I currently have a Clayton 1600g wood furnace. I am considering getting a Hearthstone Heritage wood stove as a "secondary" wood source to replace my Heatilator fireplace for those days when it is above 35 degrees here in Ohio, or maybe colder. My Clayton heats the house great, but goes through a lot of wood in a day (about 24-26 pieces), and heats "too good" when it is above 40. So my question is - for you Heritage or similar stove users (like the Jotul F400 Castine), how many pieces of wood do you go through in a normal day (outside high temps 30-45), and do you think this would be a good stove (either Heritage or Jotul)? I would like to increase my ability to heat with wood, and maybe even decrease my wood usage, and need a good wood stove to do so. Our ranch house is 1900 sq feet on main floor, 1200 ft in basement (mostly finished). I have a whole house circulation feature on my furnace that will circulate the warm air upstairs (where the stove would be) to downstairs.
Hearthstone Heritage or Jotul F400 daily wood usage
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ridemgis
Feeling the Heat
1400 sq-ft home in southern New England. Heat the entire house very comfortably with the Heritage on two to four full loads per day depending weather. It's a two cubic foot firebox and splits range from 2 to 5 inches, 18 inches long.
YMMV
PJ
YMMV
PJ
So when you say a "full load", how many splits are you putting in at each load? 3 or 4? My splits are similar size...18 inches long, 2 to 5 inches. Just trying to compare to the wood usage in my Clayton (which I know will be less).
Hi thunder, I know it's a different stove but our Phoenix will run about 6 or 8 hours when full. Larger firebox= longer burn time. I was going to buy the homestead but decided to slightly oversize with the Phoenix. If I had to do it all over I would go bigger again for more headroom for when I want longer burn times. Hope this helps.
ridemgis
Feeling the Heat
I put the biggest split in the back, then put in 2 or 3 medium size and fill in the gaps with the smallest stuff. If I'm careful about the packing I can come back in eight hours to 150-175 degree stovetop and enough coals to get the whole thing going again without too much trouble.
At 3100 sq ft I would go up a size in the stove to the Mansfield or the F500 Oslo or the F600. That is a lot of sq ftg and basement heating of the whole house can be inefficient. Hard to say how much wood you will use. It depends on how well the basement is insulated, how tight the house is, etc.. Rough estimate? Figure on loading 3 times a day, with 5-6 medium large splits at a time.
I have a heritage. 1st stove I have ever used so I don't have much to compare it too. My house is 2400 sq ft bilevel. stove is downstairs in the rear corner of the house. As you would imagine downstairs gets very warm and upstairs gets to about 72. I load about 3 times a day using 18-20 inch long by about 4-5 inch wide and use about 4-5 pieces per load. Draw back to the stove is the top inside slopes to the back of the stove which makes loading it evenly a puzzle. Usually load at 11 and house is overall at about 65-67 upstairs with decent coals to start the next morning. I know there is a hearthstone that is a step up for a larger space. This is my 2nd year with the stove and house so I am still learning. Over the summer had to replace the gaskets, front glass, front handle and side handle which are parts that wear out. I think I have a slight leak in the back of the stove which I am going to plug up.
Overall if I had to get another stove I wouldn't buy this one again.
Overall if I had to get another stove I wouldn't buy this one again.
Great information, guys, this is helping a lot. So it looks like most of you are burning about 12-16 splits of wood a day. I am burning 24-26 in my Clayton when it is cold. Definite improvement, even if I only use the Clayton when it gets really cold. If the new stove heats good enough, I might be able to use it even when it gets colder.
I would like to consider the larger Phoenix, Mansfield or F500 Oslo, but I believe my current clearance at the top of my old heatilator will prevent the larger size. I need to see if that "smoke barrier" piece at the top front of the heatilator can be removed. If so, I might be able to go up a size.
I would like to consider the larger Phoenix, Mansfield or F500 Oslo, but I believe my current clearance at the top of my old heatilator will prevent the larger size. I need to see if that "smoke barrier" piece at the top front of the heatilator can be removed. If so, I might be able to go up a size.
