Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => RidgeWood Stoves, defunct, support only => Topic started by: jamesbodeis on March 02, 2016, 03:53:01 PM
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came home today to no water in the sight glass and four cracks inside the door which are leaking? What do I do? I know they arent going to warranty it. IS this something that can be welded? am i safe to add water?
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Strange way to crack….
If you have no choice add water till it can be welded.
Looks like the fire will have to be out so those cracks can be welded from both sides.
A friend with a portable MIG would come in mighty handy about now.
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my brother in law is a welder by trade, if it can be welded he can weld it. wasnt sure about adding water because of the temperature difference. Didnt want to make the cracks worse
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Brother in law says he can fix it. Got to tear the front of it off to get at them. garden hose is frozen so i havent been able to fill it back up. I can tell its got water near the top because the crack that is leaking is at the top of the door. Tim says it must have overheated to crack the way I described it. NOt warrantable but they would fix it if i took it to them. Im just going to have my brother in law do it to save me from having to load and haul it and shouldnt be down quite as long.
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Looks like one thing in your favor is the weather heading our way. It's supposed to get to 50 next week and stay above freezing at night up here, sure you should be even warmer there. Are you still burning or letting the fire go out? Hope all goes well with your fix, and keep us posted.
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for now ive got it idling. The pump is running, but i have the solenoid for the door unhooked. Im gonna try to get out of work tomorrow early to get it tore apart and my bro in law can weld it. Ill get some pics of the cracks inside the box. Pretty gnarly.
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How long have you own the OWB?
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I bought it the summer before last.
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Wow.....did it overheat?
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must have. But not while I was around. Wish I knew for sure so I could try to figure out what caused it.
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jamesbodeis, After reading your post I checked my boiler and found these cracks also. I have not had any leaking yet but it sure makes me nervous. I purchased my unit about the same time you did. I have had no problems with anything, it has worked great so far, so there have been no overheating issues. it is my opinion that this is a design problem. How many other Ridgewood owners have these cracks?
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Wow.....did it overheat?
must have. But not while I was around. Wish I knew for sure so I could try to figure out what caused it.
I find it hard to believe your stove overheated and you did not know it. IMO that was not the problem, you would know it if it happened. Its not pretty.
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My buddy has a 6000 with a crack in the upper right area. Mines all welded up and running now. I have a hard time believing it overheated also, seems like i would have caught it. I mean it wouldn't just magically quit overheating, and I wasnt that low on water. Fortunately my brother in law is a welder and we have it fixed up good. But i feel for anyone who doesnt have that luxury.
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(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/152_zps4s1bwqoh.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/152_zps4s1bwqoh.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/151_zpszizmqksl.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/151_zpszizmqksl.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/153_zpsbbgfpz2t.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/153_zpsbbgfpz2t.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/155_zpsajd3a9va.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/155_zpsajd3a9va.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/154_zpsvpvs9iso.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/154_zpsvpvs9iso.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/157_zpswi4fno20.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/157_zpswi4fno20.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/159_zpsnwcg73sr.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/159_zpsnwcg73sr.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/161_zpsdzezdxka.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/161_zpsdzezdxka.jpg.html)
(http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/James_Bodeis/162_zpsastqm0rw.jpg) (http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/James_Bodeis/media/162_zpsastqm0rw.jpg.html)
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Holy Crap! Great pics! What a pain in the ass..........Glad you got it up and running again
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My buddy has a 6000 with a crack in the upper right area. Mines all welded up and running now. I have a hard time believing it overheated also, seems like i would have caught it. I mean it wouldn't just magically quit overheating, and I wasnt that low on water. Fortunately my brother in law is a welder and we have it fixed up good. But i feel for anyone who doesnt have that luxury.
Glad everything worked for you -- how hard and how much work was it to take it apart as you have on the picture?
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I had the steel off in a few minutes. Had to cut the welds on the angle iron and get it off to access the cracks better. Started at about 3 pm and we were all done welding around 10. Had to fill and drain a few times while checking for and fixing leaks.
