The HTH5: The Bigger Hard Times Heater

October 25, 2026

An open fireplace is an air leak. Warm room air rides up the chimney, cold air slips in to replace it, and you're left with a pretty fire and a chilly room. Our Hard Times Heaters fix that by catching the heat in the coal zone and blowing it back into the room.

The HTH5 is the big brother. Same idea as the HTH, with more steel and more fan.

Bigger tube, bigger fan, more warm air for every man.

What's different about the HTH5

The HTH5 uses larger 5x2 rectangular steel tube, where the HTH uses 4x2. It runs a 12V, 120mm, 90 CFM high-flow fan, and a 120 VAC wall adapter is included. More tube means more hot steel in the fire. A bigger fan means more air moving through it.

It's the same design approach as the rest of our line: fully welded, with blower-cooled tubes in the coal zone and turbulent flow. Room air tumbles through the hot tubes, picks up heat, and blows heated air back into your room. The moving air also keeps the steel from glowing, so it doesn't scale and burn up.

The default finish is seasoned steel. Treat it like a cast iron pan, rubbing it with cooking oil when it's cold, and it darkens toward a gun-blue patina. Paint and variable speed fan control are custom options. Every HTH5 is built in Texas, designed by an aerospace engineer, and we've been family operated since 2000.

Sizes and fit

HTH5 sizes run from the compact 8HTH514D (8x14x5") up to the large 24HTH524D (24x24x5"). The first number is the width lying flat, or the height standing up. The second number is the depth.

Upright is highly recommended. Stand it up and the first number becomes the height. A 20HTH516D standing upright is 20" tall, with its upper back corner reaching 16" deep into the hearth. If your back wall slants forward, measure the depth at that height. For example, check your depth 20" up from the floor.

Flat works too. Lying down, it can run with the fan on the right or the left, or both when you use a pair.

Mind your screen and doors. Pick a depth that fits behind your spark screen. If you have a free-standing screen, going a little deeper than your fireplace floor is fine. If you have glass doors, choose a depth that fits behind the shut doors.

Like the HTH, the HTH5 is modular, so you can add more later. Measure your firebox first with our fireplace dimensions guide: front width, back width, height, and depth at the bottom and the top.

When the power goes out

The HTH5's fan runs on 12V, so a 12V battery can keep it going when the grid is down. Keep your battery charged, keep a spark screen in front of the fire, and keep a working CO alarm in the house. If you want the lowest-power outage setup, the HTH with its USB fan is tested to run for 10 hours on a common cellphone battery bank, or even longer on a 12V car battery.

HTH5 or something bigger?

The HTH5 is a great fit when you want more than an HTH but don't need a full grate. If you'd like a full-size grate heater, the GR is our straight tubular grate. The TGR tapers to fit trapezoid fireboxes, and the DGR doubles up the rows of tubes. With Pre-Order, your heater is built to fit your fireplace.

Got a welder?

The HTH5 qualifies for the DIY kit, which is 35% off the ready-built heater for folks with a welder and metalworking skills. See how it works on our DIY kit page.

Back to blog

Customer feedback

Leave feedback

★★★★★

Happy camping, this compact little stove really rocks for our backwoods jeep escapades in the NW ...

Happy camping, this compact little stove really rocks for our backwoods jeep escapades in the NW rainforests

After a day of hiking and mushroom hunting, this little stove quickly warms up our cabin tent while we cook up a meal with the choisest shrooms from the days hunt.

The always dry wood pellets have a couple HUGE advantages over soggy mossy forest sticks; the biggest is being able to ignite the stove when we get back to camp and with one stoking have our tent warm and dry all through the night and the next day untill we shut it off to go on our days hike.

This is a really high performance no fuss stove.

Defenatly recomended for car camping...

Bill Droneburgh · 2018-08-26

WONDERFUL - BRILIANT - INGENIOUS

I WANT TO REPRESENT THIS HEATER .

MrHENRY · 2018-01-02

★☆☆☆☆

Ash tray interferes with the airflow of the wood burning. Should be at least small vents for airflow

Phillip LeMay · 2024-01-26

Excellent Product

My first bought was the heat exchanger, the after setting it up I realized that for my chimney the removable ash tray was a must, as it will simplify the ash removal. Hasty heat remembered my prior order and send me an email verifying if the ash tray was for the prior heat exchanger I bought from them. I was thrilled that they remembered. It shows great customer service and that they care for their clients. Product wise.what can I say, simply! you can’t go wrong with this products they are build to last, works great, and in the event of another power outage during winter I’ll be able to run it out of my solar generator as it only consume 10watts on low and 14watts on high. That a long time before I’ll have to recharge. Heat wise my living room is 1000square feet’s and I can bring it to a comfortable 70degrees F and keep it using only half of the wood in a day. Even they say that the tray will reduce the heat output there’s no much difference in the fuel consumed just the time to bring my living room to 70 increases but not for much. I was looking for a solution to make my small chimney more efficient and I’m glad I found hasty heat. Thank you Hasty Heat.

