This is my first winter on firewood in general and using a heatmor 200, any stove is better than fuel oil. I've heard others say the heatmor's aren't as efficient as other stoves. It seemed like I was burning through a lot of wood earlier, but I was using wet/borderline rotten maple, balsam, and birch, now that I've switched to birch thats been cut down for a year, but only cut to firebox length since fall it seems decent.
Only problem I've had with stove is that when temps were warmer out in the fall (30-40 degrees F) the call for heat wasn't as often so the flapper door in front of the fan stuck open slightly because creosote built up on the hinge part. This caused temps to get warmer than they should, but no water was lost or damage, if I'd have had a dump zone hooked up I'd probably not noticed there was a issue. When temps are colder and the fan has to start and stop more often it keeps the flapper door free and moving. I think in the future when temps are that warm I will move the differential to 5-10 degrees, so the fan needs to come on more often. The flapper has even stuck closed because of this issue. It has to do alot with getting used to the stove, if I'd have known that flappers could get stuck I'd have messed with the differential right after the fall install.
I work with a guy that has had his heatmor since the early 90s and the only issue was that just this year his door got some holes in it.
About the only thing I can think of is finding out if its ever been over heated.
How does your neighbors 400 seem on wood usage?