FAILED WELD ON MINE TOO (VC DW2500 or Century Hearth CJW2500) !!!

[jqgs214]

Just got home from work. Upper right hand weld has failed. Can see right trough it. God DAMNIT (scuse me had too). Well this is now an issue two stove users on this forum both got bad welds, what are the chances of that?? Elk help us out. Calling my dealer now

EDIT:

dealer not answering, well it is Sunday. Here is a photo and I'll keep you all updated.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

It will be intresting to see how the two stories compare.
Sorry to hear your bad luck.
This is one product i can assure VC that i wont carry.

 

[begreen]

Not good, sorry to hear this wxman. I don't know what the odds are of two of the same stoves that just happen to be on this forum failing. Seems pretty slim. Coincidence is suddenly seeming a lot less likely.

 

[jqgs214]

I Agree BG. Wasnt too worried till I got home. Getting it fixed should not be hard just a hassle. Like I said, the stove performs nicely. But like the saying goes, Ya get what ya pay for, I turned down the Jotul Kennebec becasue it was 2x the price. Had the money but was being frugal. Live and learn.

 

[BrotherBart]

I am not sure who needs to be smacked up side the head the worst on this thing. CFM or Warnock Hersey that certified the things. If the boxes are infact suspended by just the tack welds the darn thing should have fallen apart when WH fired the crap out of them for clearance certification. If they in fact put wood or a simulation of the weight of wood in the firebox instead of just firebrands.

Between pet food and wood stoves this just ain't the guys up North's month.

 

[webbie]

How about a pic from a little further away?
So we can see location and result?

OK, Roos and other welders - give me the post-mortem on that weld. Looks like it didn't melt metal on the one side!

 

[TMonter]

It looks like they didn't clean one of the surfaces when making the weld and didn't get a good weld.

Mine wasn't a bad weld but what looks like a failure to stress relieve one on a corner.

Obviously a warranty issue.

 

[begreen]

What is the thickness of the outer metal? If the outside piece is just say 20-22 ga sheetmetal, I would suspect they wouldn't be able to heat it up too much without burning a hole through it. What say thee Roo or Corie?

 

[GVA]

Where has spike been recently?

Judging by the spatter it cracked where the bead was started, and if this is cast it could have been over or under heated at the beginning of the arc weld. resulting in a stress crack...... Too dark to see if it had good penetration into base material but It wouldn't really matter if the heating and cooling of the cast wasn't done right.
More pics please

 

[BrotherBart]

Where has spike been recently?

Judging by the spatter it cracked where the bead was started, and if this is cast it could have been over or under heated at the beginning of the arc weld. resulting in a stress crack...... Too dark to see if it had good penetration into base material but It wouldn't really matter if the heating and cooling of the cast wasn't done right.
More pics please

It is an all steel stove except for the door frame GVA. And there isn't a bead. That is the whole weld, right there.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

2 of these in this relativly small pool of woodburners is more then a coencidence, or a isolated problem. cant wait to here from the dealers and distrubitors on this problem.

 

[BrotherBart]

2 of these in this relativly small pool of woodburners is more then a coencidence, or a isolated problem. cant wait to here from the dealers and distrubitors on this problem.

Yeah. I hope that folks stopping through here that have the Century Hearth branded CJW2500 insert take a close look at them. Exact same insert except for Dutchwests have that name on the door.

 

[GVA]

Where has spike been recently?

Judging by the spatter it cracked where the bead was started, and if this is cast it could have been over or under heated at the beginning of the arc weld. resulting in a stress crack...... Too dark to see if it had good penetration into base material but It wouldn't really matter if the heating and cooling of the cast wasn't done right.
More pics please

It is an all steel stove except for the door frame GVA. And there isn't a bead. That is the whole weld, right there.

Zoomed in it looked like cast
I saw the glob that cracked it is different from tendencies.. his didn't penentrate the steel
what is the stitch below the glob that looks like bead?

 

[Todd]

Too bad. I've been waiting to see if the Century insert at Menards would drop below $500, thinking I might buy it for my upstairs fireplace. But after further review no way! CFM is going to lose some sales over this.

 

[elkimmeg]

I'm not a welder but I( can do a better job than what is have seen in the pictures. Still working with my backhoe bucket I welded back together a few years ago.

 

[jqgs214]

OK, whose coming to my house to fix this thing?? here are some more pictures. From a little further away.

 

[jqgs214]

And one with a fire burning to cheer us all up

 

[Roospike]

WOW , I step away from the forum for a little wile and everyone is breaking there stoves. :bug:

I wouldnt call the broken metal a "weld" It looks more like melted steel to form a bridge and the penetration of less then a tack. (tack weld)

Theres a big difference between melted steel and welding and its all about penetrating.

If the steel would of been beveled and super clean for weld-up then the same issue would / will happen again . The issue with mig welding is anybody can turn "on" a welder and melt steel to steel but it take training , knowledge and understanding to actually "weld" steel together.

Is the rest of the fitting fully welded under this pic ? Maybe it was just a put together fitment tack weld that broke. But normally all tack welds for fitment are welded over and unseen in the final.

 

[Roospike]

This is fully welded correct ?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

cold lapped, never got penetration to the vertical part of the unit.basically whena weld is made it melts both pieces and mixes the metal in the "puddle" this weld did not melt the vertical part and fuse it just splashed up against it. thats why it failed

 

[jqgs214]

No that part is not welded. Take a look at the thread titled Trouble!! same stove different owner. His welds failed and the firebox fell.

 

[webbie]

The convection chamber looks pretty thick in that photo - at least 1/8 or so. If so, it is probably just a matter of what Roos mentions - that this should be a continuous weld. Then again, the fab design might make it impossible to weld this from the other side and you surely don't want an exposed weld there as this would be a lot of work to grind, etc.

Of course, we can't see the rear of the unit to determine how that is held up.

 

[jqgs214]

Just spoke to my dealer. He is contact VC distributor after I send him some pictures. He is going to angle for me to get a new stove or different model replacement. I told him If its the same modle It must have support for the firebox. He totally agreed with my situation. Told me to shut her down for the season which I already did. Have some time betwqeen now and next burning season so hopefully I will come out satisfied. I can say for sure that there are no welds behind that section I can shine a flashlight and see straight through. Just a technical design flaw I guess.

 

[babalu87]

Someone needs to link this to TruePatriots "Why I only want a welded stove" thread

Pretty poor design IMNSHO, tack welds are to hold something in place prior to a REAL weld being done.

 

[TMonter]

A good skip welding job often can be better than continuous welds since a continuous weld on thinner plate has a tendency to warp the material. That ends up putting more stress on the weld.