learing curve on Hearthstone Mansfield

[tryingtostaywarm]

1st year with Mansfield.
Yes baffle on top is suppose to be tipped up toward front.
No I'm not crazy about that as if you have any problem with your fire not in a complete burn it makes smoke roll right up it out into the room
Yes the wood HAS to be REALLY Seasoned
No our wood isn't perfect I live in the real world not an ideal world
No you should not burn it with the ash pan open, it can heat way to Hot and if you aren't careful and build up smoke prior to a flash point you can make your own little bomb
Yes it is Hard to keep the coals down, yes they create heat but they build up and fill the stove up
No the ashpan does not last 1 week I have to empty it at least 1x day
No it doesn't heat your house fast it heats it really slow, which is the point of a soapstone (I guess its like cooking w/ a crockpot vs an oven) but it is hard to play catch-up
Yes it goes threw just as much wood as our previous smaller stove
Yes it is worth putting a steamer on it, it doesn't evaporate near as much as our old stove but will go threw more than 1/2 gal a day
Not sure if the blower was worth it, it moves the air out farther but it is a slow heater and so its still a slow heater
No it is not a good idea to run fan at night it keeps the stack from staying within good temperatures
Yes I still have to load it every 4hrs or so, I never turn air intake down temp drops if I do
Its the winter in the NE and the temp hangs around 0 deg.

 

[bholler]

You never turn the air down? You wood must be really bad. How and where are you taking temps?

 

[Dakotas Dad]

And I have none of those issues. Well I have the same small ash pan.. I don't use it. Nice flat bottomed firebox that is super easy to shovel. I shovel out about once a week.

I am pretty sure, it's not that hard to be a couple years ahead on your wood, and burning properly seasoned wood is the answer to almost all your stated problems. I do it, and live in the real world near as I can tell.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Like your post is titled, you're going through a learning curve.

Your fire box is more than 50% larger than mine and you're reloading more often and getting much shorter burn times, thus your issue with excessive coals.

The new real world is if you want to burn wood for heat it needs to be well seasoned at the very least. It really will make all the difference.

 

[Grisu]

Yes I still have to load it every 4hrs or so, I never turn air intake down temp drops if I do

Not turning the air down will explain a lot of your problems (short burn times, slow in heating up, burning a lot of wood, etc.). You are operating the stove like a fireplace by sending a lot of heat up the chimney. I suggest getting some dry fuel (lumber scraps, compressed wood logs such as Envi-blocks, BioBricks, or kiln-dried wood with confirmed moisture under 20%) to run the stove while the air is closed. It may feel like a completely different stove.

 

[blacktop37]

I have a stove like yours and have coals but I throw some softwood once in a while with wide open primary, coals superheat ...gone
if it is smoking out the front and you always have primary on 100% you have a draft problem. The only time I have ever smoked is when I open the front door too fast, it sucks the smoke out of the stove. The smokes is going up right behind front door. I shut primary down to 0 after 30min. I could not be happier with my hearthstone and it is heating 2500 ft.

 

[Dairyman]

I still have a hard time believing that the baffle system is supposed to be angled. That would drop the usable firebox capacity into the 2.4-2.5 range.

As others have stated dry wood will cure the heat & cooling issues.

 

[Woody Stover]

I do it, and live in the real world near as I can tell.

Well, I guess you could say hearth.com is part of the real world but it's in such a small, out-of-the-way corner of that world and its inhabitants are such fringe-dwellers in the mainstream culture, that you might as well be living on another planet.

 

[tryingtostaywarm]

Well, I guess you could say hearth.com is part of the real world but it's in such a small, out-of-the-way corner of that world and its inhabitants are such fringe-dwellers in the mainstream culture, that you might as well be living on another planet.

YES,

I still have a hard time believing that the baffle system is supposed to be angled. That would drop the usable firebox capacity into the 2.4-2.5 range.

Yes and Yes, Hearthstone said its designed to roll smoke up into 2nd air intake, it does cut out a lot of box room which makes it harder to load...

I have a stove like yours and have coals but I throw some softwood once in a while with wide open primary, coals superheat ...gone
if it is smoking out the front and you always have primary on 100% you have a draft problem. The only time I have ever smoked is when I open the front door too fast, it sucks the smoke out of the stove. The smokes is going up right behind front door. I shut primary down to 0 after 30min. I could not be happier with my hearthstone and it is heating 2500 ft.

Smoking is much better now! only have a problem when were rebuilding a fire. I have had some luck superheating the coals I'll have to work on that.

