HEARTHSTONE : terrible experience!

[harow01010]

WORST STOVE EVER! Please read all their reviews on their Facebook page, this says it all. I've lost over $10K because I bought a Hearthstone Stove. PLEASE DO NOT BUY ONE Please save your money and 1.5 years of a headache like I had. Their stove let out so much smoke that it ruined all my walls and ceilings. It took forever to get a fire started. I paid for multiple people to come fix it, come to find out the stove was the issue. I got a new stove from a much better company and I have NONE of the problems I had from the Hearthstone Stove. So I lost money on the cost of this stove ($3500), my new stove ($2000), about $2000 invested trying to fix the Hearthstone stove, and another $6000 to clean and repaint my entire house. Do not buy. I saw Hearthstone's FB Page too late, and there were tons of other people complaining about the exact same issue with the exact same stove. There were reviews on there 1-2 years ago that are not on there now (I kept screenshots). So, this isn’t just me having this problem. I have no idea how they will stay in business when they keep making terrible products.

 

[bholler]

WORST STOVE EVER! Please read all their reviews on their Facebook page, this says it all. I've lost over $10K because I bought a Hearthstone Stove. PLEASE DO NOT BUY ONE Please save your money and 1.5 years of a headache like I had. Their stove let out so much smoke that it ruined all my walls and ceilings. It took forever to get a fire started. I paid for multiple people to come fix it, come to find out the stove was the issue. I got a new stove from a much better company and I have NONE of the problems I had from the Hearthstone Stove. So I lost money on the cost of this stove ($3500), my new stove ($2000), about $2000 invested trying to fix the Hearthstone stove, and another $6000 to clean and repaint my entire house. Do not buy. I saw Hearthstone's FB Page too late, and there were tons of other people complaining about the exact same issue with the exact same stove. There were reviews on there 1-2 years ago that are not on there now (I kept screenshots). So, this isn’t just me having this problem. I have no idea how they will stay in business when they keep making terrible products.

Can you tell us about how the stove was installed? I really havnt heard many complaints of this type about their stoves.

What stove is it btw. What moisture content is the wood you were using? Is the new stove working well?

 

[harow01010]

Can you tell us about how the stove was installed? I really havnt heard many complaints of this type about their stoves.

What stove is it btw. What moisture content is the wood you were using? Is the new stove working well?

Hearthstone Green Mountain 60

Yes, my new Pacific Neo is working PERFECTLY.

Trust me, it wasn't the wood. It was the stove. I had a stove before the Hearthstone Green Mountain 60 that worked fine (I just needed a better stove)....so, out of 3 stoves I've owned in the last 2.5 years, ONE was awful and ruined my entire home: the Hearthstone Green Mountain 60. DO NOT RECOMMEND. I can show you documents, insurance claims, emails from the stove company and from the store who sold it to me. It was the Hearthstone Green Mountain 60 - faulty design, terrible stove. Read the reviews for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/hearthstonestoves

 

[bholler]

Hearthstone Green Mountain 60

Yes, my new Pacific Neo is working PERFECTLY.

Trust me, it wasn't the wood. It was the stove. I had a stove before the Hearthstone Green Mountain 60 that worked fine (I just needed a better stove)....so, out of 3 stoves I've owned in the last 2.5 years, ONE was awful and ruined my entire home: the Hearthstone Green Mountain 60. DO NOT RECOMMEND. I can show you documents, insurance claims, emails from the stove company and from the store who sold it to me. It was the Hearthstone Green Mountain 60 - faulty design, terrible stove. Read the reviews for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/hearthstonestoves

Well yes the green mountain stoves do require a higher draft than some other stoves.

Was your stove installed to manufacturers specs? Did you have your draft measured? Did you measure the moisture content of your wood?

I am just trying to help you figure out what the issue was. And help other people know what it takes to make these stoves work properly. Because there are many happy owners out there.

 

[harow01010]

Was your stove installed to manufacturers specs? YES, IT WAS...IT WAS INSTALLED BY THE STOVE STORE WHO SELLS THEM.

Did you have your draft measured? YES, 3 BY 3 DIFFERENT PEOPLE. AND HEARTHSTONE HAS SEEN ALL MY DRAFT TESTS (I HAD 3), AND THE STORE WHO INSTALLED IT ALSO DID TESTS.

Did you measure the moisture content of your wood? YES, OF COURSE. IT WAS NOT THE WOOD. IT WAS SO GOOD THAT THE STOVE STORE SAID IT WAS DRYER THAN THEIR TEST WOOD THAT THEY BROUGHT.... I HAD 2 CORDS SEASONED OVER 3 YEARS. IT WAS NOT THE WOOD!

