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.
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.
). 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.
