jotul c450 or hampton hi300

hvacar said:

I'm looking to buy a wood stove insert, looking at the Jotul c450 or the Hampton hi300. The house is a dutch colonial about 1300sqft. The fire box can fit a Jotul 550, but due to price and i don't think I need one that big. The Hampton is $300 cheaper due to a promotion going on for a free blower. Also in the Jotul manual my hearth needs to be extended to 20", its at 18" right now and adding any more to it would make it stick out in the room more, the room the fireplace is in is narrow but long. I've been reading other reviews and found some on the Hampton saying that they can't get good heat out of it. Any help would be great

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I'm not sure where you read the HI300 can't throw heat. There are several reasons why any wood stove insert will not throw heat. Reasons include, no block off plate, leaving the primary air open, not running the blower, uninsulated liner, not enough wood in the stove, not the right type of wood in the stove, poor insulation in the house, poor floor plan... I think you get the point.

I have the HI300 and it throws considerable heat. Enough to keep my thermostat from kicking on last year other than a few sub zero morning temps and the upstairs bedrooms were a bit cool at 60 degrees in the AM.

You can't go wrong with either of these stoves IMO.

Hampton based on my experience. It heats a 1400 square ft home in Wi no problem. Saying it does not throw heat is like saying a vette can't spin its tire...

Two years ago I went with a Jotul 550 because the wife liked it best. It worked great and never used any propane in two years. I say go with the one your wife likes it make life much more enjoyable.

Now that is the safe answer. Actually they are both great stoves. I went with the hampton because it was a bigger box and more btus. I do not thing you can go wrong with either!

hvacar said:

........ Also in the Jotul manual my hearth needs to be extended to 20", its at 18" right now and adding any more to it would make it stick out in the room more.....

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I am getting the Hampton in 2 weeks and had to extend my hearth. It is currently 19" and I am going to 30" just to be safe. The I300s doors are out about 9" and my understanding is that the hearth needs to be 18" from the insert front NOT the wall. Check this out:

Go to: http://hampton-fire.com/Wood/Inserts/HI300/index.php and click on the manual, go to the Installation page.

"Thermal floor protection not required if unit is raised 3.5" min. measured from bottom of stove. At this point the standard ember floor protection will
be required. It will need to be a non-combustible material that covers 16" (406 mm) to the front of the unit (in Canada 18" (450 mm) and 8" (200 mm) to the sides."

If your hearth is not raised I think you need to extend...

Good luck!

You could of course add tile infront of the fireplace...

burntime said:

You could of course add tile infront of the fireplace...

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Could. I am going overboard and doing micore 300 etc to ensure I get the R value all the way out....I don't think I could sleep at night otherwise!

hvacar said:

Thanks for all the help everyone. I looked at the manual, lets see if i got this right, if i raise the hearth up 3.5" and extend it to 25" this should do the trick? seeing that the unit sticks out 9" adding 16" gives me 25". Do i have this right or am i still missing something?

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If your hearth is currently flush (as mine is) you can keep it that way as long as you have the distance out at the R value. I think it is .6.
I am doing exactly that. Extending my hearth out to 30 using Micore 300 as my base, then a layer of durock. This brings me to the brick.
then I am adding slate over the whole thing to bring it together.
If your hearth is raised, then you just need spark guard out that far....
This is my understanding after going through exactly what you are doing now!
Mine gets installed next week.

hvacar said:

Right now my hearth is only .5" up. If i extend it out any farther than 25" we will be tripping over it. It looks like i have the room to raise it up 3.5". If i do that what R value is concrete? And adding tile to the top of it?

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Check this site out: http://chimneysweeponline.com/horvalue.htm
If you raise it up will you still have enough room to push in the insert? it will need to be level all the way in.

I am installing a HI300 this weekend. My hearth is flush with the floor and only 16" out. I do have 30" of height so I am going to raise it 4" by installing cement brick inside the hearth and then sticking a 4" thick by 42" long and 8" wide piece of granite at the front to finish the exterior. This will not only give me the set backs I need, but make is that much easier to load the insert. 4" off the floor is that much less I have to bend over.

