My last stove purchase...I hope - Mansfield?

[mikeathens]

I am thinking of a new (my last one) stove. I started with a VC Dutchwest small catalytic (in the house when I moved in) which quickly proved to be too small. I then got a VC DW LARGE non-cat, which was a 500 lb. piece of garbage. Traded it and ended up with a Hearthstone Heritage.

I love the heritage, but I can't keep up my "reload every three hours" routine when it's below 20. I might go 5 or six when it >20 out.

My house is a 1800 SF old cabin (22 X 24) two story, moderately to poorly insulated. It has an addition of 32 X 16 on the back, which is really bad as far as insulation. Total 1800SF when you add the bathroom and another small section.

The heritage will keep it 62 when it's 5 out, with a reload every 3 hours.

I am planning an addition in the future, using SIPs, on the back of the house. It will add 1000 SF, but will eliminate the drafts and poor insulation on that part of the house. I will basically be trading the 16 X 32 room with flat ceiling and R-19 roof, R-11 walls for an R-39 ceiling and R-19+ walls. At any rate, it will be a huge improvement.

I am considering ONE LAST stove that will meet my current needs as well as my new addition. I am thinking the addition will be a trade off, similar to what I have now - much greater room, but also much greater air-tightness and insulation.

Total area of the house will be approx 2800 SF after addition. I am considering the Hearthstone Mansfield.

Any other ideas out there for something that will throw out the heat and let em get more sleep? the addition will probably be a couple years in the future, but maybe the stove swap this fall...

Is it too much to expect the Mansfield o put out THAT much more heat than my Heritage?

 

[Hogwildz]

I am thinking of a new (my last one) stove. I started with a VC Dutchwest small catalytic (in the house when I moved in) which quickly proved to be too small. I then got a VC DW LARGE non-cat, which was a 500 lb. piece of garbage. Traded it and ended up with a Hearthstone Heritage.

I love the heritage, but I can't keep up my "reload every three hours" routine when it's below 20. I might go 5 or six when it >20 out.

My house is a 1800 SF old cabin (22 X 24) two story, moderately to poorly insulated. It has an addition of 32 X 16 on the back, which is really bad as far as insulation. Total 1800SF when you add the bathroom and another small section.

The heritage will keep it 62 when it's 5 out, with a reload every 3 hours.

I am planning an addition in the future, using SIPs, on the back of the house. It will add 1000 SF, but will eliminate the drafts and poor insulation on that part of the house. I will basically be trading the 16 X 32 room with flat ceiling and R-19 roof, R-11 walls for an R-39 ceiling and R-19+ walls. At any rate, it will be a huge improvement.

I am considering ONE LAST stove that will meet my current needs as well as my new addition. I am thinking the addition will be a trade off, similar to what I have now - much greater room, but also much greater air-tightness and insulation.

Total area of the house will be approx 2800 SF after addition. I am considering the Hearthstone Mansfield.

Any other ideas out there for something that will throw out the heat and let em get more sleep? the addition will probably be a couple years in the future, but maybe the stove swap this fall...

Is it too much to expect the Mansfield o put out THAT much more heat than my Heritage?

I'd go for the Equinox

 

[mikeathens]

I'd go for the Equinox

Uhhhhhhhhhh...

actually, I had a brief moment where I thought about that. Definitely too much stove for me (and probably WAY too much $$).

Anyone else have thoughts? I'd consider other stoves, but I just want to make sure it will heat the house, preferably through 6" flue. I wouldn't be opposed to catalytics. Just gotta be BIG. At least considerably more heat output than the Heritage.

 

[Vic99]

I think you will be happy with the insulation upgrade.

I spent over a month working part time to bring my house from poor to nearly average. I can clearly see the difference. It's also gives me piece of mine that I'm as efficient as I can be until professionals come in for real renovations . . . we seem to update some part of our 1920 house through a medium sized project every 2 years or so.

and . . . . you know you want that equinox.

 

[mikeathens]

It will be a spring/summer purchase for sure. Insulation improvement is a constant process.

I am looking at:

Jotul F600
Hearthstone Mansfield
VC Defiant Catalytic

Anone have any other suggestions to throw in the mix? Of the above, which puts out more heat over a longer period? I like the looks of all of the above...anyone know of other bigger and badder stoves out there with similar looks (minus equinox - that will definitely be out of my price range).

 

[Mandoo]

Hey Neighbor, I run the Defiant Cat It's in a finished basement on a raised ranch. The ceiling above the stove has 1x2 cut out with a small turbo style fan pulling the hot air up. I try and keep my stove top temp around 600. The upstairs area stays around 70 to 74 depending on sun through windows and outside temps around 20*.

