Country Hearth US Stove 3000

[VirginiaIron]

Thanks for the additional information. Was your stove a 3000?

Regardless of the model, please report your problem to

https://www.recalls.gov/

 

[Attaboy]

Thank you for posting your experience so far, you do seem pleased with the installation and the stove.

Personally I believe items such as a wood stove need to be rated or judged on a long term basis of at least 5+ years, (I remember my Elmira S-2100 stainless stove) . Hope this state of affairs has changed but Chinese steel and fasteners was for a long time of extremely poor quality and could not be used in many applications because of it, many manufacturers and engineers refused to use it or even consider it.

Please keep us informed long term on how it is doing and aging.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Thanks for your reply. I intend to do just that-win or loose. I agree with the need for the review to be based on longevity as I acknowledged earlier. I also agree there has been previous issues with Chinese steel and poor quality control. Although made in China has come a long way from the 1970's. To be fair some products made in USA, If you can find them, still suffer the same problems but cost much more.

Anyway, I contacted the stove company before making the purchase to identify this stoves country of origin. I was told that a serial number beginning with CH meant the stove was made in China, but the tech also told me that the only part of the US Stove 3000 that was made in China was the light shroud/materials/fan, and the foundry items- the door and vent collar. My understanding, prior to the purchase, is the firebox was made in TN- USA, so took the chance. Is the steel Chinese? I do not know. The stove looks well made and for the money and btu, IMO, it was the best choice- Time will tell.

 

[VirginiaIron]

The design on my front panel is different than yours. So I'm hoping that they rectify that issue and mine won't experience this defect.

Your stove is a 2500 and mine is a 3000. What is the thickness of your cracked sidewall?

 

[hughhamm]

I will report the issues. They may warranty it but I am not installing another one of these I will ad some plates to the inside and see what it does in the spring. Cleaning is a bit of a pain. I use to take the slip pipe off and tape a trash bag to the support box and brush from the top. Then brush the slip pipe separate. If you reach up and slide the baffle althe way forward it leaves room for the creosote to fall into the fire box and then scoop out. Some might end up on the top of the baffle but not much as I clean mine around 3 times a season. I guess I could just brush it down remove slip pipe and vacuum it off the top of the baffle. I really want a nicer stove in the future, funds were tight and this fit the bill. I have saved I know more than the 825$ I paid for it. I missed out on a hearthstone stove at the habitat for humanity store that looked almost new for 100$ a few years back that is what i really want and one day will get one. Maybe after the gas furnace LOL. The cracks are still inside the gasket on the door when closed and I have CO2 detectors and have never had a problem other than on last stove it would burn funny(HOT) due to the extra air getting in there. I also never installed the fan on either of these stoves but usually have a box fan blowing across it to move heat off of it and around the house. Another thing to watch is the door latch part that bolts to the stove as it will bend out a little after a while. Only on the old stove did I have a problem with that. had to bend it back with a C-clamp with a fire in the box. Welding gloves make great items to keep around the wood stove and beat any "wood stove" gloves I have found.

 

[hughhamm]

They did round it out!! Ha! good deal. See you are from VA too. What part? Roanoke here

 

[VirginiaIron]

The Scottsville, Tri-county area.

 

[Shorty]

I have a similar model. 2500LN bought at tractor supply. This is my 5th year heating. I have had my stove replaced once under warranty for cracking at the corners on the opening for the fire box( where the door seals against. The new stove is doing the same. I did drill out the ends of the cracks last year and that seemed to stop the cracks. Until this year as one has spread some. This time I will be grinding the corners rounded and weld the cracks along with some reinforcing on the inside. This will wait till spring but will be keeping a close eye on it till then. Great size and works great. I built a 12" high hearth for the replacement stove made loading much easier. Enjoy the heat but keep an eye on the corners of the firebox opening. They were very responsive on warranty and it is possible they have remedied the issues but I remember reading some others having the same problems.

I have a chance to buy one at a discount store that buys insurance claims. Think I could get one similar to yours (a 2000) for about $360. Figure if I could get a couple seasons out of it maybe ii could get a better one. How soon did yours crack? I won't be able to turn anything in for warranty.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Here is a photograph of the amount of coals when I cleaned it the other day.

 

[VirginiaIron]

I loaded the stove at 4am and checked it just minutes before 8pm this evening. This is a photograph of the coals. The stove top temperature was 284*F. The glass has never been cleaned yet.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Just a little update today. This is what my chimney cap looks like when I'm burning almost at the lowest setting. The air intake is just a scoatch off of closed. It's not all that good a photo but my screen is not clogged it looks pretty clean.

 

[VirginiaIron]

During the mild weather, it seems that two large or three medium splits with two smaller splits keeps the home fires burning on low with no external smoke.
Edit: I'm a burning hunk/ess

 

[VirginiaIron]

I cleaned the vertical vent pipe and cap today. I am not sure if I am burning the stove as efficiently as I can. The soot appeared shiny black and crusty rather than the flat black I am familiar with from the quad. The soot did clean off the pipe and cap but left stains in most of the pipe. There really did not seem like there was much in the pipe below the insulation. This was the first season and I did burn twice the amount of fuel. I will clean out the connector and report back at another time.