Trust me -- do you think I really wanted to get rid of the totally new Green Mountain 60 wood stove I bought? And pay for ANOTHER stove, like I did? Did I enjoy the process of dealing with Hearthstone, the manufacturer, and the stove store, and losing thousands of dollars?? No! I did everything you could possibly imagine to keep the stove and get it to work properly. Which is also how I lost so much money with this stove.

Look, I understand there are happy Hearthstone customers . I am one of many who had an AWFUL experience with the Hearthstone Green Mountain wood stove-- so much so that the store who sold it to me actually dropped them from their vendor lineup since they also had some other customers with issues. So, it's not just me. The stove store dropped them completely.

Feel free to censor and remove this post if that's what you intend to do. But I feel it's my duty to have others know about my bad experience with the Hearthstone Green Mountain wood stove and have them do their due diligence and really know what they're getting into first. I WISH I HAD!!

Hearthstone has removed some of their bad reviews that I saw on their Facebook page in 2019 and 2020, but there are still some bad reviews up there. I'm not the only one with this issue!

If you want to hear of my great experience with something -- my Pacific Energy Neo is working PERFECTLY FINE. Not one single thing changed except that I got a new stove. The entire problem was solved.

So, I can not recommend Hearthstone wood stoves and I feel that others need to do their research before purchasing it.

And, if they already have a Hearthstone wood stove and are having problems, they need to just get a new stove. Nothing, I repeat, nothing we did fixed the issue..... except taking the $10,000 loss and getting a totally new stove.

Thanks for allowing all sides of all stories to be heard.

 

[stoveliker]

People looking for info and experience would read your story sooner if it would be less screaming. Your experience should be heard, but hearing is easier when no hearing protection is needed...

 

[Ctwoodtick]

As an onlooker to this thread- I don’t think anyone is looking to censor or block this thread. Obviously, you’ve been through a lot dealing with this situation. A big part of this forum is problem/ solving and looking for possible solutions. You might be surprised how much “user error” that gets discovered. Perhaps not in your case but it happens often enough where to not ask these questions would be to overlook things.

 

[bholler]

YES, IT WAS...IT WAS INSTALLED BY THE STOVE STORE WHO SELLS THEM.

Ok no need to be rude. I fix bad installs by stove shops all the time.

YES, 3 BY 3 DIFFERENT PEOPLE. AND HEARTHSTONE HAS SEEN ALL MY DRAFT TESTS (I HAD 3), AND THE STORE WHO INSTALLED IT ALSO DID TESTS.

Again no need to be rude. Can you tell us what those measurements were?

YES, OF COURSE. IT WAS NOT THE WOOD. IT WAS SO GOOD THAT THE STOVE STORE SAID IT WAS DRYER THAN THEIR TEST WOOD THAT THEY BROUGHT.... I HAD 2 CORDS SEASONED OVER 3 YEARS. IT WAS NOT THE WOOD!

Ok I only ask because 90% of the time problems like these are with the wood.

No one is going to censor your posts but it would be much more helpful to everyone if you had an actual discussion and told us about your setup and what was tried to address the issues.

Btw why didn't insurance cover the smoke damage? Either yours or the installers?

 

[harow01010]

People looking for info and experience would read your story sooner if it would be less screaming. Your experience should be heard, but hearing is easier when no hearing protection is needed...

I was answering your questions in caps out of ease - sorry if it seems that my caps were screaming. I guess you can just take all this down if you'd like ..that would be very unfortunate and disappointing. What's the point of a review forum if I can't leave my honest review? Do you want to see all the 50 emails to the store and the team at Hearthstone? Do I have to spend another 45 minutes posting my 100 photos and videos? It was a very, very painful process and I'm out $10K that I worked hard for -- not to mention that I breathed in an unhealthy amount of smoke over 2 seasons. My $6000 house painting is almost done. I'm sure you'd be upset if this happened to you.

 

[bholler]

And btw I do not sell or represent hearthstone. In general I am not a fan of soapstone stoves at all. I have no interest in covering up an actual problem with their design if there is one. But I would also rather have all of the info about the situation here instead of just a rant

 

[harow01010]

The irony is that I didn't get any insurance because I spent the entire first season trying to fix the problem. Had I immediately filed a claim (which I didn't think of -- I've never had to file a claim in my life!) -- maybe I would have gotten it.

 

[stoveliker]

I was answering your questions in caps out of ease - sorry if it seems that my caps were screaming. I guess you can just take all this down if you'd like ..that would be very unfortunate and disappointing. What's the point of a review forum if I can't leave my honest review? Do you want to see all the 50 emails to the store and the team at Hearthstone? Do I have to spend another 45 minutes posting my 100 photos and videos? It was a very, very painful process and I'm out $10K that I worked hard for -- not to mention that I breathed in an unhealthy amount of smoke over 2 seasons. My $6000 house painting is almost done. I'm sure you'd be upset if this happened to you.

Ok
Fair enough.

But see bhollers comment (he actually has the power about posts ). No need to be afraid.

