Hearthstone "Issues"

[tommyboy]

I am in the 2nd week of owning my new Clydesdale Matt Black insert. Only in the 40's here at night so have not put it to the test yet. Break in fires were done last week and built my 4th fire tonight. So far it's heaven. The improvements that i read about from the 2008 model to the 2009 in the blowers (noise) and door handle seem to work great. Being used to burning in an "open" fireplace this is a whole different world. I have not had her past 300 F yet, no need. I ordered mine from Discount Stoves in Traverse Michigan. Great communication all the way thru. I picked up the stove at the local freight terminal exactly 3 weeks from when I ordered it. And they had to order it from HS. Not bad. It was bolted (3 places) to a small pallet which in turn was strapped to a larger pallet. It was wrapped tight with heavy plastic and taped. The sides and top were all protected by wood slats. Needless to say there were no complaints with the quality of the unit itself or the packaging. They shipped my 25 foot liner, Insulation wrap, top flash ,stove collar and cap via UPS. They all showed up the same day as the stove. I am in Ohio so they are only a few hundred miles north of me. I am sure that accounts for the fast shipping. I installed it myself into my existing kicked out fullly tiled masonry fireplace. Liner and top were a snap. Had to bust out a couple bricks on each side of my arch to fit it in. I knew that going in. Its amazing how easy it is to remove bricks with a simple hammer and chisel (and safety glasses). Used the sawz-all to cut the damper frame out so the 6 inch round would fit thru the damper hsng. Hardest part was securing the flu pipe to the stove with it in the firebox. The book says you can remove the baffles etc to get to it, but the 2 machine screws the book mention did not allow me to remove the baffle or chambers. I was able to get after much swearing, so all is well. I'll post a pic soon, and report back when winter temps get here. Great site! Lots of good info.

 

[bcnu]

Might as well join the parade. 3rd year with the Homestead. It's holding at 375 degrees right now - not too cold in Oregon yet -and I have no complaints(with the stove or the weather)

 

[REF1]

I was wondering if people from Hearthstone (or other companies for that matter), come here and read what people are writing about their products, their competitors products, ideas from readers on enhancements to various stoves they wish the companies would come up with, etc?

I think even if the next Homestead we receive is 'perfect' I will feel badly for the next person who gets one, or any other Hearthstone, that has problems with it. The thing is, it isn't a TV or toaster. Once it's in your house, it's hundreds of pounds of presence. You cannot just box it back up and return it. I would think the need to "get it right" and quality control is greater for wood stoves than other products.

 

[jhousek1]

Have had a morgan Select for about 2 yrs now and love it. Had a component fail and it was replaced in less than a week! Love hearthstone products

 

[bcnu]

I was wondering if people from Hearthstone (or other companies for that matter), come here and read what people are writing about their products, their competitors products, ideas from readers on enhancements to various stoves they wish the companies would come up with, etc?

I think even if the next Homestead we receive is 'perfect' I will feel badly for the next person who gets one, or any other Hearthstone, that has problems with it. The thing is, it isn't a TV or toaster. Once it's in your house, it's hundreds of pounds of presence. You cannot just box it back up and return it. I would think the need to "get it right" and quality control is greater for wood stoves than other products.

I spent a lot of time on this site, asking lots of questions, before I purchased our stove(Homestead). Actually in the store to buy a Jotul and saw the Homestead.

 

[creeker]

I bought a used Phoenix recently, my first stove. Fired it up and it started whistling to beat the band. Steady note, all the time. Door, damper, cracks, nothing. Finally emailed Hearthstone service, and got a direct reply from John (Joe?) Cassavant there at Hearthstone. He had two tiny clips to send out immediately, this for a '94 stove, that once popped into place in the secondary burn intakes, completely solved the problem. Great response in terms of customer service, and it would have driven me nuts to have listened to that whistling all winter long. Talk about cabin fever. No wonder I got the stove for a 'song'. My only problem is that I really need to spend time building up a big bed of embers to keep the stove cranking. Takes a couple of hours to put it on hot cruise-control.

 

[Highbeam]

You bet they read these forums. Over the years they have even posted some. It's Jim C by the way.

