Full season Ashford 30 reviews

[Poindexter]

I encourage other owners who have been through a winter with an Ashford 30 to post up. When I started shopping for new stoves in Jan 2014 internet commentary was sparse.

My wife really liked the look of the stove in the showroom, and it says "BlazeKing" on it, so I bought one.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, 2k words attached. Same house three years running, all three winters fit inside the trailing 30 year average for my local climate. Notice the "peep" column, my wife and I have four children between us. If everyone was home for a month the "peep" column would read "TSKJEE"

First year of data, no wood burning. Winter of 13/14 I was running a Ovation Country Flame EPA cert non cat stove, circa 2001 by the serial number. Non-cat technology has reportedly come a long way in the intervening years, dunno from experience. Winter of 14/15 was my first year with the Ashford 30. If space aliens take that thing out of my living room tonight I will go get another new Ashford 30 to replace it tomorrow.

Besides the plummeting oil bill and more efficient wood use, compared to my old non-cat i love being able to set the thermostat on the side of the Ashford 30 to a setting that I know will keep the house at a stable comfortable temp based on the forecast overnight low. If it is going down to -20dF tonight (my house, my install, my wood) I'll set the Tstat at about 1/3 and be comfortable all night. If it is going down to -50dF tonight I'll set it at 3/3 and plan to toss some spruce in the box when I get up to pee around 0300.

And my wife likes the look of it. Win, win win. FWIW I have saved enough on the oil bill to start having logs delivered instead of trucking back and forth to the state forest with my chainsaw. I don't mind the exercise, but it is an enormous time commitment- I look at that $1200 as buying back free time rather than an energy cost.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

No review for the 30 myself but entertaining a BK of some shape or form for my next house for sure. And I hear you on the time commitment.

I was pondering having logs delivered as well because my hunting and fishing time has seriously been dug into. I sold enough junk wood this spring and think I'm going to use that money to cover the log load costs. And save tons of transport times. So essentially still FREE!

 

[Highbeam]

I don't mind the exercise, but it is an enormous time commitment- I look at that $1200 as buying back free time rather than an energy cost.

This is becoming me. I still like the occasional free scrounge from a tree service job that leaves the wood behind but even my big ol' F350 can only haul 0.75 cords in the round and I only want to load that once or twice a day. Get your exercise on the processing end and avoid lost time commuting into the forest.

Super mild year for us but burnt for the same 8-9 months as always.

 

[BKVP]

I have one concern with your post! Why do you have to get up at 03:00 a.m. to pee?

 

[Fastdonzi]

Him and Joe Thiesman Lol

 

[daleeper]

I have one concern with your post! Why do you have to get up at 03:00 a.m. to pee?

In 10-15 years you will not have to ask that question.

 

[SCOTT S.]

My first year impressions, Wife also liked the looks ,I had my heart set on a king but she said my new wife might not like the looks either. The Ashford is a wonderful stove will easily run twelve hour burns in the -10df dead of winter. It heats extremely evenly stove room at 72 outer bedrooms 67 our house is a long ranch. There are times I miss the blast of heat when coming in from the cold. With the Ashford sometimes it doesn't feel like wood heat it is so even. We had a fireplace the year before and went through the same amount of wood but the house was always cold "except the stove room" and the fire went out after 4-5 hrs so the fire was not always burning and I was constantly starting a fire. I bought a box of superceaders at the start of last year and used 3 of them .The Ashford never went cold except when we left for the weekend. Propane use last year 300 gal. and we have a propane hot water heater 75 gal. The year before 2000 gal propane same water heater, that says it all.

 

[Highbeam]

My first year impressions, Wife also liked the looks ,I had my heart set on a king but she said my new wife might not like the looks either.

I have been known to introduce my wife as "my first wife".

The king has been compared to a big mac box before. It is a look that can only be appreciated after using one.

 

[BrotherBart]

I have been known to introduce my wife as "my first wife".

I introduce mine as "my latest wife".

 

[SCOTT S.]

Highbeam I completely understand the beauty of function. To me the cast wrap of the Ashford is just the wrapper what makes it great is on the inside.

 

[jeff_t]

My wife thought it looked just fine. Gonna miss that stove.

 

[Highbeam]

Highbeam I completely understand the beauty of function. To me the cast wrap of the Ashford is just the wrapper what makes it great is on the inside.

If the 30 series stoves were available when I bought my princess, I may have been willing to trade the deep ash belly for the nicer looking exterior. Plus, the new boxes have significantly lower emissions.

 

[Ashful]

I think the 30's are also matching the Princess burn times, on a slightly smaller firebox.

 

[Newburnerwisconsin]

I encourage other owners who have been through a winter with an Ashford 30 to post up. When I started shopping for new stoves in Jan 2014 internet commentary was sparse.

