Soapstone stoves

[They Call Me Pete]

Thinking of replacing my new insert with a bigger stove to heat the house instead of help my furnace. Who's got a soapstone ?? My house is a cape about 1600 sq ft and pretty well insulated. How even is the heat really ? My manufacturer claimed my stove would burn 8 hrs and it'll only go 3.5 choked all the way down packed tightly. I needed to more homework but that's another story and stove shop said this is the size I need to "heat" the house. I would like to get one with a rear flue collar so I can move it all the way out of fireplace.

 

[Todd]

What's your current setup? Do you have a blower? Do you have a block off plate? What kind of stove.

As far as soapstone goes, everything they say is true. Very even heat, but takes awhile from a cold start to start pumping out the heat. If your a 24/7 burner it's always hot. If you want quick seering heat stick with steel or iron.

Check out the Woodstock web site, they are awesome stoves. www.woodstove.com Easily get 10-12 burns. I'm heating 1800sq ft total including basement. Furnace hasn't kicked on yet this year set at 67.

 

[rdrcr56]

Were using a Hearthstone homestead to heat 1000 sq. ft. and it works great, the furnace died last year, so this year it's the stove with a couple of radiant electric heaters for back up. We use one to heat the daughters room in the basement and have not needed any supplemental heat on the main level using the stove.

 

[buckeye]

I have a 2500 sq/ft virtually uninsulated brick house, and Im keeping it about 67 to 68 with using only my hearthstone heritage. I realize it hasnt been the frozen tundra in ohio this year, but im pleasantly suprised, i do try to burn 24/7 and i pack it pretty well before I leave for work in the morning at about 7:00 am, I still have plenty of hot coals when i get home at 4:30 to throw some logs on and it starts right up. The stove to temp. is usually only about 225-275 when i get home but, that is still radiating some heat. When the temp on top gets to about 450-500 it is pumping out some awesome heat. I love it.

 

[webbie]

Woodstock and HearthStone are the two well knows soapstone manufacturers. WS stoves are cat, and in your case the larger one would be better (bigger box).
HearthStone is non-cat. Both are well regarded stoves.

 

[They Call Me Pete]

I've got a Avalon Rainer 90. Yes, I have the blower but haven't installed block off plate yet. It's finally got the house up to about 68 after running it full burn since 6am. I think I get more heat output at a medium burn than high because after I closed it down a little house seemed to really warm quick. Like I said before should've done more homework. The firebox tapers down in the back then the air tubes stick down from there. I had to cut and split wood smaller to be able to fit more than three logs in it. I think the Olympic(next size bigger) should have been the one I got.

I don't know why I never looked at the soapstones. I thought they were a lot more money than they are. Of course this may be due to the fact my wife was looking at a Swedish made ones. However you spell them. I was checking out the woodstock's online and they look nice. I'll probably stick with this one for now and buy a soapstone for next year. I almost forgot I'll be running it 24/7 especially if I can get a 10-12 hr burn.

 

[Todd]

I think the block off plate will help. Also running your stove full boar probably wastes alot of heat up your flue. Try experimenting with different settings after charring your wood on high for 10 or so minutes.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Watch for Woodstock to have some hot deals in late winter or early spring. We bought ours last year, installed it during the summer and have been enjoying it since. We worried unnecessarily about the cat. It turned out that it is wonderful and we do burn a lot less wood than before.

As far as the thing taking a long time to heat up, that is partially true from a cold stove. Still you'll start getting heat in about 1/2 hour but the heat doesn't kick in until you engage the cat. at stovetop temperature of 250 degrees. Then the temperature goes up fast; really fast.

I'm still amazed though. A couple nights ago I was up during the night. I could see the glow from the cat. but looking in the stove I could not see any flame nor could I see any hot coals! It simply was non-existent. Yet, the cat was glowing and the stovetop temperature was 575 degrees. Nice! The woodpile shrinks slower now and we like the heat from this stove. They said it is a "softer" heat. Yes, now we understand. On top of it all, the fireview stove is beautiful.

