Thoughts? Heritage collection 2019 left over

[LGMC]

Hi..female...have mercy....
Just started shopping for a stove bc our new house is propane $. Keeping the house temp at 60 deg. Using 3% propane a week which is good, freezing butt off (but ok, overall with clothing). Stopped by a stove shop and the guy was excellent with info. But, being at step one for research, afraid to a pull trigger wo a tad more research.
Hearthstone/ Herratage soap stone largest one they make...2019 model $4000. Guy said the 2020s are more EPA (dual something) but said less efficacy bc EPA. He raved about this and the 2019 model. I believe him....but let's get a few opinions plz.

This is the deal. House is 4400 square feet first and second floor combined with open floorplan and open two story family room. Basement is unfinished. This stove would go in the basement.
Is the 2019 better before the EPA installed stricter guidelines in the 2020 as he stated? EPA guidelines make the 2020s not quite "as good"? Not for the environment, I mean for the consumer.

Is this a fair deal? $4k for the 2019 delivery included (live in a $ area). Soapstone ok? He bragged about it. Size ok for our house? Again, this was the larger stove of the Herratage. The smaller one, same style, was quoted $2800 ...55,000 btu smaller one (2019 model). Heratage.

Thanks for any feedback. I did search and read before posting. Looking for specific info for my situation. Thank you

 

[Highbeam]

The heritage is just 2.3 cubic feet. Not large and also not the largest from hearthstone which would be the equinox at over 4 cubic feet. There is also the Mansfield which is between.

I burned a heritage for many years. The soapstone causes more harm than good. It looks great butis not a good material to make a stove with.

4400 square feet? You need a much larger stove. Really can’t get too big.

 

[LGMC]

Imokok

The heritage is just 2.3 cubic feet. Not large and also not the largest from hearthstone which would be the equinox at over 4 cubic feet. There is also the Mansfield which is between.

I burned a heritage for many years. The soapstone causes more harm than good. It looks great butis not a good material to make a stove with.

4400 square feet? You need a much larger stove. Really can’t get too big.

What I was looking for..... just honest feedback. Worst would be a stove not large enough and appreciate your feedback on soapstone. This will be very expensive for us. Need to do it right. Thank you.

 

[weatherguy]

Also heating from an unfinished basement is a tough assignment. The concrete walls will absorb a lot of heat before you can get any upstairs, why the basement and not first floor?

 

[begreen]

That doesn't look like a Heritage. The largest stove they make is the Equinox. Is that what you meant? That's what this stove looks like.
Heating 4400 sq ft is probably too much for one stove, even in Maryland, but it will make a notable improvement. This stove requires an 8" flue which will cost a bit more for installation.

 

[LGMC]

Also heating from an unfinished basement is a tough assignment. The concrete walls will absorb a lot of heat before you can get any upstairs, why the basement and not first floor?

thank you this is excellent information also. I guess we considered the basement just for asthetics? There's no place that it would look normal in our family room. We discussed rebuilding our propane gas fireplace and using a wooden fireplace insert. Although we don't plan on moving anywhere, we didn't know if this would be good for resale. In addition just seems strange to gut a fireplace that we just had installed less than a year ago with the build. We were not able to get the Builder to put in a wooden fireplace or we would have gone with that option bc we live on 8 acres of woods. We were naive to how much the propane costs. $1400 to fill the 1000 g tank. This will be our first full winter in our home central Maryland zone 4. Our neighbor said they went through three tanks last year during the winter months. What?? They must have been keeping their house very, very warm....but scary none the less. We've been doing just fine so far with propane usage but the cold has not quite hit us (and we are keeping the heat on 60-62) . It's actually been a very mild winter so far.

We need to educate ourselves as much as we can first.
IE
the sales man felt the bigger Herratage soapstone oven was plenty large for our house size and we let him know that we just had an unfinished basement. He didn't mention anything about the concrete absorbing the heat. Etc being unfinished. That makes complete sense. As knowledgeable as he was, and he was, there's always the underlining worry of someone trying to make a sale.

Attached a pic of our current propane fireplace. Originally we were just talking about buying wooden insert as I mentioned, and taking it from there. Somehow we ended up moving to discussing then stove in the basement since the sales guy said it when heat our entire house with ease (and not take up room in the family room).

This is very helpful. A $$ mistake would be horrible....

 

[LGMC]

That doesn't look like a Heritage. The largest stove they make is the Equinox. Is that what you meant? That's what this stove looks like.
Heating 4400 sq ft is probably too much for one stove, even in Maryland, but it will make a notable improvement. This stove requires an 8" flue which will cost a bit more for installation.

Thank you. There were two sizes of Heritage at the store the salesman showed us. Both were soapstone and both were the 2019 models he had discounted. I took a picture of the smaller ones display tag (pic attached). This was the first one he was trying to sell us but I was concerned that the BTUs were not higher (we might have still been discussing keeping this in the family room with the sales man at the time versus moving to the basement). Then he showed us the larger counterpart at $4k discounted. Was the exact same but larger (2019 leftover also).

He quoted us three or four thousand for the install on a rough guess. He did say the stainless steel piping alone would cost about $2,000k and run up the exterior of the house.

Your information was incredibly helpful. And it again, so good to hear that the stove probably wouldn't even be big enough.

I don't care about the aesthetics of the stove. I only care about the utility, proper size, location options and keeping it under 8k total. We don't have the money, but we figured we would gain it back quickly cutting back on our winter propane usage.

We all agree Heratage is not the model for our home due to the stove size. Talking to each of you has really brought up and some excellent questions we didn't think about nor brought up by the salesman.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

We have a Heathstone Heritage (there is only one size of the Heritage, as has already been pointed out), and it somewhat unevenly heats our 3000 ft house down to 30F outside. We like the soapstone a lot, but folks more concerned with overall heat production probably wouldn't.

