The Hearthstone "Heritage" model Pellet stove

[Peterfield]

Problem being is that many hearthstone dealers are wood guys and lack a bit of skill as pellets guys....it's a broad brush I know but seems to fit the picture. I have installed a few and have worked on a few and I really like the stove a lot. Honestly, it sounds like yours is installed incorrectly, dirty or both. There may be an issue with the controller, who knows. There were some issues with first year models as to be expected. If anyone can point me to the link for the heritage for $500, that would be great, I'll go buy it!

It is actually $700 dollars and has been posted a few times in the NH CL ads, most recently two days ago.

(broken link removed to http://nh.craigslist.org/hsh/5470426284.html)

 

[smwilliamson]

Yup I found it... It it's a Manchester not a Heritage, the owner and I are discussing numbers. Most likely I'll go get it this week. Thanks for the heads up, I'd rather have a Manchester than the Heritage anyway. The pellet engine is the same on each from what I've seen.

 

[Peterfield]

I wanted a Manchester stove so bad - loved everything about it. Store salesman steered me away due to tech problems they were having. Sorry about the Heritage versus Manchester. That stove is still etched in my mind.

 

[bogieb]

Holy cow - what a steal for a nice looking stove.

 

[bogieb]

Yup I found it... It it's a Manchester not a Heritage, the owner and I are discussing numbers. Most likely I'll go get it this week. Thanks for the heads up, I'd rather have a Manchester than the Heritage anyway. The pellet engine is the same on each from what I've seen.

He's got $600 on it now

 

[Hunky Dory]

I've owned a Hearthstone Heritage for three seasons now. I cannot recommend it to anyone. Pellet stoves hit my area and through a brother-in-law that worked for a dealer in Fairbanks, I was able to purchase the Hearthstone at a price about even with a Harman at the time. I have two friends who bought Harman p61s. My stove is beautiful - their stoves are not. My stove is quieter -- and I like that. Still, my stove has required way too much maintenance, in my opinion. My friends just keep putting pellets into theirs and run them virtually maintenance free. It seems to me that my stove does not draw enough combustion air -- I really have to tweak the computer settings to get a clean burning flame. I have to clean the flue every month to keep the flame clean. I use it a lot -- it's not like I bought it just for looks -- i expect to get lots of use from it. I've probably put 10 - 12 tons of pellets through it. The Fairbanks dealer wants nothing to do with the stove because I live 380 miles away. So far I have replaced the following: 1) Hopper Door Sensor: $36 2) Upper Baffle Assembly $140 3) Burn Pot - three times $180 each 4) Thermocouple - three times $190 each 5) Thermocouple well $56 6) Fuse $3 7) I took apart the air intake fan because it was banging around and was able to repair it with materials in my shop -- two afternoons. There's been more, but that's what I remember off the top of my head. The costs I mention are what they cost Wood Heat and Solar inc. - an online store I can get parts from. I just looked up the prices. I paid shipping for all these parts as well, and the time it has taken to learn the intricacies of the stove has been significant. I have eMailed a fellow at hearthstone who is very helpful in terms of diagnosing problems. His name is Jim. So, all in all, I'm pretty disappointed with my Hearthstone Heritage. It's nice looking, and it's quiet, but I will steer people away from it. As a matter of fact, when the new flame sensor and flame sensor well arrive in the mail, I hope to install them, give the stove a good cleaning and put it up for sale -- and rest assured, I will disclose the difficulties I have had with it.

 

[bogieb]

Yup I found it... It it's a Manchester not a Heritage, the owner and I are discussing numbers. Most likely I'll go get it this week. Thanks for the heads up, I'd rather have a Manchester than the Heritage anyway. The pellet engine is the same on each from what I've seen.

