All the folks on the forum have been a fantastic help on trying to get the Hearthstone Homestead where it will really put out some heat. Things are much better, but the stove will still not heat the "stove room" or the rest of the house.
Here is a summary of where we are. New Hearthstone Homestead installed on the hearth of an existing fireplace. Heat shield of sheet metal blocks off the entry of the fireplace, rear discharge of the stove goes through this shield into the triple wall stove pipe that is about 15 feet tall. House has recently been remodeled with R30+ insulation in the ceiling, all new energy efficient windows and doors, exterior walls are 2X4 insulated covered with Tyvek, covered with foam insulation board covered with concrete Hardy board exterior siding. From everything we can tell, the house is very tight and no major leaks.
The "stove room" (living area, dining room, and kitchen) is about 600 square feet. Stove sits in one corner of the room on the hearth where it vents into the existing fireplace. There is a long hall that goes off the stove room down to bedrooms in the back of the house. My concern is NOT about heating the entire area but mainly heating the area where the stove is located and where we spend most of our time.
Through the help and input from the forum, I have it figured out how to build the fire, get it started, and reduce the damper input to where there is a ongoing fire with a small secondary flame over a good bed of coals That is what I have been doing the last couple of days. Wood that is being used is mequite and oak that was cut two years ago and has spent two hot dry summers in the Texas heat of 100+ deg.
Using yesterday has an example, fire ran in the stove all day. High outside temp was 47F. We ran the stove all day with regular relads of wood as needed. Stove top temp was usually in the 250-350F range, I could not get the stove temp above that range. Temp in the stove room was comfortable around 70-72 deg. By 7:30pm last night my wife was asking me to work on the fire because the room was chilled.
Between 7:30pm and this morning, I put wood in the stove three times. I am using short cut mesquite about 8-10" long so I can fill the stove with wood running front to back. From about 9pm on last night, the interior of the stove had a deep bed of glowing red coals with a small secondary flame-burn. Damper was usuall set at about 15% open. The glass door on the Homestead has a 11" tall display opening, the glowing red coal bed was usuall about 6" or 50% of the way up the door. At no time that I observed did the stove top temp get above 400F. When you stand in the area around the stove, the only area that really seems to be radiating heat
is off the front glass door.
When I went to bed about 10:30 a good fire with good bed of coals, temp outside had dropped to 34F and stove room temp was
68F. Stove top temp was around 375F. I put wood on the stove again about 2:30 and made sure that there was a good secondary burn. When I got up at 6:30, there was still a great bed of coals with some log remnants, good secondary burn was going on, and stove top temp was about 250F. Outside temp was 27F and stove room temp had dropped to 62F.
This is a new installation with the Hearthstone Homestead and installation was made with the intention that it would heat the stove room area and some heat would also trasnfer to remaining area. If I can't get the room warm and toasty with outside temp in the 20's, my real concern is what is going to happen when it gets to be in negative numbers outside.
I have talked to the installing dealer and their story is that this simply can't be happening, that there is no way that the Homestead will not heat a 600sq ft area. This is my fourth wood stove and the only one that I have ever had a problem in getting sufficient heat from. All the previous stoves were top vent freestanding metal stoves and not soapstone rear discharge like the Homestead.
Any additional info, input or information would be appreciated......we just want to be warm and cozy.
Here is a summary of where we are. New Hearthstone Homestead installed on the hearth of an existing fireplace. Heat shield of sheet metal blocks off the entry of the fireplace, rear discharge of the stove goes through this shield into the triple wall stove pipe that is about 15 feet tall. House has recently been remodeled with R30+ insulation in the ceiling, all new energy efficient windows and doors, exterior walls are 2X4 insulated covered with Tyvek, covered with foam insulation board covered with concrete Hardy board exterior siding. From everything we can tell, the house is very tight and no major leaks.
The "stove room" (living area, dining room, and kitchen) is about 600 square feet. Stove sits in one corner of the room on the hearth where it vents into the existing fireplace. There is a long hall that goes off the stove room down to bedrooms in the back of the house. My concern is NOT about heating the entire area but mainly heating the area where the stove is located and where we spend most of our time.
Through the help and input from the forum, I have it figured out how to build the fire, get it started, and reduce the damper input to where there is a ongoing fire with a small secondary flame over a good bed of coals That is what I have been doing the last couple of days. Wood that is being used is mequite and oak that was cut two years ago and has spent two hot dry summers in the Texas heat of 100+ deg.
Using yesterday has an example, fire ran in the stove all day. High outside temp was 47F. We ran the stove all day with regular relads of wood as needed. Stove top temp was usually in the 250-350F range, I could not get the stove temp above that range. Temp in the stove room was comfortable around 70-72 deg. By 7:30pm last night my wife was asking me to work on the fire because the room was chilled.
Between 7:30pm and this morning, I put wood in the stove three times. I am using short cut mesquite about 8-10" long so I can fill the stove with wood running front to back. From about 9pm on last night, the interior of the stove had a deep bed of glowing red coals with a small secondary flame-burn. Damper was usuall set at about 15% open. The glass door on the Homestead has a 11" tall display opening, the glowing red coal bed was usuall about 6" or 50% of the way up the door. At no time that I observed did the stove top temp get above 400F. When you stand in the area around the stove, the only area that really seems to be radiating heat
is off the front glass door.
When I went to bed about 10:30 a good fire with good bed of coals, temp outside had dropped to 34F and stove room temp was
68F. Stove top temp was around 375F. I put wood on the stove again about 2:30 and made sure that there was a good secondary burn. When I got up at 6:30, there was still a great bed of coals with some log remnants, good secondary burn was going on, and stove top temp was about 250F. Outside temp was 27F and stove room temp had dropped to 62F.
This is a new installation with the Hearthstone Homestead and installation was made with the intention that it would heat the stove room area and some heat would also trasnfer to remaining area. If I can't get the room warm and toasty with outside temp in the 20's, my real concern is what is going to happen when it gets to be in negative numbers outside.
I have talked to the installing dealer and their story is that this simply can't be happening, that there is no way that the Homestead will not heat a 600sq ft area. This is my fourth wood stove and the only one that I have ever had a problem in getting sufficient heat from. All the previous stoves were top vent freestanding metal stoves and not soapstone rear discharge like the Homestead.
Any additional info, input or information would be appreciated......we just want to be warm and cozy.
!!
