Buying new Hearthstone Mansfield instead of a used one

[mark cline]

I was going to look at a 7 year old Mansfield, but found a shop in Toledo , OH ,that has a number of new stoves , cheap .The shop says that they are left over from last year , brand new with warranty. The Mansfield qualifies for the energy credit of $300 lowering the price to $2600 with tax. I live about 5 hrs away so , my son and I will head down there on Friday to pick it up . My plan is to use it in my current house until the log home is ready for the stove in about 3 yrs. and then put my 34 yr old Fisher grandma bear in the log home until we move in permanently. This way we can crank up the Fisher , instead of running the risk of overfiring the Mansfield, while we are still in the finishing stages.
My log home has 2100 sq ft and an interior volume of 24000 cu ft. . Yeah ,I know , alot of air to heat with 26 ft to the ridge and all open . I calculated my heat loss to about 72k btu/hr so I'm thinking the Mansfield is a good fit
Another question , the shop says to slowly warm the new stove and allow to cool for break in, doing this a few times drives off the moisture in the soapstone to prevent cracking to the stone and tempers the cast iron . Sounds like good advice to me , especially since it will be in the 40's this weekend. What are your thoughts on this plan?

 

[pen]

I think you have a good plan.

As for installing the fisher in the cabin, just make sure the insurance company is OK with it. Some are a little hesitant to allow the installation if the fisher is old enough that it does not have a UL tag.

Enjoy the new stove. They are beautiful units.

pen

 

[Dairyman]

The break in burn is covered well in the manual and should be done at the beginning of every heating season. I'm afraid with the heat loss of 72k it won't be big enough.

 

[logger]

Yah, its not a matter of the break-in fires being a good idea or not, they are a necessity and you risk ruining your expensive stove and voiding the warranty if they are not done properly. As others mentioned, its all in the manual and they are a must.

Beautiful cabin by the way. Looks kind of similar to our setup.

 

[mark cline]

Thanks for the great comments on the loghome . Handcrafted over 10 yrs so far, windows go into the log walls this spring and split stone on the basement foundation . Stone chimney and electric service , soon.
Good point about the UL tag , I will check into that.
As far as the Mansfield being not big enough, I will have another stove in the finished basement which will provide additional heat. I would rather be under on the BTU output , so the stove can be run on the hotter side when needed. I think the Equinox is too big .

 

[Dairyman]

Ok, 2 stoves should do the trick. I highly recommend you pick up a flue thermometer (probe type if double wall) if you don't already have one. It helped me a lot with learning the stove. And post pictures! We like pictures.

 

[mark cline]

Just got back from Toledo , picking up the new Mansfield , 5 hr drive. This Sunday ,we will move it into our present house , then into the log home in about 3 years , when we move there permanently. The stove shop in Toledo has great people , very friendly and helpful. The Mansfield was a left over from last year at a discounted price.

 

[weatherguy]

That's a great price on the Mansfield, nice cabin, how long have you been working on it?

 

[begreen]

Congratulations. I've always had a lot of respect for that big rock.

 

[Rich L]

I was going to look at a 7 year old Mansfield, but found a shop in Toledo , OH ,that has a number of new stoves , cheap .The shop says that they are left over from last year , brand new with warranty. The Mansfield qualifies for the energy credit of $300 lowering the price to $2600 with tax. I live about 5 hrs away so , my son and I will head down there on Friday to pick it up . My plan is to use it in my current house until the log home is ready for the stove in about 3 yrs. and then put my 34 yr old Fisher grandma bear in the log home until we move in permanently. This way we can crank up the Fisher , instead of running the risk of overfiring the Mansfield, while we are still in the finishing stages.
My log home has 2100 sq ft and an interior volume of 24000 cu ft. . Yeah ,I know , alot of air to heat with 26 ft to the ridge and all open . I calculated my heat loss to about 72k btu/hr so I'm thinking the Mansfield is a good fit
Another question , the shop says to slowly warm the new stove and allow to cool for break in, doing this a few times drives off the moisture in the soapstone to prevent cracking to the stone and tempers the cast iron . Sounds like good advice to me , especially since it will be in the 40's this weekend. What are your thoughts on this plan?

