Anyone with a Maxfire pellet stove?

[crausch]

Are there any first hand Maxfire owners that can weigh in on this?

...numerous complaints from persons who purchased the Maxfire stoves that they do not burn wood pellets, that the stoves jam when attempting to burn wood pellets...

http://timberbuysell.com/Community/DisplayNews.asp?id=4255

I like the looks of the stove that they show in this article, but it sounds like it has functionality issues.

[EDIT] Here is a link to their brochure. Claims to have a patented vortex air system to burn at 99.7% efficiency.
http://www.naturalheat.ca/brochures/BixbyMaxFire.pdf

 

[ohbix]

Very! Happy! bixby maxfire owner. Two years on pellets. Check out the thread in the bixby forum on iburncorn.com re: Vermont Wood Energy. To change the subject, am I qualified to be an honorary pellet pig? Had 4.5 tons last fall.....

 

[crausch]

I am glad to hear that your stove has been good for you, (oh and congrats on your pellet pig qualifications

The stove actually seems very nice with good features. It makes me wonder why Vermont Wood had so many unhappy customers. When I went to the Bixby site, I saw the other stove they have (UBB). I had to laugh at their sense of humor by naming it the "Ugly Black Box" (UBB). I cant decide if I like it or if it is hideous. It most certainly seems to be a complete 180 compared to the Maxfire. I saw a price on the maxfire, about $4,500. Too salty for my wallet.

Well, I hope you continue to have great success with it.

 

[ohbix]

Just to clarify purchase info. Presently stoves w/ one yr warranty are being sold thru some dealers for $2.8K. also some"dealers" have been selling on ebay - but no warranty. As to the news article, consider "fair and balanced"? The stove is designed for corn and pellets, and based on the bixby forum, large numbers of folks burn pellets in it. I've learned much from reading this forum, and I think the "extras" of the bixby compared to some stoves include: it holds 100 lbs fuel, dumps its burn pot, has a large ash drawer so you don't have to dump it regularly, is self igniting, is set up to burn wood pellets or corn, and if one is adventurous, one can connect a computer to it and modify burn parameters for other fuels. It really is a case of push the on button, feed regularly, clean weekly. I wasn't going w/ bixby because of the price, then in a fluke found a special on mine for less than half the price codeburn listed. Just as with other stoves, there is a learning curve w/ this stove regarding settings for air/fuel!

Because of this forum, if/when I go stove shopping again, I now know what questions to ask. Strongly recommend any newbie find out exactly what each stove requires daily/weekly/monthly prior to purchase. The St Croix I was considering required daily care which the dealer neglected to tell me. I wouldn't know that if I hadn't read this forum.

I am honored to be a pellet pig!

Great forum; keep it up everyone!

 

[rona]

The Vermont wood and stove(Bixby) dealer is a scam artist pure and simple. But the Bixby stove is a top of the line stove. You can adjust the stove to your particular house and using your computer you can utilize Bixcheck which is a method of checking out many different functions in the operation of the stove and also adjust how long the ignitors are on to how long the fans run and at what level they run.
The UBB mentioned above is a square black box 70,000 btu as compared to the Maxfire 115 which is 50,000 btu. They each can be wired to a thermostat and are very efficent. I like the idea of the UBB having 300 lbs fuel capacity with ash bucket to match meaning you can fill it and go for a three day weekend with out looking at it.
They can be set to burn either corn or pellets and with normal pellets they work very well. If the pellets are real long they can be a problem.

This is my second year with the 115 and my first year with the UBB. Actually I bought them both on E-Bay so got pretty good deals on both of them.
I replaced both a Harman PC45 and a Quadra Fire AE with the Bixby and am pleased with the Bixby. They can look intimidating at first glance but once you play with it you will like it. Adjusting or replacing the programs using your computer is pretty easy also. I have taught over 35 people how to use their computer with their Bixby to finetune the stove and everyone has been surprised at how easy it is.

 

[crausch]

I like the idea of the computer program to monitor the performance. Maybe next you will be able to connect to it from work or any other remote location and adjust the temp so things warm up before you get home.

 

[rona]

If you update the software to the latest version and use a programmable thermostat such as a Robertshaw 9600 as a example you can program the stove to start and stop using the thermostat at a preset temp you select and program into the thermostat. Basically once you get things organized and running all you have to do is add fuel and occasionally do a little cleaning.