NEED HELP Ashley 1800e in masonry fireplace

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Chaz

New Member
Jan 1, 2021
9
Pennsylvania
Hi i am new to the wood stove life. We just purchased a home that has a old heatelalator unit in the fire place. I purchased a Ashley hearth 1800e fireplace insert. After 2 days i already called to have it picked up for a return. It doesnt even heat the living room let alone 1800 sq ft that it advertises. I thought about a wood stove itself and not a insert. But at this point im open for any suggestions. I dont have that deep pockets but at the same time i dont want to buy junk ..... again. Any tips or insight would be awesome !
 
Welcome to the Forums !!!

Pics would help, a ton.

How seasoned is your firewood?

Liner, or no?
 
Yes i have a 6 inch liner the chimney is in the center of the house and is a little over 2 ft above roof peak. It was a liner kit with terracotta top plate and cap.
 

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Also the wood i assume is seasoned . My parents are burning the same wood without a issue i see that alot of people suggest a moisture reader i have one ordered just not here yet .
 
That fire is not getting enough air.
 
That is just coals . I gave up i burned all day and it did nothing so i gave up. Im already in the process of returning this unit. Im looking for suggestions and opinions on inserts compared to standard stoves and brands .
 
I wish you well.
 
Was a block off plate installed? What kind of temps were you seeing from the stove? A lot of questions I know. Just trying to make sure we have everything solved before you run out and get another stove and are disappointed again.
 
I didnt use a block off plate. Instead i used bricks and cement as close to the liner as i could then used hi temperature sealent that i use on furnaces to seal around the liner. As far as the temps i didnt take any but i will try again tomorrow. The front is very hot but the top i can put my hand on . Now there is a blower unit that blows air out the front so i dont believe it is designed to get to hot on top because of air blowing over it . The air temp was hot but it didnt seem to push to much air. The specs say 100 cfm blower.
 
About how long is the liner from the insert to the cap?
 
Also the wood i assume is seasoned . My parents are burning the same wood without a issue i see that alot of people suggest a moisture reader i have one ordered just not here yet .
Are your parents burning that wood in a modern stove or in a 1980's smoke dragon? Big difference.
 
21 ft should be good. Did the liner go in easily, no kinks or issues? Sounds like the wood is not too bad either if your folks are burning it in a modern stove.

We don't have a lot of experience with this new stove, but the design is pretty simple.
 
One thing to check when the insert is cold is that the baffle boards are laying flat and correctly in place. Same with the blanket covering the baffle boards. The blanket in particular can bunch up in the back of the stove if not laying flat.
 
Yes it went pretty easy. The old flue was all but straight up and down. The liner is not insulated i didnt think it would be a issue since the fire place is in the center of the house. I could insulated with the mix insulation. Could that make this much of a difference? Also someone said that my flame looked like it was starving for air. I opened a window about 8 ft from the stove and it did nothing. Is there something else i could try ?
 
With dry wood, it should be burning well. Opening a nearby window was a good test. Is this a basement install?

Did the fireplace work well as a fireplace? Easy to light with no smoke rollout?
 
No this is in the living room and yes the old fire place would work fine lighting and staying lit. It just didnt produce heat.
 
It looks like the air control valve is on the right side of the insert stove body. If the insulation blanket checks out good. Checking the air control for any blockage (there shouldn't be any) is about all you can do. This insert looks like just an update of the Vogelzang TR-004 Colonial. It's a small firebox, but it should burn ok.
There are some threads on the TR004 including this long one: