Considering a steel or soapstone stove install

[Tenn Dave]

is helpful

Tenn Dave, talking to someone locally who has a Hearthstone stove as a secondary heat source in his mountain cabin, he mentioned that it's a different kind of heat than a steel stove, but he loves it. He has an open floor plan and it heats most everything comfortably. Do you have any experience with other stoves that would give you a comparison on how a soapstone stove radiates vs. a steel stove?

I personally have only owned 2 stoves, a coal/wood burner many years ago and my current Woodstock Progress Hybrid. But many of my friends and relatives have wood stoves that I have been around for years. The big difference we have noticed is that the soapstone keeps the house in the comfort zone for a longer period of time. It sort of smooths out the burn cycle. Long after the fire has die down, the stove is still giving off heat. The flip side is that it takes a little longer for the stone to warm up. To a lesser extent, the heat seems to feel a little less harsh then a steel stove. But to be honest, I don't think it feels that much different then steel or cast - maybe a little softer. I have my stove in a great room with cathedral ceilings (approx. 800 sq ft +/- and the stove does a beautiful job of warming up the room. The rest of the house (1500 sq ft ranch) also warms up, but about 3 - 5 degrees less than stove room. Perfect for sleeping. I am very happy with the soapstone and would do it again in a heartbeat. I also love the way it looks. Hope that is helpful and answers your question.

 

[DougA]

To cut down on the propane use and provide a steadier heat source,

I agree with Tenn Dave. If you want a 'steadier' heat source, soapstone is great. I had a smaller VC cast iron and it had to be 550+ to feel it was heating our large room but the soapstone stove will coast at about 400 and give off considerably more heat. Mine is the main heat source and is on 24/7 during cold weather. I would not use a soapstone stove in a weekend cabin where you want to go from very cold to hot as fast as you can. A soapstone stove should never have a full load put in it if it has been sitting cold for days. The stone (according to what I have read) can crack if it goes through sudden extremes because the moisture needs to be heated off more gradually. This is not a concern if it's used normally and |I have only done a smaller, starter fire at the start of the season.

 

[branchburner]

I don't think it feels that much different then steel or cast - maybe a little softer.

That is my (limited) experience with soapstone. When you are standing in the room with the stove, it seem to radiate at a wavelength that somehow feels more "gentle" than other stoves. I don't know if that quality is real or imagined (maybe I read about it, and the power of suggestion did the rest).

 

[skookumchuck]

Part of what makes the stove search interesting is that my wife and I are very different when it comes to temperature. She's usually cold and I'm usually hot. A the even or softer heat from a soapstone sounds appealing. One downside is that the soapstone stove I'm looking at is $1,000 more than the steel stove. Lots to think about!

I very much appreciate all the thoughts and input from forum users here. I tend to be meticulous about large purchases (my wife would say I overthink them), so info from all corners helps a lot.

 

[skookumchuck]

is helpful
I personally have only owned 2 stoves, a coal/wood burner many years ago and my current Woodstock Progress Hybrid. But many of my friends and relatives have wood stoves that I have been around for years. The big difference we have noticed is that the soapstone keeps the house in the comfort zone for a longer period of time. It sort of smooths out the burn cycle. Long after the fire has die down, the stove is still giving off heat. The flip side is that it takes a little longer for the stone to warm up. To a lesser extent, the heat seems to feel a little less harsh then a steel stove. But to be honest, I don't think it feels that much different then steel or cast - maybe a little softer. I have my stove in a great room with cathedral ceilings (approx. 800 sq ft +/- and the stove does a beautiful job of warming up the room. The rest of the house (1500 sq ft ranch) also warms up, but about 3 - 5 degrees less than stove room. Perfect for sleeping. I am very happy with the soapstone and would do it again in a heartbeat. I also love the way it looks. Hope that is helpful and answers your question.

Tenn Dave, do you use a blower with your soapstone stove?

 

[Tenn Dave]

Tenn Dave, do you use a blower with your soapstone stove?

No, Woodstock Soapstone Stoves do not have blowers. And with my setup in a large open floor plan room, it is not needed. The heat distributes itself very evenly. And a added benefit of no blower is that it is very quiet and no power cords hanging out.. I should mention that I do have three ceiling fans in the room that I use to mix the heat and prevent thermal layers due to the very high ceiling.

 

[Tenn Dave]

This is the room I'm heating.