Jesus M. · 2023-05-27

Amazing!

It made cleanup easy, but the fire did not burn quite as hot as with the fire on the tubes.

Mari R. · 2023-03-16

It catches the ashes very well, haven't had to dump it yet but it does what it's supposed to do.

Jason · 2023-01-14

★★★☆☆

Ash tray

Works well but does warp from the heat

Anonymous · 2022-02-04

Just because this burner is tiny does not mean it is little on performance

Hasty Heat, I am impressed above my expectations. Remodelling my workshop they put hydronic heating in the floor. I combined your basic pellet stove with a stainless steel 2" NPT Tube in Shell swimming pool heat exchanger as the boiler for my heating system. We just did the first week of tests and firing and it is continuously working fantastic. It is pumping plenty of heat into the system, burns long steady and clean. I used a snap ring barrel as the pellet hopper to gravity feed the pellets down, and here I am a week later watching this thing burn while still waiting for the barrel to run out of pellets...

looking forward to having a warm shop floor for many winters to come...

Richard Battson · 2018-08-26

Heater and Fans

They are Great and Efficient

Anonymous · 2021-04-15

Good grate heater.

The grate heater is very good at sending the heat into the room. I have tried both hardwood and softwood pellets in the ribbon of fire but I can only get flame for about 20 minutes before it does nothing but smoke. I might be doing something wrong but I can't get much heat out of it. Using cord wood the grate heater is top notch and I really like it.

Robert R. · 2021-03-04

This thing is like a wooden candle flamethrower

We had no problem grilling for 2, or boiling a corned beef tender with an all afternoon simmer on less than 2 quarts of wood pellets.

Very portable, good working height, plenty of heat even for a large wok.

Bret Earl · 2019-02-01

3x cheaper heat than oil, 2x cheaper than a heat pump

I Still have my heater burning and dad was using his the other day.

These heaters really reduced our heating bill last winter. By our calculations during the polar vortex this pellet stove was 3x cheaper than our oil furnace. And for my dad it saved over 2x verses his heat pump by burning the pellet stove.

I’m glad your doing well there with your family. Take care...

Dough Uhlich · 2019-04-12

Toasty in Texas

Finally found this affordable insert for our fireplace. We don’t burn wood year-round, but this insert has been a game-changer for the times that we do need to take the chill off. Always hated knowing that most of the fire-generated heat was headed up and out the chimney. This insert is just what we needed to reap the benefits of our fireplace. If you already have a functioning fireplace then you will never regret this minimal investment. Family loves it, especially my wife. Thanks for helping me score points with the one who matters the most.

Large Hard Times Heater

David B · 2024-01-21

great way to stay warm

Our can tell that the folks at Hasty Heat are professional, helpful and really care about customer service. My exp[erience with them was terrific from first talking with them to better understand the various products to ordering and having the exchanger delivered Would not hesitate to buy from them again!

tim d. · 2024-01-13

Life Saver!!!

Im so glad i found your website. And if anyone else reads this it warms mt ranch house with the help of a big buddy heater in the far back room. Very happy with this and the service is second to none had it in mt hands in less than 3 weeks. Thank You Hastyheat.

Philip R. · 2023-12-02

Absolutely Worth It!

Purchased a 24x24 HTH and Ashtray hoping to improve the the heat output of my fireplace. Assembly is very easy and takes 15 minutes tops. I tried placing the tray on top of the unit and was not very impressed by the heat output. After making some adjustments to the legs and placing the tray under the underneath the heat exchanger my results went to phenomenal! If you are on the fence about this, BUY IT, IT’S WORTH EVERY PENNY! I am looking forward to toasty home and lower oil bill this Winter as a result of my HTH. I can’t forget to mention excellent customer service. It appeared I ordered an extra part unnecessarily, prior to shipping they brought to my attention and removed the item from my order. After first use I was not to happy with results, sent an email asking for suggestions, I received a response quickly and I am now among Hasty Heats advocates!

Neil J. · 2023-10-01

Great product

For the price you can't beat this. Pumps out a lot of heat, fan is pretty quiet and is built sturdy.

Have no regrets buying it

Anonymous · 2023-03-15

Game changer

This product is excellent. I purchased the largest one , can now Heat my 1100 square foot home with just fireplace. Before I purchase this product I could barely heat up one room now the whole house stays 70 to 72° without heater on.

Chris M. · 2023-01-20

★★★★☆

Not for the unprepared

The item is still in as many pieces as it arrived. There is a lot of work to do prior to Assembly that I thought would already have been accomplished.

James H. · 2023-01-14

Awesome product. I purchased the 24x24 hthl for brick and morter fireplace. Been burning wood for 3 years. Before purchasing this product all the heat would escape through the chimney. I can know heat my 1100 square foot home with nothing but wood. Thank you Hasty Heat for coming up with this great product.

