Hearthstone Homestead vs Jøtul F 400 Castine

[zub75]

Thanks for all your info, I ordered the Hearthstone. Now I am just dealing with the nightmare of building a custom hearth.

 

[bcnu]

Hey Zub75. I see I'm too late to influence your decision and that's fine. I went through this same process. Finally went to the dealer to pick out a Castine and ended up with a Homestead. Very happy with it - and probably would have been pleased with the Castine. I know that my second burning season with the soapstone will be a whole lot easier than my first.

 

[zub75]

Hey Zub75. I see I'm too late to influence your decision and that's fine. I went through this same process. Finally went to the dealer to pick out a Castine and ended up with a Homestead. Very happy with it - and probably would have been pleased with the Castine. I know that my second burning season with the soapstone will be a whole lot easier than my first.

Do you have any advice with the use of the stove?

Thanks

 

[bcnu]

Do you have any advice with the use of the stove?

Thanks[/quote]

Zub, I got lots of help from this forum last year. #1 - Get a stove thermometer. The stove really starts heating when you get to the 400-450 degree range. After that it's more a matter of maintaining the fire. I probably fussed with it more than necessary - but I was hooked. I began using some dry seasoned oak in December and that really helped get the stove temp up more quickly. Like many others, I never used the ash grate, instead preferring to scoop out the ash from the firebox. If you get stuck on something try doing a search in the archives - often the question has been asked and answered. I'm much better prepared with my wood supply for this year and expect to get good fires much easier now. I'll still hold off on my oak until the cold weather comes. What are the winter temps in your area of BC?

 

[Highbeam]

I bought a heritage after owning a larger EPA LOPI brand steel stove. I'm now into my second season burning the heritage. There are no special rules or features in regards to burn time or door opening with soapstone vs. any other material. The stove is still a box with doors and a certain size pile of wood to burn. The big difference is that the stove is able to absorb a lot of heat so a raging fire in a cold stove won't result in a hot stove for a good hour or so, no magic though, after the fire goes out the stone will remain hot for a long time by releasing the heat that was stored up during that inital hour long heat up cycle.

I am willing to trade the slow warm up to get a slow cool down since that slow cool down is similar to a longer burn cycle.

 

[bcnu]

Highbeam, I agree with you 100%. Last year was my first as a woodburner so I had a big learning curve. My biggest problem was getting the stove to or past the 400 degree mark so that I could enjoy those long cooldowns to the low to mid 300's before firing up again. With dryer wood and my year of experience I'm looking forward to this burning season. :coolsmile:

 

[zub75]

Do you have any advice with the use of the stove?

Thanks

Zub, I got lots of help from this forum last year. #1 - Get a stove thermometer. The stove really starts heating when you get to the 400-450 degree range. After that it's more a matter of maintaining the fire. I probably fussed with it more than necessary - but I was hooked. I began using some dry seasoned oak in December and that really helped get the stove temp up more quickly. Like many others, I never used the ash grate, instead preferring to scoop out the ash from the firebox. If you get stuck on something try doing a search in the archives - often the question has been asked and answered. I'm much better prepared with my wood supply for this year and expect to get good fires much easier now. I'll still hold off on my oak until the cold weather comes. What are the winter temps in your area of BC?[/quote]


Winter can be very long, most winter months are about -7 to -15 on average, we usually get a few weeks of -20 to -35.

But I don't have any supply for oak.

 

[bcnu]

Winter can be very long, most winter months are about -7 to -15 on average, we usually get a few weeks of -20 to -35.

Zub, that's cold. I assume you will be burning 24/7. Get the stove above 400 degrees and it will put out lots of great heat.