New stove advice

[Sprinter]

That's some pretty stove... Soapstone firebrick. Here's a thread from last year on it for those interested https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-free-stander-from-hearthstone.88987/

Since it's so new, keep up informed about how it's working out for you, as there is little experience with it.

 

[D8Chumley]

Will do. It won't be long, I started burning mid to late October last year. Anything has to be better than the worn-out old Federal Airtight it replaced
EDIT: Thanks for the link, just read it. Fingers crossed, and we got the matte as it goes better with the decor (?) she says...

 

[Woody Stover]

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

Sweeeet! You're gonna feel like you've entered another world, after the Federal.

What's the plan on the flue pipe?

Another one coming on line here....

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...the-hearthstone-manchester-wood-stove.115118/

 

[D8Chumley]

The people we had install the old stove ran the pipe up 3 lengths then a 45, 1 piece, another 45 then into the box they installed through the roof. I couldn't get a brush down thru the 45s to clean it. I'm trying to soften up the bends with 22s somehow for ease of cleaning without removing the whole thing, taking it outside to clean then reinstall it. I'm mocking it up with brand new single wall, didn't want to re-use the old single wall since its a new stove ( even though its only 3 yrs old). Aesthetically the new configuration might not be as appealing, but it appeals to me to be able to clean the darned thing throughout the winter. One chimney fire was one too many for this guy! Feel free to comment if you think this is not the best idea as I'm still a rookie

 

[D8Chumley]

She's almost ready. Pipe mocked up, just have to screw it together and caulk the joints. Anyone see any issues here? Other than the clean-up that is. Hearth dimensions are 48" deep x 60" wide, stone back is 6+ ft high with concrete board behind and under the stone hearth. 11" is the closest it gets to the wall right at the top bend and short up-pipe. I will shoot that with a digital thermostat and do a heat shield there if necessary. Might do the initial burn tomorrow if I have time, busy day planned. Sorry for the big picture, wanted all the details shown before I burn my house down haha! BTW thats the same spot I used the old Federal for the last 3 yrs

 

[D8Chumley]

Picture is taken off center to the right so the pipe is pretty plumb according to the 2' level

 

[begreen]

With the long run of single-wall connector there is going to be significant heat dispersal. The long run and elbows are going to decrease flue temps and increase draft resistance. Keep a close eye on creosote build up.

 

[D8Chumley]

The old configuration that the "pros" did was 3 straight pieces, a 45, 1 more straight piece then another 45 into the box. Couldn't get a brush down it to clean, and it did have alot of creosote. I'm hoping this one burns better and with the angles not as steep maybe I can run the brush down the pipe without removing it, taking it outside then apart to clean, and re-install. I guess I will see soon enough. Thanks for the reply, begreen!

 

[D8Chumley]

OK folks, I have spent a few days with this beast and I'm very satisfied. It cruises no problem around 400* give or take, something I couldn't get my old stove to do. It heats back into the other side of the house enough ( raised ranch, upper floor) but not too hot as so we can't sleep comfortably. I'd say when its cooking at 400 its Africa hot in our family room, so the 2 ceiling fans on medium for now keep it bearable. I also have a 12" circular fan in the next room blowing cooler air into the room where the stove is. Its been down in the 30s here the last few nights and I could sleep in shorts with no blanket in the family room ( I did fall asleep on the couch watching the World Series haha!)

The one question I have for Manchester owners is why the ash doesn't get into the ash pan? I have roughly a 2-3 inch bed of hot coals and I've been burning for several days and have yet to get much accumulation in the ash pan? It does make for an easy time getting the fire going when I get up for work at 5am however. I took a pic of the secondaries firing nicely this morning in the dark about 5 min after adding 2 fresh pieces of wood I will try to post. Overall so far this stove gets 2 thumbs up!! I can't wait to see how well it does with temps steady sub-30s

 

[cableman]

If its like my shelburne which i think it is the grate for the ash has to be opened in order to let the ash through. I just scoop it out through the door once cooled alittle, guess i need to try the ash pan setup!

 

[D8Chumley]

Thats what I did after the initial 5-6 hr burn ( scooped them out and put them in a metal 5 gal bucket). Maybe I'm just used to the big rotating ones I had in the old Federal Airtight. I had to hook a handle to the square rods and shake them back and forth, and they were a LOT bigger than the openings in the new one. Grate is pulled forward and open

 

[Wise Guy]

My dad thought the air control lever was a "shaker handle" to get the ash down into the ash pan. I've decided not to use the ash pan. I can't see how I'll not have the ash in all the places I don't want it. Even if I got the ash into the ash pan, I'd have even more trouble getting it into an ash bucket without getting ash where I don't want it.

I am wondering if you are experiencing the same issue that I have noticed. The "Manchey" that I have seems to burn more on the right side than the left. I have the left side door loader. This phenomenon is causing me to wonder if that opening where the right side door would have gone was properly sealed. How might I check to see if there is a leak on that side?

