Yes another soapstone question

[They Call Me Pete]

Taking my stove back and getting a Hearthstone soapstone. Would it be a good idea to get one that'll heat a bigger sq ft house than mine to make up for a lack of efficiency of my house. My house is roughly 1400 sq ft. How much sq ft over do you think I should get if any ?

 

[Lignums]

I have a Homestead, but I have been digging the Phoenix model. It does not get as hot as the Homestead, but it is a bigger stove, and should give longer burn/heat times. My house is 1300 Square feet, and the Homestead does just fine, the furnace hasn't kicked on in 3 years now, but man, to me the Phoenix is a looker, and a heat producer.

 

[Henz]

I jsut dont understand these soapstones vs cast iron vs steele...Are they really that far superior?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Taking my stove back and getting a Hearthstone soapstone. Would it be a good idea to get one that'll heat a bigger sq ft house than mine to make up for a lack of efficiency of my house. My house is roughly 1400 sq ft. How much sq ft over do you think I should get if any ?

Most definitely get the larger one. Perhaps one that would heat 2000 sq. ft.

 

[moondoggy]

yea man, considering you are unhappy and feel the one you have isnt doing the job, i would go with the 'overkill' frame of mind.

good luck pete.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I jsut dont understand these soapstones vs cast iron vs steele...Are they really that far superior?

Each type of stove has it's good points. I think the soapstone gives a more even heat and it is difficult to beat it for dressing up a home. Also the heat does feel somewhat different, that is, we compared it to cast and steel stoves and now understand what they were telling us about the soapstone giving a "softer" heat. It just feels different.

In areas that don't get very cold or with an extremely well insulated home the soapstone will use less wood to heat the area and one fill will give heat for a longer period of time. For instance, during the fall we could build a small fire in the morning and that night the dang thing would still be giving off heat; not a lot but still heat 12+ hours after we had built a small fire. Wonder how long that would have been if we'd filled the firebox?!

btw, so far it appears we will use perhaps about 60% or less the amount of wood we have used in the past. So far this winter it has been colder than last winter but we've used a lot less wood than we had at this time last winter. It will be interesting to see at the end of the winter just how it works out and even more so over a couple of winters. We just came off of some pretty cold days and nights and I am amazed how much less wood it took to heat the house.

 

[Henz]

I totally agree with you there. I had the stove place come and tell me what stove that I should put in as per the size of my house..The guy came and checked everything out..Sold me a smaller stove (rainier)..I heat about 1350sqft. Use it for two months, wasent happy and had them bring in the Olympic..Made all the difference in the world for me!

 

[Henz]

Dennis, that is really interesting, my house is far from being well insulated though

 

[They Call Me Pete]

Yup I got the Rainer too and it's going back also. The sh$tty part is I blew thorough a cord of seasoned oak. Grrrr. I'm going with the Phoenix if they have it in stock or can get it quickly.

 

[DriftWood]

A real size check on any stove is the EPA Efficiency Tag Every new stove has to have one when sold. Stoves are tested the same for these numbers. Look at it there are BTU numbers on it. They will be smaller than a manufactures numbers. In a Old leaky under insulated homes I would use the EPA numbers. In a new airtight home the manufactures numbers might be closer. I am saying over size as per the manufactures numbers for older homes .

I'm going with the Phoenix if they have it in stock or can get it quickly.

Check (call) all the dealers you can I know one guy who saved $600.00 USD by calling around to just three dealers with in 100 miles of his home. Just take one of your trucks to go get it. Out east Id call the manufacture about seconds with cosmetic blems.

Dealer Search

HearthStone wood and gas-fired stoves are carried by more than 500 dealers across North America. To locate the HearthStone dealer nearest you follow this link.

http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/dealer_search/

 

[slofr8]

I have a Heritage that does a good job heating a 1550sq' well insulated house in northern Maine.
I think the Phoinex would do a good job for you.
Good luck.
Dan.

 

[Henz]

I was lucky in that the outfit I went through gave me a 100% refund for the Rainier even though I had burned it for 2 months.

 

[mikeathens]

My house is crappy insulated 1800 SF or so old farm house - leaky wall/ceiling junction, r-19 in the ceiling of the large kitchen area, lots of windows - i'm basically screwed when it comes to insulation. I'd have to tear out every non-conventional construction wall to fix the problem. I have a Heritage - it got down to 6 at my place last night, and i was reloading every 3 hours to keep the house at 62.

