Hearthstone Heritage advice

[finnski]

HI guys. I am about to get a new stove and the wife is all of a sudden really liking soapstone. I know a lot of people don't like the ash pan on these stoves (or most brands for that matter) so we are looking at a Heritage model which you can get without it.
The only other issue I keep seeing when searching is the durability/design of the door latch and hinges. I am leery of this and really want to make the wife happy. Am I right to be concerned about it or am I over worrying?
I really like the design and look of the Jotul F45 but it requires some hearth work to extend my coverage whereas the Heritage would fit as is. We have checked out the Woodstock models and can't get past the styling and I really don't want a CAT stove.
Also we have a great promotion going in our county with a woodstove changeout voucher which we just received for a $1000 voucher towards any stove we want(Woodstock brand excluded) and Heartstone has a $100 coupon as well. We can therefore get $1100 off of any Hearthstone model right now.
1500-1600 sq feet very well insulated (foam panels on exterior) open concept timberframe, center chimney in SW NH.

Thanks for any comments/ critiques/ suggestions.
We have all the following brands as options: PE, Quadrafire, Jotul, Morso, Hearthstone, Vermont Castings, Blaze king, Napoleon etc

 

[Rearscreen]

Your wife is very smart indeed! Loved my Mansfield (in my Avatar in my old Timberframe I built with panels) and had an OAK attached. Moved and was forced into the Progress since I needed a certain BTU, a rear 6 inch exit, had to be soapstone, and it had to fit in the hearth it was going into. So that's what I got. Was reluctant with the cat feature. After 1 season I will never go back to non cat and I doubt that I would ever replace this stove (unless Woodstock comes out with something better) as its by far the best stove I have ever owned.

 

[Highbeam]

HI guys. I am about to get a new stove and the wife is all of a sudden really liking soapstone. I know a lot of people don't like the ash pan on these stoves (or most brands for that matter) so we are looking at a Heritage model which you can get without it.
The only other issue I keep seeing when searching is the durability/design of the door latch and hinges. I am leery of this and really want to make the wife happy. Am I right to be concerned about it or am I over worrying?
I really like the design and look of the Jotul F45 but it requires some hearth work to extend my coverage whereas the Heritage would fit as is. We have checked out the Woodstock models and can't get past the styling and I really don't want a CAT stove.
Also we have a great promotion going in our county with a woodstove changeout voucher which we just received for a $1000 voucher towards any stove we want(Woodstock brand excluded) and Heartstone has a $100 coupon as well. We can therefore get $1100 off of any Hearthstone model right now.
1500-1600 sq feet very well insulated (foam panels on exterior) open concept timberframe, center chimney in SW NH.

Thanks for any comments/ critiques/ suggestions.
We have all the following brands as options: PE, Quadrafire, Jotul, Morso, Hearthstone, Vermont Castings, Blaze king, Napoleon etc

I burned about 30 cords through my heritage. It really was a decent stove and performed as the specs state. I agree to not get the ash pan, it's a lousy design. The window stays clean and the stove looks great even without a fire. The side loading door is hugely important, if your hearth doesn't allow its use then buy a different stove. If you want stone and you don't want cat then you are stuck with hearthstone. The company techs were actually very good and responsive.

I am probably the source of the durability reports you read. All of the silly little hinge pins had worn into base casting which made a full rebuild the only option to repair the sagged doors. The newest heritage uses a different side door with a hinge on the bottom that would likely cause less problems. It is unclear whether the front door hinges have been improved. The latches themselves are fine and replaceable but the catches on the casting where the latch hooks on were severely wear prone which again requires a rebuild to fix. Look to see if they added replaceable steel inserts to the catches.

For a house heater I am a BK fan but that's a cat stove and you previously ruled them out. Second best is the PE alderlea line since these are a welded steel firebox with a steel covered baffle for excellent durability plus the cast iron outside for thermal mass and better looks. Long burners too.

 

[finnski]

I burned about 30 cords through my heritage. It really was a decent stove and performed as the specs state. I agree to not get the ash pan, it's a lousy design. The window stays clean and the stove looks great even without a fire. The side loading door is hugely important, if your hearth doesn't allow its use then buy a different stove. If you want stone and you don't want cat then you are stuck with hearthstone. The company techs were actually very good and responsive.

I am probably the source of the durability reports you read. All of the silly little hinge pins had worn into base casting which made a full rebuild the only option to repair the sagged doors. The newest heritage uses a different side door with a hinge on the bottom that would likely cause less problems. It is unclear whether the front door hinges have been improved. The latches themselves are fine and replaceable but the catches on the casting where the latch hooks on were severely wear prone which again requires a rebuild to fix. Look to see if they added replaceable steel inserts to the catches.

