Hearth stone brand stoves?

That sounds pretty reasonable

 

HarvestMan, how big of a space do you heat with your fv, and how warm does it keep it?

 

Even still, if it has a six year life span, that's 72 months. I would have to put away 2.08 a month to pay for it in that time

 

Our home is larger than the square footage range listed by Woodstock for the Fireview. Yet, I chose it because my old Hearthstone was the same firebox size and had a 42000 BTU rating while the Fireview has a 55000 BTU rating - no question, we have never been this warm before. Currently 76 inside, 12 outside - not sure I ever surpassed 72 with the Hearthstone (can't say for sure).

We have approximately 2250 sq ft. Two story with 2x6 exterior walls and excellent attic insulation (don't know exact R value). We do have many windows that are leaky, but I seal them with 3M window kits. Bedrooms upstairs and we close them off when up to the temp we want. Stove is on first floor in two story ceiling area where heat can easily move up to upstairs. Floor plan is open. I also heat an enclosed porch (~200 sf) when it is warmer or when I get the house too warm and want to cool it off. Right now this room is closed as temps going down to single digits and no one is using that room at the moment.

EDIT: we keep it 68 and above at night and like 70-73 during the day.

Here is a view from our balcony right after hearth rebuild and install.

 

Thats a lotta sqft in a cold climate for a stove that size. Glad the FV is getting it done for you.

 

I bought the stove thinking it would do the job 98% of the time. If I need to assist with the propane furnace for the other 2%, I can live with that. I am hoping for at least one or two nights of -10 or lower, just to see how the stove would keep up. I know it will be better than the old stove, just not sure if I can keep it at 68 or above at night over an 8 hour burn. In years past we set the thermostat at 65, now it is at 68 so the pressure is on (well, not really but it is kind of a game I get to play).

 

I don't see it happening at -10F. Thats a BIG job but good luck. Don't feel let down if the gas kicks on.
Fixing the leaky windows would help a lot.

 

Keweenaw, to answer your original question, I like the hearthstone, it's pretty, but get the stove that suits you best. I love the low end control of the Woodstock stoves, I called friend that has heritage she only started using wood after Christmas as it over heated her house. Where as I Haven't turned on heat yet and I have had negatives and lows look that way rest of week. But this 24 hour burn thing on junk popular in my shoulder season with Temps 20 night and 40 during day is just fun...

 

That's amazing!! If you can keep that place warm then I shouldn't have a problem with my little house. My vogelzang stove I have now has a 2.8 cubic foot fire box. But the dimensions are odd, 13.5 x 13.5 x 27, so unless I cut my wood over 2 feet long I'm not using the whole firebox. Most of my wood is cut around 16" so at that length it's kind of like I'm working out of a firebox under 2 cubic feet. I'm still warm even using it like that so I know the fv will have no trouble keeping us toasty

 

I would suggest reaching out to some of the Fireview veterans like Backwoods Savage , Oldhippie , TurboDiesel , Woody Stover to get some of their thoughts. Of course calling Woodstock and discussing your situation is a good thing to do as well. I think my house design, insulation level and tolerance for cooler temps allows me to use a stove that by most criteria is too small for the square footage. What I found in researching the Fireview was that most people loved the stove and only upgraded from the Fireview to something like a PH or IS because they just needed more heat than the Fireview could provide. Just want you to make sure it is sized correctly for your situation and don't want mine to have too much influence as I find it more an exception than the rule.

 

Well, as long as I can make it down to Dennis's get together I should get to see it first hand I've got a small house and a centrally located hearth so that's a plus

 

Thread derail warning.....

How much wood do you burn a year and how much propane would you guess you use for heating? Im a big Fireview fan myself.

Really nice looking set up you have!

 

Don't know as it is my first burning season with the stove. Just reached the 1 cord usage for the season. I'm guessing between 3 and 4 cord.

Regarding propane: I only started trying to heat mostly with wood a couple years ago. I can say that we used to use 1100 gallons/year when we only burned fires in the evenings. Last year we used about 250 and that includes our hot water heater. This year the furnace only comes on when I turn it on every two weeks to make sure it still works and to let the stove go out to clean out the ashes. The down side to this is we likely will need to pay a tank rental fee of $100 next year because we don't meet the purchase minimums (small price to pay). Propane is very cheap this year so the pay back for the new stove will take a little longer, but still not very long.

 

Thanks for the call out, HM

Just a little background, my set up is not quite ideal.
My install was a little bit of a spur of the moment idea. I had moved my oil furnace to the other side of the basement using a power vent, and about the same time BrianK offered to sell me his FV.
This is a basement install because thats where the flue was. I'm heating a 16x16 area in the basement and pushing the heat up the basement steps with a fan to a 1000sf main level in a cape cod.

I am trying to heat full time with wood, but I still keep the oil furnace turned on and set to 67-68*
I can get the main level 68-69* most of the time and the furnace will cycle occasionally when its cold and windy and the FV gets down to about 300-350* STT. If the stove was on the main level I think it would heat the house just fine, but I have no plans to move the stove to the main level. I do plan on jumping up to a PH or IS as a few more degrees would be ok but longer burn times is really what I'm after.
We only use the main level and I close off the second floor. it stays chilly up there.

Cape cods are famous for less than ideal insulation in the attic space and after having the roof off this summer I saw just how bad of shape the fiberglass is in. After a major insulation overhaul I believe I can heat the second floor also with the larger stove

 

As far as supplementing with oil I have used about half a tank of oil so far this year, but I don't start burning wood till Thankgiving. I have burned one tank per year (250gals+/-) while trying to heat full time with wood.

We are burning around 4 cords of wood per year +/- and most times we get 4-6 hour burn times. About 5 reloads per day
I think we'd get longer burns if the stove was on the main level also

 

I 'downgraded' from Fireview to Keystone, and it's plenty in this climate even though the insulation and air-sealing aren't real good. 1000 sq.ft. here, one main room and a bedroom. If your house is insulated and air-sealed decently, a Keystone would probably handle it. With the Keystone, you get a big window (see the cat glowing from the couch) and a grated ash-handling system (this is big for me.) You can top- or rear-vent it. Cat, you have to take off a plate (over the vent not used) to get to it. I do it once during the season. Output is a little less than the Fireview but not all that much. Heck, even the little Dutchwest is handling this place right now, in single digits with a bit of breeze. But room temp might drop a few degrees after 8 hrs. I like to keep it at 70.