Out with the old, in with the new [Hearthstone Heritage, pics included]

[MarcM]

So, over the last couple months, I've managed to get ahold of a new Hearthstone Heritage stove to put in my kitchen. It replaces a 1930's era wood fired cookstove, pictured below:

Information on the old stove. It's in pieces now, but I'm hoping to find a good home for it... my father might take it and rebuild it sometime. It def. needs some work to be safe to burn again.

The cookstove was in an unlined chimney that had creosote stains on the OUTSIDE of the chimney. I had it lined by Flue Season Chimney Sweeps of Andover, MA. It's a cast in place liner, using the Golden Flue system and products. Below is a picture of the former in the chimney-

I got a freebie on the hearthpad, my father's cousin had the perfect size the Heritage manual called for. Little cleanup with a wire wheel on the frame and some scrubbing on the slate and it's ready to go. Stovepipe installation went very easily. Probably too easy. Didn't have to cut any pipe, worked out just right. The horizontal run and the 90 elbow is all double wall, the rest of it is single wall. All clearances to the stove and pipe are greater than the minimums recommended.

And finally one of the very first break in fire!

So far I've burned 3 break in fires. The first one I got the stove top to 100F and let it die. Second one up to 200F for about an hour and let it die. Third one got up to 300F, held it there for maybe three hours then let it die (which took another 2 hours to stop burning, and like 9 hours to cool the stove to room temp). Still a little smell but honestly not too bad.

I'm going to burn the first fire, in earnest, tonight as it's supposed to be fairly chilly.

It's pretty wild how long the stove stays hot. Of course, I'm used to my father's cast iron VC Encore, so soapstove is def. a bit of a different animal.

The only trouble I've had is with the glass. The break in fires left some pretty tough stains on the glass. I was able to get most of it off by doing what the manual recommended, pulling the door of the hinges and letting glass cleaner sit on the glass horizontally, but it was a pain. Does this stuff burn off with a hotter fire?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

That old cookstove is awesome!! I hope it finds a good home. That's like the antique car that everyone admires... well, to stove people at least.

Everyone loves dem soapstone stoves. Go easy with the break in fires- the soapstone is a lot different than a metal stove.

Dry wood and hot fires will keep the glass clean. If the wood is too close to the glass, it can really cause more issues with that. In fact- don't bother cleaning the glass when it blackens, as it will burn off with a hot fire anyway.

 

[joesat78]

My insert glass door has a few streaks of brown stain on it after 2-3 weeks of burning wood.
I used a slightly wet kitchen towel, a little ash and rubbed it on the brown stain on the glass - to my surprise, the stain went without any big effort. A slight scrub was all that was needed to get it back to how it was when the insert was new.

 

[MarcM]

That old cookstove is awesome!! I hope it finds a good home. That's like the antique car that everyone admires... well, to stove people at least.

Everyone loves dem soapstone stoves. Go easy with the break in fires- the soapstone is a lot different than a metal stove.

Dry wood and hot fires will keep the glass clean. If the wood is too close to the glass, it can really cause more issues with that. In fact- don't bother cleaning the glass when it blackens, as it will burn off with a hot fire anyway.

Thanks AP... I've actually done more break in than the manual recommends. The manual only recommends one break in fire when new, and one at the begining of each season.

I understand the cements need curing and there can be moisture in the stone... which is why I burned it for a while a 300 degrees... an attempt to get all of the stone above 212F. I've not heard or seen anything disconcerting yet.

The reason I like the soapstone is because the house is not insulated and the windows are not good. Things I'll fix eventually, but until then, I need the stove to hold heat, because the house won't

 

[edthedawg]

The reason I like the soapstone is because the house is not insulated and the windows are not good. Things I'll fix eventually, but until then, I need the stove to hold heat, because the house won't

I'm in your neck of the woods and my big drafty 1885 Victorian has been insulated and mostly re-windowed (still 4 windows out of 40 I need to fix the storms up a little). It still doesn't hold heat all that well But our new Heritage is doing a fine job warming it up...

 

[MarcM]

The reason I like the soapstone is because the house is not insulated and the windows are not good. Things I'll fix eventually, but until then, I need the stove to hold heat, because the house won't

I'm in your neck of the woods and my big drafty 1885 Victorian has been insulated and mostly re-windowed (still 4 windows out of 40 I need to fix the storms up a little). It still doesn't hold heat all that well But our new Heritage is doing a fine job warming it up...

Yeah, I'm with ya, and am glad to hear you're having good luck with the Heritage. I'm in Dudley, MA... just moved from Woodostock. I've got 32 windows to replace eventually and have spent a lot of time fixing the junky aluminum storms and banking the house. The old parts are circa 1760's and the "new" part was built in 1812.

 

[04RevX]

That stove is a beauty! I have the smaller sibling in the Hearthstone lineup, the Homestead. I truly love the soapstone look. The heat retention is awesome. Enjoy it.

 

[Highbeam]

Looks nice. The glass wash does a great job of cleaning the large window. I haven't even opened the front door since starting burning about a month ago. We do everything from the side door and find it to be a much cleaner operation. The only thing that accumulates on the front glass is white fly ash giving a foggy appearance.

 

[begreen]

Great change Marc. I think you're going to love the new stove. That's a nice clean installation.

 

[relax]

nice job ,looks marrrrrrvelous... your just starting to see what soap stone stoves will do towards keeking your home nice and warm ,hours after the fire is out,your still cooking,,,love it enjoy and make sure that oldie but goodie finds a good home...ZZZim

 

[btj1031]

Congrats on the new stove, it looks great. What did you do with the old one? How's that flue liner working out for you? Why did you go with the cast in place vs. the flex liners? I need to reline, probably next summer after a good cleaning.

 

[MarcM]

Congrats on the new stove, it looks great. What did you do with the old one? How's that flue liner working out for you? Why did you go with the cast in place vs. the flex liners? I need to reline, probably next summer after a good cleaning.

The old one I still have, it is disassembled, since it was the only way to move it... heavy old thing.

I went with the cast in place because the chimney was old, and rather than have to rebuild it in 20 years, 10 years after I finished restoring the house, I went the the cast liner to reinforce the chimney. I also believe them to be safer than stainless liners (not to say stainless is unsafe).

 

[InTheRockies]

Beautiful new stove. I too hope the old one gets a good home eventually. Almost everyone here uses wood, several people that I know have wood cook stoves and use them for cooking and hot water. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[John Champagne]

I use a little oven cleaner on a rag to clean my glass at the end of the season. It seems to really do the trick and get the glass very clean. Does anyone recommend against this?