Blaze King Ashford is up and running!

[webby3650]

I just came to a warm house! It was a not very full load of silver maple, 24 hours later this is what was left! Stovetop is 200 and this place is still warm. The high today was 44 and the low last night was 34, looks like it gonna be close to 28 here tonight.
The glass was clear too!

 

[teutonicking]

I just came to a warm house! It was a not very full load of silver maple, 24 hours later this is what was left! Stovetop is 200 and this place is still warm. The high today was 44 and the low last night was 34, looks like it gonna be close to 28 here tonight.
The glass was clear too!

Sounds awesome. Congrats and enjoy the stove. Looking forward to more reports on the performance.

 

[alforit]

I just came to a warm house! It was a not very full load of silver maple, 24 hours later this is what was left! Stovetop is 200 and this place is still warm. The high today was 44 and the low last night was 34, looks like it gonna be close to 28 here tonight.
The glass was clear too!

Woo hoo ! That's awesome ......Go Ashford !

 

[Elle]

I can see the Jotul was just my starter stove. The Ashford looks nice!

 

[Ashful]

I can see the Jotul was just my starter stove. The Ashford looks nice!

I'm starting to think the same. While their styling still falls short of a Jotul or VC cast stove, it's an enormous step in the right direction for BK, and the performance is impossible to ignore.

I hope that next year will bring some other options on styling, namely a proper door with cast lattice on the glass, since that big blank expanse of glass just doesn't jive with a cast stove.

Ashford:


Jotul:


Vermont Castings:


Even the Jotul looks a little goofy, with no lattice on the window:

 

[Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar]

I agree, the Ashford is a step in the right direction. It definitely looks better than their other stoves but it's still a bit bland and it has that big ugly hump sticking out the back. I'm going to be adding a second stove sometime in the future and I'm hoping the Ashford is just a hint of what's to come. I really like the burn times with the BK stoves but even the Ashford is sorta like a really ugly chick that put a little makeup on.

 

[webby3650]

While I agree that the Oslo looks naked without the arches, I don't feel like this door is missing anything.
Having had both stoves with the arches and without, I don't miss them at all! It so easy to clean without them. Especially on Cape Cod, I wouldn't want anything distorting that view of the fire!

 

[webby3650]

I'm starting to think the same. While their styling still falls short of a Jotul or VC cast stove, it's an enormous step in the right direction for BK, and the performance is impossible to ignore.

I hope that next year will bring some other options on styling, namely a proper door with cast lattice on the glass, since that big blank expanse of glass just doesn't jive with a cast stove.

Ashford:
View attachment 115694

Jotul:
View attachment 115691

Vermont Castings:
View attachment 115690

Even the Jotul looks a little goofy, with no lattice on the window:
View attachment 115692

Jotul does have top not styling! Their castings and finish are as good as it gets! VC on the other hand doesn't hold a candle to Jotul or this Ashford in their casting quality. The last several VC's I've out in had terrible fit and finish. Even the old ones do not share the same quality as a Jotul.

 

[alforit]

I agree, the Ashford is a step in the right direction. It definitely looks better than their other stoves but it's still a bit bland and it has that big ugly hump sticking out the back. I'm going to be adding a second stove sometime in the future and I'm hoping the Ashford is just a hint of what's to come. I really like the burn times with the BK stoves but even the Ashford is sorta like a really ugly chick that put a little makeup on.

It's Not an ugly chick with makeup on.
It's more like a guy wearing makeup

What I really like about the Ashford is that it is more on the masculine side.( And I know I'm going to catch grief for this. ) . The Jotul's and VC's are more on the dainty side. I don't care for that look.

Finally ,a cast iron stove that looks substantial.

 

[Ashful]

I do agree the VC's look pretty delicate. But try to move a Jotul Firelight... at 465 lb., it ain't "dainty".

 

[begreen]

Nothing dainty at all about the Jotul Rangeley and Carrabassett. Unfortunately now the Alderleas have lost their grille work too.

 

[Coog]

Give me the look of a T6 Alderlea with the performance of a BK and I am golden. I think the Ashford is very close.

 

[Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar]

Give me the look of a T6 Alderlea with the performance of a BK and I am golden. I think the Ashford is very close.

Bingo!!...I love the looks of the T6 with the grill work.

 

[rdust]

Plain and simple the Ashford looks great, anything else and you're just nit pickin' it. I'm getting the itch for another stove, maybe I can convince the wife I need to buy another stove for next season.

