Hello, I am a long time lurker, this is my first post. Background - My house is a 1500 sq. ft. raised ranch with 12 feet of thermopane windows facing south for solar gain, well insulated and air sealed, but 60 years old. The winters here in central pennsylvania are 3 or 4 months long, grey, wet, and cold, but subzero temps are rare. I heat with a ductless minisplit heat pump.
The existing fireplace is in the center of an open plan living, dining, kitchen, and foyer area of about 750 sq. ft. I added glass doors and a blower to it 4 years ago, and all went well until last year's polar vortex when the house was cold AND I got a thousand dollar a month electric bill.
That's when I started visiting Hearth.com, collecting firewood, and talking to people that really burn wood. It seemed like my fireplace is a perfect place for a small insert, but that's not what we ended up doing.
I decided to try to find a stove that could heat the whole house, all night long, and still fit into my 40" x 24" brick fireplace with 26" high lintel and 16" bluestone hearth. And pass the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) test. My wife hated the steel stoves (although the big Lopi insert was a possiblity). She liked the look and "soft" heat of the soapstone stoves better than most cast iron stoves. I liked the bigger fireboxes in the free standing stoves better than the tiny fireboxes in most inserts.
http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag317/artdecoman/heritagestoveinfireplace_zps4b1dd016.jpg
This is a Hearthstone Heritage model 8022. Hearthstone makes several stoves that would fit and have aprox. 2 cu.ft. fireboxes - the Homestead, the Castleton, and this one. The Homestead is designed to go into a fireplace, but is more expensive and the reviews aren't so good, the Castleton is less expensive, but is a new model with no reviews yet. In the end the loading door and ash tray on the Heritage decided the matter for me.
This stove just fit under the brick. It is 28" wide and has a 15" tall loading door on the left side, bottom hinged, so stove is turned part way into fireplace to accommodate the door and the extra clearance to combustibles needed. It's rear vented (like a corner install) into a 15 foot insulated stainless chimney liner and has a stainless block off plate installed. A shout out to forum member bhollar who did the install and added the bluestone ember protection (that I must still stain and seal) flush to the wood floor.
http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag317/artdecoman/newstovefire_zpsb83f6bb9.jpg
Impressions so far: It fits, looks good, holds hot coals overnight, and seems like it will heat the whole house (with maybe a fan in the hallway) on very little wood compared to my fireplace. In fact, my old fireplace grate holds a entire weekend's supply of cord wood at the rate I'm burning it. But the overall quality is not so good for a premium priced product - Right from the factory there was a huge scratch right on the top front stone, the big door was crooked, and the hardware and latches just seem flimsy.
I don't know much about the performance yet since the weather is mild and I have not loaded it more than half full or even used the ash tray. My glass goes black immediately and the air wash seems to only clear the top inch or two, which is probably my fault (either my choaking it down too soon or too wet of wood), but I would love to hear from other Heritage owners about the air wash and ash tray.
I bought both a ir thermometer and moisture meter last March, but can't find either one right now, so I have no hard numbers, but it definitely made the whole area too hot on the secondary burn of just a half load of good wood after a day's burning. I have a small electric muffin fan blowing towards the stove that I expect I won't need - That's good since I never liked the sound of my old blower.
Overall I'm very pleased, and will post more as I learn - I have never run a wood stove before.
Art
The existing fireplace is in the center of an open plan living, dining, kitchen, and foyer area of about 750 sq. ft. I added glass doors and a blower to it 4 years ago, and all went well until last year's polar vortex when the house was cold AND I got a thousand dollar a month electric bill.
That's when I started visiting Hearth.com, collecting firewood, and talking to people that really burn wood. It seemed like my fireplace is a perfect place for a small insert, but that's not what we ended up doing.
I decided to try to find a stove that could heat the whole house, all night long, and still fit into my 40" x 24" brick fireplace with 26" high lintel and 16" bluestone hearth. And pass the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) test. My wife hated the steel stoves (although the big Lopi insert was a possiblity). She liked the look and "soft" heat of the soapstone stoves better than most cast iron stoves. I liked the bigger fireboxes in the free standing stoves better than the tiny fireboxes in most inserts.
http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag317/artdecoman/heritagestoveinfireplace_zps4b1dd016.jpg
This is a Hearthstone Heritage model 8022. Hearthstone makes several stoves that would fit and have aprox. 2 cu.ft. fireboxes - the Homestead, the Castleton, and this one. The Homestead is designed to go into a fireplace, but is more expensive and the reviews aren't so good, the Castleton is less expensive, but is a new model with no reviews yet. In the end the loading door and ash tray on the Heritage decided the matter for me.
This stove just fit under the brick. It is 28" wide and has a 15" tall loading door on the left side, bottom hinged, so stove is turned part way into fireplace to accommodate the door and the extra clearance to combustibles needed. It's rear vented (like a corner install) into a 15 foot insulated stainless chimney liner and has a stainless block off plate installed. A shout out to forum member bhollar who did the install and added the bluestone ember protection (that I must still stain and seal) flush to the wood floor.
http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag317/artdecoman/newstovefire_zpsb83f6bb9.jpg
Impressions so far: It fits, looks good, holds hot coals overnight, and seems like it will heat the whole house (with maybe a fan in the hallway) on very little wood compared to my fireplace. In fact, my old fireplace grate holds a entire weekend's supply of cord wood at the rate I'm burning it. But the overall quality is not so good for a premium priced product - Right from the factory there was a huge scratch right on the top front stone, the big door was crooked, and the hardware and latches just seem flimsy.
I don't know much about the performance yet since the weather is mild and I have not loaded it more than half full or even used the ash tray. My glass goes black immediately and the air wash seems to only clear the top inch or two, which is probably my fault (either my choaking it down too soon or too wet of wood), but I would love to hear from other Heritage owners about the air wash and ash tray.
I bought both a ir thermometer and moisture meter last March, but can't find either one right now, so I have no hard numbers, but it definitely made the whole area too hot on the secondary burn of just a half load of good wood after a day's burning. I have a small electric muffin fan blowing towards the stove that I expect I won't need - That's good since I never liked the sound of my old blower.
Overall I'm very pleased, and will post more as I learn - I have never run a wood stove before.
Art
