Hearthstone Heritage Warranty? Anyone had an issue with cast hinges?

[Sheeppdog]

I'm brand new to the forum and am so thankful how helpful it has been since my first install. I just purchased my second Hearthstone (love them). It was a barely used dealer inspected/returned 2006 Heritage (8021). I'm in the process of building my hearth per code and ran into a big issue.

Between buying and moving it in, I noticed some major hinge damage to the side-load door. I am still trying to figure out what happened and determine the cause. I have consulted with the dealer regarding this issue. It wasn't dropped, tipped, hit with a forklift (that I know of) or anything that I can think of that would cause the bottom hinge to fail. It certainly wasn't this way when I looked at it in store. The broken piece isn't anywhere to be found, so that leads me to believe it was like this before. It appears to be fused with the entire sidewall of the side-door frame. Not a good piece to replace!

While my dealer awaits their reply from Hearthstone, I wanted to ask you Hearthstone folks if you have seen/heard or know of the warranty process. I am the second owner, but am quite nervous to fully fire this stove due the cast hinge damage on door. How can such a nice piece of equipment break like this?

See below photo's/ Video Link
Video:

https://goo.gl/photos/nYgwHM7HnuYP3D7C9

Top hinge: cracked

Bottom hinge: gone (see pictures)

Thanks for any/all help and ideas.

John

 

[begreen]

Several previous threads about hinge issues, though usually it's about premature wear. Seems to be the achiles heel of some of their stoves.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...oor-hinge-pin-and-handle-latch-problem.153914
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/hearthstone-customer-service.128483/#post-1730827

 

[shoot-straight]

i had an issue with my pheonix cast door hinges. over time they "egged" out so the door sagged. terrible design. they needed to put a sacrifical/replaceable bushing. this happened after about 8 years i think. took it to dealer, they got them to replace the door. i hear that hearthstone is not that great to deal with- unless you have a great dealer. which we did.

 

[Highbeam]

I owned a similar vintage heritage and put about 30 cords through it before dumping that piece of crap due to the extremely crappy design of the door hinges and latches. This stove is not built for long life. It works great for s short time and looks great.

Hearthstone would send me new castings for free but replacing the side door hinges means tearing the top off and sides off. Total stove rebuild. Not good.