Hearthstone Manchester review first 30 days

[John E. Law]

Title: I gotta say I’m impressed.

Set up: 1850 farmhouse remodeled in 2020. The house leaks like a sieve. Very drafty. 3,600 sqft. Living room install. Propane heat. Forced air that was roughly $4,500 a season to heat.

Motivation: Cut the heating bill down and make it warmer in the house. We live on 168 acres with prime hardwoods available.

Cost: Likely $14k all said and done.

Timeline: 3 months from purchase to install.

Install: Delays. The unit was broken delivered to the installer. The next one came and the adjustment foot broke at the casting. We agreed to install anyway. The installer stacked some washers to make the install happen. They will replace in spring. in retrospect the ceramic option looks awesome but adds cosmetic issues.

Install happened November 30th. I did a rear exit because of the TV and potential mantle. I thought a wonderful install. He was there 12 hours. First fire was flawless. One comment I’ve had was the the exhaust chimney was not properly supported but he he was legit. It looks good to me and those pipes are interlocking so unlikely a lot of stress on those connections.

Burn: I’m a 100 percent satisfied. This thing heats the whole house. We’ve only used 5 gallons of propane since. Unfortunately I may get charged a fee for not using enough propane. I think I’ll plan to bury my own tank to avoid his charge.

Hot: this this burns plenty hot. I love it. Once I have hot coals I can easily burn any wood no matter how wet.

Catalyst: mixed. I don’t really use the cat. UnLess I want to slow the burn. Overrated. I tell my family don’t use it because it’s finicky. I don’t engage it until it gets hot like way above the the half mark on the dial. I hope the government doesn’t try and tell me what to do because it’s likely I won’t.

I love LOVE the side loading door. It’s probably the best idea ever. Low smoke. Easy load. Quick. Less mess. The bottom ash try is okay. You have to remove the top grate so it actually works.

Typically after the stove gets hot I just load a log once an hour because it’s soooo hot if I fully load the firebox. Someone mentioned their Manchester makes charcoal and that’s 100% correct. Crazy. It bakes the wood into charcoal and once you fully open the flue in the morning it all burns off. Overnight burns I get 4 splits in there and it lasts from 10 pm until 4-5 am. Plenty of coals to just toss another chunk or two to get the fire going again. I can keep the drafty house house around 73-74 degrees unless it gets really cold and windy. I haven’t had temps below 18 degrees yet to find out what she’ll really do.

Negatives: minor but the ceramic colors do not match. It kinda like they paint the parts separately. There are chips. I only went the the brown to please the commodore. She wanted a pretty stove and it really is one of the best looking wood stoves I’ve seen. We LOVE the huge glass door. Gorgeous view of the fire.

 

[Pinesmoke]

Pretty stove, I love color.

I feel your pain about the change for not buying enough overpriced propane. I bought a 1000 gal tank this fall so I can get better prices on the gas. I just need to finish the install.

 

[begreen]

Taht should put a dent in the fuel bill. It looks good, but a hot location for a TV. Is that a Magna non-combustible mantel?

Note that it is the chimney pipe manufacturer that requires the elbows be supported.

 

[neverstop]

If you're seeing a notable decrease in performance when engaging the Cat then it's probably clogged with fly ash and needs to be cleaned.

 

[John E. Law]

Taht should put a dent in the fuel bill. It looks good, but a hot location for a TV. Is that a Magna non-combustible mantel?

Note that it is the chimney pipe manufacturer that requires the elbows be supported.

Yes that is a Magna concrete form mantel. Installation manual said it could be mounted 12” from an opening door or glass on the wood stove my size. I have it mounted 14” from the side loading door. Using an infrared thermometer that mantel’s hottest point was 109 degrees. When the TV is off the hottest temp I saw was 83. When the TV was on the hottest it got was 86 degrees. Ambient room temperature was 74 degrees. The rear of this unit does not throw a lot of heat.

