Taylor Wood Stoves

[stephen44]

Ok - so I don't want this to go the "OWB are bad, gassification is the way to go" route please - for lots of reasons the OWB is the correct way for me to go.

But I see lots of manufacturers of OWB's discused - never/rarely Taylor

- any one have any experience or views on their products ?

 

[webbie]

Early experience - in that many of the dealers who were my customers (when I sold tarm) also sold Taylor. At the time, they had major problems with leaks within the first few years of use - usually 3-5 years.

I would assume they have fixed such problems with either stainless steel, better steel or water treatments. However, when it comes to reputation for regular OWB, it seems Central Boiler has a pretty good one.....they have made many more than most companies, and therefore have the most "in the field" experience.

There are probably many other good ones, but something about their large factory and 10's of thousands of units in the field gives me a relatively warmer feeling inside.

 

[stephen44]

thanks - how long ago were these problems ?

do you know how they treated the customers with these problems - seeing as how they were presumably within the 6 year warranty ?

stephen

 

[webbie]

I have a feeling that the warranty was either pro-rated or didn't cover everything - but that was second hand. I remember one dealer in upstate NY telling me that he was amazed that many customers simple purchased another one after their failed, which would indicate that it was not replaced 100% under warranty...which may have been different at the time anyway.

This was approx 1990.

My guess is that the corporate entity has changed hands and possibly factories since then.....just a guess, but many such companies end up in various hands.

The best thing to do might be to contact the factory and speak frankly to them about early failures that you heard about. I'm fairly sure they will have an answer as to what they have improved. When it comes to the warranty, read it carefully - some of them require you to bring the unit back for repair, etc.

 

[dairyfarmer]

We had a Taylor furnace for 15 years and it did start to leak. Before 95 they did not use stainless flues and they would rust out. When ours rusted out we didn't even question it just called the Dealer and told them to bring another. We really like ours they are easy to clean and service.