I get true real world burn times of 8-10+ hours depending on how I load and how hot I run the stove. I looked at soapstone style and decided the softer heat would not work since I have to get it into the whole house. We also liked the look of the colored enamel that fit with our decor. I travel and wanted something easy for the wife, our stove does not require a lot of baby sitting and with the second pan, ash removal is a piece of cake.

Just thought I'd share some #'s since we live in the same climate. Best of luck and stay warm with whatever stove you choose.

 

[swestall]

Hey Mike, what happened? I thought you were going to be hung out to dry if you started talking about a new stove.
Here's the deal with the Mansfield. You can definately load more wood in it; that's a given. And, its going to put out more heat because of that. I am still experiencing a temp drop in the AM; and after many stoves and years I think that is just a normal part of the woodburning experience. Its going to be hard to get a stove where you have the same temp after 8+ hours as you did when you went to bed/work. I am off 5 degrees today; we went to bed with a 70 degree temp and got up with 65. Load and back up. Same thing will be true when we come home. Its been that way all my life, but the Mansfield is using about 1/2-1/3 of the wood the Defiant did to accomplish this. The Defiant CAT stove was actually the best for long burn with temp stability in the house. I think that after the dust settles people will see that.
My gut reaction was I would consider the Equinox too...but you'd have to make sure you could use that side door. I think I might have gotten it but there were none at my dealer, I didn't want to wait and 80K/BTU was certainly enough for me as I did a good job with the 60K/BTU Defiants.
If you want to look at other than soapstone, take a look at the PE Aldera T5/6 products, Jotul 600 and like stoves.
BUT, if you love the Soapstone then the Mansfield or Equinox are great. Having learned to live with the Heritage you know what to expect. By loading the Mansfield up I am getting a good overnight burn with large coals left in the AM. The stove will fall from 400-500 at 10:30PM to 250-300 at 6AM; but I don't feel that is a problem. Getting constant 70 degrees overnight requires attending. Sometimes if I get up at 3, I'll stuff a large split in and that does make a difference. I have no problem with things cooling off a bit overnight. It makes for nice sleeping and for me having always heated with wood, that's the way it is.
I love the Mansfield.
I don't know if you recall, we have 2400 sq/ft, with one large room having a lot of cu/ft as it is 25X40X17 foot ceiling. We are able to heat no problem. We have OIL as backup, our zone valve for the 1st floor has been broken for 2 months (that we are aware of) and it didn't make any difference because the head doesn't come on.
I hope all this helps, if you want to discuss more, PM me.
Steve...

 

[mikeathens]

My wife is seeing what a jerk I become with 4 hours sleep...she's warming up to the idea, especially if we can trade the Heritage and not have to shell out too much more cash on top of that for the new (or used) stove. I just HATE the thought of paying the power company to strip mine and pollute our air for heat when I can do better with my own SUSTAINABLE resources. I am hellbent on making this work. We had a heatpump installed in '06, but it is ONLY for if we're out of town or if some other "emergency" comes up (like when we go to the hospital in a few days for our second - and last- childbirth).

I know that there is temperature drop overnoght; that's expected. However, I have realized that the Heritage is just a bit too small for our house. When I'm home and the temps are in the teens, I have to cram wood in every few hours to keep the temps above 65 - 68 in the room the stove is in - it's in the low 60's, high 50's in the next room. We even have a very large french door that is wide open between rooms.

With that said, I'm looking for the right stove - one that will let me fire up and bring up the temp from, say 63 to a comfy 70-75 in the room it is located in in a relatively short period - like maybe an hour. I am also looking for the stove that will let me load it at say 11:00 pm and let me wake up to temps around 62 seven hours later. I would expect that outside temps around 0 might take more frequent loading - like maybe every 5 hours - but that would be completely acceptable.

Does this stove exist??

 

[jadm]

Just a side note....If you are about to have a newborn in your home in a few days chances are you are going to be up at night and will be able to keep your stove going. If fact, you will have many opportunities to be up at night! With the second child it is a wonderful time of quiet. Enjoy your little one


On the stove issue - I have just gone through a month of searching etc to replace my insert that is too small for the space we have to. I know the frustration. I really liked the Hearthstone Phoenix but ran into too many install issues as it would have required house remodeling for clearance as it would have had to be placed in my fireplace and it would have stuck out too far on my hearth....

At the last minute I switched back to an insert, the Jotul 550. What changed my mind was the size of the fire box. I know I will get more heat than I have now and the blowers that will spread the heat about more than a stove will.

My only recommendations to you are that you have some way of moving the heat around so it spreads to where you spend the most time and that the fire box is bigger than what you have now so you have the option of a smaller fire or a bigger one depending on the temps. you are after.

Those soapstone stoves really are nice looking and I have read only good stuff about them.

Good Luck!