Castle Serenity Saga

well I gave Ardisam the info they requested for doing the swap on wed. and have not heard anything since, I'm getting the feeling someone may have jumped the gun as to replacing the stove.

 

That would be a big disappointment!!

 

dropped Ardisam a just touching base e-mail with no response so far,

 

It would be, but I never expected them to do anything about the stove to begin with that's why I bought the Ravelli to replace the Serenity

 

Got an email today saying the supervisor is setting up delivery and I will get a confirmation email when they ship the new stove.

 

That's Great customer service goes a long way this may cost them a few $$ ,but in the long run how much would it cost them if they dissed you ?? and now how much will they profit by working with you , tons of free advertising

 

Amen Will ,I can gaurantee they sold several stoves due too my positive postings on forums and by them doing right by me I will continue to speak very highly of them.

 

Any updates, Rich? Have you gotten your replacement? I'm still interested in a Serenity for another area which will have small use. It would be the perfect smaller stove for there and I was pumped up about one and the price point. I will probably still get one but they seem to be out of stock most places.

I have a good friend who has a metal fab shop so fixing some welds wouldn't be any issue here. Is there any place to set some fire bricks in there to protect the areas where yours popped? That might be a cheap PM fix.

 

The last email said I will get a call from the delivery company atleast 24 hrs. prior to delivery and I have not recieved that call yet,they may be waiting to get a stove also because I heard that they only get 200 stoves a month from china. I have pics from the original Serenity brochure and you can see it had what looks like vermiculite panels inside.Why they done away with those panels I don't know or understand.replacement panels are listed here. http://www.eastcoasthearth.com/collections/ardisam-pellet-stove-parts, but I have not checked to see if they are available. If they are indeed available it should be easy enough to buy the panels and install them.

 

Who is Ardisam?

 

They're located in your neck of the woods:

Heating - Ardisam Inc.

 

Yep they are definitely the verm panels we have in our stoves too. It is possible they were just left out, you need to talk to Ardisam. Very disappointing that you are getting the run around now. When this happens to me I make a point of calling the offending business EVERY SINGLE DAY until they honour their word. You just need a speaker phone so you can relax while you wait on hold. After a week or so they get to know you and start feeling sorry for you. Stockholm Syndrome..... If they say they are working on something and it will be a coupla days then you ring them in EXACTLY 2 days. NEVER EVER wait for their return call, always call exactly when they said they would call you back. DO NOT email, it does not waste their time enough, always use the phone as that ties someone and it is difficult for them to get snippy since you are in the right. ALWAYS write down the name of the person you are talking to to build up a history, you want the operator to feel your pain, that is how things get escalated. Keep pushing until they either relent or blow up. If they blow up then they weren't going to help you anyway. You have nothing to lose.
Definitely point out the lack of verm boards, at the very least they could send you a set. That is all you really need I reckon. Of course a new stove would be better and that is what they promised.
Good Luck

 

I bought my stove the 2nd year the Serenity was out and ever since then none of the stoves have had the panels inside, it must have been just the first year stoves.I hear what your saying Chickenman about keeping on Ardisam but on the same hand I just feel fortunate that they are willing to replace a stove 2yrs.out of warranty so if the whole process takes a bit of time that's fine as I have a new stove in its place already. I will keep touching base with them on the situation and I do have all the emails to support what I have been told.I'm sure the hold up is the lack of them being able to get a stove because I know they have become very popular and hard to get.I did email Don at East coast and he does have the vermiculite panels so I will be ordering a set soon as I get the new stove.I'm not investing a dime into the old stove with the noise it makes and the new stove in its place.I think a phone call or email is in order though to find out why they decided to remove the panels inside.I will keep everyone updated with any info I get.

 

Here is the response I got as to why they no longer use the vermiculite panels in the stove.



I believe the reason is they are no longer needed as a heat shield and were actually more of a nuisance

 

Listened to the video.

My bet is that the noise is not metal expanding, but instead a draft fan or motor failing.

Once the stove has been running for 20-30 minutes the clinking sounds of warm up are generally all done

The black sooty marks ?????

Unless the windows are getting more soot, likely not an issue.

Good luck

See if you can find out what the issue is.

Very curious

 

Do the panels need to be removed for cleaning? Possibly got rid of them because they are likely brittle and fragile. Easily and frequently broken?? Then the welds lost their protection creating another issue......

If Ardisam does not back you I'll scratch the Serenity and look at other options possibly. It sucks because I know you were all about the stove and one would be a perfect solution for something I am looking at doing here. That is why I was so keen on one. Plus the price point. If they raise that up to $1,500 or so then that's strike two for sure. I've seen some advertised at around $1,300 already. Still may not be a deal breaker but might lean more towards a small good wood stove. Too early to tell. And I am still healing up from the decades of busting all that "free" wood.

K.I.S.S. comes to mind and I am also looking into the NC-30 for a stove in case the pellet prices get silly. I do like the ease and simple stuff pellets offer or the Lazy Boy Effect. Especially since I have no time for wood nowadays. Price is still reasonable here on pellets but they were trying some price gouging this past fall. I'll never wait for my season's stash. Usually buy earlier than the early buys. I will also not pay $250 per ton or more. Never!

Hopefully things work out for you and it very well could be limited stoves available. I imagine 200 go pretty fast and they are also spread out thru various retailers.

 

Snowy, I found it odd also it continued for some time. Not sure if Rich had just started the stove or not. If so and the stove was still heating up it could be expansion pops. Something is definitely not right though either way. Fixing broken welds here isn't an issue but it still should not have happened on any stove just a few years old.

 

It's definitely the metal ,I pulled the sides off while its running. the blowers are basically silent,That video clip was after the stove ran all night I could have easily drilled new holes and welded it back up but I tried the bolts first(could of just welded the holes shut ) to see the if it would stop the noise and it did not.I don't think the right plug weld had ever held as that side always had a gap but I honestly never paid much attention to it until the noise started.Who knows what may have happened running the stove for 3 yrs.with that weld loose.I'm an auto body tech so I'm sure I could spend time and fix the thing but if they are going to replace it why bother.