 

[jpl1nh]

I suspect you'll pretty much get only posative comments from us soapstone guys. I have a Woodstock Keystone and love it. However, it is slightly undersized for our size house with the number of windows and the quality of the insulation and the windows. Nonetheless, it is at least 95% of our total heat source. It is only in weather where temps or windchill approach zero that we may need to "zap" the house with the furnace for a half hour a day. The heat is very even, very subtle, the stove is very easy to run, I can easily load even this little (1.5 cubic foot firebox) stove so I've got a nice coal bed 12 hours later. The Fireview would be perfect for us, maybe we'll change at some point, maybe not. Also the stoves are beautiful even when not lit and even more beautiful when running.

 

[Todd]

I'm still amazed though. A couple nights ago I was up during the night. I could see the glow from the cat. but looking in the stove I could not see any flame nor could I see any hot coals! It simply was non-existent. Yet, the cat was glowing and the stovetop temperature was 575 degrees. Nice! The woodpile shrinks slower now and we like the heat from this stove. They said it is a "softer" heat. Yes, now we understand. On top of it all, the fireview stove is beautiful.

I've seen this to. I can turn my stove down til there are no flames, or red coals and the cat still glows. But if I leave it that way too long my glass starts to fog up, so I like to at least run the stove with some good red coals in there. I guess as long as the cat is lit off and has smoke to feed on the stove will remain hot. Probably burn for 20 hrs with the air on 0.

 

[Builder Bob]

Hey Pete,
I also have a Ranier 90, and my suggestion is to install the block-off plate first. Make sure it is sealed off good and it should improve the performance. Mine is an insert so the heat is not as good as with freestanding, but will heat 1,600 sq. ft. with a 20' cathedral ceiling in the great room to 73 - 76 quite easily.

Bob

 

[They Call Me Pete]

I'm starting to think I might have an overdraft problem or a problem with air intake. Going to call the stove shop and start there.

 

[bcnu]

Yes, the soapstone is nice. I did a lot of research, especially trying to determine the right size stove for our house. Also read post after post about how long a particular stove actually held a fire. So, when we went to purchase a Jotul Castine, I had a pretty realistic idea of it's potential. However, ended up with a HS Homestead. I wasn't aware of the Fireviews until later, and wasn't too interested in a CAT. However, halfway into the heating season I sure like reading about those long burns, and I'm beginning to understand what it means to save on wood usage. I need to get a whole lot better at getting the stovetop up to the 450+ range - I'm just now beginning to use some of my best wood(dry seasoned oak) so perhaps that will help . All in all, I really enjoy the stove.

 

[Highbeam]

I looked at the large woodstocks but their rear exit flue, small windows, and large clearance requirements led me to Hearthstone. I was also afraid of the cat but I do believe that the fear of cats was unfounded, the cat is the only kind of stove that will burn 10-12 hours on softwood. Also, being able to see a HS on the dealer's floor made a huge difference vs. a mail order stove.

The heat is steady in that it doesn't cool off for a long time. It gets much cooler when the fire dies but seems to hang at about 200 degrees for hours. The heat is smooth in that you don't get these stoves to 700 for heat. 500 degree stovetop temp is really cranking heat out.

 

[loneeagle15]

love ours we live in Montana and have had several days around the 0-10 mark and my gas bill last month was $20.00 we have the Mansfield and have been going 24/7 since mid Sept. load it up in the morning and again in the evening the house stays between 74 and 82

 

[Highbeam]

love ours we live in Montana and have had several days around the 0-10 mark and my gas bill last month was $20.00 we have the Mansfield and have been going 24/7 since mid Sept. load it up in the morning and again in the evening the house stays between 74 and 82

Ugh, I wish that was me. What wood are you using? A pipe damper? If you're burning doug fir then you are my hero for getting long burns.

I assume when you say 24/7 that you are actually getting 12 hour burns from your stove.