Broken Draft Rod on Hampton HI300

[eujamfh]

I came home from vacation and our house sitters (we think) must have been messing with the fireplace and "broke" the draft rod.

The rod now freely slides in and out but clearly is disconnected from the actual dampner. Anyone have a clue how to reattach it? I can not see any bolts that would allow easy access to that part of the unit. I tried to vblindly see if I could hook it back on by fiddling with it but have been unsuccessful yet...
Cheers,
Matt

 

[DAKSY]

I think you're basically screwed - UNLESS the unit is still under warranty.
As I remember it, the air control plate that is attached to the rod is a welded assembly,
& in order to exact repairs, the ENTIRE unit has to be sent back to Regency...
Contact your dealer, maybe he has a better answer, but I doubt it...

 

[eujamfh]

Definately not the answer I wanted to see posted...the unit its two yeas old. I have already contacted the dealer and they were not sure (he was slaes not a tech) but they were going to contact Regency on Monday. I hope to heck that this is fixable...

 

[High_Iron]

wow, what a bummer. pls keep us posted.

 

[eujamfh]

Indeed...it is a bummer. But, I was able to use it last night. We have a large "great room" (probably 15ft by 40ft with 12ft ceilngs) that is the kitchen, eating area and family room (that has two ceiling fans) so we generally run it without much dampning most of the time because the area can absorb the heat. Not knowing when it broke (if it was dempened or open) I figured Iwould start a fire...it appears the dampner is open because it burned like usual.

Still not happy that a unit with only two burning seasons broke...aside from this incident, we have been 110% happy with the unit and it looks great to boot. I hope that Regency or the dealer will cover the repair. Our dealer is very reputable and has always been helpful with other things...so we will keep our fingers crossed. I will let you all know what happens when I talk with the dealer tomorrow.

 

[BrotherBart]

That is a concern in the back of my mind every since we got this stove with a damper plate encased in the welded portion of the stove body. At least with the old stoves it was just a piece of metal right there at the front and easy to access if necessary. With these new ones if it binds, hangs or falls off the rod you have a very large boat anchor on your hands.

 

[eujamfh]

Indeed the piece is welded as Daksy wrote last week. Got that from Regency's tech department and they refered me back to the dealer. The dealer is currently waiting on Regency to contact them to determine if its under warranty. the dealer thought it certainly would fall into warranty work...but of course, the catch is that labot is only covered for a year...so it is going to cost me regardless.

Clearly it is a manufacturing default - a weld certainly should not break within two years - and I am in VA so it is not like I am using it 10 months out of the year...

I will hold my judgement on Regency pending how they handle "making things right."

 

[BrotherBart]

The way the warranty reads on that insert that repair should come under the three year parts and "subsidized" labor provision.

 

[eujamfh]

Right...when I find out what "subsidized" entails...that will be the telling sign.

It does really surprise me that they only warranty out to three years - the older stoves work like champs and are imposible to kill...we have a 15 year plus Buck stove which is working like day one!

 

[eujamfh]

OK - an update...I will be getting a new unit in a month. Regency stated they were surprised a weld broke. Regardless, 29 months after purchase, they will replace the unit which is great for me. Juist wanted to update everyone....

Happy holidays,
Matt

 

[High_Iron]

good for you!