BK Ashford 25 (and Sirocco 25)

[mellow]

That seems pretty simple. I might just do it myself rather than get the “professionals” to construct something that fails. Know where I could purchase a new gasket mellow?

Yep, as mentioned your dealer should be able to order it for you, I would get 2 so you will have a backup on hand. Might as well get a gasket for the cat and the door as well while you are at it incase you need to service the stove at some point, better to have these consumable parts on hand than waiting a few weeks with a cold stove.

 

[mcdeadstein]

I'll just throw my .02 in on it being easy to slide the stove in/out. While the adapter does make it easier to attach the liner you don't know how difficult it may have been to get it attached to the stove in the first place. My setup has the liner making a somewhat sharp bend to get through the flue opening and it was VERY hard to get the bolts to line up. I don't ever plan on trying to do that again unless it is absolutely needed. Everyone's situation is different but keep in mind it may not be easy for you like people describe.

 

[mcdeadstein]

I've been burning my insert about 3-4 days a week. I'm finding that with the fans off i'm getting decent burn times. I also think I found 2 reasons I was getting smoke smell.

1. Windy days + stove on low really make it hard to have any draw. The wind may even cause some back pressure.

2. Turning the stove down too quickly after intiial lightup. I was in the habit of letting it rip until the stove went active then turning the thermostat down. Well I did that on one of my last loads and then went outside to do some errands. I could smell and see some pretty foul smoke coming out of the chimney. I think the catalyst was totally overloaded trying to process an entire firebox worth of smoldering fresh fuel. I went inside and brough the stove up to medium for 10 min and then dropped it back to low and emissions cleared up nicely.

 

[darktower007]

FYI I just got in a BK Ashford 25.. the Generation 2 models (no clue what that means) do NOT come with the collar extension. It comes with a C- clamp that attaches to the flue liner.

The manual does not indicate this, nor did the dealer know. I called BK and they verified it for me.

 

[ORCV]

Update:
Funny, the stove worked well for a bit and then died back down to how it was in the beginning.

The owner of the company where I bought the stove came over today to check the stove out. Felt the area of on the bypass gasket where it was frayed. He made his own fire with madrone and got the stove going hot. He agreed that there may be something wrong with the stove and how it is functioning. He couldn’t get the temp gauge at 1 or 2 and keep the cat going. He noticed a lot of smoke coming from the chimney with bypass closed.
He called BK and they will replace the bypass gasket and get me a new catalyst. We again checked all my wood (oak) and it is around 12-15% in the woodshed due to heavy moisture in air (humidity of 98%) and when we split some of the big rounds and measured it was around 18%. I have a few stages of keeping the wood dry aside from the woodshed. I keep the wood in the garage for about 1-2 weeks before I burn it and all those are around 12%.
Interesting that I’m still having issues but at least the owner realizes there’s a problem with the stove.

 

[darktower007]

Update:
Funny, the stove worked well for a bit and then died back down to how it was in the beginning.

The owner of the company where I bought the stove came over today to check the stove out. Felt the area of on the bypass gasket where it was frayed. He made his own fire with madrone and got the stove going hot. He agreed that there may be something wrong with the stove and how it is functioning. He couldn’t get the temp gauge at 1 or 2 and keep the cat going. He noticed a lot of smoke coming from the chimney with bypass closed.
He called BK and they will replace the bypass gasket and get me a new catalyst. We again checked all my wood (oak) and it is around 12-15% in the woodshed due to heavy moisture in air (humidity of 98%) and when we split some of the big rounds and measured it was around 18%. I have a few stages of keeping the wood dry aside from the woodshed. I keep the wood in the garage for about 1-2 weeks before I burn it and all those are around 12%.
Interesting that I’m still having issues but at least the owner realizes there’s a problem with the stove.

Any update on the Ashford 25?


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[SculptureOfSound]

FYI I just got in a BK Ashford 25.. the Generation 2 models (no clue what that means) do NOT come with the collar extension. It comes with a C- clamp that attaches to the flue liner.

The manual does not indicate this, nor did the dealer know. I called BK and they verified it for me.

View attachment 236067

This is great news. Means I could use the insert with my oval liner, if I ever decide to go the BK route (would go BK in an instant if heating exclusively with wood was more feasible here but location of fireplace makes that difficult, and NG is still super cheap (comes out to the equivalent of about $100 a cord for oak)

 

[darktower007]

This is great news. Means I could use the insert with my oval liner, if I ever decide to go the BK route (would go BK in an instant if heating exclusively with wood was more feasible here but location of fireplace makes that difficult, and NG is still super cheap (comes out to the equivalent of about $100 a cord for oak)

Yeah really and truly I didn’t need a wood stove let alone one that was thousands of dollars. But I grew up with one and enjoyed cutting wood with my father growing up so I wanted to enjoy that again. I live in Tennessee it’s 61 today and 64 tomorrow?? But the stove will be there when we’re ready.


