Hearthstone Mansfield: I just got one!

[bubela]

This stove is Awesome.

I'm a Newbie to woodburning more or less. Started a bunch of camp fires as a kid, but this is my second season burning wood to heat my home. I just replaced my 50,000 btu Cast stove with the Mansfield.. A world of difference.

I don't know where to start with this stove.

Let me start with one question: There is a metal braket/brace of some kind above the secondary burn tubes. It looks like it's suppose to support the ceramic tile/rosin that is up top, but I'm not sure where it is suppose to go? Right now I have it just laying towards the back of the stove, under the ceramic tile. Everything seems fine, but is it?

I drove 370 miles from a suburb of Philadelphia PA to New Hampseire with a couple friends of mine. Left at 4am, got there at noon. 4 of us (seller included) dollied it out of his basement, through the snow, and into the back of my jeep. Got home at 1:30 the next morning. 22 hours I was up, and did all the driving.
The next day, my dad came over and helped me unload/install it in place of my cast stove. This was the easy part as it only took about 1 1/2 hours. Completed my break in burn, and couldn't wait till the following day to fire it up!
Of course the following day we happened to set record highs in the area, but that didn't stop me from firing it up late after noon! I've been burning ever since..
I had a solid overnight burn, for the first time in my wood burning career. Packed the stove with 4 larger pieces of wood, and went to bed. The next morning (7 hours later) there was a magnificent bed of coals, just yearning to start up another set of logs.
The stove was used for a season before me, but looks/operates like new. (previous owner stepped up to the Equinox.. now that is a stove)
I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this stove so far. It is beautiful to look at, puts out a ton of heat, and makes wood burning almost too easy.
I have an old house that was just fully remodeled/insulated and retains it's heat well. The living room is 80 degrees, with every other room in the 70's. Yes, it's warm, but it's also not really cold out right now (high 30's or better since I started burning in it) My 50,000 btu cast iron stove could not heat the rest of the house like this one can, and then just puts out more and More heat, even after the coals are covered in grey.
I don't mean to boast here folks, but if anyone is wondering if they'd be happy with a Mansfield in a 2000+ sqft house, I think the answer would be yes.

 

[Malatesta]

Great to here your happy ! Thats one great stove you purchased.

 

[edthedawg]

Sounds like a great stove and you sure are happy with it and the performance. I think the ceramic baffle plate should just rest right on top of the secondary tubes, with some little cotterpin type clips holding it down. Maybe you could post a photo of the metal bracket you're seeing?

 

[Highbeam]

On my hearthstone that stainless bracket sits in the front and the baffle front edge sets on it while resting on the tubes for support.

Glad the mansfield is doing it for you.

 

[bubela]

Thank you Highbeam. So you're saying it goes under the baffle to prop it up some. That makes sense. I'll have to stop feeding the stove wood, and arrange the bracket as you've stated!
I have no experience with soapstone stoves before this one, but I can not say enough about this stove. It will easily do a seven hour burn; leaving well enough red coals to start up another full firebox of wood. I haven't had to test it to 8 hours yet, but I'm confident it will.

 

[Highbeam]

I have the heritage so I am not certain that the mansfield is the same setup but on my stove the stainless bracket pins to the back of the front tube and then sticks up towards the top of the stove. The baffle sits on top of the stainless bracket and behind the sticking up part so that from the front, you can't see the leading edge of the baffle. The front of the baffle is propped up some and then the rest of the baffle sets on the rear two tubes.

My nightly fire routine is to fillup with fresh wood at 10pm and restoke at 7 without using any sort of match. Just stir the coals up, open the air and stack in the wood. Your mansfield should do even better.

 

[mikeathens]

Let me start with one question: There is a metal braket/brace of some kind above the secondary burn tubes. It looks like it's suppose to support the ceramic tile/rosin that is up top, but I'm not sure where it is suppose to go? Right now I have it just laying towards the back of the stove, under the ceramic tile. Everything seems fine, but is it?