 

[begreen]

Do you have a coal rake? That will help you cull out the hot coals while sifting the ash over the grate.

 

[D8Chumley]

Mine does burn slightly more to the right but my old stove with the left side load did the same thing. I try to "rake" the coals toward the center with the ash shovel to even them out. I'm not really concerned with that, but maybe I should be? My ash pan doesn't see a lot of work yet, I have been cleaning the fire box out into a metal 5 gallon bucket with the shovel. Not really a whole lot of ash to speak of, maybe 1/4 bucket after burning it for several consecutive days? I may have to look into this coal rake thing

 

[302darren]

So D8, what kinda burn times are you getting outta your Manchester?

 

[D8Chumley]

I haven't been burning very seriously. I throw 3-4 splits in at night before rack time, around 1030 or so, and theres plenty of coals to get it going again when I get up around 0500. I could load probably 3-4 more at least before I rack out and turn the air down, but I'm still afraid of a runaway fire at night. That happens one time and it keeps ya just a little gunshy. I will report back when it stays sub-30 all night. So far its 10x better than the old Federal Airtight

 

[Sprinter]

My ash pan doesn't see a lot of work yet, I have been cleaning the fire box out into a metal 5 gallon bucket with the shovel. Not really a whole lot of ash to speak of, maybe 1/4 bucket after burning it for several consecutive days?

Many of us don't use our ashpans at all. At least in some stoves, they can be a source of air leaks and in general not worth the trouble. I much prefer to just shovel the ashes into a metal bucket and take it immediately outside for disposal.

 

[D8Chumley]

That seems to be the best course of action for me as well. And maybe " burning very aggressively " would be better suited rather than " seriously". This thing puts off a lot of heat when the stack is reading between 3-400*. My wife says its "Africa hot" in our family room even with 2 ceiling fans on medium and the 12" in the next room blowing in. Although I don't have a thermometer to prove it, I'd say its gotta get around 80* when this thing is singing along. It gets to 72 in the hallway back around the bedrooms, according to the A/C thermostat temp gauge

 

[D8Chumley]

So D8, what kinda burn times are you getting outta your Manchester?

Maybe Wise Guy will chime in, I think he has had his longer than I have?

 

[Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar]

I agree the ash pan isn't very handy. I don't have any trouble getting the ashes into the pan by just dragging them back and forth over the grate while it's open but when it comes to dumping the pan, I really don't like the entire side of it being open, it makes it hard to dump without making a mess. It's definitely much easier just to shovel them out and into the ash bucket.

When I had a full load burning a few nights ago my living room was a toasty 84.

 

[ddddddden]

My dad thought the air control lever was a "shaker handle" to get the ash down into the ash pan. . .

Doh!

My stove doesn't have an ash pan, so I don't have a choice, but I don't mind scooping out a few ashes every few days. I use SnowLeopard's trick: put a pie pan inside the firebox and do all the shoveling/scooping/dumping in there. As long as there's some draft, ash dust gets sucked up the flue.

I use an old turkey roaster--long low oval-shape pan--to put the ashes in from my stove because I can slide about half of it it right into the stove and dump my ashes into it while it's in the stove. If ashes fall, they get picked up in the next scoop, and if ashes fly, the draft sucks them up my chimney. . .Neat, clean, safe, quick. My ash broom is an old wall-paper paste brush--big, stiff-bristled--and my scoop is an old rubbermaid dustpan, with soft edges that don't beat up the inside of my stove. All of these items were freebies recycled from previous lives.

¡ I like this Manchego stove !
Keep the reports coming.

 

[302darren]

I looked at some Hearthstone's yesterday,man,they sure are pretty.For my situation,I will need the Mansfield or Manchester I think, because I'm stuck with a 6" flu (thx to my lame installer 5 yrs ago) so the Equinox is not an option for me. I'm dealing with those crappy porous looking bricks in my current stove that break as soon as you look at em wrong. I'm deff gonna stay away from them on my next stove. I like a tuff looking firebox like the Jotul F600,Morso 3610,and the Hearthstones. Never went the Soapstone route or the "cat" route but the Blaze King's got me curious. Just looking for some realistic burn times,experience's,and general overall satisfaction from current Hearthstone owners.

 

[Wise Guy]

Hi all:

It's been a while since writing. I work for UPS so I don't have a lot of free time. I am squeezing in a few minutes today, but likely won't have much time till Christmas to see any responses.
D8Chumley, I've had my Manchester for a little more than two months now. As you times here in southeastern Pennsylvania have been rather tame with only a few nights in the 20s and day time highs in the 40s. I can report the following: As I mentioned before in this forum, I had been burning a Haugh's wood stove that I inherited from my grandparents. It was a rather small stove for this 1800 sq/f farmhouse built around 1910. I burned it for last six years. I have a thermometer in the room adjacent to where I burn the wood stove. That thermometer never got above 75, even when temps outside were in the 40s, when burning the Haughs. Since burning the Manchester, temps have never fallen below 63 (in the morning after a burn all night) and stay around 76 when the stove is burning, but that is not burning things hard, so to speak.

