Ok, I’ve been put in my place. I’d like to start by retracting what I’ve said about this poll - I even removed my annoyed by poll comment. I see that it could be abused but after reading around this site some more I’ve seen that it can be very fair and, as CountryBoyJohn points out, if your first post is bashing our spouting off about a subject, you will not be taken seriously.” I don’t want to impose on anyone’s 1st amendment rights Scott7m. I can agree with numerous posts I’ve seen that simply ask for the full story.
There are always going to be customers that cannot be satisfied. Sometimes they’re to blame, sometimes they are not. I know that Hawken does everything in its power to satisfy customers. That power is limited though.
I also agree with WillieG, sometimes the installation choices were not correct. Square footage and BTU requirements are not the same thing. Ready2More72 and for the benefit of everyone else reading this, we are aware of your situation. I’ve spoken to the gentleman who visited your facility from Hawken Energy and to the dealer who sold you the unit. When they were there he was told that the house was heating fine, that’s not the issue. The issues you had were with the tall and spacious garage business you’re trying to heat. Your Delta-T at that time was over 30 degrees F. That’s a huge heat loss, as you were told. He also told you that you needed more vertical insulation around the foundation. I’m sure there are others here, and information at wattsradiant.com that was shared with you, that can support this statement. Vertical insulation around a slab needs to extend below the frost line to prevent heat loss from the slab into the earth.
As WillieG said above, “There are many things to consider and if you did not have a pro install your stove then perhaps some of the things mentioned above have not been taken into consideration.” I believe I was told that you had a plumber install your radiant system. Did he do a heat loss calculation? Did he tell you what size pipe you needed to feed the proper BTU’s or how many gallons per minute it would need? I kind of doubt he did – no professional installer would forget to install the proper insulation, and get the heat loss calculation THAT far off. The Hawken company rep who visited your facility from their headquarters on a 25 degree day even noted that the ground all around your building was 5-10 degrees warmer than the rest of the earth, and that all the snow around your building was melted for six feet in every direction, even on the North side out of the sun and wind. If you were burning propane, you would be spending at least $1000 per week to heat that building, and the earth around it.
I’ve been working with Hawken for well over a year now and I’ve seen how they operate. They genuinely care about keeping customers happy and try to help. As stated above, some customers can’t be helped. The HE-2100 operates as it should. The issues are with the installation and construction, something Hawken Energy had nothing to do with.