What size Hearthstone for new house?

Below is my sorry attempt at drawing a layout of the new house I bought. The X in the family room is where an old wood stove used to be that was removed. The hearth remains. The family room is 14x20. This is connected to the rest of the house through a small hallway. The lower level with the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer, etc. is 24x28. Above this is the second level with three bedrooms and a bathroom. Nothing is above the family room, i.e. the upper level is only above the larger outer rectangle in my drawing. In the ceiling of the family room above the stove is a fan with ducting that brings warm air to the upper story.

Total first floor living area is 952 sq. ft. and upstairs is 700 sq. ft. I would like to be able to heat the whole house. The previous owner claims he did with the old stove. The old stove was very old and didn't have a visible model number or anything like that.

I really like the Hearthstone soapstone stoves. And I'm thinking the Heritage is the right size. Any thoughts?




Here is the kitchen. On the left side of the picture you can see the hallway that leads to the family room with the stove.

Thanks a lot for all the feedback.

I visited a very nice local dealer after posting, and he said the Heritage or the Mansfield would be fine. He said he may lean slightly toward the Mansfield because it's better to have too much stove than not enough, but the Heritage has the side door while the Mansfield doesn't, so it's really a toss up. I really like the side door and it seems like it would be very convenient.

They had the Heritage in stock (which is eligible for the 10% off sale) but not the Mansfield (which I guess means no 10% off). The price difference is about $650, which would probably more than pay for installation.

Very tempting to go for the Heritage, with my only concerns being that I'd have to run it full tilt all the time to heat the whole house, and it would just barely make it through an all night burn of 8-9 hours.

Franks said:

WoodBurner24 said:

Thanks a lot for all the feedback.

I visited a very nice local dealer after posting, and he said the Heritage or the Mansfield would be fine. He said he may lean slightly toward the Mansfield because it's better to have too much stove than not enough, but the Heritage has the side door while the Mansfield doesn't, so it's really a toss up.

They had the Heritage in stock (which is eligible for the 10% off sale) but not the Mansfield (which I guess means no 10% off). The price difference is about $650, which would probably more than pay for installation.

Very tempting to go for the Heritage, with my only concerns being that I'd have to run it full tilt all the time to heat the whole house, and it would just barely make it through an all night burn of 8-9 hours.

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According to Hearthstone, the 10% off applies to stock or non stock stoves. They may either add shipping to order a Mansfield or be willing to bend a little more on a stock stove.

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Thanks. Is that in writing anywhere, maybe on Hearthstone's website? The guy may just have been mistaken, he seemed honest.

Highbeam said:

It would be very nice to have a firebox the size of the mansfield. I hear you can load wood either the long way or the short way and just have more power is good. You won't hear many complaints from mansfield owners. Where do you live woodburner24? If it's really cold then you might appreciate the extra power.

Using a side door is great on a stove that MUST be loaded east/west such as the heritage. Try doing this through the front door.

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I live in Connecticut. Not exactly Alaska winters, but it can get pretty chilly.

thinkxingu said:

Highbeam, I agree on the loading--it's taken some practice to learn how to fill the firebox in our Homestead without a side door. What's worse is the slanting top baffle. In any case, even your Heritage looks small to me from the side--the Homestead must be deeper.

If the Mansfield can load both EW and NS, I think it's a no-brainer here. With the radiation patterns of the soapstone and flexible loading, the OP would have much more control over the amount of heat produced, which might be important in that situation.

S

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The firebox of the Heritage did seem smaller than I anticipated. The Mansfield is much deeper. I didn't measure it but you could likely load smaller logs in the north-west direction. Although the roof is angled; it's higher in the front than in the back.

Highbeam said:

How did you like the mansfield's appearance? The window is a little smaller as I recall. One other thing you will be giving up with the mansfield is the flue options. The heritage/homestead/phoenix group can be rear or top vented. The mansfield looks a lot like the older hearthstones which gives it a historical look.

1600 SF, a non-open floor plan, unknown age and insulation, and CT winters will mean that you will need to really heat that family room up to heat up the rest of the house. I am afraid that you might be cooked out of that family room while trying to heat the living room.

The mansfield is rated for 2500SF and the heritage for 1900. While using the bigger mansfield might be nicer, I think the smaller stoves are more appropriate for your home. It's a tough one.

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I preferred the look of the Heritage. The Mansfield is very boxy. The Heritage has a more contemporary look to it.

House was built in 1977. Windows were recently upgraded with double-pane. Not sure about insulation as I don't live there yet, but seemed fine when we viewed it in the cold.

Definitely a tough call!