If you could do it over again - which stove would you choose?

[Highbeam]

I want a more robust baffle because I hate making sure my baffle boards are positioned correctly. I got a hot spot on the top of my stove because I made the mistake of allowing the gap in the center of the boards instead of pushing them together. The result for me was that just about the time the stove was hot enough to lite off the secondaries, there was one little spot on the stovetop that was pushing 900 degrees. This is an issue that I think I can fix. I have a sheet of ceramic fiberboard sitting here; I'm thinking that Saturday with temps approaching 60, I'll let it burn out and make myself a tighter fitting baffle.

I and others have solved this by laying a regular old arc welding rod on each side of the baffle. On the outside edge. This takes up the space and holds the baffle boards much closer together. The stove isn't perfectly square though so you will always be messing with them if you want it perfect. It doesn't need to be perfect.

 

[Highbeam]

Why would the Princess have the short burn times as your Hearthstone ? You said the Princess had similar burns times as the heritage.The Blaze Kings tout long burn times.I'm confused.

I had a heritage and switched to a modern BK princess. The BK has 3-4 times longer burn times on low and is at least 50% larger firebox. Far more effiecint too. I think we are misunderstanding Electrathon.

 

[Highbeam]

Blaze King manufactures in Walla Walla, Washington, a very cool place that I love to visit and that I would seriously consider living if it weren't for the fact that it's half days drive from the ocean. Next time I visit I'll see if I can get a quick tour of their facilities.

My princess was made in Canada. A town with a funny name like Pendleton but not. It burns American wood and was purchased from a mom&pop dealership though.

Global economy.

 

[Squisher]

Penticton! You should google map it. A beautiful place.

I wonder if I could go and check out their facility there? I used to make stoves when I was a wee lad at Northen Fireplace in Summerland. Just north of penticton. Penticton is about 1.5hrs from me.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Canada is fine, hey we're still on the same continent. As long as they don't start importing from China!

 

[fibels]

I had a heritage and switched to a modern BK princess. The BK has 3-4 times longer burn times on low and is at least 50% larger firebox. Far more effiecint too. I think we are misunderstanding Electrathon.

Ya Electrathon could clear it up if he responded.But I think your right.

 

[venator260]

I and others have solved this by laying a regular old arc welding rod on each side of the baffle. On the outside edge. This takes up the space and holds the baffle boards much closer together. The stove isn't perfectly square though so you will always be messing with them if you want it perfect. It doesn't need to be perfect.

I read about that. I may have tried that if both of my originals were still in tact. I broke one of the panels attempting to take it apart to clean it. With what appears to be a warped flame impingement baffle, it didn't slide out. Note to self: drop the front burn tube to remove the baffles.

As it is, I ordered a new sheet of ceramic fiberboard and cut the other one as large as I thought it should be to take up the space. I angled the one side, so that if it does expand, that side will crumple a bit. It's been a week, and so far, so good. The one side may have gotten smashed a bit, as they've loosened just a bit since I put them in, but they're certainly tighter than the stock boards.

I've been achieving completely smokeless burns every day since (or at least, I can't see any). My old broken in half and pushed together board must have been leaving too much unburned smoke through, and it wasn't burning as cleanly as it could have. New board, problem solved. Seems to run a little cooler on the top of the stove as well.

 

[Blazing]

I have a BK Princess Insert heating the whole house now. I think if I ever remodel the living room, I will rip out everything on the wall that it's on, turn the fireplace into a stove pad, cover the drywall with kerdiboard, and thinset stones from the river over the face of that. Then it's freestanding King time, unless someone has a better thermostatic wood stove by then.

Mmmm, 2 day burns in shoulder season.

(Oh, and also I have apparently omitted the part where someone convinces my wife that all of the above is a good idea... this is probably not an optional step.)

Same here every last word.

 

[georgepds]

Current: progress hybrid
Future: progress hybrid

Best money I've ever spent. I'm warm all winter,I haul less wood, and it is a dream to look at.

 

[Woody Stover]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/193/193492-7a4c1d6acaac96ab5fc54bd6a0db54f0.jpg

If you get a King, you can change your name to Leroy!

 

[jetsam]

Same here every last word.

You also copied my pointy dog!

 

[Xtrl9]

1. Hearthstone Clydesdale

2. A wood/electric furnace probably. My hvac system needs more ductwork and the money i sank into getting my insert in and chimney leakage fixed up i could have put into this project. Then again maybe a few grand isnt going to go as far as i hope on this project.

