For over 35 years, Hearthstone has been renowned for its hand-crafted soapstone and cast iron stoves. This year, the Morrisville, Vermont company introduced their first pellet stove, called the Heritage. 
In keeping with the Hearthstone tradition, this stove is built of stone and cast iron.
“It’s a pretty stove, both when it’s burning and when it’s not burning,” said Pete Aldrich, Northwest Sales Representative for Hearthstone Stoves.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Pete, and he filled me in on the story behind this “pretty” pellet stove. “The stove industry has been built around unattractive steel and cast iron stoves,” Pete said.
The folks at Hearthstone decided to change that. They teamed up with Austroflamm – a European company recognized as the Mecedes-Benz of the pellet stove industry – to engineer a well-built, aesthetically beautiful stove.
“We burned it for three years prior to releasing it,” said Pete. They tested the stove in seven different U.S. regions using different vent configurations to ensure that the stove would burn cleanly and efficiently in any climate.
The Heritage comes equipped with some “hot” high-tech wizardry, too.
Onboard Computer
These days, even pellet stoves have sophisticated computers built in. The Heritage is equipped with a sophisticated room sensor. You set the temperature you want to achieve in your room and the stove automatically modulates its burn rate, feeding in pellets as needed to keep the room at the temperature you set. You can’t do that with a wood-burning stove!
The Heritage also has a 7-day programmable times, with two ons and two offs per day. This releases you from having to constantly fuel your stove, and it means that your home will be toasty during the times of day you most need warmth.
The Heritage also has one of the quietest blowers in the industry. Pete explained, “The blower is enclosed within a housing and runs on a bearing system to keep the noise level down. It’s whisper-quiet.”
Flame
Not only is the stove itself pretty, it also has a pretty flame. Rather than the typical torch-like flame that burns up through the middle of a stove, the Heritage has an oblong, football-shaped burn pot (the burn pot is where the pellets fall in and burn). This shape allows the flame to spread out, so it looks – well – prettier.
High Heat Output, Yet Efficient
The Heritage Pellet has the best range of heat outputs in the market – as low as 15,300 BTUs and as high as 52,000 BTUs. It has the capability to heat up to 2,000 square feet.
It’s also one of the cleanest burning pellet stoves, with an EPA emission rating of 1.3 grams/hour. And there’s more!
The Heritage is 86% energy-efficient, one of the most efficient pellet stoves in the industry. It also qualifies for the $1,500 federal stove tax credit, as long as it is installed in your home by December 31, 2010.
Pellets
With the ability of heat up to 2,000 square feet, you’d imagine that this stove can hold a lot of pellets. And it does. The sealed fuel hopper (which stores the reserve pellets) holds 50 pounds. When you consider that pellets come in 40-pound bags, that means you can fill the stove with a complete bag of pellets before the stove goes out.
The stove outputs as few as 1.5 pounds of pellets per hour and as many as 6 pounds of pellets per hour, according to Pete.
Finishing Touches
The Heritage comes in two stone finishes: sandstone or polished gray soapstone. It also comes in two color finishes: matte black or brown enamel.
All-in-all, this stove is a beauty. And Rich’s just happens to be the #1 Hearthstone dealer in the Northwest.
So come in to one of Rich's five Puget Sound showrooms (in Lynnwood, Bellevue, Southcenter, Tacoma, and Silverdale) and ask about the Heritage Pellet, or any other of our full line of Hearthstone products.
Owner’s Manual
Download the owner’s manual for the Heritage Pellet
Read Part 2 in this series
A Pellet Primer: The difference between burning with cordwood and pellets
Like Rich's Facebook Page
