# Adobe  Problems- Owner Unite



## muleman51 (Feb 19, 2008)

I purchased an Adobe boiler last March, it came when I was busy in the field and didn't do anything with it until Nov. At that time I found it was short pieces, contacted company and recieved little help. Never did talk to a live person or receive a return call (haven't to this day). Finially Got it together (thanks to help from Mark at Valley Trailer), only to have the damper stick open and melt off waterline, melt down the pump and gauges.  No reply or response from company. Put it back together, tightened spring on damper (poor unsafe design) Got it working again. Anyone who put one of these in there home would have a potential disaster on their hands. You put these outside for a reason. Mine is in a machine shed away from my house, I had an AquaTherm first. Long story short, burns too much wood, doesnot recover well, have to feed it every 5-7 hours. leaks smoke all over, and is probably not gasifing. To top this off after further examination, trying to figure out why it won't keep up. I started to measure and the boiler they sent does not have the dimensions of the one I ordered, however did does have an ALTERED SERIAL number to match the model that I paid for.Guess what no response. I even put up a whole new insulated chimney. Thanks for listening. If you want more details get in touch. Maybe other owners should band together. Ihave contacted both Minnesota and Maine Attorney General offices.


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## rsnider (Feb 19, 2008)

does the valley trailer guy build for adobe? are they the same company under diff names. how did you find the valley trailer guy on the Internet.


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## altheating (Feb 19, 2008)

I had posted this in another topic yesterday, so I'll repost it here. Maybe with some help in here muleman51 and others will get some satisfaction.
I spoke to muleman51 earlier today. He is having the same issues with the folks at Adobe as I had. No phone calls back from the factory, they wouldn’t ship parts, the instruction manual was not complete, the DVD failed to show many of the parts in their proper placement. Then they had the nerve to say the boiler was not properly assembled. It was assembled just as the directions and DVD had shown. Parts were missing, the boiler can’t keep up with the heat demand. He actully received the wrong size boiler and they won’t take it back. The folks at Adobe actully altered the tag according to muleman51, according to him they hand wrote over the tag to change the BTU rating. (and all this time I thought you had to burn more wood in a bigger boiler to get more BU’s) The owner of the Adobe here in NY will most likely purchase an Econoburn to replace his Adobe. Muleman51 stated that his boiler is actully blistering and the blistering is being caused by the metal rusting through. Call the company and tell them you want to buy a boiler and they are all over you ask about a problem you are having and they don’t know you. The guy here in NY had to tell them he wanted to purchase a boiler in order to get through to finally discuss his disaster and to finally order parts. I agree with muleman51, go look at a boiler that has been in operation for awhile ask the owner about the factory service that was received. It unfornitute that there are companies out there that are operating in such a fashion. Saving a few hundred dollars up front may actully cost you several thousand in the long run. Just ask muleman51. Go with one of the top manufacturers who have good ratings in this fourm. 

Good luck muleman51


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## sparky1961 (Feb 19, 2008)

valley trailer does not manufacture boilers for adobe .  adobe has problems in design . He  has been through a number of manufacturers.


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## antknee2 (Feb 21, 2008)

Spring of 2007 I contacted Adobe boiler and was ready to by one because of the price and lower flue pipe bypass . I only wanted a diagram of the of the boiler construction , at that time it was not on theree web page . There brochure arrived in the mail one month later , figured there very busy . A couple days later I called to order a boiler and had couple questions , believe it or not they did not call back until October .  By that  time the big Seton found a new home in my boiler room . I would like to see some pics of the Adobe boiler . Anthony


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## firebird400 (Mar 4, 2008)

hi everyone thanks for all the info i guess i will keep looking the price was great i thoutht but i sure dont need all the problems .  the price was in the budget will keep saving


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## roaring fire (Mar 17, 2008)

I purchased an Adobe Boiler March2007. I didn,t do the install until Oct 07.
Some of the problems encountered I chaulked up to my inexperience with those refactory units.
The biggest manufacturing problem , the outer skins rusted through in6 wks.Contacted Dirigo manufacturing
& got the same run a round I have been reading on this forum. When I bought my unit
my payment went to RC Trailor, so they were at least assembling & selling the Adobe at least up to
March 07 & as I understand it they are selling The Greenfire.The RC Trailer guy has promised to send me new
skins which are galavized & thicker than the originals. I will let this forum know if I actually
receive what was promised.
My research tells me the Adobe is based on the Seton technology
One difference is the forced air using an air box.
I have not seen this on any of the other clones of the Seton
Any Adobe owners have opinion on this
I have a chronic problem with the water vessel collecting creceote
Any suggestions to improve this.
I have good draft & burn hot fire with seasoned wood


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## steam man (Mar 17, 2008)

I looked at an adobe boiler in operation at a friend's home and it was a creasote making monster. Another friend has one and had issues of overheating to the point he almost sold it. To me they are oversized, no storage, and some installation/control issues. It sat smoldering under no load. One did burn the damper motor after an overheat condition. I understand they are offered with forced or natural draft. My feeling is the damper drive could be improved to protect it from the heat. Also, a thermal safety link on a spring loaded flap may help in severe overfire condition. I understand the damper is either open or closed. Perhaps the aquastat needs some tinkering to prevent the extreme lag in getting it back up to temperature. Less differential? I am also thinking that if the air could be modulate through a "flap" with some kind of throttling characteristics, the swings in temperature could be averted. I would also have a thermostatic valve on the boiler return to maintain the highest temperature possible in the boiler. Both setups I am aware of are remote located and drag a lot of relatively cool water back before any effective heat gets to the load which has to cause some creasote. I don't know why the cold start bypass flap couldn't be thermostatically controlled to maintain stack temperature by passing part of the heat exchanger. The design does appeal to me since the quality of the wood is not so much an issue as a "pure" gassifier though it will burn more wood. I would like to get my hands on one just to tinker with it.


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## Eric Johnson (Mar 17, 2008)

Welcome to the Boiler Room, roaring fire. I like your edited post better than "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." Hopefully we can help you get better performance out of your boiler. We do have quite a few Seton and Greenwood owners on this site, and, as you suggest, the basic designs look similar to me.


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## muleman51 (Mar 17, 2008)

Last week I removed the back of my Adobe and cleaned it out, had to cut the back out and put in a whole new thicker back. Hopefully it will come off easier the next time, although probably not as much silicone as I used to seal it up. I took out a couple of gallons of ash and creosote. it was completely plugged around the lower manifold, it doesn't seem to be enough clearance in this area to me. I have installed a new chimney also. The only way I get areal hot fire is to use the fan , but then it wants to smoke as it seems to not be able to remove the exhaust. I have added to my chimney and that has not helped. I am wondering if a draft inducer fan might help. but I am getting sick of trying to put band-aids on it. Already after one week it seems to not be drawing as well. I am beginning to think it may have to do with internal clearance. I also have not had any help from Adobe only from Mark. I know I will probably have to spend more money and add storage to make this work. I'm liking this boiler less everyday, it needs too much babysitting.


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## roaring fire (Mar 17, 2008)

I went through the same ritual, took side panel of and found  entire lower section of the vertical vessel completely clogged . The water vessel is critical to performance & I would really like to know if there is an Adobe owner out there who has found a way to lick this problem. I installed a draft inducer & it stopped the smoke from belching out of every crevice of the unit. I have also tinkered with aquastat ie. shortened cycle to keep lower temp above 160f. The probe on my aquastat is staapped to an iron fitting but it reads about 10 degrees lower than my temp guage which is installed in the boiler water itself. Is there a way to more accurately install my aquastat probe?
Thanks for your imput sofar. This is a great site & my compliments to the moderator for the clarifications & keeping everyone on track.


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## steam man (Mar 17, 2008)

roaring fire said:
			
		

> I went through the same ritual, took side panel of and found  entire lower section of the vertical vessel completely clogged . The water vessel is critical to performance & I would really like to know if there is an Adobe owner out there who has found a way to lick this problem. I installed a draft inducer & it stopped the smoke from belching out of every crevice of the unit. I have also tinkered with aquastat ie. shortened cycle to keep lower temp above 160f. The probe on my aquastat is staapped to an iron fitting but it reads about 10 degrees lower than my temp guage which is installed in the boiler water itself. Is there a way to more accurately install my aquastat probe?
> Thanks for your imput sofar. This is a great site & my compliments to the moderator for the clarifications & keeping everyone on track.



I would venture a guess that a "strap on" aquastat may have some temperature lag in response to an immersion type. At least the pipe around the aquastat should be insulated. I would consider changing to an immersion type with a well installed in a tee fitting. One with an adjustable differential would be nice for tweaking things. I still like the idea of a thermostatic valve for the boiler return.


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## Eric Johnson (Mar 18, 2008)

The important thing to remember about aquastats is that they require flow in order to work. If you have one on a section of pipe that stops flowing, then it's only going to read the temp at that point in the system. So if you have a stat that makes the connection on temp rise piped into a dead spot, it won't work.