So...I'm thinking I should have gone bigger (like the Mansfield or Bennington), but then again, I'd be roasting myself out for the other 98% of the days that it doesn't get down to 6. I've heard many on this forum state that you should size the stove for your "typical" winter day. Around my neck of the woods, I'm going to say that temperature is between 20 and 30. Below 20, my stove starts to fall behind. Above 20, it's about perfect.

From the size of your home, you might want to check out the heritage and the phoenix. the phoenix might have been a bit better for my house. Oh well, it's my third stove and i can't justify shelling out that kinda cash again...the heritage is great.

 

[Henz]

I hear you there Mike from Athens..My house isnt as big as yours, I heat like 1350sqft..Built in 1850 and remodeled (badly) by the previous owner. I ahve been doing insulation etc and it has helped..Real drafty..Worse part is the sill plates..I think I am gonna rip put all of the knotty pine in the living room, tear out all the R-13 fiberglass and call in a sprayfoam outfit..HAd that done last summer in my crawlspace and it has made a huge difference..

 

[mikeathens]

Yup...I just put r-15 in most of my basement floor...HUGE difference. When I get around to tearing off my kitchen roof (it is 16 X 36 flat) in a year or so, it is going to be replaced with a 12/12 pitch gable, and I'm using 2 x 12 yellow pine for the rafters so I can REALLY cram some insulation in there. Should bea able to take care of the headers leaking, too...

 

[They Call Me Pete]

I've completely remodeled my house so all outside/ceilings have new insulation. House is pretty tight but when we get a lot of wind it's still a little drafty. Still working on making the house more energy efficient. Hoping to replace windows this summer and that should help a lot.

I'd like to go to another stove shop trust me but store has a credit policy only. If I can bring my stove back and upgrade I'll be happy. I'm then going switch stove shop's.

You guys/gals are awesome and thanks for all the quick input. You've really helped me not make another stupid mistake. I guess a salesman is a salesman no matter what your trying to buy.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Dennis, that is really interesting, my house is far from being well insulated though

Sounds like we live in the same type of house.

 

[swestall]

Go for the Heritage, you will love its looks and it will be just coasting along while it is toasting you just like you want.

 

[BJN644]

I hate to be the ney sayer here, but I have an old poorly insulated house and I got rid of a Phoenix because I was constantly loading it to keep warm. The Oakwood I have now does have a it's own issues, but when it is cold out it can heat my house like that Phoenix never could, and with 10 hour burns to boot. The soapstone is without a doubt a beautiful stove, but in my opinion they fall short on performance in a cold house.

 

[Highbeam]

As far as which Hearthstone product I think you should be choosing between the Heritage and the phoenix. I would not miss the ash drawer but could not live without my side door.

The soapstones are not flash bang heaters but they make for it by producing the long heat.

 

[They Call Me Pete]

That's what I'm looking for guys. The long heat and not this spike up/down crap. My Rainer is just too small regardless what my stove guy says. He's got a long list of excuses why not to take it back at full price. Reduced price no problem. What ever happended to the customer being happy.

 

[Henz]

I was real lucky then!@

 

[bcnu]

One of the stove dealers I looked at had a year long return policy - no questions and a 10% restocking charge. I thought that sounded pretty fair. However, the dealer I went with may be one of a kind. He came to our house and spent quite a bit of time looking and explaining . Heck, we even climbed onto the roof at midnight so he could look down the chimney ( he arrived at 11:30 pm after having made another house call about 30 miles away.) He had the best price of the three dealers I checked with, gave me discounts on the SS liner and the stove surround, got the installer to knock off some $$ because he was already going to be in my area, and delivered the stove in person. We ended up with the HS Homestead and are quite happy with it.

 

[Henz]

very nice looking stove.. Is that one of those American Panel Hearth Pads..I have one of those too..definatly the way to go

 

[struggle]

ONE CAN NEVER HAVE TO MUCH STOVE

I would go with the Mansfield. It will only run you out of the house if you fill it full. It can burn very nicely on a just a couple of splits.

My house is 2x4 built and has good windows and would be considered decent for insulation but nothing to what they are building now.

The Mansfield sits in the basement with about 1,400 sq ft and a fairly open basement. It keeps the upstairs open floor plan around 70 degrees with long burns in the Mansfield not filling it full. We had -5 the other night and that day prior to that low we had a high of 5 degrees and we had no problem keeping it comfortable in the house and we could have had it a lot warmer if we wanted to.

Mansfield all the way.