Chris may · 2022-11-21

Fireplace grate heat exchanger

Most excellent!! I love this product. It does exactly as it said it would and I’m so happy we purchased this!!! My house is warmer and my electric bill went down this last winter!!!!

Denise R. · 2022-06-01

Works great.

This thing works great. it raises the temp of my first floor 4-5 degrees, saving a ton on heating oil.

William R. · 2022-01-07

Simple

Thank you so much! Our grate and fan speed control arrived in perfect condition. A half hour later it was assembled and tested. It works wonderfully, as promised. We had our first fire with it and the heat it placed into the room made us comfortable. Thanks for creating such an affordable device.

craig · 2021-12-05

First order

Excellent product abs delivery fulfillment and preparation amd support re purchase

Anonymous · 2021-02-15

Great heat output from the tubes

The air temperature coming out was well over 200 degrees. Really pushes the heat into the room instead of up the chimney.

Anonymous · 2017-03-21

Buy it. It’s worth it…

I waited a year to buy a hasty heat heater and I should have bought it then.

Customer service is awesome and right down to detail dimensions Any and all questions were answered promptly. Communication was a pleasure. Don’t hesitate, buy it. It’s worth the money.

Anonymous · 2024-02-25

Fantastic

Just loving our hard times grate. We have a living/kitchen area. Probably around 900 sqft. We can increase the temp of the space by 5 degrees in just a couple of hours ans keep it there! Really improved the fireplace usage. Used to burn a few times a winter, now we burn multiple times a week! Been great for the holidays! Thanks

Nick · 2023-12-31

Hard Times Heater

Our living room is large and rectangular with fireplace centered on outside wall and thermostat in hallway just beyond LR entrance. Although the temp in hallway is mostly unaffected, the TV sitting area is comfortably warm burning 2 year old oak and maple. A larger, more powerful heat exchanger unit would, most likely, increase heat output and warm hallway and beyond. Exhaust fan works great, however, if there was a way to safely shut it off now and then during the burn, that would make it even better. Re: value for the money, can't complain. Thanks, Hasty Heat!

Anonymous · 2023-02-16

Love it. So warm and cozy.

Kimberly · 2022-12-03

One Month In!

One month in and loving the hard times heater from Hasty Heat! Exactly what i was looking for, we have a small house and this thing pumps it full of heat. Workmanship is very solid hope it last many many years!

John Snyder · 2021-11-20

HastyHeat heat exchanger

I am extremely happy with my purchase. The fan is a little loud but the construction of the unit is very solid

Barry S. · 2021-02-03

Great product with 1 trade off

We bought the Hard Times grate heater last fall so have been enjoying it for the past 1 1/2 years. We purchased it for our ski condo, which has a small fireplace. We preferred the Hard Times to the heat exchanger with the tubes since it is less noticeable. The Hasty Heat team was very helpful helping us pick the right product.

Our condo is small, and the Hard Times does a great job pumping heat out of the fireplace to warm the living room area. We are not using the electric baseboard heat in that room when we are burning. The fan does a nice job and isn't too loud - though you can hear it. However, when we have the TV on we don't even notice the fan as it just becomes background noise.

The tradeoff we have noticed is that it is a bit harder to get a fire started as there is limited space for the fire to breathe. Given we have a smaller model, there is little room with the tubing to get much air to the fire. We have considered drilling holes in the back plate, but given it is right up against the back of our fireplace we don't think it will help much. We are using fat wood to help with getting the fire started, and I think we would really struggle without it.

That said, we would definitely recommend the Hard Times as it is noticeably warmer in our condo as a result. Great product!

Rich · 2021-01-25

Very good value

Happy Customer · 2017-11-23

Quick shipping

They made the heater quickly and shipped it out right away. Heater looks just like the pictures. Transaction was easy

Happy Customer · 2016-12-28

Absolutley love this unit !

We have a large family room. We'd have these huge fires, but still weren't getting the warmth we should. The fire was pulling all the hot air upward and out the chimney, as well as pulling cooler air into the family room from other parts of the house. The only heat we were getting was radiant and it just wasn't nearly enough. The heat exchanger we bought was well worth the expense. We're now getting HOT air forced into the room with half the fire we had before. I'm burning far less wood and getting far greater results. Prior to this, huge fires just weren't warming us. It was easy to set up and it easily lifts out to clean the fireplace. We love it ! And it's AMERICAN MADE !!!

scott s. · 2022-05-03

Excellent customer service and quality product

Excellent customer service and quality product. Save yourself a whole Lotta time I did all the research on heat exchangers and fireplace heating solutions. HastyHeat offers the best product at the best price plus it’s made in the USA!

Jessica K. · 2022-10-06

Built American Tough

The quality of this heat exchanger was far better than I expected. Everything with Hasty Heat was a good experience including customer service. You will not be disappointed with the products they sell. Awesome work!

Kevin M. · 2023-11-16

Item added to your cart