another darn avalon arbor issue.

[Trainer954]

Hello my fellow woodburing people,

I’m starting to lose a lot of trust and faith in my beloved Avalon arbor. I’ve had it for 3 years, live in New hampshire, burn about 3 cords per year. Last year, due to several issues, i.e. crumbled combuster, cracked firebrick, stuck by-pass door, I had to return it back to the dealer for complete internal overhaul, of which all under warranty. As I was cleaning my stove prior to this burning season, low and behold….....another crumbled combuster. This year, the dealer sent out an employee to come and repair the stove which I though was awesome because I didn’t have to gather up 5 guys, a truck, furniture carrier, etc. After 30 min. of wrestling with the stove and stripping out must of the screws the employee realized that the stove has to be returned back to the store. (son of groan, I better start calling the troops now)

So for a quick re-cap, I’ve had the stove for 3 burning seasons, gonna be working on my 3rd set of parts and quickly losing interest in the stove all together. I can’t possibly foresee avalon replacing the guts in my stove every year….....not gonna happen and secondly I don’t feel thats right for a stove to break so much like this one. As you all know my wife and I paid lots of money for this stove.

On the positive side, the stove burns great, looks great, I have excellent draft, burns a little hotter than I like but not a big deal; it was a big improvment after the 1st rebuild.

Desperatly looking for some advise. Should I chat with the owner about replacement?; should I try contacting the manufacturer?; at this point I’m thinking I would like to go with a different manufacturer all together.

Hope you guys can help, this forum truly kicks ass.

Thank you.

 

[Nonprophet]

What you're going through would be unacceptable to me--there's just too many good stoves out there that just work season after season without a lot of maintenance. I'd definitely push hard for a replacement, and then I'd sell it and go with another company. If they won't replace it, then I get it fixed up on their dollar and sell it used, and go with another model and/or another company.


NP

 

[begreen]

+1. The first generation of these refractory downdraft stoves have not proven all that reliable. Hard to say whether the second generation has this problem licked. It's still too early to tell. Fix it up and sell it. There are several good looking cast iron or cast iron clad stoves out there that will give you good service.

 

[Trainer954]

Thanks for Tips guys. Good as gone.

Be safe burning this year

 

[mhrischuk]

Another non-cat customer I presume. Keep it simple.

 

[Trainer954]

What do you mean by that response mrhischuk, I though a non-cat was simple!

Once I get rid of my Arbor, I'm not sure if I want to purchase a cat or non-cat. Had a hard time keeping my Arbor under control; two overfires espcially on windy, extremely cold nights. The draft on my set up is extremely good....too good in fact; Chimney may be a precurser due the height. Could be a reason why I'm blowing through combustion chambers in my Arbor even thought I operated the stove by the book. I'm too afraid to load it to the top and go to bed. I simply have a hard time trusting it. I want a stove thats controllable yet dont want the hassle of contant repair. That is what I'm dealing with now. Love the look of my stove but its giving me heart burn.

Any suggestions would be fab-bu. Thanks to all.

 

[Bub381]

It would be giving me azz burn.Keep us informed.

 

[begreen]

Have you tried a key damper in the connector pipe to reduce the draft a bit?

 

[Trainer954]

I haven't tried a Key damper yet? I use double wall connector pipe. Would that be an issue?

Thank you.

 

[Todd]

Maybe the dealer would be willing to give you a good deal on a trade for another stove in his shop? Otherwise I'd try and sell it and buy something else.

 

[begreen]

They make a key damper section for double-wall. If your draft is too strong, that is the first thing I would try. It will give you better control.

Leave the key damper open for starting the stove, then close it down once the stove is up to temperature. You may also need to open it for refilling if you get smoke spillage out of the door.

 

[Bub381]

I believe they're around $60.00

 

[Trainer954]

that sounds great, i'll probably get that prior to my next stove.


Thanks for the tip.

 

[begreen]

What is your flue setup? How tall?

