Ideal Steel or Ashford in Basement

Have been debating whether to replace the wood insert on the first floor with a freestanding stove or replace the propane stove with a wood stove in the basement. Finally decided the wood stove in the walk out basement (man cave) is a better solution.


The basement is a 950 square foot walk out basement that gets very chilly even when the furnace is running and 70 degrees upstairs. The walk out portion of basement is not insulated and has a single pain bay window. I can vent the stove out and then up the side of the house – maybe 20-25 feet.


I really like either the Ideal Steel or Blaze King Ashford as a solution. Goal is min 12 hour burn cycles but don’t want to overheat the basement. The staircase is in the middle of the house and a good portion of heat does make its way upstairs (which is good). 2500 square foot cape.


Any thoughts on the two stoves and low slow burns 300-350 stove top temp for 12 hours or so. Which might be the better solution? I am leaning towards the IS – my current seven cords of firewood are 20” and would be too big for the Ashford (but could be trimmed).

 

I'm sure you'd be happy with either stove, everyone else is.

 

Is cost something to consider? I’m not sure what the BKs are running at now but as a WS customer and big fan myself I would direct you in that direction. The IS would cost less to purchase and the company has a great reputation for service.There are many happy IS owners on the forum and a bunch of threads with many pages of information if you needed to ask questions.

 

I'd say less to ship too...based on where the MFG's are located.

Don't do it...BTDT, and sold that unit after one winter because if it!

Plus, WS has that love it or leave it guarantee still too, no?

 

I vote IS. It will serve you well! I can keep about 3100 sq ft warm with it (70-74) in Wi temps. Half that being insulated un-sheetrocked basement with the stove in the basement. No wood trimming needed. I can easily run on 12 hour cycles with oak and elm mix. Fall and Spring I go 24 hrs with viable coals that get buried in ash I can stir up and pull forward to restart the next evening. Mind you I have a pipe damper I darn near close and close the stove down to 1st or half a notch in the morning before.

 

Full disclosure: I own, use and like a Woodstock Ideal Steel.

That said, there are some annoyances with the stove as there are with all products that I have ever seen. The Ideal has a fairly shallow front lip on the firebox- it will not hold much ash before it spills out. Also, when the stove is 1/2 full and you want to fill it before, say, going to bed, it does have a tendency to spit out a few coals, again due to the short lip. The inside of the firebox is slanted from front to back (down in the back) along the top and that makes it a bit of a challenge to fill; a square firebox of equal size would fill better IMO.

On the plus side, it is an extremely efficient wood stove and I base that on my own recorded test data going back five years now. It is a fantastically easy stove to service for such things as cleaning the combustor, removing and replacing the combustor (no tools, no fasteners, just gravity holds it in). All firebox heat is channeled into the center / top of the firebox and right into the combustor, making it easy to light and maintain a burn in the combustor compared to others cat. stoves I have used and seen being used. Woodstock is a fantastic company to do business with, so much so they could (and I think they do) set an example of exemplary customer service and interaction. It is actually a pleasure to call them with a question(s) or even a problem. And finally, you can order an I.S. with an ash pan which is kind of a deal- breaker for me; I really prefer stoves with a grate and ash pan as opposed to shoveling the ashes out the front door. Again, my personal opinion, not any kind of universal truth....

I am not comparing this to Blaze King as I have never owned a Blaze King and so have no personal knowledge about that company or product. That said, there are more than enough very satisfied customers of the Princess and King models specifically that that brand was on my short list when shopping for a new stove, and I would not mind trying out a Blaze King in the least- in fact, I would look forward to the opportunity to use one for a year or two. And many others on this and other forums can point out both the pluses and minuses of the Blaze King stoves from their own experience.

Honestly, I believe they are such direct competitors that I think almost anyone would be happy with either.

Read up on both, think about how you want to use a stove and perhaps get an idea of which will work best for you and your own wants and needs.

Best of luck with whatever you go with.

Brian

 

Thanks for all the feedback, really appreciate it. I have read quite a bit on these two stoves on this site and on Hearth.com. Either one appears to be a near no brainer based on quality and customer satisfaction.

Price is a factor
IS is on sale right now $2,495 and I am close enough to pick up myself
Ashford is at or about $4K (enamel finish is even more)

IS -
Good - Price, customer service, large firebox, ashpan grate
Bad - not sure if it can burn low enough for shoulder season

Ashford
Good - long burn, low clearances, wife likes the look
Bad - Price, current firewood too long

Any thoughts on low slow burn of the IS would be great. I am about a third of the way through the Production WS IS thread (great info)

 

Great question! The shoulder season is a perfect time for the IS. If you had a chance to search some of the early IS threads you’ll find some of the crazy burn times the production year owners, as well as the BETA testers had with black fire boxes with a full load of shoulder season splits. Brian K, one of the beta testers, completed one of the first 24 hr burns.

Being a hybrid woodstove, the IS is very versatile for setting up reloads in the regular burn season, typically with hardwoods mixed in with oak I get 12hrs with a good bed of coals for the next reload. Once the firebox gets to temp you engage the cat and cut the air, cruise control from there.
I have an 1880s farmhouse with 2,000 sq ft and the IS will give me 70 degrees or more in the coldest parts of the winter.

