Can't make up mine what stove to purchase

[riggsjr]

Can't make up mine what stove to purchase...
Narrowed it down to 3.
Lopi Rockport
Manchester Heartstone...Side loader is nice
Ashford Blaze King. ....Very efficient
We use the house as a second home in northern PA.
Any input would be great. Thanks

 

[Ashful]

No opinion on the Lopi or Hearthstone, never owned or burned either one. But I own two BK Ashford 30.1's, and love them both, dearly. To say I can't say enough good things about them is true, it'd get my post edited by the moderators, again.

Do you have any specific questions I could answer?

 

[riggsjr]

Thank you for your opinion. What state are you in? I am leaning toward the BK myself. It looks like there is a lot of stove parts behind the main unit. I guess that is the thermostat.I have not seen one in person yet but pictures from the internet and catalog.Is there anyway you can take a picture of the back of yours and post it for me. You can email if easier. Thank you.
[email protected]
Regards,
John

 

[riggsjr]

Ashful,
Great article I found here also.Looks like you commented in it also.

Blaze King Ashford Or Hearthstone Manchester

I am just about to pull the trigger and make a final choice. I am new here but I though I would see what kind of feedback I might get.... I understand there's pluses / minuses, and personal preferences, etc. BUT was wondering what some folks might recommend - Blaze King Ashford or...

www.hearth.com

 

[Ashful]

Yep. I'll get some photos in the morning, although since mine are stuffed back into fireplaces, there's not great visibility of the back. Likely what you've seen in other photos are the optional blower fans, which bolt to the back. The thermostat is not visible, it resides in a sheetmetal intake plenum in the center of the back, between the two plenums to which the optional blowers can be bolted.

The reason for all this sheetmetal you'll find on the back of more expensive and highly-engineered stoves is reduced rear clearances. By placing the inlet plenum and convective inlets on the back of the stove they can keep the back cooler, and thus reduce the clearance requirement between the back of the stove and the wall.

I'm in southeast PA, a handful of miles north of Philadelphia.

 

[riggsjr]

There looks like there is 10 3/8" of sheet metal on the back of the Ashford. Picture attached. Is that just for blower fans?

 

[riggsjr]

Yep. I'll get some photos in the morning, although since mine are stuffed back into fireplaces, there's not great visibility of the back. Likely what you've seen in other photos are the optional blower fans, which bolt to the back. The thermostat is not visible, it resides in a sheetmetal intake plenum in the center of the back, between the two plenums to which the optional blowers can be bolted.

The reason for all this sheetmetal you'll find on the back of more expensive and highly-engineered stoves is reduced rear clearances. By placing the inlet plenum and convective inlets on the back of the stove they can keep the back cooler, and thus reduce the clearance requirement between the back of the stove and the wall.

I'm in southeast PA, a handful of miles north of Philadelphia.

Also can you take a picture of the ash clean out.Any issues with that?
Thank you.

 

[Ashful]

The extension line on the 10-3/8" dimension is pointing to the actual back of the stove, and the blowers are shown sticking out past that:


Yes, I'm the one who had the original issues with the ash clean-out in 2015. I discussed it in more detail in the thread you quoted yesterday, in your post #4. It has been completely resolved, no need to worry about that now.

My fireplaces are closed up and packed in with my burning gear (totes, log bins, etc.), but I'll pull one open now to get some photos.

 

[Ashful]

Here you go. Not really sure what exactly you wanted to see with regard to the ash chute, but here's some photos. More importantly, yu can see the optional bolt-on blowers, stradding the intake plenum on the back of the stove.





Don't laugh at my firebricks. I've got 7 years x 7 cords per season thru this stove, nearly 50 cords total, with zero maintenance on it. Heck, I don't even clean it out between seasons anymore, I simply rotary brush the flue each fall before light-up.

I will plan to replace some of the worst bricks this summer, but of course I planned that in 2021 and 2020 as well, and it obviously never happened.

