I grew up heating with wood. Over ten years ago, DH and I bought a Hearthstone Phoenix. We used it for five years (until we sold the house) and loved it!
In our new house we wanted a Hearthstone that had a blower, so we bought the Shelburne. It's a beautiful stove, but the performance has been disappointing. Where do I begin with the whining? This stove is not convenient to clean because the lip under the door is not removable, so one can't get the ash can close to the fire box. Also, it's almost impossible to remove the ash that accumulates at the front of the stove because you just can't get a shovel into that spot inside the fire box below the door. It has a double grate in the bottom of the fire box that has to be perfectly aligned in order to control the draft properly and it is a pain to adjust (using the draft control lever alone isn't effective) . We have a new masonry double flue chimney and this stove is hearth mounted, directly connected with an insulated steel pipe and our draw is excellent.
Any feedback on this stove would be greatly appreciated. I expected better design from Hearthstone, but admit that part of the problem is my own fault for not noticing that the shelf under the door is not removable for ease of cleaning. Hearthstone has horrible customer service. I've e-mailed them and called them, but get nowhere. The dealer is responsive, but not very knowledgeable (we bought our Phoenix from this dealer, also, but never had any problems with it, so never had to contact the dealer).
Thanks!
In our new house we wanted a Hearthstone that had a blower, so we bought the Shelburne. It's a beautiful stove, but the performance has been disappointing. Where do I begin with the whining? This stove is not convenient to clean because the lip under the door is not removable, so one can't get the ash can close to the fire box. Also, it's almost impossible to remove the ash that accumulates at the front of the stove because you just can't get a shovel into that spot inside the fire box below the door. It has a double grate in the bottom of the fire box that has to be perfectly aligned in order to control the draft properly and it is a pain to adjust (using the draft control lever alone isn't effective) . We have a new masonry double flue chimney and this stove is hearth mounted, directly connected with an insulated steel pipe and our draw is excellent.
Any feedback on this stove would be greatly appreciated. I expected better design from Hearthstone, but admit that part of the problem is my own fault for not noticing that the shelf under the door is not removable for ease of cleaning. Hearthstone has horrible customer service. I've e-mailed them and called them, but get nowhere. The dealer is responsive, but not very knowledgeable (we bought our Phoenix from this dealer, also, but never had any problems with it, so never had to contact the dealer).
Thanks!