nothing but problems with a hearthstone heritage

[gyrfalcon]

OK, Ed, that's what I think, too, but I don know nuthin'. I've only been at this a couple of years with one tiny stove, high school physics was a longg time ago and I barely passed it anyway.

But how come, then, so many wise folks here are telling him it might be his wood or it might be draft problems? I still think there's something I'm not getting.

 

[meathead]

For the record - I'm betting it's his stove (that's why I said "when" the room still fills with smoke in my above post and not "if"). I just think he should try dry wood and have some extra bundled supermarket super dry stuff on hand because I'm betting that's the next thing his dealer will blame. If he has the stuff on hand, when the guy says "it's a wood problem screw off", the OP can tell him he is currently burning stuff from a plastic wrapper that measures around 4% moisture. I was just thinking it would eliminate one more possible way for the dealer to drag this thing out.

 

[savageactor7]

Our first stove was a Ben Franklin with a dozen small isinglass windows. You could still have a a good drafting fire with a window partly broken or totally removed. I mention that because now that I see the pictures of smoke coming off the stove and read about questionable stove seals. You still have a draft problem.

If you have trees too close to the house that are same size or taller than the chimney they could affect a chimneys draft.

new burner as a last resort while the stove is cold look inside right above the door and make sure that insulated fiber like fire proof board is not blocking smoke exit. Long ago the dealer could have shown a customer how easy it was to remove/replace, got distracted by a phone call or something and forgot to replace it all the way. If you feel something that's loose up there try to manipulate toward the back of the stove.

 

[Highbeam]

The heritage only has a hard fiber board cotter pinned to the air tubes so it won't block the exit. No crappy wool blanket up there like with some models.

The heritage is not a cemented together stove exactly. There is cement but let me explain. The sides of each stone are grooved to accept a steel flat bar which is wrapped with a cloth like graphite colored woven sleeve. This steel "biscuit" sets in the groove of the adjacent stone to lock the two together. Prior to inserting the biscuit and shoving the two stones together, the grooves are filled with copious amounts of cement which oozes out of the joint upon assembly and should be cleaned from the outside and only smeared off on the inside. This is how they seal the stones in the middle of the stove. On the corners I am not certain but I do know that there is a piece of that flat rope gasket material between the corner casting and the stone since I can see a little bit on mine. The top of the stove is a whole unit and those top three stones have the visible grooves on their sides if you look closely. I have never seen any gasket material on any of the top stones and I've looked all around while vacuuming out that groove.

I fully expect the stove to be an airtight sealed unit with regards to the outer shell. The ONLY air entering or leaving the stove should be through the 3" hole in the back and the flue pipe. The stove should always operate under vacuum so that if a door is opened, or a seam failure exists, that room air is sucked into the stove.

I think you have at least two problems. I never had any smoke come from my new heritage. Since you have double wall pipe mysteriously bolted to the stove collar, that won't make much any smell. I only smelled a slight pancake griddle smell as mine first seasoned.

The cement smudges on the outside of the stove is very unhearthstone. The shop probably rebuilt it. Did you get a steep discount? Your dealer probably is blowing you off now and hoping you go away.

I installed my rear heatshield following the instructions included. It was a snap, and it just screws on.

 

[branchburner]

Yeah, it sounds like this stove fell off the back of a truck, literally. I bet the dealer figured if the rebuild was leaky it would burn hot and fast and nobody would be the wiser. He wasn't counting on a poor draft.

 

[new burner]

Thankyou guys for so much help and information. I only got a 20 % discount on the floor model. About 500 dollars.
I called the dealer again today, got into an arguing match. Only to here about bad drafts. I sent them an email stating what was wrong with the stove, and requesting them to come pick it up. I am also going to send a certified letter. And check with the bank on stopping payment. I hope the bank can do something, because I did pay with a check.

I am totally with you guys, that it should not be leaking at all. And I dont think the manufacturer would send the the stove out like that.

I'll keep you all posted on whats happening with the stove. I am getting really stressed about this whole situation.

Thanks again,
Lynn

 

[Highbeam]

One more tidbit that you might find interesting. On the pallet that the new stove is bolted to a number is written with a black marker. I am not sure where I read this but that number is the air infiltration figure for that particular stove. They actually hook each stove up and put a vacuum on it, with a criteria for a pass/fail test. They write the # on the pallet.

Bottom line is that your stove would have failed the suck test and been taken off the line just like a bad golden goose egg at the willy wonka chocolate factory.

Good luck stopping that check, I would make that a high priority.

