HearthStone wood stove won't draft!

[BrotherBart]

vi it is a shame you are having problems with the stove. We all have opinions here but I think the important thing is that the dealer sold you an appliance that will not do what he and the manufacturer sold it to do. Just like if you bought a freezer that wouldn't freeze food. My take is that you don't get in to telling them how to fix it. Tell them to fix it or give you your money back and get it out of there. Just like you would with any other appliance and dealer. If you give them suggestions you just give them things to argue with you about. Showing them the opinions of strangers on the Internet won't bolster the case either. If they make one change that you suggest and it does not fix it, it will make it harder to seek restitution later if it comes to that.

The thing they can't argue with you about is that the stove they sold you and the installation they performed will not operate to manufacturer's specifications using the manufacturer's instructions. Instructions that were developed to operate the stove efficiently and safely. Plain and simple. Traumatic as the whole thing is it ain't your job to figure it out or fix it.

Believe me, it will cost them a hell of a lot less to fix it than to haul it away and try to sell a used stove. I am not a wood stove installation expert but I made my living for 35 years negotiating.

 

[webbie]

ok we just checked the primary air controller and it looks like it is clear and working fine

meanwhile I am printing out all of your answers, to show these installers.
I still can't believe that not one of the installers didn't use a draft gauge to measure the draft! just a crumpled newspaper and a lighter and told me......(with the door wide open) that it drafts fine!

vi

Keeping it simple....

very few installers would ever even have a draft gauge, let alone use it. This is not really a bad thing, at least when it comes to wood stoves. Here's the deal: Wood stove draft will vary greatly during a fire. In other words, starting up a fire real hot will get a good draft reading, but when you close the door it will be bad....

So, what to do?

Easy, it's as simple as this - forget about the draft measurement. Your wood stove should be able to burn wood in a "standard" fashion - that is, good enough that it would satisfy the owners of the store, the installers and any other experienced person. It doesn't (according to you) - so they have to make it so!

In the "old" days, I would give the installers and store a lot of slack if they installed into an existing chimney...after all,they should not always be responsible for ALL existing conditions - BUT, in this case they installed the stove and the chimnney - it is ALL their responsibility.

If they know that this particular stove is hard drafting, they should have told you and sold you another model or else ran the chimney up.

I think your best bet is still to pursue additional chimney height.

AND, make certain furnace cement was used between all pipe joints. Otherwise you are losing draft through all these areas - in fact, in cases like yours it can make a BIG difference. Our installers always did this - they should have also.

 

[trulyviolet]

ok that pipe IS angled, that is the way it is, there is more space on one side at the bottom then the other.
and no there was no furnace cement put on that black pipe at all. Just the two screws holding each section together.

I think right now the only good thing about this whole thing is that they didn't charge me for the site fabricated heat shield on the top of the stove pipe.


and I will listen to you all and just keep telling them to fix it or remove it and refund my money.

There is a stove dealer down in NJ in Port Murray, who I called yesterday to see if they came up this way. He said to call them monday, (as they were closed but he was doing some last minute catch up work) and that they would help me figure out what type of stove that would best suit the house layout and heating needs.

again thank you

I hope you all are enjoying your holiday
I am finishing up making the pies right now


vi

 

[elkimmeg]

VI "think right now the only good thing about this whole thing is that they didn’t charge me for the site fabricated heat shield on the top of the stove pipe. Please explain What was done and the reason they did it? I got another bad feeling.

Ok top of the morning check with your Fire dept about permiting. What your installers Have done is effectively left you with an
adjusted verticle lenght of 4.5' No wonder it does not draft ( 12- 7.5= 4.5

Vi You have to supply me some info I just got off the phone with Mo heat we were exchanging plesentries when our conversation turned to your situation. Last Year I made one call to Vermont Castings and they replace Mo Heat's faulty Winter warm I live in Ma. Mo in St louis Its about time I make another call to the manufacturer, Worked before. Please e-mail me the dealers name and address and purchase date and install date. I will also need your personal address and name as well. Also supply the number to your fire dept and yours so I can report my findings and the number to the building inspections dept. I also need the number to Hearthstone and who you contacted there. There is a large vollume Hearthstone dealer I know Very well in the next town, so I will also check out problematic stove issues. He also sells Quadra Fire inserts but will not sell the 2700i too many service issues to resolve, he will give me straight info. Please e-mail me direct elkimmeg@ comcast.net as I can not retrieve the private messages left on this site after I read them, that info is lost. Mo what do you think worth a spin?

 

[trulyviolet]

Ok first off the tech just left a bit ago....
My friend Carole came up, she heated their farmhouse for 15 years with wood, and i did not want to be here without someone that had some wood experience.

here is the update

the woodtech came at 12:30 and left approximately at 4:15 pm

he brought their own wood as they felt that I had bad wood....
even the tech said our wood was fine.... he wrote that on the service order , that our wood was well seasoned and good.
then he had to get it going... it was stone cold, and I had cleaned the ash out this morning.

I told him I wanted it started like the manual said, no firestarter wax things, just the newspaper and the kindling, he did that, it took a while.
anyway for almost the entire time he worked this fire.....
he literally knelt in front of the stove and worked on this fire.

he said that because it was cold out, that we had a good draft now ( and we did. there is no denying that I have draft today And I am grateful for good draft as it is warm in my studio now)

and he did say that another four feet was a good idea to put on the chimney...as it would improve draft on warmer days as well as other days that could be difficult

he felt that the problems I was having the other day was because it was so warm out that I didn't have enough draft for it to get going right.

he got it to do the secondary burn too, this is with the door and the grate shut and just the primary air control open

( some of the creosote was burned off the door.....and THAT secondary burn was cool looking! it literally was flame polishing the glass door) but it was not easy, and took about an hour of working to get it to do that.

He said that woodburning is an art, which I know....and that this stove likes the wood in the back which I also knew just from the few days I was struggling with it, when I pushed the wood BACK it was happier.

My husband talked to the installer/woodtech, who kept telling him it was burning now.
And I will tell you, It is still burning.
he loaded it up before he went and I put a log on it before.

Carole and I were discussing this, she did think that the chimney could have used straightening but it was drawing.
It was drawing with the door closed and the ashgrate and that door closed. The stove was working the way that the manufacturer said it should. (carole was thinking she liked this stove alot and was trying to figure out if her stove was due to be replaced, it was a 15 year old steel stove)
No one watching this stove today would deny that the primary air control WAS working with the glass door shut and the ash grate shut.



so this is what we are thinking about doing...
getting 4 more feet of chimney, and a roof brace
and keeping the soapstone stove, as now it is working right, in accord with the owners manual, but I want someone to come here and physically look at this chimney...... I want to know from a second opinion that the chimney is safe......
If there is a problem then I will go back on the store.
I am also going to find a certified sweep however to make sure that this chimney is not covered in creosote,from the four days of trying to get it to stay working.


so what do you folks think?

I have to tell you, it is so nice to be warm in the studio. We were freezing yesterday
and that secondary burn is really something to see.

vi