’t think it exists.
I’d not even consider buying a non-cat, when there’s better tech out there, but some like dickering with inferior technology. To each his own. We see a lot of folks here switching from non cat to modern cat stoves, but very rarely the other way around.
The only issue I’ve ever experienced with my Ashford 30’s, having about 60 cords thru the pair, was self-inflicted. I have one installed on a chimney that exceeds their max draft spec by more than 3x (it’s a very, very tall fully-insulated chimney), and this causes so much turbulence of ash flying around in the stove that it would occasionally plug the combustor on very high burn rates. This seems to have been resolved by installing a key damper to throttle the draft down closer to the BK spec, and I believe I’d have issues running ANY stove in this pipe. I’d not even think of running a runaway non-cat on a chimney like this, it’d likely become a puddle of molten iron on my floor.
You mention Woodstock, and almost all of the same can be said about them. Another great company, with great technology, who stands behind their users. I can’t say anything bad about Woodstock, except I don’t think their stoves are very attractive, and soapstone would never work in my (unique) house.
I would never buy a Jotul again. They flat-out refuse to speak with or support their users. I don’t have any desire to deal with a company like that. They also only make non-cats.