They've got to be cringing when they read this bad press directly associated with a bad employee and/or manager. Something just as easily done right as done wrong. There is no benefit to the company by putting out bad stoves.

 

[jhousek1]

I have ran about 6 chords of wood through my Morgan select insert and my wife and I love it. I did have a problem with the heat board on top of the pipes cracking (i think wife let a log hit it) but my dealer replaced it in less than a week for no charge. I give my insert a A+

 

[riverspots]

I just had a major Heartstone bummer. My Homestead worked great its first season-though its performance is nowhere near specs. But a couple fires into its second season, it has had a major breakdown. The tubes and the pieces that hold them are all loose and the ceramic baffle has a hole in it. Hearthstone won't deal directly with its stove owners (at least that's what I'm finding)-all correspondence is through its dealers. So, I called the dealer and they contacted Hearthstone and Hearthstone gave them an email address that I could send pics of the stove. So I sent pics. No direct response from Hearthstone-not even a confirmation that they received the pics. After a couple of days, I did hear from the dealer that Hearthstone was not going to allow a warranty claim-without ever having the dealer inspect it. According to the dealer, Hearthstone claims the stove must have been dropped or severely abused. Which it was not. The stove has not been moved since it was installed by the dealer. The outside is in the same condition as it was when delivered and installed.

Complicating things, the person from the stove store admits to having little knowledge about woodstove so is unable to answer my questions and is more concerned about covering any possible liability from their end. When I asked about getting the stove repaired outside warranty, this stove person,, who has not seen the pics of the problems, had "written off" the stove as being non-repairable-actually did not know that replacement parts were available in many situations. So I'm stuck between a manufacturer who won't communicate directly with me and a person from the store with little knowledge. I believe the owner of the store knows what he's doing, but it may be next summer before he "finds the time" to look at my stove.

I liked the stove and hope this one can be repaired. But the total lack of customer service by Hearthstone would have me searching elsewhere if I need to buy another.

 

[Highbeam]

Oooh, a seperate thread would be great. We would love to see those photos. I have removed and replaced the entire secondary manifold assembly myself on my heritage. Mine was reused. That assembly includes the baffle board, the tubes, and the casting that holds it all together. It would be easy to replace the whole thing with new if yours somehow disintegrated.

 

[VTGuy]

I've had several woodstoves in my lifetime and am now in my third heating season with a Mansfield. The only small complaint that I have is the ash removal system, it's useless, so I just shovel the ash out. We burn 24-7 during the heating season in VT. The stove heats our whole home (2100sf). The stove is in a finished basement and the way it works out is that the basement stays at about 75 deg, 1st floor 68, 2nd 58, perfect. I fill the stove at about 9pm and it's still warm at around 6am, plenty of coals, just stoke it and it fires up.

I have to weigh in here on the Ref1 stuff. I've read you going on and on about poor workmanship at the factory... the factory in NH... First of all the factory is in Morrisville VT, and all that you have described in your posts smacks loudly to me of a combination of shipping damage and poor attempts by the dealer to fix the problems rather than go through the hassle and expense to ship it back to the factory for proper repairs. By the way the thimble goes into rather than onto the cast fitting on top of the stove so that any creosote... ends up in the stove rather than on it, if you have a proper draft smoke will not come out, you're not dealing with liquid here.

 

[Motor7]

VTGuy,
Can you tell me how your basement is set up, is your Mansfield in the center? Do you have floor vents, or any ducting to move the heat? Flue inside or out? Did you run a cold air pipe to the primary?
I am going to do the same thing with my HS H-1, a basement placement to heat about the same sq footage as you. The house is in progress, so I still have time to research my options.

RD

 

[VTGuy]

Hi Motor7,

The stove is in the center of my finished basement and the shape is cape style with about a 12'x12' entry/bump out, the entry is between basement elevation and first floor elevation with about 4 or so steps up to first floor and 10 or so down to basement. There are no floor vents the heat convects very well up the bump out/ stairway, not sure if it was an intended part of the design but it works very well. The chimney system is metalbestos approx 30-35' inside a chase. I have an outdoor combustion air kit installed and a damper just above the stove top with double wall connector pipe and heat shield on the stove. I have rarely used the damper, I installed it originally thinking with the length of chimney inside the home that I may need it to control burns- not so.

