I really cannot compare apples. I had a mid-1980's Earth Stove. I installed it into a convenient place (the fireplace masonry) which had been set in the worst position of the house, as I see it. The masonry was collapsing the corner of the house where it was located and we had other reasons to remodel. We bought the Heritage in Dec 2010 with the tax credit incentive, after looking and looking and looking at different stoves, efficiencies and emission ratings, and narrowing down to looks and design. We changed the location of the stove when I installed it. We burn 1/2 as much wood and keep the house as warm or warmer. We (I) used to clean the chimney every three weeks (and removed a lot of soot) on year-old split wood. Some cottonwood, a lot of Chinese Elm and some Green Ash. Honestly I'm not a good judge of CAT vs. NONCAT... I've never had the experience.
I am happy with what I did, mostly. I'm not sure why some aren't happy with the Heritage. Really, I think the Earth Stove was okay other than the never ending maintenance but that may not have been the stove's issue but rather the nature of installation. I still want to have an honest, and not belligerent, opinion when providing my opinion and experience. If I did things over again I want to do it with good reasoning. Likewise I want to provide sage advise as a forum member. Can't do that without the respectful opinion and experience of others.
Trees are all different... what they do, how they grow and where they begin. I think firewood species could be an issue - some take longer to season than others, some may produce resign characteristics different than others and we SHOULD all know that they all produce different BTU's. There's a possibility that stove engineering could impact the customer's satisfaction where certain firewood is more prevalent than other species. I guess that was the nature of my post to begin with.
I live in Colorado when the nature of the woods and climate is TOTALLY different than that of Ohio, Maine or Pennsylvania. My experience may not be good advice to folks in those climates. I had a lined and steel stove and now I have a soapstone with a re-burner. Also I put up walls to make another room where there used to be living space. Will I still be content when I tear down other walls to replace the living space we lost? Apples and oranges, or is anything still an apple. Rather be honest than misguiding.
Thanks for all the replies.
-ditchrider
I am happy with what I did, mostly. I'm not sure why some aren't happy with the Heritage. Really, I think the Earth Stove was okay other than the never ending maintenance but that may not have been the stove's issue but rather the nature of installation. I still want to have an honest, and not belligerent, opinion when providing my opinion and experience. If I did things over again I want to do it with good reasoning. Likewise I want to provide sage advise as a forum member. Can't do that without the respectful opinion and experience of others.
Trees are all different... what they do, how they grow and where they begin. I think firewood species could be an issue - some take longer to season than others, some may produce resign characteristics different than others and we SHOULD all know that they all produce different BTU's. There's a possibility that stove engineering could impact the customer's satisfaction where certain firewood is more prevalent than other species. I guess that was the nature of my post to begin with.
I live in Colorado when the nature of the woods and climate is TOTALLY different than that of Ohio, Maine or Pennsylvania. My experience may not be good advice to folks in those climates. I had a lined and steel stove and now I have a soapstone with a re-burner. Also I put up walls to make another room where there used to be living space. Will I still be content when I tear down other walls to replace the living space we lost? Apples and oranges, or is anything still an apple. Rather be honest than misguiding.
Thanks for all the replies.
-ditchrider