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## antknee2 (Mar 18, 2008)

Don't give up ! when I get back from vacation , I will try to explain my theory on utilizing the untapped heat producing potential of a boiler with your style heat exchanger . Learning everyday . Anthony


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## muleman51 (Mar 18, 2008)

Roaring fire, I knew other people had to be having trouble with these Adobe boilers.  Do you run your draft inducer and draft fan at the same time. It seems that if you push and pull it should work, maybe put the push fan on a timer so it shuts down once the fire gets hot and let the inducer pull the heat around. I know there is a fine line between pulling enough draft and pulling the heat out.  My aquastat is also on the pipe just outside the top , it lags by about 10* but that doesn't  matter, you just set it at 10* under what you want. That's the least of the problems this boiler has.


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## steam man (Mar 18, 2008)

Lag is not the same as just reading 10 deg low. It is more of how fast the aquastat responds to the change in temperature. That's kind of a minor issue. I am wondering what return temperature to the boiler is and for how long. If the boiler is getting plugged where the cold water enters the boiler I would want to get the temperature up fast and keep it flowing rather than on-off cycling. My plan would be to get a thermostatic valve to maintain boiler return temp and start thinking about a thermal storage plan. Not getting a "hot" fire is a problem. I would think that if the air intakes are clear, you have a proper draft, and the wood is decent then the boiler should be able to go into melt down if you let it. Both of the ones I looked at have done that numerous times. Anthony D is pretty good with these and he should be able to help you out. Come to think of it I did have a problem with a ceramic lined stove years ago that would not burn well until I modified the air intake to allow more air into the firebox. Having to resort to both forced and induced draft would almost seem obscene.


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## muleman51 (Mar 19, 2008)

I agree with you about needing to push and pull but I'm getting sick of this. Since I cleaned the back out it has been above 25* and in the 30-40 range during the day. It has been a problem keeping the water temp up. You can't put enough wood in to make it through the day, unless you are there at least every 6 hours. I do plan on putting storage (milk bulk tank or I have two 300 gallon NH3 tanks that I can use) . I think I want to stay with non-pressure storage, can't decide if I want to build a loop or use a HX. Don't really want the other pump. Is there a way to get the water to circulate enough without electricity in the event of a power outage. I had 1 meltdown don't want another.


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## NNYorker (Mar 19, 2008)

Hello everyone, my first post concerning Adobe. My story begins in March 07 when I purchased an Adobe 100-Indoor build on site. My sales pitch was .... beat the price increase and get this boiler with all the new improvements. I bought the pitch after researching  boiler options for appprox. 1 yr. The boiler was delivered and sat in my garage until final install was complete in the last two weeks of Dec. 07. I begin assembly of the unit in Oct/ Nov.07 with the vague instructions provided and find that the assembly instruction CD  and fire brick diagram are nowhere to be found. I call Adobe and get my first taste of Adobe customer service. I talk to Phil , who sold me the boiler , he basically wants nothing to do with these issues . He refers me to Mark ,who is not an Adobe employee, who takes care of these things. Further into the assembly I am missing pins for insulation installation. I call Adobe....Phil's response- They sell those at all welding supply stores and they cost pennies. So I spend half the day of MY day off from work to search for the pins . Well guess what, not everybody stocks them but they can order a box of 100 when I need 12.  Again I call Mark and he does what he says- he sends the pins to me . Mark becomes my Go To Guy when I have a question. Forward to mid to late Feb. 07- I notice the paint bubbling in several places on the right side panel. I blow this off figuring it to be bad paint as it was applied with no primer below it.  I pop these bubbles and discover creosote running out of all bubbles- pinholes in this side panel everywhere the paint is bubbled . There are approx. 50 pinholes covering 1ft.x2ft. area about 3ft. up from the bottom of the boiler. This cancer is getting worse each day. The boiler has been in service 3 mo. at the most ! I see my problems mirror several others on this forum. Apparently I need to contact the Attorney General to see if  they can help me. Customer service and you do not exist after the boiler has been paid for. If anyone has questions feel free to contact me.


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## muleman51 (Mar 19, 2008)

Welcome to the club, I think you wrote my story. Hopefully we can get these to work. Mark has been very helpful. I have contacted the Minn. AG they have tried twice so far to get in contact with Phil. I have also contacted Maine. You need to contact you state AG and Maine. I can give you more particulars if you want .  Good Luck


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## steam man (Mar 19, 2008)

muleman51 said:
			
		

> I agree with you about needing to push and pull but I'm getting sick of this. Since I cleaned the back out it has been above 25* and in the 30-40 range during the day. It has been a problem keeping the water temp up. You can't put enough wood in to make it through the day, unless you are there at least every 6 hours. I do plan on putting storage (milk bulk tank or I have two 300 gallon NH3 tanks that I can use) . I think I want to stay with non-pressure storage, can't decide if I want to build a loop or use a HX. Don't really want the other pump. Is there a way to get the water to circulate enough without electricity in the event of a power outage. I had 1 meltdown don't want another.



I think the devil is in the details. I wonder how big a heat load you have and what the boiler is rated for. Is the boiler cycling on/off alot? That could be a BIG problem.  I am curious as to how your boiler is piped to the system. Is the wood good quality or is it wet and sizzling with steam coming out of it? If you have good looking fire the heat is going somewhere. What is a typical stack temperature in mid-cycle? The in and out temps of the boiler? Is the boiler radiating a lot heat throught the casing? Are the tubes actually clean or totally encased in creasote deposits? One oddball remote problem is the possibility your heat exchanger is partially plugged internally from sludge/sediment so your not getting flow through all the tubes. I've seen large industrial boilers with similar problems over the years.

I would guess that if your boiler is cycling on/off storage would help to prevent this. When the power is out you could use a generator, batteries with inverter, use a gravity loop where the tank would have to be higher than than boiler where the different densities of the hot/cold water would naturally circulate, or as Eric says-have an automag valve open on power failure to dump to a zone above the boiler.


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## muleman51 (Mar 19, 2008)

I'm not sure of my heat load. As for the size of my boiler,good question as I didn't get the boiler I ordered. The dimensions don't match the dimensions on the invoice, and the serial number seem to be altered and since no one will reply or answer the phone it's pretty hard to get to the bottom of it. The boiler does cycle on and off, if it didn't you could never keep enough wood in it. I haven't had time or the money to buy all the monitoring equipment.  I have a well insulated home 2900sq ft . I only put heat in the basement and main floor, bedrooms just get what comes from below.  The boiler is outside in my machine shed. I have a sidearm and heat exchanger in the furnace (that is on a programable Tstat and zone valve. There is some fintube in the basement on its own zone valve. I have some wirsbo in a 12 x 24 addition on its own stat (that is on very little). And there is a steel wall radiator on north basement wall that is throttled way back. For the most part supply and return are not to far apart in temp (touch method). So you can see I have a real dukes mixture.  I know that storage will help (more money). If I was rid of this boiler I'd have a Garn by fall.  This sure is more complicated than my old AquaTherm and all I wanted to do was burn less wood.


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## druzzy (Mar 19, 2008)

i dont know if i'm responding right--but i'm another victim to this scam adobe bioler sold me--its roting to death and eats wood like no tomorrow--i'm trying to contact them--and no response! i'm a military guy just returned from sunny downtown bagdad and asked one of my fellow sevice men to e-mail them and they responded--i need help to fix these unamerican bums!! my unit is less than a season old and very disappionted--i cant believe there american company's operating and doing this to hard working american--help!!


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## webbie (Mar 19, 2008)

Sorry to hear of these problems. I have never heard of Adobe Boilers...and perhaps I don't want to! My advice to people would be NOT to experiment when it comes to boilers....buy ONLY from a company that has a 8-10 year+ GOOD experience and reputation with difficult weldments/pressure vessels, etc.

There is NO excuse for the type of service that you have been getting and certainly no possible reasons for pinholes in a relatively new boiler.


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## muleman51 (Mar 19, 2008)

Everyone needs to contact the attorney generals office. Talk to them. They are selling these boilers over state lines. The more people that complain the better chance we have, also the more states .


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## roaring fire (Mar 19, 2008)

Thanks fro the brain storming steam man. You mentioned heat loss through the casing. I installed my boiler in a remote workshop 1000 sq ft.
The workshop is much more comfortable than my house ie. just radiant heat from the Adobe. I have 160000btu water to air heat exchanger in the plenum of my hot air furnace, 10 cords of wood in 3 months heat output is marginal at best trying to heat 2500 sq ft.
Burning chunk back to the push & pull. After installing the draft inducer I disconnected the forced fan & tried natural draft. The result was good & bad.
The gases stopped forcing there way out through the panels & the bad odour from the gases disappeared. O n the other hand the thing took forever
to reach cut out temp 180 degrees & the fire was very lethargic. I am suspect that the creceote problem increased during this period.
So I wired the forced fan back up, I actually wired the forced fan & the draft inducer together so they cut in & out simultanously with the damper & controlled by the aquastat. The result good & bad. Super improvement  in output. from 160 to 180 degrees with no load in 4 minutes.
On the other hand the bad odour was back & small amount of gases were evident. My theory is the forced draft was creating to much pressure
inside the unit & was forcing gas & odour out through the unit. So I took a piece of metal sheet & covered 50% of the air inlet on the forced draft.
The result I still have a hot fire no odour & no sign of gas seepage. Still worried about the water vessel, no way to check the vertical section without
tearing down the unit.
ps I have a battery power pack in my basement hooked up to my circulator, learned the hard way, cooked everything first power outage.My advice
buy a heavy unit to keep circulators going several hours , as you know the refactory holds heat long after unit shuts down.
My heart goes out to you Burning Chunk


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## druzzy (Mar 19, 2008)

is there a solution or a class action suite that can be applied against this company--i purchased my unit from phil in banger maine--is that the actual manufacturer? does any body have an actaul address to phil house?i'll personally deliver this unit to his family--this is not the american way of doing business!--i hope adobe reads this stuff--cause i'm coming!!