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[SculptureOfSound]

Yeah really and truly I didn’t need a wood stove let alone one that was thousands of dollars. But I grew up with one and enjoyed cutting wood with my father growing up so I wanted to enjoy that again. I live in Tennessee it’s 61 today and 64 tomorrow?? But the stove will be there when we’re ready.


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i totally understand. well, actually I'm coming from the opposite situation. didn't have a fireplace or wood stove growing up (just a cheap gas fireplace at one house that put out almost no heat). my grandparents had a franklin stove and my dad later moved into an apartment with one...based on that experience i thought i could get some hear from a fireplace.

a few years ago my girlfriend and i were looking to get a house together (first for both of us) and i just knew i wanted a fireplace. it was a non negotiable item. i didnt really know much about them and would have settled for a zero clearance heatilator type or whatever, but luckily the house we got had a masonry fireplace.

but then the troubles began. it needed to be relined so we got it relined for open fireplace use (the sweep lightly pushed inserts but only showed me the most basic/ugly inserts that had tiny viewing areas and i honestly wasn't aware there were better and more aesthetic options out there). well he relined it but then the fireplace always smoked badly. like, the house would smell of smoke for 48 hours after a fire. so we tried a few fires and they were all a disaster and we gave up on it for the year. i was so disappointed. i would later learn that the rectangular liner he put in broke the rules regarding fireplace opening to flue size ratio and that is why it smoked. I'd also later learn that i was quoted an insulated liner and it wasn't)

so i started researching my options and stumbled across hearth.com and then learned of the nicer inserts! awesome..but about $5500 installed and what do i even want? i was scared to drop that kind of coin knowing that we had our first kid on the way and that I'd likely never get a full return on investment as i dont have access to free wood and natural gas is so cheap. so i researched for like 6 months, i knew the dimensions of 4 or 5 inserts off the top of my head, the clearances, etc. i did experiments with space heaters to see how much heat would get trapped in the room and how i could distribute it w ith fans. in the end i narrowed it down to the vc Montpelier (huge viewing glass, firebox in 2 cuvic foot range as 3 cf would definitely have been too big, and tube burner for better flame show than cats) or the BK Ashford for it's great viewing glass, sharp lookd and ability to turn down so low.

i just could not decide between the two. i had fears with each...my main fear of the BK was black glass, as i decided I'd likely only be a part time burner (due to inability to have tons of wood on the lot and fireplace being at the far end of a long ranch). so i missed the 2017 season because i couldn't make up my mind.

...will continue this in next post

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Decided I couldn't justify almost 6 grand without knowing if I'd prefer a tube stove with better flame show or the BK with better control, emissions, just about everything else really. But flame show is important to me since I'd mostly be burning for pleasure and "extra" heat.

So I decided I'd find a cheap tube insert on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. I figured I'd have to do the liner either way so if I could try out a tube insert for $500 or whatever then at least I could go forward knowingly on the Montpelier vs Ashford decision. I watched for months, started making a few deals and then people got flaky or just stopped responding...it was stressful. It was 2.5 years after starting this fireplace journey and I still couldn't burn and enjoy a fire. I was ready to give up, at least for the time being, as I was just sick of thinking about this and putting time into it.

The day I told my g/f I was giving up the search she sends me a link to a new listing in marketplace. It was a bad thumbnail pic and I couldn't tell what it was. Almost didn't open it but reluctantly did so...it was a Montpelier, just an hour and a half drive away, for only $200.

Needless to say I jumped on that. Got it home, took it apart and repainted it, but other than paint it was in really good condition.

So here I am burning the Monty and generally loving it (still lots to learn...each load behaves a bit differently and it's tricky to master) but still do think about an Ashford 25 from time to time. I'd love being able to get easier overnight burns, especially on the pine which is all that I have that is dry.

Anyhow, curious to hear all about your experience with the Ashford darktower!!

 

[ORCV]

Still waiting for the company to install the new Bypass Door Gasket and a new Cat (next Tuesday). I have been drying a lot of wood in the house until we get the new cat installed. I also cut up a 150 year old oak tree that fell down on the property and put that underneath the wood shed.

Will let you guys know how the stove runs with the new parts.

Any update on the Ashford 25?


