soap stone woodstoves?

[s1120]

If you read my other posts on heating farther down the list, you will see that I Am building a new house in spring. We want to have some form of wood heat in the house for backup, or just for the fun of it. My wife Michele, and I have been looking into the soap stone woodstoves. Does anyone have one? I know they cost a lot, and the floor has to be stronger to support the weight, but is there any thing else I should know about?

 

[Boondox]

You're talking about a metal woodstove with soapstone panels on the outside..? If so, we use a Hearthstone stove as our primary heat source. Well, actually it's the chunks of maple burning inside it. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

This stove isn't appreciably heavier than the Jotul stove in the cottage or the Garrison made out of boiler plate in the shop. It doesn't draw as well as the Jotul, but once it gets going it really pours out the heat. We've never had the stove burn thru the night, but the stone serves as a heatsink and with plenty of embers in the bed it's simple enough to start up again.

But it sure is pretty! That gray soapstone is a perfect match to the granite of the fireplace it went into. Not sure what else you want to know..?

Pete

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Real popular in Norway and Sweeden, has a steel frame with soapstone panels for sides and top.
Not many actual soapstone stoves in the US for some reason.

 

[looch]

Pete,

I'm looking at buying one of those in the near future - the "Fireview." Since you seem to have experience with both the Jotul and the Hearthstone, which do you prefer? I don't have a large area to heat. My main concern would be efficiency (ie. wood consumption). I haven't priced the Jotul. I know the Hearthstones will run about 2K. What about Vermont Castings? Do you know anything about how their stoves burn?

Thanks,

 

[beenthere]

I just installed a vermont castings Defiant wood stove, and it is heating a new 720 sq ft room with ease, and outside temps from 0 at night to 15 in the day. It is very easy on wood, as it has a catalytic burner that burns the combustion gases. Its been operating for about 5 straight days now. Stove cost is $1.8k.
Pic attached

 

[pdxman]

I have seen the Soapstone fireplaces in magazine ads. They look very good. I have a Jotul woodstove (not sure what model as it's not clearly labeled). We are pleased with it's performance but wish it had a built in fan as others do. The only issue we have with it is it has a "catalytic converter' to help clean emissions. When dampered down too far, this can start to clog and effect the stoves ability to breath. It's a simple task though to remove it and clean out this thing that looks like a honeycomb brick with an air hose. Learning how far down not to damper corrects the problem also.

good luck

 

[AndyR]

Paul,
I have a Fireview stove - made by the Woodstock Soapstone Company in Lebanon, NH. Excellent stove. Unlike cast iron, this tends to heat the air more then the objects around it. They are heavy (800 lbs or so) and take a while to get up to heat, but provide a nice even heat that lasts long after the fire dies out. Ours is located in the cape section (middle building) of our connected farmhouse and throws an amazing amount of heat without driving you out of the room. Another nice thing about the stove is the airwash over the inside of the window - I almost never have to clean the window. Only maintenance issue is cleaning the catalytic block about once a month. They usually run a sale around Apil or May - we saved a few hundred that way.

 

[s1120]

This is the type I am thinking of...

 

[s1120]

AndyR,
Any web sites, or pics? NH is not that far for me....

Here is the web site for the stove I posted a picture of.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.virginiaradiant.com>http://www.virginiaradiant.com</A>

 

[AndyR]

yup! <A target="_blank" HREF=http://gasstove.com/index.html>http://gasstove.com/index.html</A>

You could probably cross Vermont and head n/s on 91 to the Hanover exit. Stove company is up by the airport. Nice folks - and picking your own is great. When we bought ours, we got a tour of the factory and they pulled the boxes off of half a dozen stoves so we could find the one we liked the best (slightly greenish cast to the stone with bookmatched panels on top). Nice griddles and bootwarmers too. [BTW - I have no affiliation - I just like thier stuff].

 

[looch]

I said Hearthstone because that's what Boondox referred to. I actually meant Woodstock. They are running a sale right now, actually. I was just wondering if the stone stoves were worth the extra bucks. If it were only a matter of looks (not $$$), the stone would win hands down.