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Glad to see you got it fixed. Any problems, or is it working fine?
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So far it seems to be going good. I need to weld the angle iron back on to attach the sheet metal.
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noticed yesterday two of the corners are cracking again where we welded them.
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My 6000 cracked in both of the bottom radius cuts as well. I'm planning on draining and welding it here once its time to shutdown for season. The one crack all the way down into the water jacket but it somehow is not leaking. I'm going to drill a hole at the bottom of each crack before welding it to prevent any it from cracking again. I just find it odd that this is happening to so many guys who had there's built the summer of 2014. Maybe it was a bad batch of steel. Thank God I weld for a living
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Very odd. I was hoping this stove was gonna last a good while but i have my doubts. Really don't want to have to tear this thing apart every year and re weld it.
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I don't know if I should try and sell the stove now or hire someone to weld the cracks and hope for the best. I was hoping to get ten years out of the stove, I know it was not a high dollar stove but I didn't expect this so soon. I don't want a bunch of problems in the middle of next winter.
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No wonder why they bailed, too many issues to support with warranty. Let this be a lesson to all when taking a risk with a sketchy company. They sold a ton of stoves with no quality control. I'm doing a clean out and I'm worried what I might find. According to their website April 30 is the end of ridgewood.
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Back in 2014 when Ridgewood delivered my stove...... I knew I was in trouble as it came rattling in on their trailer.
Hell, replacement of solenoids alone had to have hurt the company. Glad I sold it after one season!
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Just finished my 3rd uneventful winter with my Ridgewood 6000. Mine was built early 2013 and the only things I've replaced is a solenoid that was still working but was getting sloppy, and the door gasket. I think mine was built before their production really took off. Maybe I just got lucky, and maybe s#*t will hit the fan next winter? At this point I still love it and don't regret buying it. Wish me luck.
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Just got done cleaning my 6000 after shutdown and found cracks on both side of the door on the lower corners. Both about a good 3 inches long.
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Just got done cleaning my 6000 after shutdown and found cracks on both side of the door on the lower corners. Both about a good 3 inches long.
I looked up your location, your way the heck over thar while I’m a hop skip and jump from Chicago.
I’d like to see this in person, but given that we’ve had several people in this same thread with cracks in the same place, about has to be an engineering issue rather than a big load of faulty materials.
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Well, Still not sure what to do. I don't want to sell the stove knowing there is problems. If I have it welded how long until it cracks again. I don't want to get in the middle of heating season and have it fail. I think its an engineering problem. Expansion and contraction with the heat? Metal not thick enough? water not circulating in that area? mlappin if you have any ideas let us know. The stove has worked without a hiccup for two years. It heats my 2000 sqft house and 40X60 garage with no problems in the heart of winter. I also think there are a lot more stoves out there with the same problem that we don't know about. I almost pulled the trigger on a central but didn't like there warranty, in regards to you have to ship it and pay the tab.
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Can you post some pics
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Here's a few Pic's. I called Ridgewood and left a message.
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Will see what they have to say. I never got my stove to hot I kept my nitrates right on the money. Sent in my water samples every 6 months.
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Well, Still not sure what to do. I don't want to sell the stove knowing there is problems. If I have it welded how long until it cracks again. I don't want to get in the middle of heating season and have it fail. I think its an engineering problem. Expansion and contraction with the heat? Metal not thick enough? water not circulating in that area? mlappin if you have any ideas let us know. The stove has worked without a hiccup for two years. It heats my 2000 sqft house and 40X60 garage with no problems in the heart of winter. I also think there are a lot more stoves out there with the same problem that we don't know about. I almost pulled the trigger on a central but didn't like there warranty, in regards to you have to ship it and pay the tab.
Yah, when I fist started shopping for a gasser, the E2400 was gonna run about $2500 more than a G400.
I’d like to personally eyeball a unit first, but certainly sounds like an engineering issue due to expansion/contraction.
