Greetings...

[Stump_Branch]

+1 what Browning bar said, and begreen, to many times i have seen someone post on what a sweep said, and its just not the whole picture. No one person knows everything, and there are just so many options available. Hearth is great because its one place with lots of great minds. Try for some pictures. I hope we can help you out. Hearth may be an addicition, but being warm, well you just have to feel that for yourself.

 

[BrowningBAR]

+1 what Browning bar said, and begreen, to many times i have seen someone post on what a sweep said, and its just not the whole picture. No one person knows everything, and there are just so many options available. Hearth is great because its one place with lots of great minds. Try for some pictures. I hope we can help you out. Hearth may be an addicition, but being warm, well you just have to feel that for yourself.

To expand on the chimney issue, I had two companies take a look at the walk-in fireplace that currently houses the Vigilant. First company said they need to re-tile the entire chimney before putting in a 6" liner which would involve opening up the chimney from the exterior back wall. They wanted to charge me $8,000-$10,000 for that and another $3,000 to install the chimney liner.

The second company came in, without knowing another company already given me a quote, inspected the chimney and gave me a quote of $1,700 to install the the liner and connect the stove.

I asked the second company (which is just a local father and son chimney sweep and restoration business) a bunch of questions before I told them about the first company's quote. After feeling satisfied that he knew what he was talking about and the chimney was safe to use I handed him the quote from the first company and he nearly died. He was amazed that they were trying to charge that. He then went into further detail about why the chimney was safe and did not need all of that work.

After the second company installed the Vigilant I have used the same company for the other two installations and they also sweep two of the chimneys.

Since the second company was honest they ended up getting an additional $4,500 in business over the last two years from me. In fact, he just left my house an hour ago as he just finished sweeping two of the chimneys and walking me through the install process for the Encore installation.

 

[raybonz]

+1 what Browning bar said, and begreen, to many times i have seen someone post on what a sweep said, and its just not the whole picture. No one person knows everything, and there are just so many options available. Hearth is great because its one place with lots of great minds. Try for some pictures. I hope we can help you out. Hearth may be an addicition, but being warm, well you just have to feel that for yourself.

To expand on the chimney issue, I had two companies take a look at the walk-in fireplace that currently houses the Vigilant. First company said they need to re-tile the entire chimney before putting in a 6" liner which would involve opening up the chimney from the exterior back wall. They wanted to charge me $8,000-$10,000 for that and another $3,000 to install the chimney liner.

The second company came in, without knowing another company already given me a quote, inspected the chimney and gave me a quote of $1,700 to install the the liner and connect the stove.

I asked the second company (which is just a local father and son chimney sweep and restoration business) a bunch of questions before I told them about the first company's quote. After feeling satisfied that he knew what he was talking about and the chimney was safe to use I handed him the quote from the first company and he nearly died. He was amazed that they were trying to charge that. He then went into further detail about why the chimney was safe and did not need all of that work.

After the second company installed the Vigilant I have used the same company for the other two installations and they also sweep two of the chimneys.

Since the second company was honest they ended up getting an additional $4,500 in business over the last two years from me. In fact, he just left my house an hour ago as he just finished sweeping two of the chimneys and walking me through the install process for the Encore installation.

Glad to hear that.. Being honest and fair has created a good relationship and has generated even more work.. Over the long run the gentleman who's been working for you will probably make much more over time and also recommendations from you that generates more work.. Honesty does pay!

Ray

 

[Shadow&Flame]

Sorry for not responding sooner... I have not had a lot of time to get online of late.

DFK- Thanks for the video...gotta love those secondaries.

BBAR- There are a few issues with my heatilator that need to be resolved and some other points that my sweep pointed out. The people that I am using are straight up guys and I agree with the things that need to be done on the fireplace. They are both firemen and have been in the business for quiet some time. I am just going to have to research different types of stoves to fit my needs. I don’t have the time at the moment to do a lot of running around and there is only one dealer local. I have gone by and talked with him and he mainly sells Buck stoves...seems like a good product but I think the 21 is a little small(1.6cf) and the 81 is a little large(2.4cf) for my use... Pricing on them seems a bit steep seeing as how you have to pay for the blower/surround as extras.

A great deal of my problems can be summed up by Mr Will Rogers who said...
"There's two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither one works." Nuf said there...

Thanks guys and be safe out there.

S&F