Paul, That's a nice looking unit - more permanent than what I am considering. I would imagine that for something like that you would either have to install it in the basement or have a special footing under the floor. I think I saw one being installed on This Old House. It comes in pieces and I believe they are assembled with some kind of special glue. If I were to install one, I'd be sure it had an oven - nothing like pizza and home-made bread from a wood burning oven. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif (closest thing to a salivating emoticon that I could find).

 

[Youare]

My folks purchased a soapstone stove somewhere around 20 years ago, my brother now lives in the house and he uses it also. There are some nice features about soapstone stoves, they are very different than cast iron or steel plate stoves.

There is a large thermal mass with the stone panels, which is why they are so heavy. Soapstone stoves give off an even heat for many hours even after the fire has gone out, they also take many hours to reach this thermal state. A cast iron wood stove startes giving out heat shortly after you start the fire and they stop giving heat shortly after the fire dies. With a soapstone stove it takes longer before you feel the heat.

Soapstone stoves need to be seasoned correctly, you start out building a small fire and gradually you add wood and heat to the stove or else you will damage the stove. Once the stove is up to temp. the best thing to do is keep it going.

The heat they produce is very even for a long period of time. Many have glass panels so you can see the glow of the fire as you sip your tea sitting next to your favorite person gazing at the stove as the snow softly falls outside.

Randy

 

[Chillimau]

I like those Tulikivis but have been afraid to price one. Gotta be pricey, the stove is assembled on site by the dealer, I believe. My guess is that it would cost a bunch to get one built in OK.

Keep us informed, I hope to build in a year or two and am starting to look at all stuff that goes into a house.

Did you ever decide on heating choice? Is your house the victorian that was posting a few weeks back?

Gary

 

[s1120]

I think we are talking about 8 to 10 grand for the stove. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif But they are nice. And should last the rest of my life.

no that was not my plan posted. This is what we are planing.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.frankbetz.com/x_plan_info.html?pn=3553>http://www.frankbetz.com/x_plan_info.html?pn=3553</A>

 

[Boondox]

Paul -- Ditto what Andy said, but after my experience with the Jotul I went with the Hearthstone because it was a non-catalytic model. I find the stove a very convenient way of getting rid of isolated pieces of paper, dog fur, etc, and the catalytic didn't care much for the fine ash generated. Also, as previously mentioned, the air flow over the glass keeps it really clean.

My cast iron stoves begin giving off heat much more quickly, but they also lose it quickly. The stone acts as an enormous heat sink that my oldest dog really appreciates in the winter months.

Never owned a Vermont Castings. When I was in the market for a stove their Defiant model was having warpage problems (since fixed), so they were ruled out.

Hope this helps. Pete

 

[looch]

Thanks, Pete. I'll be heading on over to Hearthstone's web site to check them out.

 

[Boondox]

One drawback about non-catalytic models is they generally rely on a double-burn system with perforated air pipes inside the box that diminish the space available for wood...so you can't stuff them so full before going to bed.

I use an old Garrison stove in my woodshop. No catalyst, made of boiler plate so it doubles as an anvil,/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif, glows a faint reddish color when it's screaming. When I get up the shop is pretty cold (10 degrees) so I start a hot fire and let her rip for an hour. After that, scraps keep the inside temp in the 70s or 80s. The dogs love it, but I often open the door to cool off!

Pete

 

[pdxman]

The nice thing about having a digital camera is that instead of typing up what I like about it, I can just walk over and snap a picture. Picture attached is what my dog thinks of our Jotul...

BoonDox; I do agree with you on the Jotuls catalyst clogging up though...even burning a few envelopes with the clear plastic window can clog the catayst. We only start fires with newspaper now.

 

[s1120]

I can see my one dog doing that. As it is we have a old house with steam heat and the big cast radaitors, and he will lay down right next to it. He wil be tuching it. Of course he has the least fur of the 3 so he must be cold.

 

[RonL]

pdxman

Nice looking dog! BullMastiff?

RonL