 

[EbS-P]

My thoughts. Lopi is a 2 cu ft stove. Could work ok depending on how big a space you are heating. Ashford 30 is a 3 cu ft stove. It will most likely heat what ever space you have because it can run so low and has decent heat output on high.

The thermostat a BK is really unlike most(all?) other stoves being sold today. Lopi makes good stoves. My choice would be the BK 30. If looking at the the 20 I’m not sure touch choice. Unless the house is rented or has others staying running the stove then I’d just put in a pellet stove.

Showing up to a cold house is really want some heat fast. Efficiency would matter to me as much. Also on my list would be the pacific energy T5 it T6.

 

[bholler]

The choice is really going to depend upon your BTU load and whether you intend to heat with wood only or just supplement with wood. BKs are fantastic at low and slow but have no advantage really at higher outputs and in some cases are at a disadvantage there

 

[riggsjr]

Thank you for the response and taking the time to take pictures.
Yes I think you might need a few new bricks!😂

I am 90% going with the BK Ashford 30.2
Will it get hot enough for a teapot to burn off to put moisture in the air and to run an Eco fan on top?

 

[bholler]

Thank you for the response and taking the time to take pictures.
Yes I think you might need a few new bricks!😂

I am 90% going with the BK Ashford 30.2
Will it get hot enough for a teapot to burn off to put moisture in the air and to run an Eco fan on top?

Don't do the pot on the stove thing. It rusts the hell out of the stove and really doesn't add enough moisture to make any difference

 

[riggsjr]

They say the Ashford 30 needs to be 6" from the back wall with a double wall pipe.I am just going to make that I think.I am not sure how far the pipe has to be from any other obstacles. I have an old beam that I got from the farmer down the road and mounted it.Here are a few pictures.The pipe should be more then the 6" from the beam.
I am dropping that 3'x3' stone to the floor also. The stone is 2" from the back wall now. So I have 38" to play with. Acually I would want the stove to sit back 3" from the front edge of the slab of stone so I have 35" total.I am hoping it works out. Do you see any issue here?

I have had that timberline for 25 years. It has to be 35+ years old.It did work well. Time to upgrade!

 

[begreen]

The old Timberline was an insert adapted. The new stove should make the insurance company happier.

It looks like you have room. The 6" rear clearance is the minimum. There is no harm in exceeding it. This clearance is measured to the nearest combustible, which in this case appears to be the studs behind the stone veneer wall, if that is applied on cementboard.

The stovepipe clearance depends on whether it is single-wall (18" clear) or double-wall (6" clear). Blaze King recommends double-wall stovepipe to connect their stoves.

What is the stove venting into? Is this a clay tile-lined chimney or is there a stainless liner in it? If tile-lined, what size? Internal or external wall chimney?

 

[Ashful]

The top of the stove does not get very hot, but as bholler said, there are other good reasons to not do the teapot thing. I actually keep a humidifier parked in the room with the stove, and it does a way better job than any steamer pot on my old stove ever did, and without all the calcium dust in the house (my humidifier is the wicking type).

Min clearance is to combustible surfaces. I have one of my Ashfords (the one photo'd above) less than 6" from rear wall. BKVP had told me that putting it very close to the wall could mess with the thermostat behavior, but we agreed that 4" would be a reasonable compromise, given my wall is very definitely non-combustible (stone house).

 

[riggsjr]

The old Timberline was an insert adapted. The new stove should make the insurance company happier.

It looks like you have room. The 6" rear clearance is the minimum. There is no harm in exceeding it. This clearance is measured to the nearest combustible, which in this case appears to be the studs behind the stone veneer wall, if that is applied on cementboard.

The stovepipe clearance depends on whether it is single-wall (18" clear) or double-wall (6" clear). Blaze King recommends double-wall stovepipe to connect their stoves.

What is the stove venting into? Is this a clay tile-lined chimney or is there a stainless liner in it? If tile-lined, what size? Internal or external wall chimney?

Yes I will go with the 6" double wall. I believe my clay tile-lined chimney is 8"x 8" and it is an external wall chimney.