 

[Frostbit]

At this point it would behoove you to do a few things. You mentioned in one of your first posts the sight of visible cement smeared on various places of the stove. Take good digital pics of all of these, as well as a video. Take a video of the smoke emitting from the joints when it is doing so. Archive all of this. In the event this ends up in litigation, you have some damning evidence to show.

The fact that the guy won't come out and see it doing what it is not supposed to do speaks volumes.

When you do get ahold of someone at Hearthstone, ask them to come over here and read this thread. I think they would like to make it all good, considering the consequences. Actually, it surprises me they are not on it already.

 

[Frostbit]

I took the liberty to search and find an actual website for the company you bought your Heritage from.

I have linked their "about us" information from that site. Note they speak highly of their "customer service"

http://www.fireplacesandbarbeque.com/about.php


We fellow inmates can be a relentless sort. Best of luck.

 

[thinkxingu]

Yo.
Ditto on the 'call Hearthstone' suggestion. In fact, I'm not sure why you haven't already--at the very least, they can confirm that the stove is right or wrong.

S

 

[summit]

take the pipes apart and check inside... I did an embarrassing install (in my early days in the biz , when i did not know any better) .... i put together a DW telescopic pipe kit and forgot about the hardware / trim package that was encased inside the pipe kit in a plastic bag.. the first few fires for these poor folks smoldered like hell, and then smelled like plastic when the bag eventually melted thru.

 

[new burner]

The dealer is going to come out and check the draft. I am gunna have to play their game for now. Maybe when they see for them selves whats going on, they get the picture.
Dealer said they emailed the pictures to hearthstone, and hearthstone said that is a common problem. Its a bad draft.
and emailed some technical bulletins.
I told them to come out and fix it, if they think its only draft.
But that I wanted the stove to run like its suppose to. If they fix the draft, I think it will burn short and hot.
It already does, it doesnt take much wood to get up to 350.

I looked to see if that board above the tubes was blocking, its not. Its cotter pinned in though. Its glued or cemented in.

 

[new burner]

oops ment to say not cotter pinned in

 

[karri0n]

Tell them to get the thing out of your house. You do have a bad draft, but there's no damn way smoke should be coming out of the seams. The dealer did a crappy rebuild or repair job on this stove and, therefore, has been dishonest from the start. You absolutely do NOT have to play their game.


I don't believe for a second that Hearthstone said smoke leaking out of the seams is a common problem.

 

[Highbeam]

oops ment to say not cotter pinned in

The very fact that the cotter pins are missing tells you the story. Why are they missing you might ask? It's because the goon that rebuilt this stove didn't put them back. Your baffle should have never been removed from the stove.

Have you not emailed JimC (hearthstone tech) or spoken with Hearthstone yet?

 

[meathead]

Get some hearthstone contacts (I'd start with whoever Jim C is) and get the info from them yourself.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I don't believe for a second that Hearthstone said smoke leaking out of the seams is a common problem.

Heh. If it was a "common problem," Hearthstone would have gone out of business long ago.

 

[gyrfalcon]

oops ment to say not cotter pinned in

Take a picture of it!

 

[new burner]

who is jim c and what is his email address? whenever i call hearthstone all i get is the recorded message.
Does anyone have a phone number, that has a person on the other end?

 

[Highbeam]

I have corresponded with Jim and find him to be an excellent resource. I looked really hard at my stove top last night and find no gasket material between the top stones and the perimeter frame.


Copied from another thread this site.....

"FYI,
here is jims email
[email protected] woodstove expert hearthstone
800) 827-8683 ext 235

he is a very good guy and responds to (my emails at least) very quikly
Signature

Dave Gault
WoodHeatStoves.com
blog.woodheatstoves.com"

 

[[email protected]]

I'm pretty new at this too. But even if the stove insn't "sealed" it shouldn't leak. Once I get a draft going I can open the door reload and leave the door open the smoke doesn't come into the house. The draft should and does suck it up the flu. Maybe there is a combination of issues?

But maybe by now you've got an answer.

 

[new burner]

thankyou for the email address highbeam.
the gasket I see is the not on top of the stove, its on the side where the smoke is comming out of the box. On the side in the upper corner.

 

[new burner]

Here is a picture of the inside of the stove.

 

[Highbeam]

How about another photo right down the middle. The cotter pins should run through the center tube nearer the center and the front tube has a pin right in the middle holding that bracket in place. I see that cement you spoke of beside the baffle.

You sure are burning cleanly. The cast iron secondary manifold on mine always has a black or dark brown color to it.

 

[Fsappo]

Just spoke to Jim 2 minutes ago. Great guy, always ready to help, as is Ray, the gas technician. Just takes em a while to get back to me this time of year