If i was going strictly wood burning i would go with a bk. I don't care if a product is made in outer space if it does what it says it will and i can get support when it doesn't then I'll buy it. I also passed my reading comprehension tests in school so it would be installed per manufacturer's instruction and to code. Well I should be honest it would meet or exceed them.

 

[TonyC1]

I have a Jotul 550C..beautiful arched windows..brown ceramic finish.

I pack it full of large square pieces at about 10-11 pm..wake up at 6 am..scoop out a bucket of ash and there are plenty of coals to quickly get back up to temp by the time I finish breakfast. This mild winter heating the house easily. This is the fourth winter..fans are starting to act up but they run 24/7 all winter long. I love that it can take a 24 inch log ..definitely saves on loading. Just bought a fan kit with 2 - 75cfm fans plus new speed control and temp sensor for $150. No change for me.

 

[HisTreeNut]

I have a Buck 94NC and I am most pleased with it. Supporting local businesses is important to.my wife and I and they are local...28 minutes away. If I could do it all over again, I would:
1) Get the Buck 91. The 94 cooks us out and a full load goes about 5-7 hours before a reload depending on the mix. I would imagine the 91 would do the same but for a lot longer.
2) I would get a BK Princess based on the reviews here and that @BKVP is a pretty cool guy in how he helps folks out here on the Hearth. Speaks well to his character and to the company imho.

 

[nellraq]

I agree. I feel the same way about Mexico. Buy your stoves from Canada and your cars and A/C from Mexico. All good people. A good stove is a good stove. I would just prefer the profits from my stove purchases to remain in the good old US of A. That just happens to be a criteria for any of my future stoves. Is there anything wrong with that? I hope I haven't offended anyone.

I agree. I feel the same way about Mexico. Buy your stoves from Canada and your cars and A/C from Mexico. All good people. A good stove is a good stove. I would just prefer the profits from my stove purchases to remain in the good old US of A. That just happens to be a criteria for any of my future stoves. Is there anything wrong with that? I hope I haven't offended anyone.

BLaze King stoves are made in Walla Walla WA and in Penticton, BC, Canada.

 

[electrathon]

I had a heritage and switched to a modern BK princess. The BK has 3-4 times longer burn times on low and is at least 50% larger firebox. Far more effiecint too. I think we are misunderstanding Electrathon.

I read through and can't see what the specific question is for me. I bought the Hearthstone stove thinking it would be the last stove I would ever buy. My last stove was a Blaze King Princess slammer and I replaced it thinking I would get better heat output. My like of the hearthstone is that it is awesome pretty. I get positive comments about it when people walk into my living room. The draft is not that hard to start (not as easy as the princess insert slammer though). If you load through the side door it doesn't let out too much smoke and ash into the room. I really like that there is very little visible chimney smoke.

As to dislikes, the list is long. It gobbles up wood, way more than the princess. It produces less heat, a lot less than the princess. It takes forever to get the stove cranking out heat. I would estimate that more heat exits the stove through the glass front than the rest of the stove. I burn mainly semisoft wood, like fir. I burn what I can get. If I loaded up the princess I used to have a few coals left after about 6 or 7 hours to restart the fire. With the Hearthstone there are usually not much left for coals after 4 or 5 hours. I have tried loading the stove full like many here talk about, that doubles wood consumption with only slight increases in room heat. If you load through the front ashes always fall out (onto the convenient shelf) and smoke flows into the house.

I have a un-insulated liner (that is what the shop told me to install) that uses the rear connection point on the stove. No flex pipe, about 23' of pipe through the brick chimney. Block off plate on the bottom. I am about to the point of buying a new stove, 5 cords already this year and the house could not reach 60 degrees when it was 20 outside. It is now 35 to 50 outside and I can now get the living room to 70. I see the advertised burn times on the new blaze king stoves and personally would be giddy if I had coals left at 12 hours instead of 4.

I have used a lot of stoves over the years but the only other one I had in a house I lived in was a barrel stove that was in two different houses we lived in up in Alaska. It put out lots of heat, awesome lots of heat.

 

[fibels]

I read through and can't see what the specific question is for me. I bought the Hearthstone stove thinking it would be the last stove I would ever buy. My last stove was a Blaze King Princess slammer and I replaced it thinking I would get better heat output. My like of the hearthstone is that it is awesome pretty. I get positive comments about it when people walk into my living room. The draft is not that hard to start (not as easy as the princess insert slammer though). If you load through the side door it doesn't let out too much smoke and ash into the room. I really like that there is very little visible chimney smoke.

