HEARTHSTONE : terrible experience!

[Rob_Red]

I think some of those problems are from fly ash plugging up the cat. This is worsened by wet wood, or burning lots of paper but is a simple fix.

Classic symptoms are the stove not wanting to run with the cat engaged, the fire being choked down, low temps.

The fix is remove the baffle, brush off the face of the cat with a paint brush, reassemble, light the stove

 

[ABMax24]

Ha!

My thoughts exactly, who continues to operate a stove for an entire season that spills so much smoke into the house that the entire house requires repainting?

Maybe there's an issue with the stove, but there was definitely an issue with the operator of that stove.

 

[71montess]

My thoughts exactly, who continues to operate a stove for an entire season that spills so much smoke into the house that the entire house requires repainting?

Maybe there's an issue with the stove, but there was definitely an issue with the operator of that stove.

oh,oh.

 

[harow01010]

Thanks for the offer but I tried fixing this for 2 years and the problem is already 100% solved. I have nothing to "try" anymore since the stove has been replaced. Trust me, I would've MUCH RATHER kept the HearthStone stove and not lost thousands of dollars. I personally think the Hearthstone Green Mountain looks much nicer than the Pacific Neo. I wish I could've fixed the problem but I'm pretty sure having 3 of the only stove and chimney stores in the 50 mile radius try to fix this, plus multiple calls and home visits directly between the store/installer and HearthStone's team was a fair effort to try to fix the problem. If the manufacturer's technical team, the CEO, the stove installer, and 2 other stove/chimney stores/installers couldn't fix the issue, how could a forum on the internet fix it.

 

[harow01010]

My thoughts exactly, who continues to operate a stove for an entire season that spills so much smoke into the house that the entire house requires repainting?

Maybe there's an issue with the stove, but there was definitely an issue with the operator of that stove.

Oh yes, you are right. It's all my fault for being cold and expecting a wood stove to heat my house . Thanks for the advice ABMax24, good to know there are helpful people like you contributing to this forum. You're right - I shouldn't blame a multi-million dollar company for making a product that doesn't work well for many, many people including many on this website and on their FB page. You're right - it's entirely my fault for replacing a wood stove with a new Heathstone stove and expecting it to work just fine like the other 2 stoves that have worked perfectly good in my home. I guess maybe you should tell me to move to Florida, too.

 

[bholler]

Thanks for the offer but I tried fixing this for 2 years and the problem is already 100% solved. I have nothing to "try" anymore since the stove has been replaced. Trust me, I would've MUCH RATHER kept the HearthStone stove and not lost thousands of dollars. I personally think the Hearthstone Green Mountain looks much nicer than the Pacific Neo. I wish I could've fixed the problem but I'm pretty sure having 3 of the only stove and chimney stores in the 50 mile radius try to fix this, plus multiple calls and home visits directly between the store/installer and HearthStone's team was a fair effort to try to fix the problem. If the manufacturer's technical team, the CEO, the stove installer, and 2 other stove/chimney stores/installers couldn't fix the issue, how could a forum on the internet fix it.

A fair effort on your part absolutely. But I can tell you from lots of experience that many people working in this field don't know as much as they should.

 

[ABMax24]

Oh yes, you are right. It's all my fault for being cold and expecting a wood stove to heat my house . Thanks for the advice ABMax24, good to know there are helpful people like you contributing to this forum. You're right - I shouldn't blame a multi-million dollar company for making a product that doesn't work well for many, many people including many on this website and on their FB page. You're right - it's entirely my fault for replacing a wood stove with a new Heathstone stove and expecting it to work just fine like the other 2 stoves that have worked perfectly good in my home. I guess maybe you should tell me to move to Florida, too.

I have no problem helping people that want help, you're here to complain and more importantly seek attention, but have no desire to explain any particulars about your setup.

As you said "how could a forum on the internet fix it". So what's the purpose of this post? If your point is to help others then answer the questions that are being asked of you to try and understand the problem.

Man I feel bad for Hearthstone's customer service, I'm sure you were a treat to deal with.

 

[bholler]

Now now now be nice guys. I don't nessecarily agree with how he has gone about it but he has every right to complain about a stove he was unhappy with. I would like to figure out what the problem was so others could learn from it. But there is no need to beat him up about it.

