New Ashford 20 Install

[freak tractor]

First post—excited to join the community! Recently bought an Ashford 20.2 to replace my old Vermont Castings Defiant Encore. I also had a brand-new Selkirk Class A chimney installed. I have a small ~1,250 sqf house in the Catskill Mountains in New York State. I loved the old VC, but it would sweat us out of the house and would barely last four hours, so overnight burns were out of the question. This winter I was intent to have the oil furnace be a supplement to the wood stove, not the other way around.

My local dealer was pitching me on the Jotul F445 Holliday. I almost pulled the trigger when they mentioned off-hand that they had some unsold Blaze King stoves they bought up during Covid, but had proved very unpopular. (A lot of folks around here are allergic to anything with the word "EPA" on it, and they refuse to use cat stoves out of principle.) They offered me a 30% discount on the Blaze King provided I could pick it up myself. This worked out well, since the IRA tax credits are valid until the end of the year. So I got an Ashford 20 for about $1,800—not bad! I rented a U-Haul trailer for $30 and got it back to the house.

Yes, I know the 30 has a bigger firebox. I've read every last thread on the topic. Still, given the size of my house, the 20 made more sense for my needs. Space is very limited, and my wife and I wanted something as small as possible. I have no problem with more frequent reloads. Despite the small firebox, I'm still getting 12+ hour burns. I even got a 16-hour burn with the thermostat never going lower than 3 o'clock. It's so strange getting used to seeing no flames in the firebox! Sometimes I'll crank it up high for a few minutes before turning it back down so I can see some secondary flame action.

But the best part, of course, is how much less wood I'm using. It truly is night and day. The only issue is that my installer used single-wall pipe on the 90 up to the Class A since we have plenty of clearance. When we rebuild our hearth next spring I'll swap that out for double wall, but for now I'll just make sure to sweep the chimney in a few months. The extra heat is great, though.

Glad I got this buttoned up last week, since today we had our first major snowstorm of the year. The house is decently insulated for being 175 years old , and the stove is keeping us around 70 degrees without breaking a sweat. Anyway, looking forward to contributing to the BK community!

 

[stoveliker]

That's some bang for your buck!!

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

I'd call it an amazing deal! Well done!

 

[Highbeam]

You say you got the little 20 because space is so tight but then you used single wall because you have so much room. Hmmm.

While he gets rid of the single wall might also want to use two 45 degree bends instead of a 90 if you can.

If you only want/need 12-20 hour burns on low and you saved a ton of money then the 20 box seems like a great fit.

Get that wood covered!

 

[freak tractor]

You say you got the little 20 because space is so tight but then you used single wall because you have so much room. Hmmm.

While he gets rid of the single wall might also want to use two 45 degree bends instead of a 90 if you can.

If you only want/need 12-20 hour burns on low and you saved a ton of money then the 20 box seems like a great fit.

Get that wood covered!

Hah—yes, well, since we have 9-foot ceilings, the 18" clearance for the single wall isn't much of a problem. As it is, the hearth was designed for the massive VC Defiant, so a lot of the living room floor space is taken up by the stove. When we redo the hearth to reclaim floor space, I will better appreciate the 20's smaller footprint compared to the 30. Yes, we could have fit the 30, but I don't regret this choice at all. Currently we have two 45s, so I'll probably do the same thing with the double wall, even though there is excellent draft in the ~24' chimney.

The wood is now covered, but I have a wood shed for the drier stuff.

 

[TmanBKAsh30]

Good afternoon freak tractor, I'm currently in the market for a new blaze king. Any idea if your dealer still has some? could you share the dealers name and town or contact info? My dealer quoted me a special price on a sirocco 30 and was over $4000

 

[freak tractor]

Good afternoon freak tractor, I'm currently in the market for a new blaze king. Any idea if your dealer still has some? could you share the dealers name and town or contact info? My dealer quoted me a special price on a sirocco 30 and was over $4000

Woodys Fireplace

Woody's Fireplace in Honesdale, PA. I believe they have stock left and are offering 30% off, but you have to pick it up yourself and they will not install.

 

[TmanBKAsh30]

Excellent, thank you!! I've been known to travel for a deal and I do all of my own installs, so, we'll see. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

You say you got the little 20 because space is so tight but then you used single wall because you have so much room. Hmmm.

While he gets rid of the single wall might also want to use two 45 degree bends instead of a 90 if you can.