 

[skookumchuck]

No, Woodstock Soapstone Stoves do not have blowers. And with my setup in a large open floor plan room, it is not needed. The heat distributes itself very evenly. And a added benefit of no blower is that it is very quiet and no power cords hanging out.. I should mention that I do have three ceiling fans in the room that I use to mix the heat and prevent thermal layers due to the very high ceiling.

Gotcha. We have a ceiling fan in our living room, which also has a vaulted ceiling, so that should help move the heat.

Not wanting to under-stove or over-stove, I'm giving thought as to which size would be most appropriate for our floorplan. A 3.2 cubic feet firebox (manufacturer claims up to 2500 square feet), or a 2.3 square foot firebox (manufacturer claims up to 1900 square feet). I want this thing to get hot enough to burn clean without heating me out of the room. As I alluded to above, a "too hot" stove won't be a problem for my wife!

 

[begreen]

Area heating numbers are often marketing driven. Take them with a large grain of salt. There are too many variables to predict unless you specify a large range like 1000 to 2000 sq ft for example.

You control the heat in the room by the amount of fuel you put in the stove. Right now we are running a 3 cu ft stove in an old 2000 sq ft farmhouse with too much glass area. The stove has been up to 700F a couple times today and is cruising at 600F. The house is at 70F with the living room at 73F with temps around freezing. In a well insulated, tight house of new construction one might use half the fuel I am using today for the same temps.

 

[Tenn Dave]

Gotcha. We have a ceiling fan in our living room, which also has a vaulted ceiling, so that should help move the heat.

Not wanting to under-stove or over-stove, I'm giving thought as to which size would be most appropriate for our floorplan. A 3.2 cubic feet firebox (manufacturer claims up to 2500 square feet), or a 2.3 square foot firebox (manufacturer claims up to 1900 square feet). I want this thing to get hot enough to burn clean without heating me out of the room. As I alluded to above, a "too hot" stove won't be a problem for my wife!

That was exactly my concerns when I was looking for a stove, and the main reason I went for a "cat" stove. Winters in Tenn are moderate with some really cold days (single digits), but most days are in 30's and low 40's. I wanted a stove that could really put out the heat when needed, but could also be run at a very low setting on mild days and not drive me out of the house, and also burn very clean. My stove works really well in that regard, but when the weather gets into the mid to high 40's, I shut her down and use the heat pump.

 

[skookumchuck]

Area heating numbers are mostly marketing driven. Take them with a large grain of salt. You control the heat in the room by the amount of fuel you put in the stove. Right now we are running a 3 cu ft stove in an old 2000 sq ft farmhouse with too much glass area. The stove has been up to 700F a couple times today and is cruising at 600F. The house is at 70F with the living room at 73F.

Yeah, that's what I've been discovering as I research. In an earlier comment you had mentioned considering the Mansfield over the Heritage for the extra capacity, and I was wondering if there would be any downsides to not always utilizing that extra capacity.

 

[Tenn Dave]

Yeah, that's what I've been discovering as I research. In an earlier comment you had mentioned considering the Mansfield over the Heritage for the extra capacity, and I was wondering if there would be any downsides to not always utilizing that extra capacity.

I have never fully loaded my stove. When I'm burning 24/7 I try to be on a 12 hour reloading schedule. That's fits my schedule best, and I am able to easily achieve it with a 70% load. In a colder climate, I would definitely need to load her to near capacity to achieve similar results.

 

[begreen]

The nice thing with a stove of high mass is you can fire up a full load, then let the fire burn out. The mass of the stove will slowly release the heat for hours after the fire has died down. Or you can load it up partially and feed it more frequently, say every 6 hrs. and run it a bit cooler, but steadily. The stove mass will even out the temperature so that there is little swing in room temp.

 

[DougA]

My soapstone stove came with automatic on/off, variable speed dual fans in the back. They are quite quiet on low but I prefer them off, my wife turns them on. She thinks it heats better with the stove fans, I think she's nuts. I'll turn the large ceiling fan on for a few minutes if we get layered air. We live in the country and I like silence (except when cutting trees), my wife likes the radio on - go figure.

 

[Tenn Dave]

The nice thing with a stove of high mass is you can fire up a full load, then let the fire burn out. The mass of the stove will slowly release the heat for hours after the fire has died down. Or you can load it up partially and feed it more frequently, say every 6 hrs. and run it a bit cooler, but steadily. The stove mass will even out the temperature so that there is little swing in room temp.

