Hearthstone Heritage tips/advice

[shood]

To all. I recently installed a used 3 year old Hearthstone Heritage stove I picked up late last winter. I had planned to redo the hearth since my wife doesn't like the color of the hearth with the soapstone but now the time has come to start burning. I finally said screw it and removed the old 1985 Jotul 8 and installed the Heritage. Figure to just burn the stove this season as is to see if it does a better job.
Anyway, on Sunday evening I started a fire to see how it burns and to show my wife how to operate it if I'm not here and she wants some heat. I installed a flue gas thermometer in the dual wall stove pipe and have a surface thermometer. So after getting a good fire going with 4 logs I could get the flue gas temp up to 600F, not sure if that is a good temp or not. I had the surface thermometer on the collar which I don't think is a good spot for it. Where is the best spot for the surface thermometer and is there a target surface temp I should shoot for? Also, is it a good idea to keep the ash pan full never cleaned out and scoop ash from the top, which is how the previous owner ran it, or clean it every few days? Is it also a bad idea to open the ash pan door to get a fire going instead of cracking the side or front door open.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Todd]

Surface thermometer should be on the center stone and according to Hearthstone 600 surface temp is max. Flue temps can jump up over 1000 on a full load according to some other Heritage owners but settle back down further into the burn. Using the ash pan for start ups works great but people tend to forget that it's open and if you do there's a good chance of overfiring and damaging the stove. Many decide to crack the door for a bit til the fire catches. You will also find a little bit of ash left in the fire box makes for a longer burn insulating the coals.

 

[snowleopard]

To all. I recently installed a used 3 year old Hearthstone Heritage stove I picked up late last winter. I had planned to redo the hearth since my wife doesn't like the color of the hearth with the soapstone but now the time has come to start burning. I finally said screw it and removed the old 1985 Jotul 8 and installed the Heritage. Figure to just burn the stove this season as is to see if it does a better job.

I ended up (after many options being considered) selecting some of the 18"x 31" panels of granite that HD sells for countertops for my hearth. They aren't high-end granite, but it's nice enough for the purpose, and I got a price break by selecting stuff that was dinged up a bit on the edges (doesn't show under stove). I went with the color called Emerald Green--there are several to choose from. I used four panels--three side-by-side the long way, cut the fourth into thirds and put one extension at the end of each panel, for a total size of 54x42. Since I used double-wall pipe, it worked out perfect for me for clearances. I centered the stove on this hearth, rather than having an asymmetrical hearth because the clearances are greater on the door side.

My `hearth sandwich consisted of a piece of wool fabric on the bottom (so I could slide this into position without scratching the floor, a piece of plywood, micore insulation, backerboard, and the granite on top, trimmed out with a piece of profile-cut oak trim HD sells by the foot. It's about 2-1/4" high--larger than I originally planned, but a good visual match--weighty enough to counterbalance the strong visual presence of the stove. The whole thing cost me about as much as going to the stove store and buying one of those plastic-looking hearth pads, but I like this a lot better. Having it to do over again (I don't), I would miter the front corners to ease the traffic flow. O well.

Not that you asked about the hearth, but just putting that out there. Took me a long time and a lot of head-banging to come up with the solution, so I share it with anyone who might be interested.

Anyway, on Sunday evening I started a fire to see how it burns and to show my wife how to operate it if I'm not here and she wants some heat. I installed a flue gas thermometer in the dual wall stove pipe and have a surface thermometer. So after getting a good fire going with 4 logs I could get the flue gas temp up to 600F, not sure if that is a good temp or not. I had the surface thermometer on the collar which I don't think is a good spot for it. Where is the best spot for the surface thermometer and is there a target surface temp I should shoot for?

I don't have a flue-gas thermometer, and I just lay my stovetop thermometer on the stone (I'm careful not to slide it around because I don't want to scratch it--but that's just me. I usually run my stove up to about 350-450 for the run-up and cruising temps. Had it up to 550 and a little beyond that a few times, but it made me nervous. Stove didn't appear nervous. I usually get all the heat we need for a 2Ksf house at those temps. Doors tend Ito run hotter than the stove top for me,. but that might be the way I load it. I overdid the fires a lot when I was starting out, learned over time (wasted a lot of wood in the process--ouch) to build more moderate fires.

Also, is it a good idea to keep the ash pan full never cleaned out and scoop ash from the top, which is how the previous owner ran it, or clean it every few days? Is it also a bad idea to open the ash pan door to get a fire going instead of cracking the side or front door open. Thanks in advance.

I don't use the ash pan on my stove--just open the door and scoop the ashes out. I keep the grill shut, so not much ashfall at all into the pan. I sometimes crack the ashpan door to get a fire started, but it's not the course of wisdom. Too easy to walk away for a minute and forget it is open. Not worth the risk. Just burn good seasonsed wood and she'll start and run easily as designed. You're going to love the even heat of that stove. Mine is just a little workhorse--great heat, no muss/fuss/bother. A little extra TLC to preseve the beautfy of the stones, but I don't mind.

Hope this helps.