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

[BrowningBAR]

I have to admit as a soapstone owner, once you are burning 24/7 you really don't get much benefit out of the stones holding the heat. It comes in handy during shoulder season, though since it will hover at 300 degrees for quite a while.

In regards to the 'soft heat'; when the stove is sitting at 600 degrees, I'm not sure it qualifies as 'soft' anymore.

Bottom line is that both stove are very good stoves. Both will put out about the same amount of heat and you can't go wrong with either, if they meet your heat output needs. If you like the looks of one more than the other, that will be the deciding factor since you will be starring at it for the next several years.

 

[madison]

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.

Yes it does dampen the "spikes".

If you look at the signature link below, our T6 is in our kitchen/family room. 3300 sq ft total, very open, with a ton of glass. You can sit really close to the stove and not get "sun burnt". My wife sits right next to the stove while jabbering on the phone.

Regarding getting burned out of the room, you just don't load the stove as full, and adjust the blower and stove air to adjust. If you have the hearth space, we will all repeat, up size any stove that you purchase. Plan the hearth space accordingly.

 

[NH_Wood]

I heat 3000sqft with the Mansfield. New insulation in roof last year (up to R60) and just finished the last of the new replacement windows (9 new windows - 7 already done when I bought the house) + 3 new entry doors about a week ago. House is getting tight. I burned just shy of 5 cord last year - 24/7 heating and no other source of heat - it was a cold winter in NH. I can't get 10 h burns during the winter - on milder days - highs in the 30's and low's in the upper teens/low 20's, I shoot for 3 full loads per day - one at about 7am, another at about 4pm, and another at 11pm. Always a good bed of coals to get the new load going. House is usually at 70* or so downstairs (2000sqft) and 60* in the upstairs bedrooms (fine for sleeping). When temps get real cold - I go to 4 loads per day, but need to burn down the coals early to prepare for the next load. I have no complaints about the stove - throws great heat and I love the looks. BTW - if you go with the Manny, best heat output for winter is cruising at about 550* - don't let folks (like my dealer) tell you that the stove top should be kept at about 350* (crazy!). No experience with the T6, but most folks see to really like it and it is a very attractive stove - good luck! Cheers!

 

[rhader]

Madison,

thats an awesome setup you have there!
I would like to re-do our hearth area next year but for now it si there and it is big enough for a T6 so I would just take out the old and with the new...

as for these temps that you guys are mentioning. Are you installing some temperature readers on the stove? or do they come with them?

 

[madison]

The stove is very heavy, i think 600 + pounds, so moving it is a chore. Once is enough, haha

There are magnetic thermometers which can be placed on the stove top. Start perusing/searching the forums and you will see many pictures of just about anything, including temp probes etc... The stove shop will have them when you go shopping.

 

[begreen]

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.

The T6 will radiate less heat from the sides and back than the Mansfield. Soft heat is the way I describe it because you can sidle up close to the sides of the stove and not get baked. The cast iron jacket acts as a buffer that absorbs the heat and then slowly releases it. The main heat is radiated from the front of the stove. The trivet top is super flexible and unique. It allows for cooking at various temps, warming things and drying out mittens. For higher output and faster heating, the blower is a good suggestion. I would get that option.

 

[certified106]

The T6 is a great stove even though i might be biased lol. I have no problem getting 10 hour burns out of my stove and it is extremely easy to and mild mannered to run. The jacketed sides and back make it very pleasant to be around, in fact i dont believe i have ever seen the sides get above 200 degrees. The blower is a great option on this stove to really help push the heat when you want to.

 

[rhader]

So we took a look at the T5 that was burning in the store and after seeing that I agree we definitely would have to go with the T6. the T5 just wouldnt be enough.

I did notice that the T5 didnt output as much direct heat it seemed as what we were used to when we push our steel stove to its limits.... mind you the steel stove will eat through the wood pretty quickly and doesnt retain any of its heat for very long but you can blast it out pretty good. so Im assuming the T6 would feel like its pushing out a little more heat?

or is this just the 'softer' feel that cast iron or stone might have?

 

[begreen]

Correct. Neither stove is going to push out the heat from every side like a raw stove that has little between you and a 1000F fire but a sheet of steel. But the big boys will steadily heat the air and warm the house just fine. If you want a big cast iron radiant heater you should be looking at the Jotul F600, Hearthstone Bennington or the Quadrafire Isle Royale.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Correct. Neither stove is going to push out the heat from every side like a raw stove with little between you and a 1000F fire but a thin piece of steel. But the big boys will steadily heat the air and warm the joint just fine. If you want a big cast iron radiant heater you should be looking at the Jotul F600, Hearthstone Bennington or the Quadrafire Isle Royale.

Or the Englander 30NC. which is a big steel stove.

