Operating the Hearthstone Heritage - what are your experiences?

[mikeathens]

Just wanted to see if others buring the Heritage have similar experiences as I have. I am not even through an entire season with this stove yet, but I love it. It is easy to get started, and puts out great heat. My only complaint is the ashpan door seems to open backward, and they should have put four sides on the ashpan instead of leaving the one end open so that you can spill ashes everywhere when you're taking it out of the stove.

In trying to follow the manual, it apperas that modifications (at least in my setup) are necessary to the operating instructions. I have noted that during a normal burn, the manual calls for something like 1/4 to 1/2 air inlet opening. If I do this, it is easy to reach 600 F + stovetop temperatures, which is "bad", according to the manual. Once I have everything burning well with a good bed of coals, I have found that I have to close the air control almost completely - it is open only a tiny bit. Otherwise, if I leave it open even 1/4 of the way, my chimney temps climb to 800 F (using a probe thermometer) and the stove temps seem to follow. So...

Does anyone burn their Heritage as the manual states, or do you notice that you really have to choke airflow down much more than stated to maintain a "safe" stove temp? Just curious...

 

[Harley]

I think the description in the manual is more of a guide, as different elevations, wood and the particulars of each setup are going to be different.... sounds like you have yours running pretty well, and under control..... congrats..... I love mine as well.


Oh.... the ashpan... definately needs a little bit of work.

 

[slofr8]

Once I have everything burning well with a good bed of coals, I have found that I have to close the air control almost completely - it is open only a tiny bit.

Same here. Considered a flue damper last winter but instead I fashioned a "restrictor plate" of sorts for where the air intake is. This year I got a new thermometer and put one in the stack and the numbers make more sense. I still have a lot of draft and burn with the air control way down but I'm not restricting the intake air. Not yet anyway. Colder outdoor temps might change that tho. I'm also holding off before committing to the damper. The glass is staying cleaner and so is the chimney I'm sure.
Dan.

 

[mikeathens]

I put a damper in my chimney last year, but so far, I haven't used it. It's there "just in case". It hasn't interfered with cleaning or operation, either.

 

[Jfigliuolo]

With my phoenix I had to modify the draft so I could completely close primary air if needed. The low setting IMNSHO is way to much air with a full load of seasoned wood.

 

[Highbeam]

I burn my heritage in a 1700 SF house with a SS vertical stack of the minimum required by the manual. I burn softwood such as red cedar, fir, alder, and maple. No damper and I begin burning when outside temps are below 50 and inside temps are in the mid 60s and then warm the house to mid 70s.

I find the fire easy to start but soapstone slow to begin heating as expected. I don't follow the manual in that I prepare my entire first load of wood on top of the kindling and light the whole mess at once. None of this kindling, then a few small splits, and then a few large ones. I stuff it full, light at full draft, once the fire is established I throttle back to 50%, and the stove top runs up past 350 before the first reloading. It works great for me that way.

I run the stove in the 350-450 range with occasional hard burns up past 500 to 550 in a very controlled manner to clean things out like a self cleaning oven. Only when making a specific effort can I heat this stove up past 450. The manual is not good in terms of defining an upper limit. You got to 600? Wow. I don't feel that the stove is heating the room much faster at 500 than 400. 400 is a good target temp for long burns. Does anyone know of a max recommended sustained high temp? I've been keeping the stove top in the "burn range" as defined by my rutland thermometer. It is about 350 to about 550.

I usually choke down to a 1/4" from completely closed for a longer burn. If going to bed with a sizable fuel load I shut the draft completely. I run a hot fire in the morning to bring it up to temp clean any junk on the glass. No overnight burns for me.

I don't use that silly little ash pan. I scoop into a bucket and just hope that the ash pan system doesn't leak air and give me fits. Maybe I can bake a potatoe in there someday.

My only real gripe about this stove is the front door seal. During a fire there are all sorts of pops and flames that fling junk around in the firebox. Maybe even a log dribbles ash near the front glass. When I open the front door in the morning to start a new fire there is a decent handfull of junk that ends up sticking to the gasket joint and falling onto the hearth. Only half of the junk stays with the stove which must be cleaned off and the other half must be cleaned off of the door gasket with the door open which means it doesn't land on the ash lip. I end up making a huge mess with each new fire. You don't want junk trapped between the door and stove since this door shuts tight on a knife edge style seal. After primary ignition it is a "side door only" stove since opening that front door would mean that it can't be closed properly without a big crisis. Side door works great. Mess on and around the hearth, not so good. Perhaps when I switch to a less poppy wood species this problem will go away.

