After 2 seasons with an Econo 1

Brian wrote:First of all this is criminal your problem reminds me of Smittys dealings with hilkoil. Just don't understand how putting a light bulb in your stove will keep your hopper dry. I've had my ALASKA 25 years and my hopper looks like new. Can't believe they won't take care of this.

A light bulb will create enough heat to dry the air, warming the metal and slowing / stopping the rust. I dont blame LL for not replacing the hopper. I buy and refurb stoves as a hobby / extra coin. I see what coal left in hoppers looks likes, and the first pic in this thread is what they look like. I dont want to start and argument and point out things. As I said in my first post, looks like coal was left in it to me. But regardless, It's an easy fix. Make it better. I have an Econo1. It was my first rebuild and the pix are on this board. http://nepacrossroads.com/about12561.htmlThat is gotta be close to 10 years old. Bottom line is that these stove are great. Could changes be made to make them better? Always. But nothing covers up for improper maintenance. It's not a big deal. We all learn from our mistakes. But we try to inform and learn from others mistakes.

k9

Been burning coal for 30 years.This man has a hole in his hopper you can almost put your fist through.Do you work forll??? Do your people who are buying your products right. Replace this mans hopper.

Hello this Peggy

I think one needs to look at LL's record with customer service before commenting on these issues/this issue

A quick search for "rotted hopper" provided some interesting reading:

rotted hopper

How "wet is wet coal " ?

Hopper Question

It seems that more than one person has had the problem, and it isn't brand specific. Just by scanning a few threads I saw mention of a Keystoker boiler, Keystoker Koker, Harman Magnum, and an Alaska stoker that had rusted/rotted hoppers. The common link between the threads seems to be the use of wet/damp coal.

I have no affiliation with LL or any other coal appliance manufacturer, but this hopper problem sure seems to be linked to the use of wet coal...in particular, bagged rice. I would chalk it up to experience, replace the hopper, and get a container to stage your coal in so it can air dry prior to being loaded into the stove...but maybe that's just me.

Think something else is going on here. Just dosen't make sense. Two years??? Don't think I could have made that damage sitting in my jerky brine in that short of time.

Like Rob said, this is most likely not a brand specific problem or defect. In my opinion the coal being wet or damp caused this. The coal that I put in my hopper is damp, even after poking a hole in the bottom of the bag to let it drain. By spring my hopper will be rusty and I will evaluate a method to protect it from wet and damp coal for the following season.

A couple ways to deal with wet coal is to ( sometimes this is not possible) purchase it in the Spring with it pretty much drying out in the Summer heat, another way is to have two 30 gallon plus size plastic tubs near the warm stove, the wet coal is drying in one for 2-3 days while the other tub's coal that already dried is now being used in the stove.

Tractor Supply has a really nice metal feed scoop that can move the coal around pretty fast, it also does not hurt to mix the wet coal from the bin bottom to the top with the scoop every day or so to help the drying process.

Would imagine that burning dry coal also aids in reducing corrosion in the firebox, but that is just my speculation.

Ug

Brian wrote:k9

Been burning coal for 30 years.This man has a hole in his hopper you can almost put your fist through.Do you work forll??? Do your people who are buying your products right. Replace this mans hopper.

Nope, Not an employee of LL. But if you could put in a good word for me, that would be great.

Just so you know Alaska wouldn't have even considered replacing that hopper. With them, if it was a day out of warranty you wouldn't see any help what so ever. Plus if you read all the stove manufacturers warranties, you would soon learn none of them cover rust or corrosion under warranty. If you have burned coal for 30 yrs, then you would no full well that even good 316L stainless steel can't hold up to the corrosive propeties of coal without proper maintenance and care. I maintain 12 year old leisure pioneer and it has no rust in the hopper. This issue is not brand specific and is always due to improper care, wet coal, and/or poor draft.

I don't believe it, I have had my stove for 4 years nothing like that has happened.
Pioneer bottom vent. You got major moisture problems.

The white cirumferential witness mark is indicative of an adjacent uniform leveled coal line that has stayed static long enough to create a leaching /corrosion effect onto the metal...in other words, the coal was most likely sitting in there for a extended period without changing level in a possible wet condition. This most likely assessment is based on a "few" years of performing manufacturer failure /witness mark assessment with two Government agencies.

I'm not taking sides, nothing personal, just evidence. If anyone has other evidence to contrary, spin it up. That is the hard reality of investigation.

As a light aside, lets not get LL pissed off here, they are the only manufacturer who has the dedication to listen to us on a public forum. And lets not talk about the other stoker manufacturer who uses a plastic squirrel cage combustion blower that melts on shutdown, where is that manufacturer on the forum ?

Smoke the piece pipe guys, its a piece of metal.

Uglysquirrel wrote:

As a light aside, lets not get LL pissed off here, they are the only manufacturer who has the dedication to listen to us on a public forum.

'nough said

k9 see if I can get you in. Just pisses me off that eco can't remidy this! How much can a hopper cost. Hell I'll buy it for him.

Strikes me that some people just LIKE to be P.O'd no matter how much reason is laid in front of them. Funny thing, haven't heard from johnshan since Wed. Maybe some of these posts made sense to him??? And YES, it's an unfortunate situation that we hopefully all learn from.