Had this installed in November of 2010. Thought I would update how its worked for the last six years. Pretty much other than fan noise and vibration that I never was able to fix, it has been perfect. I don't use the fan very much as my wife is very noise sensitive, and it really doesn't seems to make much difference. I do use a very small desk fan about 35 feet away to circulate the air.
A couple of weeks ago it got cold enough to finally lite the pilot so I opened the front door, took out the ceramic logs and stones and vacuumed up all the dust and dead bugs, put the logs back and closed it up. No matter how hard I try I must always miss a dead bug or twos carcass and you can always smell it for the first firing. Took one try to lite the pilot and the logs lit up after I changed the batteries on the remote thermostat. Pretty painless and six years of comfortable heat. No thermostat difficulties, no pilot or thermo-coupling problems, no gas valve problems, nothing other than the fan noise that I think is just a nature of the beast.
It really has been a great aid to having a very comfortable house in the winter, I liked wood, but I live in Wyoming with no hard woods, and it is really a different deal burning softwoods. 20 years ago I would have killed for a cord of oak or hickory each season.
The dogs love it and once it gets cold they lie near it getting baked. Although not like a buddies dog who would lay with his head under a soapstone stove. If I have to get up in the middle of the night to investigate barking dogs, it puts out a nice blue light to navigate by. All in all we are happy, and it has been like all products should be, trouble free.
A couple of weeks ago it got cold enough to finally lite the pilot so I opened the front door, took out the ceramic logs and stones and vacuumed up all the dust and dead bugs, put the logs back and closed it up. No matter how hard I try I must always miss a dead bug or twos carcass and you can always smell it for the first firing. Took one try to lite the pilot and the logs lit up after I changed the batteries on the remote thermostat. Pretty painless and six years of comfortable heat. No thermostat difficulties, no pilot or thermo-coupling problems, no gas valve problems, nothing other than the fan noise that I think is just a nature of the beast.
It really has been a great aid to having a very comfortable house in the winter, I liked wood, but I live in Wyoming with no hard woods, and it is really a different deal burning softwoods. 20 years ago I would have killed for a cord of oak or hickory each season.
The dogs love it and once it gets cold they lie near it getting baked. Although not like a buddies dog who would lay with his head under a soapstone stove. If I have to get up in the middle of the night to investigate barking dogs, it puts out a nice blue light to navigate by. All in all we are happy, and it has been like all products should be, trouble free.