 

[Trainer954]

Not sure the height, its a center chimney, 2 story house plus basement, (where the clean out is). The wood stove in on the first floor. I believe 8" flue; single flue chimney; New construction home built in 06.

Any idea where I can pick up a double wall key damper.

Thank guys.

 

[begreen]

What brand connector pipe is this? www.dynamitebuys.com sells Duravent DVL and Selkirk I think.

 

[Trainer954]

Just wanted to give you guys an update on the my avalon arbor. (for you arbor owners out there)

I recently just spoke to the owner of the shop where I bought my stove. He stated that avalon has redesigned their refractory material for the 3rd time. This is my third re-build; cross my fingers.......its gonna work the entire season.

I must say........the company has been great as far as replacement parts and warranty coverage.

Thank you to all who have helped me.

 

[begreen]

If possible could you catch some shots of the earlier refractory assembly vs the newest design? This would be helpful to see for both Arbor and Leyden owners.

 

[Todd]

I wonder if Travis Industries will just go ahead and make these stove a 2 in 1 cat/non cat like VC did. Sounds like too many problems with this design.

 

[begreen]

Agreed, with the first generation it seems like everyone underestimated the refractory requirements. VC, Travis & Harman have had to update their designs and beef up the material. Let's hope the third time is the charm.

 

[Trainer954]

I'll definately post pics of the new refractory prior to lighting,( they are gonna deliver the stove on wednesday) I'm not sure if i'll be able to get photos of the old refractory, they pretty much destroyed it when the stove shop attempted to repair it at my house.

I'll see what I can do!!

 

[ciccio]

Just wanted to give you guys an update on the my avalon arbor. (for you arbor owners out there)

I recently just spoke to the owner of the shop where I bought my stove. He stated that avalon has redesigned their refractory material for the 3rd time. This is my third re-build; cross my fingers.......its gonna work the entire season.

I must say........the company has been great as far as replacement parts and warranty coverage.

Thank you to all who have helped me.

My cousin has the same stove and same problem as you with the combustor just breaking apart, he has had the stove for 2 years this will be his third season burning with it, this year they came out in February and replaced it, after reading your post I went to his house to tell him about the problem you are having which was the same as his and low and behold we checked his out and he finds pieces of the combustor broken when he put his had in the back of the stove where the two holes are... we shine a light in the from the front of the stove into the holes and we can see the combustor falling apart, not even two months of burning and the combustor has gone bad. He called travis up and they told him they came out with a new updated combustor which is dark gray in color the old original was white but the one they installed for him was the dark gray one and my cousin is not a happy person right now, any day he is expecting the stove dealer to come out and replace it again. But I do think that a good part of the problem my cousin has is that he was not burning well seasoned wood he was burning wood that was oak that had been seasoning for just over six months way to short of time after learning so much from this forum I told my cousin about the wood and he agree's with me, but what bothers me is that you are buring good firewood and have same problem..I will try to keep you posted when I find out more, by the way the last time they replaced the combustor they broke one of the three bolts that holds some kind of plate on the back panel they are going to fix that problem when they come out to replace the combustor, looks like a pain just to change out that combustor.. btw the first year he had the stove he had bought two cords of seasoned wood which he thinks was seasoned but we never checked for the crumbled combustor because we did not know about it then.

 

[DanCorcoran]

ciccio,

Sounds like there's a lot of guessing about his wood. Tell him to spend a few bucks at Harbor Freight or Lowe's to get a moisture meter. No question about its moisture content then. There are lots of threads on the Gear section of this site that discuss moisture meters.

 

[ciccio]

yes he bought a meter now, that same oak that he burned is about 1 year and half years old a reading on some pieces read about 14% on the outside then when you split it, he gets about 18 to 22 % in the center (depends on the pieces) that is a lot better I'm sure than what he had last year if he would have used that same meter. How do you think he will do with 20 to 22% in the middle of a re-split?

 

[Bub381]

I have read here that 25% and under is fine.All wood should be tested on a freshly split piece.Freshly split split sounded odd.lol