I need some help deciding on a stove. My choices have come down to a Hearthstone Heritage and a Jotul Firelight. My application calls for a rear vent and my house is open concept at 2300 square feet. The stove will be centrally located in my great room that has 20ft cathedral ceilings with a ceiling fan at the top. Anyone out there with experience with both of these stoves? Can I get away with a heritage and hope open concept pushes the heat around enough. I really like the soapstone but don't want to be dissapointed if it can't burn 24/7 if I wish. I need to make a decision by saturday. please help. Also would be nice to see the Jotul in the brownish enamel if anyone has a pic? Thank you all in advance.
Hearthstone Heritage vs Jotul Firelight
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johnstra
Feeling the Heat
The Heritage will go 24/7 no problem, but it's too small for 2300 sq ft w/ high ceilings if you plan to use it as your sole heating source. If you're just supplementing, it might be ok. I love my Heritage, but I know what it can't do. If you're sold on Hearthstone, get a Mansfield (if you can manage to make top vent work for you) or an Equinox. I really like the even heat of soapstone, but Jotul makes fine stoves.
Do you homework and make sure the stove you get is sized adequately for your house.
Do you homework and make sure the stove you get is sized adequately for your house.
A fairer comparison would be the Mansfield to the F600. I wouldn't be comparing the Firelight to the Heritage.
Both will heat the place. The F600 will be more radiant, you'll feel its warmth more directly when it is hot. The Mansfield will also radiate, but with a much softer heat.
Both will heat the place. The F600 will be more radiant, you'll feel its warmth more directly when it is hot. The Mansfield will also radiate, but with a much softer heat.
Todd
Minister of Fire
The reason I have not included the Mansfield in the mix is because it only vents at the top. Wife doesn't really want to see the pipe. I will admit I really like the equinox but am having a hard time shelling out close to 7k for it (stove, pipe, pad, install)
Any other good looking rear vent stoves I'm not thinking of? Darnit I like the looks of the heritage though. Maybe I am a supplemental guy as were only around at night and not much on the weekends. We have geo thermal as primary. Just looking for a way to use up all the extra wood we have on our land.
Thanks for everyone's input. Really appreciate it.
Any other good looking rear vent stoves I'm not thinking of? Darnit I like the looks of the heritage though. Maybe I am a supplemental guy as were only around at night and not much on the weekends. We have geo thermal as primary. Just looking for a way to use up all the extra wood we have on our land.
Thanks for everyone's input. Really appreciate it.
Also if it's any consequence two bedrooms we keep shup up all the time. In addition 600 of my total sq footage is upstairs that is open to a loft. Not sure if that helps. I'm completely uncertain how the heat tranfers on wood stove. Thanks again everyone.
johnstra
Feeling the Heat
Here's a little more detail about my application. It might help you decide.
My house is 2100 sq ft, discounting the basement that I don't bother trying to heat with the stove. It's an open floor plan with the upstairs landing and loft space directly exposed to the room my stove is installed in. The ceilings are all vaulted and they are about 18'. The stove is installed on an exterior wall with a chase on a hearth I built. So my stove is not centrally located, but it is away from the wall and pretty well situated to radiate. The house is pretty tight and reasonably well insulated.
On nights when the temperaturs are in the low 30s, I can overheat the front room pretty easily and the entire first floor (1160 sq ft) easily stays in the mid 70s. Overnight, the stove will keep the lower floor at 70 or better.
On colder nights, mid teens to low 20s, I can keep the lower floor above 70 but I have to run the stove pretty hard to do that - stovetop at 500-525. If you're pretty close to the stove, it feels just fine, but you don't have to get far away before you lose that nice radiant effect. Overnight, the first floor still holds at around 68-69.
I haven't had any sub-zero nights, so I don't know how it'll perform in those conditions. I'm pretty sure I'll have to run the furnace on those nights to keep comfortable.
I liken the stove to a diesel locomotive. It takes time to get it running strong, but once you get it there it really does push out the heat and it does so in the fashion people attribute to soapstone. It's much less intense than steel or even cast iron stoves and the heat output doesn't fluctuate much.
