Newbie! Please help me decide between two stoves!

[Krissybelle]

We are in the process of replacing two wood stoves. We have a very large house with 24' vaulted ceilings upstairs and 5 bedrooms. We purchased a Hearthstone Equinox soapstone stove for our basement which will be the main stove. In our kitchen we currently have a Vermont Castings Intrepid II which is way too small and has never really heated the upstairs very well, due to size of rooms.

The new purchase for the kitchen was a Hearthstone Heritage, also soapstone for the kitchen/upstairs area. The other stove we are considering is the Jotul Oslo. I really like the Oslo and cast iron which heats up fast, but the Heritage was chosen so that the residual heat from the soapstone would keep the house warmer at night. We haven't picked them up yet so can still change our mind.

So Heritage soapstone or cast Iron Jotul?? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

We have heated with wood for 8 years and are very familiar with everything, but have had really bad experience with our current basement stove, and are just tired of being cold!

 

[begreen]

Hard choice. Are you burning mostly softwood? If so, I might lean toward the Heritage. Have you considered a catalytic soapstone stove like the Woodstock Fireview? It will provide longer burns, especially overnight, yet has the heat retention of soapstone. Another alternative would be the Pacific Energy Alderlea T5 which has a cast iron jacket that retains heat a bit like soapstone. It gets very good burn times with NW wood and has a nifty trivet top if you want to use it for cooking, raising bread dough, etc.

 

[branchburner]

We have heated with wood for 8 years and are very familiar with everything, but have had really bad experience with our current basement stove, and are just tired of being cold!

Just wondering... was the problem the stove, or the stove being in the basement?

 

[Rich L]

Get the Hearthstone Mansfield instead of the Oslo.

 

[Krissybelle]

The stove in the basement is the biggest problem. It is a Harmon Oakwood and it has been a lemon of huge proportions. I think the Mansfield is too big for our upstairs area, as it is mainly for supplemental heat. We burn mostly douglas fir, would love to get our hands on some madrone. Anyone in Oregon near Portland have some?

 

[Renovation]

If you haven't picked up your stoves, and you want the best performance, I recommend a Blaze King King for greater efficiency. thermostat control, and longer burns in your basement. You won't care if it's homely, and it uses the same 8" flue as the Equinox.

For your upstairs, I recommend a Woodstock Fireview--it's a soapstone stove like the Heritage, but with a cat for more efficient burning, better heat control--it can be burned lower than a non-cat , and is easy on the eyes.

HTH, and good luck!

 

[begreen]

Just don't mistake the Blaze King for a black washing machine and dump your laundry into it. :lol:

 

[Renovation]

Just don't mistake the Blaze King for a black washing machine and dump your laundry into it. :lol:

lol, very good! "Laundry's done!"

I was thinking it would be a shame to put an Equinox where you don't look at it. Now, if your basement is finished and you spend time there, that's another matter. The Hearthstones are gorgeous stoves.

 

[krex1010]

You mentioned that the stove in the kitchen is for supplemental heat, does the mean you will not be using it everyday or very often? If this is going to be a stove that you will only run one load of wood a day or less then soapstone may not be the best choice. I know soapstone has great heat retentionbut the tradeoff is that soapstone stoves takes a long time to heat up and start throwing warmth. If the stove is only going to be fired up for short periods then maybe cast iron will be a better choice. I know that certain people here will jump on me for not pushing the soapstone but if you are looking for a stoveto heat an area quickly then I think cast will make you happier than waiting for that soapstone to heat up.

 

[Renovation]

I know soapstone has great heat retentionbut the tradeoff is that soapstone stoves takes a long time to heat up and start throwing warmth. If the stove is only going to be fired up for short periods then maybe cast iron will be a better choice. I know that certain people here will jump on me for not pushing the soapstone

I'm not going to jump on you, and sure don't want you to feel that way.. You make a valid point, and folks have different priorities.

I recall folks reporting that soapstone stoves radiate some heat through their doors right away, but take about 45 minutes to heat up all the way. If fast heat is your priority, cast iron will heat up faster, and plate steel faster still. It's a trade-off between quicker heating and smoother, longer heating.