Did you get the stove? Looks like it has been deleted from CL

 

[kladdie]

Disgusted with the cost of running my propane furnace (keeping the house at a mere 67 degrees), I purchased the Heritage just over a month ago and have burned through nearly a ton of pellets. A long-time burner of wood, this is my first experience with pellet fuel, so I have nothing to compare it to. Overall, I am quite happy with the Heritage, though it has its pros and cons.
Pros:
1) Cost of fuel. In less than a month of use, I saved about $30 on propane and $140 on electricity. (Appalled the cost of propane I immediately enlisted the services of three electric heaters. Another shock arrived with my electric bill.) But I spent $163 on pellets. The upside to the break-even is that I am now keeping the house at a balmy 72 degrees rather that 67. So more comfort for roughly the same cost.
2) Ease of use. While the Heritage requires more frequent attention than I anticipated, it is not time-consuming or labor intensive. Emptying the burn pot and ash pan, then a quick vacuum of ashes and glass cleaning takes less than 10 minutes a day. (*See "cons" for exceptions to ease of use.)
3) Attractiveness. The stove (I have the grey soapstone) is very appealing visually and offers not only warmth, but the ambiance of a fire in the hearth.
4) Warmth. Using the included room sensor, the stove is able to maintain a consistent temperature throughout the day and remains warm long after it has shut off. Using the auto mode and manually setting the desired temperature, it will run on its own all night and keep the furnace at bay.
5) Quiet operation. But blower is kind of loud. And my wood stove was virtually silent.

Cons:
1) Cost. Expensive at nearly $5000 with all installation parts. Install was additional. It will take a very long time for this stove to pay for itself.
2) Difficulty of use. The control panel (as well as the accompanying instruction manual) is a mystery solved only by trying to follow the instructions but ending up pressing buttons randomly in hopes that I'll get lucky. After more than a month with the stove it's not really any easier. Though the troubleshooting section of the owner's manual is very helpful. Also, auger access plate is tedious to remove. Hand cramps from trying to keep the wrench in place.
3) Burn pot. Daily cleaning is recommended but often needs to be emptied twice a day. A simple task, but not always easy to catch it at a time when it's cooled down enough to empty. Also noticed today that there is a small break in the bottom of the pot.
4) Start-up time. Takes at least 10 minutes to start up, but then, so does a wood stove.
5) Requires frequent attention. Though it's usually brief. Usually it's because the burn pot is clogged and the stove isn't getting enough air to ignite.

Overall, I am quite happy with the Hearthstone Heritage pellet stove and would recommend it, if you're willing to part with $5K. I'm not sorry I got it, but my expectation of saving a lot of money has been diminished. Daily maintenance is quick and easy but seems to be required more often than was expected. I hope this was helpful.

UPDATE - 3 years later. Hearthstone Heritage pellet stove.

My love affair with this stove is over. It still has some redeeming qualities, such as its warmth and charming good looks, but it's a complicated and expensive relationship. I'll stay with the Heritage for as long as I can, but you can bet I'll always be looking for something else.

1) Design. When I first wrote about this stove, I had yet to experience the "every ton of pellets" maintenance procedures. My biggest complaint by far is the poor design of baffle installation. The baffles are awkward, heavy, and there's no good way to grip and lift them onto the tiny, hidden pins. Especially the upper one. An extra half inch in height and width of the inside of the stove would help. This is a struggle every single time maintenance is required (every ton of pellets). I've come to dread taking it apart for cleaning. Not because it's hard to clean, but because it's so difficult to put back together.
2) Cost. I replaced the bottom baffle, which had cracked after just two seasons of use. The baffle alone was $196.35. Not included were the ceramic heat shield ($34.12 for 6"X18" piece of insulation) and the rear insulation guard ($98.50), for a grand total of $328.97. The top baffle is now bowed (mid-season #3), which I think contributes to the difficulty with putting it in place. I'm ordering a new one which I expect to run about the same as the bottom. I also need a new burn pot. That will have to wait until after the end of this season.

It's not all bad. This stove has saved me money compared to the cost of propane, but part replacement is eating up that savings. It heats the house very nicely and I don't have to wear three layers all the time. It's easy to fill, easy to use, and easy to clean. But when I'm ready to replace it, you can be sure I will request a full demonstration of the maintenance procedures before I make a purchase.

