Help! Hatin' on my Hearthstone Shelburne

[knittyhorse]

I grew up heating with wood. Over ten years ago, DH and I bought a Hearthstone Phoenix. We used it for five years (until we sold the house) and loved it!
In our new house we wanted a Hearthstone that had a blower, so we bought the Shelburne. It's a beautiful stove, but the performance has been disappointing. Where do I begin with the whining? This stove is not convenient to clean because the lip under the door is not removable, so one can't get the ash can close to the fire box. Also, it's almost impossible to remove the ash that accumulates at the front of the stove because you just can't get a shovel into that spot inside the fire box below the door. It has a double grate in the bottom of the fire box that has to be perfectly aligned in order to control the draft properly and it is a pain to adjust (using the draft control lever alone isn't effective) . We have a new masonry double flue chimney and this stove is hearth mounted, directly connected with an insulated steel pipe and our draw is excellent.
Any feedback on this stove would be greatly appreciated. I expected better design from Hearthstone, but admit that part of the problem is my own fault for not noticing that the shelf under the door is not removable for ease of cleaning. Hearthstone has horrible customer service. I've e-mailed them and called them, but get nowhere. The dealer is responsive, but not very knowledgeable (we bought our Phoenix from this dealer, also, but never had any problems with it, so never had to contact the dealer).
Thanks!

 

[Troutchaser]

Not sure what your question is.
Don't think anyone here can help you re-design the stove.
Or... maybe it just felt good to let that out!

 

[Dakotas Dad]

What can we help you with? From here we can't fix your ash lip or grate, or make that shelf removable... I doubt the dealer can either. In fact even Hearthstone can't fix that, it's how the stove is built. We can't help you make Hearthstone contact you, they just don't do it, they leave that to their dealers...

Does the stove burn properly? Does it heat your home? Do you need help building a fire, or running the stove?
That's the kind of thing we may be able to help with.

 

[begreen]

The Shelburne and the Phoenix are very different stove designs. It isn't really fair to compare them. They are completely different animals.

Most importantly, how is the stove performing heat wise?

 

[BrotherBart]

And more importantly, why would anybody want to remove the ash lip to remove ashes from a stove? And second, why to you want to dig every bit of ash out of the stove instead of leaving an ash bed to improve the burn?

Thirdly, I have always wanted to give a Shelburne a test drive.

 

[weatherguy]

I have both those "problems" with my stove too but dont consider either a problem. I just use the small shovel to spread the ash away from the front when it builds up but like someone else mentioned I leave a good bed of ashes. I never have a problem scooping ashes out with the ash lip there. As long as your getting heat you just have to get used to a different method of cleaning ashes.

 

[VTHC]

My Shelburne has treated us quite nicely since we purchased/installed it last February. Even with occasional marginal wood and potentially reduced draft from the 6" pipe going to an 8" insulate flex liner.
Sure - there have been some little design flaws that have bugged me a bit, but no more than any other stove manufacturer. We haven't had any problems where we would require dealer intervention...

Our Shelburne cranks the heat! And performs exceptionally in an undersized application (we use it to heat our 1900sf house). Overnight burns suffer a bit, but i usually have enough coals to start it up in the morning with some kindling and small splits. I removed the sliding grate for the ash pan, but I rarely use it (ash pan) during shoulder season - usually let it fill up and use shovel to remove ash in the firebox. Only time i use the ash pan is when we start 24/7 burning to remove excess ash - maybe once a week (like to leave an inch or two to insulate coals for overnight burns).

I think other Shelburne users on this site tend to have pretty positive things to say. Do you need some pointers on getting it to work better? I can tell you that you shouldn't be using the ash pan door to control your primary air. The air control does it's job well on my stove (besides sticking a bit at max air). If you need extra air at start-up/reload crack the door not the ash pan.

 

[DanCorcoran]

I really like my Hearthstone Shelburne! To wit:

- I've never had a problem removing ashes. I use a small ash shovel and dump them in a sealed can. I leave about an inch in the bottom of stove as insulation (per mfr's recommendation). I also have a small rake I use to move embers to front when reloading;

- I've never used the ash grate or ash pan. I leave the grate completely closed (per mfr's recommendation) and use the air control lever exclusively for fire control. The air control lever is easy to use and provides good control over the fire;

- the ash lip does a good job of catching the few stray ashes that may come forward when loading/rearranging wood;

- I've never had a problem, but if I did I'd work through my dealer. Hearthstone uses dealers in lieu of having a telephone customer service group. I knew this before I bought the stove.

P.S. I'm just west of Harrisonburg, VA, so am probably not too far from OP.