Not turning the air down will explain a lot of your problems (short burn times, slow in heating up, burning a lot of wood, etc.). You are operating the stove like a fireplace by sending a lot of heat up the chimney. I suggest getting some dry fuel (lumber scraps, compressed wood logs such as Envi-blocks, BioBricks, or kiln-dried wood with confirmed moisture under 20%) to run the stove while the air is closed. It may feel like a completely different stove.

Thank you for your actually helpful reply (unlike some) I never thought of scraps, The manual said specifically NO Kiln-dried wood, I'll work on other stuff. Looked for a meter at Lowes but didn't have any

You never turn the air down? You wood must be really bad. How and where are you taking temps?

Yeah probably, temps on stove top and 18" up pipe, We run it between 500-600 as much as we can. The upstairs is insulated in this old farmhouse but the downstairs... Not so much.

 

[begreen]

With properly dried wood the stove will actually get much hotter as the air is turned down and secondary combustion kicks in. What happens if you try to close the air down say 50% and then let the fire regain strength?

 

[Grisu]

The manual said specifically NO Kiln-dried wood,

Really? Makes no sense as most kiln-dried firewood is not any drier than what you have after proper seasoning. They may actually be concerned about kiln-dried lumber whose moisture can indeed be in the single digits when it has been recently dried. Plus, it is usually softwood. Nevertheless, mixing it in with your other wood and staying with your stove to adjust the air control will make sure you don't overfire the stove. That should be your only concern with dry wood.

How do you measure those flue temps? If you frequently get 600 F on the outside of a single-wall pipe you are really sending a lot of heat up the chimney. Plus, that's pretty hot for having a sustained temp in your flue. Puts a lot of stress on your pipe.

 

[jkazak]

1st year with Mansfield.
Yes baffle on top is suppose to be tipped up toward front.
No I'm not crazy about that as if you have any problem with your fire not in a complete burn it makes smoke roll right up it out into the room
Yes the wood HAS to be REALLY Seasoned
No our wood isn't perfect I live in the real world not an ideal world
No you should not burn it with the ash pan open, it can heat way to Hot and if you aren't careful and build up smoke prior to a flash point you can make your own little bomb
Yes it is Hard to keep the coals down, yes they create heat but they build up and fill the stove up
No the ashpan does not last 1 week I have to empty it at least 1x day
No it doesn't heat your house fast it heats it really slow, which is the point of a soapstone (I guess its like cooking w/ a crockpot vs an oven) but it is hard to play catch-up
Yes it goes threw just as much wood as our previous smaller stove
Yes it is worth putting a steamer on it, it doesn't evaporate near as much as our old stove but will go threw more than 1/2 gal a day
Not sure if the blower was worth it, it moves the air out farther but it is a slow heater and so its still a slow heater
No it is not a good idea to run fan at night it keeps the stack from staying within good temperatures
Yes I still have to load it every 4hrs or so, I never turn air intake down temp drops if I do
Its the winter in the NE and the temp hangs around 0 deg.

If you are referring to the ceramic baffle (item 29 (broken link removed to http://a1stoves.com/free/MansfieldI8011.pdf) ) mine sits flat above the secondary tubes.

I 'm only in my first season with the Mansfield and I haven't experienced any smoke outside the stove issues.- I do have about 25-feet of pipe though.

I'm not quite sure how long my Mulberry has been seasoned - but it is a little slow getting going. I always start with a smaller, hotter fire and run it with the front door cracked until I get some good flame going and KEEP it going. I keep adding bigger pieces to get a good bed of coals. I remember reading that you need to get these soapstone stoves going about 4-hours before you really need them. And I concur. Once a really good bed of hard hot coals is established I can LOAD it up with hardwood, turn the primary pretty much closed and that stove will stay hot for at least 8-hours. Stuffing it full of Shag Bark Hickory I actually achieved an 18-hour burn, By that I mean I was able to restart fire with the existing coals.

I have burned my stove for 72-hours straight at times and all that was needed was to scoop out excess ash and coals and keep feeding it, About every 4-hours sounds right if you need that much heat. I think much of the ash thing has to do with the wood species and how hot you burn. I burned a couple pieces of Hedge and it left almost no ash.
No the ash pan is not very useful - although I had some luck during the fall when shorter burn times were used to just get the chill out of the house.

As for the wood being seasoned I think that its true for any combustible and without being able to directly vent the firebox it becomes more important, I always start with some really nice kindling (usually walnut branches - not splits - it burns hot and for quite a while } and keep adding - again lots of flame until I get the coals.

