To Go SOAPSTONE / or Pacific Energy Alderlea T5 / T6???????????????

[rhader]

Hey Guys,

new here. and we have a few questions hoping you guys can point is in the right direction....

We have a century old open concept house that is roughly 2000sqft. and we woudl like to upgrade our woodstove as soon as possible this season.

Due to the style of the house we would like to keep some character to teh wood stove of choice... and based on heat output and style we have narrowed it down to very likely one of the :
1) Hearthstone products;
a) Mansfield edition - BTU output should be appropriate for the size of the house
b) Equinox - the question wit this one is - woudl it be too much heat output for the house??
c) Phoenix - with the combination of the cast Iron and soapstone it sounds like an awesome stove.

2) Pacific Energy - Alderlea T5 - this is a nice looking 'rustic' looking Iron Wood Stove with a steel fire box for fast starts and has an output of 72,000 BTU. and the price is somewhat cheaper than the soapstone stoves.
b) T6 - this is an option as well - BUT is this one too much heat output??

we are not new to wood burning but would like to make the right choice for the house. Our current chimney is a 6" diameter so we would like to keep it the same as well of course.

any suggestions??

many thanks.
Ryan

 

[madison]

I believe the Equinox is 8". So rule that out. Add some more info regarding placement of unit, room size, home insulation etc. But with the description given, "Century old home",,, go as large as possible. T6 not T5 if you are considering 24/7 heating both are 6" flues. T6 will not "heat you out of the home."

 

[begreen]

Welcome Ryan, where in Canada is this? I would go for the 3 cu ft stove. It won't be too much. We have the T6 in an open concept, 2000 sq ft, 85 yr old house and it is fine. Our climate is mild, maritime Pacific. You can burn short, hot fires in mild weather and then let the stove go out. But if your area sees cold winter temps, you will want the longer burn times and extra capacity of the larger stove. So I would go for the T6 or Mansfield. The Equinox needs an 8" flue.

 

[leeave96]

With the open floor plan, you are on the right track. Another stove to consider is the Woodstock Progressive Hybrid. It is soapstone too.

woodstove.com

Good luck,
Bill

 

[rhader]

Thx. I forgot the Equinox is a 8" flu so that will be ruled out.

We had primarily narrowed our options down to:
a) Mansfield Hearthstone
b) Phoenix hearthstone

c) T5
d) T6

also for estheatics and heat output....

the house is a relatively open concept house. originally was a church about a century ago. it was 'refurbished' about 20 years ago and torn down to from what I can tell the original foundation and front wall left standing.

A second story was put on the back of the house (instead of leaving this open ceiling). these are the two master bedrooms and master bathroom. downstairs underneath the second floor is a third bedroom and also the main living room.

The door way opens up into a large entrance area ehich faces the fireplace area. and just to right of this (front of house is the open concept large kitchen with 15' ceilings). Behind the fireplace is a closed room which is the laundry room. I may tear down the walls here at some point and keep this open concept as well.

for now the firplace is located centrally and has a direct view to the kitchen / dining area as well as the stairs leading upstairs. And the living room is sort of behind and to the left of the woodstove.

SO the living room does seem to get slightly blocked off from the heatsource. as when the wood stove is running the furnace is of course not kicking in.

questions I guess are... well how much heat is too much? and which stove to go with??

all help is appreciated!!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Thx. I forgot the Equinox is a 8" flu so that will be ruled out.

We had primarily narrowed our options down to:
a) Mansfield Hearthstone
b) Phoenix hearthstone

c) T5
d) T6

also for estheatics and heat output....

the house is a relatively open concept house. originally was a church about a century ago. it was 'refurbished' about 20 years ago and torn down to from what I can tell the original foundation and front wall left standing.

A second story was put on the back of the house (instead of leaving this open ceiling). these are the two master bedrooms and master bathroom. downstairs underneath the second floor is a third bedroom and also the main living room.

The door way opens up into a large entrance area ehich faces the fireplace area. and just to right of this (front of house is the open concept large kitchen with 15' ceilings). Behind the fireplace is a closed room which is the laundry room. I may tear down the walls here at some point and keep this open concept as well.

for now the firplace is located centrally and has a direct view to the kitchen / dining area as well as the stairs leading upstairs. And the living room is sort of behind and to the left of the woodstove.

SO the living room does seem to get slightly blocked off from the heatsource. as when the wood stove is running the furnace is of course not kicking in.

questions I guess are... well how much heat is too much? and which stove to go with??

all help is appreciated!!