 

[riggsjr]

The top of the stove does not get very hot, but as bholler said, there are other good reasons to not do the teapot thing. I actually keep a humidifier parked in the room with the stove, and it does a way better job than any steamer pot on my old stove ever did, and without all the calcium dust in the house (my humidifier is the wicking type).

Min clearance is to combustible surfaces. I have one of my Ashfords (the one photo'd above) less than 6" from rear wall. BKVP had told me that putting it very close to the wall could mess with the thermostat behavior, but we agreed that 4" would be a reasonable compromise, given my wall is very definitely non-combustible (stone house).

I will listen to you guys. No teapot on top.I pulled the trigger and ordered the Ashford 30.2.No delivery till September.😆
Thank you for everyone's advice.

 

[Ashful]

Congratulations! You'll love the stove.

Sometime between now and then, research humidifiers, and choose one that'll do the job. I went with the evaporative wick type (Honeywell HEV620B), and have three scattered around our larger house, keeping the joint 40 - 50%. I like the secondary air filtering action of the wicking type, and their lack of calcium dust, as opposed to the steam or ultrasonic types. But the evaporative types do require you to change filters every 1 - 4 weeks, depending on water quality and how much water you're pushing thru them, which annoys some people.

 

[BKVP]

The choice is really going to depend upon your BTU load and whether you intend to heat with wood only or just supplement with wood. BKs are fantastic at low and slow but have no advantage really at higher outputs and in some cases are at a disadvantage there

Except, not to be forgotten, even heat output, of course shorter burn times.

 

[begreen]

Except, not to be forgotten, even heat output, of course shorter burn times.

As noted in other posts. Even heat output is not exclusive to cat stoves and not too relevant when winter cold sets in.

 

[Rickb]

You might want to either line the chimney or look at other stoves still. I love my BK but others have had issues with the ashford with sub optimal chimneys. You might want to post all your chimney spec's and see what others think.

 

[Ashful]

You might want to either line the chimney or look at other stoves still. I love my BK but others have had issues with the ashford with sub optimal chimneys. You might want to post all your chimney spec's and see what others think.

Curious... what issues? I don't think there've been many Ashford-centric threads on this forum that I've missed.

There was a rash of people complaining about smoke smell from Ashfords for a year or two (ca. 2018/19?), some of which may have been due to too-strong draft on tall chimneys w/o key dampers, but you seem to be implying that the clay flue may be tied to some issue.

 

[bholler]

Curious... what issues? I don't think there've been many Ashford-centric threads on this forum that I've missed.

There was a rash of people complaining about smoke smell from Ashfords for a year or two (ca. 2018/19?), some of which may have been due to too-strong draft on tall chimneys w/o key dampers, but you seem to be implying that the clay flue may be tied to some issue.

An exterior chimney with no insulation and a stove that runs with pretty low exhaust temps can absolutely cause big problems quickly. It isn't limited to just 30 boxes or even just blaze kings most modern stoves have potential for issues

 

[Ashful]

An exterior chimney with no insulation and a stove that runs with pretty low exhaust temps can absolutely cause big problems quickly. It isn't limited to just 30 boxes or even just blaze kings most modern stoves have potential for issues

Agreed. I said basically the same in @Homebody's similar thread, six days ago:

BK exhaust temperatures can run very low at the lowest burn rates. All modern high-efficiency stoves share this challenge, putting less heat up the flue is precisely how they achieve that high efficiency. However, with it's super-long burn capabilities, BK really pushes the envelope, in this regard.

... (trimmed)...

1. If it's a clay liner all the way to the top, rather than an insulated steel liner, you may have trouble with the exhaust cooling TOO much, on its way to the top. This can increase creosote deposition. Not a huge problem, but it might lead you to sweep every 2-3 cords, instead of every 4-6 cords. This will likely be more an issue if you run it low and slow, than at more moderate burn rates.

But Rickb seems to be speaking of some problem unique to just the Ashford 30's, not just the usual trouble with uninsulated exterior chimneys coupled to high-efficiency stoves:

I love my BK but others have had issues with the ashford with sub optimal chimneys.