Napoleon NZ6000

[jkupcha]

I have owned the Napoleon High Country zero clearance fireplace going on 4 years now. Although a good heater, I cannot recommend this stove due to several design faults which Napoleon will not fix or address. Number one are the door hinges. The doors are very massive and heavy but the detachable hinges are hollow cast steel and bend over time causing the doors to sag and touch. The only fix is to replace them as they fail which is about twice per winter. The fix would be to just machine the hinge blocks from a solid piece of steel but Napoleon has no plans to do this. The second and smaller problem is the airwash system fails to keep the glass clean. This can be mitigated with extrmely dry wood but even then never burns off stays clean more than a single day burning.
I have worked through my authorized Napoleon dealer who has attempted to support me 100% but for 3 years Napoleon has denied the problem. Just in my state alone I have been in contact with 3 other owners who experience the identical problem. Currently we have contacted an outside tool/die maker to manufacture our own hinge. Napoleon claims a "Lifetime Presidential warranty" but so far I get very little support from them.
So, with these engineering problems I cannot recommend to anyone to purchase the NZ6000. Any owner who would like to be added to our list of owners please PM me and I will.

 

[Napoleon]

I have owned the Napoleon High Country zero clearance fireplace going on 4 years now. Although a good heater, I cannot recommend this stove due to several design faults which Napoleon will not fix or address. Number one are the door hinges. The doors are very massive and heavy but the detachable hinges are hollow cast steel and bend over time causing the doors to sag and touch. The only fix is to replace them as they fail which is about twice per winter. The fix would be to just machine the hinge blocks from a solid piece of steel but Napoleon has no plans to do this.

Good morning, Joe. Napoleon is investigating the situation you have described and is in the process of attempting to gather hinges like yours back. Since we have had few claims like this, it is proving a difficult situation to examine as we have been thus far unable to obtain any samples of these bent hinges. It is fortunately not an issue that is occurring on all installations and does seem to be strangely intermittent. However, we currently have two different hinge solutions for issues like this. With some qualifying information, we can better isolate which would work best in a given customers application and they can be requested at any time through a standard warranty claim available through your local dealer. Your latest email inquiry to Napoleon has been replied to with this additional information, based on what you've described.

The second and smaller problem is the airwash system fails to keep the glass clean. This can be mitigated with extrmely dry wood but even then never burns off stays clean more than a single day burning.

Soot build up is caused by the condensation of unburned fuel on the cooler surface of the glass. This can be the result of cool fires that do not create enough draft to pull a sufficient supply of air through the air wash system as well as affecting the complete combustion at the fireplace base. Similarly, wood that has not been properly cured will not only create less heat, it also consumes more of the heat being generated, to dry the moisture out. There are also other factors that affect the draw of the chimney and therefore the effectiveness of the air wash such as chimney height, restrictions in the chimney (such as an elbow immediately off the top of the fireplace) and geographical location (currential wind influence) to name a few. Ultimately, there are many installations where this system works effectively because there is a sufficient chimney draft which helps draw fresh combustion air to the fire as well as through the air wash. Finally, it is not unusual for any wood burning appliance to see creosote deposits form on the glass and brick as the fire dies down. This is again due to the cooler temperatures and lesser chimney draft. Normally, these deposits will burn off the next time there is a full fire in the appliance.

We have a video on our website which may prove useful in showing the kind of fire that should be built for optimum performance of the fireplace (including airwash and glass cleanliness). (broken link removed to http://www.napoleonfireplaces.com/Tech/Videos_NZ6000.html)

As always, if this does not apply to your installation, we can work with a service person from your dealer to specifically isolate what may be influencing the operation of the unit in your home.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

I have owned the Napoleon High Country zero clearance fireplace going on 4 years now. Although a good heater, I cannot recommend this stove due to several design faults which Napoleon will not fix or address. Number one are the door hinges. The doors are very massive and heavy but the detachable hinges are hollow cast steel and bend over time causing the doors to sag and touch. The only fix is to replace them as they fail which is about twice per winter. The fix would be to just machine the hinge blocks from a solid piece of steel but Napoleon has no plans to do this. The second and smaller problem is the airwash system fails to keep the glass clean. This can be mitigated with extrmely dry wood but even then never burns off stays clean more than a single day burning.
I have worked through my authorized Napoleon dealer who has attempted to support me 100% but for 3 years Napoleon has denied the problem. Just in my state alone I have been in contact with 3 other owners who experience the identical problem. Currently we have contacted an outside tool/die maker to manufacture our own hinge. Napoleon claims a "Lifetime Presidential warranty" but so far I get very little support from them.
So, with these engineering problems I cannot recommend to anyone to purchase the NZ6000. Any owner who would like to be added to our list of owners please PM me and I will.

parts and support come from your dealer hopefully, not the maker....
issues like this will come up, a good dealer will have new parts in your hand in days.

 

[jkupcha]

I've had to replace my hinges several times now and each set has bent. After 3 years of this Napoleon sent my installer a fix which I became very excited about. Once I recieved the "fix" I realized it was for the wrong issue. That "fix" was for the female part of the hinge which attached to the front face and had never been a problem. Then after several phone calls and emails to the tech dept at Napoleon ( the sales dept never told us) we heard there was finally a fix for the male part of the hinge that was bending. That was 2 months ago. Now we were told that we must pay $160 for that fix. That disappoints me since the fix would never had been created if not for a known defect. In any event my installer had a set of solid steel hinges made by a tool dye maker that looks very promising. I will evaluate those new hinges and report how they perform once the burning season starts here. \

 

[jkupcha]

1 month update

So far the hinges we had made from a machine shop are working great. Another identified problem has become "faceplate pop" happens when the metal faceplate expands and buckles. There was a factory fix for this. Two more holes for screws drilled into the plate. Problem was not all the reps are aware of this and the older instruction installation manual doesn't cover this. I asked my installer about these extra holes and he was told by the rep that they were for an additional fancy grill add on and to let the holes alone. Later I found out from research that these holes were actually added and needed screws to combat the "faceplate pop" Very large lack of comunication going on here.