Hello to all wood stovers -
I just looked at an old Ashley Automatic by Martin Industries, model 25HFR. From what I can gather about the names Ashley and Martin on the web, I think it's 25 to 30 years old. Owner's comments make me thing it was fairly lightly used. It's kind of nice to look at .... with an oval footprint and short legs. It's about 32" high, 32" deep and 18" wide. It has a 6" Dia top exhaust placed at the very rear of top plate. I could see moving it back into our fireplace and venting directly upwards (using stove pipe) through the present damper with hardly a kink. I may remove the damper to simplify installation and since damper is damaged anyway. If I have to move it out and run exhaust through 2 90 elbows (or a 90 and a T) it won't make it into our fireplace. The opening is only 34" high. Some notes on the Ashley. It has a swing away top for top loading and a front door for front loading. The front door has an asbestos seal in need of repair. There's a thermostatically controlled device also bolted on to the front door. It may or may not function properly.
So ... questions for the assembly ... 1. are Ashley's any good? 2. What should I offer her for it? 3. Is the swing away top safe as long as it appears to want to sit down nice and tight on the housing below? 4. Are there safety or functionality concerns surrounding the idea of top venting straight upwards into a lined chimney? 5. Does anyone know where I can find a user manual for it? 6. Does your average chimney sweep install an asbestos seal on a stove, reblack an old stove and check it for cracks etc? I'll need something to reassure the insurance company that it's safe. 7. should I tell the owner to scrap it and take that deadly thing off the market? ;-)
Thanks in advance for your advice. Regards, Brian
I just looked at an old Ashley Automatic by Martin Industries, model 25HFR. From what I can gather about the names Ashley and Martin on the web, I think it's 25 to 30 years old. Owner's comments make me thing it was fairly lightly used. It's kind of nice to look at .... with an oval footprint and short legs. It's about 32" high, 32" deep and 18" wide. It has a 6" Dia top exhaust placed at the very rear of top plate. I could see moving it back into our fireplace and venting directly upwards (using stove pipe) through the present damper with hardly a kink. I may remove the damper to simplify installation and since damper is damaged anyway. If I have to move it out and run exhaust through 2 90 elbows (or a 90 and a T) it won't make it into our fireplace. The opening is only 34" high. Some notes on the Ashley. It has a swing away top for top loading and a front door for front loading. The front door has an asbestos seal in need of repair. There's a thermostatically controlled device also bolted on to the front door. It may or may not function properly.
So ... questions for the assembly ... 1. are Ashley's any good? 2. What should I offer her for it? 3. Is the swing away top safe as long as it appears to want to sit down nice and tight on the housing below? 4. Are there safety or functionality concerns surrounding the idea of top venting straight upwards into a lined chimney? 5. Does anyone know where I can find a user manual for it? 6. Does your average chimney sweep install an asbestos seal on a stove, reblack an old stove and check it for cracks etc? I'll need something to reassure the insurance company that it's safe. 7. should I tell the owner to scrap it and take that deadly thing off the market? ;-)
Thanks in advance for your advice. Regards, Brian