Hearthston's "Shelburne" or Blaze King's Ashford 20"?

[BeachBumm]

After a lot or reading and asking questions we are down to the final decision for a new stove.

As a last ditch effort - which stove is the best l-o-n-g term quality, easiest to use, best for keeping the chimney clean, most durable and simplest parts, etc?

As always, all the stoves available are the 'greatest thing since sliced bread', but which of these two stoves will serve us the best, easiest and longest?

Your thoughts?

 

[begreen]

These are entirely different stoves in operation, design and performance. The Shelburne is a highly radiant, cast iron, non-cat stove with a shallow firebox. The Ashford is a convective, cast iron jacketed catalytic stove that is more complex, but more efficient too. Of the two, the Shelburne is the simpler stove and will be a bit easier to operate. However, the issues of overheating the cabin that the Lange had will still likely be an issue with the Shelburne. The Ashford can run at a lower steady heat output and the cast iron jacket will help soften the apparent heat output. Both stoves will want a decent flue system to draft properly but the Shelburne may be a bit more forgiving of a shorter chimney.

 

[electrathon]

As a Hearthstone owner I would say to get the Blaze king.

 

[Highbeam]

I would feel bad if I didn't point out that the ashford 20 is a red headed stepchild, get the ashford 30. The slightly larger 30 stove has a lower low burn rate, more room in the firebox to load, and a longer resulting burn time at the low burn rate. Also, if you feel feisty, it has a higher output on high than the 20 model. There is almost no reason to prefer the 20 other than an inch or two of physical size which will quickly be forgotten when you get to enjoy the increase of burn time from 20 to 30 hours!

I owned a hearthstone heritage, won't get another hearthstone. The Shelburne is a tiny 2 CF (not really) stove that has the same dainty latch as the heritage that sucks. It also is a shallow east/west loader with only a front door which sucks. Pretty dirty burner too at double the emissions rate of the ashford. If you want non-cat, there are much better options.

(broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/hsshel.htm)

 

[begreen]

For low steady output cat stoves are winners. That's why I suggested the Woodstock Keystone in another thread. It can burn at 8500 btus/hr. and seems more appropriately sized for the cabin.
(broken link removed to https://www.woodstove.com/keystone)

 

[Highbeam]

For low steady output cat stoves are winners. That's why I suggested the Woodstock Keystone in another thread. It can burn at 8500 btus/hr. and seems more appropriately sized for the cabin.
(broken link removed to https://www.woodstove.com/keystone)

Woodstock only rates that stove for 8-10 hours on low. I have read of people getting up to 12 but it is a very small stove with a short burn time. Under 1.5 cubic feet. Still, a very proven, easy to maintain, simple, stove. It would do the job very well if you don't mind reloading 2-3 times per day.

 

[begreen]

Info is spread over many different threads. This is a small space that their previous stove overheated. The reload schedule would be about the same as the Lange was.

 

[webby3650]

As was mentioned. If your current stove overheats the place, so will these other stoves you've mentioned wth the exception of the Blaze King. They are incredibly controllable!

 

[begreen]

As was mentioned. If your current stove overheats the place, so will these other stoves you've mentioned wth the exception of the Blaze King. They are incredibly controllable!

Excepting the Keystone, I would agree. It can run continuously at even lower btu output. The Lange is a strong heater and quite radiant. A smaller cast-iron jacketed stove with some owner control could also work. In mild weather that might mean 2 fires a day, letting the stove go out in between.

 

[webby3650]

Excepting the Keystone, I would agree. It can run continuously at even lower btu output. The Lange is a strong heater and quite radiant. A smaller cast-iron jacketed stove with some owner control could also work. In mild weather that might mean 2 fires a day, letting the stove go out in between.

Ya, letting it go out on purpose doesn't sound fun. Why set yourself up for that if you are buying a new stove? I can turn my BK to low, then resurrect it the next day if I need heat again.

 

[begreen]

If you're a fire bug it can be fun. It usually is just for a short period of time that one runs the stove that way. How the stove is run depends on the house and lifestyle. I'm assuming that loading 2-3 times a day was normal for the OP when running the Lange. We have super economical fall back heat so I prefer to wait until I can run longer burns, but one could also just feed 2-3 splits at a time if they are home anyway. Personally I like a KISS stove and I don't need >12hr burn times. Others need longer and that's good too. It's what makes the whole stove experience interesting. If everyone had the same stove it would be pretty boring.

 

[webby3650]

If you're a fire bug it can be fun. It usually is just for a short period of time that one runs the stove that way. How the stove is run depends on the house and lifestyle. I'm assuming that loading 2-3 times a day was normal for the OP when running the Lange. We have super economical fall back heat so I prefer to wait until I can run longer burns, but one could also just feed 2-3 splits at a time if they are home anyway. Personally I like a KISS stove and I don't need >12hr burn times. Others need longer and that's good too. It's what makes the whole stove experience interesting. If everyone had the same stove it would be pretty boring.

Very good points!
I prefer to run several stoves and a fireplace to keep things exciting!

