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Hawken Energy, support only / Buyer beware
« on: January 29, 2009, 10:22:02 PM »
I bought my first Hawken energy furnace back in 2006. this original unit was built by Global Hydrnics, and marketed by hawken. it consisted of a 409 stainless fire box, and a mild steel exterior. The stove appeared to be well built, and he fit and finish was excellent. However last september I poured a new slab for the stove to sit on, and when I refilled the furnace I noticed a bubble in the paint on the back of the funrnace that was leaking water. this one bubble turned into 3 and I had to add water to it every three days.
After nearly 3 months of constant pushing, Hawken replaced my furnace with a HE1100. The differences, and short falls were aparent instantly. Hawken now uses a shop called "custom welding" to build the boiler section, and hawken finishes them, poorly. my stove started leaking a black liquid out the right lower corner of the door from day one. I was informed by Dave Sanderson at Hawken that this was normal, and it would go away after a couple days. It has been more than 2 months and it is still leaking, creating a slick under the door that builds up about 3 inches thick in a week or so.
I thought it was strange that the stove took a long time to come up to temperature, it took 7 hours when I first fired it, and then it would usually run wide open for at least an hour to maintain the temperature. I am burning dry, dead oak, cherry and hickory ( dead enough the bark has fallen off most of it) I couldn't go more than 8 hours before the fire was out and here was nothing more than cold ash in the bottom, or the furnace would blow out the flame and it would be cold with charred wood in the firebox. either way I was coming home to a cold house.
I found that the draft blower was blowing too much air into the firebox, effectively blowing all the heat right out the stack. I have spoken to two other owners that have the exact conditions. I restricted the hole in the blower box to throttle back the air. this made a huge improvement in burn time, and efficiency.
I also noticed that the seal tight that runs from the tin cabinet to the blower on the door broke, this seems to be normal with the two other owners I spoke with. Also there is a severe lack of insulation around the burn pot, in the front door (causing condensation) and in the back of the stove. the roof of the furnace gets quite hot in the back, and rarely allows snow to build on it anywhere.
the response from Hawken has been dismal, several times I have been told "I don't know", and most recently I was told that it is my fault the stove burns so much wood, leaks black stuff, looses heat, and the seal tight broke because I didn;t buy my heat exchanger and filter directly through Hawken... even though I have an AIC LB31-70x heat exchanger (same brand and series they sell on ebay) and a Rusco spindown filter/ strainer (same as Hawken sells on ebay).
I pointed this out to Dave, and i still haven't received a response.
I am thoroughly disgusted with the lack of service and attempt to blame poor workmanship, and cheap materials on not purchasing parts through hawken. Dave sanderson paid attention in his marketing classes, and will feed you a line of B.S. a mile long. Don't buy a word of it. Most of what he says are half truths and Lies.
If you own a HE1100 and you don't have problems with wood consumption, let me know. I am interested in some measurements.
have a good one,
Ouch
After nearly 3 months of constant pushing, Hawken replaced my furnace with a HE1100. The differences, and short falls were aparent instantly. Hawken now uses a shop called "custom welding" to build the boiler section, and hawken finishes them, poorly. my stove started leaking a black liquid out the right lower corner of the door from day one. I was informed by Dave Sanderson at Hawken that this was normal, and it would go away after a couple days. It has been more than 2 months and it is still leaking, creating a slick under the door that builds up about 3 inches thick in a week or so.
I thought it was strange that the stove took a long time to come up to temperature, it took 7 hours when I first fired it, and then it would usually run wide open for at least an hour to maintain the temperature. I am burning dry, dead oak, cherry and hickory ( dead enough the bark has fallen off most of it) I couldn't go more than 8 hours before the fire was out and here was nothing more than cold ash in the bottom, or the furnace would blow out the flame and it would be cold with charred wood in the firebox. either way I was coming home to a cold house.
I found that the draft blower was blowing too much air into the firebox, effectively blowing all the heat right out the stack. I have spoken to two other owners that have the exact conditions. I restricted the hole in the blower box to throttle back the air. this made a huge improvement in burn time, and efficiency.
I also noticed that the seal tight that runs from the tin cabinet to the blower on the door broke, this seems to be normal with the two other owners I spoke with. Also there is a severe lack of insulation around the burn pot, in the front door (causing condensation) and in the back of the stove. the roof of the furnace gets quite hot in the back, and rarely allows snow to build on it anywhere.
the response from Hawken has been dismal, several times I have been told "I don't know", and most recently I was told that it is my fault the stove burns so much wood, leaks black stuff, looses heat, and the seal tight broke because I didn;t buy my heat exchanger and filter directly through Hawken... even though I have an AIC LB31-70x heat exchanger (same brand and series they sell on ebay) and a Rusco spindown filter/ strainer (same as Hawken sells on ebay).
I pointed this out to Dave, and i still haven't received a response.
I am thoroughly disgusted with the lack of service and attempt to blame poor workmanship, and cheap materials on not purchasing parts through hawken. Dave sanderson paid attention in his marketing classes, and will feed you a line of B.S. a mile long. Don't buy a word of it. Most of what he says are half truths and Lies.
If you own a HE1100 and you don't have problems with wood consumption, let me know. I am interested in some measurements.
have a good one,
Ouch
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