I did a good bit of research around the stove that I wanted, and changed my mind a couple of times along the way. For me it was about clearances, and factors like reliability, appearance, ability to heat the area I needed, and landed with a VC Dauntless.
Yet to install, I also researched stove pipe and made the decision to go with Duravent double wall (and their chimney products).
Next up, was who to buy from. The prices on Amazon I found to be the best. But they don't have a lot and delivery seems far off for most of what I needed.
I checked around and found Northline had everything and was the best price. I then checked the user reviews and wow, they weren't good. Most places rated them somewhere between the DMV and the worst president ever. That scared me, with reviews like "they take your order, then a week later tell you something is on back order, that was in Dec...it's not Feb and Im freezing without my part" or "they sent damaged products then made me jump through all these hoops to prove I didn't do it, then I had to fill out a claim with UPS, and still haven't gotten my replacement and they have my money"
Well, eventually I broke down and just ordered from them. That was a few days ago, and I already got my stuff! (sans a chimney cap and some screw expected tomorrow).
Everything looked pretty good. The 24" pipe had a slight dent in it, but the box was factory seal and there was no creasing or damage to the box, so this happened at the factory for sure. It's next to (but not on) the seam area and will be hidden, and it's so slight that it doesn't impact the 2nd wall. I could use a paint dent repair suction or hot glue method to pull that out but why bother.
The ceiling support had a ton of oil around where the chimney connects, that's a little concerning and would make me think this was used because it's a lot of real sticky manufacturing type oil all around it, but it certainly looks otherwise new.
So, count me as one of the ones that got all their stuff in , quickly, and in overall great condition.
Now onto my stupidity. I may or may not be keeping a 29-46 expanding pipe, I also have the larger one. But instead of experimenting how the system slides together on the LARGER one I tried on the smaller, and just slipping it in 6" and back out, WOW, there's about a 3" wide x 4" deep (how deep I pushed it) area that is down to the bare metal. Is this a common issue with these pipes and how bad do they look with some spray paint over it? Is it obvious? Do people just spray it or do they sand it , spray it a few times then do some sort of sanding to blend the colors?
Yet to install, I also researched stove pipe and made the decision to go with Duravent double wall (and their chimney products).
Next up, was who to buy from. The prices on Amazon I found to be the best. But they don't have a lot and delivery seems far off for most of what I needed.
I checked around and found Northline had everything and was the best price. I then checked the user reviews and wow, they weren't good. Most places rated them somewhere between the DMV and the worst president ever. That scared me, with reviews like "they take your order, then a week later tell you something is on back order, that was in Dec...it's not Feb and Im freezing without my part" or "they sent damaged products then made me jump through all these hoops to prove I didn't do it, then I had to fill out a claim with UPS, and still haven't gotten my replacement and they have my money"
Well, eventually I broke down and just ordered from them. That was a few days ago, and I already got my stuff! (sans a chimney cap and some screw expected tomorrow).
Everything looked pretty good. The 24" pipe had a slight dent in it, but the box was factory seal and there was no creasing or damage to the box, so this happened at the factory for sure. It's next to (but not on) the seam area and will be hidden, and it's so slight that it doesn't impact the 2nd wall. I could use a paint dent repair suction or hot glue method to pull that out but why bother.
The ceiling support had a ton of oil around where the chimney connects, that's a little concerning and would make me think this was used because it's a lot of real sticky manufacturing type oil all around it, but it certainly looks otherwise new.
So, count me as one of the ones that got all their stuff in , quickly, and in overall great condition.
Now onto my stupidity. I may or may not be keeping a 29-46 expanding pipe, I also have the larger one. But instead of experimenting how the system slides together on the LARGER one I tried on the smaller, and just slipping it in 6" and back out, WOW, there's about a 3" wide x 4" deep (how deep I pushed it) area that is down to the bare metal. Is this a common issue with these pipes and how bad do they look with some spray paint over it? Is it obvious? Do people just spray it or do they sand it , spray it a few times then do some sort of sanding to blend the colors?