My wife really liked the look of the stove in the showroom, and it says "BlazeKing" on it, so I bought one.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, 2k words attached. Same house three years running, all three winters fit inside the trailing 30 year average for my local climate. Notice the "peep" column, my wife and I have four children between us. If everyone was home for a month the "peep" column would read "TSKJEE"

First year of data, no wood burning. Winter of 13/14 I was running a Ovation Country Flame EPA cert non cat stove, circa 2001 by the serial number. Non-cat technology has reportedly come a long way in the intervening years, dunno from experience. Winter of 14/15 was my first year with the Ashford 30. If space aliens take that thing out of my living room tonight I will go get another new Ashford 30 to replace it tomorrow.

Besides the plummeting oil bill and more efficient wood use, compared to my old non-cat i love being able to set the thermostat on the side of the Ashford 30 to a setting that I know will keep the house at a stable comfortable temp based on the forecast overnight low. If it is going down to -20dF tonight (my house, my install, my wood) I'll set the Tstat at about 1/3 and be comfortable all night. If it is going down to -50dF tonight I'll set it at 3/3 and plan to toss some spruce in the box when I get up to pee around 0300.

And my wife likes the look of it. Win, win win. FWIW I have saved enough on the oil bill to start having logs delivered instead of trucking back and forth to the state forest with my chainsaw. I don't mind the exercise, but it is an enormous time commitment- I look at that $1200 as buying back free time rather than an energy cost.

Wow. How many square ft. are you heating?

 

[Poindexter]

Wow. How many square ft. are you heating?

Total, I have 2400 sqft if conditioned space. The garage is about 600sqft, the wife opens the overhead door twice daily to drive in and out, oil heat only. Another 600sqft downstairs, 2 beds and a bath, also heated with oil only.

Upstairs I have 1200sqft heated with oil and heavily supplemented with the Ashford30. Air leaks are fixed. 2x6 construction with fiberglass batts and vapor barrier just under the drywall, but no hats on the jiffy boxes. The house was state of the art as built in 1980. The phone and cable jacks are drilled straight through with a bit of caulk on the outside wall. All my glass is triple pane or better. The newer windows are Argon filled spaces.

40 inches of blown cellulose in the "attic."

At -50dF I run two ten hour burns and two four hour burns (softwood) to keep 1200sqft upstairs between +75dF and +90dF.

 

[Newburnerwisconsin]

Total, I have 2400 sqft if conditioned space. The garage is about 600sqft, the wife opens the overhead door twice daily to drive in and out, oil heat only. Another 600sqft downstairs, 2 beds and a bath, also heated with oil only.

Upstairs I have 1200sqft heated with oil and heavily supplemented with the Ashford30. Air leaks are fixed. 2x6 construction with fiberglass batts and vapor barrier just under the drywall, but no hats on the jiffy boxes. The house was state of the art as built in 1980. The phone and cable jacks are drilled straight through with a bit of caulk on the outside wall. All my glass is triple pane or better. The newer windows are Argon filled spaces.

40 inches of blown cellulose in the "attic."

At -50dF I run two ten hour burns and two four hour burns (softwood) to keep 1200sqft upstairs between +75dF and +90dF.

The Ashford heats like that to -50?? Wow. I won't have any problem heating my 2008 by level. 1800 sq. Ft. With propane furnace as back up. The coldest I have here is -22 last year. It was only a day or two. The Ashford's firebox can handle that huh? So you "reload" at 10 hours or is that the total "burn time"?

 

[begreen]

The Ashford heats like that to -50?? Wow. I won't have any problem heating my 2008 by level. 1800 sq. Ft. With propane furnace as back up. The coldest I have here is -22 last year. It was only a day or two. The Ashford's firebox can handle that huh? So you "reload" at 10 hours or is that the total "burn time"?

Volume heated is only one metric. How well a stove heats an area is also dependent on how well the home envelope retains heat. Glass area, sealing, insulation, and basic construction can all affect this performance.

 

[Poindexter]

What begreen said. I have, all things considered, a thick and tight envelope compared to most of the USA.

One thing a homeowner can do cheaply is calculate the degree loss per hour of the house. Heat it up to whatever your desired indoor temperature is, kill the furnace, and measure how long it takes to cool how much.

O generally use a digital thermometer that indicates in tenths of one degree Fahrenheit and collect a sample 3-5 hours long.

The greater the difference between desired indoor temp and actual outdoor temp, the faster heat will be lost. I lose less than 1 degree (F) per hour, when the interior is at +80dF and outdoor temps are at or near freezing. Doesn't take much to keep it warm. It starts creeping up between about +20dF and -20 dF, somewhere in the my envelope starts losing right at one degree F per hour. At -30dF. maybe -35dF the graph crosses an apex and "it starts to get real." At -50df I lose about 5 degrees per hour from the house with no heaters running.

If you got people home, you lose more heat per hour. Open the door. Close the door. Let the dog out. Let the dog in. Let the cat out. Let the cat in. My numbers are based on nobody opening any darn doors during the tests just so my data is apples to apples.

 

[Diabel]

Wind, sun will play a major factor.

 

[Highbeam]

Let the cat out at -50?

 

[BKVP]

Let the cat out at -50?

What, you're not familiar with artic cats?

 

[matth]

What, you're not familiar with artic cats?

still freaking cold to let your skidoo out alone