 

[ddddddden]

If you're interested in the new Woodstock, and it certainly is an interesting stove, I think it would be worth a phone call to get info. . .I'm sure they'd ship to Canada. NAFTA, Baby, NAFTA! Just get your ducks in a row with customs ahead of time, so the shipping co can't BS you about 'brokerage' fees.

 

[snowleopard]

Sounds like you are moving towards some good stoves, and taking care of the insulation end of things as well.

I'm up in Interior AK, heating a well-insulated 2000 sf two story house w/a Heritage. The most severe temps I've seen since I started heating 24/7 has been about -40F, but we had a solid three weeks of -30F as well, so I felt like the stove definitely had its shoulders in the harness. It did the job.

One thing that I find with the soapstone is I have better luck holding temps here than I have with any of the other stoves I've lived with. I have an amazingly even temp throughout the house, and can hold 70F downstairs and 68F upstairs for long periods of time. The steel and cast iron stoves I lived with were not of the quality of the T's, so that might not be useful comparative data. The fact that soapstone takes awhile to heat up is not much of an issue when I'm heating around the clock. I wasn't expecting the evenness of the heat; I expected it to be more of the `space heater' quality of stoves I've lived with in the past.

One thing that I have that I believe helps is that I built a high-mass (granite) hearth. It holds and radiates a lot of heat along with the soapstone. One of our members recently installed an Equinox, I believe, with a large, gorgeous one-piece hearth of black granite. I did the budget version by building mine out of panels designed for countertops from a local Home Depot (building-supply `box store'). I cut the price further by finding panels that had small chips on the edges and got a discount for that (easily hidden by turning the chipped side under the stove). If you're going to install it where you had a fireplace, you may already have that component in place. If not, you may wish to consider it.

Another consideration you might look at, since you are very thoroughly attacking the heating problem from several angles, is your siting. If you're in a windy area, look at the lay of the land around you, and see how much it's doing to help. It might be that some judicious plantings will be worth considering. They take time to make a difference, but down the road you might be glad that you put a row of spruce trees in to the north or the east, for example.

You're going to have so much fun with a big, good-quality stove in there. I try to be objective about stove recommendations, since I know I'm partial towards my stove. The advantage of thinking things over the way you're doing, and weighing and balancing all the factors involved is that you will most likely come up with the right answer for you. Don't be surprised if that answer surprises you; I was leaning towards the Fireview and made a last-minute swerve towards the Hearthstone, and I'm glad I did; Savage (Dennis) and his wife did just the opposite. The more stoves you look at, the more factors you chew over, the more likely you are to come up with the right answer. Be prepared to drive yourself and everyone you know a little batty in the process--it can get intense. But so worth it.

 

[woodmiser]

Not sure why you would rule out the Equinox. I liked it, bought it, installed the 8" flue and will be loving it for years to come. I think the 8" flue is impressive looking along with the stove itself.

 

[madison]

Not sure why you would rule out the Equinox. I liked it, bought it, installed the 8" flue and will be loving it for years to come. I think the 8" flue is impressive looking along with the stove itself.

OP has a 6" chimney

 

[rhader]

Yes the chimney is a 6". So rather than spend more money on changing out the chimney I think a 6" flue will have to work... otherwise I think the Equinox would be the stove to go with hands down.

To BeGreen and Browning BAR - I took a look at the stoves which you listed and all are very nice stoves as well. However they dont seem to be rated for any more heat output? the T6 is rated close to 100,000 BTU heat output using the correct wood of course.

The Equinox is the only one I see that seems to be susbtantially greater.... for the size of the stove. I think that may be it.. hopefully it will do the job??

My wife seems to prefer the cast Iron look over the Woodstock hybrid look and according to the specs anyway the T6 will have a greater heat output as well??

 

[BrowningBAR]

To BeGreen and Browning BAR - I took a look at the stoves which you listed and all are very nice stoves as well. However they dont seem to be rated for any more heat output? the T6 is rated close to 100,000 BTU heat output using the correct wood of course.

The Equinox is the only one I see that seems to be susbtantially greater.... for the size of the stove. I think that may be it.. hopefully it will do the job??

My wife seems to prefer the cast Iron look over the Woodstock hybrid look and according to the specs anyway the T6 will have a greater heat output as well??

Ignore BTU ratings. They are not a consistent measurement from one stove manufacturer to the other. Firebox dimensions are a better measurement of heat output. No one has a Progress Hybrid, yet. So, no one can tell you if it compares to another stove. The T6 has a larger firebox by a small margin. But the stoves should heat about the same. The Progress should give you longer burns, but that is undetermined as of yet.

 

[rhader]

Also, due to the character of the house we could easily get away with doing a nice stone setup that displayed a 'Fireview' cook wood burner...

http://www.elmirastoveworks.com/fireview.aspx

but - I didnt think it would supply enough heat output.... and we would have it running 24-7 essentially.

