Hearthlist Digest #575 - Thursday, March 1, 2001 Vent-free logs, look out for this by <[email protected]> Mark Stevens by "Tim Nissen" <[email protected]> Non Approved doors by "Tim Rethlake" <[email protected]> Non Approved doors by <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: Vent-free logs, look out for this From: <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 21:56:13 -0500 --=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D_-1228707121=3D=3D_ma=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3D"us-ascii" ; format=3D"flowed" Stores/Service Companies may want to take note: A plumber who does installations for us was called out by an insurance company to assess the cause of sooting on a vent-free log set. This was a = set purchased by a customer local to us in Richmond, VA but not from our = store. Plumber was told by the insurance company that similar sooting problems = are happening in other geographic locations so this is a wide-spread investigation by the insurance company. He found that the air shutter was covered with tape, apparently adhered just before painting at the factory during manufacture/assembly. Whether this has happened with more than this one set, I don't know - but check for this if you have a customer with vent-free logs that are sooting. You may want to have a camera with you in case such a problem is found. -Karen Duke --=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D_-1228707121=3D=3D_ma=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Content-Type: text/html; charset=3D"us-ascii" <!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type=3D"text/css"><!-- blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { margin-top: 0 ; margin-bottom: 0 } --></style><title>Vent-free logs, look out for this</title></head><body> <div><font face=3D"Arial" size=3D"-1">Stores/Service Companies may want to take note:<br> A plumber who does installations for us was called out by an insurance<br> company to assess the cause of sooting on a vent-free log set. This was a set<br> purchased by a customer local to us in Richmond, VA but not from our store.<br> Plumber was told by the insurance company that similar sooting problems are<br> happening in other geographic locations so this is a wide-spread<br> investigation by the insurance company. He found that the air shutter was<br> covered with tape, apparently adhered just before painting at the factory<br> during manufacture/assembly. Whether this has happened with more than this<br> one set, I don't know - but check for this if you have a customer with<br> vent-free logs that are sooting. You may want to have a camera with you in<br> case such a problem is found.</font></div> <div><font face=3D"Arial" size=3D"-1">-Karen Duke</font></div> </body> </html> --=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D_-1228707121=3D=3D_ma=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D--
(back) Subject: Mark Stevens From: "Tim Nissen" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 21:58:07 -0500 Very tough week last week as we lost Dan Melcon, my best friend over the past twenty years and the guy who got me started in the stove industry, = and Mark Stevens, who has been a great friend to this industry and my = business, and a great friend to me as well. I=92m working on a piece for =93Hearth = N Home=94 about Dan, and I don=92t want to make Richard Wright mad at me = by posting it on Hearthnet ahead of time (besides, it=92s not ready to go) = but let me share some Mark Stevens stories: Like Gordon Vavrek, I also first met Mark at a Salem Home Show (about 1983 or 84). He was about my size (pretty big), wore the same work clothes for days at a time, and looked like the mad scientist in =93Back to the = Future.=94 He smoked back then and usually had two cigarettes going, lighting one = from the other, and two conversations going at the same time. He had a booth with a guy who spent most of the show threatening other stove displayers because he =93owned the third wall.=94 He claimed to have a patent on = triple wall stoves that had a better rear clearance. He was demanding = royalties=85 The 1986 advent of the Oregon DEQ law put Mark out of the stove business = and into the chimney cap business and we changed from being competitors to = being suppliers and customers. In part because we both ran small businesses in the same town we became friends and could discuss our common problems/challenges/opportunities with employees, customers, OHSA, = suppliers and others. At one point Mark built us a $14,000 fireplace for a million dollar tour home. He was the best there was at helping us solve weird connector and adapter and surround problems. He always laughed at my = jokes. Mark was a very generous man. One year I was trying to raise money for a local child abuse prevention program by participating in a =93bowlathon=94 = where I bowled three games and people pledge a certain amount per pin. Mark pledged $2 per pin and said he would be there to cheer me on Friday night. I worked the math and figured gee, three perfect 300 games and old Mark is going to contribute $1,800 to the good of the cause. Well, I am a worse bowler than I am golfer and that is pretty bad. I started out with a spare and it went down hill from there. The harder I tried, the worse I did. Mark started to give me some tips, but nothing worked; in fact, I started to find the gutter. Mark finally said, = =93You=92re just not very good, are you?=94 He had a twinkle in his eye so I didn=92t = hit him with my ball. I continued, he stepped away, and then came back with a check folded in half and said, =93I=92ve gotta go (probably back to his = shop to work; after all it was 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night), but I think you=92re going to max out.=94 He left and I finished my games and turned in a = check for $1,800 from Mark, who made me a hero in the fundraising department, albeit a goat in the bowling department. Mark was also very generous with the local Boys and Girls Club, and his daughter and friends suggest contributions there, in lieu of flowers. The address is, 1395 Summer Street NE, Salem, OR 97303; mark the check =93In Memory of Mark Stevens.=94 Mark=92s funeral is tomorrow (March 1st) and I am honored to be one of his pallbearers. I=92ll be representing all of you stove guys (and girls) who loved and respected a true original. Tim Nissen Home Fire Stove Salem, Oregon
