Hi Everyone,
I recently switched my Mansfield for a PE Summit Classic and I wanted to report back. The only complaint I have is that I didn't do it sooner. From day one I was disappointed with the soapstone performance. I thought I could learn to love it, but that wasn't the case. I heat primarily with wood so I figured I might as well be happy and swap out the Mansfield. I have to say the last straw for me was when I saw two stones on my $3000 mansfield were cracked. Superficial...yes, but I expect more for the money. I know now this is normal for soapstone, and I should have researched that prior to purchasing.
I wanted a workhorse stove that I could burn 24/7 with limited maintenance and up keep. After quite a bit of research I settled on the Summit. With the all steel welded firebox the only up keep I can see in the furture is fire bricks and a door gasket. I hope I never have to buy another stove. I have been able to burn this stove at 500-600 effortlessly with the primary on low. I could rarely get the mansfield to 600 even burning wide open. I now have the knock you out on the couch heat I've been looking for.
The coal bed is similar to the mansfield, but the summit seems to burn down easier when I crank up the primary. 10 hours after a fill up the stove is in the 250 to 300 range. That jumps right up to 450 20 minutes after its refueled. I attached a few pics of the stove. The first one I was trying to catch the secondaires in action, but the pic came out a little blurly.
Thanks to everyone that replied to my posts when I was going back and forth about the Mansfield.
I recently switched my Mansfield for a PE Summit Classic and I wanted to report back. The only complaint I have is that I didn't do it sooner. From day one I was disappointed with the soapstone performance. I thought I could learn to love it, but that wasn't the case. I heat primarily with wood so I figured I might as well be happy and swap out the Mansfield. I have to say the last straw for me was when I saw two stones on my $3000 mansfield were cracked. Superficial...yes, but I expect more for the money. I know now this is normal for soapstone, and I should have researched that prior to purchasing.
I wanted a workhorse stove that I could burn 24/7 with limited maintenance and up keep. After quite a bit of research I settled on the Summit. With the all steel welded firebox the only up keep I can see in the furture is fire bricks and a door gasket. I hope I never have to buy another stove. I have been able to burn this stove at 500-600 effortlessly with the primary on low. I could rarely get the mansfield to 600 even burning wide open. I now have the knock you out on the couch heat I've been looking for.
The coal bed is similar to the mansfield, but the summit seems to burn down easier when I crank up the primary. 10 hours after a fill up the stove is in the 250 to 300 range. That jumps right up to 450 20 minutes after its refueled. I attached a few pics of the stove. The first one I was trying to catch the secondaires in action, but the pic came out a little blurly.
Thanks to everyone that replied to my posts when I was going back and forth about the Mansfield.