We have been using the zero clearance for a few years. Only got a little bit of heat out of it but the kids enjoyed staying close to the hearth and the light/smell was nice. It was always a game trying to clean it out before it slowed down enough that the heater would suck smoke inside the house. If we turned off the heater while it was burning, we still had to clean it out before it burned out so we could close the damper and prevent cool air from entering the house. Every year we talked about buying a stove but this year we finally decided to do it.
It helped that the past few winters have been pretty cold/wet, the kids are older, and I have had a pretty steady supply of free wood. $ free, not labor free I also have all the needed tools/gear to scavenge/process wood.
For us, the local stove shop was the only option. They carried Lopi, Harman, and Hearthstone. Only the Harman Oakleaf and Hearthstone Homestead would fit our space (room on hearth, rear exhaust, and clearance to get the stove pipe into existing firebox. The Hearthstone was slightly smaller and interesting but could not commit to a soap stone stove when there was another all metal option.
So we settled on the Harman Oakleaf. Install is scheduled for next week and will be on the existing hearth with new 6" SS pipe all the way up to cap.
Just excited and thought I would share.
It helped that the past few winters have been pretty cold/wet, the kids are older, and I have had a pretty steady supply of free wood. $ free, not labor free I also have all the needed tools/gear to scavenge/process wood.
For us, the local stove shop was the only option. They carried Lopi, Harman, and Hearthstone. Only the Harman Oakleaf and Hearthstone Homestead would fit our space (room on hearth, rear exhaust, and clearance to get the stove pipe into existing firebox. The Hearthstone was slightly smaller and interesting but could not commit to a soap stone stove when there was another all metal option.
So we settled on the Harman Oakleaf. Install is scheduled for next week and will be on the existing hearth with new 6" SS pipe all the way up to cap.
Just excited and thought I would share.