I am adding the 4" thickness so I can raise the whole stove. This way I do not have to extend my hearth. I am using the granite to "finish" the hearth. The cement brick inside of the existing fireplace will give me something to put he stove on top of and then finish the out of the fireplace with the flat granite.

You gotta love timing. I was about to post pretty much the same question however I am looking at the HI200 or the Jotul c350. I have a 1600 sq cape cod and would like to heat it as much as I can.

I have been staying away from the HI300 for my hearth is only 18" deep yet is is 8" high. I am not sure but it looks like from what is being stated her I would not have an issue with having to extend the hearth for it is so high.

Will I be losing too much if I go with the HI200

Thanks all

With the Living room 11' wide and doors on each end I am not sure if it is too small. I will take this into consideration.

Here we go adding to my mix.

Thank you

Hi there
Per the I300 manual -

Thermal floor protection is not required if the unit is raised 3.5" minimum (measured from the bottom of the stove).
However, standard ember floor protection is required.
It will need to be a non-combustible material that covers 16" (406 mm) in the US and 18" (450 mm) in Canada to the front of the unit and 8" (200 mm) to the sides.

If the unit is not raised, thermal floor protection required is 18" (450 mm) in the US and Canada.
All floor protection must be non-combustible (i.e., metals, brick, stone, mineral fiber boards, etc.) Any organic materials (i.e. plastics, wood paper products, etc.)
are combustible and must not be used. The floor protection specified includes some form of thermal designation such as R-value (thermal resistance) or k-factor
(thermal conductivity).

Interpreted you EITHER need to be:
3.5" up with ember protection out to distance of 18 or 16.....IE no Rvalue just spark guard....even a hearth rug covers this.
OR
If you are flush you need to be 18 or 16 out from the front of the unit with thermal protection. .06. R value

If you raise the hearth, make sure to check your vertical clearances again for your mantel etc.....it might not fit anymore.

R values add up by stacking materials.

Then I can use the 300 without having to extend the hearth. Hmm mybe a new wrench

Ok, maybe this will clear things up here. Sometimes pictures help with explanation's.

Pic 1 - This is a raised hearth. It measures about 5.5 inches in height above the wood floor. It extends out 16.5" from the fireplace face.

Pic 2 - With the stove in, I needed to extend 18" out from the glass on the door. I only had about 10" out from glass door to end of raised hearth. I added a peice of brownstone to get to the 18" measurement. This is standard ember protection because the stove is not sitting on this stone. One benefit is the stone can be moved out after burn season!

The reason the passes code is due to the fact that the stove is sitting on a hearth that is more than 3.5" from a combustible surface. The key here is the "UNIT" is raised more than 3.5" from the bottom of the stove. I have 5.5" of brick hearth measured from the bottom of the stove to the floor so I could get away with "Standard ember floor protection".

The manual states "Thermal floor protection not required if unit is raised 3.5" min. measured from bottom of stove. At this point the standard ember floor protection will be required. It will need to be a non-combustible material that covers 16" (406 mm) to the front of the unit (in Canada 18" (450 mm) and 8" (200mm) to the sides.

All floor protection must be non-combustible (i.e.,metals, brick, stone, mineral fiber boards, etc.) Any organic materials (i.e. plastics, wood paper products, etc.) are combustible and must not be used. The floor protection specified includes some form of thermal designation such as R-value (thermal resistance) or k-factor (thermal conductivity)."

Pictures help.

I am having palupations with this room. Fireplace, leather chair, Plasma.....

I saw recently that Morso sells a glass hearth mat that should work as well.

http://www.morsoeusa.com/Morsø-Hearth-Plates-507.aspx

Look on the bright side, less mess and you can control the burn and room temperature much better than a wood stove. Put the pellet stove on a timed thermostat and have the living are toasty warm by the time your feet hit the floor in the morning. Good luck!