New to Hearthstone Mansfield ??

[chevyheim]

Good mornin hearth members.

This year I finally decided to get the hearthstone mansfield woodstove. I bought it brand new up in New York state. Last month we had a cold streak and I did my break-in fires. I also had a few lowtemp fires to take the chill off.

My reason for posting is... It's been chilly here and I can't seem to regulate my woodstove. It seems I'm either cranking it at 550' stove top temp (middle stone) or it drifts way down to where my glass starts darkening. i have an outside temp of 45' right now with off and on rain. I am not sure if its just because of the warmer weather that its not acting quite right or what.

Any input from the mansfield burners would be fantastic.

Also thanks to everyone for their input up to this point.

 

[nvanhar]

I don't have a Mansfield, but we did just install an Equinox and I'm having some of the same problems. Except I can't seem to get the stove up much past 400 at all (stove top thermometer). I'm guessing it's in part a wood issue...although the wood is dry, we're unsure what type of wood some of this is...low BTU? We HAVE noticed that if we burn the old punky lightweight wood that we've got (just to take the chill off), it's hard to even get the thermometer out of the creosote range.

Could this be an issue with the way you pack the stove? Are you consistent in the way that you pack it? Always the same type of wood? Interested to hear the smart people chime in here...

 

[chevyheim]

I don't have a Mansfield, but we did just install an Equinox and I'm having some of the same problems. Except I can't seem to get the stove up much past 400 at all (stove top thermometer). I'm guessing it's in part a wood issue...although the wood is dry, we're unsure what type of wood some of this is...low BTU? We HAVE noticed that if we burn the old punky lightweight wood that we've got (just to take the chill off), it's hard to even get the thermometer out of the creosote range.

Could this be an issue with the way you pack the stove? Are you consistent in the way that you pack it? Always the same type of wood? Interested to hear the smart people chime in here...

Sounds like this may be a would issue for you. How long are you giving it before you're reaching your temperature stated? I I am starting to equate a soapstone woodstove to a freight train in the fact that it takes a long time to get going and get warm but once it is it is supposed to cruise. It takes me probably 40 minutes to an hour before I see over 400° on the stovetop. That's with air wide open and a fresh start in a cold stove. Right now I think I have a different issue in that my wood is too long based on my old stove. My would barely fits east to west and definitely not north to south. The school of thought on the site from what I've read so far is to load north to south

 

[nvanhar]

Sounds like this may be a would issue for you. How long are you giving it before you're reaching your temperature stated? I I am starting to equate a soapstone woodstove to a freight train in the fact that it takes a long time to get going and get warm but once it is it is supposed to cruise. It takes me probably 40 minutes to an hour before I see over 400° on the stovetop. That's with air wide open and a fresh start in a cold stove. Right now I think I have a different issue in that my wood is too long based on my old stove. My would barely fits east to west and definitely not north to south. The school of thought on the site from what I've read so far is to load north to south

That's after well more than an hour. But it's inconsistent still...if I pack the stove full I can reach 500 degrees pretty easily. If I try to make a smaller fire, I find that I hovers at the 400 level. Beginning to think that this stove just wasn't designed for smaller fires??

 

[mark cline]

Going on my second year with my Mansfield and as mentioned , it does take an hr to get up to 400F, but it will cruise at this temp and up to 600F , for a long time . I have heated my home for 33 yrs with a Fisher Grandma bear , it kept the house warm but this Mansfield triples the heat output, with less wood. quality wood with a moisture content of 20% or less will give you plenty of heat. An infrared temp gun and a moisture meter are essential , you need to know what your moisture content is . I cut and split all my wood , so I know the moisture content and species that works best.
Soapstone is a great material for a stove , when heated up , it will hold the heat long after the fire has died , but also takes a long time to heat up. Search what other Heartstone users on this forum are doing to regulate the heat . I learned a lot on this forum on how to run my Mansfield , dry wood ,quality wood , you will learn to love your Hearthstone.