My Craigslist score

[ColdNH]

Gearing up for a new install. Wasn't too thrilled with my old Oslo and always loved the look of the hearthstones. Scored this beauty for 460$ came with a brand new uninstalled baffle and a cast iron steamer. Woot

 

[gabenson]

Great find. I like its exterior form.

 

[Woody Stover]

Purty.
What didn't you like about the Oslo?

 

[webby3650]

Good price, you should be able to resell it and make a little money in the deal.

 

[ColdNH]

Purty.
What didn't you like about the Oslo?

I never seemed to be able to get it running hot for long periods of time. My wood was fine and I had plenty of draft. It just didn't seam to live up to the expectation of being one of the greatest stoves available. Honestly I much preferred my Napoleon steel stove I had in my first house, as ugly as it was. Additionally The front door is 100% useless as it dumps ash everywhere and makes a mess every time you go to use it. I didn't hate the Oslo, but i wasn't in love with it either.

Honestly I am unsure if I will like the soapstone either. I am nervous about the long time I will have to wait to feel the heat and I am unsure if the heat really does radiate longer. However I do think this is one of the best looking stoves available and I couldn't pass it up for the price.

Good price, you should be able to resell it and make a little money in the deal.

Are you saying I should resell it and buy something else? If so what would you recommend?

 

[webby3650]

I never seemed to be able to get it running hot for long periods of time. My wood was fine and I had plenty of draft. It just didn't seam to live up to the expectation of being one of the greatest stoves available. Honestly I much preferred my Napoleon steel stove I had in my first house, as ugly as it was. Additionally The front door is 100% useless as it dumps ash everywhere and makes a mess every time you go to use it. I didn't hate the Oslo, but i wasn't in love with it either.

Honestly I am unsure if I will like the soapstone either. I am nervous about the long time I will have to wait to feel the heat and I am unsure if the heat really does radiate longer. However I do think this is one of the best looking stoves available and I couldn't pass it up for the price.



Are you saying I should resell it and buy something else? If so what would you recommend?

If you didn’t like your Oslo, I can’t see you liking the hearthstone. Same problem with the front door, but with poor durability. The “heat life” of the stone is not much if your house needs real Heat.
It was a good buy if it’s not cracked. I would have picked it up too, but with the intention of reselling it in the fall.

 

[ColdNH]

If you didn’t like your Oslo, I can’t see you liking the hearthstone. Same problem with the front door, but with poor durability. The “heat life” of the stone is not much if your house needs real Heat.
It was a good buy if it’s not cracked. I would have picked it up too, but with the intention of reselling it in the fall.

Update: been burning the Hearthstone for about a month on/off as the house needs it. So far I love how much Easier it is to get cruising vs the Oslo. You are right though, the front door has the same issue with ash falling out and yes the "heat life" of the stone doesn't appear to really be that much different than the cast iron and it doesn't appear to radiate insane quantities of heat like the Oslo would when running at 500.

I am curious to see how it performs when the temps drop below 0 for an extended period of time. At this point however I would say I still prefer it over the Oslo due to its ease of starting fires and its appearance.

 

[begreen]

The stone should act as a buffer. What you may find when burning 24/7 in the Hearthstone is a more evenly heated home with less room temperature swing.

 

[webby3650]

The stone should act as a buffer. What you may find when burning 24/7 in the Hearthstone is a more evenly heated home with less room temperature swing.

That’s the sales pitch anyway... what I found was once winter set in I needed more heat. Soft, buffered heat didn’t do the trick.

 

[begreen]

That’s the sales pitch anyway... what I found was once winter set in I needed more heat. Soft, buffered heat didn’t do the trick.

I know you're not a fan, but they work out ok for some people. It depends on the heat loss of the space. Could be a larger model might have worked?

 

[webby3650]

I know you're not a fan, but they work out ok for some people. It depends on the heat loss of the space. Could be a larger model might have worked?

The equinox was the only one that’s bigger. My other similar sized stoves didn’t struggle to heat the space. I was just excited to find a hearthstone because I thought they were really something. They work fine for people with well insulated homes I’m sure. There’s lots of happy owners out there, often first time Stove owners I’ll add. Also, I ran a Woodstock fireview last winter in a home that was not nearly as tight or well insulated, it did amazing! I don’t think soapstone is the problem, it’s all in the design of the stove. You’ve gotta keep the heat from going straight out the flue!

