Hearthstone Tribute

I'm looking for a small woodstove for my family room.

Originally started out with a Jotul F3cb which was great for the occasional fire. Wasn't big enough to heat the house so I switched it out for a Jotul F600cb Firelight. Which was a great stove but I got tired of bringing enough wood to heat my house into the living room so I sold it when I got my wood boiler running.

Which leaves me looking for a small stove for the occasional weekend/holidays/evening fire.

I found a Hearthstone tribute on CL that I'm going to look at tomorrow.
http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/store/wood-products/wood-stoves/tribute-soapstone

Thoughts?

 

Here is where it will go

 

I've had three jotuls (started with a 118) they've all been great.

But at this point I'm just looking for a deal on a stove that will see very sporadic use. (AND the wife has to approve how it looks)

Just wondering if anyone has had good/bad experiences with Hearthstone.

 

I wasn't familiar with the castine. Just looked it up and it would be perfect for the room. But they are going used for 2x what I can get the Tribute for.

 

My neighbor has the Tribute, I believe the btu's are around 36,000, the F3 is 42,000 ish. If I had to slightly upsize, it would be the Castine also.

 

The F3 was a good stove for the room. It would keep the thermostat in there from ever coming on but didn't do anything for the rest of the house.

The f600 was a beast and would get that area up to 80 pretty easily but the bedrooms were cold. I talked the wife into a wood boiler because we were tired of carrying 5 cords of wood into the house every year. Never burned the f600 again. Decided to sell it one cold January morning last year and got 2x what I paid for it that afternoon. Sold it to a guy that already had a pellet stove and Oslo going 24/7 and was still cold. I tried telling him he should just get a gassification boiler.

Now I just want something that I can watch an occasional fire in. It won't be used for trying to heat the room. I've got the t-stats pegged to 72 and 1000 gallons of pressurized wood boiler storage that keeps the house nice and even throughout.

 

How much is the Tribute being sold for? Under a grand? If not, I would pass.

What about the Woodstock Keystone (give you the soapstone look) or the Blaze King Chinook 20 or Sirroco 20? Small stove while giving you a longer and more controlled burn. Seems like it would be ideal in your situation. Unless a cat stove isn't your thing.

 

Asking 850 for the tribute, 5 years old.

The keystone would be a good fit but I've never seen a used one for sale since I sold the f600. Wife would never ok the other two you mentioned, likes the look of jotul and vc's.

 

Check the door hinges and latch that's the weak link on a hearthstone. They also tend to send a lot of heat up the flue.

 

http://vermont.householdshopper.com/household/woodstock-soapstone-wood-stove.html

 

500 miles is a little too far.

 

I though you were in Maine. Where are you located?

 

Burlington would be 500+ round trip from mid coast Maine.

 

So how big a deal and how expensive to replace a piece of soap stone?

 

How bad is the damage and how did it occur would be the bigger question. If it is from abuse, I would be concerned about the rest of the stove unless the seller is willing to drop the price.

 

2 stones have cracks -- the lower stone on each side.

On one stone you can't really see the crack without a light right next to it but you can feel it with your fingernail. Not something that I am really concerned with.

The other side has a crack along a vein in the stone. Not very big either. It looks like it happened recently probably when they moved the stove out of the house -- you can see the crack on the inside; there hasn't been a fire since the crack opened up. At this point it is just a hairline crack and you can't see light through it with a flash light shining on it.

Otherwise the stove is in great shape, the ceramic baffle is solid. Has a new door latch, hinges seem fine. The owner was suprised to see the cracks -- they aren't something you would notice unless carefully looking at the stove.

I gave him $450 for the stove as is.

 

You're in good shape.