For a house heater I am a BK fan but that's a cat stove and you previously ruled them out. Second best is the PE alderlea line since these are a welded steel firebox with a steel covered baffle for excellent durability plus the cast iron outside for thermal mass and better looks. Long burners too.

Yes yours was one of the users that had the most valuable feedback for me. It does appear as though they have added a steel insert with 2 screws easily accessible and changeable for the catch in the doors. So maybe that only leaves the hinge as a weak spot? I would however mostly use the side door only and if it now opens down maybe the hinge pins and holes would take a little less stress and the load would be different than the heavy side loads on the side opening doors of the old design.

thanks for the quick reply

 

[finnski]

Your wife is very smart indeed! Loved my Mansfield (in my Avatar in my old Timberframe I built with panels) and had an OAK attached. Moved and was forced into the Progress since I needed a certain BTU, a rear 6 inch exit, had to be soapstone, and it had to fit in the hearth it was going into. So that's what I got. Was reluctant with the cat feature. After 1 season I will never go back to non cat and I doubt that I would ever replace this stove (unless Woodstock comes out with something better) as its by far the best stove I have ever owned.

Your the second reply and both of you seem to love the CAT stoves. I have no experience with one and don't now why I am not considering them. The BlazeKings and Woodstocks both seem to get tremendous reviews and followers on here. Maybe I should open my mind more?

 

[Highbeam]

Your the second reply and both of you seem to love the CAT stoves. I have no experience with one and don't now why I am not considering them. The BlazeKings and Woodstocks both seem to get tremendous reviews and followers on here. Maybe I should open my mind more?

I would. For me it's all about burn time. I can load the stove once per day and heat the house with a constant low output heat that is very comfortable. I am not as concerned with emissions or with peak efficiency as much as a controllable output and minimal time spent loading the stove.

The Woodstock and BK lines are well liked. The bigger PH stove from Woodstock looks fairly modern and heritage like but is still a smallish stove at only 2.8 CF so smaller than the BK princess that I have for my 1700 SF with sub-8' ceilings. Your 1600 SF, is the ceiling very high as is typical with timber frame? The square footage is not nearly as important as the volume heated.

Cat stoves allow a lower burn rate and offer higher efficiency which should save you some wood. With the non-cats that I own and have owned, I was lucky to have a fire burn through the night. In the morning, the stove was just warm and I could probably get a new fire going without a match. With the cat stove, only 1/3 of the fuel has been consumed and it's just cranking along ready to go another 20 hours.

 

[Rearscreen]

What I like about the cat stove is: when I engage it and close it down, the temp goes up and I watch the same log burn for a long time. Something magical must be happening under the hood! I also don't particularly like an ash pan and opted out, but I find much less ash than my Mansfield produced. I also didn't believe reading about how when you engage the cat, no smoke comes out of the chimney. Sure enough, when I looked, just heat ripples. At one point last year, I noticed the stove was "sluggish" and wasn't operating as it usually did. So I let it cool, opened the cook top, took the cat outside, gently blew it out and brushed the surface with a soft brush and replaced. Took 5 minutes total. Back to how it ran new.

 

[finnski]

I would. For me it's all about burn time. I can load the stove once per day and heat the house with a constant low output heat that is very comfortable. I am not as concerned with emissions or with peak efficiency as much as a controllable output and minimal time spent loading the stove.

The Woodstock and BK lines are well liked. The bigger PH stove from Woodstock looks fairly modern and heritage like but is still a smallish stove at only 2.8 CF so smaller than the BK princess that I have for my 1700 SF with sub-8' ceilings. Your 1600 SF, is the ceiling very high as is typical with timber frame? The square footage is not nearly as important as the volume heated.

Cat stoves allow a lower burn rate and offer higher efficiency which should save you some wood. With the non-cats that I own and have owned, I was lucky to have a fire burn through the night. In the morning, the stove was just warm and I could probably get a new fire going without a match. With the cat stove, only 1/3 of the fuel has been consumed and it's just cranking along ready to go another 20 hours.

No there are only 9' ceilings 1st floor and 12.5 ft center height upstairs with 4 ' knee walls. Totals 12,834 cu ft 1st and 2nd floor. But I also have a sunroom, mudroom and full bath extending beyond the basic downstairs exterior walls. This gives me right around 16000 cu ft total all well insulated.

 

[Highbeam]

No there are only 9' ceilings 1st floor and 12.5 ft center height upstairs with 4 ' knee walls. Totals 12,834 cu ft 1st and 2nd floor. But I also have a sunroom, mudroom and full bath extending beyond the basic downstairs exterior walls. This gives me right around 16000 cu ft total all well insulated.

That should roughly equate to a sub 2000 SF home when looking at "rated" areas to heat by manufacturers. If you like stone, I would suggest the Woodstock product. Their largest stoves are still small. Too bad your stove rebate program excludes Woodstock. That's really weird.

You don't say whether you want to use this stove for occasional ambiance burning or for actual full time heating duty or maybe something in the middle.

