A wire broke off the ignitor element in our Harman unit. I have ordered a replacement and it looks simple enough to fix myself. But before sourcing the part I had called about 5 different fireplace companies in the area, and it seems everyone has dropped all support for pellet stoves in recent years! Not only does no one sell them any more (other than Canadian Tire), but they all outright refused to even consider sending a repairperson to help.
It’s a bit infuriating. I am calling them, literally saying “please come take my money at your standard hourly rate”. One would think “struggling businesses” would be more willing to take on what should be profitable work.
Is it such a liability issue for them that they’re actually afraid to take on the work?
What if something bigger fails someday on my pellet stove? Why is no one on the island now willing to work on one?
If you know of someone who does still service wood pellet stoves on the island (Courtenay/Comox), please reply here or DM me. Thanks.
EDIT: formatting
Yeah I figure that’s sadly why all these dealers I spoke to don’t want to touch it. They may not have any staff currently trained up on them now, plus if they don’t stock parts any more… it’s no longer worth their time. I’m really surprised though, as I thought pellet stoves were still quite popular on the island (though they’re all older installs now, I guess…)
A fireplace is not a throwaway item though; I had hoped the company that installed it for the home’s previous owners (only 12 years ago) would still at least look at it. They were willing to 4 years ago and didn’t mention anything about dropping pellet stoves entirely at the time.
Well, anyhow I hope I can keep the unit going – replacement part was approx. $18, so worth a try before considering replacing with a propane fireplace that I was quoted at 6-7K (eeks!) It’s been great the last 10 years, a really dependable unit.