In February 2012 we went to Hometown Fireplace Outlet with the intent of purchasing a wood stove for our home to replace our furnace as the main source of heat. Given our heating needs the owner of Hometown Fireplace Outlet recommended we purchase a free standing Regency F3100 wood stove costing $3749.60. They were to deliver and install the wood stove.\r
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In October of 2012 we hired a chimney sweep to clean the chimney for the upcoming winter season. This person explained to us that he had found several issues with the installation of the wood stove, it was not installed to code, and it was a danger to our home and family. He explained that the chimney pipe was not installed high enough to achieve proper draft. Also the pipe used inside the home was installed too close to combustible materials in our living room. The pipe used in our attic was also installed too close to combustible materials there. Additionally the stove was placed too close to the front of the fire safe pad it was setting on, not giving proper clearance to the wood floor in front of the stove. \r
We contacted Hometown Fireplace Outlet about the issues with the installation. After a week passed they came back out to the house to look at the chimney, and some time later they rebuilt the chimney for the stove. They also moved the stove on the protective floor pad to meet the proper clearances. 48 days after the chimney was rebuilt we had smoke pouring into our living room through the seams in the pipe, and hot embers shooting from our chimney pipe on to our roof. \r
We hired a certified chimney inspector to inspect the chimney. We were told that the height of the chimney still did not meet the code requirements for proper drafting, as well as the manufacturer's recommendations for ease of access for maintaining the pipe due to the height. In addition to the height not meeting code requirements, there was still a section of pipe in our attic that was too close to combustible material, leaving us with a fire hazard in our attic. The code enforcement officer also inspected our chimney, and confirmed that the installation of the stove did not meet the code set for such an installation and he was unable to issue a certificate of compliance for the stove. The professionals have explained that the stove should have never been installed where it is, and there was nothing that could be changed in the original location to operate it safely. We asked Hometown Fireplace Outlet to remove the stove and chimney, and return our $3749.60, as the wood stove was completely useless to us. \r
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This company risked our home, and more importantly our lives with two installations that did not meet code or manufacturer requirements. The owners of Hometown Fireplace Outlet told us they are unwilling to remove the stove and refund our money, and after trying to deal with them directly, they stopped returning my phone calls or emails. I filed a complaint with the better business bureau and they failed to respond. In the end we had the stove moved by another company to different location in our home which cost us an additional $1600. As part of the bbb complaint I simply asked for them to reimburse us for the stove being moved to a location where we could use it safely, and as I said they did not respond. The cost of the wood stove now totals over $5000, and it does not heat our entire home as we intended.
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