Hi April, we don't have ours put in yet, so my experience is slim. But I also read all the comments on Hearthstone stoves at hearth.com. We were thinking about the Phoenix or the Heritage. They are about the same size, but the Heritage has a slightly larger window and a side door for loading. So we were leaning to the Heritage, but noticed it had some negative comments. Read on to the Phoenix comments, completely positive. A trip back to the store, looked at them both for the 3rd time. They are similar in size and price but actually made differently. The design of the Phoenix seems superior. So that is our choice. We wrote to a lot of the people who wrote the reviews, and have gotten email from about 6 people with Hearthstone wood stoves, they all like them a lot.

If you also notice, most of the complaints about the stoves had to do with problems related to installation and customer service, so it depends a lot on who puts in your stove and if they know what they are doing. I have also read a lot of comments about people complaining about their catalytic converters. Haven't had a woodstove before since childhood so can't really say more. Good luck, we have been researching for months!

Marcia

We just purchased a Hearthstone Phoenix this year. Overall I like it, although there are issues that will need to be addressed. The door seal does not pass the dollar bill test and the ash pan latch doesn't seem to latch properly. But I like the Phoenix over the Heritage for it's more rounded lines and the cast iron front. The kids can sit in front of it in the morning to warm up while the stone heats up.

The fire viewing is great! The only time the glass gets dirty is on very low burns, but cleans itself when burned hotter. I came from a cast iron, catalyst, Vermont Castings Encore. Soapstone is a far superiour heat. I would consider going back to cast iron, but I will never go back to a catalyst. JMHO.

Hi folks,
Thanks for the replies. We went back to the store tonight to look at the Phoenix, after I read your posts and looked at the reviews online. But we ended up deciding that the extra iron might not be gentle enough for us to stay in the living room with it when the fire was hot (the living room is VERY small). And I, too, was reluctant to go with the lower max heat, given that I wanted to be able to burn it all night. So I think we'll be getting the Heritage. Woohoo!! This is exciting. I've rarely purchased something so big and beautiful in my life -- I'm usually sort of a second-hand gal.

I spent some more time at the Woodstock website, but it just doesn't seem like a match for us, despite the rave reviews. I'm impressed that they're smaller stoves than the hearthstone, but still produce the same btu's and even longer burn times -- is that because of the catalytic converters? But I still just don't really want a catalytic converter, and the whole process of getting a stove without seeing it and touching felt more challenging for me than going to the store and getting one. And despite how beautiful the woodstocks are, they actually are not quite our style. Funny, how decisions get made. Sort of arbitrary, I guess. Except that the consensus seems to be that they're both great stoves. And we have a great dealer, so if there are any manufacturing glitches in the Hearthstone, they'll deal with it.

So I took my husband to the store with me tonight, and he saw it for the first time and really liked it. Now we're trying to figure out if we can install it ourselves and maybe build a tile covering over the basic heatpad to save money. (Second-hand gal, remember?). As we get further along I might post again with questions about those processes.

Thanks for the feedback about your stoves. Here's to a warm winter for all of us!!

April

Is that 375 degree temp the stove pipe temp? The manual states that griddle temperature range is 200 - 500 degrees. I've had the stove up to 450 and had no problems.

The Heritage is my first brand new item in a long time too. I saved some money and built the hearthpad myself. I was already starting with a cement floor, so I mortared together a few sheets of durock and tiled over that. I'm sure you could do a similar thing with the hearthpad. Just make sure you end up with the recommended amount of thickness between the pad and a combustible floor. (It's all in the manual) I think those pads are micore which I think meets the total specs in one shot.

Congrats on your stove. We'll have to have a contest to see who can get the longer burn time.

jjplant, the info I got about the Phoenix and the 375 max temp was from the folks on the Hearth.com forums. I don't have the Phoenix manual, so I don't know where that came from. It was just what those guys and the dealer told me about that stove.

Hi All,

My wife and I just purchased the Heritage. It was a long debate between the Heritage, Phoenix, and Encore non/cat. In the end it came down to clearances, and the Heritage can go 7" off an unprotected wall with the proper pipe and shield. Woodstock seems to have a great product but the styles and clearances didnt work for us.
I have been all over the web looking for info and came across this site after the hearth reviews. After reading the reviews I am starting to go from very excited to a little nervous. I made a bad, what I thought was well researched, vehicle purchase and dont want to make the same mistake with my stove purcahse.

