Sunfire installed a pellet fireplace insert in our home. The fireplace insert looks lovely, but it has made our house LESS heat efficient! We inquired with two places about getting an insert for our fireplace. Sunfire seemed to have the best option (biggest size needed for our house and best price at that size). Justin came out to our house to do the technical site visit (he's not a service technician, but he said he had a ton of experience with installation so he does the visits sometimes). He let us know a wood insert would not work in our fireplace for various reasons. That was fine. He said he was sure that a pellet insert would make our house more efficient. We currently use propane heat and we have a loft-style house. I am well aware that heat rises and our house is naturally not the most efficient when it comes to keeping heat downstairs. However, we trusted that Sunfire advised us truthfully and adequately when saying a pellet insert would definitely be more efficient heat/cost wise. I expected it would at least warm our living room (above the living room is open, but we sit on a couch about 15 feet from the fireplace). It doesn't!!
-The insert was installed on Monday 1/4/2016. The technicians arrived a little later than I was told they'd be there. No big deal. They got the job done by late Monday afternoon. They added one bag of pellets (that they brought) around 4:00pm. They told us to run it on high nonstop to burn off some of the paint and such, so we did that. We didn't feel much heat sitting on the couch that night, the temperature in the room actually went down 1 to 2 degrees every hour. My husband and I woke up at 1:00am during the night and the fire had gone out! When I asked a technician when they were installing it about how long a bag of pellets should last he said about a day. I realize that's an estimate, but I definitely expected it to last more than 8-9 hours! In the morning we looked and the pellets were gone so it used the entire bag in that time. We tried again on Tuesday afternoon hoping that the pellets we bought would burn hotter and longer. Same thing happened... we put them in around 5:00pm and they were out again by 1:00am during the night.
I called Sunfire yesterday (1/6) and they sent technicians out the same day. I told them they were welcome to stay for a few hours to see just how little heat it gives off. They stayed about an hour or so [when the stove goes out after running out of pellets, it takes a good hour for the fire to start back up.... This would be a problem if we really did need to use one bag every 8-9 hours and it runs out while we're sleeping!]. They added more pellets (the brand my husband and I bought) around 4:00pm. The only recommendation they had was to turn the fan we have on (which is not in the center above the living room, it's off to the side). We tried that, turning two fans on (the correct way for winter) to see if it would push the heat back down. We sat there for a couple hours and it still got colder and went down a degree or two every hour. At 1:00am I woke and the fire was on, but low and almost out, so it went out shortly after that.
We are done trying to keep this insert. If we did keep it and used pellets as often as it seems to need, we'd go through 3 bags a day and close to two tons a month PLUS we'd have to still use our propane to actually HEAT the house to feel warm. I called Sunfire this morning to talk with Justin, but he wasn't available so I left a voicemail. I'm going to request a FULL refund. We paid close to $7,000 for this insert (with labor and everything)!! We spent that much - on something they told us would make our home more efficient - and we will still have to spend money on propane heat every month, more than usual because the insert makes it colder in the house than it was before having it. I am hoping they honor a full refund, as well as put something back in our fireplace to block the cold air from coming in once they remove the insert, but I'm nervous they won't. I understand if an insert won't work to properly heat our home (but really... not even 15 feet away on the couch?!), but what I am most upset about is that they sold us the insert after visiting our house, seeing the setup, and telling us it would definitely be more efficient. They should have at the very least said there is a good chance this will not heat your house or living room efficiently. We would have thought twice before purchasing and investing almost $7,000 in this! I hope for a full refund, but if they won't honor that, we plan to pursue a court case for this situation. If they come through with good service (full refund), maybe I'll change my rating a little bit, since that would reflect they handled the situation properly, but as of now, I do not consider this good customer service by Sunfire. read more