On the upper ceramic baffle, mine has 2 cotter pins holding it to the burn tubes. They get in the way of loading and will need to come out for sweeping. Has anyone removed these and then left them out?

 

[mikeathens]

Highbeam, how old is your stove? I got mine used last year (it had only been used less than a month). Came with full warranty. So that said...what cotter pins are you talking about? My ceramic shield simply lays on top of the burn tubes with cement in the joints around the edges. There is a sort of hinged piece of metal that hangs down just behind the front tube, I'm assuming it acts as a deflector for the exhaust gasses - that's it. I don't have any cotter pins in mine...

Also, what chimney temps are typical with your stove? I try to keep mine at about 400-500 F (reading from my probe thermometer), and the stove surface temps seem to stay about where my chimney temp is (usually about 50 F higher).

 

[DonCT]

In short, I love mine

Highbeam pretty much nailed the operation of the stove. The only difference I have is I can get the stove top up to 650. That's if I stuff the box full, get the whole load gassing, then cut the air down to minimum. Secondary kicks off and POOF 650 Never been higher than that, and I don't have a stack probe. Only stove top.

I too dislike the design of the front door with regards to ash and junk. I reload from the side (THANK GOD for the SIDE LOAD).

As for the ash pan, sometimes I use it sometimes I don't. I know they say not to, but I use that system to relight my stove. Shake the ash grate a little and leave the ash door cracked open a tad. Within 10 seconds, the silent little left over coals are a blast furnace ready for take off :cheese: . I only leave it like that long enough to catch the reload then it's shut and I damper back down.

 

[Highbeam]

My stove was brand new when I bought it this summer. I really don't know how long it sat in dealer's stock. On my stove the stainless steel little bracket thingy sits on the front tube and is retained with a single cotter pin through the front air tube. The bracket supports the front of the baffle and must be removed to get the ceramobaffle in or out. The ceramobaffle itself has a rectangular piece of light gauge SS plate cemented to it on the stove pipe side and through this plate and the baffle extend two cotter pins. The pair of cotter pins stick through the center air tube and act to hold the baffle down tight against the tubes. This arrangment holds everything in place for shipping but it is problematic in the case of bumping the cotter pins with wood, bumping the pinned and fragile baffle might break it, and also I need to remove the baffle for sweeping the chimney. There was no factory cement holding the baffle in place, just those pins.

I choose not to monitor the chimney temp because I can't see why it matters that much. Might be a fun gauge to watch though. For me, stove top temp is of premium importance.

 

[buckeye]

OK, I have a rutland stove top them. too and I have only seen that thing at 500 1 time and I have been burning pretty much 24/7 for a few weeks. Im in n.central Ohio. Im burning nicely seasoned oak and ash, mostly 16-18" splits. I get the stove up to temp. (350-400) and turn the air down virtually all the way. I see alot of secondary burn, but I really dont see 500.

 

[Highbeam]

The only times I've gotten up past 500 is when loading the stove and leaving the air at about 40-50% for an extended period of time. Oh and this stove seems to like smaller splits. You'll need more primary air to get this stove hot, I can't do it on secondary air alone. Stuff the stove, leave the throttle at 50% and sit back and watch. We all owe it to ourselves to know how to get our stoves hot and what happens when we inadvertently leave the throttle open.

 

[bcnu]

First season with the Homestead. Wanted the Heritage but it would have been too much stove. Am trying to learn the ins and outs of this stove and your posts have helped. I don't use ash pan. On my overnight burns I load it up, let it go for a few minutes or until the flames have begun to char the wood, then close of primary air. I've assumed that will give me longest burn and still provide enough heat to keep the room temp from dropping too much. ie. fill it up around 11pm and room temp is say 70, and it will be 67 or 68 in the morning. Mainly heating two rooms - 700 sq feet and getting some heat down a hallway and into one of two bedrooms.

I just loaded her up but could put one more medium size split in, and air is completely off. I have a good amount of flames and the secondary is covering almost all the top. Just before I opened her up for loading she was showing very little flame. I assume I have such an active fire because I opened the door and let in a lot of air. I'll watch for awhile and see how long it takes to get the flames to die down almost completely. Almost seems like the fire is too active with primary air off and that it consumes the wood quicker that it should(maybe that's because I remember all the work in cutting, splitting, stacking, and carrying each of those pieces)

Did put in one more split and it has caught fire. Not as much secondary burn - and what's there doesn't cover as much of the top as before. After about 10 minutes fully loaded the flames have really died down and secondary lazily fills about half the top area. Looks good to me.