New stove advice

[D8Chumley]

Hello all, been reading a fair amount but this is my first post. Got into wood burning about 3 years ago now, "inherited" a smallish Federal Airtight that is now worn out. Liners are warped and just needs rebuilt. Its too small to heat the roughly 2000ish square ft raised ranch we have, so I have been looking for a more efficient and larger stove for this season. I looked at a Blaze King Princess online, but the closest dealer is pretty far from me. Originally we had decided on a Hearthstone Manchester 8360 with soapstone lining. The Hearthstone is probably what I will end up buying, but just wanted some opinions if anyone has any experience with them first. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Tenn Dave]

If you are considering soapstone stoves as an option, you should definitely look into Woodstock Soapstone Stoves. They make great products with super good customer service. http://www.woodstove.com/

 

[begreen]

The Manchester is a cast iron stove with soapstone liner. This is a new 2012 stove, I haven't had a chance to see one in person yet, but it sure looks nice.

 

[D8Chumley]

Its not soapstone on the outside, it has soapstone tiles or bricks inside for the heat retention. I do like the soapstone look but it wouldn't go well with the family room where we have it. Thats what the boss says anyway ;-)


And the look of the matte black Manchester fits perfectly

 

[Tenn Dave]

Its not soapstone on the outside, it has soapstone tiles or bricks inside for the heat retention. I do like the soapstone look but it wouldn't go well with the family room where we have it. Thats what the boss says anyway ;-)


And the look of the matte black Manchester fits perfectly

My mistake. After rereading your original post I realized you were not talking about a soapstone exterior.

 

[D8Chumley]

No worries, thanks for the replies. Seems to be a good stove, I guess I was hoping someone else had one. Maybe I'll be the guinei pig

 

[begreen]

If you get one please hang around and let us know how it works out for you. I'm curious about how this big boy performs. It looks like a winner. Keep us posted and take pics!

And welcome to Hearth.com!

 

[D8Chumley]

If you get one please hang around and let us know how it works out for you. I'm curious about how this big boy performs. It looks like a winner. Keep us posted and take pics!

And welcome to Hearth.com!

Thanks for the welcome, and yes I will keep you posted. We will more than likely go some night next week, we were there in the spring just looking. Who knows, maybe the boss will see another she likes instead haha!

 

[Jtrasap]

I have the Hearthstone Manchester but haven't had a chance to heat with it yet. It seems to be a very well built stove. If you haven't seen it in person you can check out the many picks that I have on my thread---> https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/hearthstone-manchester.108690/

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I was about to jump onboard with Tenn Dave on this thread too, until I saw the correction. If I could, I would do the Woodstock as a first choice, both for the soapstone exterior in looks and for the heat retention.

 

[D8Chumley]

I have the Hearthstone Manchester but haven't had a chance to heat with it yet. It seems to be a very well built stove. If you haven't seen it in person you can check out the many picks that I have on my thread---> https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/hearthstone-manchester.108690/

We have seen it in person, back in the spring when we started looking. She doesn't care for the soapstone on the outside, and I kinda agree that it won't go as well as the matte black Manchester with the nice wooden handles. As long as it heats like I hope it will I'll be happy. I saw a youtube video on the Manchester that showed it still had coals left after 16 hr burn, and the digi thermometer showed surface temp was still over 230 deg IIRC. How much did you pay for yours? They want $2699 I think where we looked near our house. I'll see if I can find the video

 

[D8Chumley]

Waa-laa! Its a long boring video but just watch the first minute or so

 

[D8Chumley]

Oops just read through your thread, sorry for the same video you already posted. I am getting excited for our trip to the stove shop in the next night or so.

 

[aansorge]

Hello all, been reading a fair amount but this is my first post. Got into wood burning about 3 years ago now, "inherited" a smallish Federal Airtight that is now worn out. Liners are warped and just needs rebuilt. Its too small to heat the roughly 2000ish square ft raised ranch we have, so I have been looking for a more efficient and larger stove for this season. I looked at a Blaze King Princess online, but the closest dealer is pretty far from me. Originally we had decided on a Hearthstone Manchester 8360 with soapstone lining. The Hearthstone is probably what I will end up buying, but just wanted some opinions if anyone has any experience with them first. Thanks in advance for any help!

Hearth renovations inc. is just a few miles from your house and they carry Blaze Kings...610-265-4214

For other blaze king dealers in your area, do a dealer search on the Blaze King site....http://blazeking.com/

 

[D8Chumley]

I looked at that site and thought they just did renovations and maybe installs. I will give them a call when I get home from work- thanks!

 

[Jtrasap]

They threw in a blower for free, I ended up right at $2800 tax and everything, out the door.

 

[D8Chumley]

Hearth renovations inc. is just a few miles from your house and they carry Blaze Kings...610-265-4214

For other blaze king dealers in your area, do a dealer search on the Blaze King site....http://blazeking.com/

Got rained out this afternoon so I called them. Their showroom hours for August are 9 am to noon Mon-Fri. Bummer. We might go look at the Manchester tonight, maybe we will pull the trigger on it

 

[D8Chumley]

In 3 weeks I will be the proud owner of this bad boy. Went and bought it tonight, should be in less than 3 weeks. Pretty excited right now, can't wait for cold weather!

 

[Woody Stover]

They have one in the shop here; Great-looking stove. I don't recall any soapstone on the outside; I guess you are talking about the brown enamel finish not matching the decor.

It's possible that webby3650 has seen the stove in operation....

 

[D8Chumley]

Not the brown enamel, but the actual soapstone exterior. We just wanted a plain matte black stove and this one has wooden knobs on the handles. The soapstone is the brick lining inside of the stove. The "boss" walked around the shop once more just to see if there was any others she liked, and came back to the Manchester and said that's the one. Gotta keep mom happy!

 

[Jtrasap]

Congrats D8!! I can't wait for cold weather either!! I'm dying to try mine out.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm very interested in hearing the reports when you guys get 'em up and running. I may recommend this stove to a buddy of mine who is thinking of installing one next year. I hope webby can give us some idea of how the Manchester compares to the Cape Cod in terms of output, etc. This stove is gorgeous, and the pics don't do it justice!

I didn't watch the entire video, but I didn't see real distinct secondaries....maybe I didn't watch long enough.

Wow, this thing is an easy breather, I guess. "The recommended minimum chimney height is 10 feet (3 m) off the floor."

 

[Jtrasap]

I'm very interested in hearing the reports when you guys get 'em up and running. I may recommend this stove to a buddy of mine who is thinking of installing a stove next year. I hope webby can give us some idea of how the Manchester compares to the Cape Cod in terms of output, etc. This stove is gorgeous, and the pics don't do it justice!

I didn't watch the entire video, but I didn't see real distinct secondaries....maybe I didn't watch long enough.

Wow, this thing is an easy breather, I guess. "The recommended minimum chimney height is 10 feet (3 m) off the floor."

Click it forward to about the 10:45 mark, a nice view of rolling secondaries.

 

[D8Chumley]

Got it into position with the help of 3 buddies Sunday. Now I am going to reconfigure the flue pipe for hopefully easier cleaning. It won't be long now

 

[D8Chumley]

Whoa, sorry for the huge picture!