Phoenix and the T5 are too small for your needs.

 

[begreen]

Go for the larger stove. Both choices are good. Sounds like a ceiling fan would help here. Run it backwards (blowing upward) in the winter so that it mixes the air without drafts. Where in CA?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Do you use hardwood or softwood?

If you have softwood, I'd go with the T6 over the Mansfield. Maybe a Mansfield owner can chime in, but I would suspect you would get longer burn times from the T6.

 

[rhader]

thx for the fast responses!

we are in Ontario - Guelph area. we have been seeing temps of -5C for about a month at night. and will be seeing -20C and even -35C in the winter months....

does that answer its own question?? go T6 or Mansfield??

Soapstone or Not soapstone??

 

[rhader]

We generally use Hardwood. I like to burn a good quality hardwood that has been dried for generally 2 seasons. I do chop my own as well which will be a mix of lower end hardwoods (Manitoba Maples, Birch) but generally a pretty high quality hardwood is used.

We do have a ceiling fan - though they are on the list of repairs as neither of the 2 ceiling fans directly above the fireplace have worked since we bought the house. I was hoping to replace these as well this year.

 

[BrowningBAR]

thx for the fast responses!

we are in Ontario - Guelph area. we have been seeing temps of -5C for about a month at night. and will be seeing -20C and even -35C in the winter months....

does that answer its own question?? go T6 or Mansfield??

Soapstone or Not soapstone??

I don't think temperature has anything to do with getting a soapstone stove or not. The draftiness of your home in those conditions will dictate how much heat you need, which in turn determines how big of a firebox you need. Both stoves have about a 3 cu ft firebox. What is your current stove, how big is it, and how well does it heat?

 

[shawneyboy]

Soapstone has the better looking in non-heating seasons IMHO, as well as "softer heat" (yes there is something to this), and of course the great mass, that continues heating well after the fire is out.

Please note I am biased, I own the Mansfield and I think it may be the best thing since sliced bread. I also have not used the T6, so perhaps it is a gigantic grain of salt that you need to take my feedback with.

 

[begreen]

Without a doubt, in your climate get the larger stove. The choice between the two types of stoves is one of aesthetics and operation. My wife does not like the look of the Hearthstones, she prefers the cast iron look, so that is what we have. Being a steel stove at heart, the T6 will heat up a little faster, can run hotter and has a blower option. It's a heavy stove that holds the heat well after the fire has died down. The Mansfield will heat up a bit slower but it will continue to release heat for hours after the fire has died down. It has a better ash collection system. The stove costs more. You are paying for the beauty of the soapstone.

 

[rhader]

the house does lack some insulation which I am working on of course. However the stove is definitely under budget in terms of heat output.

The model Number that is on the stove says 'HT-1200' I cannot make out the manufacturer of the stove. but from everything I have searched it appears to be likely close to a max output of 36,000 BTU. or there abouts. It is completely a steel wood stove. and many of the insulated bricks in the stove have disappeared and it loses heat very quickly. There are never any hot coals the following morning. And it sometimes appears there never was a fire in it.... SO it makes for some cold mornings.

 

[begreen]

That sounds like a little Drolet stove. There is little comparison to the stoves you are looking at other than they all burn wood.

 

[BrowningBAR]

the house does lack some insulation which I am working on of course. However the stove is definitely under budget in terms of heat output.

The model Number that is on the stove says 'HT-1200' I cannot make out the manufacturer of the stove. but from everything I have searched it appears to be likely close to a max output of 36,000 BTU. or there abouts. It is completely a steel wood stove. and many of the insulated bricks in the stove have disappeared and it loses heat very quickly. There are never any hot coals the following morning. And it sometimes appears there never was a fire in it.... SO it makes for some cold mornings.

BeGreen and Shawn can talk more about this than me since they own both stoves you are looking into. But, dealing with an under-insulated home my self, I wonder if 3 cu ft is large enough for your cold temps with your insulation issue.

 

[rhader]

I believe the current stove is a 'Drolet' or variation of - I cant seem to find an EXACT replica of it online - but the Drolet ones seem very similar.

As far as the insulation goes - to be more specific it DOES lack insulation on the main floor. Being a very old 'original' structure - there is a crawl space and not a basement. and the crawl space is poorly insulated... this is changing of course. and I am also adding in floor heating.

but would like to upgrade the stove as well - for more than one reason - ultimately heat the house but / also cut down on amount of wood consumption. or atleast increase the efficiency of wood consumption...

as for a 3.0 cubic ft stove - are you implying that it is too much or too little?