 

[doug60]

I may be wrong here, last season I thought someone here was having a issue with a blaze king. If I remember correctly it was smoking a little to much during higher heat demand. Leading me to believe they are more geared for the long slow burn. Can you have it both ways? If so how are they doing it and why isnt everyone else doing it . Are there patent design issues at play here. There wood stoves not spaceships . Cant be that hard to take it apart to see what makes it tick. I to am intrigued buy the blaze king burn times. I have had a few stoves & will have a few more. so I am not locked into any one brand. The ashford its a major step up as far as look for blaze king. Always looking for more controlled burn rate.

 

[webby3650]

Are there patent design issues at play here. There wood stoves not spaceships . Cant be that hard to take it apart to see what makes it tick.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes here! They have to go through rigorous testing with every stove and then re-test everytime a change is made. Each time it costs an ungodly amount of money to test. There are specific guidlines that the EPA sets and you have to meet them, if you don't, everthing goes back home with you. You have to come back at a later date and try again, you also have to pay again.
This style of air control moves on it's own so it's very hard to predict, therefore hard to pass their tests. I don't think too many stove manufacturers have extra 100's of thousands of dollars available to risk in testing, instead they pour it into the designs that they already know.

 

[Todd]

I may be wrong here, last season I thought someone here was having a issue with a blaze king. If I remember correctly it was smoking a little to much during higher heat demand. Leading me to believe they are more geared for the long slow burn. Can you have it both ways? If so how are they doing it and why isnt everyone else doing it . Are there patent design issues at play here. There wood stoves not spaceships . Cant be that hard to take it apart to see what makes it tick. I to am intrigued buy the blaze king burn times. I have had a few stoves & will have a few more. so I am not locked into any one brand. The ashford its a major step up as far as look for blaze king. Always looking for more controlled burn rate.

My BK smoked at higher settings like anything over #2. I think others saw the same but if you size the stove properly you can burn low and slow all Winter long. I heated 2200 sq ft total from a finished basement with my Princess and I never had to go over #2. I also have a Woodstock Keystone upstairs but I really didn't need it till the temps were single digits or lower. The t-stat is set so it doesn't go much over 2. Mine hit a stop screw at 2.5.

 

[Todd]

Plain and simple the Ashford looks great, anything else and you're just nit pickin' it. I'm getting the itch for another stove, maybe I can convince the wife I need to buy another stove for next season.

Go for it, that Princess is old school, you need an update.

 

[rdust]

Go for it, that Princess is old school, you need an update.

I've showed it to my wife and didn't ask if I could buy it. I told her "This is the stove I'm going to buy next season!" She and asked what was wrong with the current stove along with "this stove is working great for us". I told her nothing was wrong I just wanted to try something new. I can probably make money on the Princess since I got it so cheap.

 

[aansorge]

The Ashford is a steel box wrapped with cast iron, right?

 

[webby3650]

The Ashford is a steel box wrapped with cast iron, right?

Yes

 

[BrowningBAR]

How much space are you heating with this stove?

 

[webby3650]

How much space are you heating with this stove?

It's kinda hard to say. I have a 2200 square foot ranch. The room the BK is in was the 2 car garage that was converted to a family room a long time ago. It's 30x32 with 10' ceilings. This room is pretty open to the rest of the house but not enough to heat it very well. We did it with King, but after I added the chimney that the Cod is on it was so much better! This time of year it would heat the whole house, but not in the winter. I am going to move it into the living room where the Cod is, it'll heat the whole place from there. I only need a little heat out where the Ashford is, it does great on low burns but it's a waste to idle it all the time. I'll sell the Cod, move the Ashford and put a cheap stove in to replace the Ashford.

 

[BrowningBAR]

It's kinda hard to say. I have a 2200 square foot ranch. The room the BK is in was the 2 car garage that was converted to a family room a long time ago. It's 30x32 with 10' ceilings. This room is pretty open to the rest of the house but not enough to heat it very well. We did it with King, but after I added the chimney that the Cod is on it was so much better! This time of year it would heat the whole house, but not in the winter. I am going to move it into the living room where the Cod is, it'll heat the whole place from there. I only need a little heat out where the Ashford is, it does great on low burns but it's a waste to idle it all the time. I'll sell the Cod, move the Ashford and put a cheap stove in to replace the Ashford.

Hmm. Can it rear vent? What is the height of the stove minus the flue collar?

It would be nice if I could replace the two VCs with something that can burn as long as the Ashford is capable of.

 

[webby3650]

Hmm. Can it rear vent? What is the height of the stove minus the flue collar?

It would be nice if I could replace the two VCs with something that can burn as long as the Ashford is capable of.

It cannot rear vent. It measures 33 1/2" tall. The top is raised right around the flue collar, so the flue collar is actually a little lower than the top.
I plan to get the blower, I think it will make a huge difference with this type of stove. It made the BK King in my opinion!