Hello,
Have liked reading the site and just became a member. Thought I would share some first impressions of the US Stove/Ashley 5500m "King" pellet stove which is sold at Tractor Supply for around $1,000.
It's billed as a 48,000 BTU output and has a 120-lb hopper.
I'm using Maine Woods pellets in it.
So far, pretty good and haven't run into the performance issues other reviews have brought up. My venting was done by the installer perhaps a bit different than most, and maybe this is why.
In order to get clearance over a hot-water baseboard running along the wall where it's installed, he put a cleanout tee directly on the stove exhaust, then ran about three feet of pipe straight out through the wall. It terminates without taking any more bends.
There is no outside air kit and the way the thing is running, I really don't plan to get one.
Anyway, the stove is pretty big but the design isn't half bad. I'd call it "ruggedly handsome," not pretty or beautiful, though. The flame looks great, very vigorous.
There have been complaints about how loud the stove is. These are warranted when the fan is on full blast. It's definitely got some volume. Comparable to a dishwasher on an active cycle or a box fan on medium. So if you get one, prepare to deal with this noise level, or put it in another room away from the ole' boob tube/stereo.
That said, once the house gets warmed up you can drop the room fan down to setting 3 or 5 (of 9) and it is TOTALLY fine. If you put the fan on 2, it's practically inaudible and yet still moves the heat pretty good. So there's your balanced perspective on the fan noise.
OK, so the heat: I've been cranking it up to setting 5 (the highest) to get the house warmed up fast, then putting it down to 1 or 2 to maintain. I personally like it at about 65-66 degrees in the winter, no more, to save money and just because for me that temperature is cozy if I'm wearing a sweater.
So I might be a special case in that regard. The stove gets my recently constructed 2000 square foot home warmed up pretty fast.
Case in point last night: Turned it on when I got home, house was 58 degrees. Was up to 64 in about 75 minutes. The immediate area (dining room/kitchen) was warm much sooner.
I'm sure if I left the stove on level 5 for several hours the house would be in the low to mid 70s.
The stove has been so far trouble-free. There's not much ash, and no buildup in the burnpot that I can see. That said it's obviously early in the season here up in Maine so we'll see.
Pellet usage is supposed to be about 20 hours per bag on the lowest setting, eight hours on level 5. Seems like that's about right, but again, limited data to prove that out.
Another big concern on these has been the igniters burning out quickly. Mine still works, but I did contact the company to ask whether a manual light is possible.
I was wondering because others have written that they are essential SOL when the igniter goes, as the machine throws up an error code and won't do squat.
According to US Stove's support rep, you have to unplug the igniter from the circuit board before you're able to light the stove manually with starter gel.
I hope this information is helpful to any prospective 5500m shoppers and am happy to try and answer any questions people have.
Have liked reading the site and just became a member. Thought I would share some first impressions of the US Stove/Ashley 5500m "King" pellet stove which is sold at Tractor Supply for around $1,000.
It's billed as a 48,000 BTU output and has a 120-lb hopper.
I'm using Maine Woods pellets in it.
So far, pretty good and haven't run into the performance issues other reviews have brought up. My venting was done by the installer perhaps a bit different than most, and maybe this is why.
In order to get clearance over a hot-water baseboard running along the wall where it's installed, he put a cleanout tee directly on the stove exhaust, then ran about three feet of pipe straight out through the wall. It terminates without taking any more bends.
There is no outside air kit and the way the thing is running, I really don't plan to get one.
Anyway, the stove is pretty big but the design isn't half bad. I'd call it "ruggedly handsome," not pretty or beautiful, though. The flame looks great, very vigorous.
There have been complaints about how loud the stove is. These are warranted when the fan is on full blast. It's definitely got some volume. Comparable to a dishwasher on an active cycle or a box fan on medium. So if you get one, prepare to deal with this noise level, or put it in another room away from the ole' boob tube/stereo.
That said, once the house gets warmed up you can drop the room fan down to setting 3 or 5 (of 9) and it is TOTALLY fine. If you put the fan on 2, it's practically inaudible and yet still moves the heat pretty good. So there's your balanced perspective on the fan noise.
OK, so the heat: I've been cranking it up to setting 5 (the highest) to get the house warmed up fast, then putting it down to 1 or 2 to maintain. I personally like it at about 65-66 degrees in the winter, no more, to save money and just because for me that temperature is cozy if I'm wearing a sweater.
So I might be a special case in that regard. The stove gets my recently constructed 2000 square foot home warmed up pretty fast.
Case in point last night: Turned it on when I got home, house was 58 degrees. Was up to 64 in about 75 minutes. The immediate area (dining room/kitchen) was warm much sooner.
I'm sure if I left the stove on level 5 for several hours the house would be in the low to mid 70s.
The stove has been so far trouble-free. There's not much ash, and no buildup in the burnpot that I can see. That said it's obviously early in the season here up in Maine so we'll see.
Pellet usage is supposed to be about 20 hours per bag on the lowest setting, eight hours on level 5. Seems like that's about right, but again, limited data to prove that out.
Another big concern on these has been the igniters burning out quickly. Mine still works, but I did contact the company to ask whether a manual light is possible.
I was wondering because others have written that they are essential SOL when the igniter goes, as the machine throws up an error code and won't do squat.
According to US Stove's support rep, you have to unplug the igniter from the circuit board before you're able to light the stove manually with starter gel.
I hope this information is helpful to any prospective 5500m shoppers and am happy to try and answer any questions people have.
