dogwood said:
Gooserider, I think Bioheat will email at least their Solo Innova and Froeling manuals if you ask. They did this for me on request. Maybe this site could start a library. It would be better as you suggested if all the companies kept them online. I think I did come across the EKO manual someplace online.
Mike
I know they will, as I have been told as much by them... However that doesn't do much for the next person that comes along, other than having them go through the expense and hassle of mailing manuals to everyone that asks, as opposed to putting them online ONCE per revision as a downloadable file... Back in the bad days of expensive storage, and manual typesetting, this would be a problem, but these days I would be surprised to see anybody producing manuals and other large documents without using electronic tools, and the storage and bandwidth for electronic distribution is approaching free... I know of one ISP that will give you an account with all the tools you need to do a website, unlimited storage, unlimited data transfer, and a bunch of other stuff for $6.95 / month - which is probably on the order of what it would cost BioHeat to mail out ONE set of printed manuals.
I have found the manuals for both the EKO and PAXO boilers on line at different sites, as well as some of the other boilers - in some cases they are translations of less than stellar quality, but at least there is something on line.
OTOH, if Hearth.com was to try and create a library, we would have to scan things in from paper, which always gives some quality problems, and is a bit of a headache, plus we would have to deal with the whole issue of copyrights and permissions, etc... I know that Craig has some material posted in the Wiki, but I beleive most of it is for stuff where the company that made it is no longer in business, or is no longer supporting the product and has given permission to post the stuff - though I don't know the details, it's his job not mine...
My main issue though is that I would like to see all the boiler companies / importers put their manuals online, I think it is an important tool for the consumer, and it is IMHO a useful thing for the companies as well. As a comparison, I have not found ONE currently produced stove that didn't have an online manual available, but currently of the brands I've checked (essentially gasses officially sold in the US) only about half the boiler companies do...
I know that these days, there are very few major purchases I make where I DON'T look for and download the product manual for the candidates on the "short list" before making a purchase decision - and lack of manuals can often bump a product or vendor off the list...
Gooserider