We have a 1500sf house in MA with gas/steam heat that for the $$ doesnt keep the house very warm. The house has a pretty open plan, but insulation only in the rooms I have refinished. The stove is going in a room w/o insullation. I am looking to heavily supplement my current heat. I grew up in a house w/a VC Vigilant and love the whole look and feel. Now I'm concerned that the Heritage wont heat up quickly enough to enjoy in the afternoon, or just take the edge off in spring/fall.

I called quite a few dealers in my area and found only one with the stove. They seem a little arrogant and I hope I am not setting myself up for a headache. The dealer is not doing the install. I am using a refd contractor.

I am kind of handy, my wife thinks not smart enough to know better, and plan on making my own hearth. The mason doing the install said he will share the info I need. I'd be more than happy to pass it on.

We need a rear heat shield. I cant find a picture of an installed stove w/a shield anyone know what they look like?
Are they ugly and intrusive on the decor?

I really want to be excited about this so if any of you have any additional resources for information please share and I will do the same.

We are scheduled for install the week before Xmas, I'll keep you posted.

Good Luck,
Jim

I forgot about Woodstock's large clearances -- that affected our decision, too.

With your alternate heat system, I would think you're going to be fine with the long heat-up time of the stones -- although it might be a bit more inconvenient in the warmer weather. And in the winter, if you're trying to make it your primary source of heat, you'll be running it almost all the time anyway, right? So the stones won't cool down much. But what did you think about what jjplant said above, that the Pheonix allowed heat to come out of the front cast iron part pretty quickly? Can you switch to the Pheonix, since it's not installed yet?

But with your small house size, the Heritage might be better anyway, because it would never drive you out of the room with the cast iron heat. That's what my dealer seemed to think when I asked him about the Phoenix for us. But our house is smaller and also has a very small living room, where the stove would be. So that soft heat is more important for us.

Oh! And the dealer showed us how the heat shield looked on the Heritage, and it is very unobtrusive, in my opinion. It doesn't go outside the profile of the stove, it just adds to the depth of the stove. But since it puts it closer to the wall, the back of the stove is less visible anyway. It seemed very small to me, actually.

Hope this helps. My hunch is you'll like it, but I haven't gotten mine yet, so maybe I'm just overexcited, lol.

April

I didn't get the rear heat shield with my Heritage. I just know it costs about $79 and you need to use the double wall pipe with it. (I might add these things later) I think the heat shield attaches right to the back of the stove. If you want to do overkill, cement two pieces of durock or similar material together and connect them to the wall behind your stove, but leave 1' air space between the durock and the wall. You can purchase ceramic pieces at the dealer or just cut a few pieces of pipe. Just don't use anything combustible. I tiled the durock and it makes a nice backdrop to the stove.

Don't get too nervous about the bad reviews. Hearthstone is making their stoves at a torrid pace to keep up with demand this year. I got nervous too, but then decided for every complaint, there's probably 100 or so satisfied customers. Just check a few things on your stove before you fire it up for the first time.

Check both the door seals. Close the door on a dollar bill and attempt to pull the dollar bill out. If it shows some or a lot of resistance, you're good to go. If it comes out easily, you will need to adjust the screws on the door handle to tighten the gasket seal. I don't think those instructions are in the manual. I got the info from the folks at hearth.com. My side door has a really good seal while I had to adjust the front.

Also check the ash pan door. One person found that the screws were loose on the ash pan door, and as a result was getting way too much air into the firebox. The screws can come loose while its being shipped, and the dealer rarely checks it. Simple fix and will save you a headache if you find you're getting too much draft.

Make sure you have the recommended chimney height. Heritage requires at least 13ft. I think you subtract 1' for each 90 degree elbow that exists. This model seems to draft very well, so you don't have to exceed that 13' if you don't want to.

The breakin fire is very important with all that soapstone. Do a little 5 to 10 minute fire, let it go out and cool off completely. Then do the fire to get the soapstone just to where it's warm, not hot and let it die off. Then you're ready to do the big fires.

Enjoy your stove.

rudysmallfry, thanks for explaining that dollar bill test. I was wondering what that was, and figured I ask at some point. It's funny, my dealer told me that the handles often come very tight, and that people have to loosen them. I asked him about the dollar bill test, and he didn't know what it was. Now I get to tell him! And the info about the screws in the ash pan is great. You really did your research! Thanks for sharing.