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those are identical to my cracks. They told me the only way it could happen was by overheating, which I am pretty sure never happened.
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I know mine never overheated I keep a close on the water level . It's always ran nice. Thank god it never leaked yet.
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I know mine never overheated. I don't think were going to get anything from the owner. it is what it is. From what I understood they were in business for 19 years. When I went and looked at the stove they were building a new house, I thought it was a tried and true product. oh well live and learn. Intensedrive let me know if you get a response. I think i'm going to sell the stove and get something different. There is no leaks and has worked great but I don't want to deal with welding the cracks.
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They want me to send in the photos and pic of bill of sale and photo of warranty and there gonna look into it. First he said bring my stove to them. I said that's not gonna happen. Then he told me to get a price on hiring a welder and they might pay for half the bill. I don't think there gonna do anything.
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He told me if I brought it to him he would weld it. I said the same thing. It's happened to too many people now for it to have been some kind of fluke. I wonder how many more there out there that we will never know about because the owners aren't on this site. I know of 3 within a few miles of me but i dont know the people and I don't want to just knock on the door and ask if I can look in their stove.
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I just sent them the photos so I'll let you know what they say.
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They want me to send in the photos and pic of bill of sale and photo of warranty and there gonna look into it. First he said bring my stove to them. I said that's not gonna happen. Then he told me to get a price on hiring a welder and they might pay for half the bill. I don't think there gonna do anything.
I can see the photos, but why a copy of your bill of sale and the warranty? I would think they’d have that on record already.
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So they know I am the original owner. I'm still waiting to hear something.
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So they know I am the original owner. I'm still waiting to hear something.
Gotcha
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Its expansion and contraction. All a design flaw they'll probably all do it at some point in time. Let's just say I spoke with someone that use to be afilated with Ridgewood and that's was an issue he thought should be fixed but Tim didn't want to add to fabrication time
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So they knew it was a problem and still sold the units knowing they would crack. Did they give any kind of idea how to fix them? Do you think they should be held accountable? Is anybody pursuing a refund or solution to the problem, or should we just chalk this up to a learning experience.
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Heck ya I believe we should all sue tim over it but I know darn well it's just going to waste everyone's time and money. Tims a real crook Craig was the guy who built the business and was always there to help. As a side note they shouldn't crack past weld were firebox and water jacket meet. All I did was drill hole on bottom of crack to stop it and weld it. I think the biggest thing is when there heating up from dead cold the first light of year and when shutting down. Live and learn I guess with how to spend my hard earned money but the things pretty much paid for about and i d say its a solid machine minus the electric issues and cracking
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I will offer my diagnoses to the cause of the cracking with the provided picture info and what I would do to repair it. Heating and cooling is a factor however all commercial grade units go through this same cycle without cracking problems. In the picture(s) provided the main factor I see is when they cut the hole for the door they did not cut the corners with a radius.
To repair I would drill a hole at the end of the crack, v out the crack and reweld, then I would weld a piece of flat stock diagonal across the corners and I would do this on all corners regardless if they are cracked or not.
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Ya that asshole owner from Ridgewood never responded to my email about the cracks what a prick. I would like to shove this stove up his punk ass.
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Ya I agree that guy is a con man
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I will offer my diagnoses to the cause of the cracking with the provided picture info and what I would do to repair it. Heating and cooling is a factor however all commercial grade units go through this same cycle without cracking problems. In the picture(s) provided the main factor I see is when they cut the hole for the door they did not cut the corners with a radius.
To repair I would drill a hole at the end of the crack, v out the crack and reweld, then I would weld a piece of flat stock diagonal across the corners and I would do this on all corners regardless if they are cracked or not.
Unfortunately if their is any chance of the warranty being honored, once you start welding on it and adding anything, they will call it an unauthorized repair and really refuse to honor the warranty.
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it would really surprise me if any future issue is covered. And that sux!
