Blaze King Headache

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danho

Member
Feb 3, 2012
20
Southern, OR.
First off, I have been looking on here for a while and appreciate all the information and the way it is distributed on here. This is a nice place with people actually willing to help, thanks for having me.
Now, off to the issue(s) at hand.
3 years ago I purchased a Blaze King Princess Insert from the local Southern Oregon dealer and had it installed to replace the failing pellet stove insert we had. The house is 2200 sq. ft. with a centrally located stove location and 15' exposed beam (severely under insulated) cathedral ceiling. Come to think of it, the entire house is under insulated, but that's on my project list.
When we first had the stove I was excited to have a top quality stove that was going to heat my house and give me something to talk about. My Dad and numerous friends all have Blaze King's of some sort and love them to death.
Flash forward now to last week.
I get up on the roof and clean my chimney to find it heavily packed with creosote (again), and go in the house to find that the cat is falling apart in pieces (again). So all in all, 4 cat's in 3 years, 1 blower fan replaced, heavy creosote in the chimney and burns lasting up to 5 hours.....woo freakin hoo, go Blaze King!
Up to this point I have talked to the local dealer til' I'm blue in the face only to hear that it's something that I'm doing wrong, and it's not the stove or the install. Period. I have used different species of wood, different firing methods, bought moisture meters, thermometers and bought wood because my 15% moisture content wood is "excessively wet and causing problems in the stove." I even did tests with the dealers wood and mine with the data expressed in a spreadsheet over the course of 4 days, and made sure not to burn Madrone and Oak together because "the Oak will extinguish the Madrone when burned together in the stove box". I don't even want to go into that one.
So with all the top quality advice I have been given from the dealer, I figured I would call Blaze King directly and see if that offered any relief. I phoned the Walla Walla shop and was directed to Chris. I explained the issues and history to Chris and within 5 minutes on the phone he offered a replacement stove at no cost and asked for the old stove to be returned to him for testing in his lab. I was dumbfounded and relieved that someone felt that it was not my fault and could possibly be the stove, components thereof or the install that was causing all the problems.
The new stove was installed a few days ago, and wow what a difference. 15 hour burns with consistent temps and the blower is not keeping us up at night with all the rattling and vibrations.
This was a pretty negative experience to us and had we not received the top quality customer service from Blaze King, specifically Chris, we would have never even spoken of the brand again.
If you happen to go to the only authorized Blaze King dealer in Southern Oregon, go in there prepared and informed as they are neither. Thanks Chris!

Now back to the fire.
 
Glad you got this finally resolved. It sounds like it was a nightmare.
 
Id be interested in what BKVP find s out from your stove.
 
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I would assume that this should take a month or so to get the stove and do testing, I am interested as well.
 
Yeah keep us updated.
 
Glad Blaze King came through for you. Chris seems like a great guy, I emailed BK some questions awhile back and Chris called me 15 minutes after I sent the email. He knows his stuff and answered all my questions. I wish more stove manufactures had a go to guy when things come up for the customer.
 
Welcome to the forum danho.

Sadly your experience is much like so many. The dealers talk a good talk but sometimes when problems crop up they are no help at all. On the other hand, it is great to know that BK will stand behind their product. That is the mark of a good company. Hope this all works out well for you.
 
I wonder if something was wrong with the by- pass door?
Maybe the t-stat was wound backwards?
The latter is my guess.
Glad things are good now!
 
They're great stoves, it's a shame you got a lemon the first go round. I hope this one treats you better and +1 to Chris(BKVP on this site) for taking care of you.
 
I wonder if something was wrong with the by- pass door?
Maybe the t-stat was wound backwards?
The latter is my guess.
Glad things are good now!

I'm actually not sure what the issue was, but I did test the t-stat and it was wound correctly. Looking forward to see what Chris finds out.....
 
They're great stoves, it's a shame you got a lemon the first go round. I hope this one treats you better and +1 to Chris(BKVP on this site) for taking care of you.

Yeah, kinda seems like we are the lemon getting family these days. The replacement stove is chugging right along though, just like it claims.
 
The dealer is the problem here, any company can put out a lemon, he should have solved your problem right off the bat. Chris is great, Ive talked to him a coupel times and hes been very helpful. Please post when you find out what the problem was, something wasnt put together right with the other one.
 
Just outa curiosity, do you have full SS liner? We had one customer that insisted that he didn't need a liner and would have no part of one. He couldn't get any heat and blew out the first Cat in less than a year. We lined it shortly after that and he hasn't had a problem since. His Cat was replaced for free under warranty by the way.
 
