Blaze King Ashford 30

[bhd21478]

I have called around to check prices on this stove that everyone pumps up so much. The prices that IM getting are around 3800 thats with taxes included. That seems crazy high to me. I have also considered the quadrafire explorere which is much more in my price range at 2400 thats with taxes. I also have a much more local dealer than the BK which the closest location is around 60 miles away and they know very little about BK. I have tried to have intellectual conversations and know one knows anything except for a guy near St Louis which is 4 hrs away. Please give me some advice. thanks

 

[Grisu]

Catalytic BlazeKing stoves with their thermostat controlled air supply are premium stoves and the cast iron Ashford essentially their premium model. The price you were quoted is in line with prices on the east coast: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/blaze-king-ashford-30-pricing.142308/#post-1918750

Once you have one I am sure you will love the comfort of filling up the firebox no matter how cold it is outside, setting the thermostat to your desired setting and having steady heat for many hours. A secondary burn stove like the Explorer will generate most if its heat during the first 3 to 4 hours of the burn and then slowly taper off. In a new, well-insulated house that can make for some unpleasant temp swings. To avoid that you may resort to smaller fires which will then reduce the burn times you are getting. It is up to you if you think the added convenience of the BlazeKing is worth paying more. FWIW, the Explorer should be able to heat your home in your climate and especially in a new, well-insulated construction. So the Ashford is more of a convenience item.

Be aware that BK has two other, very similar models to the Ashford: The Sirocco and Chinook 30. You could get a price on those if you are not set on the cast-iron/enamel look. Anther cheaper cat stove is the Woodstock Ideal Steel. A few members tested its beta version and like the control of its heat output although I am not sure if it quite reaches the BK design. You would need to order directly from the factory which then adds shipping but you will likely stay under $3000. They also have the Progress Hybrid soapstone stove but that may not be much cheaper than the Ashford anymore once shipping is factored in.

 

[Jags]

Advice in what manor (honest question)? Blaze King is not a budget stove MFG. They make solid stoves with alien technology. The aliens require a higher pay scale so the stoves cost more.

Joking aside - BK has been a long supporter/builder of cat stoves. They are one of just a few that have really "perfected" the use of cats. Using one of the best of the best will come at a price. That is why there are many stoves on the market. It allows people to pick their price point and performance needs to get a stove that fits.

If you are more comfortable with a local dealer that is familiar with a stove line that you like (and understandable), then I encourage you to work with them. You wouldn't be the first to note the premium price of Blaze King stoves. If interested in a cat stove that is more budget conscious consider the Woodstock line of stoves. Be aware that they are very well known for their support, but it will not be local support.

 

[Highbeam]

If price is that important on this long term investment then perhaps you should consider the Englander NC30. They are available at home depot and have a great reputation. Should be about 700$. I own a BK, I love it and would buy it again tomorrow. I also own an NC30 and it is also a great buy. Different tools for different jobs.

 

[bhd21478]

Excellent feedback as usual. Wood supply is no problem. I do think my wife would be sold on the long burn times which should equate to a cleaner house since that means less opening and closing of the stoves for loading. I do like the brown colored enamel on the stoves. I would say that is a must especially since she has seen it as well. BK does have a 10 yr warranty on the combuster, at least that is what it looks like. It s basically a 1400 dollar jump from the quad exploper to the BK ashford. Are you BK guys really getting that long of a burn time when ya turn the thermostat down and do a slower burn? If the burn times are truly that long you must have really shrunk the ammounts ya are burning compared to the old school stoves. thanks again ya guys are great.

 

[Grisu]

Check out this (long) thread for the performance of BK stoves: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...e-thread-everything-bk-2.138516/#post-1860548

Compared with a pre-EPA "smokedragon" you will probably use about half the amount of wood for the same heat output. The difference to a EPA-approved secondary burn stove will be much smaller since those are already pretty efficient in their own right.

 

[bhd21478]

My family owns a small hearth store in Salcha Alaska where it gets 50 below and one of our best sellers are the inexpensive Timberwolf line from Napoleon. The 2200 model on average gets 10 hours which is more than the company states and can heat 1200sqft in on low fire, Napoleon says 800sqft on low but our houses are very tight up here. Our customers burn a combo of Birch and Spruce with fantastic results. I was very skeptical about Napoleon but their product has really proven it’s self. Another great brand that gets over looked is Archgard. The 1800 Archgard gets fantastic burn times with only a 2.0 firebox. The gasification tubes are located high in the top of the stove which makes for easy loading of the stove. Customers have reported solid 8-10 hour burn with one load and 18 hour coal life for easy restarts. Osburn (SBI) builds a rock solid unit as well. I don’t recommend their bay front units like the1800 or the 2200 because they can be a little difficult to get fully loaded due to the design of the firebox and they are double decked meaning that they have upper shield over the upper surface of the stove. If you do get an Osburn 1800 or 2200 get the blower you'll be happier with the stove. When stove companies make statements about burn times and how their stove will magically make your cord wood last longer look at the facts.