 

[begreen]

You’ve gotta keep the heat from going straight out the flue!

Yes indeed. And that is where it gets confusing with this stove. Back when Highbeam had his stove he was seeing very high flue temps. I polled around and found probe flue temps varying a lot for the Heritage. Some were tracking regularly at or slightly below stovetop temp and others were seeing high flue temps. I never did figure out why.

 

[webby3650]

Update: been burning the Hearthstone for about a month on/off as the house needs it. So far I love how much Easier it is to get cruising vs the Oslo. You are right though, the front door has the same issue with ash falling out and yes the "heat life" of the stone doesn't appear to really be that much different than the cast iron and it doesn't appear to radiate insane quantities of heat like the Oslo would when running at 500.

I am curious to see how it performs when the temps drop below 0 for an extended period of time. At this point however I would say I still prefer it over the Oslo due to its ease of starting fires and its appearance.

I apologize for beating up on hearthstone, this isn’t the time or place...
That’s a great find especially for that price, I always liked that color too, never have ran across a used one though. Do you have a way to monitor flue temps?

 

[JotulOwner]

That’s the sales pitch anyway... what I found was once winter set in I needed more heat. Soft, buffered heat didn’t do the trick.

I wonder if placing soap stone (bricks, slab, whatever) close by a stove (as opposed to being part of it) would be a good idea. That way the stove could radiate heat into the room and a portion of that heat (absorbed by the stone) would be saved for later. I think the materials (furniture, etc) in a stove room absorb and release heat as well, but probably less effectively than soap stone.

 

[webby3650]

I wonder if placing soap stone (bricks, slab, whatever) close by a stove (as opposed to being part of it) would be a good idea. That way the stove could radiate heat into the room and a portion of that heat (absorbed by the stone) would be saved for later. I think the materials (furniture, etc) in a stove room absorb and release heat as well, but probably less effectively than soap stone.

I once lined my fireplace with soapstone hoping it would radiate heat after the damper was closed. The difference was negligible. It looked awesome though!

 

[ColdNH]

I apologize for beating up on hearthstone, this isn’t the time or place...
That’s a great find especially for that price, I always liked that color too, never have ran across a used one though. Do you have a way to monitor flue temps?

Not hurting my feelings, lol. If I paid full retail for this thing, your story may be a little more concerning as we head into winter.

I do not have a way to monitor the flue temps, i have double wall pipe then it converts to class-A after going through the floor. I would assume i need a probe thermometer on the double wall?

Out of curiosity how much sq footage were you heating with your hearthstone? My house is passive solar so it gains a lot of heat during the day which will hopefully make up for the short comings of the stove?

 

[electrathon]

This is the exact same stove as I have. I always start by saying it is a very pretty stove. As a heater it is a very poor choice. It will burn a lot of wood, reload times are short, it puts out a fraction of the heat into the room that you would expect it to. If I come home and the living room is 60 degrees when I go to bed 6 hours later I usually see the room has climbed to about 62 degrees if I am lucky. I am convinced that the majority of heat that leaves the stove and comes into the room is from the glass front. Soapstone is a good insulator, a poor thermal conductor. I generally run my furnace to get heat into the house. If running the stove 24 hours a day and it does not drop below 40 degrees outside I can usually hit low 70's in the stove area of the house. If it hits freezing, the furnace is always running along with the stove.

My last stove, for comparison, was a Blaze King Princess slammer insert. It put out a lot more heat, burned a similar amount of wood. One big advantage of the Hearthstone over the old stove is I rarely get any visible smoke from the chimney, I used to constantly have some smoke.

 

[webby3650]

My last stove, for comparison, was a Blaze King Princess slammer insert. It put out a lot more heat, burned a similar amount of wood. One big advantage of the Hearthstone over the old stove is I rarely get any visible smoke from the chimney, I used to constantly have some smoke.

Was it a cat model insert?

 

[webby3650]

Out of curiosity how much sq footage were you heating with your hearthstone?

2200 square foot ranch, centrally located. I also had another stove in the front room I had to use when it got real cold.

 

[electrathon]

Was it a cat model insert?

No, it was an 1985 model Blaze King Princess, no cat.