Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => Shaver Furnace => Topic started by: rexdropssticks on February 19, 2013, 05:23:12 AM
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hi everyone, i,m a newbieto the site. i bought a shaver 290 in oct. of 2009. this past dec it developed a leak.i put the proper amount of additive in it every year along with draining the stove and refilling it at the start of every season.shaver won't warranty the stove because i did'nt have the water tested.my arguement is that if you have to keep adding water to the stove every three weeks or so,what good are the test results. by the end of the heating season you've about replaced the total water content of the stove. this is the third owb i have had in 7 years. the previous 2 were free heat machines. the first one lasted two years before it leaked and they replaced that one. the 2nd one lasted 1 year before it leaked and they still honored the warranty and replaced it. they sent me another stove and i sold it a week after they dropped it off and bought the shaver because according to there web site ,its the best stove goin. and the dealer i bought it from told me "you'll never have trouble with this stove leaking. i ve been selling them for a long time and never had a call on a leak" well people in my opinion shaver stoves and there sales people are a bunch of crooks. and i'm done with owb ,could've bought alot of propane for over 11,000.00 in the past 7 years
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Have you always drained your stove when not in use?
I've always been told to keep the proper chemical in the stove.
If I decided to drain it I was told to fill it back up and make sure
the correct amount of chemicals were added.
Most of the brand I'm using last 20yrs+.
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Hi
Unfortunately the dealers are stuck in the middle. I feel for my local dealer that has around 200 units out. Of course the EPA is likely to mandate an ass filter for folks my age any day now and old smokey wood burners gotta go too.
The industry wide issues with premature failures relates back to changes forced on them. I'm working on providing a solution involving material selection and a heat treating process to enhance an existing material. MAybe I'll market the solution, sell the idea or start building gassers with a real warranty. Better yet a 10 year lease on my stove. If it can't be fixed in one day Ill
swap you a replacement, to keep.
Best of luck to ou
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Adding water all the time is simply a sign of a poor design, I never add water, at the end of the season I try to top them off, they rarely hold more than 1-2 gallons
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I've done been down this road. The first shaver 160 I had lasted 2 years and rusted out a hole in the bottom. Fought with them for some time and they gave me a new 250 to compensate for the trouble. After begging a lot. Then the 250 completely rusted the bottom of the water jacket out. I could jab a screw driver thru it. I fought and fought with them some more and they wouldn't help me out anymore. And this was with water samples to back it up. They kept saying there was something in my water that was corrosive. I finally took it to a local welder and he replaced the bottom and the top which was also rusting out. Cost me about $800. You wouldn't believe how much slag from the welding that they just left in the tank. Those guys are a joke and a rip off. You might as well just get it fixed because before long they wont even answer you calls anymore.
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yes, i drain the damn thing every spring and refill in the fall. apparently that makes no differance.i add some more chemical at about the third time i add water. i'm tired of fighting with these people,thats all i did with the free heat machine people for months was argue. i ll just suck it up, take the thing apart in the spring and weld it up. and keep doing that until its completely usless. by the way ,i worked for a lumber mill for 13 years, and of those we had a taylor owb that he bought used to heat our shop. i tended that stove myself for at least 8 yrs. and i ve been working at the job i have now for 9 yrs. the man just bought a new owb beause the taylor started leaking. of all those years, i never put one drop of additive in that stove and i know for a fact neither did he, nor did the original owner. so thats 17 years on a taylor without any additive and a so called 1/2 inch thick shaver can't even make it 3 yrs ?
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You were 2 for 2 on the worst companies in the industry, shaver is absolutely horrible. Free heat machine, biomass direct, whtever he calls himself now is ll the same crook, he changed names every other year to avoid ever honoring a warranty.
It's not a good idea to drain them in the spring and refill, it's best for it to be completely full of properly treated water all year long. Why are you having to add water all the time during the heating season?
I hate you've had these troubles, a quick google search for "shaver problems" would have showed you and endless mountain of complaints though. This is the kind of thing that burns my hind end tho, dealers out there peddling things they have no idea about, telling innocent folks how great they are, and the dealer probably doesn't know the difference anyway. Anyone claiming a 1/2" firebox is better doesn't understand the principle of heat transfer at all and if there saying you need 1/2" for longevity, then it's total junk to begin with. If you woulda got a good quality stove from the get go you'd still been heating and very happy, but, I'm sure at the time you thought you were doing just that. Bad companies and lying dealers bother me
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Yeah I agree, dont leave it empty during the off months. I also hope you have the blower mod to shut off the air supply or you will be adding water a lot. After I did it I never have to add any. And a 1/2" is the firebox, the water tank on the other hand is as thin as can be. I could go on and on but you just need to search around on this Shaver thread. You'll learn a lot.
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i have to add water because of the overflow pipe that sticks out the side vents from the water jacket and that stupid access panel on top of the stove ,that is there for i'm not sure what reason ,vents steam from the stove.3 years ago i did research these stoves and the web. but at that time this site either was'nt up or i missed it. i could'nt really find any negative feedback about them. and the free heat machine people were from tennessee ,so i wanted a local dealer this time in case anything went wrong. well so much for that. he was as about much help as a pyromaniac at a house fire when i started having trouble. its made me so gun shy about these owb that i can't believe any dealer now. i ll weld on this one for a while or research and make my own damn stove. its sad that you can't trust sales people. i took a loan out for my first stove ,which i just paid off, and used profit sharing money to buy the shaver.like the song says"trust nobody ,don't be no fool, whatever happened to the golden rule?"