 

[finnski]

That should roughly equate to a sub 2000 SF home when looking at "rated" areas to heat by manufacturers. If you like stone, I would suggest the Woodstock product. Their largest stoves are still small. Too bad your stove rebate program excludes Woodstock. That's really weird.

You don't say whether you want to use this stove for occasional ambiance burning or for actual full time heating duty or maybe something in the middle.

Yeah it's not Woodstock's fault, The program is only from participating dealers in the specific county(Cheshire) that I live In.
I would say we are somewhere in the middle of full time heating and an occasional fire. We burn around 1 1/2 - 2 cords per year in SW NH. Yeah my house is about 1900 sq ft with all the bump outs, 1600 sq ft on the 2 main floors, wide open concept.
We are not big fans of the Woodstock styling anyway but appreciate that they are excellent stoves. Also don't feel the need for the real long burns of a CAT stove. My wife Is pretty set on the Heathstone Heritage despite my reservations.

 

[Highbeam]

The hearthstone might be a great pick then. There are also some larger models that might offer more firepower. The fireshow was really nice from the heritage. It easily heated my 1700 SF of 1963 built single story home in single digit temps.

 

[Smoked]

I got 9 seasons out of mine before I spent the first dime on it last year. I was thinking about a cat stove for my basement but could not work it out and in the end, got another heritage. I am going to use some 3000 degree brake caliper grease on all the moving parts just to be sure but it should be comforting that they have made some changes. My latches show some wear but nothing near failure. I think a progress hybrid would be a cool stove to have but a new heritage for potentially less than 2 grand is pretty sweet. Bottom line, I love mine, no regrets!

 

[finnski]

I got 9 seasons out of mine before I spent the first dime on it last year. I was thinking about a cat stove for my basement but could not work it out and in the end, got another heritage. I am going to use some 3000 degree brake caliper grease on all the moving parts just to be sure but it should be comforting that they have made some changes. My latches show some wear but nothing near failure. I think a progress hybrid would be a cool stove to have but a new heritage for potentially less than 2 grand is pretty sweet. Bottom line, I love mine, no regrets!

Thanks for the reply. Yeah out the door for $1799 is very good incentive to buy this

 

[finnski]

The hearthstone might be a great pick then. There are also some larger models that might offer more firepower. The fireshow was really nice from the heritage. It easily heated my 1700 SF of 1963 built single story home in single digit temps.

I think it will be fine. Like I mentioned we are mainly heating 2 stories at 1600 sq ft and almost "superinsulated" and we don't like It real hot in the house(keep the thermostat at 64 when running the oil fired furnace)

 

[Smoked]

I think it will be fine. Like I mentioned we are mainly heating 2 stories at 1600 sq ft and almost "superinsulated" and we don't like It real hot in the house(keep the thermostat at 64 when running the oil fired furnace)

I am not in the North East so I don't know real cold but I had been heating 2700 feet with mine and as long as it was not below 30 and windy, the single Heritage could keep up. I am in 60s construction in mid south or southern mid Atlantic and insulation is very week. If in the 20s and no wind, I still did well, the wind is what eats me up. I put the new one in the living room and retired the older one to the basement for the colder spells.

I feel I should thank people on this site, HighBeam included for being so informative. If you know there are things to look out for, you can take preventative measures to make things better. I did not go looking for the break grease out of intuition after all And HighBeam is also right on the light show. The secondary burn on these things is just beautiful.

 

[finnski]

I am not in the North East so I don't know real cold but I had been heating 2700 feet with mine and as long as it was not below 30 and windy, the single Heritage could keep up. I am in 60s construction in mid south or southern mid Atlantic and insulation is very week. If in the 20s and no wind, I still did well, the wind is what eats me up. I put the new one in the living room and retired the older one to the basement for the colder spells.

I feel I should thank people on this site, HighBeam included for being so informative. If you know there are things to look out for, you can take preventative measures to make things better. I did not go looking for the break grease out of intuition after all And HighBeam is also right on the light show. The secondary burn on these things is just beautiful.

the help and knowledge n here has been great.

What did you have to spend money on after 9 years on the stove?

 

[Smoked]

the help and knowledge n here has been great.

What did you have to spend money on after 9 years on the stove?

A $.35 screw and I replaced the baffle for about $70. The corner of the baffle was broken where it fell into the stove at some point. The earlier ones did not have cotter pins or twist ties to hold them in. Not sure I really needed to for as small as the chip was but figured I would.