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That warranty went out the door when I stop being able to even get ahold of them on phone
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They will weld it if I bring it to them 250 miles away. Other then that they offer no help. They could care less about anyone that bought one. Lesson learned I quess.
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Very true live and learn. Always a risk I guess when trying to save a few bucks. Just have to jeep an eye on this guy I believe he's done this in past and then opened with a new business name so I've been told...
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After commenting on this post on April 21st, I shut mine down and cleaned it and found the same cracks, but in all 4 corners. No leaks yet, but I'm considering repairing it like diezelsmoke suggested..... drill a hole, grind out the crack and weld it up. Then add extra steel to reinforce the corners. I'm just not looking forward to crawling in there to work on it.....I don't bend as well as I once did.
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I have a welder but I don't think it's big enough for the job. It's a lincoln 140. I'm not that good of a welder.
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Whats the thickness of the metal? I’m guessing at least a 1/4”, you might not have enough welder if it’s much heavier than that, I’d run .030 wire and make multiple passes.
I have a SP100 I normally keep .023 in and run .035 in my 250 amp three phase wire welder, I keep a roll of .045 around for use in the big one for large projects.
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I just used a 220 mig. .035 wire i believe. Welded nice I even went as far as stitching some welds were the flat bars for the door and the face plate meet
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Did you have to pull the siding off the front and the insulation when you welded it?
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we pulled it all of mine because it was cracked on both sides.
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The other issue you may have with a Lincoln 140 is whats the heaviest extension cord you have? My little SP100 will fall right on its face if much extension cord is used. I’ve had better luck running it off my generator than an extension cord.
If its truly a expansion/contraction problem you might want to find someone that can come out and stick weld it with 7018 rod.
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I'll for sure use my generator. I guess I could just weld a patch over the crack. It's not leaking yet so I can patch it good and I might be good for a while .
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I would still drill and fix crack just to be safe. I know I said it shouldn't crack past weld on firebox but better to be safe than sorry
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Where were you talking about me drilling?
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Bottom of crack so it doesn't continue to crack any farther. Kinda like a windshield
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Ok I see what your saying now.
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I just noticed I have the cracks on all four corners of the door opening. real nice
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Its really not to bad of fix. Lucky mine only cracked on bottom. Tin comes off pretty easy and then you can see everything good. At least the burning season is over. How close to nw ohio are you? If your close I'd be willing to help you out
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I'm 50 miles north of Detriot. A little to far lol. Do I need to take the tin off. It's not leaking yet.
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by chance ... you Michigan guys work at Transform ??
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work for Chrysler (FCA)
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Depends if you can see end of cracks from inside firebox to drill your holes
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Might be better to weld both sides.
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Did Ridgewood ever get back with you?
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The owner never bothered to reply so i called and talked to one of his guys there and he told me if he don't reply back that means he's not gonna do anything. he's a real piece of crap
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Well, I think were all on our own. My 7500 has not leaked, has anybody had any sign of leakage? My fear is to get in the heart of a Michigan winter and have a problem.
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It shouldn't leak. Normally it won't crack past weld on firebox
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I'm gonna weld up the crack just to be safe.
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Mine definitely leaked. I hope you guys you can get yours fixed before it does. Major pain in the ass.
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Ok I was wrong. I figured water would cool it a little and the weld would stop it. How bad did it leak?
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i had what i could call a steady trickle out of 3 of the cracks. The one on the top left was the only one that didn't leak.
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How long were your cracks? I'm gonna start taking the tin off soon and weld it up myself and hope for the best. Hope for 1 more season anyway before it starts leaking.
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I see on there website now they have added a section addressing the cracks. They still say it is from overheating, but offer their solution for it. I imagine a good fabricator and welder could do the same thing, or they will do it for $700. I still think it's a design flaw and not from overheating, but at least they are acknowledging it.
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Wow, They go out of business and leave a bunch of people with problems. Now they are building stoves and selling them again. Obviously these stoves are not "overheating" and this is just a way to deal with the warranty that they will not honor. So less than 3%, my behind. Most people don't know they have cracks yet, but they will. So who is going to unhook there stove and haul it to there shop and have it fixed? Will they offer a warranty for the fix?
