Yesterday my new Hearthstone Mansfield arrived and was installed in the old cooking fireplace in the main section of my ancient house. Looks great, and I'm burning the break-in fire now. My thanks to all of you who helped me decide on the Mansfield.
That concludes the happy part of my story.
Now the tale takes a turn for the sad. The installers were also hired to move my Hearthstone Phoenix from the old cooking fireplace in the main house, to another old cooking fireplace in the kitchen ell. Because they'd done such a nice job with the Mansfield, and it was such a beautiful day, I figured I could leave them alone to do the Phoenix installation while I went outside to begin moving some of the firewood into the shed. "How much trouble could they get into?" I reasoned. After all, they already had all the stovepipe and tee-fittings for the Phoenix (they used new pipe and fittings for the Mansfield).
I'm sure you've already guessed that the answer to my question is "more trouble than a two year old on Red Bull." I now have the ugliest "professional" installation in the history of Stovedom. Rather than reusing the black stovepipe and tee, they ran the 6" flexible and very shiny chimney liner right down to a very shiny oval tee fitting. I have no idea why they used an oval tee when both the chimney liner and opening to the Phoenix are round. Certainly not for lack of room in the chimney - it's huge. The stove / fireplace scene now looks godawful, with all this modern shininess hanging down behind the Phoenix. The stove is also pushed way out into the hearth, which makes no sense since the room is smallish and we have our kitchen table in the middle of it. It has to be set much further back into the fireplace or half the family will cook along with their dinner.
Here's my question to all you pros: did the installers follow standard practice when they ran the liner right down to the tee-fitting and omitted the stove pipe, and/or when they used an oval tee in this situation? If they did, then shame on me for not knowing enough to ask for "the plain black stovepipe and round tee installation, please." If they didn't, then I'll stand up for myself and for unwitting would-be woodburners everywhere and request a fix at no charge. Letting them choose the stove placement was my mistake: I ought to know by now that there's nothing common about common sense.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate the therapy.
That concludes the happy part of my story.
Now the tale takes a turn for the sad. The installers were also hired to move my Hearthstone Phoenix from the old cooking fireplace in the main house, to another old cooking fireplace in the kitchen ell. Because they'd done such a nice job with the Mansfield, and it was such a beautiful day, I figured I could leave them alone to do the Phoenix installation while I went outside to begin moving some of the firewood into the shed. "How much trouble could they get into?" I reasoned. After all, they already had all the stovepipe and tee-fittings for the Phoenix (they used new pipe and fittings for the Mansfield).
I'm sure you've already guessed that the answer to my question is "more trouble than a two year old on Red Bull." I now have the ugliest "professional" installation in the history of Stovedom. Rather than reusing the black stovepipe and tee, they ran the 6" flexible and very shiny chimney liner right down to a very shiny oval tee fitting. I have no idea why they used an oval tee when both the chimney liner and opening to the Phoenix are round. Certainly not for lack of room in the chimney - it's huge. The stove / fireplace scene now looks godawful, with all this modern shininess hanging down behind the Phoenix. The stove is also pushed way out into the hearth, which makes no sense since the room is smallish and we have our kitchen table in the middle of it. It has to be set much further back into the fireplace or half the family will cook along with their dinner.
Here's my question to all you pros: did the installers follow standard practice when they ran the liner right down to the tee-fitting and omitted the stove pipe, and/or when they used an oval tee in this situation? If they did, then shame on me for not knowing enough to ask for "the plain black stovepipe and round tee installation, please." If they didn't, then I'll stand up for myself and for unwitting would-be woodburners everywhere and request a fix at no charge. Letting them choose the stove placement was my mistake: I ought to know by now that there's nothing common about common sense.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate the therapy.