 

[Newburnerwisconsin]

HI guys. I am about to get a new stove and the wife is all of a sudden really liking soapstone. I know a lot of people don't like the ash pan on these stoves (or most brands for that matter) so we are looking at a Heritage model which you can get without it.
The only other issue I keep seeing when searching is the durability/design of the door latch and hinges. I am leery of this and really want to make the wife happy. Am I right to be concerned about it or am I over worrying?
I really like the design and look of the Jotul F45 but it requires some hearth work to extend my coverage whereas the Heritage would fit as is. We have checked out the Woodstock models and can't get past the styling and I really don't want a CAT stove.
Also we have a great promotion going in our county with a woodstove changeout voucher which we just received for a $1000 voucher towards any stove we want(Woodstock brand excluded) and Heartstone has a $100 coupon as well. We can therefore get $1100 off of any Hearthstone model right now.
1500-1600 sq feet very well insulated (foam panels on exterior) open concept timberframe, center chimney in SW NH.

Thanks for any comments/ critiques/ suggestions.
We have all the following brands as options: PE, Quadrafire, Jotul, Morso, Hearthstone, Vermont Castings, Blaze king, Napoleon etc

I have the new Hearthstone Heritage 8022. I ordered the stove without the ash pan and I am happy with the decision. I just scoop out the ashes.We have been burning for about three weeks, mostly at night. My wife liked the soapstone as well so I know what you are going through. We had the dealer install a outside air kit. We are very happy with our Hearthstone so far. I gave been burning all Norway pine, Box elder and white cedar. I am saving all my oak, elm and maple for the really cold months. Our home is a 2400 sq. ft. Bi-level. We have had overnight temps in the 20s and 30s so far and the stove easily heats the entire house. The heat radiates through the floors and up the staircase. I feel confident going into a wisconsin winter that we will be just fine when I burn hardwoods and have much colder temps.

 

[sean b]

I really appreciate the contributions from all and the wealth of knowledge present as I'm possibly in the market for a new wood stove. I don't have enough time in the day to do the reading here that I'd like to.

 

[finnski]

I have the new Hearthstone Heritage 8022. I ordered the stove without the ash pan and I am happy with the decision. I just scoop out the ashes.We have been burning for about three weeks, mostly at night. My wife liked the soapstone as well so I know what you are going through. We had the dealer install a outside air kit. We are very happy with our Hearthstone so far. I gave been burning all Norway pine, Box elder and white cedar. I am saving all my oak, elm and maple for the really cold months. Our home is a 2400 sq. ft. Bi-level. We have had overnight temps in the 20s and 30s so far and the stove easily heats the entire house. The heat radiates through the floors and up the staircase. I feel confident going into a wisconsin winter that we will be just fine when I burn hardwoods and have much colder temps.

Thanks for the reply. probably going tomorrow to purchase.

 

[finnski]

I really appreciate the contributions from all and the wealth of knowledge present as I'm possibly in the market for a new wood stove. I don't have enough time in the day to do the reading here that I'd like to.

Well I feel for you . Have been going thru the same thing for 2 months, reading researching, visiting stove shops etc. Never thought it would be so time consuming

 

[sean b]

I've seen a lot of stoves that would work for me but most of them aren't pretty enough or the right color for the wife. That's where I'm stuck right now. I think the Hearthstone Heritage would make her happy but it's double what I need to spend.

 

[finnski]

I've seen a lot of stoves that would work for me but most of them aren't pretty enough or the right color for the wife. That's where I'm stuck right now. I think the Hearthstone Heritage would make her happy but it's double what I need to spend.

Yeah well I'm stuck too. Was literally going to buy this today and now I may have convinced her we don't need soapstone and I am close to convincing her on the Jotul F45 which is $1000 less.

 

[pixelated]

We recently went through this, and with some of the same conclusions regarding the Woodstock stoves.
We settled on a Hearthstone Manchester. It doesn't have the soapstone exterior, but does use soapstone lining. Both wife and I like the look, and in some ways like it better than the visible soapstone models. Wife wanted the thermal mass of soapstone, which become a primary consideration.
The house is about 1700 sq feet, 2 story with an ell, but we're figuring the Manchester will handle it easily.
If we lived about 5 miles further west we'd be in Cheshire co, unfortunately, we get to pay full price (minus the 100 fall markdown).
Don't know where you are buying from, but we've been very impressed by the dealer in Keene so far.

 

[finnski]

We recently went through this, and with some of the same conclusions regarding the Woodstock stoves.
We settled on a Hearthstone Manchester. It doesn't have the soapstone exterior, but does use soapstone lining. Both wife and I like the look, and in some ways like it better than the visible soapstone models. Wife wanted the thermal mass of soapstone, which become a primary consideration.
The house is about 1700 sq feet, 2 story with an ell, but we're figuring the Manchester will handle it easily.
If we lived about 5 miles further west we'd be in Cheshire co, unfortunately, we get to pay full price (minus the 100 fall markdown).
Don't know where you are buying from, but we've been very impressed by the dealer in Keene so far.

Yeah, Green energy options in Keene. Also visited Friends of he Sun in Brattleboro. They were very knowledgeable as well