 

[kennyp2339]

Not bad if you burnt the whole season and twice the amount you normally did, I think that the smoke is cooling off far to fast and condensing forming creosote, hopefully its because the wood wasn't as dry due to the larger split size diameter you mentioned earlier. Maybe you can burn her a little bit hotter, but from what I understand the thing heats your home great running on low.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Yes it heats our home fine once the space is up to temperature. I know the chimney didn't smoke much but figured there is still a learning curve for me/us. More than twice the btu of the previous stove and I am wondering if this soot will eventually accumulate, where the soot eater will not properly clean the liner, and be a problem. I will experiment with less wood and a hotter fire- which is where I think our methods were headed as the season progressed.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Well, I cleaned the connector, the 90 and on top of the baffle this morning and I was quite surprised with my findings.
My creosote and soot remnants aren't as much as I initially thought as depicted from the photo of the cap. The photos are taken this morning. So far so good for three cords. The first two photos depict the remnants from the connector, the 90, the damper, and all material atop the baffles. The third and fourth photos depict all of the material from the vertical liner. The horizontal portion of the 90 is insulated and had almost zero buildup. My hand is used for comparison.
Mr. US Stove 3000, I am sorry that I was doubting you. I am asking you to stay on another season, .

 

[VirginiaIron]

Here are the photos of the initial opening of the vent.
The baffle area had more debris that was hidden from the view.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Keeping the home fire- a burning update. All's well on the home front along with the stoves operation.

 

[begreen]

Here are the photos of the initial opening of the vent.
The baffle area had more debris that was hidden from the view.

Gotta burn that a bit more often. It's gathering moths.

 

[VirginiaIron]

I cleaned the stove and liner today and checked over all the reported trouble areas. The corners of the plate under the door are fine and the screws to the air tubes are not deteriorated.
These photos represent the creosote from 2.7 cords of firewood consisting of oak, tulip poplar and some pine.

 

[begreen]

Looking pretty good. Keep doing what you're doing.

 

[VirginiaIron]

OAT: 28*F/ IAT 72*F avg./ST 475*F/Minimum damper/79*F at the stove.
The snow is coming down! The outer areas of the house are 72*. The room with the stove is 79*. Would probably drop to 76/77 if the duct fan were running. 79* is more than we like but since blizzard like conditions exist outside I really do not care.

 

[kennyp2339]

OAT: 28*F/ IAT 72*F avg./ST 475*F/Minimum damper/79*F at the stove.
The snow is coming down! The outer areas of the house are 72*. The room with the stove is 79*. Would probably drop to 76/77 if the duct fan were running. 79* is more than we like but since blizzard like conditions exist outside I really do not care.

I was thinking about you guys today when I saw the weather forecast, you can keep all the white gold

 

[VirginiaIron]

I was thinking about you guys today when I saw the weather forecast, you can keep all the white gold

We probably have more than 12". The problem with this Piedmont snow is it usually gets slushy underneath which makes it difficult to remove. I went out earlier when there was a lot of powder on top but the bottom 2" clogs the blower or will capture the driveway stones when I use the plow. It's all good. We don't have anywhere to go. Thanks for thinking of us.

 

[MaGuyver]

The same exact thing happened to me, I just got rid of the stove, it wasn't worth fighting the company for a warranty problem imo, I also had issues with the secondary reburn tube mounts, when I went to pull the baffle board out I had to take the first two tubes out, the screws that hold the mounting clips just sheered off, had to redrill and tape new holes, it was a huge pain just to clean the chimney out.
Lesson learned, never buy a stove from China, yes the stove provided good heat, decent burn times but the rest was not worth it, I also vented my frustration about the stove cracking in the door corners here and there was a US stove rep that was just a pompous jerk that replied, I lost faith with the company (especially when you see how BK handles there customer issues) that's why I said it wasn't worth fighting the warranty problem.

I think this is an older thread but I thought i'd chime in on my recently purchased Country Hearth 3000 wood stove. I didn't really want to buy a new EPA efficient stove, due to the decreased size of the fire box with all the secondary burn/holed pipes on top. But I was frustrated and leary of buying older and used so I took advantage of a 40% off deal at my local Paris Farmers Union, $850.00.

I always preferred cast iron over steel because they are so much nicer looking but this is a basement stove and I gotta say, I really like the CH 3000. Sizeable firebox, puts heat out quickly and really cranks heat once fully going. However, after using it for a a month and a half, I noticed a warp/bubble up on the top of the stove, which is a nice thick 5/16 ths inch steel.

Long story short, I called US Stove and I think I am getting a brand new stove, Lady said its not a common problem but it has happened before, prob due to imperfections in the steel, made in China. I was very impressed with their customer service and I don't have to do a thing, they will send a truck out to swap stove out.