I've officially settled on an Ashford 30.1

[pvfjr]

Now I've got to work on the shopping around. I was down in Eugene, so decided to stop by the local Blaze King dealer there and see them in person. They look great, but their advertised price was $3185! I was previously quoted $2200 for a base princess from another dealer, so I was a little shocked. That same dealer up in Corbett did give me a better quote for the Ashford than the Eugene dealer, however, and came in at $2784. The rebate comes out to $1008, so that will help a lot. That's still almost $600 more than the Princess, but it comes with a much higher WAF. Also, to make the comparison fair, I would have to add hundreds of dollars in side and rear shields to the Princess, as the Ashford is already jacketed, and gives me the reduced clearance install I desire.

On another note, the dealer in Eugene was totally bent on selling me a Lopi stove he had. He had a cut-away model, and I'll admit, the thing was built like a tank! But, it was 10% less efficient than the Ashford with over twice the emissions. I don't think it would even compare with burn times. The dealer was totally down-playing the entire Blaze King line of stoves, and was acting like the burn time ratings were complete BS, and said that they wouldn't put out any appreciable heat--even if they could burn for that long. I suspect that he's either never burned a Blaze King, or gets bigger kick-backs from the other model he was pushing. Either way, it was off-putting. I didn't let on about the amount of research I'd done and first-hand accounts I'd already read. He also had the efficiency (and the affected Oregon Energy Trust rebate) listed incorrectly. They were masking about $400 worth of the incentive that the Ashford comes with.

Anyway, I've talked to the dealer in Corbett, and have gotten a much better impression there. I think they'll be getting my business. I just have to figure out how many accessories I'll need. I need to tile the floor in the room I'll be installing the stove in. I have to figure out if I have single or double-wall pipe in the existing install, or if I need to buy a new section of DSP. I did figure out that my chimney is a supervent, and it appears to be in great shape. I don't think I'll try to reuse the flashing and storm collar though, as we've had occasional rain leaks that I can't stop with all the caulking in the world. So when I move the chimney, I think it'll be good to start with a few new parts.

 

[Heftiger]

Cool! The prices look good. I'm in California, and calling around I couldn't find a base Ashford for less than 3k. Is this rebate you speak of an Oregon thing? Maybe I should consider moving...

On a side note, does the dealer have it in stock? My dealer does not. He called Blaze King and they estimated a 4 day delivery. I placed the order a couple days after that and the delivery has been pushed out 2 weeks (this is delivery from Blaze King to dealer). They must be getting slammed with sales.

 

[pvfjr]

The dealer I've been talking with is fairly small scale, I think. She gave me a 2 week estimate, which sounds reasonable (I assume that means they don't have them in stock). The rebate is from the Oregon Energy Trust. You send in an application for them, and if they approve it, you take the tax credit against your state tax return. I had to do some research to find out about it, I don't know if CA has something similar. There's a fair bit of paperwork involved, and I have to certify that my old stove is permanently removed from service (destroyed). Two weeks doesn't sound bad to me. Reading some of the older threads, people were waiting a lot longer than that when the stoves were a brand new model.

I'm still toying with the idea of getting the blowers. I think I'll rig up my own OAK; I was able to look over the floor model pretty well when I was down in Eugene, and got an idea of where all the ports and removable plates were. What did you decide on all that?

 

[Heftiger]

We went with the fans, no OAK. I figured I can install the OAK later if needed, but it's going to be a pain because I have to drill down through the brick hearth.

 

[pvfjr]

That's probably a pretty good sized hole too. 4"? I got some of those Drilax diamond bits off Amazon and have been VERY happy with them. Just don't run them dry and they'll eat right through anything. I use a piece of plywood with the same sized hole clamped to the work as a guide/water reservoir. Works great, and they're CHEAP.

 

[Poindexter]

Best wishes on a smooth install. I too chose between and A30 and a Princess, went with the A30, no regrets.

They both like really dry wood. No, drier. My local BK dealer has been banging the "16%MC per handheld electronic gizmo" longer than I can remember. When I have a load in the stove under 16% I am very very happy. 17-22% I have to work a little harder, but it is OK.

Spruce and pine is fine. The burn times are not BS.