As to dislikes, the list is long. It gobbles up wood, way more than the princess. It produces less heat, a lot less than the princess. It takes forever to get the stove cranking out heat. I would estimate that more heat exits the stove through the glass front than the rest of the stove. I burn mainly semisoft wood, like fir. I burn what I can get. If I loaded up the princess I used to have a few coals left after about 6 or 7 hours to restart the fire. With the Hearthstone there are usually not much left for coals after 4 or 5 hours. I have tried loading the stove full like many here talk about, that doubles wood consumption with only slight increases in room heat. If you load through the front ashes always fall out (onto the convenient shelf) and smoke flows into the house.

I have a un-insulated liner (that is what the shop told me to install) that uses the rear connection point on the stove. No flex pipe, about 23' of pipe through the brick chimney. Block off plate on the bottom. I am about to the point of buying a new stove, 5 cords already this year and the house could not reach 60 degrees when it was 20 outside. It is now 35 to 50 outside and I can now get the living room to 70. I see the advertised burn times on the new blaze king stoves and personally would be giddy if I had coals left at 12 hours instead of 4.

I have used a lot of stoves over the years but the only other one I had in a house I lived in was a barrel stove that was in two different houses we lived in up in Alaska. It put out lots of heat, awesome lots of heat.

I put in a pipe damper in my Mansfield which extended the burn and heat times.Have you tried one ?

 

[electrathon]

I put in a pipe damper in my Mansfield which extended the burn and heat times.Have you tried one ?

I have not tried a damper. I have contemplated one but a while back someone posted on here that they had one and the stove back puffed and the blast messed up the stove. I do not remember the specifics but it really made me leery.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Hearthstone Mansfield.

Maybe I would change the color from the red enamel to just a plain old flat black.

 

[fibels]

I have not tried a damper. I have contemplated one but a while back someone posted on here that they had one and the stove back puffed and the blast messed up the stove. I do not remember the specifics but it really made me leery.

If that happened they had the damper closed too much and a back puff won't mess up any stove I know of.

 

[fibels]

Hearthstone Mansfield.

Maybe I would change the color from the red enamel to just a plain old flat black.

Man your install pictures were beautiful.Thanks for sharing.I enjoyed the journey.I didn't know it got cold enough in Kentucky to need a woodstove let alone a Mansfield.It's in the high teens here and my Mansfield has us toasty.

 

[electrathon]

If that happened they had the damper closed too much and a back puff won't mess up any stove I know of.

begreen said: ↑
webby, did you ever try one with a butterfly damper in the stove pipe to reduce heat loss up the flue?
Click to expand...
They don't recommend it, my flue was only 13' tall anyway.

I have seen a Hearthstone that was using a pipe damper, they shut everything down abruptly and the ensuing back puff blew the stones off the top of the stove.

Thread here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-hearthstone-heritage-burns-way-too-fast.159331/

 

[pdf27]

Had a Charnwood C-four in our last house - pretty good and having one air control to do everything was nice in theory but balancing it was a pain and my wife wouldn't dream of putting more wood on it. We stopped using it after our daughter was born and started trying to hug it whenever it was lit, then moved out last year.


Would like to fit one again in the new house in a few years when the kids are old enough to know not to hug it - quite fancy the Hwam ones with automated air controls linked to flue temperature, oxygen and room temperature sensors: that's partly the engineer in me talking but also the fact that they've got WiFi and you can set up an app on your phone to tell you when to refuel. My wife might actually respond to that

 

[electrathon]

We stopped using it after our daughter was born and started trying to hug it whenever it was lit, then moved out last year.

I raised kids in a wood stove heated house, I grew up in a woodstove heated house. It isn't a problem. Kids learn the meaning of hot very fast. You just build the first fires small and let the kids learn. They will always stay back.

 

[fibels]

begreen said: ↑
webby, did you ever try one with a butterfly damper in the stove pipe to reduce heat loss up the flue?
Click to expand...
They don't recommend it, my flue was only 13' tall anyway.

I have seen a Hearthstone that was using a pipe damper, they shut everything down abruptly and the ensuing back puff blew the stones off the top of the stove.

Thread here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-hearthstone-heritage-burns-way-too-fast.159331/

What webby said is funny.It sounded like a Jimmy Fallon joke.I have two soapstone stoves and have never had that happen.Not even close.