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## steam man (Mar 19, 2008)

I just found this: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/adobe-boiler/1391680917


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## muleman51 (Mar 19, 2008)

Pretty impressive video, Right.  Why do you suppose we all bought these boilers. Burn green wood, huge amounts of heat, no creosote, etc. Hindsight is good, the boiler is burning full tilt 24-7 never has to cycle in that situation I am sure it won't plug up there, chimney straight up heated most of the way. Can you blame us?


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## druzzy (Mar 19, 2008)

thanks for the video--i agree why did we buy these units--i have my unit in a pole barn and put lines under ground to the house--i am heating the house but the stove is rotting away and the pole barn is loaded with gases and smoke--my brother owns a old aqau therm.--its about 12 years old and the only thing he replaced is a few pumps--it is not that efficient cause its old--but its holding up all these years--my unit looks like its 15 years old--i'm going to watch all the great info you guys are putting out there and my be we can salvage  what we have--before i put this unit in phil's living room--and if anyone comes up with a way to chase this company down and make things right i want to warn any other poor sap not to purchase nothing from this crap company--thanx--for letting me vent---druzzy


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## Eric Johnson (Mar 19, 2008)

Last time I checked, it was being manufactured by Dirigo Mfg. in Hamden, Maine--just outside of Bangor.


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## steam man (Mar 19, 2008)

Hampden huh? Pretty close by. I get there fairly often.  I may make a visit just to look things over and ask a few questions. 

I also know someone who made copies of the Adobe but will talk to him about them. His is stainless skinned so I didn't see any rusting problems. 

Another friend who (who doesn't know about this site) has one (with problems) and actually called Fred Seton about it. Fred sent him some info on it to help him out. What a guy.


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## Eric Johnson (Mar 19, 2008)

http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_hh40cb

Funny how a New Hampshire phone number is listed.


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## webbie (Mar 19, 2008)

Has 4 employees and started in 2007???


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## sparky1961 (Mar 19, 2008)

the co is registered in nevada i wonder y .


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## NNYorker (Mar 19, 2008)

Well I just left  a message with the NY Attorney Gen. and  e-mailed the Maine AG . I've been doing more searching today and I found  out my exact delivery date from Pottle's Transportation . Their ph. # is 1-800-370-5623. I talked to Jim with no problems. Of course I've been calling Adobe's 1-877-498-1556 Parts and Service number with no avail. Phil's 207-992-4130 number is also a no reply. I hope everyone calls/contacts their A.G. and gets the ball rolling and the heat on Phil.


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## roaring fire (Mar 20, 2008)

Steam Man are you aware of similar creocote problems with the Greenwood. I know the Greenwood has a flat plate heat exchanger on the back & the return water passes through that exchanger before entering the return on the water vessel. If the Greenwood is ok the increased temp on the return water might be making the difference . The outer skins get quite hot to touch after a few hours of operation, would it help to add more insulation & keep more heat in the unit.


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## steam man (Mar 20, 2008)

I just read in the other thread (show us your Greenwood) about the boilers losing heat throught the casing and using them in uninsulated/unheated rooms. I would venture a guess that at times the room is close to the dewpoint temp and causing condensation in the boilers. Insulation helps any boiler to keep the temp up and corrosion down.


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## druzzy (Mar 21, 2008)

i have a couple days off soon--i'm going to call the AG also and put some pressue on the company--i started to asked some friends for some new fire proof wool (they call it)  and some stainless --and i'm going to change all the skins during the summer--my unit is the 200 series and i assemble it myself with very poorly written instructions--the unit is heating my home and i have 250 of underground line from bioler to house bioler---but i do eat wood--i pack it every 10hrs--i been putting that sticky metal tape over the holes to stop the gas's from filling up the pole barn--and it sticks badly---the fella who said they live petty close to the company--i hope you take a ride and talk to these people--i'll be glad to pay for your gas!!  i hear you all talk about putting a holding tank in--would that tank be outside or buried? and would it make it more effecient---druzzy


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## altheating (Mar 21, 2008)

I called Phil on his cell phone when I had the same problems. He would never answer the phone. Call the factory and tell them you wanted to purchase a stove and he would call you right back! Here is the l numbers that I have  1=877-498-1556 or 1-877-498-1556. I think one of them was a cell number if I recall. When I had my issue with them he advised not to remove the rotted out skins, just put the new skins right over the old ones. yea, right! We pulled the old skins off, what a mess, the heat exchanger was so covered with creosote it took 3 hours to get the caked on creosote off. The air tubes were rotted off, refractory blocks cracked. Oozing creosote everywhere. The customer had to drive to Maine to get the new skins, which Phil had left outside the companies overhead door for pickup. This boiler does net even make a good paperweight, they are of piss poor workmanship, absolutly no company support. I hope you folks get your hands on Phil.


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## roaring fire (Mar 23, 2008)

Happiness is a mug of tea from Newfie flat ass kettle boiled over a fire of blasty boughs

I am sure you all agree the biggest problem with Adobe is the rotting skins.
All the other complaints are echoed consistentlly in threads dealing with the Greenwood.
ie. creceote, cracked refactory, smoke out the door, wood consumption.
The Adobe is actually a GW in a cheeper skin, at half the price.
To give the devil his due I believe the Adobe has a couple of modifications which
may prove superior to the Seton & GW.
1) I believe the forced draft design enables a hotter fire & helps the Adobe better able to handle green wood.
2) The Adobe has an air box fitted with a removable damper that simply pushes into the airbox
like a piece of 6 inch stove pipe. The damper in this position is protected from debris, gum, tar etc.
This contrasts the GW which sits exposed on the lower back of the unit.

When I replace my skins I would like to add some high temp wool because I think it radiates to much heat.
suggestions on suppliers


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## antknee2 (Mar 23, 2008)

I just purchased a roll of this ceramic blanket insulation , very easy to work with , looks like tight material will not fall apart .Anthony



http://www.mcgillswarehouse.com/Ite...010&IN=CERAMICSPUNBLANKET2"-8LB/FT3or128KG/M3


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## roaring fire (Mar 23, 2008)

Thanks Anthony I just checked that site & the 1 inch will suit just fine.


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## muleman51 (Mar 25, 2008)

Igot word today that Phil doesn't work at Adobe any more. That is what he told my attorney, although he didnot say who to talk to. I don't believe him. Does anyone know different. I never get an answer there. If anyone knows please pos. Thanks.


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## druzzy (Mar 28, 2008)

muleman--my adobe now is having a hard time getting up to temp--i think the lower discharge flue is getting plugged--if you dont mind me asking--your lawyer making any head way with that company! my unit is a big disappiontment!!i served a short tour in baghdad for most of the winter--and i coulded wait to get home and mess around with the new bioler--want a piece of crap!!along with phil--the unamerican sales man of the year--i just dont know what to do--or go about getting my money back--even worse i have to listen to my wife on how i got screwed! no more than a hour ride from my house is the dunkirk manufacturer that make the econo-burn--i think we have to start looking for a unit that works--my brother is still useing his aqua-therm and just shaking his head at me!!  his unit is old and still working--my unit did not even get a season out of it!!does anybody want a unit cheap!!


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## muleman51 (Mar 28, 2008)

druzzy- My condolences,  my wife just read this and she agrees with your wife, I've been hearing the same song all winter. I had a working Aqua -therm until May, until I got my new super boiler . You're right what a price of ----.  I spent 3 hours unplugging mine again yesterday, went 3 hours faster than last time. I cut the back out the last time and put in a new heavier back. If you open it up check the clearance by the bottom angle iron and the lower manifold. Mine was very tight so I cut back the angle iron with a sawsall so there is room for the exhaust to go by. You also have to trim back the insulation some. I used camper weatherstrip[ping around it this time so I don't have to peal the silicone loose every time, seems to be hold OK so far.  I'm with you I'd like to rid myself of this, I don't know if I want to go through more trial and error with adding storage and a room for it and all and maybe having it work. I added a draft inducer yesterday also to try and pull the exhaust out better. My attorney has  gotten no where with him, he was the one who talked to Phil Monday and Phil said he didn't work there anymore, which I think may be a falsehood since he owns the company and wouldn't say who to get a hold of. My problem is I didn't get the right boiler in the first place and I'm 1800 miles away.  Did you get the NY AG on him I think that is important. The MN AG has sent 3 letters so for and has gotten no response.


