Heritage~ Wood against the glass? Anybody make andirons? Overfilling?

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Calef

New Member
Dec 4, 2011
27
Westford, VT
I have had my Heritage in for 2 weeks now and LOVE it. Overnight burns and dang does she get the house HOT! We have an outside temp of 25 right now and even with my less then perfect wood, my house is 85 upstairs and 78 downstairs! I'm wearing gym shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Stone temps 450 right now, down from 550 a bit ago... I am letting her cool down at I'm getting TOO HOT! Of course this is the honeymood phase and I don't imagine the house will be this hot all winter... But she is so much more efficient than my old stove I am enjoying running her hot!

Onto the question... How anal are you folks about never allowing wood to touch the glass? Of course I try to avoid it and the vast majority of the time the wood does not touch, but every once in a while when I am stuffing her a corner makes gentle contact. I try to gently reposition but some times it just wants to touch in one spot and I am not going to mess with it too long while the stove is firing hard. My old stove I could care less, but I'm feeling a bit more attached to this stove and was curious of your thoughts.

It would be cool if this stove had optional andirons to facilitate stuffing to the gills. I have not opened the front door since....? and andirons would not be in the way at all. Anybody ever make their own andirons?

Also, I heard the easiest way to damage the ceramic baffle is to scuff it with wood. I presume this happens during over filling, but they baffle seems well hidden behind the secondary burn tubes.

Or is it overfilling that burns out the baffle? Is there other risk to overfilling? It seems they are pretty well hidden behind the secondary burn tubes so scratching seems unlikely and the door is shaped such a way that you can't really over fill. Any thoughts on the subject?

Thanks!
 
I've burned 4 cord a year through my Heritage for the last 6 years and always stuff it right up against the glass with no issues. You just have to be careful with that much wood in it that you don't let it get too hot before shutting the air supply down, or you will risk over fire damage. This is less of a concern if you only load with a few splits. A flue gas thermometer is invaluable. I tried using the front door once, but because it's then so hard to fill completely, I've never opened it again other than for maintenance reasons.

I just changed the baffle on mine, and my opinion is that the original light grey one the stove came with is more tolerance of scrapes and poker jabs. I've already put a couple of good gouges in the new one. It definitely felt lighter then the old one... disappointing when new parts are obviously less durable than those they replace.

Good luck!
 
Honeymoon, indeed. With very little editing, this post could appear in a advice column in Penthouse, if they have such a thing:

Calef said:
I have had my Heritage in for 2 weeks now and LOVE it. Overnight burns and dang does she get the house HOT! We have an outside temp of 25 right now and even with my less then perfect wood, my house is 85 upstairs and 78 downstairs! I'm wearing gym shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Stone temps 450 right now, down from 550 a bit ago... I am letting her cool down at I'm getting TOO HOT! Of course this is the honeymood phase and I don't imagine the house will be this hot all winter... But she is so much more efficient than my old stove I am enjoying running her hot!

Onto the question... How anal are you folks about never allowing wood to touch the glass? Of course I try to avoid it and the vast majority of the time the wood does not touch, but every once in a while when I am stuffing her a corner makes gentle contact. I try to gently reposition but some times it just wants to touch in one spot and I am not going to mess with it too long while the stove is firing hard. My old stove I could care less, but I'm feeling a bit more attached to this stove and was curious of your thoughts.

It's 25 degrees ABOVE zero. For God's sake, you hardly need a fire to stay warm, much less to stuff it so full that it will get you through a week-long catastrophic Day-After-Tomorrow scenario.
Think `little fire'. Tiny fire. A couple of splits.
Romancing the stone, not hunting-her-down-and-dragging-her-back-to-the-cave.
A half-glass of wine, witty conversation. Loose the sleeveless shirt and roll up the sleeves on a button-down.
Take Metallica off the CD player and put on something subtle in cello.
Let the stove speak to you.
Fall in love with her mind.

Moving right along,
Calef said:
It would be cool if this stove had optional andirons to facilitate stuffing to the gills. I have not opened the front door since....? and andirons would not be in the way at all. Anybody ever make their own andirons?

Nope. I open the front door all the time--that's how I clean the ashes out, and that the most convenient angle from which to start a fire, and I don't care for the looks of andirons, and don't feel the need for them; four good reason not to put anything in the way there. I don't pack the wood up right next to the glass (yes, we know it's not really glass, but we're trying to set a mood here, sprinkle a little fairy dust), although we have a member who does, and does just fine. I find that there's plenty of room to get all the wood in there I need for a prolonged burn, and call it good. OTOH, if a piece of wood falls up against the glass, I don't worry about it--it'll burn up and the soot will burn off. The only thing I'd be remotely careful about is a bit of a stretch--I suppose if you had a sappy piece of wood and it dripped down the glass and soaked into the gasket, it would speed up gasket failure. That's not something I lay awake worrying about.

Calef said:
Or is it overfilling that burns out the baffle? Is there other risk to overfilling? It seems they are pretty well hidden behind the secondary burn tubes so scratching seems unlikely and the door is shaped such a way that you can't really over fill.

I haven't heard of burning out the baffle. Punching it out from below by jamming the stove with more wood than the manufacturer recommends (I usually stay down a couple-a-four inches off the burn tube) or ramming a chimney brush through from the top is the usual course of demise.

Calef said:
Any thoughts on the subject? Thanks!

I think this is the part of the honeymoon where your new bride reminds you that you need to get out hunting or go play poker or head down to the sports bar for awhile so she can paint her toenails in peace. You are over-thinking this and going through copious amounts of firewood. Chill out a little, put on a shirt, and take a deep breath. You're there, stove's in, you picked a great one, and this honeymoon can last forever. Now, go outside and chop some wood or something.
 
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