Good luck with your research!

 

We have an IS as do others here, and I certainly cannot top the post from BDF


That said.. You are close enough to pick up an IS, which eliminates the costly shipping, you wouldn't have to trim your existing wood supply, and as has been mentioned they likely still have the 6 month buyback program.

Those to me put it a bit ahead in the running.

I also considered a BK when I did my year of research on new stoves.

I felt the WS and BK models were aesthetically pleasing, BK having more of a classic look, and WS more modern.

Both have great burn times.

The price and satisfaction guarantee helped me decide on a WS stove, the IS is a front load which works best in our setup, so I made the decision and placed the order.

No regrets.

As to shoulder season heat, ours being in the living room, and not having gotten around to hoarding some SS wood, it can heat me out of the house.


Yours being in the basement, you shouldn't have the same issue.

Can't wait to see your install thread.

 

fmelani . BDF and I have chatted many times. Where my STT was 600 and his 300. He's a about as far south east in NE..

 

I am the oddball that does own a bk, I’ve been running it on minimum clean output 95% of the time for last 7 years. 9 month heating season, 4-5 cords per year, 1700 sf home on 12 feet of chimney. So without an ownership bias, the IS is my choice over the ashford for the op here.

To the list of ashford cons you can add that occasional problem of smoke smell in the house. It’s just that model and nobody really knows why it happens but it happens. The current theory is that the problem installs are on poor chimneys.

Performance specs favor the IS slightly. The IS can’t go quite so low but is rated for a much higher peak output.

I really like the thermostat that the bk stoves use. It’s a safety feature and really smooths out the output.

As stated, they are both excellent stoves. We can spend all day comparing the small details but I would be happy with either one.

Oh, hearth requirements, I believe the IS still requires some ridiculously insulated hearth under the stove unless you’re on a slab. Come on guys, fix that! The bks only require continuous ember protection.

You don’t pay for shipping in a bk. That’s part of the admittedly high asking price.

Anybody want to swap an I.S. for an nc30?

 

Umm.. Lemme see.


Nope.

 

fmelani, For a brief moment I thought you were describing my house. We live in Western Nevada at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We get a good amount of winter storms that come through our area and I was in the same predicament as you.

We bought our house five years ago and I really wanted to supplement with wood heat from a woodstove. I researched both Blaze King and Woodstock, as the county I live in only allows woodstove installations of units that have an EPA rating of 1.0 GM per hour or less....

So at that time there were really on 3 stoves to look at. The new Ideal Steel, The Blaze Kings, and the Lopi Cape Cod.

The Blaze King Sorroco and Ashford were contenders but the local dealer was an A$$ and I didn't want to give him any business. The Cap Cod was too pricey form me too.

So I focused on the Ideal Steel.

My house's layout is near identical to your house. We have a 2300 square foot ranch 2 story home with a daylight basement. The only place I could put a stove was in the daylight basement.

I ordered my stove through Woodstock and the whole stove with shipping (2,400 miles mind you) was around $2700 total.

If I went with either of the other stoves I'd be looking at double that with taxes...

Anyway, I installed the stove just as you mentioned, through our uninsulated block walls and up the side of the house. 22 feet up.

The stove sits right next to the staircase and I'm able to heat the whole house with it. The kids bedrooms which are upstairs and all the way on the opposite side of the house will still be 70-72 during the dead of winter with the stove going.

I think you cant go wrong with the Ideal Steel, plus their customer service is second to none.

Mike

 

For God's sake, don't get the IS. Our furnace went out last winter and roommate had to load our IS every hour or so...….
Of course, he is an idiot as I can load it in the morning and still have good heat when I get home 10+ hours later. We have a raised ranch (60's built) about 2900SF. Stove is in the 900SF or so basement bottom of the stairs. Our NG furnace is primary, but I have little doubt the stove could handle the house for 10+ hour with no real problem. Not saying the upstairs would be 70 degrees, but have never tried it. If that same roommate was gone I would do it in a minute.

 

X2.

 

I think this statement ^^^ overrides this statement vvv

 

My above comment was referring to low slow.. I can go 18 hour on pine and tulip popular. My definition of burn. I load it at night maybe 9 PM. Shut it down and when I pick daughter up from school at 330 next day. I have enough coals to re load and have fire. Obviously not throwing ton of heat, more at night less next day. Nightime temps 30s daytime 50s..

One point to add, consider raising hearth, as you get older it might be nice to bend over not take a knee.

 

I heat from my basement (daylight with the outward facing wall which is insulated) as the OP has I believe and I can get the heat upstairs relatively well. Maybe its because the stove is 5 feet from the staircase in the middle of the house.

As for insulation, other than the one wall on the outward facing side, all three are 8" brick with nothing else.... I want to insulate these walls and I think I'll see that much more improvement in heat retention. I know I lose a lot of heat through the bricks...

 

Sorry to jump in here with the ignorant comment, but what do you folks mean by a "daylight basement"?