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When I had the welding done on mine I had him do away with the top plate on the back and we ran the vent straight out the top so you can fill the water jacket completely up.
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Here is one of the first to pop up about shaver...
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/salem-ar/TFR91LEVRGMC5FEBN (http://www.topix.com/forum/city/salem-ar/TFR91LEVRGMC5FEBN)
There are honest companies and dealers out there. One thing I do love about heatmaster vs any other companies I deal with is how they do the warranty. They provide you with shipping containers, bottles, 1 gallon of treatment, and every year they send you a letter reminding you to test your water, they do it for free. So essentially there holding folks by the hand to make sure there testing the water to keep the warranty valid. Most companies would never dream of reminding you of this, but simply hope to god that you did forget, that would just be one less they'd be responsible for.
If you have a water sample come back out of line, they call you and tell you what to do, and give you a reasonable amount of time to send them another sample
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It seems really you take your chances, water can destroy anything and a good test will help reveal any acid issues. but all company's selling this know this, they put a 30 yr warranty and a fast buck in their pocket, even this manufacture, bankrupt now and re calling himself the "NEW wooddoctor" His new idea, pressurized ??? hmmmmmm another time bomb http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?board=7.0 (http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?board=7.0)
How does he operate when he is bankrupt ?
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A picture is worth a lot...here are a few to ponder. After three seasons I now have a nice water feature.
[attachment deleted by admin for space issues]
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The picture got removed to save space on this website, but here it is again. My weld is holding just fine.
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Boy Scott said it all, hit the nail right on the head. You couldn't have picked two more problematic companies to buy from. :bash:
Keeping treated water in these furnaces is key to making them last. If you are adding water less than once a year you are setting yourself up for disaster. I'm assuming you didn't tell your dealer it was needing water on a regular basis? If he knew about the problem and didn't advise you of the potential problems he is either stupid or a real jerk.
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I add water constantly with my shaver........You have to.........and to think with some stoves you only add a gallon or two a year......I add a gallon or two a day atleast!
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Yeah I add water to my 165 every day or so....give 'er a drink every day or two.....been doin that since day one,March of 2008 and it's been burnin year 'round since then,never drained,no additives except the 1st or 2nd year.....One thing I did notice in 2013 when I took off the DHW coil cover to re-caulk it was where the 5" pipe comes up through,at the waterline it looked kinda rotted,wanted to check it out closer last summer (2014) but didn't get to it..maybe a hole there....made it through this winter but I think it needs to be addressed this summer though before it rots through at a bad time.....Maybe a condensate trap at the overflow/vent would eliminate water loss....Might hafta experiment a little....
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Well I see NOTHING has changed on this website...such a shame. Why do the folks who do NOT own Shavers come on this page and bitch about a furnace they do NOT sell or own???
How would you feel if I went on and bitched about your furnace and all the oddities about it? See what I am saying? So someone comes on THIS Shaver page and has an issue with their unit and the first thing guys who own a Heat Master or CB do is begin bashing and putting down Shaver.
Granted, I DID have one major issue with the first unit I bought, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and they made it RIGHT. I have been using my Pro Series 250 since October 2011 and I've NEVER had any major issues with it...knock on wood.
One thing I don't understand is why the original author of this thread felt he HAD to empty and re-fill his shaver EVERY darn year'season? Who on earth told you to do that?
I filled mine ONCE and that was back October 2011 and I added the five gallons of rust preventive to the water. Now this year i will DRAIN the entire system because I'm having additional plumbing added on to my DHW and house furnace and then I will add the five gallons of rust preventative again. Normally I would just have to add 3 gallons, but for the fact I'm draining the ENTIRE system, I will add just as though I'm first starting it.
I have had to add water to my Shaver, but only when the temps outside went above 40*...and only then I had to add a couple gallons, BUT NOT every other day...maybe twice a month.
And water testing? Who told you that you had to do this as well?? :bash: Have you bothered to read the manual that came with your shaver? No where in it does mine state that the water has to be tested.
As far as off season..prior to this year...I've shut the blower off along with both pumps. I run the pumps once a month for about 30-60 minutes just to keep the water moving and the pumps lubricated. I empty out the firebox of ALL ashes and loose creosote...and spray down the firebox walls with a thin coat of oil.....
If you don't like the Shaver product, say so on your own manufacturer's page. Folks who bought Shavers come here for one reason or another....most are seeking advice because they already have purchased a Shaver...they do NOT need you to go bashing the product and making the buyer feel crappy because they all of a sudden feel they bought an inferior product. I could go on venting, but I've said my peace.
Lugnut
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Personally lugnut, I'm not a fan of bashing either, that being said, there are some of us here who actually cruise our competitions threads to try and promote the entire industry, most issues with OWB's are with either installation, operation or education, I have never seen the Shaver manual so I'm not sure how well they explain installation, operation, or servicing, you obviously have had good luck with yours so Please, stick around and try to help those who are having issues with all boilers, perhaps we can all make a difference!
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Personally lugnut, I'm not a fan of bashing either, that being said, there are some of us here who actually cruise our competitions threads to try and promote the entire industry, most issues with OWB's are with either installation, operation or education, I have never seen the Shaver manual so I'm not sure how well they explain installation, operation, or servicing, you obviously have had good luck with yours so Please, stick around and try to help those who are having issues with all boilers, perhaps we can all make a difference!
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