Is this a good stove? Heritage 1

[skycamper]

I need a woodstove this winter. I see for sale what appears to be a Hearthstone Heritage 1 model 8021 with serial number 17974. Also appears to have the fan.

This stove appears to have several iterations based on this rundown from Hearthstone:

Heritage I – 8021

Stove History Production Run Dates Serial Numbers Notes Start Rev. 0.1 February 2003 001001 Style and firebox change Rev. 1.1 March 2003 001139 New ash door […]

hearthstonetech.com

Alot of small upgrades. Am I correct to assume if the serieal number indicates a late model that these upgrades were alread included when they bought it. The owner bought a house with this in it so does not know much other than its working fine for her.

Thank you!!

Abraham

 

[begreen]

I think Highbeam had this version.

 

[Highbeam]

I think Highbeam had this version.

I believe that is the model I had. Bought in about 2007 new. Was a pretty stove that performed as specified by the manufacturer. You should be able to call hearthstone and ask about specific changes during the model run but I wouldn’t value any of those revisions since even the current model still carries the flaws I deemed fatal for serious use.

 

[skycamper]

I believe that is the model I had. Bought in about 2007 new. Was a pretty stove that performed as specified by the manufacturer. You should be able to call hearthstone and ask about specific changes during the model run but I wouldn’t value any of those revisions since even the current model still carries the flaws I deemed fatal for serious use.

Thanks for the response. Im in the pacific NW where I burn pretty much every day from beginning of november till end of april on a 2200 sq feet 2 story house. Fatal flaws?

 

[electrathon]

Looks like the same model stove I have. It is a pretty stove. Watching the fire is pleasing. It puts out very little heat. If you are buying the stove for ambiance, great choice. If you rare buying it to heat your house, run away. Soapstone is an insulator, not a conductor. Almost all of the heat that comes out of the stove comes through the front window. With a raging fire you can still quickly touch the outside of the stove without getting burned, Hearthstone has a picture in their add of someone hugging the burning stove. Very much not a good example of what you want to heat a room. It can take over a couple hours from starting the stove till your room heat starts to climb into the heating mode. I don't know if the newer stoves work any better for heat output.

 

[Highbeam]

Thanks for the response. Im in the pacific NW where I burn pretty much every day from beginning of november till end of april on a 2200 sq feet 2 story house. Fatal flaws?

The stove is not durable. The hinge pins are very small and much harder than the casting so the hinge pin holes get all egged out and the doors sag with age. Gasket misalignment and runaways are the initial result. Cheezy engineering.

The door latches are a dainty affair with a silly little catch that quickly wears the casting to the point of failure so the door could pop open on you midburn in the middle of the night. Yikes!

Replacing these failed castings, failed by normal use due to poor design, requires full disassembly and rebuild of the stone stove. Not cool and not a financially viable solution.

I did not have a problem with cracked stones and the heat output was sufficient for my home. The burn times were typical of a noncat and the heritage model could just barely make it overnight on our PNW woods. It was a good runner.

The last thing that really stunk, but you get used to, is the slow warm up time. These smaller noncats are always running out of fuel while you sleep or area away at work so your house temp and stove temp cool. Then you go to restart a fire only to be cold an hour later because it takes forever for the stove to start heating the room even when you really have a fire ripping.

Dang that stove looked good though!

 

[skycamper]

Hmmmmm. I dont think this stove is for me. I get home from work and I need to be warm like right now! I cant wait. I had an Englander 30NC for about 8 years and it cooked me out of the room in like 60 min of burning. But I had to feed it all day long. I guess I'll look for something else. My wife really like cast iron stoves and nothing modern so its tough to find an ornate steel stove?? How long does it take a cast stove to heat up? Without soapstone?

 

[skycamper]

Thank you so much for your replies!!

 

[begreen]

Hmmmmm. I dont think this stove is for me. I get home from work and I need to be warm like right now! I cant wait. I had an Englander 30NC for about 8 years and it cooked me out of the room in like 60 min of burning. But I had to feed it all day long. I guess I'll look for something else. My wife really like cast iron stoves and nothing modern so its tough to find an ornate steel stove?? How long does it take a cast stove to heat up? Without soapstone?

In new, look at the Jotul F45 & F55, Pacific Energy T5 & T6, and Blaze King Ashford 30.2.

In used, look for a well cared for Jotul F500.

 

[ThisStoveIsOnFire]

The new Hearthstones fixed the issue with the door latch and hinges, much better designed now, so don't let that necessarily scare you if looking for a new stove. There are also cat-only now too, so warm-up time is not a big deal if you are running it 24x7 (overnight burns are actually possible).

 

[rudysmallfry]

I have that stove. I think I bought mine in 2004, but same model. Like others have said, it's not a heat beast. My house is a 1200sq ft raised ranch with the stove on the lower floor. After several hours from cold start, the soapstone does get up to about 400 degrees and start pushing out a beautiful soft heat that lasts for hours, but you do have to wait for it. As long as the outside temp is above 20, I can get the lower floor up to about 78 and the upper floor stays around 68 which is more than hot enough for me. I've thought about switching to a faster heating cast iron stove, but I really don't like it that hot, so this works for me. If you're going to be burning 24/7, the soapstone does hold the heat for so long, it really doesn't take that long to get back to that 400 radiating heat upon reload. Burn times are nowhere near as advertised. A fresh load of wood is already at the coal stage within the hour, but it does continue to throw heat without active flame. I can pack the stove at 2:00pm, go to work, come home at midnight and it's still warm and easy to relight for the overnight. Oil boiler usually kicks on around 5:30am when the stove dies down too much. I haven't had the door problem that others have talked about. I almost never open the front door and load from the side door.