April

We just purchased a Hearthstone Homestead, and my question is about the stone itself. We have soapstone counters in the kitchen and I oiled them to change the color from pale gray to a dark greenish-black. There've been lots of discussions on the Kitchens forum about how to oil soapstone counters, and I'm very satisfied with ours, which I oiled with tung oil.

My question now is: Can I oil the soapstone on the woodstove? Tung oil is a hardening oil so it does not need to be re-applied frequently. I would appliy the oil when the stove is cold, and let it cure 24 hours before burning. Any experience with this? Has anyone oiled their stone to darken it? Does the soapstone darken naturally over time?

You should contact the factory about that one. But, I would say no, don't do it unless your owner's manual states that you can.

I don't have my manual handy, but I think it did say something about the soapstone darkening with use. Definitely check with Hearthstone before applying something to it.

rudysmallfry wrote, "I didn't realize that the maximum recommended temp for a Phoenix was only 375 while it is 475 for the Heritage."

We downloaded the manuals for both the Phoenix and Heritage woodstoves and they give the same temperature range (200 to 500 degrees) as the external temperature one should see on top of the stove during fires. And they both say that you should aim for that high burn temp. on a daily basis for at least a short time to prevent creosote buildup. So I can't see how the Phoenix would supposedly have a lower temp. recommended for it. Does anyone know anything more specific about that than somebody told somebody?

Marcia (about to sign a contract for a Phoenix)

Marcia,
We bought a Phoenix this year. If there is a way to search by poster name, search mine for more info. There have been some issues with it but overall we really like it.

We've had our Woodstock "Fireview" for 14 years now. We've changed the catalytic combustor once/twice in that time; took under 5 minutes. How frequently you have to change it depends entirely on the quality of what you burn! it's all in the manual. The stove and performed flawlessly season after season.

I wouldn't oil a soapstone stove, personally. And I sure wouldn't use Tung oil. When I picked up the soapstone mantel last week the guy who cut it to size told me to use ONLY mineral oil on soapstone (I didn't ask why). I have not oiled it, because I rather prefer the pale-lavender grey of the stone in its natural state. It won't be subject to the scratching/staining that is commonplace in kitchen, though!

A soapstone stove WILL darken with use, rather like a Meerschaum pipe will. It happens very gradually and it won't be as pronounced as would be with oiled soapstone.

We looked at Hearthstone, too. But we opted for Woodstock, because aesthetically, we found it more pleasing. I wanted the Classic (all soapstone) but the helpmeet wanted to see the fire. I still prefer the Classic and if we ever add another stove it will be that one.

{{gwi:1527050}}

Chelone, I think that is the prettiest stove ever. I drooled over it for two years before deciding that I didn't want to deal with the cat converter. If they made that stove non-cat, I'd buy it in a second.

I TOTALLY don't understand why people are so freaked out by "cat. stoves"! Would you "'spain" it to me, please?!

You burn clean cordwood. You don't use your stove as a disposal... you get the fire up to temperature, you close the baffle on the combustor and THAT'S IT.

If you burn clean fuel you only have to change the combustor after several years. You know when it needs changing, too. You see an increase in wood consumption and when you're outdoors you smell "woodsmoke". When your combustor is functioning properly, you DON'T smell anything!

Cat. stove may not be the latest and greatest, but they work and they AREN'T tough to own. Trust me.

As a new owner of a Woodstock Fireview woodstove, I'd have to agree with Chelone, and ask the same question: what's with people's apprehension about cat stoves? This is the first one we've had (had a Lopi cast iron in the old house), and the cat converter is such a non-issue for us at this point. This is the first winter we're using it, so we did have some initial questions about the cat converter, but it's so ridiculously easy to use. We can burn anytime as well, since it's EPA certified, out here about 1/2 hr east of Seattle in the Cascade foothills, we get that stagnant air from inversion layers, so it's nice that we can continue to burn anytime.

Also, the clearance issue was important to us as well, but with a "B vent" double walled flue, we were able to install the stove within 16" of the sheetrocked wall, with the flue about 7" away. The wall gets barely warm to the touch. We love the stove, and it's a beautiful piece as well.

