Jotul Oslo Vs. Hearthstone Heritage.

[BrowningBAR]

Go Rob! You are kickin' butt on technique if the Tribute is taking care of business the same as or better than another EPA stove ~ twice its size did. +1 on the heat retention of soapstone. The "usefulness" of this in terms of output has been the subject of some debate, but I just think it's cool to come back 18 or 20 hours after loading and find a warm stove. Our old insert was pre-EPA. Maybe ~ 6 hour burn on a good day and cool to the touch an hour or two later. It was steel, lined with firebrick, and weiged probably about the same as our stone stove, ~ 500lbs. The stone has some mojo that can't be dismissed as thermal mass, IMO. Also, I frequently find hot coals for restarting after 18 hours, but I won't claim that as a "burn time". . .I'll leave that for the BK guys.

That is roughly what you can expect from a Heritage.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Rob From Wisconsin,

3-4 hr burns on the Oslo and you didnt think something was amiss? That just aint right.

I did the Oslo "upgrade" strickly with the hope of longer burn times.
For me, it underperformed my expectations.
Replaced it with a $300 Menard's EPA stove, which exceeded my expectations.

It was scary - the little, cheap stove did the job better.
We have since moved to a different house with a different stove.

 

[ddddddden]

Ah, so the Tribute is in a different house? Well, I still say you are kickin' butt if you are getting it done with a 1.2-cu-ft stove. I do agree that 4 hours sounds a lil' short for an Oslo though. . .short for any 2+ cu-ft EPA stove, really. It seems like most Ozzies report ~ 8 hours. I guess some of the discrepancy is due to varying definitions of "burn time." My stove will hold coals for about a day, but so will an ash bucket. (I've taken to running a very deep ash bed.)

 

[ddddddden]

BAR, I guess I can believe a 6-hour burn for the Heritage, since it's non-cat, and either you or Highbeam has said that it's box is smaller than a Fireview's (1.8 cu ft usable), but if you're saying that it would be cool to the touch @ 8 hours, I'm really surprised to hear that.

 

[BrowningBAR]

BAR, I guess I can believe a 6-hour burn for the Heritage, since it's non-cat, and either you or Highbeam has said that it's box is smaller than a Fireview's (1.8 cu ft usable), but if you're saying that it would be cool to the touch @ 8 hours, I'm really surprised to hear that.

'Stone' cold? No. But a stove that is cool enough to the touch is not putting out any heat. After 8 hours you are below 150 degrees. Which isn't worth a hell of a lot and is not much different than a cast iron stove.

 

[ddddddden]

Ah, the ol' "useful output" debate. I dunno how much it's worth. . .I just like it when my stove stays warm and waits patiently for me to come and stoke it, rather than going cold after the fire is gone.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Ah, the ol' "useful output" debate. I dunno how much it's worth. . .I just like it when my stove stays warm and waits patiently for me to come and stoke it, rather than going cold after the fire is gone.

I don't know of anyone that would consider 100-140 degrees useful. Starting up a soapstone at sub-150 degree temps is pretty much a cold start. I don't care if it can sit at that temp for 20 hours, it is no different than sitting at room temp.

EDIT: I'm going to move this to a new thread.

 

[Todd]

I don't recall how long my old Homestead retained heat but I know my Keystones can still have a 250-300 stove top after 10+ hours and it's still putting out enough heat to keep my house temps steady. I would of thought the Heritage would be similar, maybe it's that old leaky house that's sucking the heat out of that stone?

 

[ddddddden]

Maybe room temp is slightly higher if the room has a large object sitting in it that is @ 100+ deg? An oil-filled electric radiator on the low setting never gets more than a lil' warm to the touch, but it takes the chill out of the room. Worth something, I think. . .costs about $1 to run that radiator for 20 hours. :cheese:

 

[logger]

Rob From Wisconsin,

3-4 hr burns on the Oslo and you didnt think something was amiss? That just aint right.

I did the Oslo "upgrade" strickly with the hope of longer burn times.
For me, it underperformed my expectations.
Replaced it with a $300 Menard's EPA stove, which exceeded my expectations.

It was scary - the little, cheap stove did the job better.
We have since moved to a different house with a different stove.

There must have been a problem with your particular stove or setup I'd think. My Oslo easily gets 8-10 burns without much effort. Same thing with our neighbors' Oslo. If a $300 stove consistently outperformed the Oslo, you'd think Jotul would have gone out of bussiness by now. Id say most Oslo owners would disagree with your 3-4 hr burn claim, but stoves and setups can be tricky. Not saying you're wrong, but I think there was a problem somewhere for you to only get those short burns. As long as your happy now. Only reason I replied back is so the initial poster doesnt think those short burn times are the norm for the Oslo.

 

[firefighterjake]

I have sometimes had my head turned by the beauty of the soapstone stoves . . . but honestly my plain Jane matte black Oslo has kept me mighty warm for the past three years with nothing more than cleaning and it really has done all that I ask it to do . . . mainly keep me warm all winter long, have decent burn times, etc. Of course as Shari is so often keen to remind me . . . if I had been a little more patient and a little less frugal I could have had the blue black Oslo that I really would have liked to own.

 

[Highbeam]

BAR, I guess I can believe a 6-hour burn for the Heritage, since it's non-cat, and either you or Highbeam has said that it's box is smaller than a Fireview's (1.8 cu ft usable), but if you're saying that it would be cool to the touch @ 8 hours, I'm really surprised to hear that.

'Stone' cold? No. But a stove that is cool enough to the touch is not putting out any heat. After 8 hours you are below 150 degrees. Which isn't worth a hell of a lot and is not much different than a cast iron stove.

The heritage is advertised as 2.3 CF which is larger than a fireview. I have no problem getting overnight burns with it and it is still "can't hold your hand on it for long" hot in the morning after 9 hours. It is an absolute fact that a 100 degree stove is putting heat into the room so long as the room is under 100. Not much of course, but certainly some.

The stone is nice but isn't the most important feature of a stove. I would trade the stone for a cat.

Remember, if you close your eyes you can't tell what the 500 degree stove is made out of. The only reasons for stone are looks, heat retention between burn cycles, and that slow cool down.