Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
More undefined words - what does this mean?the Ashford 30 will heat a home TWO TIMES as long
- Are you saying it extracts 2 times as much energy from the same wood load?
- Are you saying they both extract similar energy from the wood load but one looses 3 times* as much of it up the stack (not particulates, but heat directly)?
- Are you saying one burns 2 times as long but at 1/2 the energy output rate?
There is a certain amount of energy in the wood load. Particulates up the stack represent energy in the form of carbon bonds not broken, but both perform similarly. There are two paths for the energy to take - into the room or up the stack. If the energy did not stay in unburned particulates, and did not enter the living space, then it MUST have gone up the stack - why would this be? With similar catalysts why would one lose so much more heat up the stack, and why couldn't you adjust the air inlet to correct that?
Perhaps you are proposing that the secondary combustion inlets cause this extra loss up the stack? I could believe that the secondary air inlet would increase air inlet and loss up the stack somewhat, but would also increase the peak heat output rate. I see that the Woodstock Hybrid controls both primary and secondary air, so I see no reason it should need to lose more heat up the stack.
These stoves have similar efficiencies of extracting heat from the wood, and the only thing you've got to work with is the heat loss up the stack. Given that, the claim that one stove "will heat a home TWO TIMES as long" is either a very bold claim that would require an absolutely staging advancement (hard to imagine given they're both iron boxes), or the claim is just just an unremarkable statement of the age old tradeoff between output rate and burn time.
*Energy into the room = Energy extracted - Energy up the stack
Er = Et - Es
80 = 100 - 20
40 = 100 - 60
60/20 = 3