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## muleman51 (Mar 29, 2008)

I'm still trying to make this boiler work.  Istill don't think it gasifise and burn real clean. I put up a new chimney ,I have added a draft inducer,cleaned out the back and top twice. Last night at 11 boiler was at 155 just starting its cycle, I refilled the firebox. This morning at 7 the boiler was at 112 half full of coals, I just don't get it. Why won't it burn the coals out keep the heat and keep the heat up, the inducer and draft were on. The outside temp only got down to 27 last night and dead calm. Put in wood 35 min later its up to heat. Drives me nuts. And besides that you always get a faceful of smoke. Do I need to run the draft fan also. I sure wish some of you were closer. HELP


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## antknee2 (Mar 29, 2008)

[quote author="muleman51" date="1206811372"]I'm still trying to make this boiler work.  Istill don't think it gasifise and burn real clean. I put up a new chimney ,I have added a draft inducer,cleaned out the back and top twice. Last night at 11 boiler was at 155 just starting its cycle, I refilled the firebox. This morning at 7 the boiler was at 112 half full of coals, I just don't get it. Why won't it burn the coals out keep the heat and keep the heat up, the inducer and draft were on. The outside temp only got down to 27 last night and dead calm. Put in wood 35 min later its up to heat. Drives me nuts. And besides that you always get a faceful of smoke. Do I need to run the draft fan also. I sure wish some of you were closer. HELP[/quote


I can help you  , could you possibly take some pictures of the install and the chimney , average stack temp at the base of the chimney and temperature as it exists the flue . Could you have someone do a accurate draft reading with and without draft inducers running , you need a high quality gauge to get useful reading .Anthony


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## gill (Apr 3, 2008)

I don't no if finding this forum is good or bad, I have gasifire wood boiler sitting outside that I bought off of Phil. It is another division of dirigo and I've had nothing but problems just trying to find out were the csa tag and any literature what so ever might be found. I've done the phone calls,e-mails, faxes, and not one response. Now reading this forum I don't no what action to take. It sounds like every one is like me, mad as hell but still want to make it work. With no tag or any info what so ever I couldn't install it anyways (inspector, insurance, and don't want to burn my house down(hand built,I'd loose it big time). I'm going to keep trying to get info but I'm with you all on any other actions we can take.

               P.S. I'm glad to find this site, great members.


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## muleman51 (Apr 4, 2008)

Don't feel bad,my adobe was supposed to be UL and EPA and there is none of that. Guess I never even asked my insurance company, mines in a machine shed though. We all have been had by Phil, if he would at least talk to us. I have gotten no where with him. Now my refactory is broken, 3 month use, that's not too good.  But I really like my $5000, no $6500 with everything I've had to do, monument. Good Luck


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## gill (Apr 4, 2008)

Thanks for responding Muleman51. I'm going to keep trying, mine cost me over 7g. and planned on putting it under my deck, back corner of a walkout basement. I read that there was someone else that was adressing Phils issues I'd like to be able to contact him and as far as an approved stamp or what ever is needed I would appreciate if anybody knows if it is legal.
                                 Thanks again.


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## muleman51 (Apr 4, 2008)

Gill contact your Attorney General and get a complaint started let them know other states are also trying to work on him , but if he doesn't answer I don't kwow what we can do. Don't know if druzzy got New York on him yet?


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## gill (Apr 4, 2008)

Will do.


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## NNYorker (Apr 8, 2008)

Well it's been a while but I finally got all my paperwork together for the Maine AG. I will mail out the complaint form and all paperwork tomorrow. The cancer has now spread to all panels on the boiler. I'm sure no one has heard from Phil, right?


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## druzzy (Apr 11, 2008)

well i did replace some of the rotted metal with stop sign alum.--and the back elbow was plugged up--so i give it a good cleaning and fired it back up--it is working--my model is a 200-- and it has a big hopper-- i fill it twice a day--the temp goes up to 174--and does pump the hot water over--but it goes through alot of wood--i'm wondering if the stack is sucking some of the heat out to fast when the air fan is in the off position??my refactory is busted up bad ready--i have a friend giving me some new wool material for the inside--i'm going to disassemble the complete unit during the summer--i'm not sure if its ever going to work the way the sales pitch was--unless there some thing wrong--is there anybody elese out there --that their stove is working correctly?? and i also have to get off my butt and finish the coplaint with the n.y.-ag. i'm open for any suggestion ! very dissappionted--druzzy


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## roaring fire (Apr 11, 2008)

I have one of the beasts & like you plan on a complete overhaul this spring ie new skins & wool blanket
I also have burned a lot more wood than exspected. There seems to be a lot of Greenwood owners around here
& I am taking my cue from them. I have Maxx R insulation 130 ft underground, anyone else use this stuff,
overheated the system last fall & it shrunk to hell. I have had snow melt  along the supply route this winter.
Before I drop the axe on the ADOBE I have to
1) Replace underground lines ( I have built in overheat protection)
2) strip unit replace skins, making sure of tight seal
3) add wool blanket to reduce radiant heat
4) thoroughly clean the water vessel, I plan to install an access panel on the side of unit for periodic inspection, cleaning.
5) measure stack temperature under load using a turkey thermonotor to make sure I am around 300 degrees
6) Install exhaust hood to avoid smoke in the face.

Thanks for the post druzzy, need to get cracking.Anthony, steam man, did I miss anything on the overhaul?


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## muleman51 (Apr 11, 2008)

The truth is none of us should have to be doing any of this. These boilers have only been used less than 6 months. This is pathetic, there must be some way we can recover our costs from this poor design.  We shouldn't have to be putting access panels in our boilers, you should probably put the access panel in the back or it will be extremely hard to clean. What about the refactory, how are we going to replace those parts? Just venting again.


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## antknee2 (Apr 12, 2008)

roaring fire said:
			
		

> I have one of the beasts & like you plan on a complete overhaul this spring ie new skins & wool blanket
> I also have burned a lot more wood than exspected. There seems to be a lot of Greenwood owners around here
> & I am taking my cue from them. I have Maxx R insulation 130 ft underground, anyone else use this stuff,
> overheated the system last fall & it shrunk to hell. I have had snow melt  along the supply route this winter.
> ...



I love to here when people want to take take control of their equipment and make any necessary repairs as needed including some safe design mods to make it work to peak efficiency in your individual situation . I would hate to see anyone have to give up a major investment and call it a total loss . 
Roaring Fire sounds like you got it pretty well covered .
Check out the cost  Stainless Steel side panels .
Also make sure you do a native air smoke test to find an fix all leaks . If done right it will help reduce creosote when boiler shuts damper on high limit . 
I could go on forever , Anthony


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## stoveguy2esw (Apr 12, 2008)

muleman51 said:
			
		

> I purchased an Adobe boiler last March,I started to measure and the boiler they sent does not have the dimensions of the one I ordered, however did does have an ALTERED SERIAL number to match the model that I paid for.




for the record, as trivial as it sounds , altering the serial number on an issued data tag for a UL listed item which has to be subjected to safety testing VOIDS THE LISTING (at least it does in the section of the stove buisness that i work in) i strongly suggest you include visual evidence of the altered tag to you complaint to the BBB. and you might also follow up with the CPSC.

mind you (this is my disclaimer) i do not bash other companies in public, but thats pretty bad. im usually pretty neutral when it comes to other manufacturers but im not going to wave at this one. if you like i will see about what the direct law about altering these tags is and get it to you.


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## muleman51 (Apr 12, 2008)

I  would be thankful for any help we can get. The big problem is that we get no response from him at all. So far he has ignored 3 letters from the MNAG.


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## antknee2 (Apr 12, 2008)

roaring fire said:
			
		

> I have one of the beasts & like you plan on a complete overhaul this spring ie new skins & wool blanket
> I also have burned a lot more wood than exspected. There seems to be a lot of Greenwood owners around here
> & I am taking my cue from them. I have Maxx R insulation 130 ft underground, anyone else use this stuff,
> overheated the system last fall & it shrunk to hell. I have had snow melt  along the supply route this winter.
> ...



Roaring fire how deep down are are your underground lines buried ?
Did you notice the heat loss from day one , or only after the system was overheated ?
My underground pipes run 125' are buried 4-5' down and are insulated with MAXX R insulation system . This was my first season starting from scratch , we never had any snow melt or any noticeable heat loss from the underground pipes I monitor the supply and return tempature under no load , they stay within a couple degrees of each other.
One other thing for your list , if your boiler is in a outside building make sure the building is well insulated with plenty of air for unrestricted burning process of your Adobe boiler . Could you or anybody with a Adobe boiler please post some pics of your boiler , chimney bypass system , induced draft system, panel problems and aqustat location . Anthony


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## roaring fire (Apr 12, 2008)

The underground lines are a painful point with me Anthony. They were overheated from day one.
My boiler is installed in 1000sq ft workshop 6 to 8 ft higher elevation than my house. I stupidly didn't
install temp controll valve ,only the 30 lb pressure relief  supplied withthe unit. When unit overheated
the pressure relief did not work , the 1 inch pex proximal to the boiler blew. I didn't know the lines were damaged
until later that fall. During a rain storm water water entered my basement by way of the pex pipe inside the insulating foam.
I dug of line & every joint had separated 6 to 8 in. This was just prior to winter so we rejoined all the Maxxr
& came up 8 ft short. I put in a new length & hoped for the best over the winter.The first frost told the storey, my 130 ft
supply line has been frost & snow free most of the winter. Interestingly I installed a temp guage where supply enters the house
& tried to compare with my temp guage at the furnace end. Looking at the guages you would not think there was a problem, no appreciable
drop over 130 ft.
My lines are only down a couple of ft. M y plan is to go deeper & put in drainage under the lines & carry the drainage away from the
house to avoid creating a water way to my house.
Looking forward to getting set up properly.