Firewood only contains a certain amount of carbon energy and a BTU is a BTU. Example heating 1000sqft at 0 degrees outside using a Pacific Energy T5 VS a BlazeKing Princess. Get a good hot fire going in both stoves and then load 20lbs of wood into each stove. You will need roughly 32000 btus per hr.from each stove. Once going and heating the room you will find that the 2 units will burn through the same amount of wood in the same amount of time to heat the same amount of space. Remember a BTU is a BTU and no stove can make energy from nothing. A Catalyst does not give you better burn times, all catalysts do is clog up, break apart, and rob energy that you could use to heat your home. Catalytic stoves can be turned down lower than non-cat stoves but you will notice that you will never see your fire and creosote will start to form on the inner walls of the catalytic stoves. This happens because the catalytic stove has no combustion efficiency and relies on a costly catalyst to maintain efficiency, not to mention when they are run so low your flue gas temps drop to 200 degrees or less (water vapor starts to condensate at 200) and condensation ruins chimneys and creates crystallized creosote which causes chimney fires. Then we come down to catalytic stove break down, cats have to be replaced, cats have to be made in a factory and you have to pay for them... so how efficient is a stove that relies on a part that is made in a chemical factory on the east coast that creates pollution in order to make a catalyst to make a wood stove efficient and uses precious metals like platinum and palladium.

The simple fact is that a catalyst will need to be replaced, whether it is in the first year of owning the stove or 10 years down the road...it will have to be replaced eventually and more than once, usually 4-5 times within the life of the stove and at $250-$300 a pop. In any modern stove you will have what is called Pyrolysis. When organic material (wood) is exposed to heat of 390-550 degrees F Pyrolysis starts which is the release of gas and liquid from the organic matter. This gas that is released from the wood is highly combustible and can be used to heat your home if you have the right stove. The only thing the "wood gas" does for you in a catalytic stove is help maintain catalytic temperature (cold cat=no efficiently and a blocked up cat) so in other words you don’t get to use the energy from the gas to heat your area. With a non-cat stove you have under fire air and over fire air so your combustion efficiency is spectacular, catalytic stoves like BlazeKing only use one source of combustion air, no over fire combustion air which reduces combustion efficiency. When you have a non-cat stove you will notice when you shut down the air supply you will get a brilliant blue/orange flame over your wood in the top of your stove, this is the gases produced by Pyrolysis being burnt or "lit off", my customers call it their caveman TV or Aurora in a box and it is beautiful to watch. The energy you get from the gases burning off is used to heat your area. So with a non-cat stove you have two sources of fuel to burn and get useable heat from, the "wood gas" burns first and when that is depleted your stove will burn the carbon rich fuel left behind called char. Non-cat stoves have fewer moving parts which is great because when metal is heated and cooled it becomes week and can break and when parts break its not going to be 60 degrees outside and it sucks when you have a catalytic stove with a bypass damper that won’t open or close because of a part failure. In my opinion, if it’s not evident by what I wrote, I would go with a non-cat stove every time. Select a non-cat stove that will heat your area properly on its low to medium setting so you have room to turn the stove up during cold snaps, use properly seasoned fire wood, if at all possible, and enjoy an appliance that will treat you and your wallet respectfully.
Happy burning

 

[Woody Stover]

 

[Grisu]

I don't quite understand why you are asking all those questions when you have figured out everything about stoves already. If you think that cat stoves are just a big scam why even open a thread about one then?

Example heating 1000sqft at 0 degrees outside using a Pacific Energy T5 VS a BlazeKing Princess. Get a good hot fire going in both stoves and then load 20lbs of wood into each stove. You will need roughly 32000 btus per hr.from each stove. Once going and heating the room you will find that the 2 units will burn through the same amount of wood in the same amount of time to heat the same amount of space.

Since I have the PE Super which is equivalent to the T5 I know for a fact that this is simply false. The T5 will give you easily 50-60,000 BTU per hour early on and maybe 20,000 BTU after 5 to 6 hours. Yes, you can maybe average out 32,000 BTU over 8 hours but you won't get that as constant heat. You will have to show me a secondary burn stove that can deliver a approximately constant 20,000 or 30,000 BTU per hour for at least 8 hours before I would consider a BK stove overrated. Plus, show me a secondary burn stove that can really burn on "low" without smoldering the fire since they all need a high enough operating temp to be efficient.

And EPA emission measurements and efficiency testings show that BK stoves are if anything better at getting more heat out of the wood; certainly not worse as you seem to think.

I think you just managed to be the first user here that will get onto my ignore list. Congrats!

