Is my 17-VL arrived broken again?

[cabinner]

Hey,

I picked up the stove from my friend recently and noticed that there is a strange piece of broken material in it... I am not sure what it is... It feels like cardboard and it is very light. It is not the Firestone. Any thoughts on what that is?

 

[BrotherBart]

The 17-VL uses a custom made vermiculite lining and I believe the baffle is made of it too. That is probably a piece of it. Give England's Stove Work's tech support a call.

 

[cabinner]

damn it.. will do.

 

[Luigi]

I bought the same exact stove. That looks like a piece of the liner inside broken. Maybe its the piece sitting right on top of the stainless steel tubes?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

it appears to be one of the upper baffles, Fred (one of my associates) was looking at your e mail just now, i just saw this thread myself.

can you PM me , or e mail fred (at [email protected] ) a good daytime phone number , i'll have a replacement part shiped out to you asap , but i need to ask a couple quick questions to make sure we get you the proper parts to correct this.

 

[DenverDan]

it appears to be one of the upper baffles, Fred (one of my associates) was looking at your e mail just now, i just saw this thread myself.

can you PM me , or e mail fred (at [email protected] ) a good daytime phone number , i'll have a replacement part shiped out to you asap , but i need to ask a couple quick questions to make sure we get you the proper parts to correct this.

I can sympathize with cabinner. I ordered a 17-vl through Northerntool about 1 and 1/2 years ago. When it arrived it was in terrible shape. So bad that the delivery guy suggested I refuse the delivery. He said he was so embarrassed by its condition that he couldn't accept the tip I tried to give him for helping me unload it. But after all the research, decision making, ordering and waiting I wasn't about to give it up. The stove had been shipped (Virginia to Colorado, according to the tracking info) on a half wood pallet with no anchoring other than a bottomless cardboard box over top of it with staples (which had long since pulled out) attaching the box to the pallet. The box was torn and had marks on the inside indicating that various parts of the stove had been repetitively rubbing on the box. (Trust me, I have photos) It certainly rocked and, at the least, leaned over in transit and, for all I know, probably fell over. There were various surface dings and nicks. Two of the fan screws on the back were bent. The air control lever on the front was crooked, jammed in and stuck. (I had to remove the outside air adapter/cover to dislodge it) Inside, the firebox was a jumble of chipped firebricks and gouged vermiculite panels and the two upper baffles were dislodged (one with a broken off corner). Fortunately the box holding the fan had apparently lodged against the door glass and protected it. After I calmed down, I was able to piece the stove back together.

I went to this much detail in the hopes that stoveguy will get the message back to the shipping department that when 17-vls leave England's (regardless who does the actual shipping to the customer) they need to be anchored (with plastic or steel bands or lag screws through the anchoring holes) to the pallet. 17-vls are top heavy and have a smaller footprint than many other stoves. Any typical movement in a truck or trailer such as braking or turning can tip them if they are not solidly anchored down.

I apologize for what may sound to some folks like a tirade but you can imagine that I was not a happy camper when I first laid eyes on my beaten up 17-vl. But as a testament to the hardiness of England's products, despite its rough start in life, the stove is working wonderfully in a small cabin in the Colorado mountains.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

actually since then we have started bolting the units down to the pallet instead of just strapping them down as your unit would have been