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## NNYorker (Apr 13, 2008)

My boiler wasdown for a few days as the Johnson Controls A419 died . Of course you are supposed to return the item to where you purchased it...Ha Ha Ha .... Adobe Boiler/ Phil "The Crook " Dougherty. I called Johnson Controls  directly about this and of course they told me to return it to where ever I bought it . I proceeded to tell my story and they referred me to two local distributors and that the control has a three year warranty. Luckily the local distributor warranteed the control and I had a new control in two days. I took the down time to clean out the boiler - I rapped on the pressure vessel with a brass hammer and used a boiler brush in between.  I removed the stove pipe from the exhaust and cleaned quite a bit of creosote by hand and mirror through the exhaust exit. I brushed the chimney which was'nt in too bad shape. My boiler is located in my attached garage - my mistake. At this time I had ran out of the truckload of logs I bought last summer. All my wood was cut and stacked in my pole barn by Aug 07. I bought another truckload of logs  a couple of weeks prior and cut  away. Now comes time to fire the boiler up again. Here comes the green wood ...remember your seasoned wood is valuable....go ahead and burn all the green wood you can throw in. Another pipe dream sold by Phil . I fired it up with some green wood and it proceeded to drip creosote on all sides and now it blows smoke from  numerous places it never did before . It seems the creosote breaks down the fireproof caulk and now the skin separates from the frame. This thing will not burn exclusively green wood the way it was built. All the reasons I bought this thing were nothing but hype.  I too , like roaring fire  ,plan to strip it down when I shut it down .  Stainless panels with  clean out access panels $$$$$, who knows what the insulation looks like until you take it apart $$$$ ( I have a feeling it will be soaking wet with creosote) , heat resistant tape material $$$$ (something to stop the smoke but you can take the skins off for cleaning), I don't have storage but know I should $$$$. With all that MONEY I saved  I probably could have bought that Tarm with their factory storage tank.  Can you say Money Pit ? I don'tmind     working with someone to solve a particular quirk , but like Muleman 51 says less than six month old boilers - they are not six years old. I don't expect to get anything from Phil but my ultimate goal is to see him go out of business, that's all. It ticks me off to no end for me  and the rest of us to have to literally rebuild a virtually new boiler.  My time and everyone else's time is worth something- how many hours are we going to spend rebuilding our new boilers?!?!  I know I  just have to deal with this thing and hopefully it will last ten years or so and pay for itself.  I will try and post some pictures of my install within the next few days. thanks for listening/reading my rant.


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## altheating (Apr 13, 2008)

I decided to try the *Adobe toll free number 1-877-498-1556*. Everyone should call this number and listen to the message. It sounds like a grade school student wrote the message. I can not beleave they are still trying to sell these boilers. I spoke to the owner of an Adobe the other day. The stove is a desaster! Leaking, rotten skins, broken refractory (if it is truly refractory at all) air tubes rotted off, full of creosote and burns wood like it is going out of style. 
Take a look at the warranty page paragraph #8 reads: 8. Any legal action against Dirigo Manufacturing will suspend your warranty until such actions/accusations are suspended. If it is found that you fraudulently accused Dirigo Manufacturing your warranty will be permanantly void.


How can anyone fraudulently accuse them of anything? About the only thing one can fraudulently accuse them of is producing a quality product with top notch customer service!

Beware of a company who will not put a phone number on their web page.


Paragraph #6 6. Improper placement and or treatment of the unit causing undue rusting. All units are to be thoroughly cleaned annually to prevent rusting of the interior or exterior. Any warranted rust must be a complete rust through to be considered and expecting to cause a malfunction of the unit. All units must have a sufficient rust inhibitor installed in the boiler pressure vessel semi-annually (not provided by dealer) such as Wt-41.

What are the customers supposed to do with this one? Its not like they have the units out in the rain causing rust, the dam things are rusting from the inside.

I can't even finish this, the warranty is BS! You poor folks got took.

I refer every perspective customer that mentions Adobe to this site. Most return a call in a few days and look towards the Econoburn, Tarm or Eko.


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## muleman51 (Apr 14, 2008)

I've been playing the last couple of days. Put the draft fan on a aquastat that is on the return line. I have it set to turn off when the return temp hits 130 or so, that is water temp of 140  I think. Hard to tell as there seems to be 10-20 degrees difference in pipe surface temp and water temp. I need more temp probe ports.  It seems to work. Helps get it up to temp faster but might cut down on wood use. I seem to have delta of 20* ( difference of supply minus return?) . What gets me is how I can have a exaust temp of 450 - 600* and not change temp. Must be plugged again.  Have been playing with running the draft inducer on and off at times if I don't run it I get smoke all over. Could take the inducer out and put in allpipe with no openings, but I only have so much time. I would really like to have something other than this boiler on my mind.


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## gill (Apr 24, 2008)

Just an update on my personal problems of a boiler that doesn't have as much as a sticker on it (gasifire). I've got csa international investigating his company and the so called ul and csa listed part. When I hear back I'l post my findings and then come up with my next plan. If this pisses me off any more I think I'l fly down there and see what someone looks like after............. backspace..backspace (Sorry almost typed plan B)


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## Norman (Apr 24, 2008)

I worked at a facilty where the Adobe was manufactured. Phil cut every corner he could to keep the costs down. These units need to burn properly seasoned wood. If you dont where do you think the moisture goes. It collects on the skins of the unit and in time rust...
I tested one of the Adobes for 6 months and hated it. I would load before going to bed and ZERO heat in the morning. 6 hours MAX.  I also found the pressure vessel was too far away from the flame.
I have pics of the Adobe in all stages of manufacture and no 2 boilers were made the same... 
Please feel free to ask any questions
And if there is a person from New Foundland that purchased an Adobe that read this please respond


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## NNYorker (Apr 24, 2008)

Norman said:
			
		

> I worked at a facilty where the Adobe was manufactured. Phil cut every corner he could to keep the costs down. These units need to burn properly seasoned wood. If you dont where do you think the moisture goes. It collects on the skins of the unit and in time rust...
> I tested one of the Adobes for 6 months and hated it. I would load before going to bed and ZERO heat in the morning. 6 hours MAX.  I also found the pressure vessel was too far away from the flame.
> I have pics of the Adobe in all stages of manufacture and no 2 boilers were made the same...
> Please feel free to ask any questions
> And if there is a person from New Foundland that purchased an Adobe that read this please respond



I found that out this month -green wood is NOT the wood to burn in this thing and the skins will soon fall off if I use the boiler with more green wood. All his advertising is nothing but lies.


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## Norman (Apr 24, 2008)

Here are pics of Phil and a Rusted 3 month old boiler


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## Norman (Apr 24, 2008)

Here are pics of Phil and a Rusted 3 month old boiler


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## NNYorker (Apr 24, 2008)

Thanks , everyone gets to see Phil but no one can talk to him . Is that an indoor unit ? It looks very similar to mine .


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## Norman (Apr 24, 2008)

That pic of Phil would go good on a dart board

Hopefully his picture will get his attention and if he contacts me I will let you people know. And if there are any questions please fire away...


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## muleman51 (Apr 24, 2008)

I see Phil has a phone too bad it doesn't work. I hope something happens with these boilers. I'm pretty sick of mine. The MN attorney general has gotten no replies from him at all. I wish Maine would step up and do something they at least could find him, maybe. Keep everybody posted.  Thanks Jim


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## webbie (Apr 24, 2008)

I can't help but be saddened by hearing this stuff. The company seems to be ripping off the people who can least afford it! Heck, if someone is going to be a crook, why not concentrate on relieving wealthy people from just a few crumbs of their fortunes? But taking hard working wood burners...people who are attempting to save money and become independent - to the cleaners....that is bad in my book.

In a manner of saying (since I don't believe in Hell), "There might be a special place reserved for people who take many thousands of dollars from trusting wood burners and deliver chit to them".


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## Norman (Apr 24, 2008)

Webmaster said:
			
		

> I can't help but be saddened by hearing this stuff. The company seems to be ripping off the people who can least afford it! Heck, if someone is going to be a crook, why not concentrate on relieving wealthy people from just a few crumbs of their fortunes? But taking hard working wood burners...people who are attempting to save money and become independent - to the cleaners....that is bad in my book.
> 
> In a manner of saying (since I don't believe in Hell), "There might be a special place reserved for people who take many thousands of dollars from trusting wood burners and deliver chit to them".




