- Dec 12, 2012
- 96
First I wanted to say "thanks" to a lot of folks on this site for helping me out while I was trying to decide what to do to get more heat in the cabin. Begreen, Beetle-Kill, DAKSY, madison, wkpoor, rideau to name a few and many more that chimed in.
I had a small Sierra insert in my ZC fireplace that just didn't put out enough heat to keep the cabin comfortable without turning on the electric heat. My choices were somewhat limited unless I decided to completely tear out and start all over. I thought I could make the Progress work but after looking at clearances that was out. I actually put a deposit on a Progress and had to call and cancel. The folks at Woodstock were gracious to say the least.
I had a local hearth dealer look over my situation and he convinced me that the best option he could offer was a Hearthstone Homestead with the taller legs. I was a bit leary that the stove would heat up the large cathedral ceilings in the small 1100 sq ft log cabin, but made the deal anyway and had him do the install last Friday. Hearthstone claimed to heat 1800 sq ft. I got there later in the day and spent most of the night doing the break-in procedures. The winter storm blew in and the timing was near perfect for me to try out the Homestead. Saturday night it was -10F or so and I loaded it up with 4 year old white oak and filled in with some several year old elm splits along with a small layer of aspen on the coals and after the fire caught I shut it down at 9:15. I woke up at 2:30 and checked the fire-all is well, and again at 5:30. I threw a couple of aspen splits in and went back to bed, got up at 7:30 with a cabin temp of about 70F with no electric heat. What a difference the stove made in the comfort. This is my first soapstone stove and it has amazed me how a stove that doesn't get that hot on the surface can heat the place and also how it can keep the temps really constant even when the fire is not blazing. I am very happy with the choice and my wife is now worried about her hot flashes where she wasn't before. I am not constantly having to baby sit the stove like I did with the insert that was stuck in the fireplace firebox. I still have some work to do on sealing the place up, especially in the crawl space but think the stove is going to work well for my situation.
This is a great site.
I had a small Sierra insert in my ZC fireplace that just didn't put out enough heat to keep the cabin comfortable without turning on the electric heat. My choices were somewhat limited unless I decided to completely tear out and start all over. I thought I could make the Progress work but after looking at clearances that was out. I actually put a deposit on a Progress and had to call and cancel. The folks at Woodstock were gracious to say the least.
I had a local hearth dealer look over my situation and he convinced me that the best option he could offer was a Hearthstone Homestead with the taller legs. I was a bit leary that the stove would heat up the large cathedral ceilings in the small 1100 sq ft log cabin, but made the deal anyway and had him do the install last Friday. Hearthstone claimed to heat 1800 sq ft. I got there later in the day and spent most of the night doing the break-in procedures. The winter storm blew in and the timing was near perfect for me to try out the Homestead. Saturday night it was -10F or so and I loaded it up with 4 year old white oak and filled in with some several year old elm splits along with a small layer of aspen on the coals and after the fire caught I shut it down at 9:15. I woke up at 2:30 and checked the fire-all is well, and again at 5:30. I threw a couple of aspen splits in and went back to bed, got up at 7:30 with a cabin temp of about 70F with no electric heat. What a difference the stove made in the comfort. This is my first soapstone stove and it has amazed me how a stove that doesn't get that hot on the surface can heat the place and also how it can keep the temps really constant even when the fire is not blazing. I am very happy with the choice and my wife is now worried about her hot flashes where she wasn't before. I am not constantly having to baby sit the stove like I did with the insert that was stuck in the fireplace firebox. I still have some work to do on sealing the place up, especially in the crawl space but think the stove is going to work well for my situation.
This is a great site.