 

[jim3854]

I have had numerous problems with my Heritage model and spoken with Hearthstone and sent messages to no avail. Here is my experience in a nutshell. This was originally posted on Hearthstone's facebook page on Valentine weekend but they deleted it and blocked me a day later. It is long so hopefully the whole thing will post here.

Talked to someone at Hearhstone about my issues oh about a month ago, was basically told it was my fault because of lack of maintenance, which is a crock since I have read the manual cover to cover many times and followed all directions for maintenance that are in there. (Honestly I think a comic book would have better directions than their manual) We had this stove maintained by the service dept. of the dealer we bought it at in September. (It was maintained in Sept. it was bought and installed in Dec. 2013) Didn't try to light it up till a few weeks later in October and it would not light, so had him back here to figure that out. Had to replace the temperature stick thing that protrudes into the fire box, I am guessing this thing got damaged because of the high flamage we had in the fire box that I was told was "normal" (I sent a video of that to Hearthstone and got no response) Had to wait for that part to come in and once it did and was installed and the stove lit the glass on the door cracked and we had to wait another 2 weeks for that part to come in. Lit the stove up and all was well for a day or two when we started having the issue of too many pellets falling down the chute and into the fire box, I could not leave my stove on for any length of time due to risk of fire, flames going up the chute and at one time we must have had an undetected fire in the hopper because I noticed the hopper looked discolored but I didn't figure out why till I did myself see flames going up that chute. Called the service dept again and they did not know why this was happening, he came out took some pictures and sent them to hearthstone to review. It took Hearthstone almost a WEEK to review and get back to them about it and I suspect it only took a week because I got on the phone and called Hearthstone myself about it. I love the "We're busy but working on it" excuse I get all the time. If you are too busy to field calls and emails from customers and dealers then perhaps you need to hire more people, or make better products so you get less calls. When they finally did get back to me with their opinion I was told it could be caused by that temperature thing in the firebox but I informed them it had just been replaced, then he said something else (can't remember off the top of my head right now) told him that had been done, then got told it was lack of maintenance and since we did not maintain it correctly they would not cover anything under warranty. I was pretty darn ticked off to get blamed for this when I had been maintaining it according to their own manual all along and at that point probably had only burned a few bags of pellets since the yearly maintenance by the service guy had been done. I didn't really know what to say or do about that so just hung up. I fired it up again and hoped for the best. About a day later after I had refilled the stove and reset it to ignite my son noticed black smoke coming from the chimney outside, I took video of this and also noticed black smoke inside the firebox in the stove, video shows that as well. After a few min. of this I decided I better shut it down before something happened but when I went to the stove to do that there was a 'mini explosion" in it that scared the heck out of my son (who is 24 BTW not a child) and he said flames flew out the top of the door and he thought I was gonna catch fire. I did not see it as I was right on top of it but I felt and heard it. I don't know what caused it but after that the stove was lit and worked perfectly for about a week, when once again it would not ignite. Now we needed a new ignitor (or so I was told and charged for) once again the service guy came out and replaced the ignitor and did another what is supposed to be yearly cleaning on the stove, For this call I got charged a whopping $329! That new ignitor and cleaning was done less than two weeks ago and today i woke up to smoke in my living room and smoldering pellets in the HOPPER!! THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! Nor is it due to a "lack of maintenance"! This stove has had nothing but maintenance done on it ALL SEASON LONG! I really am at my wits end, tired of being cold after purchasing a $3600 stove and paying for maintenance and installation. This is only our third season with it (if you can call it a season, I swear it has been sitting cold more often than working) and I assure you these have not been our first issues with it. We have actually had many issues right from the get go (ash pan warped and lost screws, burn pot warped and had to be replaced, sparks flying out the chimney so much so that passers by would knock on our door at all hours to tell us, we got told that was "normal" too after sending Hearthstone that video, "No Pellets" message when clearly there are still a lot of pellets but for some reason will not slide down the side of the hopper and go into the auger. I'm sure I could go on and will in litigation if necessary) but being as this was our first stove I chalked it up to inexperience on our part, however after speaking with many other pellet stove owners I realized that was not the case and unfortunately we have bought a lemon item from a lemon company who ignores and blames their clientele for issues. I wish I had done a little more talking to people before purchasing, I searched google for reviews about different stoves and did not see anything to deter me from this company,(oh how I wish I had) I have an engineer friend who has a Harman, he told me all his other engineer friends also have Harman and that is the only pellet stove they would go with. Also I have asked all the service guys that cross my path what they have and they say Harman. Nobody knows a whole heck of a lot about Hearhstone and now I guess I know why. From my experience I would say this stove belongs in Home Depot or Walmart rather than a fancy show room. My next course of action after posting this will be to get my notes together and notify my lawyer. Hearthstone has had several opportunities to right the situation but instead chose to hope I would go away. I won't go away till this is taken care of to MY satisfaction. #Hearthstone #tiredofbeingcold #stopblamingthecustomer