I just hope I get some response from Phil, He is the type of guy that if he se this he will possibly try to contact me....


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## Friend (Apr 24, 2008)

Thought this might be of interest to you all:

Dirigo Manufacturing
P.O. Box 344
Hampden, ME 04444

Phil Dougherty
5 Town Farm Road
Hampden, ME 04444
Cell:  207-745-7881
phil.dougherty@dirigomanufacturing.com


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## Norman (Apr 24, 2008)

People now we have a face and address email for Phil wonder if he can be found

Remember we live in a small world we can run but we can not hide


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## NNYorker (Apr 25, 2008)

Here's another phone #-- 207/992-4130. I just called it and guess what .... the office is closed until April 28. The voice on the message sounds exactly like the Phil Dougherty that no longer works for Adobe. I  don't remember who posted this info earlier ( Phil stated to the AG he no longer works for Adobe). More of Phil's evasiveness and lies. I e-mailed and called  six times with absolutely no response from Phil. I can't get him to dispute or deny my claim of the cancer on the skin panels.


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## Norman (Apr 26, 2008)

muleman51 said:
			
		

> Igot word today that Phil doesn't work at Adobe any more. That is what he told my attorney, although he didnot say who to talk to. I don't believe him. Does anyone know different. I never get an answer there. If anyone knows please pos. Thanks.



PHIL IS ADOBE BOILER. He worked for himself by himself. He had people manufacturing for him....


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## NNYorker (Apr 26, 2008)

Exactly, if Phil is speaking he is lying.


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## Norman (Apr 26, 2008)

What is so funny about this... Is he "says" he is a religious man......  Hypocrit is the word


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## JLPELL (Apr 26, 2008)

Hello,  I'm new to to the forum but was had by Phil like the rest of you were.   3 months of use and my adobe 100 was rusting in all panels.  I did contact the State of Maine AG's  office and finally received a response from them the day before yesterday.  What a disappointment that was. There response was ,  We have tried contacting Dirigo Manufacturing but have been unable to reach them.  The telephone # and the mailing address you provided is no longer valid.  Without a means of contacting the business, we are unable to mediate your complaint.  Has anyone else had the same response?  Very frustrated with the Adobe  and the AG.


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## muleman51 (Apr 26, 2008)

This is so frustrating, even the Maine AG lets him get by with it. He's a crook and they won't try to do anything. I think that we all need to go together and sue him but what can we get except more expense and still boilers that don't work.


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## NNYorker (Apr 26, 2008)

JLPELL said:
			
		

> Hello,  I'm new to to the forum but was had by Phil like the rest of you were.   3 months of use and my adobe 100 was rusting in all panels.  I did contact the State of Maine AG's  office and finally received a response from them the day before yesterday.  What a disappointment that was. There response was ,  We have tried contacting Dirigo Manufacturing but have been unable to reach them.  The telephone # and the mailing address you provided is no longer valid.  Without a means of contacting the business, we are unable to mediate your complaint.  Has anyone else had the same response?  Very frustrated with the Adobe  and the AG.


I just hope every single Adobe owner contacts their state and ME AG. Eventually , hopefully this scared rat will be cornered. It's obvious he has no conscience and is comfortable stealing from honest hard working people. Yea the standard statement from all AG's--- we're not your lawyer. I'm still awaiting responses from NY & ME AG's. Everyone keep posting and spread the word of Phil's ways.


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## Norman (Apr 27, 2008)

For you all Adobe owners, please forward all info to me on my personal email and I will make some phone call to get this resolved

Please send private messages with Seriel no#s date purchased problems. who contacted ALL of it and I will do my damdest to get thsi taken care of.... I am in Bangor area often and I know the Phils inlaws also. THey are from my  area.....

Please let everyone know

Thanks


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## NNYorker (Apr 27, 2008)

Here's another phone # for everyone 603-329-3241......the office is closed until April 28. Thanks Norman , will be in touch.


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## webbie (Apr 27, 2008)

I think you should all keep in mind that you cannot get blood from a stone.....meaning this dude is unlikely to ever make you whole, because it is easier for him to close up shop, start another shell corporation, etc.

But you can probably prevent him from ripping off other people by making sure he shuts down.


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## NNYorker (Apr 27, 2008)

Webmaster said:
			
		

> I think you should all keep in mind that you cannot get blood from a stone.....meaning this dude is unlikely to ever make you whole, because it is easier for him to close up shop, start another shell corporation, etc.
> 
> But you can probably prevent him from ripping off other people by making sure he shuts down.


I definately agree with you- see my April 12 post - top of page. Right now anything is worth a shot. I and everyone else have been  taken for a ride. Any way I can inconvenience Phil or make him squirm a little , I'll be happy.  Everyone must put the word out on this lowlife. Obviously he is still in business taking peoples calls and money, he just won't take calls from former customers. I will be in touch with many people in his area to relay mine and others experiences with Phil.


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## NNYorker (Apr 29, 2008)

Has anyone in the state of Maine bought an Adobe from Phil ? We could certainly use your help in flushing him out from his hiding place.


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## NNYorker (Apr 29, 2008)

All Adobe owners please private message me for important info regarding our problems. I will respond this evening- Please spread the word.


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## druzzy (May 1, 2008)

hello all! i been very busy since my return from bagdad--catching up with famil--well my boiler is turned off--i did put some old stop sign material over my rotten panels--i did not get a complete season out of my unit--i did use a ton of green wood because i was told by phil i could !--i read on the forum that wet wood is bad for the units--i also see on the forum that you need my vin # my stove i purchased is a 200 series and marked a 300 ! i will look for a serial #--please include me in the linching please i need help with this piece of crap! i open for any changes to make it right---i am really taking a beating from the wife!! some of my brain storms just dont work out!  i have been going on craigs list--it free--and i am tring to warn people of this scam--please go to that list in your state and just put  a warning in any listing so people can read--try to keep me in the loop--thank you--druzzy


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## NNYorker (May 1, 2008)

druzzy said:
			
		

> hello all! i been very busy since my return from bagdad--catching up with famil--well my boiler is turned off--i did put some old stop sign material over my rotten panels--i did not get a complete season out of my unit--i did use a ton of green wood because i was told by phil i could !--i read on the forum that wet wood is bad for the units--i also see on the forum that you need my vin # my stove i purchased is a 200 series and marked a 300 ! i will look for a serial #--please include me in the linching please i need help with this piece of crap! i open for any changes to make it right---i am really taking a beating from the wife!! some of my brain storms just dont work out!  i have been going on craigs list--it free--and i am tring to warn people of this scam--please go to that list in your state and just put  a warning in any listing so people can read--try to keep me in the loop--thank you--druzzy


Druzzy, please private message me . I have some useful info for you.


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## roaring fire (May 2, 2008)

A s a follow up to one of my previous posts on the Adobe problem I had noted that Mark from SJ Trailor
had promised to send replacement skins for the Adobe. This message confirms he was good to his word, 
the new skins have arrived.


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## JLPELL (May 12, 2008)

Just curious what kind of metal did he use for the new skins and how thick was it .


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## steam man (May 12, 2008)

I have been traveling for some time now and haven't had a chance to scout out Adobe's shop. However, If someone here wanted to contact the nearby Bangor Daily News about investigating this problem, they may take it on. They do consumer complaints so this may be interesting enough for them. That should shake things up. Go to www.bangornews.com for contact info.


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## JLPELL (May 17, 2008)

I did e-mail the Bangor Daily News on the 13th or the 14th .  No response as of yet.


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## JLPELL (May 17, 2008)

Has anybody else received their disappointing letter from the Maine AG's office yet.


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## roaring fire (May 18, 2008)

To JLPELL
The new skins are galvanized steel & definately thicker than
the original Adobe skins


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## NNYorker (May 23, 2008)

Has anyone noticed the Adobe website has been down for a couple of days?  I guess Phil made enough money to buy another $354,000 house along with all of his other properties.


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## muleman51 (May 31, 2008)

Is Phil gone? Are we all out of options and stuck with these boilers? Anyone had any new thoughts? Live and Learn!


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## NNYorker (May 31, 2008)

No Phil is'nt gone , he's just moved to another neighborhood. I'm sure he's preaching from the pulpit about how he's such a nice guy. No he's just doing what criminals do-- trying to disappear. PM me for more info.


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## EJM17 (Jun 11, 2008)

[quote author="NNYorker" date="1212243870"]No Phil is'nt gone , he's just moved to another neighborhood. I'm sure he's preaching from the pulpit about how he's such a nice guy. No he's just doing what criminals do-- trying to disappear.)
i caled Phils' # yesterday and he ansered tthe phone!  I hope you guise get somewheer with him cause its' wrong what he dis, specially to Druzzi whose a man in unifrom.