 

[BeachBumm]

Ya, letting it go out on purpose doesn't sound fun. Why set yourself up for that if you are buying a new stove? I can turn my BK to low, then resurrect it the next day if I need heat again.

With that long of a burn time, is your stove actually warm enough to keep your area warm? I've never experienced such long burn times. 4 - 6 hours has been a long time with my Lange which has been ok (unless we are gone all day).

I like KISS stoves myself. Some efficiency thrown in would be nice too!

 

[webby3650]

With that long of a burn time, is your stove actually warm enough to keep your area warm? I've never experienced such long burn times. 4 - 6 hours has been a long time with my Lange which has been ok (unless we are gone all day).

I like KISS stoves myself. Some efficiency thrown in would be nice too!

Absolutely! We heat exclusively with wood, and have the warmest house of anyone I know. With my BK's I get 12 hour minimums, most often 24 hour cycles. I didn't believe it either till I owned one...

 

[webby3650]

Keep in mind, anyone who discourages or discounts a BK has never owned one. Most people promote the stove they have, their one and only experience most often. I've had a dozen or so stoves, and have access to almost any stove on the market. I'll always have a BK heating the place!

 

[BeachBumm]

Very good points!
I prefer to run several stoves and a fireplace to keep things exciting!

Speaking of 'fireplaces', are inserts worth talking about

Keep in mind, anyone who discourages or discounts a BK has never owned one. Most people promote the stove they have, their one and only experience most often. I've had a dozen or so stoves, and have access to almost any stove on the market. I'll always have a BK heating the place!

And your liner and cap isn't all gunked up with creosote?

 

[webby3650]

Speaking of 'fireplaces', are inserts worth talking about


And your liner and cap isn't all gunked up with creosote?

Absolutely not! With dry wood that's not a problem at all. There's a little more flacky stuff than say a Hearthstone, because it's not wasting as much heat up the flue. I get a cup or 2 of fluff from the pipe each season.

 

[BeachBumm]

Absolutely not! With dry wood that's not a problem at all. There's a little more flacky stuff than say a Hearthstone, because it's not wasting as much heat up the flue. I get a cup or 2 of fluff from the pipe each season.

WOW! Is the 'learning curve' difficult? If a guest used your house (when you were not there to help) would it be a desaster for the guest and your stove (and chimney)?

 

[webby3650]

WOW! Is the 'learning curve' difficult? If a guest used your house (when you were not there to help) would it be a desaster for the guest and your stove (and chimney)?

A guest would screw up any stove with no directions.
With the thermostatic air control, there's really not much to do. It's super simple. If you can type a comment on hearth.com then you can run a BK...it's no big deal at all, just hype...

 

[Highbeam]

WOW! Is the 'learning curve' difficult? If a guest used your house (when you were not there to help) would it be a desaster for the guest and your stove (and chimney)?

I agree that a putz can ruin any stove. I also must point out that running a cat stove safely is more difficult than running a non-cat. It's true, a real fact, no dispute. See, there is the air control (thermostatic on a BK so pretty easy) but also a second very important thing, the cat bypass. You start the fire with the cat bypassed and when the included cat gauge needle rises to "active" then you flop the bypass over to engage the cat. That's it. Oh, and before you open the door to reload you must open the bypass again. Oh and you have to set the air control knob high enough to keep the cat needle above the "active" line.

It becomes second nature and automatic for the owner. When a guest walks in to your house, it is very unlikely that they will do it right without guidance. And yes, damage may occur.

If you expect a lot of uneducated guests to run your stove then I would go for a plate steel non-cat with a temperature gauge on the stove and another on the flue and red marks on them showing the max allowed temperature. That, or don't have a wood burner. You see this with rental cabins, no wood burners is common.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

If you expect a lot of uneducated guests to run your stove then I would go for a plate steel non-cat with a temperature gauge on the stove and another on the flue and red marks on them showing the max allowed temperature. That, or don't have a wood burner. You see this with rental cabins, no wood burners is common.

I wouldn't let an uneducated guest run ANY woodstove without close supervision. Cat or no cat, it's serious business and you need to know what you are doing. Uneducated doesn't cut it here. It wasn't that long ago that this was common knowledge, now, not so much.

 

[Highbeam]

I wouldn't let an uneducated guest run ANY woodstove without close supervision. Cat or no cat, it's serious business and you need to know what you are doing. Uneducated doesn't cut it here. It wasn't that long ago that this was common knowledge, now, not so much.

Not at my house either but I don't even like other people using my shower!

 

[moresnow]

No reason to discredit the 20 series. No complaints with mine. And there are a handful of other members here using them happily as well. Any questions shoot me a PM anytime. Happy to fill you in.

 

[Highbeam]

No reason to discredit the 20 series. No complaints with mine. And there are a handful of other members here using them happily as well. Any questions shoot me a PM anytime. Happy to fill you in.

Hey, all stoves are great and all BK stoves are greater (ha!)

Sure, the 20 series will be a fine stove but you would be making a mistake to get one when the 30 series has a much wider range of available outputs. Lower and higher than the 20. PLUS, has a 50% longer burn time on low! It's like yeah a sirloin steak is not bad but a porterhouse is much better.

In this thread, low output ability is important.