Need to buy a new woodstove

Heck still in 40s.. Wish I had some joints still worked

Good luck Fulltang !!

 

Backwoods gave some vital info. I'm trying to imagine how would I heat 800 sq ft for a good extended time and not roast myself out of the house.In your neck of the woods where it's really cold I'd want something that would keep the house warm after I came in from work. I say go with a soapstone and or a cat stove.The soapstone will give off heat after the fire burns down and of course the cat will burn for a long time.You just have to figure out the size of the stove that'll work best.I'd go with The Mansfield for a soapstone or a good sized woodstock or a Blaze King princess or next size smaller.

 

After owning a stone stove that didn’t have a cat, they are terrible for putting out quick heat after you come home to a cold house. The cat version of a stone stove stays hot so the lag in output from the cold stone stove is no problem.

It’s pretty great to be in my 40s. Definitely one of the best decades. Kids are mostly independent, established in career, know how to not drink too much, still physically capable, ...

 

I’m still in the market for a good wood stove, but keep this story in mind.

I recently bought a stove from a guy. Tell you about it in a bit. Went to this home thirty minutes from house to look at this stove this guy had for sale. When I walked into the kitchen I noticed an old wood cook stove hooked up inside across from an electric stove. Walked on through the house into the living room and there sat a Mansfield soapstone stove.

He told me last winter of 2018 was rough and had to use the old cook stove in addition to the Mansfield because it alone would not keep up. It was 2200 sq. ft. home. I couldn’t hardly believe what he’ said to me. He also said there was some lag time and that you got that heat back at the end of the burn cycle which is understandable . My thought was this though; why be cold when you have a heating monster of a stove sitting in the middle of the kids bedroom floor...a stove that I bought...a Hitzer 354 double door anthracite coal stove/wood burner. It was a 20 year old stove that’s likely only had just a few fires in it...it’s like brand new inside and out...literally.

 

Pics?

 

A Mansfield in a home in Ohio.. That cannot heat it, in dead of winter, without insulation. Is wet wood!!! End of story.

 

Problem is that it doesn't work quite like that. While trying to warm up the stone, the stove is running full blast and blowing tons of heat up the stack. I regularly passed 1000 during warm up. The only heat you get back at the end is that portion of the heat that was absorbed by the stone while you had the pedal to the metal. Getting the stone warm and keeping it warm with an efficient burn rate and combustion system (cat) is far superior and less wasteful.

That said, the mansfield is a stout stove and once it is hot it should really be making some serious mojo.

 

Let me try this from my phone for the first time...

This not my stove but one that a fellow forum member owned on another forum. Hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing his photo for illustration.



Don’t have pictures of my stove yet but this will give you an idea. Mine is trimmed in gold.

 

The silver sides on the above stove are not factory but something the owner put on as a form of protection for the kids...it’s expanded metal. Mine just has normal sides and is a blower model as well. I believe the pictures above is strictly a radiant stove.

That should give you a good idea of what I bought. I’ll try and get some pics posted of my stove in a few days.

 

I will agree. If I recall correctly he said he had that problem. He also had 6 cords of wood drying when I was there. Sad thing is it still likely won’t be dry enough in my opinion for this year.

In his defense it was an older home and we had some mighty low temps for several weeks. I used my IR gun and shot -27 on my truck fender and garage door...concrete was -15...so we had some seriously cold temps. Coldest we’ve seen for a long time and I think we set several new records.

Had I been buying a Hearthstone stove for that house it would have been the big one I pretty sure. Steel stove a BK K should easily heated that house...I suppose.

 

I’m going try and modify my Hitzer 354 for when I want to burn wood by making a removable secondary air system somehow. I’m fairly certain D.S. Machine did this to their Comfortmax coal/wood stove and added a removable secondary system to it. We shall see and time will tell. I’ll likely have to further insulate the firebox with more bricks also to accomplish this. Succeed or not....it will be a hoot trying.

 

I did not mention as was stated here that a soapstone does take a while to get the heat out.Once it's sending heat all is good.Just keep it going to the point that the stone doesn't get cold and it'll be good.And yes a good size home needs to be well insulated for one stove to be able to heat it.My home is about 2200 square and I have two stoves.The Mansfield and it's daddy the Hearthstone One.When both are running only when the cold is extreme we stay toasty.

 

Here are some pics of my barely used coal wood stove.

Phone got the pictures before the quote...haven’t figured out how to fix it or cut, copy, and paste yet on this iPhone.

 

update: My buddy says he has a PE Super 27 that he will give me that "needs a bit of welding and a new baffle". So that will be my likely stove. A little big for the space but a free start anyway.
Girlfriend update: 2 days in a hotel room with room service just getting to know each other. I am exhausted .

 

Thanks for the update.What ticks me off is when folks come with concerns receive serious options and never get back out of courtesy with an update.Folks would like to know if their input was helpful.Or at least give an update as to how things worked out.A lot of times it's just crickets.So thanks again for being considerate.

 

So this is the older PE Super 27 in question. It's a bit of a commitment to get this up and running, the least of which is a completely new baffle assembly, priced at about $400 CDN.
I am thinking I can probably get a smaller new Drolet stove for around $800, whew lots to consider

 

Wow, Vermont Casings Resolute just popped up here for $500 used!! To big for a 800 square foot house? Thoughts please

 

Might want to back away from that one...VC doesnt have the best reputation, and that model was trouble from what I hear...some say free wouldn't even be worth it on those...