PE Pacific Insert - One year after the repair

Hogwildz said:

I haven't even cleaned mine yet. Got way to hot out, to quickly this summer, before I could get to it, and just blew it off.
I already knew the face cracks returned, end of last season. The inner cracks at the upper corners of the the opening held up fine, at a glance.
I have a feeling, no matter how many times it is repaired, that with the way the inner parts are put together inside, it will continue to crack.
My opinion is it is either the design and more of this is happening than we know, or inferior batch of steel.
I love the insert, it does a great job, but of course if I would have found this issue in my initial research, I would probably have chosen another brand.
I still love it though, and I am not that afraid of the issues it is having. If PE wants to step up to the plate and replace it if they know there is an issue for certain year models, I would be accepting of that, and give them a chance to prove to me it is a few certain incidence, and not a widespread problem. Maybe even take the old stoves/inserts back and do some testing to find the problem and rectify it.
My faith in any corporation these days is just not one that high. Things just are not made the way they once were.
When I get a chance, I will post some photos.

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Hi Hogz,

Sorry to hear that the face cracks have returned. In my case the internal cracks are very slight, compared with the previous cracks. However, the previous cracks had four winters of burning to form before I inspected those areas.

Yeah I hope it is just the case of buying a bad apple from the bushel. But I remember Cory from PE telling me last year that some of the internal cracking has been observed by PE in other stoves that were run pretty hard (he made a point to say that running hard did not mean they were over-fired). He also stated that the internal cracks were not worrisome and will settle out. But in my opinion if these internal cracks weaken the overall structure, contraction and expansion from heating and cooling could lead to external cracking too. That is something which we have experienced first hand I think.

I was also not expecting as many of PE owners on this forum to report back that they were experiencing similar issues. As you, I love my stove too, because it does perform very well. However, if cracking is an reoccurring problem our particular stoves, I would want PE to back their warranty fully and get a replacement.

crazy_dan said:

It is not only inserts mine is a free standing stove and it it cracking too, looks like in the same places.

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HI Crazy Dan,

Sorry to hear about your stove. How many burn seasons has your stove been through? Have you contacted your dealer or PE yet? Let us know the outcome.

madison said:

I would not be surprised if there were some design modifications (or QC lapses or tolerance changes) that were made that created some of these issues. The stove metal gets hot, it expands and contracts, if a body part dimension was changed or ignored in QC it could lead to stress fractures at the weakest points.

I had a conversation with a technical rep at PE when I had the manifold baffle warp issues with my T6, and the person did casually mentioned, as an explanation, that they had changed the dimensions of the manifold baffle, ran into the problems of manifold warpage and subsequently changed the dimensions again. They then shipped me free of charge a new manifold baffle with significantly different dimensions, and it has not warped.

IMHO, and this applies to pretty much any warranty, but especially in my understanding of the process of the PE warranty. That the dealer, who is responsible for the warranty remediation with the customer, has to deal with the issues-- knowing that they are not paid upfront to repair/replace, but reimbursed after the remediation. So, when you have a 600 pound object that needs to be replaced, it is physically and financially a tough situation for the dealer.

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Yeah I haven't approached my dealer yet in regard to the problem. I wanted to touch base with PE first, just to see what they had to say and avoid the middle-man. However, if I don't hear back from PE, I will go through the dealer, and make the process official.

As far as I know, baffle warpage is normal and does not impact upon performance. From everything I have heard from other PE owners, the baffles will sag in the middle. I had mine changed last year because my baffle, after burning for four winters, developed a crack in it. The new baffle has warped a bit after one burn season.

I still haven't heard back from Cory at PE in regard to my cracked repair welds. I will call him after work and go from there.

Just an update: No news is not always good news.

I sent Cory from PE an email with pictures of the new cracks in September and never got a reply. I tried calling in the middle of September and the receptionist said he was out until the end of the month. I left a voice mail and sent another email. Still no response. I phoned again on October 29 and spoke to the receptionist. She asked who is calling when I asked to speak to Cory. Once I gave my name she said he is out of the office and will be on the road for two weeks. I sort of get the feeling he is avoiding me.