We could use a picture or two of the setup to be sure the recommendations are correct. It sounds like you may need a stove with a blower.
Ok guys here are pics of my current hearth and heatilator where the wood stove would be installed. I have 21 1/2" of hearth, which would work for either the Heritage or the F400, and 23 1/2 " to the bottom of the smoke shield on the heatilator, 25 3/4" if it can be removed. Can it be removed? Anyway, I checked, my installation situation would prevent the Phoenix or Mansfield from working.
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Oh, and the Heritage (2.3 cu. ft) has a larger firebox than the Phoenix (2.2 cu. ft. ) by the way....
Not a real difference when it coes down to it. Don't know about the Phoenix, but the Heritage has a usable firebox of about 1.5 cu ft. I own an Encore, which has a claimed 2.3 cu ft firebox as well, and the Encore easily fits more wood and has a more usable firebox. That isn't an endorsement for the Encore, just a comparison of the usability of the two fireboxes.
This is probably understood, but just in case not, you do understand that you can't plunk a stove into a ZC fireplace. Some inserts will qualify, but not a free stander. You can put a free-standing, rear-exit flue stove on the hearth and vent it to a tee and up a liner, but you can't put a stove in the ZC fireplace. Are you considering placing a stove on the hearth in front of the fireplace (and extending the hearth)?
I mentioned this in the PM we had, but, does the Fireview fit in their? The Fireview rear vents.
I mention the Fireview over the Progress as this stove is suppose to only be for mild weather only. But, I think the Progress would fit as it can be rear vented and can have shortened legs to fit the opening.
Begreen, yeah, I know I can't put the stove in the ZC fireplace. It would sit out in front of the fireplace on the hearth, then rear vent back and up through the existing pipe with double wall pipe. I will take a look at the Encore and Fireview.
How do the Vermont Castings stoves compare to the Hearthstone stoves in price? The Encore is a possibility for my dimensions and needs...
As an Encore owner, I would buy a new Fireview over a new Encore. Less maintenance, better catalytic system.
That being said, the new Encore stoves offer a better design than the precious generation of Encore stoves. You will get 6-12 hours of heat from the stove depending upon how you burn the stove. With a good chimney (lined) the stove functions well. The Encore burns longer than the Heritage and uses less wood.
I owned a modern heritage for the last several years and more than 25 cords of wood. I could get overnight burns with it and wood consumption was decent. They are a nice looking stove but after using a cat stove for about 1.5 cords I can say that if you are honestly concerned with wood consumption and plan to use this heater for relatively warm days when the wood furnace is too much that I would recommend a cat stove. You sound more interested in performance than you do in pretty fireviews.
Look into the woodstock line for rear venting cat stoves. They are all soapstone too which does look nice.
Picure is of my heritage loaded for bear.
Look into the woodstock line for rear venting cat stoves. They are all soapstone too which does look nice.
Picure is of my heritage loaded for bear.
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You guys have really helped me think through some things. I really wanted to stay away from the catalytic stoves, but the Encore has the option of using both, which is nice. Actually, I may have incorrectly stated my mission. Although I really do want to use the stove primarily during shoulder season, if it does good enough during the colder times, I might use it then, too, to be more efficient in wood usage. So I guess I want my cake and get to eat it too. Just want a great all-purpose stove that will fit my hearth situation. Looking more like it's between the Heritage, the Encore, and the Fireview. But back to the catalytic thing, I burn very seasoned wood (drying for a minimum of 18 months now), but still want to avoid heavy creosote during the warmer days, which might mean a catalytic stove would help on those days, right? Encore is sounding very good for that reason...
ailanthus
Feeling the Heat
In that weather I'd guess around 2 full loads plus a few splits that my wife might add throughout he day. Maybe 15-20 splits like you describe. House & stove in sig. Jotul's a great, great stove, but I'd think there has to be something way cheaper for your purposes (if that's a big consideration).
Thundar-
My guess is that your current zc fireplace vents into a triple wall metal chimney. If your plan is to install a freestanding stove, I believe you'll need to rip that out and use Class A piping.
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