If you are talking about the "bracket" at the front of the stove, right next to the FRONT MOST burn tube, that thing should be sticking up in front of the baffle, like Highbeam says. When you have it in there right, it should look like a big upside-down "T", and will direct flame/exhaust more to the sides. I think there is a split pin that holds this in (can't rememebr - I'd have to look at my stove) that goes through the front burn tube. Look at it closely - you'll notice at least two holes in it that correspond to a couple holes in the front burn tube. Pretty important to get this in right - it seems like it helps control secondary combustion and give better control over the stove and chimney temps. Let me know if you have this figured out - I can snap a picture in a day or two. (FYI, when I got my heritage, this wasn't in place right, and seemed to reduce the control I had over my stove).

 

[bubela]

Thanks Mike from Athens. I haven't had it appart since I started burning. From the sounds of it, we're all talking about the same thing. It's a long bar that runs the width of the stove, with ends that angle down (as to give lift of some kind). I seem to have decent control of the stove, but perhaps I don't have what I should? If you want to snap a picture, that would be great. If not, no worries, I think I understand correctly. I'll inspect and rearange the parts in a few days when temps are not so cold outside.
Since installing this stove, the gas heat in my house has not kicked on once.

 

[FDUTTON]

My diverter does not have any holes in it, but it does sit in there like Mike was saying. I just double checked mine, the tangs on each side face forward and sit on top of the square air manifolds that run fore and aft. I had mine in wrong for one season, I went down to my dealer and stuck my head inside one of there floor models that they burn, just to double check. I have had my Mansfield for 4 years now and it is great, my house is 2400sqft and even on the coldest nights the entire house is nice and toasty.

My first stove was a old Hearthstone II, it was a small stove and had a tough time burning all night long, but it did a decent job for its size, but I was sold on the soapstone with that little stove. I called Hearthstone about 5 years ago because I had a question about my little stove and the guy I talked to was the same guy that built my little stove back in the early 80's. He said they nicknamed that stove ET, like the movie and thats what it looked like. I have never seen another Hearthstone II, but you will be very happy with your stove, I will go for a couple months at a time and never have to start a fire, its great. The only time my heat will come on is when I test it in the fall or if we go away, its great isnt it. Is it windy in KOP? It sure is here. Good Luck

Frank

 

[bubela]

Frank, it was windy all day yesterday, big time. Gusts to 50mph and steady 20mph. Might have made the fires burn faster. Last night was a little windy, but with a low of 15 degrees.
My house was “cool” for the first time since starting the fire last week. The living room that houses the Mansfield was 73, up the stairs was 68, and opposite end of the house, above the garage was a chilly 60. I’m not complaining, but it was a shock to wake up to a house that wasn’t high 70’s! Oh, how fast we get use to this warm heat..

 

[Highbeam]

Ah the heat. I have a long rambler house with the stove in the middle in my living room. When it is freezing and blowing, the whole house is baout 10 degrees cooler than the stove room. So we run the stove room at 78-80 and the bedrooms end up at 70. We slowly became accustomed to the high temperature and now we love it. I'm not an old guy with old joints or anything but the heat does feel good.

 

[bubela]

Just thought I'd update my story with the Mansfield.
As everyone in the northeast is aware, we've been having some very cold temps of late. Here in SE PA is no exception. The past two night's we've seen single digits. My "cold" room in the house, opposite end of the house, above the garage is 55 F. The living room that is home to the Mansfield sees 68 when I awake in the morning after 8 hours. My girlfriend and I decided to stay on the couch last night because our room at the top of the stairs dips to the mid 60's (comfy by my standards, but not hers). It was at times warm for me on the couch, but a nice 71 when I awoke, 6 hours after filling the stove. Threw a couple more on, and back to the couch for a couple more hours. It's 79 as I type this. Still in love with the Mansfield. It's been weeks now and my heater has not kicked on since the day of breaking the stove in.
Burning 24/7 and waiting to see how low my PECO bill will be this month!
I can't wait till spring to start splitting more wood! (I was out a two weeks ago splitting some, but a little cold for my liking)
Love it all.