Geordie

i have a cat stove, vc defient encore.

the cat is shot and has bee for years. the reason i hate cat stoves is the cat is expensive to replace! at $150 (priced several years ago) i sure am not going to replace it. i suspose i burn a bit more wood but not enough to justify the cost of a cat. i suspect a cat stove is more complex and it definately has extra parts that wear out. my cat door linkage is very worn and i have a hard time releasing/disengaging that door via the handle. what a pain. now i burn it w/o using the door during the day and at night i shut it. come morning it may or may not release. i open the griddle and tap the cat door with a piece of kindling to loosen it then the handle/linkage will allow it to open. not a major issue but if there was no cat none of this would even be a problem. will never buy another stove with a cat, today the technology exists that a cat is not in all stoves and those will be the ones i look at if i need to replace the stove.

i'd also stay away from vc!

i'd also buy steel vs cast iron which WARPS - big problem!

i love the looks of soapstone, had a hs, but it was non-emission non epa approved and was very hard to regulate the burn beyond 7 hours.

tom

"had a hs, but it was non-emission non epa approved"

The new ones are EPA approved, right? I thought that's what all those emission numbers in their literature was about.

Geordie, nice to know you're happy with your Woodstock stove. We absolutely LOVE our's; easy to use, wonderfully efficient, and easy on the eyes. The cat. combustor (I always call it cat. convertor... a bad habit!) is a "non issue" for us, too. I don't remember the price of the replacement, but it wasn't staggering and the idea that it minimizes air pollution and wood consumption made it OK with us. I might feel differently if the stove hadn't performed so well over time, though; amortized over several years it wasn't much money. I suspect cat. combustor "burn out" is too often traced back to burning inappropriate materials... you have to pay attention to what goes into the stove! similar to putting leaded gasoline into unleaded only cars... plugged up the catalytic convertor.

Geordie, what's this thing about being able to "burn anytime"? Do you face regulations in your area? curious...

Chelone, we do have times (like this past week) where the air is stagnant, and King County here in Washington can issue a "burn ban" to help the situation. During the burn bans, as I understand it, only those with EPA certified woodstoves can continue to burn for heat, as well as anyone with wood as their ONLY heat (quite common here in the foothills). I believe pellet stove owners can burn too, not sure about that one.

Do you never have those situations? I understand it's mostly in mountainous areas, or valleys where the air can become "trapped" during prolonged periods with no wind.

Yes, we are really happy with our stove, especially so since, during the 7 or 8 months we don't use it, it's simply a gorgeous addition to our Great room.

We've never oiled our soapstone, can't imagine how the oil would react to being heated like that! Actually, if you oil it off season to darken it, it would probably be okay. We have soapstone counters in our kitchen and oil those occassionaly, but I like the light gray of our Woodstock stone, so I wouldn't oil it anyway. Just personal preference.

I live along the coast of Maine. Very rarely is the air "stagnant" here! when it is it's generally in the 90s with a great deal of humidity, not woodstove weather. ;)
Sea breezes are common in the the warmer months (late morning/early PM) when the land has been heated and begin pulling cool air off the water). This time of year, depending on the weather pattern, we can have damp, raw winds off the water or very sharp, very dry arctic air that pours in from the north/northwest (today). Snowfall is heavily dependant on those two factors; we can get walloped or it can turn to rain and then freeze solid (esp. nice).

I am not sure, but I believe Maine is fussy about EPA standards, too... much of the state suffers from poor air quality in the summer months; much of it blown in from the mid-western states and the burning of coal. Acid rain is a growing concern for our lakes, streams, forests. (just like everywhere else).

I wouldn't oil our stove, either and I'm not sure I will oil the mantel, either... maybe I'll get a scrap from the stone yard and "practice" with mineral oil... dunno.

Darn Chelone, I was just complimenting your wood stove. I think it's the prettiest stove on the market. I didn't want the cat for various reasons, that's all.

With regard to air quality, I believe all of the newer stoves are greatly improved in the area of emmisions. With my new Hearthstone Heritage, I can be outside while the stove is burning and don't see or smell smoke coming from the chimney. I can't say that about the stove I had in a rental a few years ago. I also don't get that day old burned wood smell the morning after using the stove. These puppies are very clean.

Mbravebird, when you do make your decision, pay attention to the chimney height requirements for the stove you choose. It will greatly affect where you can put the stove. My stove requires at least a 13' chimney. You subtract 3' for every 90 degree elbow, which reduces height very quickly. My stove is in my basement, and even then I barely made the required chimney height. Draft is everything with soapstone. Good luck.

mbravebird said "The new ones are EPA approved, right? I thought that's what all those emission numbers in their literature was about."

this was in 1992 and they (hs) made a stove (just 1 that was exempt, the rest of the hs stoves had to comply with epa) that was exempt from epa standards. beautiful stove that was hard to regulate and an extended burn was 7 hours! my wife had used vc stoves and immediately saw an issue with air regulation. me, i was a newbie and said, they wouldn't make a stove that was hard to regulate... blah blah so we bought it. i never did live it down.

love the looks of a soapstone stove. the heat is more even not the blast furnance heat that cast iron (or i think steel too) produces. as i said tho, never will i buy another cat stove. some companies have multiple burn systems w/o the cat.

tom

Chelone,
May I ask what species and about how much wood you burn each year in your Fireview?

