craftsbury wood stove
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Not too much. I was considering one a few years ago, then MSG steered me to the Jotul.
Tom Oyen sells them, he should have more to say about the stove.
Tom Oyen sells them, he should have more to say about the stove.
The Craftsbury is lined with soapstone instead of firebrick, so it continues to radiate for hours after the fire dies down, which is a great feature for a stove with a small firebox. Big ash pan, nice looking castings, close wall clearances. Can top or rear vent. Big stay-clear viewing window for a small stove. Decent size cooktop. Porcelain finish options. It's a relatively new model, and already one of our best sellers.
"But hey, Tom, quit beating around the bush! Do you like the Craftsbury, or not??????"
OK, OK. leggo the arm. I think the Craftsbury is a very cool little stove.
"But hey, Tom, quit beating around the bush! Do you like the Craftsbury, or not??????"
OK, OK. leggo the arm. I think the Craftsbury is a very cool little stove.
I bought a Craftsbury in October '07 because of the soapstone inside and the rich brown majolica enamel. But I am very disappointed in it. It eats wood like crazy. I also have a Hampton Regency 200 so I can compare the 2 stoves. My Hampton will burn all night. The Craftsbury has to have wood put in every 2 hours and it does not retain the heat as advertised-they say 7-8 hours. Once the fire is out and it goes out pretty fast it gets cold. So I have to decide is which part of the house I'm going to spend time in and only make a fire in that stove. I thought 5 cords of wood would get me through the winter but no way. My dealer didn't know what to think of it but said others have had the problem. The stove goes into my fireplace and the elbow on the flue bends so they can't put in a damper. I called the president of Hearthstone and he was very nice and sent me directions on how to removes the screw on the air control sider so that it goes in further but that really didn't help. The wood I'm burning is 2 years old. When I told him that he replied "Two year old dry wood may burn a little uncontrollably. These stoves are tested with 8-20% moisture wood." I don't know what that means, but if someone does, please let me know. Next year I may use Biobricks. I was thinking of trading it, but to make it worse I noticed today there are small raised bumps on left side of the door. That's a very unlikely place for it to have gotten hit with anything or for anything to have dropped on it so I don't know how they got there. Could it be the high heat of the stove? My advice, don't buy this stove until they figure out how to better control the burn.
Doglady, your stove has about the same size firebox as our Keystone. With the cat system, I can easily get 8-10hr burns with stove top still at 300 at the end. I would think that you should be able to get a bit more than 2 hours though I wouldn't expect your burns to be as long as a cat stove. Sounds like you suspect draft issues. What's you chimney height and diameter. What wood are you burning? What size diam splits? How do you arrange your loads of wood? Seems reasonable you should be able to get at least 4-5 hours, maybe more.
Master of Fire: My chimney is approx. 25' high-I am not sure of the diameter. I had a steel liner put in when the stove was installed. I do think it's a draft issue. I am burning hardwood (the ones I can identify are birch, oak, elm) that is 2 -2.5 years old, properly covered. That's almost gone so I will now start burning 1 year old seasoned wood and when I run out of that, green wood that I bought last July. All from the same guy so I expect the type of woods are the same. The splits are mixed but they all fit nicely in the stove. The only other thing I can think of is that my furnace shares the same chimney (not the liner) but again, all of the stoves I've had in there since the 1970s, Vermont Castings Vigilant & Resolute and no problems with them because they had damper control as well as air control. I can't put a lot of wood in because the temperature goes in to the Overburn zone rather quickly.
This may be the problem. The stove may go up to about 550-650 degrees as measured on the stove top. Where is the thermometer located? At what temperature are you running the stove and where is the "overburn" limit on this thermometer?
The best results are going to be had once a hot coal bed has been established, by packing the stove full. You may want to leave the door ajar for about 5-10 min. until the wood ignites. Next, close the door and char the wood with the air control pulled all the way out (20-30 min.), then push in the air control about 1/2 to 3/4's until a low secondary burn is achieved.
doglady said:
Assuming that your primary air is turned down enough, it definitely sounds like over-drafting from the stack or you have an air leak. Do you live in a windy location? When I had my Phoenix I had it hooked up to 28 feet of chimney and we live on top of a hill. When the wind blew, the stove would fire vigorously. It was sucking in a lot of secondary air. The other thing you should check is your ash pan door to make sure it is tightly closed and that the gaskets are tight.
I do live in a windy location on top of a hill. But since my Hampton regency is burning efficiently in spite of that, it must be that there's no damper on the Craftsbury because the Hampton has a key damper + air control. It's interesting that most websites do not recommend key dampers and tell you to remove them but I love my Hampton and the way it burns and I wish I had bought another one for this part of the house. I guess I'll just have to buy more wood next season. I was thinking of buying Biobricks-any experience with those?
