Was perusing forum postings over my coffee this morning, and happened across a comment that the forum seems to have received several unfavorable comments about the Hearthstone Phoenix lately. I'm a long-time Hearthstone retailer, and my Phoenix customers have been overwhelmingly pleased with the product, so I feel this comment shouldn't stand without response. I'm an occasional visitor to the forum and a bit of a "skimmer", but in my memory only two Phoenix complaints have been posted lately:
1) A new buyer with a too-short chimney, whose final posting was nonetheless very positive about the Phoenix after the dealer finally sent an installer over to show her how to fire the stove. Her experience will likely improve even further once she gets her chimney extended to minimum height.
2) Another new buyer who couldn't control the rate of burn, and found the cause was loose screws in the ashtray area.
It seems to me that posting #1 wasn't a Phoenix quality issue at all, but a situation where the dealer didn't check the chimney height or teach his customer how to fire a soapstone stove.
Posting #2 might not be a Phoenix quality issue either. When bolting things to cast iron, care must be taken not to overtighten the screws or bolts, as the brittle iron can crack under too much tension. During the assembly process, the screw guns are set to just "snug" these fittings.
We're on the West Coast, so the stoves we sell from East Coast manufacturers must travel a long road to get here. Over the years, we've freighted cast iron and cast iron/stone stoves from VC, Dutchwest, Woodstock, Morso, Waterford, Hearthstone and others across the country, and we learned long ago that truck vibration in transit can loosen the screws and bolts. We check these fittings before delivering the stove to the customer, like the dealer involved with poster #2's stove will likely do from now on.
1) A new buyer with a too-short chimney, whose final posting was nonetheless very positive about the Phoenix after the dealer finally sent an installer over to show her how to fire the stove. Her experience will likely improve even further once she gets her chimney extended to minimum height.
2) Another new buyer who couldn't control the rate of burn, and found the cause was loose screws in the ashtray area.
It seems to me that posting #1 wasn't a Phoenix quality issue at all, but a situation where the dealer didn't check the chimney height or teach his customer how to fire a soapstone stove.
Posting #2 might not be a Phoenix quality issue either. When bolting things to cast iron, care must be taken not to overtighten the screws or bolts, as the brittle iron can crack under too much tension. During the assembly process, the screw guns are set to just "snug" these fittings.
We're on the West Coast, so the stoves we sell from East Coast manufacturers must travel a long road to get here. Over the years, we've freighted cast iron and cast iron/stone stoves from VC, Dutchwest, Woodstock, Morso, Waterford, Hearthstone and others across the country, and we learned long ago that truck vibration in transit can loosen the screws and bolts. We check these fittings before delivering the stove to the customer, like the dealer involved with poster #2's stove will likely do from now on.
