The Pelletstove Corner

The pelletstove corner is a question and answer forum. It’s the place to go for free help with your pelletstove problems or questions. The pelletstove corner is the place to view images of what I do during a pelletstove cleaning and reconditioning. It is also a place to find tips and ideas regarding pelletstoves. There’s a $5.00 coupon here that customers can print that is good in conjunction with any other offered discounts. Also, I invite you to check out what my customers have to say about my work in the Guestbook. Originally, the forum was published in our local newspaper The Register-Guard here in Eugene, Oregon. Pelletstove owners were invited to ask questions regarding their pelletstove or pelletstoves in general. Each week a question was picked and published along with the answer.

The Pelletstove Corner is here for YOU.

Do you have a question regarding the repair or operation of your Pelletstove?

Have a question about pelletstoves in general?

This is the place to ask away. I will try to answer any and all questions in a timely and concise manner.

Why ask me a question? I’ve been in the hearth industry since 1984. Back then I owned a business called “The Fireman” in Marin County, California. Those were the days before pelletstoves. Back then I did chimney cleanings, woodstove installations, mortar repairs, and damper and cap installations. I did many coal to wood fireplace conversions in the old mansions of San Francisco. I saw my first pelletstove back in 1989 after my wife and I relocated to Eugene, Oregon. Back then there were few models available. Whitfield had this wedge shaped unit, Quadrafire had a one speed unit that had the first ignitor and ran on a thermostat (very ahead of its time) and Breckwell was just ramping up production of its P24 model. Craft Stoves had recently bought the patent on the Breckwell from Al Breckel and David Wells (hence the name) and they were being constructed on the premises. It was there at Craft Stoves I saw my first pelletstove and I have been working on pelletstoves since then. The first few years I had to also do other elements within the industry to pay the bills; chimney and woodstove work, running gas lines for the local gas company and installing gas burning equipment. But as my pelletstove customer base increased I slowly eliminated these other elements of my business and for many years now I have specialized in only pelletstoves. I do installation and repair but the majority of my work is annual cleaning and reconditioning. My business name is Claxton’s Inc. very original I know, but thats what it has evolved to from Claxtons Professional Chimney Service. I have 2,000 customers on my mailing list and I stay busy year round. I’ve had employees in the past but its expensive and very time consuming to train someone and a pain in the butt when the call in sick or start cutting corners. Anyway, I’ve worked on every pelletstove out there and most likely I’ll be able to answer most any question you throw my way.

June 11th. 2008. -Here’s an update on whats going on with the website. Most recently I have started tinkering around with the iWeb application that came in the iLife ‘08 package I bought for the family. It allows for a degree of creativity and “wow factor” I find lacking at this site. Although, this current application WordPress allows me to use something called FormBuilder which allows an idiot like me to easily create a form for my viewers to fill out and send to me. iWeb may provide a similar feature but I have yet to figure it out and “writing code” is beyond my skill level. Nevertheless I am able to create links between the two sites and I invite you to check out the sister site still in its infant stage.

July 9th. 2008.- I have added the first slideshow over at the sister site. Its called Bridge St. Repair and if you want to see an example of a really crappy installation you should check it out. I had fun putting the slideshow together and I also enjoyed replacing the venting.

December 11th. 2008.- This is the time of year when I end up working seven days a week. Typically Saturday and Sunday are “clean days” which means I don’t do any dirty work like reconditionings but focus on repairs- bringing dead stoves back to life. Keeping my customers warm and happy by getting to them as soon as possible, even if that means Sunday. The website seems to be well received as there is a steady stream of questions showing up in my mailbox. So far I have been able to reply to all asked questions well within 24 hours. It’s been and remains a lot of fun. Most of the questions are coming from back east which I find interesting. I guess I never realized just how popular pelletstoves are in that region.

I am getting slammed with spam in the comments sections and in the guestbook. I have to delete about 100 spam emails every time I check the incoming comments. My computer guy says there is nothing that can be done. Its crazy.

Here’s a bit more history-
I started the pelletstove corner for several reasons. I wanted to publish some information regarding the fair and reasonable cost of parts and service in the hopes of helping pelletstove owners avoid getting ripped off. I wanted to show my community the knowledge I have accumulated these past twenty years and make available to my customers. The Pelletstove Corner was presented as “A weekly Q&A forum courtesy of Claxton’s Inc.” with the hope that I might find a local sponsor willing to simply pay the cost of continuing it past the original 16 week contract. I remain willing to do all the work and the sponsors name will replace mine. I will approach some local vendors next fall and see where it goes. I think The Pelletstove Corner remains a good tool to promote the industry in general.

I printed up all the ads and gave a copy to each of my customers along with their receipt after cleaning or repairing their pelletstove. Several times each week it was suggested I should have a website. Finally, the son of one of my customers took the initiative and put this thing together while I was working on their stove. I hope you find some useful information here. Because, like I say in one of the Q&A’s “Information is power and advice is always free.”