Mostly oak and maple. We burn about a cord-cord and a half.

We cut our own wood, and it cures for about a year before it's burned. Bear in mind that our living quarters are on the second floor of our home. At just 15 years old, our home is pretty "tight"... 6" walls and 12-15" of insulation over the second floor, in the attic space.

The first floor is comprised of workshops and a suite for my elderly mother. All are on separate heating zones with their own thermostats; all but Mum's quarters are set on 55-60 degrees when vacant.

Rudy., was simply asking a question about why people object to cat. stoves... Thanks for the compliment on the stove... hope your Hearthstone pleases you as much over time and its performance is as satisfactory!

I have had two Hearthstone wood stoves. The first I purchased in 1987. It was almost identical to the Heritage except it had a side mounted ash pan door, a cast iron firebox, and a bi-metal thermostat for the air intake. I can't remember what it was called back then. It was prone to overfiring. After about seven years of use the cast iron firebox was burned out and the cast iron smoke baffle destroyed. I purchased parts to rebuild the firebox and smoke baffle only to have the same thing happen a few years later. The stove still worked but burn time decreased. I gave it to a friend of mine and bought a Heritage.

This model had been almost totally redesigned since 1987. It has a front door for access to the ash pan and a firebrick lined firebox. Hearthsone must have realized their previous model was a problem design because the Heritage showed no tendency to overfire and it was much more difficult to light a fire in this model. I had to leave the side loading door open much longer than the manual recommended to get a fire going. I also did not like the front door for access to the ash pan. Every time I used it, it caused such a mess. The manual described how to use it: Lift up the front lip and remove, open the door, remove the ash pan, etc. Then it stated at the very end, otherwise just shovel the ashes out from the side loading door. Much easier but without the bi-metal thermostat controlled air intake the coals never burned down to ash. Whenever I went to empty ashes I also had to remove an excessive amount of live coals. Sometimes it got to the point that I couldn't add wood to the stove because of the excessive pile of coals inside. All in all a poorly designed stove.

I sold my house two years after I bought the Heritage and left it there. The very next winter the new owner noticed smoke leaking from under the flue collar. I advised him not to take that stove apart anymore than necessary to fix it. He ignored me and took the whole thing apart. Everything. I looked at the parts and you could see where they did a poor job of sealing that flue collar. A simple repair, but an inexcusable example of shoddy work. The next time I visited, Humpty Dumpty Heritage was gone, he didn't say where it went and I don't think the thing got reassembled.

After these two bad experiences with Hearthsone, I ordered a Woodstock Fireview for the new house I am building. I don't particularly care for the idea of ordering a stove online but I vastly prefer soapstone performance and looks over cast iron or steel and it can't be worse than a Hearthsone under any circumstances.

To sum it up, I do not recommend Hearthstone and hopefully I will have better luck with my Woodstock.

Hi all,

Just wanting to update, as we are now using our Hearthstone Heritage (rather than just ogling it at the store!).

So far we like it very much. The heat is gentle, truly, without sacrificing that "cozy butt" feeling that makes one want to gather round the hearth.

We actually forgot to do the dollar bill test; I'll have to do it tomorrow morning and see how it goes.

It works wonderfully. We had trouble at first with having to leave the side door open too long, like pp did, but for us that changed when we started building the fires differently. We just started building a much larger kindling fire than we thought we'd have to, then add some smallish logs only after that has started creating some coals and has gotten the stove near 200 or so. If we wait to add the logs, then we're off and running! I think I only had the side door open for about five minutes today, and that was starting from a totally cold stove.

The start up fumes lasted much longer than we thought they would. It seemed to take several fires in each temp range before we stopped smelling fumes. We actually smelled a little today when we got near 500. I suppose with a few more 450-500 type fires, the fumes in that range will be gone too.

It's late and I should be in bed; if I think of anything else I'll post.

Ok, did the dollar bill test this morning and everything is fine. The screws on the ashpan look fine, too.