 

[BKVP]

My family owns a small hearth store in Salcha Alaska where it gets 50 below and one of our best sellers are the inexpensive Timberwolf line from Napoleon. The 2200 model on average gets 10 hours which is more than the company states and can heat 1200sqft in on low fire, Napoleon says 800sqft on low but our houses are very tight up here. Our customers burn a combo of Birch and Spruce with fantastic results. I was very skeptical about Napoleon but their product has really proven it’s self. Another great brand that gets over looked is Archgard. The 1800 Archgard gets fantastic burn times with only a 2.0 firebox. The gasification tubes are located high in the top of the stove which makes for easy loading of the stove. Customers have reported solid 8-10 hour burn with one load and 18 hour coal life for easy restarts. Osburn (SBI) builds a rock solid unit as well. I don’t recommend their bay front units like the1800 or the 2200 because they can be a little difficult to get fully loaded due to the design of the firebox and they are double decked meaning that they have upper shield over the upper surface of the stove. If you do get an Osburn 1800 or 2200 get the blower you'll be happier with the stove. When stove companies make statements about burn times and how their stove will magically make your cord wood last longer look at the facts. Firewood only contains a certain amount of carbon energy and a BTU is a BTU. Example heating 1000sqft at 0 degrees outside using a Pacific Energy T5 VS a BlazeKing Princess. Get a good hot fire going in both stoves and then load 20lbs of wood into each stove. You will need roughly 32000 btus per hr.from each stove. Once going and heating the room you will find that the 2 units will burn through the same amount of wood in the same amount of time to heat the same amount of space. Remember a BTU is a BTU and no stove can make energy from nothing. A Catalyst does not give you better burn times, all catalysts do is clog up, break apart, and rob energy that you could use to heat your home. Catalytic stoves can be turned down lower than non-cat stoves but you will notice that you will never see your fire and creosote will start to form on the inner walls of the catalytic stoves. This happens because the catalytic stove has no combustion efficiency and relies on a costly catalyst to maintain efficiency, not to mention when they are run so low your flue gas temps drop to 200 degrees or less (water vapor starts to condensate at 200) and condensation ruins chimneys and creates crystallized creosote which causes chimney fires. Then we come down to catalytic stove break down, cats have to be replaced, cats have to be made in a factory and you have to pay for them... so how efficient is a stove that relies on a part that is made in a chemical factory on the east coast that creates pollution in order to make a catalyst to make a wood stove efficient and uses precious metals like platinum and palladium. The simple fact is that a catalyst will need to be replaced, whether it is in the first year of owning the stove or 10 years down the road...it will have to be replaced eventually and more than once, usually 4-5 times within the life of the stove and at $250-$300 a pop. In any modern stove you will have what is called Pyrolysis. When organic material (wood) is exposed to heat of 390-550 degrees F Pyrolysis starts which is the release of gas and liquid from the organic matter. This gas that is released from the wood is highly combustible and can be used to heat your home if you have the right stove. The only thing the "wood gas" does for you in a catalytic stove is help maintain catalytic temperature (cold cat=no efficiently and a blocked up cat) so in other words you don’t get to use the energy from the gas to heat your area. With a non-cat stove you have under fire air and over fire air so your combustion efficiency is spectacular, catalytic stoves like BlazeKing only use one source of combustion air, no over fire combustion air which reduces combustion efficiency. When you have a non-cat stove you will notice when you shut down the air supply you will get a brilliant blue/orange flame over your wood in the top of your stove, this is the gases produced by Pyrolysis being burnt or "lit off", my customers call it their caveman TV or Aurora in a box and it is beautiful to watch. The energy you get from the gases burning off is used to heat your area. So with a non-cat stove you have two sources of fuel to burn and get useable heat from, the "wood gas" burns first and when that is depleted your stove will burn the carbon rich fuel left behind called char. Non-cat stoves have fewer moving parts which is great because when metal is heated and cooled it becomes week and can break and when parts break its not going to be 60 degrees outside and it sucks when you have a catalytic stove with a bypass damper that won’t open or close because of a part failure. In my opinion, if it’s not evident by what I wrote, I would go with a non-cat stove every time. Select a non-cat stove that will heat your area properly on its low to medium setting so you have room to turn the stove up during cold snaps, use properly seasoned fire wood, if at all possible, and enjoy an appliance that will treat you and your wallet respectfully.
This post

My family owns a small hearth store in Salcha Alaska where it gets 50 below and one of our best sellers are the inexpensive Timberwolf line from Napoleon. The 2200 model on average gets 10 hours which is more than the company states and can heat 1200sqft in on low fire, Napoleon says 800sqft on low but our houses are very tight up here. Our customers burn a combo of Birch and Spruce with fantastic results. I was very skeptical about Napoleon but their product has really proven it’s self. Another great brand that gets over looked is Archgard. The 1800 Archgard gets fantastic burn times with only a 2.0 firebox. The gasification tubes are located high in the top of the stove which makes for easy loading of the stove. Customers have reported solid 8-10 hour burn with one load and 18 hour coal life for easy restarts. Osburn (SBI) builds a rock solid unit as well. I don’t recommend their bay front units like the1800 or the 2200 because they can be a little difficult to get fully loaded due to the design of the firebox and they are double decked meaning that they have upper shield over the upper surface of the stove. If you do get an Osburn 1800 or 2200 get the blower you'll be happier with the stove. When stove companies make statements about burn times and how their stove will magically make your cord wood last longer look at the facts.