 

[Creature]

If you decide on the T6 (or T5, but I think that'll be too small for you), get the blower. It'll really help maximize your heat output, once the stove it up to temp.

 

[rhader]

IN addition to heating the house - I should make it clear that I am also re-insulating the crawl space in teh house. and adding some infloor heating that will help as well. And I dont necessarily want to OVER-compensate with a woodstove that may be tooo much heat as it can be a waste of money of fuel burning etc....

And want to make sure we can essentially keep the stove running 24-7 and have it burn at its maximum efficiency for as much of its burning time as possible of course...

 

[leeave96]

I forgot about the Mansfield. That is one fine looking stove and a 3 cu ft box. I would put it in your top tier stove list too. I read a bunch of posts on this stove a while back and I think it is a great stove.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[rhader]

I forgot about the Mansfield. That is one fine looking stove and a 3 cu ft box. I would put it in your top tier stove list too. I read a bunch of posts on this stove a while back and I think it is a great stove.

Good luck,
Bill

yes it is currently between the T6 and the Mansfield soapstone stove.... we are going to go look at a T5 tonight.

My wife seems to prefer the cast Iron look so we may end up going with the T6....

any other thoughts to steer me either way??

is the soapstone MUCH more efficient? a better heat??

Cast Iron...??

 

[BrowningBAR]

I forgot about the Mansfield. That is one fine looking stove and a 3 cu ft box. I would put it in your top tier stove list too. I read a bunch of posts on this stove a while back and I think it is a great stove.

Good luck,
Bill

yes it is currently between the T6 and the Mansfield soapstone stove.... we are going to go look at a T5 tonight.

My wife seems to prefer the cast Iron look so we may end up going with the T6....

any other thoughts to steer me either way??

is the soapstone MUCH more efficient? a better heat??

Cast Iron...??

Hardwood or softwood? I believe BeGreen is experiencing 10 hour burns on the T6 with softwood. I do not think the Mansfield will provide a 10 hour burn with softwood. That doesn't mean the Mansfield is a bad stove, but reloading and burn times are an important factor to consider. It has been mentioned here several times that the T Series stoves offer good burn times on softwood.

Just something to consider when purchasing.

 

[leeave96]

I forgot about the Mansfield. That is one fine looking stove and a 3 cu ft box. I would put it in your top tier stove list too. I read a bunch of posts on this stove a while back and I think it is a great stove.

Good luck,
Bill

yes it is currently between the T6 and the Mansfield soapstone stove.... we are going to go look at a T5 tonight.

My wife seems to prefer the cast Iron look so we may end up going with the T6....

any other thoughts to steer me either way??

is the soapstone MUCH more efficient? a better heat??

Cast Iron...??

The soapstone stove I have is very nice in that you can absolutely crank out the heat, but the stone seems to dampen the temperature spikes. We don't get scorched with the soapstone like my steel plate stove (but it takes a bit longer to warm things up from a cold start) on the high end of the burn. The soapstone absorbes the heat and then radiates it out after the fire dies down - the net effect is that you have kind of a thermostat via the stone - even temperatures across the burn.

The advantage of a cat soapstone stove like a Woodstock, is that you get all the benefits of the soapstone, but have much more range to damper the stove down when you don't need the heat - like in shoulder season. You can load the stove up, damper down and get some super long burn times. This is handy not only for shoulder season chores, but overnight and off to work for the day burns. I don't know if Woodstock is still extending their new Progressive Hybrid stove prices, but they have/had one heck of a deal on it. I think that stove would heat your place, be a very clean burn and be super easy on the eyes.

That being said, all of the stoves you are looking at are winners IMHO.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[rhader]

We are going to go take a look at a T5 that is set up and burning - tonight. It would likely be the T6 that we would go with in that case.

BUT - it would be nice to have all of these stoves lined up neck to neck to compare... they are are all great looking stoves. The only thing that is weighing eitehr way in the end is the cost factor and the basic requirement that we need the stove to be a real working stove. and it sounds like all of these are. including the Woodstock hybrid. <http://www.woodstove.com/sale>

though I am not sure if it would be available over here in Canada? eh.

 

[rhader]

With the T6 would the 'cast Iron' not help reduce the amount of 'spikes' that you would get in an all steel stove for instance? I would imagine that the cast Iron stove would be a much better heat source than the steel? perhaps not quite as a moderate temperature output as the soapstone stoves... but wouldnt it be in that direction?? never having used a soapstone stove I wouldnt know the difference in the heat output.