Help with Hearthstone Stoves

Hello to all. While a lifelong wood burner, in June of 2023, I retired my failed Central Boiler E Classic 2400 after 11 years of use due to a water jacket leak and purchased/installed a Hearthstone Heritage 8024 wood stove. I am heating roughly 2000 sq feet (plus an additional 1000 sq feet of seldomly used upstairs space some heat may bleed into). My living room and kitchen area is open floorplan (approximately 550 sq feet) with the wood stove being installed in the living room, pretty centralized to this entire area. What I found in October when temps dropped to 40's during the day, and mid 20's at night is, I am struggling to maintain the house temp I was used to with the boiler. Don't gasp, but I like my room temp to be in the area of 75-78 degrees. I find with the Heritage, if I babysit the stove all day, adding roughly 3 mid sized splits (approx. 3-4 inch pieces) I can maybe get my room temp up to that range before the evening sets in. That being said, I load my last charge of wood, filling the wood box full, and go to bed at 10:30pm. When I wake up at 6:00 am, the Heritage has a fair amount of small coals, soapstone temp will be roughly 100-150 degrees, and room temp 70-71 degrees. What I'm finding is, small loads of wood as mentioned earlier give me a burn hot enough to keep the glass clean without burning uncontrollably for about 2.5-3 hours. I'm assuming my nightly full loads are are burning roughly 5-6 hours down to coals. My dealer who I purchased the Heritage from has offered me 75% credit towards the Hearthstone Mansfield which is the stove I had gone in to purchase originally before being talked into this smaller Heritage.

PS:
1. My home is approximately 20 years old, 2x6 walls, fiberglass insulation, good insulated e-glazed windows.
2. I run a furnace fan constantly to circulate air to the different rooms of this 2000 sq feet area.
3. I have a thermometer on the far kitchen wall I use to monitor indoor/outdoor temps approximately 18 feet from the stove in the living room.

Now, my questions are:
1. Do any of you experience the same scenario burning your Hearthstone Heritage that I am experiencing with low output for this amount of space? My concern is, when it gets really cold and drops to teens or sub zero, this stove will never keep up.

2. If you're burning the new Hearthstone Mansfield, do you believe I can achieve the temperatures I desire and get a true burn long enough to hold my room temperature through the night. I'm really interested in legitmate burn time, hot enough to generate heat to be "maintaining" room temperatures on a cold night rather than dropping 7-8 degrees on a 25 degree night. I just can't seem to find any real life numbers based on other's experiences.

Thank you so much in advance for any input you might have!

 

Greetings, and welcome!

I have the same stove in the same general layout, almost to a T.

My experience with the stove is near identical to yours, though my STT is usually a little higher than yours when I come down in the morning... usually around 200* to maybe a little more. This morning, I was at 250* and was thrilled.

STT along with size of stove is generally what drives the BTU output. Sounds like you're not happy with the Heritage's output. There's no doubt that in January, when overnight lows average 12*, my central heating system is absolutely necessary to augment the Heritage. I assume your place will need to be the same.

I definitely would have preferred the Mansfield, but it wouldn't have fit... My stove sits on a raised brick hearth in front of our now retired wood burning fireplace. If you can fit the Mansfield and afford the swap, for sure go for it.

 

Very interesting to say the least! My problem, I don't have an alternative heat source. Have always heated with wood. My old wood stove I had prior to the outdoor boiler was a champ. It wasn't unusual to crack open a window in January if it turned out to be a warmer day. So, that being said, the Heritage definitely is not my answer. Have you ever had an opportunity to talk to someone running a Mansfield to get their perspective on a comparison to your stove? I can definitely fit the Mansfield, and can afford the additional cost, just under protest.

 

Highbeam
May have words of wisdom. Perhaps......

 

I think this is part of your issue...most ducts run through the basement, or attic, and even if insulated, can disappear some BTU's.
Try moving heat around the house by putting a small fan on the floor in the back of the house where you want heat...fan on low, pointing back toward the stove...that pushes cool air to the stove, which in turn pushes warm air back out to replace the cool/heavy air. This often works much better than using the central furnace fan to move heat around...which for many people, does not work very well.

 

I will definitely try that for a while and see if I can notice a difference. You are correct, my ducts run through the attic although very well insulated. Don't know if this helps, but, my back bedroom temps are generally the same as the temp in the kitchen when the blower is running. I don't have a furnace, just a duct system with a blower installed in it. My biggest concern with this heritage seems to be the lack of heat output and such short burn times from full load to coals.

 

Sounds like the bigger stove would have been the right call...will they at least deliver/swap it out for you?

 

I will lose 25% on the initial purchase, but at this point, I have limited options. Just wondering if the Mansfield will even serve my purpose. I know of no one personally who hears near me with one. That's why this forum is invaluable. Unfortunately, I have to transport and get these beasts into my house as well.