Firewood only contains a certain amount of carbon energy and a BTU is a BTU. Example heating 1000sqft at 0 degrees outside using a Pacific Energy T5 VS a BlazeKing Princess. Get a good hot fire going in both stoves and then load 20lbs of wood into each stove. You will need roughly 32000 btus per hr.from each stove. Once going and heating the room you will find that the 2 units will burn through the same amount of wood in the same amount of time to heat the same amount of space. Remember a BTU is a BTU and no stove can make energy from nothing. A Catalyst does not give you better burn times, all catalysts do is clog up, break apart, and rob energy that you could use to heat your home. Catalytic stoves can be turned down lower than non-cat stoves but you will notice that you will never see your fire and creosote will start to form on the inner walls of the catalytic stoves. This happens because the catalytic stove has no combustion efficiency and relies on a costly catalyst to maintain efficiency, not to mention when they are run so low your flue gas temps drop to 200 degrees or less (water vapor starts to condensate at 200) and condensation ruins chimneys and creates crystallized creosote which causes chimney fires. Then we come down to catalytic stove break down, cats have to be replaced, cats have to be made in a factory and you have to pay for them... so how efficient is a stove that relies on a part that is made in a chemical factory on the east coast that creates pollution in order to make a catalyst to make a wood stove efficient and uses precious metals like platinum and palladium.

The simple fact is that a catalyst will need to be replaced, whether it is in the first year of owning the stove or 10 years down the road...it will have to be replaced eventually and more than once, usually 4-5 times within the life of the stove and at $250-$300 a pop. In any modern stove you will have what is called Pyrolysis. When organic material (wood) is exposed to heat of 390-550 degrees F Pyrolysis starts which is the release of gas and liquid from the organic matter. This gas that is released from the wood is highly combustible and can be used to heat your home if you have the right stove. The only thing the "wood gas" does for you in a catalytic stove is help maintain catalytic temperature (cold cat=no efficiently and a blocked up cat) so in other words you don’t get to use the energy from the gas to heat your area. With a non-cat stove you have under fire air and over fire air so your combustion efficiency is spectacular, catalytic stoves like BlazeKing only use one source of combustion air, no over fire combustion air which reduces combustion efficiency. When you have a non-cat stove you will notice when you shut down the air supply you will get a brilliant blue/orange flame over your wood in the top of your stove, this is the gases produced by Pyrolysis being burnt or "lit off", my customers call it their caveman TV or Aurora in a box and it is beautiful to watch. The energy you get from the gases burning off is used to heat your area. So with a non-cat stove you have two sources of fuel to burn and get useable heat from, the "wood gas" burns first and when that is depleted your stove will burn the carbon rich fuel left behind called char. Non-cat stoves have fewer moving parts which is great because when metal is heated and cooled it becomes week and can break and when parts break its not going to be 60 degrees outside and it sucks when you have a catalytic stove with a bypass damper that won’t open or close because of a part failure. In my opinion, if it’s not evident by what I wrote, I would go with a non-cat stove every time. Select a non-cat stove that will heat your area properly on its low to medium setting so you have room to turn the stove up during cold snaps, use properly seasoned fire wood, if at all possible, and enjoy an appliance that will treat you and your wallet respectfully.
Happy burning

Justin,

Your post in laughable! For over a year now I have remained silent to all your web posts and your Facebook comments.

Napoleon makes a fine product line. So go sell them without trying to make excuses or post inaccurate, fictional information.

I have always thought of you as an upstanding guy with a bias...which is your right. Bias is acceptable, but false and misleading information borders on....well lets leave at that.

 

[Woody Stover]

a year now I have remained silent to all your web posts and your Facebook comments.

You mean this has been going on that long?!! So much for my theory of summertime wood-burning withdrawal causing temporary insanity...

Bias is acceptable, but false and misleading information borders on....well lets leave at that.

I'll go ahead and say it....unacceptable.

 

[BKVP]

You mean this has been going on that long?!! So much for my theory of summertime wood-burning withdrawal causing temporary insanity...
I'll go ahead and say it....unacceptable.

Liable.

 

[Jags]

Not on my watch.