Good stove the Mansfield.Mine is going at this moment.Your story reminds me of my cousin's newly built ski lodge some years back.He had a Hearthstone one in there which heated the place from a Friday evening to Sunday morning on one load of wood.I recently spoke to him and told him I recently purchased a rebuilt H1 and how it reminded me of his old stove.I mentioned to him his lodge was well insulated for that stove's heat to remain in the lodge the whole weekend on one load of wood.He told me it wasn't insulated it was a log built ski lodge which somehow insulated itself.So you may be in a good situation with the mansfield if your lodge holds the heat like his did.Let us know how it works for you in three years.Though the H1 is much larger than the Mansfield the Mansfield may do well if your log home is able to hold the heat.At my cousins lodge the H1 was more than enough and had us in our underwear all weekend.

 

[begreen]

The Mansfield is more efficient than the H1. It should do fine.

 

[mark cline]

My wife and I have been working on the log home for 10 years now. We are doing everything ourselves with some help from friends and family. We built it from a pile of logs bought locally , then cut and fit it together with a chainsaw. We prebuilt it, then put our walk out foundation in, then moved it on to the foundation like a big Lincoln Log set. Windows go in this spring , stone chimney , then I start to build my staircases and Kitchen cabinets. 9" of rigid foam in the roof (R65) , 10" log walls and Marvin windows and doors.
We put the Mansfield in our present house today , fired it up to 100F, cool down tonight then up to 200F tomorrow morning then cool down , then to 300F tomorrow evening . Going to be about 9F Christmas morning , can't wait.

 

[mark cline]

Let me throw this out there and see what everybody thinks. My chimney that I used with the Fisher is an 8" double wall insulated SS , but 32yrs old. The Mansfield is a 6" , so I ran single wall 6" up through the 8" and sealed the gap with a 1" rope gasket at the cap and then at the ceiling penetration. So in essence I have an insulated triple wall pipe . I believe it to be safe unless somebody can point out why it wouldn't be.

 

[begreen]

Was the single wall stainless? If not, technically I think this is against code but the chimney experts should confirm.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Moisture n soap stone yep. On my Shelburne which is cast w soap stone slabs in It, actually dripped about 2 ounces of stinky black liquid out of itself on the first real fire after the 3 small break in fires were done. "Normal" just wish someone told me to expect it as it was very confusing.

 

[begreen]

That may be from the joint cement, not the stone. Our Castine did the same thing. Fortunately it went away after a couple fires.

 

[mark cline]

Was the single wall stainless? If not, technically I think this is against code but the chimney experts should confirm.

The single wall is black painted steel .. I plan to look into stainless pipe, that the Amish up the road from my loghome , can make, but it's still single wall. If need be, I will buy 8 ft of 6 inch double wall SS and run it up through the 8 "double SS. Sounds like overkill , but if that's what I need to do , then I'll do it.

 

[begreen]

Stainless rigid liner should work. That is easy to get. You can transition to the black pipe at the support box if the liner is crimped on the bottom. What is holding the interior 6" pipe in place, friction from the rope gasket? If so it would be good to secure it better.

 

[Dairyman]

Looks nice!

 

[mark cline]

Stainless rigid liner should work. That is easy to get. You can transition to the black pipe at the support box if the liner is crimped on the bottom. What is holding the interior 6" pipe in place, friction from the rope gasket? If so it would be good to secure it better.

Yes, the rope gasket is holding the space between the 2 pipes . How would I secure it better? I can make up 2 spacers that I can clamp to the pipe then put the rope gasket back in place.
Is the black steel pipe not up to code?

 

[begreen]

Whatever the solution it will have to be improvised. This one is off the books.