We are well into our second season of burning a Hampton HI300, so I figured I would write a review in case anyone is considering one.
We bought the stove new from a local dealer in March of 2012. It was their floor model and they had it marked down 20% since it was the end of the season. I don't remember the exact price we paid, but I want to say it was a little less than $3000 out the door.
We went with the Timberline brown enamel coating. I'm glad that we went with the enamel because dust and ashed just wipe right off. We do have to be careful around it though because you can scratch, scuff, or chip the enamel. Fortunately that has not happened much at all, so it must be decently durable.
As far as looks go, it is a very nice looking insert.
The blower has a high and low setting. We almost always run it on low because it is very quiet. In fact, I find that sometimes I have to go over and put my hand in front of the vent to see if the blower has kicked on yet. The blower on high is pretty loud. The insert is in our living room, so we don't want that much noise.
I do have one considerable issue with my unit. I realized a little bit into the first season that the door was not quite right. On windy days, a downdraft would cause puffs of smoke to come of the door. I did the dollar bill test and found that I could easily slide the bill in behind the glass with the door latch.
I read the manual and followed the manufacturer's instructions to adjust the door latch to solve the leaky door issue. I kept removing the spacer washers, but was still able to slide the bill in with ease. It got to the point that I had removed so many spacers that I could not open/close the latch without muscling the heck out of it.
I pretty much took the whole thing apart and came to realize that the door was not straight. The top door hinge is welded to the outside of the burn box. The bottom hinge consists of a hinge pin that slides into a hole that is drilled on the flat behind the ash lip. The welded top hinge is out of alignment with the hole drilled in the bottom by 3/8"-1/4". Yikes.
I brought the issue up with the dealer. He came out again to adjust the door. Short story is that it didn't work. I emailed Hampton about the issue hoping that they could give me some insight on correcting the issue. Their response was that they forwarded my issue to a Hampton dealer in my area. I never heard from any Hampton dealers after that.
I took the issue up again with the dealer I bought the insert from. This time he offered to reinstall the seal on the door. He put the seal in thinner on top and "fluffy" on the bottom where the leak was. In the end, this solved the problem with the smoke puffs coming out, and I am not able to slide a dollar bill in anymore. However, the door latch still feels a bit off. I think it is affected by the door being out of vertical alignment.
All in all, the stove works well. We mainly just use the stove for supplemental heat in our living room/dining room/kitchen. It really warms the place up. I can load it up around 9-10pm and there are coals in the bottom to be able to get the next load started with around 6am. This stove is not going to win any contests for longest burn times though. If that is what you are looking for, then get a cat stove.
Overall, I would give my entire experience a B-/C+. I would consider getting this insert again, but I would be checking the door with a small level before I ever let them install. I'm disappointed that Hampton's Quality Insurance is lax enough to let a 1/4" alignment issue pass their final inspection. The insert only comes with a one year warranty, so I'm pretty sure that if I tried to take this up with them again now that they would tell me tough luck.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have.
We bought the stove new from a local dealer in March of 2012. It was their floor model and they had it marked down 20% since it was the end of the season. I don't remember the exact price we paid, but I want to say it was a little less than $3000 out the door.
We went with the Timberline brown enamel coating. I'm glad that we went with the enamel because dust and ashed just wipe right off. We do have to be careful around it though because you can scratch, scuff, or chip the enamel. Fortunately that has not happened much at all, so it must be decently durable.
As far as looks go, it is a very nice looking insert.
The blower has a high and low setting. We almost always run it on low because it is very quiet. In fact, I find that sometimes I have to go over and put my hand in front of the vent to see if the blower has kicked on yet. The blower on high is pretty loud. The insert is in our living room, so we don't want that much noise.
I do have one considerable issue with my unit. I realized a little bit into the first season that the door was not quite right. On windy days, a downdraft would cause puffs of smoke to come of the door. I did the dollar bill test and found that I could easily slide the bill in behind the glass with the door latch.
I read the manual and followed the manufacturer's instructions to adjust the door latch to solve the leaky door issue. I kept removing the spacer washers, but was still able to slide the bill in with ease. It got to the point that I had removed so many spacers that I could not open/close the latch without muscling the heck out of it.
I pretty much took the whole thing apart and came to realize that the door was not straight. The top door hinge is welded to the outside of the burn box. The bottom hinge consists of a hinge pin that slides into a hole that is drilled on the flat behind the ash lip. The welded top hinge is out of alignment with the hole drilled in the bottom by 3/8"-1/4". Yikes.
I brought the issue up with the dealer. He came out again to adjust the door. Short story is that it didn't work. I emailed Hampton about the issue hoping that they could give me some insight on correcting the issue. Their response was that they forwarded my issue to a Hampton dealer in my area. I never heard from any Hampton dealers after that.
I took the issue up again with the dealer I bought the insert from. This time he offered to reinstall the seal on the door. He put the seal in thinner on top and "fluffy" on the bottom where the leak was. In the end, this solved the problem with the smoke puffs coming out, and I am not able to slide a dollar bill in anymore. However, the door latch still feels a bit off. I think it is affected by the door being out of vertical alignment.
All in all, the stove works well. We mainly just use the stove for supplemental heat in our living room/dining room/kitchen. It really warms the place up. I can load it up around 9-10pm and there are coals in the bottom to be able to get the next load started with around 6am. This stove is not going to win any contests for longest burn times though. If that is what you are looking for, then get a cat stove.
Overall, I would give my entire experience a B-/C+. I would consider getting this insert again, but I would be checking the door with a small level before I ever let them install. I'm disappointed that Hampton's Quality Insurance is lax enough to let a 1/4" alignment issue pass their final inspection. The insert only comes with a one year warranty, so I'm pretty sure that if I tried to take this up with them again now that they would tell me tough luck.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have.