That's all for now. I gotta go. Maybe I will have time for a few more comments later this evening

 

[Wise Guy]

Just looking for some realistic burn times,experience's,and general overall satisfaction from current Hearthstone owners.

So the question is about burn times. 302darren, I own the Manchester, which has a soapstone lining. I can only compare this stove with the all steel construction I had been burning for the last six years. I never studied burn times that old Haughs stove, but I can tell you that my wife said many tiems over the course of the six years we used it. "I feel like I am constantly feeding the fire." On average throughout those six years were burned between five and six cords of well seasoned wood, mostly cherry, oak, maple and hickory. So far this year I have been burning seasoned (2 years since it was cut down) Hackberry wood and some well dried chestnut. I thought you should know what I am burning, because I think burn times will vary depending on what wood you burn and how dry it is.

I will use today as an example of the kinds of burn times I've been experiencing with my Manchester. Today, the temps have fallen steadily from about 50f this morning to where it is currently at 38f. The fire was completely dead this morning at 730. I started the fire with and hand full of kindling sticks and about six pieces of Hackberry, approx. size of these pieces were: 18x4x4 (all measurements in inches) those six pieces burned until about 1045am. The temp in my farmhouse when I started the fire was a modest 67 degrees. At 1045, the temp outside was still about 50, but inside my house, temps had risen to 74. I could have waited to put more wood on the fire at this time, but I had to leave the house for several hours, so I decided to put on two logs. These two Hackberry logs were 24x3x8 and 7 inches in diameter by 18 inches respectively. These logs burned until I came home at 230pm. Temps outside by 230 were beginning to fall. I can't be certain, but I think it was around 45 at 230pm. Temps in my house had risen to 76. At this time I had a thick layer of hot coals, about 2 inches deep. I could have waited to put on more logs, but I wanted to keep the house warm figuring it is easier to keep a warm house warm than it is to get a cold has warm. So, at 230, I put three more logs on the fire. These were about 24x3x5 each. Those three logs burned until 7pm, when I just put on five more logs, against my kids' wishes I might add. Temps have fallen throughout the evening to where they are now, and the temp in my house has stayed at 76. The logs I put on the fire are small, about 18x3x3. I expect them to burn until about 1030 or so. And at that time I will put about the same amount on. I hope this helps.

 

[Wise Guy]

Mine does burn slightly more to the right but my old stove with the left side load did the same thing. I try to "rake" the coals toward the center with the ash shovel to even them out. I'm not really concerned with that, but maybe I should be? My ash pan doesn't see a lot of work yet, I have been cleaning the fire box out into a metal 5 gallon bucket with the shovel. Not really a whole lot of ash to speak of, maybe 1/4 bucket after burning it for several consecutive days? I may have to look into this coal rake thing

D8Chumley...Let me ask, are you also getting a creosote build up on the left side of the glass, especially in the lower left corner? I am getting both the creosote build-up in the lower left corner of the glass and an uneven burn on the right side of the firebox. I am wondering if this is because the right side opening (where a door would have gone) was not properly sealed. Do you, or anyone, know how I might check to see if there is a leak there at that opening? If that is the problem, then I want to get it corrected, and this could be negatively effecting the burn times I am getting.

As for the ash pan, I can tell you that aside from the first day when I was checking things out, I have never opened the door to the ash pan. I don't plan to open it any time soon either. With the back wall to the ash pan missing, I knew immediately that I couldn't use it without spilling ashes in all the wrong places. I just scoop the ashes out the old fashion way, with an ash shovel. Hackberry leaves a lot of ash, so I have way more ash than what you are getting. When my 1/2 cord of Hackberry is exhausted, I'll be turning to the cord and a half of two year plus seasoned sugar maple. Sugar maple also creates a lot of ash. After that, I'll turn to the my large stash of well seasoned northern red oak. 302darren, I can say this. The ash pan was NOT a selling point for me, but since the ash pan is well hidden and I can scoop out the ashes, that never played into why I bought this stove. Now, this leads me to tell you, 302darren, a problem I am experiencing. Inevitably, when you open the front door, you are bound to get ash on the small ledge. I use a paint brush to clear away the ash that accumulates on that ledge. But with that comes an ash problem. The ledge is curved, and my current ash bucket barely fits under the stove. This makes it virtually impossible to brush away the ash without some of it falling between the bucket and the stove. The ash that falls between the bucket and the stove is minimal, but there is some that does fall on the hearth. I hope these comments are helpful.