That is absolutely correct. Last night it was in the high 20's on my mountain. I loaded the stove up to about 70% full, ran her hot for about an hour to warm up the house, and then turned her down to as low as she would go, and let her burn all night. Today it warmed up to the mid 40's so I didn't reload her this morning and let her go out. The stove stayed warm until noon. The heat pump has still not come on and the house is still in the low 70's. However I will admit that I have decent insulation and double pane windows. And I also burn well seasoned oak and hickory

 

[Rossco]

For what it's worth, there's a BK dealer down in Kalispell that has stock and the best prices including Fans, out the door.

Think it was 'Big Johns Saw Shop'

 

[Polarbear]

we have the hearthstone phoenix in our 1500 sqft home. house was built in 1994. windows are just ok and there is about 6" of blown in insulation in the attic. I'd say our windows and patio door are fairly drafty. Our living room, kitchen and dining room are 26'x30' area and the house overall is 30x50'. The stove is nearly centered in this room on the outside wall and the stove pipe and chimney vent through the roof. The house sits on a full basement. There is one ceiling fan on a flat ceiling in the dining room area that is always on. We live in s/e Michigan in the country on 5 acres and predominantly burn ash as it is very plentiful thanks to the emerald ash borer. This set up heats our home nicely. Last winter the coldest temp and windchill was -41 and we were very comfortable. Our furnace never kicks on unless we plan it.
The stove does its job. there is a definite learning curve. Loading the stove to capacity and getting long burn times is where we are struggling. We have not had great success keeping steady heat but we have been very successful at cutting our propane use. We burned 200 gallons of propane in 13 months and that was our propane stove and water heater. We run our furnace a few times a season and when it is damp/humid warm out. It just doesn't draft well in those conditions. I have also found that burning light fires in that warm/damp/humid weather our chimney cap will plug up with creosote. All of our stove pipe cleanings have produced less than a half cup of dust or creosote. So the stove does burn clean and seems low maintenance. The stove pipe cleaning only happened when the chimney cap plugged. In the shoulder season we try to burn hot once a day as the manufacturer suggest. I'm currently thinking about a low cfm fan to run behind the stove to push the hot air around. If we want warmer air in the bedrooms we run a fan on the floor in the hallway blowing cold air at the stove and in turn hot air flows along the ceiling to the bedrooms. works perfectly. if the house gets to hot we run the furnace fan and open vents to the basement. Heating with wood is dirty. period. lol. We have 3 dogs and a wood stove and someone could vacuum everyday. if you can find someone to do it. lol but we love heating with wood. best of luck in your decision. PB

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I realize there are big differences there between a steel and soapstone stove in terms of heat-up time, etc. I am trying to determine which will better suit my needs.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the perceived (and reported) differences between soapstone and steel. People buy soapstones for how they look, not how they heat.

 

[brad wilton]

it's a dogs life

 

[DougA]

People buy soapstones for how they look, not how they heat.

That's not true in my case. Having plenty of steady heat was my primary concern, looks was a close second.

 

[Tenn Dave]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the perceived (and reported) differences between soapstone and steel. People buy soapstones for how they look, not how they heat.

Not so at all. I wanted soapstone because of the even heat and the beauty. When I visit my steel stove friends' houses they seem to be too hot and then too cold. Never a happy medium. Soapstone helps to even out and extend the comfort time. It's not perfect, but better in this regard then steel.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I am considering a Hearthstone Clyde. Should I be concerned with soapstone about being a weekend burner along with a few nights during the week?

No

 

[Bigg_Redd]

steel
Not so at all. I wanted soapstone because of the even heat and the beauty. When I visit my steel stove friends' houses they seem to be too hot and then too cold. Never a happy medium. Soapstone helps to even out and extend the comfort time. It's not perfect, but better in this regard then steel.

But aren't you obliged to say that after spending however much more you spent on soapstone?

 

[Tenn Dave]

But aren't you obliged to say that after spending however much more you spent on soapstone?

If you purchased a lemon you wouldn't say anything because of pride? Not me. I would be screaming it all over this forum.

 

[DougA]

But aren't you obliged to say that after spending however much more you spent on soapstone?

You have a valid point.
I'm amazed how people stand behind bad decisions because the alternative is this "I was stupid" I even bought an iphone a few months ago and found out it's not as good as my old Samsung. So much for that hype too!

In my travels to many stove dealers, I was astounded how many said, "we only carry the best, Brand X, there is nothing better." Funny how Brand X is considered OK but far from the best. I won't list all the Brand X names as it will just create more flaming. In my case, I spent a year researching and grabbed a used Hearthstone. Would I have preferred a Blaze King King? Probably but I couldn't find any used ones and the extra 3 thou was too much. I'll never know unless I win the lottery and have one of each. If that happens, I will report back.