The Chimney Sweep II

December 9, 2016 It was 20 degrees outside this morning. I came downstairs to a comfortably warm house. I was wearing a Tshirt. My 13-year-old Avalon gas heater was keeping the house warm. I put wood on the embers of a fire in my 13-year-old Avalon woodburning stove, then fed the dog and fixed breakfast. My brand new Vermont Castings Radiance gas heater made no contribution to warming my house: it has been red tagged for about six weeks now, and attempts to obtain repair parts have been futile. We bought the Radiance gas heater about the end of April 2016. We bought the heater at list price but got free installation. The heater was intended to be our primary source of heat, and ending years of cutting, splitting, stacking and bringing firewood into the house. We would also enjoy warmth without soot and smoke. The heater was installed several weeks later. No apparent problems with the install. Even the hole in the roof for the chimney did not leak; we had some heavy rain shortly after the install and there were no leaks that we could detect. Gas was hooked up a week later, and about a week after that a service tech came out to set up the heater for proper operation. While he was here, we noted that the on/off switch on the upper right back of the heater dropped out with the least provocation, and we noted that the latch holding the front doors together was operated by a block of metal, rather than a handle. The sales rep arranged for a ceramic handle in the color of the heater be mailed to us. The Radiance heater did a great job of holding ceramic floor tiles in place through the summer. September arrived and temperatures got a little cooler. We started the heater to take the chill out of the air. The heater operated with no apparent problem for about six weeks. We came home one day to find the heater was not operating, and the pilot light was out. After many futile attempts to get the pilot light lighted, with the front of the heater and the inner glass on and off (during which much soot was found in the fire chamber) I started a fire in the woodburning stove and arranged for a service call the following week. The service tech opened the heater, found the soot that I had previously observed and also found the burner was cracked. Two weeks later, I called the service department and was told the burner had been ordered but was on back order into the middle of the following week! I called our sales rep to complain. The following day, apparently against the wishes of the service department, he removed a burner from a Radiance heater in the store and drove it out and installed it. He left with the heater burning with a nice looking flame pattern, which drew some approving comments from a neighbor. Shortly thereafter, the heater began igniting with a bang, and it soon ignited with a bang that could be heard throughout our house. I should have called the Fire Marshal, but continued to use the heater. The flame pattern began changing and soon ended up with a sooty red flame only on the left side of the heater. I observed a bright red hot spot on the burner unit that persisted for more than 10 minutes after the heater stopped burning. I red tagged the heater by turning off the gas. I emailed the sales rep to demand that something be done sooner rather than later. On December 3, another service rep came out. He vacuumed soot from everywhere inside the fire chamber, and he removed chunks (!) of soot. The soot had apparently been changing the burn pattern of the heater. From what I can gather, the burner that was installed wasn’t quite the right size for my Radiance, even though it was taken from another new Radiance. Apparently something wasn’t aligned properly, and this resulted in a gas buildup before ignition, resulting in a loud bang. I understand that Vermont Castings had a batch of bad burners; apparently I have been the lucky recipient of two of them. Now I really should be calling the Fire Marshal and the Consumer Product Safety Commission! I called on December 7 to find out the status of the parts that had been ordered for my heater. The person tracking the parts for my heater was ‘at the other store,’ and the person I was talking with had the matter dropped on him. I called the other store and found the person tracking the parts was ‘out hunting.’ No one, including, I’m guessing, the Vermont Castings rep knows where the parts for my heater are or when the heater can be made operational. ‘Certainly by Christmas,’ I was told. I started asking about replacing the heater, and that remains an option, but I was assured I would be happy with the Vermont Castings heater once the parts are replaced. December 9 and still no idea of where the parts for our heater might be. They had been shipped by FedEx, but there was no way to track them. Perhaps they will be in this week. The dealer and the service department both say that Vermont Castings and their sales rep are all avoiding their calls. The firewood that I am burning is firewood left over from last winter. It was meant to be used when temperatures get very low. The firewood was not meant to be burned at this time of year because my Vermont Castings heater was supposed to be keeping me warm. I do not have an unlimited supply of firewood because I have a Vermont Castings heater and did not order firewood and could not pay for it if I had, and I could be hard pressed to get firewood at this time of year anyway. Happily, my 13-year-old Avalon gas heater keeps on working without a flutter. My Vermont Castings’ Radiance gas heater will have to perform like a Swiss watch for 13 years before it has any credibility.

Great service and installation. They followed up on an issue in a timely manner and got it corrected.

The were very professional and courteous. They listened well to the customer and came on time. The company was punctual and careful with delivery. I was very happy with them and am thinking of rehiring them for another project.