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[Tegbert]

Still waiting for the company to install the new Bypass Door Gasket and a new Cat (next Tuesday). I have been drying a lot of wood in the house until we get the new cat installed. I also cut up a 150 year old oak tree that fell down on the property and put that underneath the wood shed.

Will let you guys know how the stove runs with the new parts.

I feel bad for whoever is going to install that gasket without removing the retainer. I was advised to do it and not remove it. I am doing it right now and it sucks. It would be a pain to get all of the cement/sealant out of the grooves while in the unit. I am going to do a write up on how I did it for future owners or what not. Here’s what my gasket looked like.

As you can see the rest is flat and the back pulled out by the bypass pushing into it.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[ORCV]

Hi all.

The so called “professional” came over today with the new catalyst and gasket for bypass door. Unfortunately they did not send the bypass gasket retainer but just the gasket.
He wasn’t very educated on how to replace it and I had to walk him through the entire procedure with the manual. It was actually very easy to do.

The two main issues:
1) he did not bring a new ceramic paper liner to go under the bypass retainer
2) did not tighten the bypass rod bolt enough therefore I do not thing it is going as far back as it should. Lots of wiggle room compared to before.
I’ll go in to the store and get another cat gasket and fix the problem myself.
The stove is working far better than it has in the last month and the cat is glowing very nicely.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Woody Stover]

The so called “professional” came over today

Uh..right.

1) he did not bring a new ceramic paper liner to go under the bypass retainer

What? That's the first I've heard of that extra gasket...What does it do?

I’ll go in to the store and get another cat gasket and fix the problem myself.

"If you want it done right..."

 

[Tegbert]

The ceramic paper liner or the actual bypass retainer itself is not available yet. Believe me I tried to get the kit that is listed in the manual for it but apparently they didn’t anticipate having to need any replaced yet.

I have mine all tore apart right now. I have the new bypass gasket in place and new ceramic paper for it too. Just waiting on the cat gasket to finish it up. I don’t know how you can replace the gasket there and do a decent job without removing that retainer.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Tegbert]

Uh..right.
What? That's the first I've heard of that extra gasket...What does it do?
"If you want it done right..."

The bypass slides on rope gasket. The rope gasket is in a retainer and that retainer is bolted in. In between the retainer and mount is where the ceramic paper gasket goes.

That’s the retainer.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[gunpowda]

Is this a known fix/issue? I have commented before regarding my AF25 and burn times. Love the stove but I cannot turn it down low or it falls out of active and I get smoke smell in house. I am heating a large area so rarely would burn low but it would be nice to set low when I am going away for the day.

 

[Tegbert]

Is this a known fix/issue? I have commented before regarding my AF25 and burn times. Love the stove but I cannot turn it down low or it falls out of active and I get smoke smell in house. I am heating a large area so rarely would burn low but it would be nice to set low when I am going away for the day.

I don’t think it’s an issue but at least on mine The gasket was taller in the back so when the bypass slides into it it slowly pushed it out.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[gunpowda]

How can the gasket be taller in the back if it’s the same gasket?

 

[Tegbert]

How can the gasket be taller in the back if it’s the same gasket?

It wasn’t flat. It didn’t have the bypass weight on it so it stayed round as the rest was flat


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[gunpowda]

After this discovery and correction was there a change in performance?

 

[Tegbert]

After this discovery and correction was there a change in performance?

I’m hoping it will. I started to notice it was smoking a lot more. I still have mine apart waiting on the combustor gasket. Orcv says his is performing better so far.




Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[darktower007]

Mine falls out of Cat zone but still pumps out heat. I just packed mine full with oak for tonight’s burn. My splits are smaller but it’s all I have that is ready. I’ll see what light to measurable heat dissipation is tonight.


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[darktower007]

Mine falls out of Cat zone but still pumps out heat. I just packed mine full with oak for tonight’s burn. My splits are smaller but it’s all I have that is ready. I’ll see what light to measurable heat dissipation is tonight.


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Packed Ashford 25 with small oak splits @19% MC yielded 5 hours of flames and strong heat. I could have gotten 7 or more of useable heat but my fan was on medium. Wind was howling out so draft was strong @40 degrees.



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[ORCV]

Hey guys.
My stove is running much better. Still not getting amazing burn times: about 8-10hours on medium but at least I’m not loading it 5x a day. The cat glows for about 5 hours and then dims down yet stays active. When it falls out of active zone it still pumps out good heat.
I hatcheted all the bark off my oak a few loads at a Time and let the wood dry out even more. I purchased a cord of Madrone and am letting that dry in the house and garage as well.
I am much happier with the stove now however still disheartened that I’m not getting 15-20 hour burn times.