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[woodman]

Has anybody read the Shaver ad on ebay? They claim their 165 is a 75% efficient GASSIFICATION boiler just because the flue sticks down into the firebox?     

[Scott7m]

Who could stop them?  Its been tried before, but until customers start sueing because they've been lied to I dont see anything happening.  I really feel for those who beleive what there told, I have folks come in and they wouldn't know gassificiation from anything else, many people are just very trusting and shaver kinda tries to sound like the good ol boys, ya know, taking care of the working man.  However, there feeding them a line of bull and they know it

[RSI]

Yeah, until they are sued and forced to give real 3rd party test results they can say anything they want.
They know no one will waste the time and money to sue them. I was kind of surprised the IRS didn't though.

[yoderheating]

 It really is a shame because they are making the whole industry look bad.

[lugnut]

Hi guys,

I haven't  been on either of the two wood sites for quite some time...the hot rod has been taking preference :-)  Ya know, I have NO CLUE as to what a "gassification/gassifier" OWF is or does.  Really.  I keep reading about them on the forums and yet I sit and wonder just what the heck are these things?

Yes, I own a Shaver as y'all are aware of.   m I content and happy with my unit?  Well I was until recently when now I'm reading that they don't meet such and such standards if built after Aug 2011.  I have no clue as to what these standards are and if I have any recourse to go back to Shaver and demand a full refund etc.....I don't know which direction I would begin to take and what my complaints would be as this is the first OWF I have ever owned.  I bought this unit because of price and the fact that from doing my research prior to buying...just about every brand is similar in how these things are built.  They serve one purpose and that is to heat water and that water flows via a pump into the house/shop/whatever to a water-to-air exchanger and in the end heats our furnishings with wood instead of going broke paying the utility companies.

So here I am sitting wonder what to do with my Shaver.  I know I would prolly take a hit from two sources if I tried to sell it...one of those hits would be from my wife.  Then I'd be back in the same boat as to wondering what brand is better (and this raises numerous arguments) but will NOT send me to the poor house?

So who can give me the STRAIGHT skinnie on Shaver and what they're accused of and what can the typical Shaver owner do about any of this?  Oh, and what in the hell is a gassifier?  Back to my hot rod.

Lugnut

[RSI]

I wouldn't worry about it. It is pretty much the equivalent or a car company saying a car gets 40 miles per gallon to get a tax credit when it really gets 20 and the government telling them to stop saying that.

[Scott7m]

If you feel you were seriously mis led, you have the right to argue and file complaints.  Whether there is anything in it, I donno'.

I always assumed that folks really didn't believe that they were buying 75% efficient stove.  My bias comes from I knew it wasn't possible, but it's crazy. 


If you actually want to watch a gassifier operate go to youtube and type in empyre pro series or empyre elite, they have some good videos showing the burn chambers.  Portage and main also has some good videos of there burn chambers.

[woodman]

Hey lugnut, if you were happy and content with your shaver then stay that way, none of these posts change how your boiler runs. You have a pretty straight forward owb that should last you a long time. I just find it hard to believe shaver can get away with such false advertising. If you were told by shaver that you were getting a 75% effecient gassification boiler you were totaly misled and they took advantage of you. 

[TheBoiler]

My first thought is does it matter?

I have not seen one, I get the impression that there are relatively well built, use a lot of wood, will burn anything and smoke.

And cheap.

If it does what you want it to and can live with downsides then so what?

[yoderheating]

 The downside is that you don't get what you think you did when you bought the furnace. Its not even in the top 50% of furnace brands out there when it comes to efficiency but they are selling it as being as a top 5% furnace.
 Back to RSI's example, it would be like buying a car that is advertized to get 40mpg but only gets 20mpg. You could make the same argument that the car is well built and will go off road well but it does use twice the fuel as was advertized.
 A little honesty would go a long ways. There is a huge market for cheaper furnaces that they fill but they are not satisfied with that and feel they need to lie in order to sell to the high end market. They are making everyone distrust outdoor furnace dealers when infact there are a lot of us out here that bend over backwards to be sure our products are completely understood before we sell to someone.

[Scott7m]

My first thought is does it matter?

I have not seen one, I get the impression that there are relatively well built, use a lot of wood, will burn anything and smoke.

And cheap.

If it does what you want it to and can live with downsides then so what?

They use heavy material but monkeys could weld better from what I've seen.  I've seen some I simply had to shake my head in disbelief.  Just google shaver problems, you'll find enough reading to keep u busy for a long time, this isn't there first fiasco as you will see, some folks on the forum have bought them and had them leak within a year, some folks more than 1 of them, they'll call someone to repair them an the welder will say, "I can't weld on metal that deteriorated"  .   There heavy fire boxes arent new, they are often made of gas line casing.   I think it all goes back to the rule of thumb, "you get what you pay for"

[TheBoiler]

Ok I did not know that and it puts a different perspective on them.

[wishiwasfishingguy]

Here's an interesting read regarding this topic!

http://www.irs.gov/irb/2011-48_IRB/ar16.html

[jimr]

as for wood usage,,, from what i have read and compared to other brand units on this fourm , my shaver burns about the same amount of wood as most that have posted there usage in the past. 

[Bull]

With the way the shaver brings the chimney down into the fire box I bet it burns less than my Hardy H2