Fred


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## NNYorker (Jun 11, 2008)

EJM17 said:
			
		

> NNYorker said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## NNYorker (Jun 17, 2008)

Dirigo Manufacturing/Adobe Boiler is no longer in good standing according to Maine Bureau of Corporations!! Surprise everyone................didn't see that coming. Another step in his scheme to defraud,rip off,con,and irritate HONEST people.


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## NNYorker (Jun 24, 2008)

PUBLIC INFORMATION ON PHILLIP F. DOUGHERTY----- Phil's new hideout is 25 Ashley Ave. , Glenburn ME 04401. His current Verizon landline phone number is 207-942-4890. He currently is a producer resident of insurance products in ME---License number PRR33517. His main gold producing business goes by the name of ASSociation Services located at 25 Ashley Ave. , Glenburn , ME. As for Adobe Boiler/Dirigo Manufacturing-- Phil states to the ME Attorney General that he has no ties to such . Funny , his web site has been down for over a month but he has a new phone number 775-636-9838. The message states due to the HIGH DEMAND OF FURNACES everyone needs to contact Phil at sales,service,parts, or (Here's the real good one) dealers @ adobeboilers.com. So all you people that need to get ripped off ---e-mail Phil right away so he can get right back to you. Everyone needs to listen to this  bullsh!t--- Phil no longer does his messages , he has his kid involved in his dirty work. Phil has taken six education courses in the past two years pertaining to ETHICS,INTEGRITY,and PRINCIPLES. How ironic, huh ? These all pertain to his insurance sales. How would you like to be a fly on the wall when he talks to the little old lady down the street about buying some life insurance. I'm sure all his honesty and integrity kicks in on the job , but he closes the deal with his talk about how he's a god fearing man and his son just graduated from the Bangor Christian School. So everybody please support the poor guy - he needs to buy another $350,000 home. More to follow...........


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## NNYorker (Jun 29, 2008)

To ALL who have dealt with or bought an Adobe Boiler from Phillip Dougherty, anyone who purchased a boiler and did'nt receive the correct one, anyone whose side panels rusted out in less than a years time, anyone who Phil refused to contact, anyone who had Phil refuse to honor the boiler warranty, etc., etc., etc. ALL PEOPLE who have had the typical less than satisfactory dealings with Phillip Dougherty must contact the Maine Attorney General and file a complaint. I have spoken with the Maine Insurance Bureau as Phil sells insurance products for a living. Mr. Hosford, attorney in Licensing, told me that he will contact the ME AG on Monday(06/30) to inquire about complaints against Phil. My mediator is Patricia Ohler and is in the office on Mondays from 11:00AM-4:30PM only . PLEASE contact her or someone else to pass on your story in time for Mr. Hosford to get the real/full story on Phil. As Phil is less than ethical in his sales of his wood boilers, this raises questions about his integrity with his insurance sales. PLEASE ANYONE WITH INFO ON PHIL---CONTACT THE MAINE AG ON MONDAY MORNING TO PASS ON YOUR STORY@ 207-626-8850. Thank you all.


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## Carl T (Jul 5, 2008)

Adobe 100 owner here. Bought in 2007 and started using about Dec 07. Rust on top in 2 months, but covered it with a panel on metal and been using until this week. Took back off today and pressure vessel totally plugged up with creasote. May put back on if I can and heat water till late fall, then rebuild totally. thinking about building out the sides back and top with 1/2 sqare tube and put in new insul if I can find it. Also hope to put steel back so I can take off to clean. Any ideas or feedback is welcome! Carl


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## NNYorker (Jul 5, 2008)

Carl T said:
			
		

> Adobe 100 owner here. Bought in 2007 and started using about Dec 07. Rust on top in 2 months, but covered it with a panel on metal and been using until this week. Took back off today and pressure vessel totally plugged up with creasote. May put back on if I can and heat water till late fall, then rebuild totally. thinking about building out the sides back and top with 1/2 sqare tube and put in new insul if I can find it. Also hope to put steel back so I can take off to clean. Any ideas or feedback is welcome! Carl



   Yeah, Phil cut corners and made them as cheap as he could . This is the reason for this whole post--I try to contact Phil-- he refuses to make contact with me or anyone I have talked to. I'm in the process of hooking it up to my pool with an AIC 130,000 BTU heat exchanger. All my panels have been affected with rust through. Very soon I will bite the bullet and have Mark from SJV Trailers fab new stainless steel panels . Of course this entails taking the whole thing apart-- it will be interesting to see if the insulation can be saved. I have a feeling it will be creosote soaked and won't be able to be saved??? Still need to finalize a new gasket material to use for all side panels. I don't have storage, but heating the pool will simulate a full out burn for quite a while to get the pool up to temperature. I will babysit this thing to make sure it does'nt melt down. I'm hoping this thing will last five years so I can break even and get a boiler that works as advertised.(Talking to the person that sold you the boiler would be nice too!) Have you ever talked to Phil besides the time you committed to buy? Pretty sad doing all this work on a boiler not even a year old. I'm sure this boiler would work better with storage---I have a heated crawl space right next to my boiler???  Keep postin'.


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## Carl T (Jul 6, 2008)

When I took my back off to clean the plugged pressure vessel, I had to pull back the top and sides alittle. Talk about black with creasote and then rust! You will need new panels,like you said stainless steel,  and if you find them I would like to know the source and price , also on the  Ruxol insul. TNX


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## NNYorker (Jul 7, 2008)

Carl T said:
			
		

> When I took my back off to clean the plugged pressure vessel, I had to pull back the top and sides alittle. Talk about black with creasote and then rust! You will need new panels,like you said stainless steel,  and if you find them I would like to know the source and price , also on the  Ruxol insul. TNX


 
                            Mark @SJV Trailers will help you out. You will want to get accurate measurements on your dimensions while your old skins are off. You can call him @207-834-5582-- He's a good man - he does what he says. His website is www.sjvtrailers.com. I have'nt researched the insulation yet. Call Mark and he will help you out.


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## muleman51 (Jul 7, 2008)

Lucky you, you get to join the crowd. In all truth I sympathise with you but why should you be any different than the rest of us. There has been alot of good ideas floated around on this subject. You probably need additional storage so you can burn full out then shut down, sure does defeat the purpose of a easy heating system. Wish you all the luck in the world with your boiler. If you get it working well, let us know so we all can share.


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## NNYorker (Jul 17, 2008)

Fired the old rust bucket up for the first time since April/May after the pool heat exchanger install was completed yesterday. Fed it slab wood from yesterday evening thru today. Pool temp. went from 67 to 74 today. Still experimenting with Grundfos pump speeds at boiler and pool loop. Might have to break down and use some real wood. Boiler top/skin could be used to cook steaks--It's hot


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## JLPELL (Jul 17, 2008)

Jim,  how long of a burn did you get running that thing at full boar.  Did you try running it without the fan to see if it could keep up.


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## NNYorker (Jul 17, 2008)

JLPELL said:
			
		

> Jim,  how long of a burn did you get running that thing at full boar.  Did you try running it without the fan to see if it could keep up.



   Loaded it up @ about11 PM last night - Iset my control @ 130* -I don't reallly trust this thing without babysitting it. Fire was @ 120* this morning at 7:30. I let the bed of coals burn down until it reached 110*----- loaded it up again. Currently experimenting with the fan unhooked, damper propped about 1/3 open. Fire is much more controlled with natural draft-- started out with temp of 120*,now up to 150*. Fire doesn't seem to want to go any hotter-- more draft??????? Return temp from pool is pretty steady @ 130*. Boiler smokes much less without fan going, I think it provides for a more complete burn instead of the fan fanning the fire, in turn, the boiler chugs likes there  is not enough combustion air or there is too much combustion going on????


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## JLPELL (Jul 18, 2008)

Has anyone checked the adobe boiler web site.  Guess what its back up.  Check it out.  Maybe we can now get service for the junk we bought.  Just kidding.


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## NNYorker (Jul 18, 2008)

JLPELL said:
			
		

> Has anyone checked the adobe boiler web site.  Guess what its back up.  Check it out.  Maybe we can now get service for the junk we bought.  Just kidding.



  Told ya so I knew that reputable salesman would be back in business with that fine furnace or boiler ---which one is it? Phillip Dougherty and Adobe Boiler--- names that ring service after the sale and the best quality product you can buy. I hope everyone that searches for Adobe Boiler or Phillip Dougherty is directed to this site for the real story. I see his new LLC is based in Florida this time, maybe he's going to try all fifty states. Did you see the warranty section? Looks like he had a team of a dozen lawyers write that up. Hmm, I wonder why? Gotta laugh reading that section. Remember new customers you have all of ten days after delivery  to provide Dirigo Manufacturing LLC written notice of rejection and a report of discrepancy or else Phillip Dougherty assumes your fully satisfied. Any Maine residents know who is building these heaps for him now? Ah, the story continues.....


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## JLPELL (Jul 25, 2008)

Tore apart the rust bucket today.  What a mess that was.  Good thing I bought more insulation, because none of it could be salvaged.  I bet one more season of use with the existing skins they would of completely dissolved .   The frame still seems to be in good shape other than a little bit surface rust.  The refractory looked to be in good shape.  The  lower back side of the pressure vessel was almost completely clogged big mess.  Well good luck to the rest of you that plan on working on your junk.  Good old Phil really took us for a ride on this one.  I have a bunch of pics, when I figure how to post them I will.


