New Wood Stove Owner/User

[Raganr]

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.

 

[Marshy]

Pics when available. Congrats on the new stove.

 

[Raganr]

Current fireplace and new stove (in showroom).

 

[reddogrunner]

That's pretty much what we have. You will LOVE the difference in actual usable heat! Enjoy the heat and reduction in wood use.

 

[Raganr]

Install went well. Wont get time to do the first burn until next week. I think the stove looks good. Does not look as awkward and an afterthought as I thought it would.

 

[wndwlkr]

That's a real nice looking setup, I'm sure you will enjoy !

 

[reddogrunner]

Love it dude! A lot like ours. Were you able to get a fan on it or just the radiant heat? We couldn't fit our fan on until we add a course of brick to the hearth, which my wife is not so sure of. Good news is that the radiant heat does a great job without the fan. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Raganr]

No fan. Needed to hang into firebox a few inches so no room for the blower. The bottom of stove is 7.5" and the lip on the zero insert was 7.0"

I would like to get a heat powered fan for the top at some point. We have good ceiling fans so I hope they circulate heat some (on reverse).

 

[Marshy]

Looks nice, congrats. If it was my house I might consider trying to enclose the area behind the stove somehow. Keep in mind the smoke that's going to come off it on your first fire. You'll need to open windows and close off your other rooms if they have doors. If possible I like to do the first fire outside with some single wall pipe attached.

 

[reddogrunner]

Didn't have any issues at all with our first fire. Huh. Also, ours is open in the back too and at first I was a little bent about it, but it really doesn't bother me now.

 

[unclemoustache]

Nice. Gotta love a top loader. Glad you didn't get a Lopi Leyden.

 

[Ironworker]

Nice stove, it looks good.