Hopefully, that'll give you a pretty good idea. Like you, I needed a rear-vent setup which is why I chose the Heritage.
-john
My house is 2100 sq ft, discounting the basement that I don't bother trying to heat with the stove. It's an open floor plan with the upstairs landing and loft space directly exposed to the room my stove is installed in. The ceilings are all vaulted and they are about 18'. The stove is installed on an exterior wall with a chase on a hearth I built. So my stove is not centrally located, but it is away from the wall and pretty well situated to radiate. The house is pretty tight and reasonably well insulated.
On nights when the temperaturs are in the low 30s, I can overheat the front room pretty easily and the entire first floor (1160 sq ft) easily stays in the mid 70s. Overnight, the stove will keep the lower floor at 70 or better.
On colder nights, mid teens to low 20s, I can keep the lower floor above 70 but I have to run the stove pretty hard to do that - stovetop at 500-525. If you're pretty close to the stove, it feels just fine, but you don't have to get far away before you lose that nice radiant effect. Overnight, the first floor still holds at around 68-69.
I haven't had any sub-zero nights, so I don't know how it'll perform in those conditions. I'm pretty sure I'll have to run the furnace on those nights to keep comfortable.
I liken the stove to a diesel locomotive. It takes time to get it running strong, but once you get it there it really does push out the heat and it does so in the fashion people attribute to soapstone. It's much less intense than steel or even cast iron stoves and the heat output doesn't fluctuate much.
Hopefully, that'll give you a pretty good idea. Like you, I needed a rear-vent setup which is why I chose the Heritage.
-john
shawneyboy
Minister of Fire
paredown
Burning Hunk
We're using an F600 in our great room. It is around 1200sf with high peaked ceiling in the center, post and beam construction. It has a lot of single pane glass (full clerestory windows in the gable ends), no insulation over and unheated crawl--you get the idea.
Last winter we had a month where it did not get above freezing and I was burning continually. Peak temps we could get 70 degrees, regardless of how cold it was out.
So I'm a big fan of the F600...
(Yeah, I know--insulation would be good & I'm working on it....)
Last winter we had a month where it did not get above freezing and I was burning continually. Peak temps we could get 70 degrees, regardless of how cold it was out.
So I'm a big fan of the F600...
(Yeah, I know--insulation would be good & I'm working on it....)
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
sutts said:
A few thoughts . . .
As folks have said . . . you will be much happier going with a stove that is sized appropriately, but may not have the exact look you want vs. buying a stove that is exactly what you want to look at, but doesn't do the job of heating your house. Don't get me wrong . . . I think it's important to be happy with a stove that you like the look of . . . but remember that this may be in the living room, but it isn't just a sofa that sits there -- this piece of "furniture" has a job to do and that job is to keep you warm . . . if you go with a stove that is too small you may end up cold and/or an overfired stove from working it too hard . . . but you will have the consolation that it at least looked good.
Stove pipe . . . stove pipe isn't that bad . . . honestly . . . especially when you can get or paint the stove pipe any color you want . . . don't like the regular, ol' black stove pipe . . . paint it the same color as your wall or match it up to the color of the stove . . . quite honestly I don't pay much attention to the stove pipe . . . my eye is drawn to the flames in the firebox every single time.
HehHeh . . . just planning on burning weekends and evenings, huh . . . boy that sounds familiar . . . don't be surprised if you get a stove and start burning more often . . . the way that woodstoves delight the senses has a real appeal.
Final thought . . . if you haven't already done so . . . start harvesting that wood . . . buck it up, split it up and stack it . . . most folks who are unhappy in the first year of burning are unhappy since the wood they have isn't as well seasoned as it should be . . . wood in these EPA stoves really needs to be good and dry . . . in general the wood should be cut, split and stacked for a year or so . . . the caveat being some wood species in some locales takes longer . . . and some takes less . . . to dry.
