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[slimjim]

Bud Man, THAT is a very VALID complaint, call Rory back, find out why you are being charged for what should have been there from the beginning.

[oaky]

Bud Man, THAT is a very VALID complaint, call Rory back, find out why you are being charged for what should have been there from the beginning.

In my case, P&M was notified from my dealer or perhaps from you SlimJim when you and I talked about this a while back, that I needed a 1 1/4" brick after I properly spaced them & that they were all loose. Brian from P&M, called me (I missed the call), then my dealer called right after I stepped into the house, my dealer had spoke with Brian and that P&M offered to sell me the fire bricks for half price, not including shipping. I opted to have my son weld me a set of spacers.

oaky

[Sloppy_Snood]

How about changing the mold shape to include a refractory brick spacer cast into the refractory brick itself?

[sceptre74]

How about changing the mold shape to include a refractory brick spacer cast into the refractory brick itself?

That is exactly how mine is

[jackh113]

Bud man - I agree.  This should be a warranty/workmanship issue.

I started another thread a few days ago about adding a shaker grate to my stove.  Really this is the issue.  With the bricks continually moving, it makes it a b***h to rake out the ash effectively and maintain even burns.  Don't get me wrong, I love my stove and wouldn't trade it for any other brand.  I bought it because of the efficiency, build quality and everything I read on here about how P&M stands behind their product (and because of slim!).

For what I paid for the stove, I would expect P&M to honor their warranty against workmanship and resolve this flaw.  By acknowledging it with a bulletin and design modification, they have effectively admitted there is an issue.  This is no different than a service bulletin/recall for a vehicle.

I could easily make the spacer modification mentioned in this thread and was considering doing so until I slept on it last night.  In my opinion, I shouldn't have to rig something that P&M has acknowledged as a flaw.  At this point, it's a matter of principal and customer service.

Slim, can you get us any help on this or should I just contact Robert or Brian?  Even at half price for the bricks as oaky mentioned was offered to him, that is not a resolution for what should have been in the design from the beginning.

[Bud Man]

Scepter, When did you get your stove? I ask because I got mine last April and didn't get the new style bricks.

In my opinion, and we all know what opinions are worth, P&M should provide the new style bricks as a fix for the problem.

[sceptre74]

I agree with you, they should. Doesn't look good on them not fixing an issue that they clearly know about.
Mine landed here July 30th but can't remember the manufacturer date on it.

[Sloppy_Snood]

$42 a brick is ridiculous! Doesn't the warranty cover quality and workmanship? Rory @ P&M said they had problems with not enough bricks sent with some of the stoves. Isn't that workmanship?

I would label it as a lack of a quality control prior to the item shipping out of the factory.  Workmanship has more to do with the quality of the stove itself.

[slimjim]

Look at the tag in the back of the unit, it will give the manufacture date!

[oaky]

My BL-2840 manufacture date is January 2014.

[jackh113]

Hate to revive an old thread but needed to vent on this again.

After my post above on this topic. I emailed P&M about this issue and my request for a resolution.  After multiple emails and phone calls with Robert, Brian, and Rory over 2 months and an internal consultation with their engineer at the factory (Robert?), I was finally told that they would stand behind their product and ship the new design fire bricks as a replacement.  The catch was they wanted to wait until a stove was coming this direction so they could piggyback on the truck and save on freight.  Understandable, given that the bricks were shipping from Canada to NW Arkansas. 

Well, after months of waiting with no word from P&M and no bricks, it's now about time to fire up the stove for the season.  I finally gave up last weekend and decided I was on my own.  Since I don't have a welder to make the spacer, I decided to take a different route and modify the existing bricks along the lines of the new design.  I broke out my trusty circular saw and a concrete blade and went to work.  I notched the edge of the bricks 1/2".  It wasn't fun (didn't realize there are metal fibers in fire brick lol), but it got the job done.  I also cut down some fire brick I had laying around from our old indoor wood furnace to 3" to fill the gap left after pushing all the brick tight.  I should have taken some pictures before firing the stove up so everyone could see the finished result, but hindsight right?  So far it is working well.  I'm finally getting good, even airflow into the firebox without having to worry about the spacing every time I rake the ash.  We'll see how it does through the season as the stove get more use.

I'm pretty disappointed with P&M on this.  I don't feel like they have lived up to the reputation of customer service that helped sway me to this brand of furnace or that they kept their word as Rory agreed to with me.  As I maintained in my previous post, I see this as a design flaw that has a major impact on the proper function of the stove and was addressed through a design modification in the factory.  P&M should do the right thing and have some integrity with owners of the earlier design.  Just my 2 cents.

[slimjim]

Wow, sorry to hear of the way this was handled, next time I speak with Brian, I will mention it to him.

[oaky]

So far, my welded spacers for the old style bricks are still functioning after the second half of the burn season last winter, now going into 4 weeks for this heating season. I agree with sceptre74, it's a warranty issue, P&M offered to replace my bricks for half price, $21 apiece, not including shipping. Still a hefty price for the consumer to pay for a flaw, so I declined.

[jackh113]

Thanks Slim, though at this point I am not sure what good it would do.  Have to say, this has left a bad taste in my mouth with P&M.  When I was looking to buy the stove, Robert called me fairly often.  After my purchase and during my install (did it all myself), he was still in good contact and very helpful.  He even sent me pics of his personal install.  He also followed up a few times after startup to see how things were going.  Robert was great.  When I called about the bricks, I got the feeling that he was very apologetic and it was out of his control.  I don't have anything bad to say about Robert at all.  Rory, however was pretty much an ass about the whole deal.  I had to keep pushing the point and calling back to get any response at all.

Oaky, I agree.  This is definitely a flaw in the design and should be rectified by the manufacturer at no cost to the consumer (especially not at that brick per brick + shipping from Canada).  I'm not an engineer or experienced in wood stove design, but in my mind this should have been a pretty basic part of the initial design.  The stove is marketed as more efficient with more complete combustion due in part to the introduction of pre-heated air under the fire.  This was apparently as major point of the design so wouldn't keeping the bricks stationary and evenly spaced be crucial to this concept?  To quote their brochure, "this is Wood Burning Technology 101".

Sorry.....still venting......

[Uponthehill]

Jackh113  -  Glad you revived the thread.  I remember thinking last year, "I am going to check mine in the spring cause I don't remember what mine looks like."
Sceptre74  -  Mine is exactly like yours.  Thank for the pic.  My 2840 was manufactured June 2014 and has 8 bricks.  The 7 gaps, when the brick are tight measure 1/2".  However, mine needs to be completely taken out and pushed tight.  A couple of my gaps are 3/4" right now.  Once I adjust mine, I'll make me a spacer to fill the remaining.  By what I just viewed, it doesn't look like it will be more than an inch.  Craftsmanship flaw ?  My opinion is no.  Quality Control improvements needed ?  My opinion is yes.  I have had nothing but excellent customer service from anyone I've spoken with @ P&M.  I believe he will and I hope Brian will read this thread.  I, as well as you Jackh113, do not take the lack of customer support from any company lightly and I only hope that a resolution to an admitted flaw is in the works.  On a side note.  I almost fired mine Friday night but got too busy.  Going to be in the mid 70's next week.  Guess I'll try and fire this coming Friday.  High 50, low 30's this time next week.  Stay warm...