(back) Subject: Non Approved doors From: "Tim Rethlake" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 22:50:27 -0500 Tony: One of the fallacies about our industry is that fireplace manufacturers = only list their own doors for installation on their zero clearance fireplaces = in order to keep the profits on optional doors "in house". The reality is manufacturers do test and list specific door designs to = allow for proper cooling air circulation around the zero clearance firebox and a non approved door can restrict this air flow resulting in an overheated, unsafe installation as you suggest. This is especially critical in zero clearance installations that use a two wall chimney system. On two wall systems, the room air is critical to properly cooling the firebox itself. There are some independent door manufacturers, Hearth Craft for one, that have gone to the trouble and expense to test specific wood fireplace = models with listed optional doors to those specific models. If a dealer has any doubt, their door supplier should be able to produce UL documentation = which approves a specific door model (not series) on a specific fireplace model (not series). There is one additional issue involved in non approved appliances being installed in zero clearance fireplaces, and that is the installation of unvented gas logs in older, wood burning zero clearance 3 wall pipe = systems. These systems, primarily supplied by Heatilator, Superior and Majestic, = were installed in the 1960s through the 80s and there are hundreds of thousands of them installed. They use the hot air moving up the chimney to create a "vacuum" or thermo-siphoning action to pull cooling air down the outer chamber of the chimney sections and outer wall of the firebox. If you put an unvented gas log into one of these systems and close the = flue damper, you will restrict this air cooling system and cause the firebox to overheat. Most of these units were high domed models that collect the heat from unvented log applications and cause the area at the wood framing = header to overheat. Heatilator has documented this overheating danger created by = an unvented logset with a UL witnessed test in their lab. Several years ago, Majestic conducted a similar test with the same results. As a professional hearth retailer, it is incumbent on you to know that any option you are selling and/or installing for an existing prefabricated fireplace system is documented to be an approved and listed option for = that system. It's the right thing to do from a potential liability situation for your business. More importantly, it's the ethical thing to do for the people = who trust you (your customers). TJR Timothy Rethlake VP, Business Development Hearth Technologies (P) 952.985.6607 (F) 952.985.6807 (C) 612.670.0880
(back) Subject: Non Approved doors From: <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 22:51:15 -0500 Tony: One of the fallacies about our industry is that fireplace manufacturers = only list their own doors for installation on their zero clearance fireplaces = in order to keep the profits on optional doors "in house". The reality is manufacturers do test and list specific door designs to = allow for proper cooling air circulation around the zero clearance firebox and a non approved door can restrict this air flow resulting in an overheated, unsafe installation as you suggest. This is especially critical in zero clearance installations that use a two wall chimney system. On two wall systems, the room air is critical to properly cooling the firebox itself. There are some independent door manufacturers, Hearth Craft for one, that have gone to the trouble and expense to test specific wood fireplace = models with listed optional doors to those specific models. If a dealer has any doubt, their door supplier should be able to produce UL documentation = which approves a specific door model (not series) on a specific fireplace model (not series). There is one additional issue involved in non approved appliances being installed in zero clearance fireplaces, and that is the installation of unvented gas logs in older, wood burning zero clearance 3 wall pipe = systems. These systems, primarily supplied by Heatilator, Superior and Majestic, = were installed in the 1960s through the 80s and there are hundreds of thousands of them installed. They use the hot air moving up the chimney to create a "vacuum" or thermo-siphoning action to pull cooling air down the outer chamber of the chimney sections and outer wall of the firebox. If you put an unvented gas log into one of these systems and close the = flue damper, you will restrict this air cooling system and cause the firebox to overheat. Most of these units were high domed models that collect the heat from unvented log applications and cause the area at the wood framing = header to overheat. Heatilator has documented this overheating danger created by = an unvented logset with a UL witnessed test in their lab. Several years ago, Majestic conducted a similar test with the same results. As a professional hearth retailer, it is incumbent on you to know that any option you are selling and/or installing for an existing prefabricated fireplace system is documented to be an approved and listed option for = that system. It's the right thing to do from a potential liability situation for your business. More importantly, it's the ethical thing to do for the people = who trust you (your customers). TJR Timothy Rethlake VP, Business Development Hearth Technologies (P) 952.985.6607 (F) 952.985.6807 (C) 612.670.0880