Equinox problems

[tlingit]

Hello all, I’m a long time reader and occasional poster. we are having having problems with our equinox stove. I live in Alaska and last fall we had a significant earthquake. 7.2 and it went on a long time. I suspect the rocking and rolling cracked 2 of the soapstone bricks on our equinox. Also, the mortar may have failed on the top stones as well. So, here’s the problem. Hearthstone has no certified techs up here. The company did send me replacement bricks, but doesn’t have really any other technical assistance. I found an experienced tech, but he’s never worked on one of these before and is looking for manuals and information. The stones are part of the firebox and are totally split. (Center, back). They are still in place, but I can smell smoke and know that the integrity of the firebox is compromised. Does anyone have any insights or experience replacing these? What supplies will be needed? This is so frustrating. To anyone purchasing a stove, check to be sure that there are technicians nearby certified to work on it. I welcome advice and suggestions. Tomorrow I will be calling the company again, wish me luck.

Update: I called the company and spoke again with a technician. This gentleman was very helpful and the repairman here also called and spoke with yet another hearthstone tech, who was also helpful. They are going to send the technical manuals by email and provide phone support. I took Webby and BeGreen's suggestion and ordered Hearthstone cement. We will see how it goes, making slow steps, but solid ones. Hopefully we can find a solution before it gets really cold. I am more optimistic. Thank you to everyone who posted ideas, experience and support. Incredibly helpful and very much appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Welcome back. Oh boy, I hadn't thought of how a soapstone stove would fare in an earthquake. So sorry to hear this. I know you were very happy with the stove. Contact Tom Oyen and ask if he knows of anyone up in AK that can do the work. He is a Hearthstone dealer. If nothing else he may be able to help you with schematic diagrams. www.chimneysweeponline.com.

 

[webby3650]

I don’t know about this one. I see cracked Hearthstone stoves all the time, no earthquakes around here. Perhaps the earthquake made the cracks worse and more noticeable? They ride down bumpy roads all over the country during delivery and never crack.
For the rebuild make sure to get refractory cement from Hearthstone. It’s a soapstone based cement that works very well.

 

[begreen]

I suspect that once the technician gets into the process it is relatively straight forward. Stove construction is often pretty simple once one knows the sequence of deconstruction and reconstruction. Hang in there, a solution should be coming soon.

Good tip from webby3650. ^^ Hearthstone cement is good stuff.

 

[Highbeam]

In the meantime, to stay warm and not die, I would smear whatever furnace cement you can find over and into any visible cracks or wherever you see smoke coming out. Usually smoke is sucked in to the cracks but stinky creosote can wick and ooze out.

 

[webby3650]

The top repair is pretty simple on a Hearthstone, when you get into sides and the back it can end up being a total rebuild. Is there anyway your insurance will replace it if a technician condemns the stove?

 

[tlingit]

The top repair is pretty simple on a Hearthstone, when you get into sides and the back it can end up being a total rebuild. Is there anyway your insurance will replace it if a technician condemns the stove?

So, funny story, we have earthquake insurance, but the total damages have to be 10% of the assessed value of the property before it kicks in. I don't think homeowners will cover it because it's quake related. FEMA was here and offered loans, but I don't think we want to go down that road. I hope it doesn't need to be replaced, but we will see. Since the original post, we have made progress, I'll update my post above.

I suspect that once the technician gets into the process it is relatively straight forward. Stove construction is often pretty simple once one knows the sequence of deconstruction and reconstruction. Hang in there, a solution should be coming soon.

Good tip from webby3650. ^^ Hearthstone cement is good stuff.

Thanks! We are still sorting it out with the techs and company, but I do feel like progress is being made. I did take the suggestion from you guys and ordered some of their cement.

 

[tlingit]

I don’t know about this one. I see cracked Hearthstone stoves all the time, no earthquakes around here. Perhaps the earthquake made the cracks worse and more noticeable? They ride down bumpy roads all over the country during delivery and never crack.
For the rebuild make sure to get refractory cement from Hearthstone. It’s a soapstone based cement that works very well.

Thank you, the idea to order the cement was really helpful. I placed the order, and now we are sorting out technical manuals and support. Progress is happening. As Chief Dan George said in the Outlaw Josey Wales "we will endeavour to persevere."

 

[tlingit]

So, this has been dormant a while, but I thought I’d post an update. We found a tech who said he could repair the Equinox. (Stones cracked during earthquake). Hearthstone was good about sending up new stones. The tech worked on it, and it seemed ok but boy, did it burn through the wood. We reduced our use of the stove, because we felt like it wasn’t right, and brought in another tech to work on it. He found that the first techs didn’t mortar the stones when they replaced the cracked ones. He could see daylight between the big stones. The new tech has said he’s not comfortable working on it and suggested that we bring back the first tech to redo their work.

A few lessons learned. 1. Don’t buy a stove when there are no certified techs in your state to do repairs. There are no Hearthstone certified techs in Alaska. 2. Invest in a purple air monitor for your house. I didn’t know the impact the stoves problems were having on the indoor air quality. We couldn’t see smoke, nor smell it but the pm 2.5 levels shot up when we built a fire. The purple air monitor really demonstrated the stoves problems.

I’m not sure what we will do. I loved the equinox, it did a great job for us right up until it didn’t. It’s a beautiful stove and looks as good as the day it was installed. My husband is going to talk to tech one, see if they will make it right. Maybe it’s repairable, who knows. Maybe we will replace it, that will be a sizable out of pocket cost. Someone at the Hearthstone dealership suggested we ship it to the mothership in Vermont to have it repaired. That’s painful to think about and winter is coming. Did I mention that the frame broke? Yeah, there’s that. I can’t imagine the difficulty, cost and expense of shipping that big rock out of state. Farmer’s almanac is predicting a doozy of a winter up here. Sigh.

 

[Highbeam]

In my opinion, dump it. Time to cut your losses.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Highbeam is right. While it is an out of pocket cost, give yourself the peace of mind by going with a new stove from a dealer that services it. We recently got rid of an F600 that only had a few years on it due to a joint leak in the middle of the heating season. Smoke would spill out into the room during start up when the side door was opened. The stove would had to have been disassembled, cleaned and re-cemented which is not practical during the middle of the winter and no techs around here wanted to service it. We sprung for an Osburn 3500 from a dealer who installs them and services them, along with plenty of other chimney/hearth work, etc. I gotta say too, the welds on a carbon steel stove inspire a whole lot more confidence than joints on a cast iron stove that are impermanently cemented together and could let loose at any time.