 

[begreen]

Good to know. Magna makes some nice mantels.

 

[John E. Law]

If you're seeing a notable decrease in performance when engaging the Cat then it's probably clogged with fly ash and needs to be cleaned.

I may have not explained that well. The performance when engaging the cat is fine. There isn’t any decrease at all. This stove burns great and the whole house almost gets too hot when I fully load the box. So instead, every hour or so I just put one log on the coals and the stove just cruises right along at a moderate temp. The PIA with this method is the constant engaging and disengaging the cat after the fly ash settles down with the newly introduced log so I just leave the cat off. I tell the family to do the same so someone doesn’t forget whether it should be on or off and the cat get clogged. When I do long burns over night and fill the box I will use the cat once it’s hot and the fire has settled. That’s why I’m mixed about having the cat. I only got a stove with one for the rebate.

 

[begreen]

With milder weather it can be harder to heat with wood, particularly if the stove is oversized for the area. Is there an adjacent part of the house that is cooler? If so, moving the cold air from that space into the stove room will help 2 ways. It will cool down the stove room area and the displaced cold air will be replaced with warm air from the stove room.

 

[John E. Law]

With milder weather it can be harder to heat with wood, particularly if the stove is oversized for the area. Is there an adjacent part of the house that is cooler? If so, moving the cold air from that space into the stove room will help 2 ways. It will cool down the stove room area and the displaced cold air will be replaced with warm air from the stove room.

Agreed - with highs only in the 30’s the stove has done a wonderful job heating the whole house. I do run the “fan only” on the heating system to circulate some air when the living room gets hot. I’ll be interested to see how she does when temps get into the single digits with some strong wind blowing through this old drafty house!

 

[begreen]

Frequently, all it takes is a basic box or 12" table fan placed on the floor in the cool area blowing toward the stove room, assuming it is line-of-sight. Unless the heating system is sealed and all the ductwork insulated, the heat losses often negate the gains.

 

[John E. Law]

Frequently, all it takes is a basic box or 12" table fan placed on the floor in the cool area blowing toward the stove room, assuming it is line-of-sight. Unless the heating system is sealed and all the ductwork insulated, the heat losses often negate the gains.

Yup! Been doing that and the unit has a blower. Agreed on the ductwork theory. Doesn’t really move enough warm air but it does help.

 

[begreen]

The box fan would need to be in an adjacent cooler room or area for this to work.

 

[velocity1]

What begreen said on location of the fan. I have a short desk fan about 36 feet from my stove (coldest corner of the house) blowing towards the direction of the stove, makes a big difference in evening out floor temps across the house.

As for your note about the ash tray, when you lower the ash door there is a cast handle in there that you pull out about an inch or so. This opens up the grates in the inside of the stove so the ash falls between the grates into the pan. There should be no need to remove the grate. You will need to sift the coals around in the stove to help get the ash to fall but its pretty easy to do. Not sure if you knew about the handle for the grate.

 

[John E. Law]

As for your note about the ash tray, when you lower the ash door there is a cast handle in there that you pull out about an inch or so. This opens up the grates in the inside of the stove so the ash falls between the grates into the pan. There should be no need to remove the grate. You will need to sift the coals around in the stove to help get the ash to fall but its pretty easy to do. Not sure if you knew about the handle for the grate.

Yes per the manual I did try that handle to shake the grate back and forth but did not get the results I was hoping for. The way it works is two grates are on top of each other and it appears to be designed to act as a sifter for the ashes into the pan below. I tried this for a few minutes and It didn’t work well for me. Once I took the top grate off I could easily brush the ashes into the pan. Then I just put top grate back on and continue on.

 

[velocity1]

Correct on the function just odd as I've had my manchester for a few years now and the grate works like a charm. I also dont shake the handle around, i just pull it out and then use my ash tool to sift the ashes and coals around in the firebox and that gets most of the ash into the ash tray. Maybe thats the difference but sounds like your alternative works for you and thats all that matters really