Would never buy a napoleon stove again!!

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homelink

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Nov 30, 2010
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ohio
I have had a Napoleon 1101 stove for 4 years now and I have done nothing but dump money into it. I have gone through 2 fans at $ 130.00 each 3 heat sensors at $ 45.00 each and am now on my 3rd fan control switch at $ 45.00 each. 2 of them blew up for no reason. I just ordered another switch and another sensor and when they come in from Canada in 3 weeks I have to get the chimney sweep ( my friend Mark ) over and see if we can find out where the short is or what the hell is wrong this time.
I literally want to find out where the President of Napoleon lives and dump it on his front lawn.
P.S. I just got done picking out my new LOPI stove scheduled for fall of 2011 installation.
P.P.S. All of the parts have to come from Canada, no one in the US stocks them :(
Jim
 
Warranty didn't cover any of it?
 
New LOPI Freedom is going to be my choice.
No warranty coverage, I can't even get in touch with Wolf Steel (Napoleon)
Crappy company!!!
 
I'll come get the napoleon from you. ;)
 
Sounds frustrating. Was there a dealer involved? Where was this purchased?

PS: How is it working as a stove?
 
That many electrical problems, in such a short time.. I would question the quality of power reaching the stove. The electrical components could be junk, but.. sometimes power fluctuations and dips and surges can eat a motor and controller up pretty quickly.
 
Geez.. I was deciding between a Napolean and a T5 before I made my purchase.

I hope their pellet stoves have better luck, because that's what I'm looking at for my living room next year.
 
I have always been concerned about the Naps because it seems like everybody and his uncle sells them. I wouldn't mind having one from through a local dealer, mine quit selling them, but if Wolf doesn't provide direct support I sure wouldn't buy one from somebody five hundred or more miles away. Fifty miles away for that matter.
 
Its napoleon today, yesterday it was (cant remember) last week it was a guy with a disappointing Jotul. last year it was dutch-west or VC. Not to say that the people complaining have unreal issues, but some of the questions I see asked on this forum, I would bet that if some of them owned the Benson Blast furnace at the Rouge Plant, that they would have some problem with draft, or something else. These things are not rocket Scientology.
 
I forgot to add, I really hate my barrel stove at the cabin
 
Hanko said:
Its napoleon today, yesterday it was (cant remember) last week it was a guy with a disappointing Jotul. last year it was dutch-west or VC. Not to say that the people complaining have unreal issues, but some of the questions I see asked on this forum, I would bet that if some of them owned the Benson Blast furnace at the Rouge Plant, that they would have some problem with draft, or something else. These things are not rocket Scientology.
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What does that have to do with a warranty issue that the dealer and manufacturer won't address?
 
Has nothing to do with that bart, just commenting on all the folks having issues with stoves these days. I think the Title says ( Would never buy a Napoleon stove again) if Im correct.
 
Here's another read on this: There is nothing wrong with the stove, the problem is with the user's method of heat distribution. There are certainly more elegant ways; using a blower on the stove would be the last thing I'd resort to.
 
precaud said:
Here's another read on this: There is nothing wrong with the stove, the problem is with the user's method of heat distribution. There are certainly more elegant ways; using a blower on the stove would be the last thing I'd resort to.
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But if you resorted to it you would want the thing to work.
 
an anonymous user wrote- But if you resorted to it you would want the thing to work.
Click to expand...
Show me a fan motor than will function reliably for years in a 500-600F environment and I'll adjust my expectations accordingly.
 
Only stove we've owned (Napoleon 1400)...no blower (EcoFan). Bought it from a dealer 10 miles down the road. Great support if needed (I haven't but my neighbor who has the same stove with a blower has needed to call on them a few times but still prefers it over the Lopi he had out west).

Second season just started and I am still in love. The glass is never dirty, firebricks are clean, great lightshow when the secondaries come on and I will find embers today (3pm) after loading her up last night at 10pm.

Just thought I would add my 2 cents if anyone is reading this - the stove is great and even better if you buy from a dealer that will act on your behalf.
 
precaud said:
an anonymous user wrote- But if you resorted to it you would want the thing to work.
Click to expand...
Show me a fan motor than will function reliably for years in a 500-600F environment and I'll adjust my expectations accordingly.
Click to expand...

Those Rovers on Mars seem to have rolled around better than expected . :)

That said I prefer a stove to be as uncomplicated as possible, too.

edit: and chasing things that don't work as expected (assuming realistic expectations here) is not uncomplicated.
 
precaud said:
an anonymous user wrote- But if you resorted to it you would want the thing to work.
Click to expand...
Show me a fan motor than will function reliably for years in a 500-600F environment and I'll adjust my expectations accordingly.
Click to expand...

The blower motors on my big Sierra insert were twenty-two seasons old when I hauled the stove out of the house. The original fan motors were still working. And that pup saw north of 900 degrees enough times to bust the 1/4" & 3/8" firebox.

The issue isn't fan motors. It is that too many places in BFE will drop ship a Nap to you and are clueless as to how to provide service. Take a Google ride around to some of the places like elite deals that sell them.

I have looked at the stoves and liked what I saw. It is just the support issue I question. In fact I think I will stop in and ask my local shop why they quit carrying them after only a few months time.
 
billb3 said:
Those Rovers on Mars seem to have rolled around better than expected . :)
Click to expand...

So the OP should contact NASA for support, eh? ;-)
 
BrotherBart said:
I have looked at the stoves and liked what I saw. It is just the support issue I question. In fact I think I will stop in and ask my local shop why they quit carrying them after only a few months time.
Click to expand...

You're probably right there...
 
precaud said:
billb3 said:
Those Rovers on Mars seem to have rolled around better than expected . :)
Click to expand...

So the OP should contact NASA for support, eh? ;-)
Click to expand...

Reminds me of when my cousin was designing test equipment for the production line at Texas Instruments. He said the stuff that tested marginal went into your TV set. If you had a TV made from the stuff that tested high enough for NASA your TV would last seventy five years or more.
 
I could go there BB, but it would take this thread too far off-topic...
 
precaud said:
an anonymous user wrote- But if you resorted to it you would want the thing to work.
Click to expand...
Show me a fan motor than will function reliably for years in a 500-600F environment and I'll adjust my expectations accordingly.
Click to expand...

The original fan/blower on my Olympic lasted for 10 years. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about here. I absolutely love the ability to run without the blower to get some heat and then be able to crank up the blower and the stove to really churn it out.

To prefer to not have a stove with a blower is one thing - to essentially say they are all junk is another.
 
Don't put words on my mouth, please - I didn't say they were all junk, or that it didn't work. I said, it's a challenged environment for any fan to operate in. And there are more elegant solutions to the problem it is being used for.
 
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