It's extremely difficult to roast yourself out of the room with the Clydesdale. It being soapstone and cast iron, and 550 lbs that all works as a buffer to compensate for heat spikes and spread them out. I could not be happier about how even and constant the output is. On several occasions I've gotten 14 hour burns out of my Clydesdale and had the fans run for 16 hours on a single burn but mostly I light fires that last about 8 and fans stay on for 10-11 hours. I couldn't get 14 hour burns if my unit didn't seal tighter than a clamshell, and as with any manufacturing process there are a select few that end up extremely high in quality, and a select few that are terrible. I may have one of the good, and firemarshallbill one of the bad.
The heat output is very constant with a Clydesdale. The blowers sound like an AC on medium (I credit Warren for that line). A warning, if you do the Clydesdale/Soapstone route there's an adjustment you have to make. Soapstone takes a comparitevly long time to heat up, and cool off for that matter. If you plan on coming home to a cold house and want to quickly heat it, the Clydesdale is probably not a good choice because from a cold start, it takes a couple hours to warm up the soapstone and mass and then it starts to warm your house. That can be a good thing if you want to extend its heating as it will heat for a couple hours more after the fire has gone out. But, that hinders your ability to take the chill out of the morning as lighting a fire it will be near noon when it starts to heat. It's not a unit that's well suited for stop & go heating or quick heating. What it is particularly good for, is constant fires and even heat output. Since the heat is pretty constant it's very hard to roast yourself out of a room. Non-soapstone units quickly heat up and can cause rooms to temporarily feel too hot, then it can cool off and make the room too cold. They tend to peaky. That's hard with a soapstone unit. Also, reloading a soapstone unit is a dream. I think the soapstone keeps a good draft going when the fire is out because when you reload the fire starts right up and burns fantastic in no time. So, the Clydesdale is better for burning 24x7 and even heat output but not good for "quickly" heating a cold house or taking the chill out of the morning. Expect it to take you a few months getting to know it.
I have the Hearthstone Clydesdale and so impressed with it I was thinking about making a fan website. Very different experience. I called them twice on the phone and was directed to very helpful people before I purchased it solidifying my feeling they were the right company to deal with though they never respond to email. I think now, every manufacture is having problems responding to customers because of the drastic increase. Mine seals tighter than a clamshell every time. Even with embers, and coals in the way I shut the door and seal it, and it's tight. I have been extremely happy about the quality. It reminds me of a steam locomotive. That's too bad about your surround, I'm assuming it's more than the adjusting feet on it? There are two bolts in the surround at the base that you screw in/out to level it. Yours may be skewed which the levelling bolts won't fix. The Clydesdale's air handle that rests on the casing of the blower can vibrate and sounds like a doorbell buzzer. It is loud. I fixed that by putting a sliver of metal to make it a tight fit and now it's pinned on the blower casing not resting with no room to vibrate.
I like Clydesdale's view, it's so beautiful. My house is a favorite of everyone's now to sit in front of it and watch the fire, and we never roast at all. To point out, I like Lopi's as well and you can't go wrong with either. It really depends on what your goal is. I plan on someday putting a Lopi in my basement, already know which Lopi I want because that's a place I do want to quickly heat & cool and use it for stop & go heating. I wouldn't give up the Clydesdale in my living area because the heat is even, the view so beautiful, and never roasts people out of the living area which is what was most important to me and I burn 24x7 with it so really use it as it was meant.
My house is inefficient and the Clydesdale is just right (my house is 1400 square feet). When it's 0 degrees outside, the Clydesdale just keeps up in my house without overfiring so RiGuy your house is bigger but in a warmer zone than me so I'd think the Clydesdale best suited, and Cathmac your house is inefficient and the Clydesdale best suited. If anyone's interested, I can tell you how to get the most out of your Clydesdale including how to load the wood, best way to reload, best way to start a fire, and for $3.00 at your local hardware store how to increase the amount of heat it puts into the living area. Took me several months to learn it on my own and perhaps I can save you some trouble though each installation is unique.