BeGreen: The thermometer is in the top center of the stove, as recommended by Hearthstone. The temp goes to Overburn 600-800F very quickly if I fill the stove up. Right now it it at 450F with just red hot coals and the air control all the way in. Ill fill it up now and follow your instructions and see what happens.
There is a possibility of an air leak if a gasket is not sealing tightly on the main door or the ashpan door. If that is so, the stove can burn too hot with a strong draft. What is important to know is the exact temp the stove top is going to with approximately how much wood? If it is 800, that's getting too hot. If it is 650, that is probably ok.
I replaced the door gasket a few days ago and the ashpan door is tight. I followed your instructions and filled it (about 4 logs). Left the air control open for 15 min, it got to 450 and so I closed the air control. it's now up to 550F and holding. I'll let you know how long it takes to cool down. Thanks.
In defense of the Craftsbury, I'd like to make a few points here. First, while the firebox may be soapstone lined, its a cast iron stove, not a full soapstone stove and as such its ability to hold heat is somewhat diminished compared to a Keystone or a Pheonix, etc.. Secondly, it is a small stove with only a 1.5 cubic ft firebox so its not going to be able to give you really long burn times. Nonetheless, IMHO, set up correctly, and filled eith the right wood in the right fashion, I would think you could have enough coals 6,7, maybe even 8 hours out to start up your next fire. DL, the issues your having now involve the above mentioned limitations in the Craftsbury, but also in the set up and perhaps, methods of loading and burning that you are using. A 25' chimney on a windy hill in a properly sized internal metal liner with no damper should be quite capable of giving you one heck of a draft! Remember, the chimney is the "engine" that powers the stove. It sounds like a damper could make a huge difference in your stove but you said that "they" say you can't put in a damper because of the elbow. Does the elbow come directly off the stove? Is there any exposed portion of the flue liner that you can put a damper in. Can you pull the stove out from the fireplace 6" to allow and additional 6" of pipe that you could put a damper in? Some loading techniques can help somewhat. Pull your coals forward towards the primary air, load your largest split, or better yet, round, in the back on the bottom with as few coals under it as possible and bury it tightly other splits with as little air space between them as possible. I suspect though that the main issue is your draft set up and finding a way to add a damper might significantly increase your satisfaction with your stove.
It was 11:30 AM when I loaded it up. It is now 2:35 and stove is back to red hot coals. That's only 3 hours of burn time. I am going to call the installer and tell them I want a damper. Thanks everyone.
FWIW, this is very similar to my burn cycle. The Castine is a 1.5 cu ft stove. I put a manual damper on the stack. I get up to temp in about 15-30 min. (500 deg with softwood, 550-600 with hardwood), close manual damper fully, air down to about 40% for lowest secondary possible. About 2-3 hrs later the stove is coals only and I move coals forware and open the air up, stove top temp about 250-300 and slowly declining. Reload after 30 minutes.
If I load it with a tight pack I get the longer burn (3 hrs.), loose pack will be only 2 hrs of meaningful heat (>450 deg). I can still have coals for restarting in 8 hrs. but the stove is not over 150 degrees. I think the capacity and perhaps box design are the limitations here.
If I load it with a tight pack I get the longer burn (3 hrs.), loose pack will be only 2 hrs of meaningful heat (>450 deg). I can still have coals for restarting in 8 hrs. but the stove is not over 150 degrees. I think the capacity and perhaps box design are the limitations here.
And then we get back to the definition of "burn time". Personally, I include a good portion of the hot coal time in my "burn time". Some might argue that if you still have enough coals for relighting then you're still inside burn time.doglady said:
Yes, there is the total burn time (TBT) and then there is the Period of Meaningful Heat (PMH). I'm guessing TBT is what most folks are concerned about for overnight burns. PMH is what most folks are concerned about when it's cold outside and they want heat. The perfect stove for me is one that does well with both parameters and doesn't drive you out of the house accomplishing that feat.
Well said! Next time my wife asks me why I'm fiddling with the stove again, I'm gonna tell her to leave me alone because I'm PMH'ing. :lol:BeGreen said:
Great way of putting it. PMH is what matters most to me since hot coals at 150 don't give off much heat. From what BeGreen stated, I guess a damper won't make much of a difference. Has anyone tried BioBricks?
While I completely agree with what BeGreen is saying, I'm not sure I agree a damper won't help substantially. I think it might allow you to have much more control over your stove so instead of having 700 degree stove top temps with a full load, you could have 500 degree temps and less heat going out the chimney. You may never get 6-8 hour burns but 3-4 or 5 would be nice and perhaps feasible. If it's reasonably feasible in your set up, for short money it would seem worthwhile.
I knew there had to be a relevant S word.. Couldn't think of it! BB, gotta admit you are one funny guy! You keep me laughingBrotherBart said:
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