Ideal external temperature for a Hearthstone stove?

[bruh44]

I have a 2500 square foot house that is poorly insulated. I am working on that, there's just a lot to work on. I have a Hearthstone Haratige that doesn't seem to get to the temperatures I would expect. My house is very different in that it's basically a barn converted to a house. The main room that the stove is in has a cathedral ceiling. It does get warm upstairs (not hot) but I have a hard time heating the house with this stove. I do use a ceiling fan to circulate. I realize the house being poorly insulated is a large part of it. I have recently had all my walls filled with foam. It made a difference, but it's still not doing what I thought it would. I check my house often with a thermal optic. Most of the bad leaks are now fixed.
I feel like a big part of the problem is that the highest temperatures I'm getting from the outside stone on this stove is about 350 degree Fahrenheit. This is not the standard, this is the highest. Standard is closer to 300. I have got 500 off the glass, but the stone just doesn't get there. I read a while back that the hearthstone stoves aren't great for really heating up a home. Should I sell this thing and get a better stove? One of there big advertisements is that is holds heat for hours after a burn. Mine cools off in about two to three hours. That's just not that great to me. Plus they say it can burn up to 10 hours. I'm getting four to five hours at best. Even with dried Locust (cut as standing dead mostly then dried for a year). I use several other types of wood too. Most is dried for at least a year, some more. The wood that seems to get it the hottest is poplar. That burns up very quickly though. I'm sure this all leaves lots of questions, fire away.
Any advise?

Also I'm in Western North Carolina so we do get outside temperatures in the teens in the winter.

 

[jalmondale]

I don't have a hearthstone, so I can't comment on the burn times, but I do have a soapstone stove, and it's specifically never supposed to have a surface temp above 500 (I try not to go above 400). What I've found is that fans make a huge difference. I've got one big box fan in the back hallway that keeps hot air moving through the house, and a little desk fan in the living room that blows cold air at the base of the stove. That little fan makes probably a 5 degree difference in the house all by itself - I turn it off for a reload (to keep ash near the door from blowing around), and a little while later I'll sometimes find myself thinking 'hmm it's kind of chilly in here still' - 100% of the time it's because I forgot to turn the fan back on. My guess is that the lower soapstone temps mean that there's not as strong a convection current as with cast iron stoves, so they work better if you help that process along.

 

[Todd]

I have a 2500 square foot house that is poorly insulated. I am working on that, there's just a lot to work on. I have a Hearthstone Haratige that doesn't seem to get to the temperatures I would expect. My house is very different in that it's basically a barn converted to a house. The main room that the stove is in has a cathedral ceiling. It does get warm upstairs (not hot) but I have a hard time heating the house with this stove. I do use a ceiling fan to circulate. I realize the house being poorly insulated is a large part of it. I have recently had all my walls filled with foam. It made a difference, but it's still not doing what I thought it would. I check my house often with a thermal optic. Most of the bad leaks are now fixed.
I feel like a big part of the problem is that the highest temperatures I'm getting from the outside stone on this stove is about 350 degree Fahrenheit. This is not the standard, this is the highest. Standard is closer to 300. I have got 500 off the glass, but the stone just doesn't get there. I read a while back that the hearthstone stoves aren't great for really heating up a home. Should I sell this thing and get a better stove? One of there big advertisements is that is holds heat for hours after a burn. Mine cools off in about two to three hours. That's just not that great to me. Plus they say it can burn up to 10 hours. I'm getting four to five hours at best. Even with dried Locust (cut as standing dead mostly then dried for a year). I use several other types of wood too. Most is dried for at least a year, some more. The wood that seems to get it the hottest is poplar. That burns up very quickly though. I'm sure this all leaves lots of questions, fire away.
Any advise?

Also I'm in Western North Carolina so we do get outside temperatures in the teens in the winter.

How tall is your chimney? You may be over drafting and need a pipe damper to slow it down and keep more heat in the stove.

 

[Todd]

I don't have a hearthstone, so I can't comment on the burn times, but I do have a soapstone stove, and it's specifically never supposed to have a surface temp above 500 (I try not to go above 400). What I've found is that fans make a huge difference. I've got one big box fan in the back hallway that keeps hot air moving through the house, and a little desk fan in the living room that blows cold air at the base of the stove. That little fan makes probably a 5 degree difference in the house all by itself - I turn it off for a reload (to keep ash near the door from blowing around), and a little while later I'll sometimes find myself thinking 'hmm it's kind of chilly in here still' - 100% of the time it's because I forgot to turn the fan back on. My guess is that the lower soapstone temps mean that there's not as strong a convection current as with cast iron stoves, so they work better if you help that process along.

What stove is this? seems Pretty low over fire temp. My Woodstock’s were rated at 700 for overfire and they told me they were more worried about the cast iron internals than the stone.

 

[bruh44]

I have a large ceiling fan above it and one of those little fans that’s powered by the heat sitting on it. I don’t have a blower.
Also the chimney is attached in the back and has a 90 degree angle on it. It’s backed up to an open stone fireplace. (I know that’s not ideal). It’s around 25 to 30 feet tall. It was an 8” but the company that put the wrong size in, dropped a 6” down the 8” when I complained about it.
Would a 6” chimney that tall need a damper? If so, could I put it right behind the stove or does it need to be at the top of the house?
That does make sense about drafting too because even when I turn the stove all the way down, it’s still burning.

 

[jalmondale]

What stove is this? seems Pretty low over fire temp. My Woodstock’s were rated at 700 for overfire and they told me they were more worried about the cast iron internals than the stone.