If you only want/need 12-20 hour burns on low and you saved a ton of money then the 20 box seems like a great fit.

Get that wood covered!

Only 20 hour burns........................ you BK guys are spoiled.

 

[begreen]

Only 20 hour burns........................ you BK guys are spoiled.

Albeit at low heat output.

 

[freak tractor]

All I know is that I keep my thermostat kept around 3:30-4 and I easily get 12-15 hour burns, depending on outside temps.

 

[Dieselhead]

Albeit at low heat output.

Low heat output is all that’s needed most of the time. Without the rollercoaster house temperatures less efficient stoves create the need for big blasts of heat to catch up after the stove went out 2 times overnight isn’t warranted. Low and steady wins the race.

 

[begreen]

Low heat output is all that’s needed most of the time. Without the rollercoaster house temperatures less efficient stoves create the need for big blasts of heat to catch up after the stove went out 2 times overnight isn’t warranted. Low and steady wins the race.

It depends. Some of us don't run the stove in milder weather. In our case it's less expensive and less work to let the heat pump do its thing when it's >45º outside.

Thermal swing (roller coaster effect) tends to be more prominent with strongly radiant stove of less mass. It's not as much of an issue with cast iron jacketed and soapstone stoves.

 

[TmanBKAsh30]

Having had my ashford 30 for 5 seasons now I find it most convenient to load for 12 to 14 hour burns as that's what works for my schedule. Load at 5 or 6 am then again at 6 or 7 pm. sometimes I put in 5 pieces or all the way up to 10 depending on size of splits. When its 35+ degrees out and calm I sometimes load for an 18-24 hour burn depending on my schedule. After having burnt wood for most of 45 years with old style, less efficient stoves it absolutely has me spoiled. I've just put a soapstone stove in an addition and trying to learn it and get long enough burns with easy restarts as I only need to add a little heat to offset the blazeking. Knowing a blazeking would do it easily I'm about ready to chuck in the towel and take it out and install a blazeking. I've got to make a decision by tuesday in order to hang the last two sheets of drywall, we'll see.

 

[all night moe]

Having had my ashford 30 for 5 seasons now I find it most convenient to load for 12 to 14 hour burns as that's what works for my schedule. Load at 5 or 6 am then again at 6 or 7 pm. sometimes I put in 5 pieces or all the way up to 10 depending on size of splits. When its 35+ degrees out and calm I sometimes load for an 18-24 hour burn depending on my schedule. After having burnt wood for most of 45 years with old style, less efficient stoves it absolutely has me spoiled. I've just put a soapstone stove in an addition and trying to learn it and get long enough burns with easy restarts as I only need to add a little heat to offset the blazeking. Knowing a blazeking would do it easily I'm about ready to chuck in the towel and take it out and install a blazeking. I've got to make a decision by tuesday in order to hang the last two sheets of drywall, we'll see.

What's the stone stove?

 

[TmanBKAsh30]

It's a new Hearthstone Castleton 8031. I have a thread about that journey titled Blaze King 20 or 30. I am still trying a few things with that stove and got a 10 hour burn out of it last night. Wrestling with weather I really want to learn a new stove or sell it and install what I already know.

 

[all night moe]

It's a new Hearthstone Castleton 8031. I have a thread about that journey titled Blaze King 20 or 30. I am still trying a few things with that stove and got a 10 hour burn out of it last night. Wrestling with weather I really want to learn a new stove or sell it and install what I already know.

I had a feeling you would say a Hearthstone.

All around, Woodstock is taking the cake for soapstone stoves.

 

[TmanBKAsh30]

In it's defense, it's a small stove with a less than ideal flue with less than ideal wood and i got a 10 hour burn out of it last night. As regards to the flue I have the option to go straight out of the back of the stove or out of the top, which is one reason i chose that stove. My logic was if it can burn straight out the back of the stove it probably would burn marginally better going out of the top 6" then a 90 then through the wall allowing me to have a relatively low non combustible mantle and mounting a tv higher on the wall because the rest of the room is mostly glass. As regards to the wood I have been using hardwood slab wood that is not dry enough, yet even with those hurdles, once the cat has been active for 20 minutes I can put the draft as low as it can go and the cat remains active until all the wood is consumed so, what more can be asked of any stove? I'm starting to become convinced that with proper sized and properly dried hardwood splits the stove will probably preform to my needs. I hate the words probably, maybe when I know for certain what the Blaze king will do. so, still working through it.