I haven't gone through the dealer, because right now I am not going to pursue a warranty claim. I am going to wait until the end of these season to see if the cracks get worse and then decide on the course of action. Any way I not as happy with PE this time around. I expected a reply to the email or a phone call from Cory or from someone else at PE. In my email and my voice mail, I just asked for his professional opinion about the cracks.

What does everyone think?

Still no update. After my initial email sent on September 08, 2010, a follow up email on October 07, 2010 and a few voice mails, I still have not received any form of contact from Cory at PE.

My original email was this:
"I hope all is well with you. During my annual chimney sweep this year, I inspected the repaired welds in my Pacific Energy Pacific insert. All have held up, except for two areas at the top right and left 90 degree corners inside the firebox near the opening. There appear to be cracks forming in the corners of each area. I have attached the pictures of the affected areas, along with the pictures taken just after the repairs were completed (in 2009) for comparison.

My concern is that these cracks could increase with each burn season, potentially causing other cracks to form. However, I am not the expert which is why I have sent my concerns to you. What do you think?"
Any way, I don't want to pee pee on PE, but I think the customer service has hit the toilet bowl on this one. It might be sort of like the individual who was trying to get the answer in regard to the OAK. Maybe if they don't have an answer, playing turtle becomes the strategy. I would be curious to see what their customer service policy is.

Where I work, I am required to give the maximum time-line of one business day to reply to inquires etc. It has been 55 business days, since my original email. What does everyone think?

Treacherous said:

I suppose you could always go the BBB route.

http://www.bbb.org/vancouver-island...fuel/pacific-coast-energy-in-nanaimo-bc-10217

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I don't think they are the same company. I am not too worried at the moment. If the cracks get worse, or more develop, I will go through my dealer via a warranty claim in the spring.

I am just more disappointed that there has been no response to my email or voice mails. In this day and age, it would have taken ten minutes to send an email response etc.

Thanks for the support fellow Hearth members! I just sent an tech support question/comment via their website with my information and asked what their customer service policy was. I also included a link to this thread. Hopefully, I will hear back soon!?

BeGreen said:

What is your dealer's perspective on this? It seems like that is where the main dialog should be happening.

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Yeah I realize that the dealer is the route via a warranty claim. Currently, I am not seeking another warranty claim. I was just trying to get PE perspective about the cracks reforming. I just wanted to get a "professional" opinion as to whether or not it is wise to ride out the winter the way it is etc. Which is why I emailed and left voice mails to the PE technical service contact. He was the one I dealt with during the original warranty claim.

I didn't think that contacting the dealer would help for this. Most of my dialogue for the original warranty was with PE. The dealer was the middleman who would transfer my information to PE and wait for PE's response. Since this was a technical question and I wanted to let PE know about the condition of the repairs, I thought it was wise to contact them directly. I am pretty sure my dealers response would have been to put in a warranty claim.

blades said:

1 question regarding your repair welds. Was or were the areas to be repaired pre-heated prior to the welding repair. If not I would fully expect them to crack when the stove/insert was placed back in operation due to thermal expansion. The welds and surrounding area should also be annealed after the repair process.

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The dealer took the stove to be repaired via PE's local repair people. I wasn't present during the rewelding, so I don't know if they were preheated and annealed. The original welder who the dealer took the stove to, said that it couldn't be done properly.

madison said:

Sisu,

Sorry about your experience, but, I was informed that warranty issues are with the original dealer, not the company.

I believe if/when you ever hear from the home office, they will tell you to contact the dealer. Then they will have to determine how to handle the situation, the dealer would then remediate/fix the issue, then they have to "apply" for reimbursement from the mfg., and if what I was told is true, the dealers are reimbursed for parts, labor is not reimbursed.

Warranties are IMHO, often misrepresented in the sales pitch of any item.

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Thanks Madison. At this point I was just seeking a technical opinion via the PE technical service. I haven't gone the warranty route yet. I am aware of what that entails via time etc. and I would rather be using my stove now during the burn season. I was hoping to ride out until spring and then contact the dealer.

I dealt with Cory at PE for the original warranty claim, so I thought that I would let him know the current status of the repair and try to get his opinion on the cracks. Either way I haven't received an response from him yet. The least he could do is to tell me to talk to the dealer. Also, he is the technical service manager for PE. Therefore, he should be able to handle my technical service question or forward me to someone else who can.