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4 cracks from mine also! No leaks but will be fixed before start up. Honestly I believe we all have had these cracks for the past two burning seasons it's just went unnoticed til now. Drill, v notch the crack, plate and weld from a reputable on site welder is my game plan. I would bet 90% of people that have a ridgewood have these cracks.
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Can someone post better pic of exactly where the cracks are located
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I dont have any other pics. If you look into the firebox, the cracks will be in all 4 corners, almost perfectly in the middle of that rounded edge.
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Have them in mine as well. Guess my stove must have "overheated" like they claim on their website and then went back to normal operation so I did not notice it.....
Now they are selling a new and improved design to fix the problem they never had....
Going to cut the front plate out with a plasma cutter, then weld in a new front and install new angle to mount the door. Similar to the fix on the website.
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How is your stove holding up James?. My stove has a small leak going on. I was wondering how your weld held up to give me some positive feeling.
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It held up for the rest of the season. It started to crack at the very tops of the old cracks again but only went a little way.
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Just finished repairing 4 cracks on mine. I ground out the cracks inside and out then tig welded them inside and out for
complete penetration. I also added a 6"x6" patch over the cracked area on the outside at each corner of the door opening. I cut a 2"x2" square out of one corner of each patch and put that part of the patch around the corner of the door frame opening. I also ground out the old weld inside the corners of the door opening and re welded it because it was cracked there too. You guys that had leaks, were the leaks on the outside behind the tin or were they inside the firebox? 2 of the cracks on mine went into the water jacket weld but never leaked. I ground those out a little and welded over them. All I can do is hope for the best.
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That really sucks for all you Ridgewood owners. Sounds like the company went to crap after Craig left. I almost bought one instead of my heatmor...but at the time they didn't offer a size big enough for what I needed
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Welded mine inside and out last weekend. No leaks last winter so will see how it goes.
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Two of my cracks have re-cracked. At least I found it before dead of winter this time.
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When yours leaked, didn't it leak on the outside behind the tin or inside the firebox?
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both. right now its only in the firebox. Top two cracks. Cracked right along side where we welded it before. Im gonna try to put some flat stock or something across the corners and see if that stiffens it up any.
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Just found a crack right beside the old crack I fixed this spring. Man is this a pain the u know what. You guys having this happen?
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Just an update, my stove is cracking in the same spots for the third time now. The thing has still never overheated. Cannot wait to get rid of this piece of crap.
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There's no water there and it's an expansion issue, it has to give in the heat. I'm sorry, it really stinks for you.
It's a bad design.
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I wouldn't even be mad of they would have owned up to it. But no they insisted my stove overheated and that's the only possible scenario. Live and learn I guess. If it seems to good to be true, it is.
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Huh, I know somebody else that made a mistake like that recently, I feel the same way James, if they would just admit they were wrong and move forward, all would be easier to swallow. My pet pi$$ me off is
(You are the only person that's happening to or we have never seen that before) I have worked with a lot of companies and it Is shocking even today to hear those words from somebody you have trusted, broken bread with and know they are filling you or your customer full of crap. Carma will get them in the end!
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Well guys I'm gonna shut her down here in a couple weeks with the weather getting nicer and cut the whole face piece off on the firebox just like they are doing up at ridgewood. I'm hoping this will fix the cracking issue since it's cracked again right beside the welds from last springs fix. I'll keep you all posted and maybe snap some pics along the way.
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Good luck! I hope it works out for you and please do share if it does.
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Well guys I'm gonna shut her down here in a couple weeks with the weather getting nicer and cut the whole face piece off on the firebox just like they are doing up at ridgewood. I'm hoping this will fix the cracking issue since it's cracked again right beside the welds from last springs fix. I'll keep you all posted and maybe snap some pics along the way.
Yes, please post pics.
Hope you can get it licked!