I was ready to install an OAK if I needed one, doing fine without. Depends on how tightly sealed your house is. If you are running an HRV you will probably need either an OAK or an HRV outlet near the stove. Otherwise, wait to see if you need it before you start buying parts for it.

 

[pvfjr]

Well my house was built in '85, but they spared no expense when it came to over-building (2x10 trusses on 16" centers, and 2x8 decking with 3/4 ply subfloor ). I think it's reasonably tight, but not as tight as the newer houses with all the home-wrap and whatnot. I'm mainly thinking about an OAK not because I'm worried about starving out the stove, but because I just don't want to be constantly cycling air out of the house. If the stove is constantly consuming air within the house and discarding it out the chimney, then there will be a constant flow of air towards the stove. That doesn't help the natural convective heat flow I'm hoping to facilitate. Even worse, the minor air leaks I do have will be constantly pulling in cold air from outside to replace the air going out the chimney. That just doesn't sound ideal, and I think it's part of the reason the far corners of my house like to stay cold with my current setup.

 

[Poindexter]

Depends on mold and how many floor/stories you are running.

I have my late 1980s build about as sealed up as I think I can go without inviting mold problems. I would rather burn a little bit more wood than have to deal with mold abatement.

Depending on how your house is laid out and where your stove is located you be pulling cold air along the floor towards the stove, but then have billows of hot air to move along the ceiling towads the rest of the house.

good luck

 

[Highbeam]

The standard US OAK kit is 3" pipe. The Canadians use a 4" pipe. I used rigid duct for mine and did it in 4" so I had to get a hold of the Canadian OAK. Here's a pic. I like it. Heck, earlier this week I was going to start a fire in a cold stove and the wife had the range hood blower running and it actually sucked flue air/ash out of the open stove door until she shut that thing off. My 1963 house is not tight but these things need excellent draft. Part of getting excellent draft through the stove is assuring sufficient inlet pressure.

 

[Highbeam]

The standard US OAK kit is 3" pipe. The Canadians use a 4" pipe. I used rigid duct for mine and did it in 4" so I had to get a hold of the Canadian OAK. Here's a pic. I like it. Heck, earlier this week I was going to start a fire in a cold stove and the wife had the range hood blower running and it actually sucked flue air/ash out of the open stove door until she shut that thing off. My 1963 house is not tight but these things need excellent draft. Part of getting excellent draft through the stove is assuring sufficient inlet pressure.

Woops, one more.

 

[pvfjr]

Depends on mold and how many floor/stories you are running.

I have my late 1980s build about as sealed up as I think I can go without inviting mold problems. I would rather burn a little bit more wood than have to deal with mold abatement.

I'm not worried about this. The status quo for this house was to use the gas furnace, which the previous owners did for many years. The furnace does not consume air, as it has cold air returns. So from a thermodynamics standpoint, the house operated as a closed system.

Depending on how your house is laid out and where your stove is located you be pulling cold air along the floor towards the stove, but then have billows of hot air to move along the ceiling towads the rest of the house.

This is true, and it's the reason I'm moving the stove to a new location when I upgrade. The current location is in the extreme corner of the house, in a room with a transom.

However, with an inside air intake, not all the cold air moving toward the stove on the floor is driven by natural convection. Some of it is consumed and removed from the now "open system" that the house has become; this cold air that is consumed is no longer displacing warm air in the room, and doesn't help that warm air flow into the rest of the house. Instead of mass flow rates entering and leaving the room as either hot or cold that have a net of zero, the room ends up with a deficit, and has a net air flow towards the stove. I haven't bothered to calculate the mass flow rate of air consumed by the stove and compare it with the convective flow rates in and out of the room. But on a scale of negligible to significant, I'd bet it lands somewhere in the middle.

 

[pvfjr]

Best wishes on a smooth install. I too chose between and A30 and a Princess, went with the A30, no regrets.
.

Thanks, and it's good to hear that you're happy with your choice. I'm sure I will be too.

If you are running an HRV you will probably need either an OAK or an HRV outlet near the stove. Otherwise, wait to see if you need it before you start buying parts for it.

I never really considered an HRV; don't these stoves have fairly low flue temps to begin with? Either way, I think I'll take your advice and forgo the pricey cost of the kit. I may rough in a vent when I tile the floor since it'll be easier that way. If I decide I want to use it, I might not purchase the $90 kit anyway. I'm sure I can adapt a round duct to a square hole for a lot less than that! Other components of this project are starting to add up fast anyway.