 

[jim3854]

UPDATE - 3 years later. Hearthstone Heritage pellet stove.

My love affair with this stove is over. It still has some redeeming qualities, such as its warmth and charming good looks, but it's a complicated and expensive relationship. I'll stay with the Heritage for as long as I can, but you can bet I'll always be looking for something else.

1) Design. When I first wrote about this stove, I had yet to experience the "every ton of pellets" maintenance procedures. My biggest complaint by far is the poor design of baffle installation. The baffles are awkward, heavy, and there's no good way to grip and lift them onto the tiny, hidden pins. Especially the upper one. An extra half inch in height and width of the inside of the stove would help. This is a struggle every single time maintenance is required (every ton of pellets). I've come to dread taking it apart for cleaning. Not because it's hard to clean, but because it's so difficult to put back together.
2) Cost. I replaced the bottom baffle, which had cracked after just two seasons of use. The baffle alone was $196.35. Not included were the ceramic heat shield ($34.12 for 6"X18" piece of insulation) and the rear insulation guard ($98.50), for a grand total of $328.97. The top baffle is now bowed (mid-season #3), which I think contributes to the difficulty with putting it in place. I'm ordering a new one which I expect to run about the same as the bottom. I also need a new burn pot. That will have to wait until after the end of this season.

It's not all bad. This stove has saved me money compared to the cost of propane, but part replacement is eating up that savings. It heats the house very nicely and I don't have to wear three layers all the time. It's easy to fill, easy to use, and easy to clean. But when I'm ready to replace it, you can be sure I will request a full demonstration of the maintenance procedures before I make a purchase.[/Q

 

[jim3854]

What was the end result ? ive been in contact with hearthstone and they cannot get my stove to work . nothing but headaches

 

[Maladjusted]

This was an interesting thread... I had a Hearthstone Heritage WOOD stove for years... sold it and bought my current Harman Absolute 63. I was just browsing the Hearthstone site and it looks like they no longer sell ANY pellet stoves.

Mal

 

[P51mustang]

This was an interesting thread... I had a Hearthstone Heritage WOOD stove for years... sold it and bought my current Harman Absolute 63. I was just browsing the Hearthstone site and it looks like they no longer sell ANY pellet stoves.

Mal

It was a good thread and very informative.....I'm formerly the member called "Chain." I lost my password sometime ago and had to re-register as my current handle. Anyway, I ultimately chose the Harman P61A and am glad I did from reading the most recent replies to this very old thread.

I have to ask, how is the Harman Absolute 63? Looks like a beautiful stove and since it's a Harman, I bet it's a very nice stove.

 

[Maladjusted]

I have to ask, how is the Harman Absolute 63? Looks like a beautiful stove and since it's a Harman, I bet it's a very nice stove.

I ABSOLUTEly (see what I did there...) LOVE it... as does my wife! It is so nice to come downstairs to a warm first floor! (The past 7 yrs have been cold house mornings until I could re-fire the Heritage) Harman has done a great job with the design of the Absolute line... My father heats with an XXV and the Absolute is waay easier to clean. The touchscreen, schedule programming and cleaning prompts make for an easy to operate, well designed, heating appliance. It was expensive... but I would gladly fork over the dough and do it over again if I had to!