Just outa curiosity, do you have full SS liner? We had one customer that insisted that he didn't need a liner and would have no part of one. He couldn't get any heat and blew out the first Cat in less than a year. We lined it shortly after that and he hasn't had a problem since. His Cat was replaced for free under warranty by the way.
Nope, full liner was installed and I even spent extra on an upgraded Vacu-Stack.
With zero changes in wood type, wood moisture or burn methods I just woke up to an active cat and a 250 degree stove top temp after 25 hours. Like I said in my previous post, 5 hour burns were pretty much the max on the old stove and we were in the habit of feeding it every 3-4 hours. I feel vindicated.
 
Another example that the dealer network business model is not without problems. There have been other dealer nightmares here. (I'm sure that the majority of dealers are good and reputable). Good for BK to allow you to go around the dealer and make it good. I wouldn't be surprised to see more manufacturers get into direct sales like Woodstock for example. They seem to have a great, even stellar, reputation for customer service and it would seem to make sense for a manufacturer to want to have better direct control of what's going on with their products. (I wish Woodstock had a wider product line....) I imagine that it's very difficult and expensive to manage a huge independent dealer network.
 
You got a new stove after three years and post a thread with a title like this? The PE guys should be jealous.
 
You got a new stove after three years and post a thread with a title like this? The PE guys should be jealous.
Yeah, I figure after 3 years of arguing, frustration and throwing hundreds if not thousands of dollars up the chimney with no change that I've earned the right to post the title. As i said in the body of the story however, Chris made it right and I am back on board with the company due to their excellent customer service and quality products (once you get one that works).
 
Yeah, I figure after 3 years of arguing, frustration and throwing hundreds if not thousands of dollars up the chimney with no change that I've earned the right to post the title.

Good point. You can of course post any title you want but compared to other brands, you were lucky to get a new stove. I think it is great and I am glad to own a stove from the company that stood behind their product.
 
thanks for sharing...its good to know in case others have a similar experience. I too am curious as to what they will find as to the cause of the malfunction. all those cats.....thats costly in itself. keep us posted.

cass
 
Danho, your original stove was clearly a counterfeit that lacked the embedded Alien Technology. Glad you got a new unit! :)

all those cats.....that's costly in itself.

EPA requires mfrs to warranty cats for 5 or 6 years, same as a with cars. I think BK now covers 10 years. This is great, but not if your problem lies elsewhere and they keep throwing free cats at you.

+1 on kudos to Chris for taking care of business. I ended up going with Woodstock, because a Princess would not fit my hearth without mods, but I spoke with Chris while deciding, and he was super informative and helpful. :)

I would never buy something like a stove from a company that did not have at least one guy like Chris available to talk to, let alone a company that tried to hide their phone #, as some stove co's do.
 
Great points all, and yes I am a Blaze King owner/buyer probably for life now that I have one that burns like my new one does and the interactions I have had with Chris.

The reason I posted this is, I have been looking on here for a while now and have come across a few posts that didn't seem right to me. The poster seemed to be having problems and getting little help from the dealer and was getting confused and frustrated, I could totally relate. I am just hoping that my story will let people that are having these similar problems know that it is ok to call the manufacturer direct and explain what's going on. I was, and my wife was too, ecstatic that Chris not only listened to me but wanted to make things right AND get my stove back to test it!
 
Have recommended BK to several friends who upgrade
or just wanted more heat & longer burn times.
So far they all say thanks. Love their stoves.

Glad to hear BK has great customer service & treated you well.
I've had good customer service from my local BK dealer.
 
. . .I am just hoping that my story will let people that are having similar problems know that it is ok to call the manufacturer direct and explain what's going on. . .

I agree, but some mfr's just steer you back to the dealer, which is really crappy, because you probably wouldn't be calling the mfr if the dealer was taking care of business.

We should make a Hearth.com Honor Roll for mfr's who are known to do right by their customers.

BK
Englander
SBI
Woodstock. . .

Note that some of these mfr's stoves are among the most expensive, and some among the least, so this isn't a case of "getting what you pay for," but rather doing the right thing.
 
Another example that the dealer network business model is not without problems. There have been other dealer nightmares here. (I'm sure that the majority of dealers are good and reputable). Good for BK to allow you to go around the dealer and make it good. I wouldn't be surprised to see more manufacturers get into direct sales like Woodstock for example. They seem to have a great, even stellar, reputation for customer service and it would seem to make sense for a manufacturer to want to have better direct control of what's going on with their products. (I wish Woodstock had a wider product line....) I imagine that it's very difficult and expensive to manage a huge independent dealer network.

By this, do you mean non-cat stoves? They are committed to cat stoves, to soapstone stoves, to innovation and excellence in engineering. . They have a very wide line in output in cat stoves, basically covering all needs. They also have a good line in LP/Propane Direct Vent Gas stoves, with an impressive range of heating abilities. They've been working on a massive soapstone heater...don't know where that is in development, or if it is still being developed...they were working with another company on that.
 
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