 

[pvfjr]

The standard US OAK kit is 3" pipe. The Canadians use a 4" pipe. I used rigid duct for mine and did it in 4" so I had to get a hold of the Canadian OAK. Here's a pic. I like it. Heck, earlier this week I was going to start a fire in a cold stove and the wife had the range hood blower running and it actually sucked flue air/ash out of the open stove door until she shut that thing off. My 1963 house is not tight but these things need excellent draft. Part of getting excellent draft through the stove is assuring sufficient inlet pressure.

Nicely done, Highbeam. I think mine may be a little less effort, as I'll just be tiling the floor. The stove will be in a high traffic area, so going hearth-less will probably be one less thing to trip over.

That makes sense that your stove back-puffed a bit when cold. Have you experienced that at all when you have a nice hot draft going? Maybe I'll have to install an OAK for my range hood too...

 

[Highbeam]

Nicely done, Highbeam. I think mine may be a little less effort, as I'll just be tiling the floor. The stove will be in a high traffic area, so going hearth-less will probably be one less thing to trip over.

That makes sense that your stove back-puffed a bit when cold. Have you experienced that at all when you have a nice hot draft going? Maybe I'll have to install an OAK for my range hood too...

No back puff, the range hood just put enough suck on an old house to reverse my draft. With no stove oak, this could happen anytime. Since I have an oak, the suck in the house can't affect the stove's breathing.

 

[pvfjr]

No back puff, the range hood just put enough suck on an old house to reverse my draft. With no stove oak, this could happen anytime. Since I have an oak, the suck in the house can't affect the stove's breathing.

Right, not a back puff per se, but a draft reversal all the same. It'd be nice to not worry about the stove performance when exhaust fans are on elsewhere in the house (assuming the stove door is closed, of course). I'm pretty sure our existing install has suffered from slow draft with exhaust fans turning. Most of the time, however, we can't keep this thing turned down far enough. We just get a hot living room and short burn times.

 

[pvfjr]

OK, so here's a rough sketch of our existing floor plan on the first floor. As you can see, the house has two hearths. The one in the lower left used to have a pellet stove, but the PO took it out. The lower right corner is home to our current inadequate stove, and the heat does not spread well.

My plan is to knock down the wall behind the piano, and have the stove/piano switch places. This would open up the kitchen/dining area, give us a line of sight to the living room and stairs, and I'm pretty sure the heat will spread better. This puts the stove in close proximity to the stairs, hallway, kitchen/dining area, and living room. If the downstairs bedroom remains too cool, I may install some transom fans. I'm open to other ideas and suggestions though.

 

[edyit]

that's a rough sketch?

 

[firefighterjake]

that's a rough sketch?

Well yeah . . . you can't make out the writing on Pvfjr's T-shirt . . . if I squint just right I think it reads "Mumford Phys Ed."

Also, the cat is hiding under the bed so you don't see him.

 

[pvfjr]

that's a rough sketch?

Well yeah, I only made about 2/3 of it dimensionally accurate, then I got lazy.

 

[pvfjr]

Well yeah . . . you can't make out the writing on Pvfjr's T-shirt . . . if I squint just right I think it reads "Mumford Phys Ed."

That's not writing, that's my wife's bosom shadow!

 

[BKVP]

That bird dog looks happy! Waterfowl season is open and he looks dog tired.

 

[kf6ha[]

Day 2 of burning in my new Ashford 30.1. Anybody know how low a burn you can have without creating problems like gunning up the flue?

 

[kf6ha[]

Gunking, not gunning. Darn "autocorrect".

 

[BKVP]

Keep the cat active, close the by pass and lock it down. Check flue in 30 days. (This is just to reassure you all is well.) Then check it each year. Burn verified dry wood. (Buy a moisture meter)

 

[pvfjr]

That bird dog looks happy! Waterfowl season is open and he looks dog tired.

Our dogs do love birds, but are too bull-headed to be bird dogs. Especially our husky. Our husky/shepard mix is a real hunter on her own time, and gets countless birds on our property during the spring. She's better than any cat I've seen!