 

[Motor7]

Thanks VT, sounds like you nailed it pretty well. I am doing outside air, but haven't picked the location yet. A damper on the flue is great insurance & not a bad idea at all.

OP, sorry for the hijack!

 

[AQUALUNG1919]

I am planning to build a new home this coming spring about 2350 Sq ft., not including basement which will be unfinished. I was wondering if the hearthstone heritage would be too small to heat the whole house? and if its not should i consider the Woodstock fire view instead? I plan on burning 24/7, and want to make this the primary source of heat, will also have boiler/ furnace in basement to appease the bank. any advice would be appreciated

 

[Slow1]

I am planning to build a new home this coming spring about 2350 Sq ft., not including basement which will be unfinished. I was wondering if the hearthstone heritage would be too small to heat the whole house? and if its not should i consider the Woodstock fire view instead? I plan on burning 24/7, and want to make this the primary source of heat, will also have boiler/ furnace in basement to appease the bank. any advice would be appreciated

I don't envy the challenges, but I would like the opportunity to build from scratch. IF you get that house built and insulated well enough then either stove could heat it. The fireview is not rated for that much space but there are those who do so. Then again it depends on your definition of 'heat' too - I'm heating somewhere between 2200 and 2400 sqft with mine and we're happy - but then again we are happy with 65* so anything over that is bonus, close to 70 and I hear complaints. The ultimate question comes down to how much heat you need. The Fireview COULD work for you quite well as it does for many folks. However, if you have an 'average/normal' home for heat load requirements and you want to keep the place 75* 24hrs a day you are likely to be disappointed.

"Code complaint" insulation and basic old minimum construction techniques shouldn't cut it either. Make sure you invest in a builder and the design/materials to insulate and air-seal the home well from the beginning and you will save a bundle in the long run. We did an addition on our home and wish I had done a better job of sitting on the builder to make sure thins were really done better but as a whole the improvement over the 'old' house is impressive anyway. I'll bet that if your home is very well insulated and sealed that you could heat it with far less energy (whatever the source) than the majority of your neighbors.

 

[Highbeam]

I am planning to build a new home this coming spring about 2350 Sq ft., not including basement which will be unfinished. I was wondering if the hearthstone heritage would be too small to heat the whole house? and if its not should i consider the Woodstock fire view instead? I plan on burning 24/7, and want to make this the primary source of heat, will also have boiler/ furnace in basement to appease the bank. any advice would be appreciated

Neither stove will cut it. The fireview is rated to heat up to 1600SF and the heritage up to 1900SF. That heat range assumed moderate climate, and modern construction, and 8' ceilings. You would be bringing a knife to a gunfight, those are both small stoves.

If you want a cat stove then you will have to buy a steel stove but if you like soapstone, and why wouldn't you, then you can just go up in the hearthstone line until you find the properly sized heater. The mansfield is rated for your space and the equinox would be more than enough heat. Primary heating with wood is very possible and even pleasant with the right sized stove.

One day, woodstock might just come up with a larger model to heat average sized homes.

 

[VTGuy]

Aqualung,

I agree with the previous opinion, neither stove you mentioned will come close to doing the job. In my opinion based on personal experience and research your best options are the Hearthstone Mansfield or Equinox, Pacific energy Alderlea T6 or Quadrafire 5700. If you are not experienced heating with wood, the Quadrafire units in particular are very user friendly. It's great if you can manage to select a stove that does the job perfectly but in a world of compromises I would advise to err on the side of slightly too much stove. There is simply no substitute for firebox volume when it comes to long burn times and heat output.

 

[VTGuy]

Aqualung,

I forgot to mention another favorite of mine that may work for you, Morso 3610.

 

[AlexNY]

have a heritage, for just under a week now.

broken door handles

smoke comes seeping out of everywhere

would not recommend this stove to my worst enemy

Hearthstone Heritage owner, and I am very disappointed also. I heated my house with an older air tight for many years. I "upgraded" to the Heritage and it has been nothing but problems.

The soapstone look does not come for free. There are performance issues that arise because of the pretty stones. Not worth it.

Good luck.