Hearthstone Mansfield Break-in Fires. How many?

[DELETE ME PLEASE]

Hello, everyone! I'll come back later and introduce this new family of woodburners, but I want to take a quick minute to thank you all SO MUCH for the time you've spent posting on this forum. We've had a bad experience with two PE stoves this season and, frankly, wouldn't have been sane enough to get through yesterday's Mansfield install, if it hadn't been for all of the advice that we've plowed through here. It doesn't seem to be big enough, but THANKS FOR THE HELP!

A quick question about these Hearthstone break-in fires. The manual very clearly says ONE small fire. Several threads on this forum have mentioned 2-4 break-ins. How many is enough? We did one this AM exactly the way the manual described (my husband even cut the kindling from a dry split to be just the size mentioned in the manual). We didn't see any moisture or hissing, but the stove took about three hours to cool. Then we started a small (but larger than first break-in) fire, and water started dripping like Niagara Falls on the inside of the firebox stones. So, we choked the fire out and are letting the stove cool again. It is now 7:30pm, the stove is nearly cool, and I'm wondering if we can light a real fire for the night or whether we should just do another small one and start off with a bang in the morning. If you advise the latter, the stove will be quite cold in the AM, so do we need to do another break-in fire? Thanks, in advance, for everyone's answers (even the ones we don't like--smile)!

 

[Todd]

I would just build a moderate fire for the night, maybe fill the firebox half full, and after that you should be good to go. You don't want to over do it. On my 3rd breakin fire I heard a loud pop, looked inside the stove, and found a small chunk of soapstone about the size of a quarter off my side stone about 1/4" deep.

 

[DELETE ME PLEASE]

Thanks so much. That's exactly what I DON'T want to do. I'll do a small one and concentrate on more tomorrow.

Boy, having to use the fuel-oil again has really brought home how much we LOVE wood heat (this is our first season). That's why I'm having to reign us all in from going too quickly. One more night probably won't kill us . . . the cats, now, they aren't happy at all . . . Aline and Little Joe keep sitting in front of the stove waiting for me to "turn it on" . . . inbreeding . . .

Janis

 

[pinewoodburner]

With the Woodstock soapstone they want 3 breaking fires. 1'st one is small, let cool, second one is moderate, let cool then they told me on the 3'rd fire to try and keep it under 450 for the first hour then I was good to go. Hearthstone may be a little different but you wnat to get the moisture out of the soapstone so the slower the better.

 

[DELETE ME PLEASE]

Thanks SO much, todd, for your encouragement. We lit the fire (one match) about fifteen minutes ago, and we're at 255 and climbing. Even though it isn't a Woodstock, your advice about smooth and easy the first time around makes sense, so I'll keep it under 450.

I can't believe it! This fire is GORGEOUS! We became wood burners at the end of Sept 2008, and this is our third stove of the season. Our first five months of burning wood were very stressful, but this Hearthstone Mansfield is SOOOOOOO promising. The fire is unlike anything we've ever seen. The secondary burn looks perfect, and three minutes more finds us at 340 degrees. I''ve just choked it down to the low side of half, and it's a very clean-looking fire. I only have six 3" splits in there, and they're coaling very evenly. Just had to open a window because of the curing smell, though.

We have a nice, strong draft but want to burn 24/7 before we decide about a damper (dealer said to wait a week or so to decide, since our chimney height is borderline).

I was surprised about the actual log length. 14" if you load NS and want to stay just up to (and touching) the front of the primary air source, and MUCH longer loading EW (I didn't measure it yet, because I'm used to loading NS). I'd like to try loading EW, because the idea of longer logs is intriguing, but I'm home all day to load NS if necessary. I'll be searching this forum for opinions on log orientation in a Hearthstone as soon as possible, I guess (smile). My husband will want to know pretty soon, if he needs to cut our wood down to 14". For his sake, I hope we can work out the EW thing. I know that the book says 19" and 20" (depends on which book you read), but that measures from the back wall to the inside of the glass. If this is anything like the PE's airwash system, that would make for one dirty window all the time. How high is this learning curve, anyway . . . hope I have enough horsepower to get to the top of it . . . I'd like to see what it looks like from the other side . . . having a blast . . .

30 minutes into this and our armful of splits has us up to just over 350. I'll leave it there for tonight and let the fuel-oil get a little more exercise. Come tomorrow, however, it's "turn off that furnace" (smile).

Thanks for all the info.

 

[Todd]

You will have a learning curve with a soapstone stove. It can take a little longer to throw out the heat like steel stoves, but is great for 24/7 burning. Do a search for "Mansfield" and you will come up with all kinds of info and tips. There are many happy Mansfield owners here.

 

[Hogwildz]

You may find loading North to South allows for more of a full load, without the worry of a split or round rolling out while tending or loading.
Also less chance of one rolling into the glass & breaking or cracking it.