Is this right??

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asabatelli

New Member
Dec 9, 2008
15
CT
I'm a pellet newbie. Just paid lots of $$ for an install of a Harmon p43. It still seems to be leaking a whisper of smoke, and they put about a whole tube of caulk on the outside of the pipes. Is this standard for pellet installs? You can't see the pipe, thank goodness, but this just doesn't seem right to me.... I'm definitely calling them back because I'm still seeing smoke on startup, but should I ask them to re-do the whole thing?
 

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asabatelli said:
I'm a pellet newbie. Just paid lots of $$ for an install of a Harmon p43. It still seems to be leaking a whisper of smoke, and they put about a whole tube of caulk on the outside of the pipes. Is this standard for pellet installs? You can't see the pipe, thank goodness, but this just doesn't seem right to me.... I'm definitely calling them back because I'm still seeing smoke on startup, but should I ask them to re-do the whole thing?

Who did that install and what kind of pipe did they use? Looks sloppy to me.

No you should not be getting any smoke on startup...except outside thru the vent and just before the pellets catch fire.

edit: just looked at the full size picture: Holy Crap, that's a mess. No way a professional install should look like this.
 
I'm not sure of the pipe brand. I'm told it's very high quality multi-fuel pipe. The install was done by Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT. Smoke seems to be coming out of the bottom clean out area, where there's already over an inch of silicone in places (can't see bottom in picture, but it's even thicker down there).
 
To be honest it does look bad, but they did kind of a messy job. BUT they were doing it right so they would not have to come back again, it just might be a little spot they missed.

They sealed every seam so odd that you are getting a smoke smell, its not the new paint smell is it?
 
I can SEE a steady stream of smoke coming out at startup, somewhere around the cleanout area at the bottom of the pipe--hard to tell exactly where. My concern is that they used so much caulk and slopped it on everywhere, and it's still leaking, so I'm wondering if they did something else wrong?
 
Since it is still leaking get those clowns back, be sure to have them come with all new pipe, preferably not that brand, seems they need a lesson in proper vent installation.

The only way to teach them is for it to cost them.
 
good luck getting the bottom cleanout off when it comes time! I would be embarrassed to do a job like that and I'm just a DIY'er. I assume the SS flex is the outside air kit. What a mess.
 
Thanks for all the input. What does "looks like PelletVent Pro strikes again" mean? Is that a brand of pipe to avoid?
 
Some feel that it is not nice to mention the name of a company (Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT) when they perform poor quality work because it might embarrass them (Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT) and may cause them (Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT) to loose business, scare potential customers away. In their defense I would guess that their (Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT) employee probably brought their 4 year old son or daughter to work iwth them that day and let him or her do the caulking.

Absolutely call them and demand that they come and fix the leak, and I would insist that the owner of the company (Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT) come and enjoy the sight of his employees workmanship. You paid good money for and signed a contract for a job to be done without leaks and you should continue to have them fix it until it leaks no more. I would go out my way to ensure that I never use that company (Blazing Hot Stoves in Watertown CT) again.

Enjoy your new stove!
 
Ive got PelletVent Pro installed on my stove a poor design pipe still leaks on start up. Wondering if that clear silicone is high temp. what a piss poor job hope you can get it fixed right. The clean out tee will never come off how you going to clean the ash out.
 
Damn....nice cutting job for the thimble.

And silicone for the outside air. Now wouldnt want that to leak, would we. Heyyyy, maybe they wanted to make sure that the until would not leak smoke out of the air intake. Yup, That's the ticket.

Get the A-Team back in there and take care of this.
 
Update: Just got off the phone with the dealer, and they are going to do a total reinstall. They did use Simpson Pelletventpro, and they are going to discontinue using that vent pipe because of issues like these, and switch to ICC pellet corn vent. Said they will cover all of my concerns and make everything right. (I do think quoting some of you in an email to them definitely helped the cause.) Thanks again.
 
