Getting parts for an Avalon stove

[AndyGoldstein]

A couple months ago I started gearing up to do the annual fixup on my Avalon 996 stove, and decided it was time to replace a couple parts:

(1) The Y-bar (that holds up the front of the upper firebrick shelf). The Y-bar gets warped by the heat and needs to be replaced every few years.
(2) The Kaol blanket that covers the upper shelf. I have to take this out to clean the flue, and it gets beat up after a while.

So I went to my local dealer and they placed an order with Travis. That was a good 2 months ago. I've called them several times - no sign of the order.

Is Travis really that behind that they can't fill a simple parts order in over 2 months? Or has the store screwed up the order? What are other people's experiences getting parts lately? (Other than that Travis has just banned mail order sales, which limits my options.)

Thanx - Andy

 

[EddyKilowatt]

Wow, you're right... I'd bookmarked a page at Hearthtools.com in case I needed parts some day for my Pendleton. Looks like I should've ordered back then cause I just checked now and there's this:

"As of 10/28/08 Travis Ind. policy is we can no longer sell parts ONLINE
to customers out of our service area.
OUR Avalon / Lopi OEM parts page is
NOW CLOSED.
We do have Generic
NON TRAVIS PARTS LISTED BELOW."

"If you are not our local customer Please DO NOT call us for tech support.
Please try the manufactures website www.avalonstoves.com or www.lopistoves.com"

What kind of sense does that make? I mean I'm all for sending folks to local dealers for the initial purchase because a woodstove is such an installation-critical thing... but why would they want to make spare parts *harder* to get? Are local dealers that dependent on spare parts orders that they don't want to see that business go elsewhere? (Thinking of HP and printer ink as a business model.)

Eddy

 

[AndyGoldstein]

Yeah... back when I was looking for the parts I found several Y bars listed on either Hearthtools or some other site. Unfortunately they didn't have the one for my stove model. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm better off just going to my local welding shop, absurd as that may seem. The Avalon has been a great stove, but if Travis is really this bad about parts I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing about others' recent experiences in getting parts from Travis.

- Andy

 

[Jay Shank]

A couple months ago I started gearing up to do the annual fixup on my Avalon 996 stove, and decided it was time to replace a couple parts:

(1) The Y-bar (that holds up the front of the upper firebrick shelf). The Y-bar gets warped by the heat and needs to be replaced every few years.
(2) The Kaol blanket that covers the upper shelf. I have to take this out to clean the flue, and it gets beat up after a while.

So I went to my local dealer and they placed an order with Travis. That was a good 2 months ago. I've called them several times - no sign of the order.

Is Travis really that behind that they can't fill a simple parts order in over 2 months? Or has the store screwed up the order? What are other people's experiences getting parts lately? (Other than that Travis has just banned mail order sales, which limits my options.)

Thanx - Andy

I just replaced the Ybar and tbar that hold the firebrick up in my liberty. I call 2 local dealers neither seem to want to take the time to even call me back with a price. So I went to lowes picked up some 1/4 steel and weld my own. For less then $35. Very easy to do if you can weld or take the old one to a local weldshop.
Jay

 

[gpcollen1]

You'll have to find one of your local dealers that actually carry and service these things and then maybe you will find the parts. My local had the T Bar in stock when I walked in one day.

 

[drdoct]

I think Travis should find the guy who implemented this local only idea and run him/her up the flag pole. They'll soon find that a whole lot of their distributors that they are trying to protect don't really care about them. Not enough to inventory small parts, not enough to keep an up to date price list, not enough to even go through the hassle of placing the order. Unfortunately when you go the socialism protection route you punish the few go getters that actually made ordering parts easy and no hassle. I wouldn't recommend one based on their philosophy either.

 

[bailenforcer]

This dealer is local to me, but very helpful for my avalon 996 needs

http://richendollars.com/public/

They also had the ceramic blanket material

A couple months ago I started gearing up to do the annual fixup on my Avalon 996 stove, and decided it was time to replace a couple parts:

(1) The Y-bar (that holds up the front of the upper firebrick shelf). The Y-bar gets warped by the heat and needs to be replaced every few years.
(2) The Kaol blanket that covers the upper shelf. I have to take this out to clean the flue, and it gets beat up after a while.

So I went to my local dealer and they placed an order with Travis. That was a good 2 months ago. I've called them several times - no sign of the order.

Is Travis really that behind that they can't fill a simple parts order in over 2 months? Or has the store screwed up the order? What are other people's experiences getting parts lately? (Other than that Travis has just banned mail order sales, which limits my options.)

Thanx - Andy