Resolute Acclaim - How long have they been having problems?

[jdinspector]

Hi all,

I have a 12 year old Resolute Acclaim (#2490) that I've owned since new. I'm pretty diligent with maintenance and the overall workings of the stove. As others have noted in many posts, these stoves have a lot of problems with wearing out parts. In particular, the ceramic combustor package. I'm pretty tired of spending money on this stove every year to the tune of $200-300 for new refractory, new gaskets, etc. (I burn 24/7 throughout the winter) If it's not the combustor package, then it's the firebrick or a damper, or some other warped part, all of which total to the $200-300 mentioned above. New gaskets and even a new firebrick every couple of years don't bother me. It's the constant replacement of other parts that has me frustrated. I'm sure some will claim I'm overfiring the stove as parts are warping. I'm confident that that is not the case, as I monitor the stove carefully. It just seems to wear out parts!

My questions are these:

1. How long have dealers (or the manufacturer and others) known about the problems with this stove? My dealer talked it up as the best stove out there when I bought it (1996). Then about 6 years later started to mention the problems with it as I was going through his revolving door buying parts. I'm not sure I want to give him more business when I purchase a new stove. I'm not sure I was dealt with in a fair way from the beginning if he knew about the problems with the stove. On the other hand, if he was also in the dark about the durability problems when I first bought the stove, then we both got an education. I'm not trying to hang my dealer, I just would like to know if I was dealt with straight up over the years.

2. Do all top loading stoves have the moveable damper or tube parts similar to the VC? That seems to be a weak spot in this type of stove. So far all I've seen up close are the Lopi Leyden and a Quadrafire. Both have moving parts that get me nervous. The Quad Isle Royale really makes me nervous with the stainless steel tubes in the top. I'll re-read the reviews on it.

3. I'm spoiled with top loading. Will I ever be happy with a front or side loader after having this unit? I've read many reviews of other stoves and users with top loading seem to be pretty happy with the convenience. Are there other options that I haven't seen?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Brian VT]

I like the top loading too.
You might should look at the Harmon Oakwood.

 

[webbie]

Hi all,


My questions are these:

1. How long have dealers (or the manufacturer and others) known about the problems with this stove? My dealer talked it up as the best stove out there when I bought it (1996). Then about 6 years later started to mention the problems with it as I was going through his revolving door buying parts. I'm not sure I want to give him more business when I purchase a new stove. I'm not sure I was dealt with in a fair way from the beginning if he knew about the problems with the stove. On the other hand, if he was also in the dark about the durability problems when I first bought the stove, then we both got an education. I'm not trying to hang my dealer, I just would like to know if I was dealt with straight up over the years.

Thanks for your input.

I can help a bit with that question, but the answer is IT DEPENDS....on how many units your dealer sold and how they were used.

The history, as I remember it, went something like this. Our dealership started selling that model in about 1989 and it quickly became one of our favorite models. We sold a lot of them. But we were located in Southern NJ, where it is fairly mild AND people do not use their stoves real hard.

In our case it was probably 1994 before we noticed the actual trend, which was then buttressed by the fact that VC was replacing the parts for free - even including freight! Even when they came up with the new interior, they would send $500 kits to us for free to fix old stoves. I don't think they covered much labor (out of warranty) though.

Of course, some of this gets complicated by the many takeovers of VC, one (or more) of which happened at about that time. ...say from 1993 through 1997.

However, just to give a little light on the subject, we (as a dealer at the time) did not have any qualms about selling the stoves...either the old models or the new ones, again because of the relatively light use our clients were putting them through. Oil was less than $1 a gallon during much of this time period.

There was really never a point where we thought the stoves were really defective, although looking back...they obviously were for the person who intended to use them 24/7 in colder climes. At one time I heard that the dealers up north were having very vast failure rates.......

I think your dealer probably knew what we knew, which is not much. Since many customers, even in cold climates, don't run stove hard it is difficult for a dealer to get a handle on these things. We obviously rely on the engineering and design of the manufacturer - we figure if they sell it to us, it must be good.