Also, I had no intention of slamming this company; I really just didn't know if caulking like that was standard practice. Brian, the head sales guy there has been extremely helpful. Even let me burn a bag of DJ's grass pellets in one of their display models to see how it worked and uploaded a video on youtube of the process. Up till now, I've been 100% pleased, and hopefully I still will be once they straighten out the install. Brian was very apologetic and assured me they would make everything right. So far, so good.
 
Sounds like a stand up dealer. Good for them..and you.

ICC vent pipe is a wise choice on their end. You should like the results.

Make sure and post some pics of the stove up and running!!
 
Sorry, but the use of a particular brand of pellet stove pipe has NOTHING to do with the quality of work they performed and is NO excuse for their horrible installation. Go right ahead and let them do it over again and maybe they just might get it right. After that I would still go out of my way to avoid them and warn others to do so as well.

Call me what you want, but there is no excuse for that type of workmanship and they should be ashamed.
 
True, the initial install was not done with pride or crafstmanship..a few things lacking in the workforce in general lately. Cant argue that.

tjnamtiw mentioned that they would not submit this as a completed job and neither would I. Many here are DIY'ers and I think that the DIY type takes much more pride in their work than some.

The dealer is at least trying to make this right and changing material can help in so much as ICC might help the company with making the install easier. Not all dealers do their own installs. If they dont, it should be noted at the time of sale. Also, the install crews are also not always their technicians. I know that the dealer I bought from has them seperate and I'm sure that the install crews there are not as qualified as techncians. For the most part, they dont need to be with pellet stove install.

Again, does not make up for the sloppy install, but it helps.
 
Although that is a sloppy silicone job, Harman requires all the joints on their stoves be either sealed with silicone or aluminum tape. Alum. tape can be used only so close to the stove, so your going to get some amount of silicone either way, and making silicone look pretty isn't easy.
 
With Simpson Dura vent they should have applied silicone inside of each connection, at that point you should have not gotten any smoke in the house. The photos tell someone that they don't know what they are doing. I would have them back and do the install over correctly. I have never installed with a mess like that. They need to follow all Harman Tech fliers.
 
what about the TWO (2) ninety degree turns in sucession? isn't that too restrictive? not the way this DIY would do it. I had to seal the seams and rivets on a 45 in my stove. I put a nice even coat on the INSIDE of the seams.

Guess they didn't messure correctly on that wall thimble and made it fit. Too Bad, just a really sorry install.

Hope they come through and make it right. Good Luck.
 
Hadn't even thought about the 2 90s. That doesn't match any of the install configurations in the manual. I'll definitely address that when they do the re-install. Thanks. The did put RTV on the inside before joining the vent pipe--that's the orange stuff you can see in the picture I believe--still, even with that it seems like it was slopped in/on/around things.... The more I think about it, I'm wondering if the 2 90s configuration might have been what caused so much smoke to back-lash in the area of the cleanout, and hence leak? Perhaps that was the fatal flaw that caused the vent pipe just not to be able to handle the swirling back and down into that area on startup?? Thanks again.
 
Not sure about the 2 90's. Dont know the rest of the vent routing and length, but if it's 4" pipe it should be OK. I dont think the Harman thimble comes in 4", so it's probably 3" pipe and that MIGHT be an issue. Cant really anwer that.

My g/f has 4" ICC venting coming out of an XXV into a T and then another 90 then direct horizontal out thru the wall/gambrel roof. Self hired Professional install (not dealer install) and with the gambrell roof, it was this or straight up thru the ceiling. This was much cheaper and works fine...no leaks at all. Also, their rtv sealing on the outside where it goes thru the gambrel roof looks very neat, not like a 4 year old did it. This installer does not use 3" pipe at all, swears by 4", therefore said he could not use the Harman thimble. He is also a Harman trained tech. The install was done by one of his crew, but the owner, and trained tech, did an onsite survey before install.

ICC has internal silicone/rubber gaskets at every joint creating a good seal when installed correctly.........
 
The two 90 degree turns by and of themselves isn't really a problem provided the entire vent run has a reasonable EVL. Those two 90's account for an EVL of 10.

It wouldn't be my preferred way of doing it.

Not knowing the vent layout I'll defer further comment.
 
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