Hearthstone Heritage or a Homestead Soapstone???

[miles99]

My Wife and I are looking to build this year. We are building a Modular (also known as PreFabbed or System Built) Home. We have one now that we have been in for 15 years; they are very tight.

We will have a 1400sq Ranch and finishing the basement, adding roughly another 1400 sq feet. The main floor will have a great room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room/mudroom, and master suite. The floorplan is all open with the exception of the master suite. The downstairs we are thinking will have the in floor radiant heat and will be comprised of a family/bar room, son's room, bathroom, office/guest bedroom.

I have heard horror stories of people putting in too large of stoves and heating themselves out of the area. The two I think I've narrowed down to are the Hearthstone Heritage or the Homestead. It will be placed in the great room on the main floor. I am thinking of an Alcove Hearth.

Please offer me any and all wisdom you may have. With my above situation would you go with the Heritage or the Homestead, or something totally different? Again I am new to this and just want to lower our overall utilities and heating cost, if not all. Some say put it in the basement, but we also want it as our focal point in the great room.

Thanks Again.

 

[edthedawg]

Seems kinda a waste to stick a soapstone heater into an alcove. Might as well just make it an insert and go Clydesdale or Hampton maybe... You would want the blower kit for the alcove or an insert, so you'd wind up with fan noise either way, I guess. I'd prefer the Heritage out in the open - no shrouds, fans, or anything... We had neighbors come over once and ask "why is that so quiet?" - they couldn't grok that just burning wood the right way in the stove didn't require blowers to move the air around...

As for the layout... 1400 sq ft ranch is plenty good for the Heritage - you'll be toasty. A Heritage isn't going to burn you out of the house, I don't think. Heating that downstairs is another thing... Your radiant in-floor (hot water circ tubes in the slab, i assume?) will do a good bit but basement walls are naturally heat-sinks. You could try building some fancy duct system to make a convection loop to turn the air over, but might be a bit of a hassle. Not knowing what your installed HVAC is gonna consist of, I'd venture you could add another flue and leave yourself a spot for an insert / stove in the basement family/bar room. Even if you decide you don't need it, having it installed and capped off on both ends would make it a lot easier to change your mind down the road...

Or maybe you like the funky ductwork idea, and wanna tie that into your alcove on the main floor as some kinda masonry / thermal mass / heat exchanger...

At any rate - good luck and welcome to the Hearth!

 

[Highbeam]

You can't normally install an insert unless you have an existing masonry fireplace. Pull the heritage out into the room instead of sticking it in some alcove. The heritage has a lot more visible soapstone than the homestead so it is nicer to look at, has the super excellent feature of a side loading door vs. the front door only on the homestead, doesn't have the goofy blanket on top of the baffle, and is truly top vented or rear vented. Plus I think it just looks better. The homestead is only slight smaller and I believe they put some firebricks in it.

I vote for the heritage. I'm glad I went that way in my 1700 SF.