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## NNYorker (Jul 26, 2008)

JLPELL said:
			
		

> Tore apart the rust bucket today.  What a mess that was.  Good thing I bought more insulation, because none of it could be salvaged.  I bet one more season of use with the existing skins they would of completely dissolved .   The frame still seems to be in good shape other than a little bit surface rust.  The refractory looked to be in good shape.  The  lower back side of the pressure vessel was almost completely clogged big mess.  Well good luck to the rest of you that plan on working on your junk.  Good old Phil really took us for a ride on this one.  I have a bunch of pics, when I figure how to post them I will.


   Let me know how your rebuild goes on your less than a year old boiler goes. I'm interested to see how the new draft system works. My experimentation with the current system was a mixed bag. The pool puts a big load on the boiler. The fires/heavy load has made cleaning part of the pressure vessel you can see from the door pretty easy with a boiler brush.... who knows what lies behind the panels.


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## JLPELL (Jul 27, 2008)

This unit definitely needs a clean out for the lower back side of the pressure vessel.  I saw the units that Mark was building he has a clean out on the top back side of the unit.  I think one would be much better suited on the rear panel so you can clean all that garbage that falls off the pressure vessel because it will collect at the bottom of the unit where the exhaust is.  Any ideas on that before I start the rebuild.  Could your boiler keep up without the fan running.  How long would the load last without the fan.  Will you be tearing your unit down or running it for another season.  If it is as bad as mine was it won't last.  Still looking for a better gasket material, any ideas on that because I am sure I will be doing this again.  Well thats it for now.


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## NNYorker (Jul 28, 2008)

JLPELL said:
			
		

> This unit definitely needs a clean out for the lower back side of the pressure vessel.  I saw the units that Mark was building he has a clean out on the top back side of the unit.  I think one would be much better suited on the rear panel so you can clean all that garbage that falls off the pressure vessel because it will collect at the bottom of the unit where the exhaust is.  Any ideas on that before I start the rebuild.  Could your boiler keep up without the fan running.  How long would the load last without the fan.  Will you be tearing your unit down or running it for another season.  If it is as bad as mine was it won't last.  Still looking for a better gasket material, any ideas on that because I am sure I will be doing this again.  Well thats it for now.


   Yea, we definitely need access to the pressure vessel and rear of the boiler. I'm thinking of making the rear panel (top section, not the draft piece)  overlap the top and sides so I can pull the whole rear panel easier---- I think you should be able to do that now but I'm not sure how easy it would be---I'll find out soon enough. I'm kind of leery of putting any more panel seams on the skins-------one more place for creosote and smoke to escape. But I'm pretty sure the fan is the cause of the smoke leaking in various places--forces it out. The top panel will probably have to be unfastened and propped up with a 2x4/6 across the pressure vessel to clean the top of it. I wonder if an asbestos type panel on top of the pressure vesssel would help keep it clean by not allowing it to touch the insulation------I think this was discussed on this thread way back.  
    The boiler, with the fan unhooked and damper propped open, would keep an even fire anywhere from 130-140*. That was burning primarily slab wood which this boiler doesn't like to burn. I'm going to burn all the slabwwod and switch to real wood, hopefully with better results. I think your new draft system will prolong your burn time,but like Mark said - draft is critical. I really didn't pay attention to burn time because I was stoking that thing alot. 
    I will be tearing this thing down for an overhaul like you. I'm not going to worry about the panels falling off in the middle of the winter. I did a little research on gasket material and found www.auburn-mfg.com. They offer a Strip-n-Stick silicone adhesive tape which withstands 500* temperatures. I will call Mon. and ask questions  and they offer samples also.


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## NNYorker (Jul 29, 2008)

adobeboiler.com is now down again. Any new purchasers of an Adobe Boiler out there, would love to hear from you about your experience with Phillip Dougherty and Adobe Boiler..........


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## muleman51 (Jul 30, 2008)

I used camper gasket material on my back panel. The kind you peel the one side off and foam on the other. I got mine at NAPA, it was cheap but seem to work. I need to get working on putting in my 1000 gal pressure tank but it isn't cold yet so there is no incentive yet.Still need too figure out something for the expansion tank, how about 2 100# lp tank mounted valve down?


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## JLPELL (Jul 30, 2008)

Checked out the adobe boiler web site and was redirected to www.enterpriseboiler.com .  Looks like Phil might be trying to sell the same garbage under a different name.  Try typing in adobeboiler.com  See what happens


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## NNYorker (Jul 30, 2008)

I had heard through the grapevine Phillip Dougherty was trying to get someone else to run/takeover Adobe Boiler... Maybe he did or maybe it's just another part of his scheme to defraud others??? Looks very similar to www.adobeboiler.com--- no contact phone number. Check out his other bogus website www.outdoorboilers.com-- also looks very similar to the current website. Like I said before the story continues.......


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## NNYorker (Aug 29, 2008)

Here are pictures of my Adobe(Cheapest skinned thing Phillip Dougherty can sell) 100 Boiler. Not even a years use and ready to be rebuilt courtesy of the poor unsuspecting owner. The refractory with the draft holes is now cracked. Panels completely rusted through now. Pivoting cover over draft fan is my experimentation with natural draft.


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## NNYorker (Aug 29, 2008)

More pictures.


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## NNYorker (Aug 29, 2008)

Couple more.


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## JLPELL (Sep 6, 2008)

I was searching the web looking for any more info on the low life Philip Dougherty and guess what I found some.  If you go to www.manta.com  and type in Dirigo Manufacturing under the search bar you will come up with some info.  Specifically linking adobe boilers to www.outdoorboilers.com which redirects you to www.enterpriseboiler.com.  Just confirming everybody's  suspicion .  Philip Dougherty is trying to sell more junk just like the adobe boiler.  Check it out for yourself.


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## NNYorker (Sep 9, 2008)

This is the response that Phillip Dougherty/ www.enterpriseboiler.com sent to the NY AG after four months of refusing to correspond with them. I find it odd that there were no warranty restrictions regarding a build on site boiler in effect at the time I purchased it. The archived warranty on the www.archive.org website shows the warranty stipulations changed after my boiler purchase date of March 16,2007. Could it be the warranty was changed to suit the needs of Phillip Dougherty and Dirigo Manufacturing? Phil also sent a copy of the Adobe warranty. Guess what -- this version of the warranty is no where to be found anywhere. Sounds like another conveniently altered document to help out the con artist. The last two sentences were added in section # 8 probably just for my benefit as I have filed complaints with the ME/NY AG's and the BBB after I could never contact dear old Phil. Phil's e-mail  from July 1, 2008 with the "30 days on parts" conflicts with every warranty previously found on archive.org--all other warranties with the "parts" warranty have a 1 year limitation. He goes on to say "The warranty has been posted on the Site since 2003 stating the warranty." WHAT SITE?!?!?! The only thing I could find was www.dirigomanufacturing.com--that went back to Feb. 2006.


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## NNYorker (Sep 9, 2008)

The images are finally up for the last post. The 2nd and 3rd image should be switched. Adobe owners tell me if this warranty looks familiar- oops I forgot you probably didn't get any warranty.


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## muleman51 (Sep 9, 2008)

What warranty ,how would we know he never returns any calls. That still doesn't explain why he sent me the wrong boiler with a altered serial number. What a crook and poor excuse for a human being.


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## NNYorker (Sep 21, 2008)

Adobe owners---- Good news - the www.adobeboiler.com website is up and running again. Buy your Adobe Boiler assembled or in a kit. See the same old rehash of old Adobe Boiler pamphlets and the "Contact Us" (E-mail contact only). See the rehash of "Gasifire unit" Phillip Dougherty has used a couple of years ago. Website is constructed by same website provider as www.enterpriseboiler.com . E-mail the new company because you can't call them- Susan and Jim. There is no mention of who owns this company.

           Was this wealth of knowledge of boilers passed on by Phillip Dougherty to the new company or is he still lurking behind the curtain??????? Hmmm.......


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## NNYorker (Dec 11, 2008)

www.adobeboiler.com  is down AGAIN..........BUT Phillip Dougherty has filed another Foreign(Out of state)LLC as of 10/16/2008. He is no longer the registered agent but has let Business Filings Incorporated handle all his junk mail.(complaints,warranty issues,general questions,etc,etc)

      Dirigo Manufacturing LLC , www.enterpriseboiler.com , www.royalmtn.com  are still alive and well. I lost track of things as I was working on the install of a truly functional wood boiler.


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## NNYorker (Apr 30, 2009)

ANY Adobe owners willing to discuss their buying experience with Phillip Dougherty? It seems an insurance company is trying to GET IN CONTACT with dear old Phil. Sound familiar???? I'm sure Phil is busy selling insurance policies to the unsuspecting. Ironic isn't it, an insurance company trying to locate a fellow salesman. Seems his continued unscrupulous salesmanship has gotten him some more attention.


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