Fsappo
Minister of Fire
I have the heritage and really like it. I have a 120 year old house at about 2500 sq feet. My first thought when I bought it was to "supplement" my NG. Ha! That lasted about a month before I realized that I could acquire all the wood I needed for free so why did I want to pay for NG? I burn the heritage 24/7. It could not heat my house above about 64 downstairs and 62 upstairs in the winter but was more than adequate in spring and fall when temps were not as cold. So last year, in part due to the tax credit and part because I wanted my daughters and wife to be a bit warmer I bought a Jotul 3cb. It has helped immensely with keeping the house warmer(Although looking back, I should have ignored the dealer and my wife and gone with the Castine for longer burns). So if you really want to heat your house solely with wood, I think you will need more than the heritage. Personally I didn't go with the Mansfield because I really like to side loading door. I make a mess with ashes in the Jotul.
Good luck
Good luck
Thanks everyone thus far for your input. All very helpful and it's great to hear from those with experience.
Question: Say I got crazy and went with the heritage. Is it possible to over buy...meaning that it would be too much stove and would burn me out of the house? (2300 square feet open floor plan) Can you run bigger stoves at a bit lower temps or are they less efficient and smoky if you do so. I really really like the looks of the hearthstone stoves and have already factored out the mansfield due to it only venting from the top. I'm not sure why I don't like the looks of the F600 as much. Our house is a log home and it would fit right in. One think that bugs me about the F600 is the extender on the back of the stove for the venting. Remindes me of the hoppers seen on pellet stoves.
Any thoughts Guys/Gals??
Thanks again. I'll let you all know what I decide on.
Question: Say I got crazy and went with the heritage. Is it possible to over buy...meaning that it would be too much stove and would burn me out of the house? (2300 square feet open floor plan) Can you run bigger stoves at a bit lower temps or are they less efficient and smoky if you do so. I really really like the looks of the hearthstone stoves and have already factored out the mansfield due to it only venting from the top. I'm not sure why I don't like the looks of the F600 as much. Our house is a log home and it would fit right in. One think that bugs me about the F600 is the extender on the back of the stove for the venting. Remindes me of the hoppers seen on pellet stoves.
Any thoughts Guys/Gals??
Thanks again. I'll let you all know what I decide on.
leeave96
Minister of Fire
Another stove to consider may be the Quadrafire Isle Royle with an enamel finish - a beautiful stove, not quite the btu's of the Jotul or the Manfield but can vent to the rear.
The Jotul Firelight, in my opinion, is a very reliable stove and easy on the eyes too. I don't think you'd be dissapointed with it. Do a search on this stove and read about some of the enamel finishes and you may like the looks of the Jotul much better.
As far as the stove being to large, better to go bigger and simply build a small - but hot fire vs a large smoldering one.
Of course if you want soapstone and rear vent, take a look at the Woodstock Fireview - another beautiful stove.
Good luck!
Bill
The Jotul Firelight, in my opinion, is a very reliable stove and easy on the eyes too. I don't think you'd be dissapointed with it. Do a search on this stove and read about some of the enamel finishes and you may like the looks of the Jotul much better.
As far as the stove being to large, better to go bigger and simply build a small - but hot fire vs a large smoldering one.
Of course if you want soapstone and rear vent, take a look at the Woodstock Fireview - another beautiful stove.
Good luck!
Bill
johnstra
Feeling the Heat
sutts said:
I'm assuming you meant to say Equinox, right? Generally, I think it would be better to go with too much stove as opposed to too little - you can always open a window if you get too hot. But that thinking assumes you're heating exclusively with wood. If your stove is intended to supplement another source of heat, I can't see that it's justified. Though if you do get the big rock you'd have the luxury of choosing.
I don't know if there are performance problems running small fires in a big stove. Seems if you burn small hot fires with good wood it would perform just fine.
Renovation
New Member
sutts said:
I'm a fellow West-Michigander, and I can help you with that problem! :snake:
Just kidding, pretty much.
I bet if you went with the Equinox you'd never regret it. Beautiful to look at, lovely heat, plenty of versatility. You could go with partial loads in warmer weather, and the soapstone would hold the heat and smooth out the temperature swings. You'd be enjoying the heat and beauty of that thing long after you forgot the price. And you'd enjoy it so much you'd end up burning all your free wood, and paying for the stove with the savings.
Just my 2 cents. Have fun!
My 2 cents....Bigger would have been better for me in my old house. And with your size house, open floor plan, I bet you would be fine.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
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