Picture of my wood stove and hearth

[rudysmallfry]

I figure since you guys gave me the ideas for my hearth design, I'd show you all how it came out. I still have to tile around the front, and prime and paint the wall behind it, but so far, I like it.

Incidentally, the fire in that pic is with air shut down about 2/3rds. Should the flame still be so healthy in that case? I having a hell of time getting decent burn times and having to reload this thing on the hour. Should I try shutting it all the way down?

 

[Eric Johnson]

Beautiful! Love the design and the tilework.

 

[Sandor]

Nice job Bunky!

And those flames do look rather aggressive, not a lazy burn.

Try adjusting your air intake down some more while watching your stovetop thermometer. No two installations are alike and you need to see what works for you. I have a new stove for this year, and the new gaskets compress so it may be necessary to readjust latches to make sure air is not leaking in from doors, ashtrays, etc.

 

[crow]

That looks great , Rudy!

Nice hearth!

I made a tiled hearth also. But not as fancy as yours.

 

[MAJ. Woody]

Beautiful stove!!
I have a woodstock soapstone en route as we speak!

 

[fbelec]

rudy nice job

great design
can't wait to see the finish

 

[fbelec]

rudy a friend of mine has the same stove. he runs his about a third open and works fine. still has a good secondary fire up top. and no smoke outside.

 

[rudysmallfry]

Yeah, I'm loving the no smoke outside thing. It's so clean burning, you can't even tell I've got a fire going from outside. fbelec, can your friend get his down to a lazy flame? How long of a burn can he get on a load of wood?

 

[fbelec]

hi rudy

yes he does get it down to a lazy flame burn but he's afraid to load near the burn tubes and the glass on the door so he get's between 3 and 6 hour burn time. the stove run's between 350 and 400 stove top temp. he's a tree man by trade so he has his pick of what he wants to burn. a couple of nice knots in with his splits and that makes it go a long time.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Your install looks great!
You must have one heck of a good drafting chimney. The heritage is one of the more draft sensitive stoves that hearthstone makes, next to the tribute. At the shop (and my house) we burn a heritage. The one at the shop overdrafts even with the air almost closed. I installed a damper section above the flu collar and it give me alot more control. The shops stove is on a 30' 8" chimney with 90 percent of the pipe in the building.
At home i get 3-5 hour burns with about 1.5 hour peak. At the shop im lucky to get 1.0 hours with the flue damper open and the the stove open.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I didn't realize the heritage was prone to overdrafting. I've been suspecting that is my problem with my short burn times, but had ruled it out somewhat since my chimney just meets the minimum height requirements. My setup is single wall pipe with a 90 degree elbow to the outside wall, and then 18' up an exterior class A insulated chimney. Quite a few people suggested that the chimney size is inadequate, but I'm pretty convinced it's an over drafting issue at this point. The only way I can turn a raging fire into lazy flame is to shut the air off completely. To me that says draft is good. It kind of makes for a high maintenance stove. I have to open the air all the way up when I reload the stove to keep the stack temp up, and then have to cut the air off in increments. That's a lot of trips up and down the stairs. It's becoming part of my tv commericial ritual. Hit the fridge, hit the bathroom, adjust the air on the stove.

I have been playing with both types and styles of wood over the winter. I have noticed a big difference in how long of burn I can get out of a split of Maple versus some softer woods in my pile. My longest burn times seem to come from putting in a few large splits along with some smaller rounds.

I'm going to try to stay exclusively with oak and maple to maximize burn times, but maybe I'll try adding a damper next year if that doesn't work.

 

[PaulGuy]

Nice install and I really like your stove. I would have prefered that model but the Homestead was perfect for my hearth installation. And judging how it heats my home it was probably the right choice anyway. But I like the option you have to load from the side which I don't have on my stove.

 

[rmcfall]

so what is the longest burn time you all can get with the heritage while still producing some substantial heat?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I was referring to hearitages being draft sensitive on the side that they are usually hard to draft, but if you put enough pipe on anything it can overdraft. I would say that a chimney that tall would be prone to overdrafting. The good news is that you can always cut the draft down, but its hard to go the other way. A inline damper would help in your install in my opinon.
How can the chimney size be inadequate, are you refering to size? or hight? Im assuming your on a 6 inch flue, and in no way is 18' to short, as far as draft is related. Its simply pulling to hard and burning up your wood to fast. That tells you that you have more then a adequate chimney. Your wood type might be a factor, but i dont think so. Im burning ponderosa pine and blue spruce in mine. You dont get much worse then that. Well there's balsa.
I dont know why i brought up the draft sensitive issue on the previous post, it not relative at all to your situation. I think i must have had my limit on bourbon.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

so what is the longest burn time you all can get with the heritage while still producing some substantial heat?

I get a decent 3-5 hour burn with a good 8 hour total cycle. It takes a long time for that stove to cool down. I light it once in the morning and once in the evening and it keeps my house toasty. I think you would get better burn times with better wood. Like i said in the previous post all i have avalible is pine. And things burn a little different at 9000'.

 

[fbelec]

hey ryan

how is the burn different at 9000 feet verses 100 feet?

last time i was in california i was on a mountain at 10000 feet got out of the air conditioned car and couldn't breath. how do breath up there

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I dont know for shure, but i think with the lower o2 content that things burn slower, chimneys are a real PITA up there. Nothing works right! DV gas almost looses 50% of its heating capacity (we sell 40k btu gas for 1000 square feet. LOL. As far as breathing is concerned, you get used to it. I run and bike at that altitude all the time. Over the years you get aclimated. And i tell you what, cocktails hurt you a lot faster at my house VS sealevel.