 

I ran a heritage for several years and about 30 cords of fuel. It was the last noncat version from the late 2000s and contrary to the marketing was less than 2 cubic feet. Looked good, heated well for my application, burned overnight but barely. It was rated for 1800 sf and that’s about what I have.

You’re trying to heat a 3000 sf house to 78 with a tiny stove. Further, the stone stove has a low maximum temperature of 550 or 600. Not sure why you’re just getting 3 splits in there but assume it’s because the firebox is full of coals which is what happens when you are asking too much. I remember getting 8-10 splits in.

That heritage looks good but never had a chance. Your dealer robbed you.

A Mansfield will do much better but these days they have cats in the hearthstones and honestly, I would recommend a different brand if you want a lot of heat. Does your dealer sell PE?

Another thing is you’re coming from an outdoor boiler with enormous output and highly effective distribution. A stove is more of a room heater.

There is no woodstove on the market that is too big for your home. Go as big as you can.

 

Very insightful input! Thank you! What brand is PE. I'm new to dabbling in the stove market again. I should clarify, I do the 3 small splits during times I can babysit it and feed it about every three hours. This way, I can burn it hotter without it running away on me and hitting the 550° range on the top center stone. With the three small pieces I can hold it around a consistent 300-400°. I just finished putting a full load in for the night and I fit 5 splits in it, each being about 3-4" each. The " usable " firebox on this thing is 11.5" front to back, 21" side to side, and about 12" bottom to top. When I just loaded it, I have about 2" of very hot coals. Wood has caught very quick with draft wide open. Will slowly close it down to about half way or less for the night. Temps not bad tonight, 47° outside and 77° inside as I type this. I'm anticipating the house will be about 72° by 6-7am.

On a side note, I am removing ash once every day and leaving only coals. I'm not getting tons of ash daily, just one to two tray fulls. My wood is 3rd year seasoned and covered, about 12-16% on the moisture meter.

 

Just to clarify, are you saying you burned approximately 30 face cord per year in your heritage, or 30 full cord the life of the stove over the years? If per year, I burned about 35 face cord per year in my boiler heating the whole house and two hot water heaters.

 

72 by morning sounds about right for that stove. To be clear, is this the modern version with a catalyst? If not, he sold you an obsolete model not even legal to install. Was it a “used”stove?

PE is pacific energy. They make about the best noncat stove you can buy and the T6 model is about as big as you can get. The same firebox without the pretty cast iron is called the summit. Imagine a stove 50% larger than yours and able to run 800 stove top temp.

We don’t have face cords out west. A cord is a cord, 128 cubic feet. Over the 6-7 years I owned that heritage I pushed over 30 cords through it just to heat my home with a 9 month heating season. The heritage always looked good but wasn’t durable enough to last as a heating appliance.

The good news is that non stone stoves are usually lighter weight. Easier to move and make more heat.

 

I'm sorry, I haven't spoke with anyone that burns in a Mansfield.

*BUT*

If I remember correctly from the EPA report (which is published on the Hearthstone website), the Heritage burns ~2 pounds of wood per hour on the lowest setting. Supposedly, the Mansfield is a bit more efficient. You'd be able to fit quite a bit more wood in the Mansfield, which would give you quite a bit longer burn time.

I love soapstone, especially for my setup. Being in the central part of my house, where we spend a lot of time, I didn't want a steel or cast iron stove for fear it would roast us. Also, overnight burns are critical to me, and soapstone retains heat longest. Cat stoves are a modern marvel and simply make sense. Finally, I wanted a beautiful stove since it's front and center in the house, and this stove (along with the Mansfield) is a real looker.

Definitely try using fans to distribute the heat, as suggested above. Also, make sure you're heating that sucker up to at least 4oo* before you're shutting that damper ALL THE WAY with a full load of wood. When I do that, the stove top temp goes from 400* to 225* over nine hours, which is pretty good. (And when I start burning my good wood, like oak and beech, I expect even better performance).

Good luck!

 

Yeah, THAT, we don't have them in New England either. A cord is a cord. 128 cu. ft.

I get all confused when people start with those face cords... some nutty marketing term to confuse people or something? No need for reply, I'm just venting!

 

Sorry I didn't clarify, this is a new Cat stove.

 

I don't mind sharing location as it's also helpful to others to know. I live in Michigan, about 20 miles north of Central Michigan University (this marker may be helpful to some)

 

My firewood is all 3 year seasoned oak, stored under cover. 12-16% moisture on the meter.

 

I am also familiar with heritage in a ranch home
Would not heat the whole house. It was more of a warm the living room on the weekends type of stove