The GOAL in mind - is that we can leave for work and have the stove at the minimum still warm when we get back in the evening.... anything better is a plus. not to mention go to bed at night and have hot embers or a burning fire still in the morning.... And obviously the stove would essentially be a warm source of heat for a constant 3 - 4 months.. never getting cold unless we were away for a couple days at a time....

that said we are currently leaning towards the T6. As I think the higher heat output may be required.

 

[rhader]

quote]

Ignore BTU ratings. They are not a consistent measurement from one stove manufacturer to the other. Firebox dimensions are a better measurement of heat output. No one has a Progress Hybrid, yet. So, no one can tell you if it compares to another stove. The T6 has a larger firebox by a small margin. But the stoves should heat about the same. The Progress should give you longer burns, but that is undetermined as of yet.

I was wondering that myself... Is BTU ratings a good reating to measure the stoves overall? I mean the steel stove that we currently have doesnt have a high BTU rating probably 30 - 40,000 but im sure when we get it going that heat output being not much to shield you between the 1000F fire is pretty substantial heat...

I will admit - that I do like the swing out warmers that the T-series stoves do offer. great for mitts and warming a big pot or something... in our house that woudl be handy.

BUT I also like the multiple door facets that are available on some of the other stoves. such as the Equinox.

Im just going to have dig a basment and buy both.

If we had a 8" flue I would definitely be going with the Equinox. But I think for the price and features the T6 is winning the battle. hopefully it stands up to the cold like we need it to!

 

[Woody Stover]

the big boys will steadily heat the air and warm the house just fine. If you want a big cast iron radiant heater you should be looking at the Jotul F600, Hearthstone Bennington or the Quadrafire Isle Royale.

With the high ceilings and his floor plan (a sketch might give a clearer picture,) would you think he'd be better off with a more convective heater like the T6 w/blower?

 

[BrowningBAR]

I was wondering that myself... Is BTU ratings a good reating to measure the stoves overall? I mean the steel stove that we currently have doesnt have a high BTU rating probably 30 - 40,000 but im sure when we get it going that heat output being not much to shield you between the 1000F fire is pretty substantial heat...

No. BTU ratings is not a good item to use to indicate performance. Firebox is a better spec to use. BTU ratings is a nearly completely useless spec due to the ridiculous spin many manufacturers us. For instance, the Encore I use was listed as a 40k BTU stove. Recently it was changed to 60k. Still the same sized firebox at 2.3 cu ft. Vogelzang lists their 2.1 cu ft stove as having 119,000 btu capacity. Which is just asinine since the Equinox, with twice the firebox size, is listed as 120,000 BTU capacity.

So, BTU ratings should be ignored. Focus on firebox size.

 

[rhader]

here is a basic layout of he main floor. I have highlghted the walls with the yellow lines. everything else is open. and remember everywhere in the 'kitchen' area and the 'main entrance' area is a high 15' ceiling....

 

[rhader]

Overall this is a pretty good list of decent stoves in no particular order (all 6" flue except for teh Equinox):

1) Alderlea (T6) - Pacific Energy - cast Iron - Steel fire box
2) Heritage - Hearthstone - soapstone
3) Progress Hybrid - Woodstck - Soapstone
4) Bennington - Hearthstone - Cast Iron
5) Mansfield - Hearthstone - Soapstone
6) Equinox - Hearthstone - Soapstone (8" flue)
7) Phoenix - Hearthstone - Hybrid
8) Jotul F 600 - Cast Iron
9) Englander NC - 30
10) Quadrafire Isle Royale - Cast Iron

 

[BrowningBAR]

Overall this is a pretty good list of decent stoves in no particular order (all 6" flue except for teh Equinox):

1) Alderlea (T6) - Pacific Energy - cast Iron - Steel fire box
2) Heritage - Hearthstone - soapstone Too small
3) Progress Hybrid - Woodstck - Soapstone
4) Bennington - Hearthstone - Cast Iron
5) Mansfield - Hearthstone - Soapstone
6) Equinox - Hearthstone - Soapstone (8" flue)
7) Phoenix - Hearthstone - Hybrid Too small
8) Jotul F 600 - Cast Iron
9) Englander NC - 30
10) Quadrafire Isle Royale - Cast Iron

No. 2 and 7 are too small for your needs.

 

[rhader]

agreed. I should have thrown those to the bottom of the list.

However I just pulled the plug on a T6 - I was able to get for a decent deal and its close by. so thats the one. happened much faster than I thought!

pick it up tonight! no idea how I am going to get it in the house

 

[rhader]

I read a couple of bad reviews - until now I havent been able to find any.... this guy doesnt seem to really know what he is talking about... but anyway...

https://www.hearth.com/ratesingles/rate2418.html

just wanted to make sure I boght the right stove!! Im hoping the T6 will pump out some serious warmth... I bought the blower as well as the screen so the door can be opened when needing some extra heat.