The stove in the unfinished basement is a non-starter, I think.

Others here have much more experience than I do, but the salesperson's claims about the 2020 models being less efficient sound questionable, and I've read lots of people having issues with exterior chimneys. Maybe the more knowledgeable folks here can add to this.

 

[electrathon]

If you want a pretty stove, Hearthstone is tops. If you want heat, buy something else. Soapstone is awesome pretty. It also is a great insulator and pushes the heat that the stone keeps out of the room right up the chimney.

 

[Highbeam]

Beware of salesmen dumping inventory this winter. See, the 2019 model stoves won’t be worth anything after the deadline so there will be pressure to lie, cheat, and steal!

You will never heat that home 100% from one wood stove but that’s okay. Every stick of wood you burn is a savings in propane. Get the biggest stove you can find and enjoy the heat.

 

[LGMC]

** very very points!
and I wasn't even aware that it would be illegal to sell the old stoves what's the deadline comes. Huge reason to push... ...perhaps a much better deal come spring if there are any left.

Update:8
You guys sure know your stuff! I called the store. The larger soapstone was the Equinox (at a discount to be 4k, lol....)

Aesthetics is not important at all. I think then soapstone is not the best choice for ours situation.

 

[Gearhead660]

You heat with forced air or radiant? If forced air, may want to look into add on wood furnace.

 

[LGMC]

You heat with forced air or radiant? If forced air, may want to look into add on wood furnace.

Propane heater- forced air I believe. Two hearers (dual). One in attic (heats top floor) and a larger one basement (heats basement and first floor).

Will read up on suggestion. Thank you

 

[john26]

You heat with forced air or radiant? If forced air, may want to look into add on wood furnace.

I 2nd that! I am now using 2 inserts on the first floor of a 3000 sqft 2 story, I miss my wood chuck ad-on furnace. I will be re installing it before next winter. If aesthetics are not important I would look for an add-on furnace, better heat distribution and all the mess in the unfinished basement. This looks like a nice unit if I didn't remove my woodchuck from my old house I would probably buy this one.
(broken link removed to https://www.drolet.ca/en/products/furnaces/drolet-heatpro-wood-furnace-df03000/)

 

[begreen]

Update:8
You guys sure know your stuff! I called the store. The larger soapstone was the Equinox (at a discount to be 4k, lol....)

Aesthetics is not important at all. I think then soapstone is not the best choice for ours situation.

We've been here for a while , probably too long.

It's good that you are taking time to learn. Heating from a basement is harder and using a wood stove from an unfinished basement is very inefficient. The cold basement walls will suck out about a third of the heat meaning you could be spending a lot of money on wood to heat outdoors. A wood furnace is an option, but with some caveats too. There are some special considerations regarding flue location relative to the truck ducting of the propane furnace and proper tie-in to with backdraft dampering to manage air flow. Also, does the basement have an outside entrance? Toting wood from upstairs will get old fast. There is a boiler/furnace forum here that can answer more specific questions if you choose that route. Llampa is a good company to research.

If you find a woodstove is better for your needs, remember that a woodstove is an area heater. Take more time to consider a first floor location where the heat will do the most good and the stove will provide the most pleasure not only for warmth, but with a nice view of the fire.

 

[spudman99]

Since you are in the discovery/learning phase, let me also say that if you are going to consummate this deal, PLEASE do not forget your wood supply. Scout out some trees now, and if you have the tools and time, drop a few this winter. Get them stacked and split and covered so they can begin seasoning. Regardless of your stove choice, you will need seasoned wood. Remember its a 2 step process; 1 being the stove; 2 being the fuel.

Put on your boots and go get some wood regardless of what stove you choose.

Given you are somewhat early in on your search, you may be looking at a Feb/early March installation as this tends to be a busy time of the year. At that point the season is 75% over, and of course we don't know you current wood supply. Take your time to read through the many pages in this forum, so many good nuggets of information. Personally I might consider a free standing wood stove in the family room location, with a temporary hearth pad extension for the burning season on the floor. You could vent to the rear and with angles run the outside pipe between the windows to the required height. Drop the basement stove idea, not in a house with that much SF.

 

[Highbeam]

I bet the oddball stoves like the equinox will be steeply discounted. 8” flue, enormous, heavy, and very expensive. That’s quite a burden on the stove shop that bought one to resell.

I’m starting to agree with the folks who think that the old stoves should be allowed to be sold, just not manufactured after the deadline.

 

[bholler]

I bet the oddball stoves like the equinox will be steeply discounted. 8” flue, enormous, heavy, and very expensive. That’s quite a burden on the stove shop that bought one to resell.

I’m starting to agree with the folks who think that the old stoves should be allowed to be sold, just not manufactured after the deadline.

I would have absolutely no problem with that if I didn't know that there are some manufacturers out there that would use that loophole to cheat the system.

 

[jetsam]

Do your reading on basement stoves before going forward. Being in a basement may prevent you from using an outside air kit, which is a serious problem in tight houses. If the basement floor and walls are not insulated, you may lose most of the heat generated to the ground.

People do successfully heat from the basement, but people who just slap a stove down there with no research and no insulation wind up unhappy.

You could fill part of your needs with a wood burning insert in that fireplace! That may be a good place for you to start, and move on to the second stove when ready. (And at 4400sf, second stove is happening anyway if you want to heat 100% with wood.)

 

[Highbeam]

Looking at the photo of the interior of the home, a large part of that 4400 is double tall so you are heating the eqivalent of much more than 4400 SF. My ceilings aren't even 8 feet tall!