So, I'm sure that all of this has been beaten to death, but, I'm having a good time learning about wood stoves. I would be interested in real world experience from anyone who has run both cat and non-cat stoves and how do they compare. FWIW, I live in central PA and we have a lot of "shoulder" weather, a rather small 1 story ranch (would need to heat 1000-1500 sq-ft) and we keep our thermostat <= 60*F during heating season. Based on this, I'm leaning toward the smallest soapstone stove Thai can do alot of smaller burns, but still have enough room to do a full night's burn on occasion. The obvious choices look like Hearthstone Castleton/Homestead, WS Keystone/Fireview. Obvious differences are cat vs. non-cat and side vs. front load. It will be a corner hearth and of course tighter fit is desired.
I've never burned a non-cat, so no personal experience. I heat 1532 sqft of new, very tight house. I do one 10 hr and one 14 hr burn per 24 hrs until temps get down to lower single digits at night, then I burn a half load in the evening. Always plenty of coals for a restart. Very happy customer. YMMV.
I grew up burning in a non cat stove and now have a cat stove and the difference is pretty big I notice the wood lasts longer I dont need as much and the heat output is greater. As far as those stoves youve listed I dont really know about the hearthstones I run a WS fire view and it keeps our 1800 sq ft of drafty poorly insulated house nice and warm. The stove room stays around 78 and the back of the house around 70*. The thing your going to need to look closely at is if you go with one of the side loading doors make sure you have the room for it the door on the Fire view isnt that big but I imagine if you get it to tight into a corner your going to have trouble with it.
Non cat stoves really work very well with perfectly dry wood, but trying to feed them less than perfect wood is a lost cause. Temperatures need to hit approximately 1000 f for the secondaries to ignite. So if you are burning wet wood and it is robbing heat the secondaries won't light. The house will feel cold, and the chimney will clog. Non cat stoves are known for a peak cycle burn. They release a lot of btus during a certain part of the burn then the heat drops off drastically. This is also dependent on wood quality and type. Cat stoves work best with very dry wood too, but on them the catalyst engages around 500 f. So it is a little easier to achieve a clean burn with less than ideal wood. A cat stove slows down a burn and releases the btus more steady over time. This is more desirable especially for overnight burns and while you are away. They have the ability to run low and slow. This also tends to darken the glass some too. Both stoves are capable of doing the job. The real question is how you operate the stove, how many years do you dry your wood, and what kind of burn times do you need?
FYI the Fireview door when opened 90* sticks out about 10'' from the stove hope that helps you in you decision making. Let me know if you need to know anything else about the FV Id be glad to help.
We've owned several different stoves and our last one was not only a soapstone but also a cat stove. At first we did not want to look at any cat stove just because of some bad reports we've heard and read. Then we found out that the bad reports were not always true! We talked to some people who had cat stoves and loved them. In the end, we did buy a cat stove and in addition, we bought the smallest stove we've every owned. Before this stove, we burned at least 6 cord of wood per winter on average with the worst winter shoving over 7 cord of wood through the stove. Once the temperature dropped below 20 degrees, we began shutting off part of our house trying to keep warm. We failed but lived to tell about it. Fast forward to the Fireview. Suddenly we no longer had to close off any part of the house. Not only that, but we stayed a lot warmer and now keep the house around 80 degrees all winter. No more 6 cord of wood burned either because we usually burn around 3 cord per winter. Last winter was an exception as we burned close to 4 cord. Quite naturally it will depend upon the type of wood you burn and how dry it is. For example, we could burn all cherry or soft maple and get a respectable fire that will keep us nice and toasty during the daytime. Our preferred fuel at night is oak and ash. Above 10 degrees our night fires are with ash; below 10 is mostly oak with some ash.
This is my first soapstone stove and all I can say its fantastic, its holds the heat for so long, I had a blaze king with long burn times but the PH burn times have been the same only with more heat and when its towards the end of the burn it's still throwing off good heat. In fact when I first got it I thought I still had a pretty good coal bed going but when I checked I was down to almost no coals, that's how long it emits heat. I'm used to it now and know when to reload. I do similar to Dennis as I burn my maple, cherry and ash in the day and when we get cold nights (below 20) that's when I burn my oak.
A heads up on the very popular Ideal Steal, its actually a Soap Stone as they put it on the inside instead of the outside. Its an option. http://www.woodstove.com/ideal-steel-hybrid
I've burned the Hearthstone Homestead in the past and it was a decent stove but the burn times and heat output ranges aren't as good as my current Woodstock Keystone. You would probably be happier with a Woodstock than a Hearthstone of you can make it work on your corner install.
You are so right, the inside (as an option) is lined with soapstone and the 2 outside side panels also have 2 large pieces of soapstone, they make up the backdrop of the side panel medallion. It's an awesome stove but it may be too big for what mike bayerl is looking for.
Absolutely! The IS firebox is lined (as an option from Woodstock) with blocks of soapstone that makeup the interior walls of the firebox.
Thats cool ...so if the soapstone can withstand the super high firebox temps why do the manufacters give you a max stove top temp...say 600 for hearthstone and 700 for woodstock...ive had 600+stove top temps on a controlled burn with no ill effects...just a question dont mean to hijack..lol
I recently visited another show room, extremely helpful people. They actually had a Hearthstone and a Blaze King running for demo and a huge selection of stoves from various makers on the floor. This really helped to put eyes and hands on the products and see how cat vs. noncat operate in real life. They also had some favorable pricing ,10% off msrp on the stove and 20% off chimney supplies. It's getting tempting...
If your looking at hearthstone the heritage or pheonix will meet your needs...i would not go any smaller due to shortned burn times....i can get decent burns with my heritage 6-7 hrs with decent hardwood and 8-9 if i shove some big locust splits in da back....now that being said 9 hrs would be just enough coals for a reload...but the locust hangs on fer awhile...stove top temps are between 500-530 or so..ive had it much hotter that is just where my stove likes to run...but there is definately somethin to be said about the way soapstone heats very evenly..i love mine....i just want somethin bigger..lol
It is the cast iron, not the soapstone, that is at risk with repeated high temp burns. Soapstone is fine, as long as you don't heat it quickly when it has not been burned for a period of time and may have absorbed moisture. First burn after an inactive period, treat it as new and build a small fire that you let die out to drive the moisture out of the stone. Then you are good to go.
It takes longer for the heat to pass through the mass of the stone than a thinner steel or cast. For example: ( Someone could tell you the actual temp difference I'm just making these numbers up) with a STT of 600 the underside of the top is 900. Any hotter and the metal supports for the stone will start to fail. Hearthstone uses a thicker stone than Woodstock hence the lower max temp.