I believe my manual says not to exceed 500-degrees - and once that big stove stays at that temp for a few hours the furnace almost never kicks on. I do have a fan (not the factory blower} to push the air around,

I'm very happy my Mansfield.

 

[Dairyman]

Really? Makes no sense as most kiln-dried firewood is not any drier than what you have after proper seasoning. They may actually be concerned about kiln-dried lumber whose moisture can indeed be in the single digits when it has been recently dried. Plus, it is usually softwood. Nevertheless, mixing it in with your other wood and staying with your stove to adjust the air control will make sure you don't overfire the stove. That should be your only concern with dry wood.

How do you measure those flue temps? If you frequently get 600 F on the outside of a single-wall pipe you are really sending a lot of heat up the chimney. Plus, that's pretty hot for having a sustained temp in your flue. Puts a lot of stress on your pipe.

The manual says no kiln dried lumber just natural cordwood. Kiln dried cordwood would be fine. There just wanting to make sure someone doesn't load the firebox full of cutoffs and turn the stove into a puddle.

 

[Oldman47]

Looked for a meter at Lowes but didn't have any.

Have another look. I was in my Lowes just a couple of days ago and walking all around the wood burners they had with no luck. Lots of stuff like chainsaws but no moisture meter. I asked one of their salesmen about a MM and he suggested the tool department. Sure enough I found one there for about 20 bucks. It even came with its own 9 volt battery. It was a bit strange where it was located but it was there. Try talking to the guy in the tools department. I bet he could walk right to it.

 

[Dairyman]

Yes and Yes, Hearthstone said its designed to roll smoke up into 2nd air intake, it does cut out a lot of box room which makes it harder to load...

Compairing the parts list for the 8011 & 8012 shows the only differences are the feet, flue collar, and door. So something is wrong here. Could you post better pictures along with some measurements from the floor to the baffle in the front & rear of the stove? I'll measure mine the next time she cools off.

 

[tryingtostaywarm]

If you are referring to the ceramic baffle (item 29 (broken link removed to http://a1stoves.com/free/MansfieldI8011.pdf) ) mine sits flat above the secondary tubes.

I'm not sure about item 29 but #40 (43-46) are angled down toward the back, they replaced the stove (the air intake control screw was cross threaded) and both stoves are like that.???

 

[Dakotas Dad]

When you say you have 500 to 600F temps, is this on the center top stone, or on the outside of the flue, or inside the flue? It makes a difference.

If you are seeing 600F on the outside of the stove pipe, you are sending a TON of your heat up the flue.

If you are seeing 600F on top of the stove, you are running the stove as hard as it should be run.

If you are seeing 600F with a probe, you are close to "in the zone", that's about where mine will cruise for quite some time with good wood and a full load of it.

 

[blacktop37]

I'm not sure about item 29 but #40 (43-46) are angled down toward the back, they replaced the stove (the air intake control screw was cross threaded) and both stoves are like that.???

LOL Ive been running mine 4 years or so, so I looked in mine and the top ceramic board is slanted. I have never noticed it.

 

[bholler]

It was a bit strange where it was located but it was there.

They are much more commonly used to test moisture level of lumber than firewood so the regular tool section makes sense to me that is where i would look for them. But that doesn't mean it makes sense to anyone else.

 

[mark cline]

Here is a picture of the inside of my Mansfield. The baffle is level from front to back and sits on top of the secondary burn tubes.

 

[JonOfSunderland]

Mansfield model 8010 (1995-1999) had a level/horizontal baffle. Model 8011 (1999-2014) changed to a slanted baffle.

 

[Osagebndr]

Learning to burn an EPA stove can be a very trying experience ( has been for me also) especially with not so good wood . I had to go thru the wood I had that I thought was good to find wood that was . I had to take the not so good and split it smaller and mix it with the good. Bio bricks as grisu said are a good addition to your fire. I will also open my air a little if I see the secondaries going out to keep the fire going , that's at the beginning of the burn cycle. I will keep it open and check the top temps. To make sure I'm not over heating the stove. It has helped a lot . Might want to try it. If your getting external flue temps at 300* towards the late middle and end of your burn cycle that is normal . 500-600* external is wasting heat after the stove is turned down. My internal temp( I have a probe on dbl wall pipe) is usually between 450-600 during the main part of the burn cycle and stays at 300-400* towards the end. My stove is a bit different than yours tho. Try menards also for a moisture meter that's where I got mine and an IR gun.