Finally - cold night, good draft!

[NH_Wood]

I've burned several evening fires to take the chill out of the house. House in the low to mid 60's, but the outside temp was typically in the mid to upper 40's. Typical shoulder season issues with establishing a good draft - hard to start fires after the kindling fire, etc. Last night dropped to ~ 31 deg. in southern NH, and the temp was pretty cold by 10 pm. Decided to get a fire going, and the difference in outside temperature really made a difference in the ease of getting the fire going and keeping a steady fire once established. Did a small reload at 5am this morning and it's a nice 73 in the house right now and a heavy frost on the truck outside. Feel good! Cheers!

 

[shawneyboy]

Yes sir, even in PA... I love waking up to mid 30 outside and mid 70 inside...... I simply am loving my new stove. On top of that the wifey even said "OK, you are right, this stove is nice", when she woke up to a toasty house with the furnace off.

 

[NH_Wood]

Shawneyboy - glad you are having fun with your Mansfield as well. This is our first full year with the new stove. Burned from mid-March to mid-April last year, but looking forward to what this stove can do during the dead of winter. So far, I love it! How are you loading your splits? I'm finding N/S is best for getting the fire burning hot in the fastest time. Only problem I have is that I've cut a lot of my wood at ~ 19" in expectation of the firebox dimensions listed by Hearthstone for this stove. I'm finding that 17" pieces would have been much better for N/S loading. Cheers!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

NH_Wood, worry not. You will get plenty of practice with colder temperatures and not too far in the future either. Good luck.

 

[cmonSTART]

The colder the weather the better it gets! I love this weather!

 

[BrotherBart]

I love this weather!

Me too. It is sunny and 74 degrees outside. :coolgrin:

 

[nate379]

Cold weather sucks. Been working outside today, it's around 35* right now (noon time)

 

[thewoodlands]

I've burned several evening fires to take the chill out of the house. House in the low to mid 60's, but the outside temp was typically in the mid to upper 40's. Typical shoulder season issues with establishing a good draft - hard to start fires after the kindling fire, etc. Last night dropped to ~ 31 deg. in southern NH, and the temp was pretty cold by 10 pm. Decided to get a fire going, and the difference in outside temperature really made a difference in the ease of getting the fire going and keeping a steady fire once established. Did a small reload at 5am this morning and it's a nice 73 in the house right now and a heavy frost on the truck outside. Feel good! Cheers!

We dropped down to 28 this morning, house was 71 when I woke up then when I made my way to the basement my wife had built a real nice fire. :coolsmile:


zap

 

[shawneyboy]

Shawneyboy - glad you are having fun with your Mansfield as well. This is our first full year with the new stove. Burned from mid-March to mid-April last year, but looking forward to what this stove can do during the dead of winter. So far, I love it! How are you loading your splits? I'm finding N/S is best for getting the fire burning hot in the fastest time. Only problem I have is that I've cut a lot of my wood at ~ 19" in expectation of the firebox dimensions listed by Hearthstone for this stove. I'm finding that 17" pieces would have been much better for N/S loading. Cheers!

I load N/S most of the time.... Because of the secondary air inlet this seems to me to be by far the best load method for speedy heat up ... For 19 inch splits perhaps load diagnol on top of stack as the cherry on top of the hardwood sundae. I cut most of my splits at 16- 17 with some at 18... I have no issue with 18 except on the secondary inlet. Inlet just jacks up the front end of the split.... Not a huge deal. Per my info the unit will handle up to 16 front to back where did you get 19 from ?

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what the stove can do in the dead of winter but I am extremely confident that it will handle my raised 1800 square foot raised ranch very well.

I just wish there wasn't the smidge of slop in the hinges on my door, nothing that I can't deal with but I will be contacting the dealer to see what is up with the slop.

 

[NH_Wood]

Shawneyboy - glad you are having fun with your Mansfield as well. This is our first full year with the new stove. Burned from mid-March to mid-April last year, but looking forward to what this stove can do during the dead of winter. So far, I love it! How are you loading your splits? I'm finding N/S is best for getting the fire burning hot in the fastest time. Only problem I have is that I've cut a lot of my wood at ~ 19" in expectation of the firebox dimensions listed by Hearthstone for this stove. I'm finding that 17" pieces would have been much better for N/S loading. Cheers!

I load N/S most of the time.... Because of the secondary air inlet this seems to me to be by far the best load method for speedy heat up ... For 19 inch splits perhaps load diagnol on top of stack as the cherry on top of the hardwood sundae. I cut most of my splits at 16- 17 with some at 18... I have no issue with 18 except on the secondary inlet. Inlet just jacks up the front end of the split.... Not a huge deal. Per my info the unit will handle up to 16 front to back where did you get 19 from ?

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what the stove can do in the dead of winter but I am extremely confident that it will handle my raised 1800 square foot raised ranch very well.

I just wish there wasn't the smidge of slop in the hinges on my door, nothing that I can't deal with but I will be contacting the dealer to see what is up with the slop.

The Mansfield manual states up to 20 inch splits can be loaded directly into the stove "The generous depth allows for straight in loading of wood up to 20 inches long!" - this is the quote from page 2. Cheers!

 

[shawneyboy]

The Mansfield manual states up to 20 inch splits can be loaded directly into the stove "The generous depth allows for straight in loading of wood up to 20 inches long!" - this is the quote from page 2. Cheers![/quote]

HA In the first paragraph even.... To funny I read that manual twice but never read the intro piece. I was always told from other owners and from the stove dealer 18 in splits... Thats what I went from... Sorry about that but hey you did answer my question on where you got the info.

I can't imagine putting in a 20 unless it was diagnal,

Enjoy

 

[NH_Wood]

The Mansfield manual states up to 20 inch splits can be loaded directly into the stove "The generous depth allows for straight in loading of wood up to 20 inches long!" - this is the quote from page 2. Cheers!

HA In the first paragraph even.... To funny I read that manual twice but never read the intro piece. I was always told from other owners and from the stove dealer 18 in splits... Thats what I went from... Sorry about that but hey you did answer my question on where you got the info.

I can't imagine putting in a 20 unless it was diagnal,

Enjoy[/quote]

Exactly - I think the maximum split size listed by Hearthstone is ridiculous. In order to fit those size splits (20" NS or 21" E/W) in the stove, you'd be toying with the splits for way too long trying to make them fit. I agree that 18" splits are about perfect for good loading. Cheers!