Oh, and we did end up making our own hearthpad, which was easy and way cheaper than buying one. Our dealer told us that a half inch of durock was all that was needed, so we just tiled with slate over the top of that. (Actually, our neighbor, nice guy that he is, did the tiling for us while we watched. The whole thing took about 15 minutes.) We grouted a couple of days later, but I wish we had grouted with darker grout -- the light grout is just going to get dirty. My brother-in-law made his own hearthpad too, but he didn't even use mortar on his because he had thick marble tiles; he just laid the marble tiles over the durock and put the stove on top.

Happy winter/autumn!

What was the R value you were supposed to achieve for your hearth? We needed a sheet of Micore to get the desired R value of 1.0 for our Hearthstone Phoenix, we would have had to use several sheets of durock to achieve that, I think 4 at least. I hope your dealer wasn't lying to you! Maybe the slate is thick and has some R value as well? The tiles don't count towards R value which is kind of stupid, ceramic tile is what we have under our stove on top of the Micore and cement board.

We like our stove, but it seems to burn wood too fast to me, we don't get nearly the burn time they say you get.

Marcia

I did not see one technical response in this forum?

I have had a Mansfield Hearthstone for about 8 years. In summary, I am happy with it. I have been using woodstoves for 30 years and I am licensed building contractor.

I have never used a Woodstock. However, in reading only on the web, the Mansfield has a 80K BTU rating, where the largest Woodstock is only 55K. Also, the Mansfield can handle a 21 inch log, and the Woodstock only a 16 inch log.

This alone sells me on the Mansfield for my 5000 sq ft home. If I had a smaller home, then I would compare before buying. I want a stove that can handle large logs and long burn times.

The Mansfield has a larger firebox, and I must assume a longer burn time. I have gone as long as 48 hours if the coals are max-ed out.

The only stupid thing on the Mansfield is the ash box. What a waste. It is easier to simply shovel thre ashes about once every 10 days, or so. The ash box does insulate the floor below, by accident.

Has anyone owned both stoves? The Woodstock products do look like they have more designer type features.

In summary--big house--go with Hearthstone Mansfield. House size less than maybe 2500 sq ft, then more info is needed. The Hearthstone seems to cost less.

We heat roughly 1300 sq. ft. with our Woodstock "Fireview". It's overkill, frankly... could heat the entirety of the house if it was on the ground floor (we have an "apartment" upstairs).

I have no facts/figures to back up what I say. Only my experience with woodstoves over the past... 30+ yrs.. An "expert", I AIN'T.

The whole BTU thing seems more important when linked to the age/insulation of the dwelling in consideration. Look, the "Fireview" we have is (likely) too much stove for the space/insulation/age of our home. But that means we burn fewer fires, so the "burn time" is essentially a non-issue for us. (this is a stick built home with 6" stud walls and insulation throughout the entirety of the home). Our home is now approaching 17 yrs. old.

We selected the stove based on aesthetics and its compliance with EPA standards in 1991. The catalytic converter has been a NON-issue for us. It's easy to use and once it becomes "habit" you never think twice about it.

OK,
I posted back in Dec, 05 and was scheduled for install at taht time. Well life happens and no install until Oct 06. The heritage is burning great heats almost the entire house, and with a fan to circulate to the downstairs back room will heat it all.
As anticipated from first impression I am not fond of the dealer I purchased from, and have located another dealer in my area.
I am very satisfied with the Heritage!!
I had anticipated making my own hearth pad but the 1.2 R value needed would have made for a very thick pad.
AJ originals factory tested meets R value, very important to my inspector and ins co. Custom made was about $480.
I just this evening broke the ceramic baffle in the topo of the stove with the ash shovel. Anyone have any idea how involved it is to get this replaced? Any advice would be great.

I bought my first fireview stove a year and a half ago. It is in the basement where I spend most my time. I enjoy it so much I just bought a second for my 1st floor. I can put my furnace in reserve status:) Most people don't prefer to deal with the cat. If you burn good wood and take care of your stove, you shouldn't have to change them but every few years and they're easy to change. But than, I probably pay a bit more attention to my stove than most, I'm a chimney sweep. Which reminds me to remind everyone- regardless of what type of stove you choose, have it checked out occasionally. Be safe.

I have had a Hearthstone, Phoenix for 8 years and have had no problems. I have not even had to change the gaskets yet but I will have to this summer. It is the only heat source we use to heat our 2,700 sq ft home. With temps typically in the teens all winter, this stove heats extremely well without the temperature swings of cast iron stoves. I would definitely buy another one.