Hudson River Saranac

[Jack Morrissey]

Does anyone have one of these pellet stoves. Talked to my cousin in s maine and theyve had nothing but problems , more down time than burn time. And their dealer never returns calls and has been closed for a 3 week vacation. Its not even 6 months old. I told her they should get their money back.

 

[sammypoodle]

I have a Saranac Insert and for the most part are very happy. Had some minor quirky issues that are all fixed now. It has been a workhorse for me. Been running 24 x 7 since November. Husdon river tech support has been awesome. They have shipped parts etc and are really good. Give them a call. If your dealer is unresponsive try them. Its a shame when the dealer doesnt take care of the customer. I think the saranac puts out good heat and has been working well.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

jack56,

I have the freestanding one.

What issues is your cousin having?

There have been problems with the FASCO blowers and there is a modification out for the burn pot (this one I believe still needs more work), and there were units that had the wrong high temperature snap discs installed.

The incorrect snap disc and one of the blower problems leads to shut downs, the burn pot and the other blower issue leads to excessive burn pot build up (other things can also cause this).

 

[pcgeek04]

I had my Saranac installed in Mid October. By December, I have had the controller board. heat exchanger fan, and the high temp limit switch changed out. By early Jan I came home and the heat exchanger fan went out again, the stove overheated (and did not shut down) and burned out the controller board. The auger is also dead. The stove is completely Dead.

I could not run my stove more than 12 hours without having to shut it down and completely clean out the burn pot. The pellets would be flowing over the top of it. I am very disappointed with this stove.

I bought my stove in Acton, ME. I believe I bought the stove from the same store your cousin did. I have been trying to contact the owner, I have been told he is on vacation and he will not be back until mid April.

I am contacting the better business bureau, attorney general, and my lawyer on Mon. I feel I am left with no choice.

I agree with you, she should get her money back. I hope to get mine back and go buy a more reliable stove.

If anyone else is in the same situation with this dealer, please pm me.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I had my Saranac installed in Mid October. By December, I have had the controller board. heat exchanger fan, and the high temp limit switch changed out. By early Jan I came home and the heat exchanger fan went out again, the stove overheated (and did not shut down) and burned out the controller board. The auger is also dead. The stove is completely Dead.

I could not run my stove more than 12 hours without having to shut it down and completely clean out the burn pot. The pellets would be flowing over the top of it. I am very disappointed with this stove.

I bought my stove in Acton, ME. I believe I bought the stove from the same store your cousin did. I have been trying to contact the owner, I have been told he is on vacation and he will not be back until mid April.

I am contacting the better business bureau, attorney general, and my lawyer on Mon. I feel I am left with no choice.

I agree with you, she should get her money back. I hope to get mine back and go buy a more reliable stove.

If anyone else is in the same situation with this dealer, please pm me.

Have you contacted the tech folks at Hudson River?

They can move the dealer a lot faster than you or I could.

What pellets were you burning, do you have an OAK installed and if so is there any screen on the OAK intake?

 

[Jack Morrissey]

Wow junkie, sounds like the same things my cousin was having problems with. I will have them look at this post - theyre out of town for the weekend. Everyones really been helpful. Just told them about (hearth.com) thur , this should really help them out

 

[pcgeek04]

Sorry for the slow response. I work nights. I do not have a OAK installed. I had to look up what it was when you asked. Does it help with pellet burning?

I burn Fireside Ultra (hardwood) pellets. They were recommended by the installer.

I feel that I have already been through 2 stoves theoretically in 90 days and would like my money back so I have to go through the Dealer.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I can't comment on your dealer, but I visited a number of them looking at many stoves, quite frankly most of them need more than a few courses in running a business.

The overflowing burn pot issue is one of exceeding the stoves ability to remove the ash from the burn pot.

It can be caused by a number of things, one of which is the amount of ash produced by the pellets you are burning, restrictions in the air path (both intake and exhaust), anything that causes the combustion air to enter other than through the burning pellet pile in the burn pot, and the amount of air moved by the combustion blower.

The overflowing issue is by itself a major problem and is the reason one has to check the burn pots and remove any clinkers, it is also the reason warranties are voided if the pellets don't meet the standards listed in the stoves manual.

Like I said earlier there have been issues with the blowers and from the sounds of things it is possible that your problem might mean that both blowers are/were actually bad (if that is the case welcome to the club, my membership is in good standing).

Once you have multiple failures I'd expect other things to be damaged as the result.

For example if the controller trys to shut down the stove, it still needs both a functioning convection blower and combustion blower. If the convection blower goes paws up but the combustion blower still runs the stove will continue to heat up (for a while[provided the fuel feed stops]), this could cause the control board to be damaged by excess heat.

I'm at a loss as to why this would have gotten to the point of doing in your augur motor.

The burn pot has been modified to prevent some air flow from bypassing the burn pile. IMO they didn't go quite far enough, however a little high temperature retort/furnace cement or some welding can fix that.

I noticed (while cleaning) that there was a liquid leak stain under my combustion blower and a drop of what appeared to be lubricant on the motor above the spot. When the replacement came we discovered that the fan had more fan blade area than the old one, all of the numbers on the blowers matched, the difference was in where the plants that made the blowers were.

My convection motor was also thermaling off (it was overheating) causing the high temperature snap disc to pop resulting in the stove entering shut down without a running convection fan (it came back on some fifteen minutes later). At least the augur stopped.