 

[stoveliker]

But then this is not a site for "this sucks" "why? how? Data?" "No, trust me, this sucks"

That's for yelp.

If no simple data are forthcoming, then this thread is not going to be more useful than it is now. The experience is valid, people should know that this stove has particular needs. But without data, we won't get any closer to having advice for future readers considering this stove

Instead a company was trashed and we have to take it on faith that the stove was bad.

To me that is wrong.

 

[begreen]

Still waiting for the flue system description.

 

[bholler]

But then this is not a site for "this sucks" "why? how? Data?" "No, trust me, this sucks"

That's for yelp.

If no simple data are forthcoming, then this thread is not going to be more useful than it is now. The experience is valid, people should know that this stove has particular needs. But without data, we won't get any closer to having advice for future readers considering this stove

Instead a company was trashed and we have to take it on faith that the stove was bad.

To me that is wrong.

That is why I said I didn't agree with how he did it. It could have been much more constructive

 

[jwoair23]

I have a Hearthstone Heritage 8024 and have been incredibly happy with the stove in every way. I think the issue with this post is the generalization of Hearthstone, and the incoherent way its being communicated. Likely there were some legitimate issues with the install and/or stove, which led to an awful experience, but the overall message of "Hearthstone is terrible" is not accurate.

 

[MongoMongoson]

How many companies let you correspond with the CEO when you have an issue? Not too many, I think. It really sounds like Hearthstone went above and beyond trying to help. Maybe it was a lemon, maybe it was the setup, maybe it was the installers.

We can't judge anything about the setup/install unless harow gives us specifics.

My only customer service experience with Hearthstone was a positive one; getting a replacement cast baffle for my old abused stove.

Things didn't work out for harow with Hearthstone, but this thread does reinforce what I have experienced and what others have observed. Hearthstone has pretty good customer service.

 

[Highbeam]

But hearthstone stoves do look great, they’ve got that part figured out.

Smoke spillage is usually due to chimney deficiency or operator error.

 

[marty319]

But hearthstone stoves do look great, they’ve got that part figured out.

Smoke spillage is usually due to chimney deficiency or operator error.

Yup.had a neighbor complaining about smoke spillage and how his stove was a pile of crap.went over to his place and wouldn't you know it ,wet wood.and his wood pile is totally covered with tarps.tried to tell him to just cover the top of the pile.just walked by there this morning and wood pile totally covered.

 

[Highbeam]

Yup.had a neighbor complaining about smoke spillage and how his stove was a pile of crap.went over to his place and wouldn't you know it ,wet wood.and his wood pile is totally covered with tarps.tried to tell him to just cover the top of the pile.just walked by there this morning and wood pile totally covered.

I can’t even blame unseasoned wood for smoke spillage into the home. It doesn’t help and wood sheds are great.

 

[john26]

I have has smoke spillage and down draft on a cold start. It was completely my fault I tried to start too big of a fire too fast. I adjusted to a smaller top down fire to preheat the chimney, no more problems.

 

[Rearscreen]

I've owned 2 Hearthstones throughout my moving from one house to another and was about to buy a 3rd as I had great luck with them. Because of the hearth configuration I ended up with the Progress which is an even better stove. What I don't understand is that the OP only informed the forum after the fact. Perhaps he/she did not know it existed at the time? And yes they tried to remedy the problem via dealership and the company itself. Presently, I am a pinball machine repair technician at a working pinball "museum". Occasionally, I run into head scratchers where I try every logical fix. That's when I resort to a pinball forum similar to this one. On that forum chances are someone has fixed the same problem and often can guide me to an answer that I never thought of before. There are a lot of smart experienced stove owners here, and possibly there was a remedy which was not thought of. In pinball terms when something screws up and I fix it, after the fix I look into the cause and call it "forensics". Yup I fixed it, but what was the root cause. Could the pin/woodstove have an inherent design flaw? Possibly. But in the end, I always want to know why it failed and if the GM60 does have a design flaw, I'm sure the manufacturer would like to know what it is.

 

[Jigsaw]

I've been on a lot of different forums over the years dealing with many different things and all I have to say is...I smell a troll..just sayn'.

 

[begreen]

Yes, no real information provided that would help future buyers understand the problem and whether their installation might be affected. Closing thread. The OP is welcome to post a negative review in the Stove Reviews section, but without further info, we're done here.