Too good to be true?

[BrowningBAR]

Someone is selling a 4 year old HearthStone Mansfield for $800.
The saying goes; If it sounds too good to be true ... it probably is.

So, lets ignore my current Intrepid install issues for a moment... because I need something to distract me until I hear from my installer on Monday

We all know how pricey the Mansfield is, and if you don't the price is around $3200... give or take a hernia. And we all know that people like to get their money back when reselling a stove, and sometimes try to make money on the deal (a Franklin stove for $800? Really?). Now, I've seen photos of this stove and it looks really clean. No visible rust, and no obvious cracks (in the soapstone or otherwise). Of course I haven't seen detailed photos, yet, so I can only assume at this point. The seller hasn't said why he is parting with it or if he was the owner.

Now, what could be the issue with this stove? The seller is over 2 hours away and I would like to figure out if this is legit or not without driving there, finding out it is a bust, calling the seller an @ssclown, and driving back two hours.

Note: I am not in NEED of another stove at this time, but if the Mansfield is legit it would be an upgrade over my Vigilant, which would then be moved to the living room.

(...yes I know that would give me three stoves. old house. Long, boxy layout. Impossible to heat.)

 

[branchburner]

Overfire? (I mean that the Hearthstone may have been abused, not that having three stoves in the house is overfire - I have a friend with four, and he still thinks he's underfired!)

 

[SolarAndWood]

That would be a nice deal. And I think someone posted that the Mansfield qualifies for the tax credit?

 

[meathead]

you're lucky it's a 6 hr drive for me or I'd be there stealing it out from under you right now. For that kind of deal, it's worth risking the 2 hr drive...just in case it actually turns out to be as advertised.

 

[kenny chaos]

I drove an hour and a half and saved over $2000 on my stove.
Talked to the guy and he seemed like a straight shooter so the next step was
to meet him eye to eye, and see the stove of course.

 

[edthedawg]

Yeah that's a smokin' deal on a Manny. Go see it, do the dollar bill test, climb inside and look for cracks in the tubes, secondary manifold, and baffle plate. And scour it for cracked stones.

But even with problems, it's a heckofa stove. How're ya gonna move it tho? Got 7 friends to bring along?

 

[Wet1]

That is a good deal. Contact him and tell him you'll take it, assuming it's in good shape.

 

[BrowningBAR]

How're ya gonna move it tho? Got 7 friends to bring along?

Wait, these things are HEAVY?! Screw it, I'm not going to bother, then!

Yeah, it's going to be a problem. I can lift it with the help of one other person (I have those 'forearm fork lifts'. You know, the 'as seen on TV things'. They really do work. It makes moving a stove a LOT easier.), but lifting it up and into my truck is a completely different monster.

I guess I could go with u-haul's 5' x 9' Ramp Utility Trailer or their 6' x 12' open trailer. They have a ramp and are pretty low to the ground. Seems like it might be possible. I'll worry about that when/if I get to that point.

 

[BrowningBAR]

That is a good deal. Contact him and tell him you'll take it, assuming it's in good shape.

Already called and left a message. We'll see if he calls back.

 

[Danno77]

You know it might be a factor of a couple things.
1. He might have had it professionally installed and got the total quote for the install so doesn't really know how much each part cost.
2. More likely than not it's because the thing weighs about a ton. This is why I see free hot-tubs on CL all the time. They are big and hard to move, and selling it at a lower price is the compromise!


Go buy a case of beer and some pizza, cause I bet it turns out to be legit and you'll need some friends to help you move it. (unless you can convince an enemy to deliver it for $50)

 

[BrowningBAR]

You know it might be a factor of a couple things.
1. He might have had it professionally installed and got the total quote for the install so doesn't really know how much each part cost.
2. More likely than not it's because the thing weighs about a ton. This is why I see free hot-tubs on CL all the time. They are big and hard to move, and selling it at a lower price is the compromise!


Go buy a case of beer and some pizza, cause I bet it turns out to be legit and you'll need some friends to help you move it. (unless you can convince an enemy to deliver it for $50)

Hearstone has it listed as 550lbs. Is this accurate or is the manufacturers listed weight an optimistic one?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Just got a hold of the seller. It was already sold.

Hopefully someone got a hell of a deal.

 

[Danno77]

re: getting something heavy into the bed of a truck.

I helped the guys do this when they moved the old coal burner converted to oil burner furnace from my basement. I was surprised that they've have to get 100 guys to run over and help them move, well, with something like this it only takes two....

Forgive me if you already know this method. It's very elementary, but you'd be surprised how many people don't think to use it....

 

[BrowningBAR]

re: getting something heavy into the bed of a truck.

I helped the guys do this when they moved the old coal burner converted to oil burner furnace from my basement. I was surprised that they've have to get 100 guys to run over and help them move, well, with something like this it only takes two....

Forgive me if you already know this method. It's very elementary, but you'd be surprised how many people don't think to use it....

I thought about doing something like that with the Vigilant when I bought it last year. I was still concerned I would knock it off the stacks when I tried to move it the last time to get it into the truck. Says more about my abilities than the system itself

 

[edthedawg]

Simple, elegant solution there, for sure. but i'll share how my guy got my Heritage onto his truck, off his truck, across my dirt/gravel driveway, up 5 steps, and into my living room - all by himself!

He had a powered, stair-climbing appliance dolly. It has fork-truck outriggers, leans back on a perfectly balanced fulcrum, climbs the stairs beautifully using an on-board car-battery powered motor, and its big, rubber wheels don't care what very solid surface they roll over.

They are routinely rentable from home stores. VERY nice tool.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Simple, elegant solution there, for sure. but i'll share how my guy got my Heritage onto his truck, off his truck, across my dirt/gravel driveway, up 5 steps, and into my living room - all by himself!

He had a powered, stair-climbing appliance dolly. It has fork-truck outriggers, leans back on a perfectly balanced fulcrum, climbs the stairs beautifully using an on-board car-battery powered motor, and its big, rubber wheels don't care what very solid surface they roll over.

They are routinely rentable from home stores. VERY nice tool.

Nice. I will keep that in mind for my next stove purchase.

 

[crazy_dan]

I used a 1,000 lb rated appliance dolly, which I bought for just that reason to move my stove since then i have used it on several occasions, great purchase one of the best I have made for $90 it was on sale and made in the USA. so I jumped on it .

 

[alupher]

that climbing lit sounds like an "escalante" - very nice.

 

[Highbeam]

re: getting something heavy into the bed of a truck.

I helped the guys do this when they moved the old coal burner converted to oil burner furnace from my basement. I was surprised that they've have to get 100 guys to run over and help them move, well, with something like this it only takes two....

Forgive me if you already know this method. It's very elementary, but you'd be surprised how many people don't think to use it....

This is how we jacked up the spent nuclear reactors from submarines so that we could slide them onto a barge. Stacks of Oak boards.

 

[Danno77]

This is how we jacked up the spent nuclear reactors from submarines so that we could slide them onto a barge. Stacks of Oak boards.

Same story here except it's not nuclear reactors, it's something else, and instead of submarines, it's something different, and instead of a barge, it's not, and we used pine. But other than that, same thing.

Got any pictures of that HB? sounds like it would be cool to see.

 

[Gary_602z]

Or just get this guy! :lol: http://www.wimp.com/buildingstonehenge/

Gary