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].