This is a woodstock fireview - actually, it looks like I was wrong about this. 500 is what's marked on the stove top thermometer that came with it as the top of the ok range, but the manual says it can actually go up to 700. The house stays plenty toasty keeping the surface temp below 400, so I had just figured the thermometer range seemed right.

 

[Highbeam]

I have a 2500 square foot house that is poorly insulated. I am working on that, there's just a lot to work on. I have a Hearthstone Haratige that doesn't seem to get to the temperatures I would expect. My house is very different in that it's basically a barn converted to a house. The main room that the stove is in has a cathedral ceiling. It does get warm upstairs (not hot) but I have a hard time heating the house with this stove. I do use a ceiling fan to circulate. I realize the house being poorly insulated is a large part of it. I have recently had all my walls filled with foam. It made a difference, but it's still not doing what I thought it would. I check my house often with a thermal optic. Most of the bad leaks are now fixed.
I feel like a big part of the problem is that the highest temperatures I'm getting from the outside stone on this stove is about 350 degree Fahrenheit. This is not the standard, this is the highest. Standard is closer to 300. I have got 500 off the glass, but the stone just doesn't get there. I read a while back that the hearthstone stoves aren't great for really heating up a home. Should I sell this thing and get a better stove? One of there big advertisements is that is holds heat for hours after a burn. Mine cools off in about two to three hours. That's just not that great to me. Plus they say it can burn up to 10 hours. I'm getting four to five hours at best. Even with dried Locust (cut as standing dead mostly then dried for a year). I use several other types of wood too. Most is dried for at least a year, some more. The wood that seems to get it the hottest is poplar. That burns up very quickly though. I'm sure this all leaves lots of questions, fire away.
Any advise?

Also I'm in Western North Carolina so we do get outside temperatures in the teens in the winter.

I put 30 cords of wood through a modern non cat heritage. I think the same stove. It was rated to burn for 10 hours and I could get 10 hours and relight from coals with softwoods. It also heated the area it was supposed to so performance was good for me. Max temp was 550 or 600, it’s in the manual. It’s pretty hard to get it that hot, a big waste of wood really. Stone is a crappy stove material in a noncat unless you are able to keep it hot.

That “heat life” marketing is BS. After the fire goes out it cools off fast and stays kinda warm for an extra hour or two. Not worth the drawbacks of stone construction but it looks really nice and is sort of crafty.

I upgraded to a blaze king princess. Much bigger stove but way more controllable and welded steel and I have no regrets.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Does your chimney have a block off plate to help keep the heat in the house?

 

[Todd]

2500 sq ft may be asking too much for the Heritage but I would try the pipe damper first, it should help.

 

[bruh44]

I don’t believe there is a block off plate. I’m not really sure what that is. From the pictures I googled it looks like it goes inside the fireplace on the top, with the chimney running through it. It doesn’t look like it would effect chimney function….But I have no clue on how this all works.

 

[neverstop]

The glass not getting above 500 seems to me your not running the stove hot enough.

 

[bruh44]

This left me with additional questions. I'll just start another post.
Thank you all!

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Mine is a Heritage TruHybrid and you can check my thread out about it where I posted pics of stovetop temps.

My Hearthstone Heritage IV TruHybrid Model 8024 Install

I picked this stove up Friday morning and began installation. Purchased the stove with a rear heat shield, ash tray and outside air adapter. Outside air kit being drop shipped in a week or so as they didn't have one in stock. Flue is up and out as seen below, 20' up to a rain cap from the...

www.hearth.com

 

[BrianVA]

Have you actually checked the moisture content on a freshly split face using a digital moisture meter? Sometimes wood is not as dry as we think. Always best to check that first because its cheap and easy to check before messing with other stuff, and it is often times the culprit.

 

[bruh44]

The dryness of the wood is the one part of all this I have figured out so far, I have checked it with a digital meter. I cut it and split it myself. I do have some that’s less than a year, but that is split smaller and mixed in. The locust was mostly standing dead, then cut and split over a year ago. The poplar is about a year but it burns very fast and hot. It’s great for getting things up to the best temperatures I can get quickly. I know some woods need closer to two years to be dried like red oak. If I have any of that left, it is probably that old and split smaller.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I have an older Hearthstone Heritage and I had a very hard time getting the soapstone above 300 degrees until I added a damper. Now with the damper just 1/4 closed, the soapstone is nearing 500 degrees. I've noticed the real convection heat coming off the stove doesn't have an effect until it's about 400, so this has been a huge difference for me.

As for your leaky house, seal up and insulate your attic first. I waiting years to get the that step in my leaky house and later wished I had done that first since it made by far the biggest difference in sealing up the house. Especially if you have any recessed lighting, that's where you heat is going. Seal them up and you'll be golden.

 

[bruh44]

Thank you for the info. I’m a little mad at myself because it was 50 degrees yesterday. Had the stove off but didn’t add the damper. I’ll be putting one in as soon as I get another warm day.

 

[mxbowles]

Mine is a Heritage TruHybrid and you can check my thread out about it where I posted pics of stovetop temps.

My Hearthstone Heritage IV TruHybrid Model 8024 Install

I picked this stove up Friday morning and began installation. Purchased the stove with a rear heat shield, ash tray and outside air adapter. Outside air kit being drop shipped in a week or so as they didn't have one in stock. Flue is up and out as seen below, 20' up to a rain cap from the...

www.hearth.com

Enjoyed learning from your posts, and was wondering if you would still recommend it? We would need the bigger brother Mansfield but I assume the same basic function.

Thanks for your input!

 

[bruh44]

I would recommend that stove for a smaller area than what they advertise. I sold mine and got the biggest Buck stove they sell. Haven’t used it yet but the temperatures advertised are four times hotter than my Hearthstone ever got. Hopefully it performs at least close to what they advertised.