But we like to discuss cases, whether good OR bad, based on facts, data, rather than something we have to take on trust. No need to distrust you, but other folks would only be able to compare their situation if you do provide the numbers you so diligently collected (or paid for to be collected). Would be a waste to not get something good out of those numbers - as in other people learning things

 

[71montess]

Discussion, calm , and fact based . There are also many happy customers you must realize and if we can help figure it out we will.

 

[harow01010]

I don't know exactly what you mean or what you want to hear re: my setup.
- I had a wood stove that was in the house for years (I've owned the house a few years). It worked fine, but it was a cheapy stove that was also quite ugly ... the kind you'd get for $700 at Home Depot and it wasn't heating my whole house. So, I went to invest in a better and nicer looking stove.
- I got a Hearthstone Green Mountain because it looked nice and I trusted that my local wood stove store sold good stoves.
- They installed it. Never burned right from the start.
- My partner who has had a wood stove in his home for the last 18 years knew something was wrong....he said from the start it was the stove.
- I didn't believe that it could be the stove, so I tried everything else to fix the issue: entirely new pipe/chimney put on, had my pipe/chimney cleaned twice, extended the chimney another few feet, got 3 draft tests, tried different setups opening up every window when I lit a fire, etc, etc.
- Had 3 different companies come try to fix/change things, nothing helped.
- Gave up
- Bought new stove (Pacific Neo).
- New stove installed = everything is perfect
- Wood stove store now tells me other customers had exact issue with the Hearthstone Green Mountain.
- Wood stove store quits carrying Hearthstone.
- I get my entire home and ceilings all painted again, which I had only done 2.5 years ago.
- Out over $10,000 in total:

Over $10,000 lost:

Hearthstone Green Mountain 60 Stove: $3000

All the charges/fees I paid to have the stove installed, fixed, looked at, cleaned twice, extended the chimney pipe, fee to have someone else come look at it: over $1200

Painting my entire house plus all the ceilings and cleaning all the soot, buying soot sponges, etc: + $6500 (there was soot on every single wall and ceiling of my entire house)

Getting all my heater filters, window shades, furniture, and all else that had soot on it cleaned or replaced: $3000

$2000 more to buy a different stove (a used model).

 

[Ctwoodtick]

How tall is it from stove top to top of chimney? Any 45 or 90 degree turns in the venting?
It sounds like you’ve been through the ringer with that stove, but just curious.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Ugh. Sounds like you went through the wringer with the stove. Glad you moved on albeit with a lighter wallet.

The folks on here are a fantastic resource. I have learned a lot in the few years I have been on here. Principally, just how much I don't know.

 

[harow01010]

Yes, I was put through the ringer and I have about many, many witnesses including a friend who thought it was dangerous to be inhaling the amount of smoke the stove was putting into my house. My partner, the stove store and 2-3 employees there, the 2-3 other stove people who came by, and 3-4 employees at Hearthstone including the CEO Dave were all involved in this. I was mostly communicating with Dave (the CEO) at HearthStone. I don't have time right now to dig through 2 years of documents and paper work, scan them and upload them here. I have probably 50 emails and I an entire folder of receipts and documents. I also had my new stove replaced over the summer, so this case is closed between me, Hearthstone and the store who sold it. I'd share all the corresponding emails, but I'm not here to take down an entire company. I AM here to share my story in hopes that others will do their research before buying a stove My new stove is burning right now and I'm very happy with it. I'm really sad I lost so much money and time, including this time I'm taking to write this.

 

[ABMax24]

2 thoughts:

1. Chimney too short
2. Open the bypass

 

[harow01010]

Ha!

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I’m glad that you’re enjoying the newest stove.
I think this thread has lived out it’s useful life.

 

[Rob_Red]

Sorry you had a bad experience. Just in case someone stumbles upon this and wants a balanced opinion, here is my GM40 burning perfectly on low with the cat engaged, glass staying clean.

I do wish I got a bigger firebox for full time heating, but the stove works great!

 

[begreen]

Hearth. com is not a basic review site. It’s primary focus is helping others learn about wood burning and solving their problems. In this case an easy breathing stove replaced a more restrictive stove. Thus the question about the flue system. Can you describe it from stove to chimney cap, including height and any elbows or tees?

 

[Rob_Red]

Another shot of it on startup still cool, yet drafting great

 

[harow01010]

There are other threads here that complain of this exact problem with this stove, and these were on their Facebook page until they removed many of them.

 

[bholler]

There are other threads here that complain of this exact problem with this stove, and these were on their Facebook page until they removed many of them.

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To be fair there are threads on this site with people complaining about pretty much every stove on the market. We can generally help people work through the problems if they are willing to accept help.

Not that it matters to you at this point you have moved on and are happy with the new stove which is good. Not good you had to go through the mess you did but atleast you have a resolution.

We are just trying to figure it out so others may benifit.