 

[krex1010]

Thanks for not jumping on me George! I wasn't serious about that I am just poking at the fiercely loyal soapstone stove owners here, just abbit of fun. And I think soapstone stoves are a great choice as a primary heater. When it comes to providing steady heat they do it better than other stoves, they kinda level out the peaks and valleys in temperature that is common with wood heat. They really shine when it comes to 24/7 burning. But if the application is going to require quicker heat with alot of cold starts then I believe steel and cast iron stoves would be a better choice in my opinion.

 

[Krissybelle]

Hey you guys are awesome thanks for all of the responses! Here's the deal......stoves have already been paid for just not delivered. We have the option of changing our mind on the Heritage, to the Jotul Oslo.

I probably misled when I said the upstairs wood stove is for supplemental heat. They will both run pretty much 24/7. If we ran only the basement wood stove, basement is nice and toasty warm, and it is finished basement and we hang out down there a LOT. But when you come upstairs, the kitchen and bedrooms don't get much above 65. So if we have a nice bigger stove in the kitchen that is running, whole house can potentially be 70 or so. The little Intrepid II in the kitchen makes a difference when it is going, but if it gets really cold outside i.e. below 30 (OK don't laugh midwest and east coasters.....it's Western Oregon, that's cold!) we need a bigger stove.

I know the soapstone takes longer to heat up, but we were hoping the more "lasting" soft heat would keep the house warmer through the night.

Anyone have experience with trouble on the Hearthstone soapstone stoves with ash pan cleaning or side door issues.....I seem to be reading about those.

I'm still really tempted to change it to the Oslo, I just can't decide.

 

[krex1010]

Well if you are planning on burning 24/7 with both stoves then the soapstone stoves are excellent choices. The Oslo also is an excellent stove, people here seem to love them. How big of an area is the second floor of your home? I know the Oslo is a larger stove, I don't know how big the soapstone stove is, if they are similar in size then I don't think you will be disappointed with either one. Anyways good luck. Just out of curiosity how much wood do you go through a season with both stoves running?

 

[branchburner]

I know the soapstone takes longer to heat up, but we were hoping the more "lasting" soft heat would keep the house warmer through the night.

I would lean that way as well. Nothing wrong with the Oslo, but I don't see a real need to trade out. There are plenty of threads to search on both stoves, and both have many fans, maybe more for the Oslo because it is such a popular stove.

Curious about your troubles with the Oakwood - too small, or too finicky, or what?
EDIT - Were you burning softwoods? I can't see them working well to maintain a coal bed.

 

[Krissybelle]

With two stoves running, the one in the basement 24/7 and the one in the kitchen about 75% of the time we would use about 7 cords per winter, depending on how cold it gets. We've used as little as 5 cords, and as many as about 8. We do have a heat pump and oil furnace as well but prefer not to use either one of them unless it's necessary.

Problem with the Harmon Oakwood.......I'm afraid to answer this question as I see you have one! LOL OK kinda long story.....

First year we ran it, no problems but the combustion package disintegrated. Huge hole in it. The store said we over fired the stove, but we didn't, ran it to specifications. They ordered a new combustion package for us at their cost, but when we went to install it, it wouldn't fit. My husband is an engineer and knows what he's doing, and he could not get it to fit period. About 1 32/nd or 1/16th of an inch too large. So we called the guy from the store, he came out and put it in. He was down in the basement and I wasn't watching what he was doing (sure wish I would have watched!) and he came upstairs and said, "it's in". Well ever since then, the stove has never heated the same. Also the fire brick(I think that's what it's called) in the back of the stove just falls off in big chunks. We have 3-4 pieces of it. OH AND......the andirons have broken off 2 times each.

We burned up three of the wood handles that close the damper, and the grate warped and was replaced three times. The ash pan was so brittle it broke and had to be replaced twice. I know people at the store still think it was over fired, but we ran it around 400-500, which is within range. Probably twice during the life of the stove, we start a fire, forget to close the damper, and it is over fired for about 10 minutes.

We have always believed that the 2nd combustion package was not installed properly, because the secondary burn unit obviously hasn't worked in four years. Smoke just pours out of the chimney and it didn't the first year, because the smoke was being consumed in the secondary burn.

Repeated calls to Harmon and store we purchased it from have never resolved anything. So 5 years later, we give up.

 

[wendell]

We added an Oslo on our main floor this year and even with temps below zero at night, we have not had to run it 24/7 (or more accurately, not been able to as it would be too hot in here) and have been waking up to a house in the low to mid 70's, so if you think you would prefer the look of it compared to the Hearthstone, I think it will do you fine.