Mal

 

[P51mustang]

I ABSOLUTEly (see what I did there...) LOVE it... as does my wife! It is so nice to come downstairs to a warm first floor! (The past 7 yrs have been cold house mornings until I could re-fire the Heritage) Harman has done a great job with the design of the Absolute line... My father heats with an XXV and the Absolute is waay easier to clean. The touchscreen, schedule programming and cleaning prompts make for an easy to operate, well designed, heating appliance. It was expensive... but I would gladly fork over the dough and do it over again if I had to!

Mal

Good for you, Mal.....The xxv was my second choice after the P61A and they hadn't yet come out with the Absolute line at the time I bought my Harman. If I was in the market, I think I'd buy the Absolute 63 as they look awesome and evidently are very easy to operate and clean.

I'm planning on a few retirement gifts for myself in about 8 years and by then it may be time to replace my P61A....The Absolute or whatever it'll be called then will definitely be on my list to consider.

 

[mtbrbike]

Hello,

I have 2 of the Hearthstone soapstone pellet stoves, 1 in the basement, and 1 in the living room that we use the most. Now on the coldest week of the year in upstate NY the one in the living room auger bearings went making a loud squealing sound. Not one of the dealers will even make sm attempt to work on it especially the one in Auburn, NY which is about 1 hour from my house. Other dealers will not make an attempt to work on it therefore it has become my problem to fix a stove that is only 5 years old.

So, I called Hearthstone and spoke to Ray and provided me a confirmation that it was the bearings and they would walk me through the process to replace them. I ordered the parts and will attempt the fix later this week. This has been the only hiccup with my stoves and I do like the look of the 2 stoves in the house but the lack of dealer support and no longer selling the stoves to the pellet market is making me second guess my purchases.

If I cannot get the stove up and running I will be likely to sell both.

 

[P51mustang]

Hello,

I have 2 of the Hearthstone soapstone pellet stoves, 1 in the basement, and 1 in the living room that we use the most. Now on the coldest week of the year in upstate NY the one in the living room auger bearings went making a loud squealing sound. Not one of the dealers will even make sm attempt to work on it especially the one in Auburn, NY which is about 1 hour from my house. Other dealers will not make an attempt to work on it therefore it has become my problem to fix a stove that is only 5 years old.

So, I called Hearthstone and spoke to Ray and provided me a confirmation that it was the bearings and they would walk me through the process to replace them. I ordered the parts and will attempt the fix later this week. This has been the only hiccup with my stoves and I do like the look of the 2 stoves in the house but the lack of dealer support and no longer selling the stoves to the pellet market is making me second guess my purchases.

If I cannot get the stove up and running I will be likely to sell both.

Sorry for your bad luck.....The good news is it looks like a warm up for us folks here in upstate, NY....Finally! Hopefully your parts will be in soon and you can replace the bearings during "seasonal" weather rather than during this Arctic type weather.

 

[mtbrbike]

Sorry for your bad luck.....The good news is it looks like a warm up for us folks here in upstate, NY....Finally! Hopefully your parts will be in soon and you can replace the bearings during "seasonal" weather rather than during this Arctic type weather.

Yes that is true. Do you still have yours and if so who do you have service it? Where are you located in upstate NY? Great stoves when they are running.

 

[P51mustang]

Yes that is true. Do you still have yours and if so who do you have service it? Where are you located in upstate NY? Great stoves when they are running.

I live just outside Lowville, NY.....

 

[mtbrbike]

Update: I contacted Hearthstone and they sent me 2 bearings the upper and lower section by the auger. They looked used and dirty but I installed them with some high temp grease/lube and it was quiet for about 1 week. Now it started up again with the squeaky sound coming near the auger motor and tore it apart again. I contacted Hearthstone and they stated to use anti-seize lubricant and I added the new anti-seize put it all back together with the noise not as prevalent but still there.

I don't have the older flanged bearings and was wondering if anyone knows the measurements of each? Also does anyone have any suggestions on a auger motor that will work instead of purchasing a 500 dollar Beger Lahr Scheider Electric RSM63/8fg?

Thanks!