tfenn1 said:
I'm considering a Osburn 2200 or 2400 insert. I like the look of the 2200 with the bay window but haven't been able to get a good picture of the 2400. The 2200 is only $50 more but the 2400 is a bigger insert. Does anyone know the benefit of one over the other? Does the 2400 require an 8" flue? Thanks for your help.
Hope I caught you in time before you buy "any osburn stove". We purchased a 2200 Baywood in late 2002 and had it installed late February or early March in our just built brand new home. We burnt it all fall and winter of 2003-2004 without problems. Only thing that kept happening was the door casket kept coming off and needing replacing.
We started burning it for the second year in late October of 2004. We burnt it pretty much every day and night and one day about a month later I noticed brown lines on my cieling and exterior walls where the studs would be. My first thought was a moisture problem until closer inspection! When I attempted to wipe at these brown lines with a wet sponge, the brown immediatly turned black and would not wipe clean but got all smeared. To make a very long story short, my entire 1700 foot home and every single thing in it, walls, wood work, cabinets, everything in those cabinets, furniture, clothing, linens, food ect. was covered in a brown greasy film. I have to tell you that there is only one place this could have come from and that is from this osburn stove and at no time while we where burning it did we have smoke or anything visibly emmitting from the stove.
You can only imagine the clean up job we had to deal with. Hours upon hours of washing with industrial strenght degreaser. Hundreds of dollars in furniture cleaning and dry cleaning bills. And even still today we are facing repainting our home becuase on exterior walls this grime ate into the paint.
We spent just under one thousand dollars bring expert after expert into the house top figure out what the heck was wrong and have come up with no solution.
My retailer will not assist me. They stopped carrying the Osburn line and will only offer me an "exceptional deal on a new different brand stove. The company in Montreal that is the "new owner" of the Osburn Manufacturing Line" will not assist me because the original Osburn Manufacturer went bankrupt around the time I bought my stove. They have agreed to look at the stove as long as I pay for the shipping charges there and back. I live in Manitoba and can only imagine the cost of shipping a 500 pound stove all that way. The other issue is that the door does not sit tightly against the stove, the door or the stove is warpped, but which it is cannot be determined unless I send the stove to Montreal. I tried ordering just a door and was told they are no longer manufactured and I cannot get one.
Basically what we are left with is a stove that looks good but we would not dare burn and have not since November of 2004. It makes a good candle holder and plant stand and not much else. Between the cost of the stove, the thousand bucks in trying to figure out the problem and the huge clean up costs, we are into this stove for well over 5 grand. Pretty expensive candle holder wouldn't you agree.
Right now I have filed a complaint with the Consumers Bureau but I'm really not holding my breath.