Pro Fab out of business

[waldershrek]

Talking with my cousin who works with a guy who also has an Empyre stove. His buddy has had nothing but problems with his, was working with Pro Fab to get them resolved. Went to call them and the phones were disconnected. Ended up getting a hold of the guy he had been dealing on his cell. He told him they were out of business. Not even the employees knew what was going on. Showed up to work Friday and were told not to come back on Monday kind of thing.


I called my dealer and he didn't know any more than they were out of business. I had been working with him trying to get an ongoing creosote issue sorted out last year. Pro Fab was of absolutely no help and he was basically at his wits end.


So now we're stuck with these sub par stoves, our 20 year warranty is worthless and we have no where to get parts. Didn't bother to tell the dealers, the customers or the employees.Thanks Pro Fab.

 

[superwd6]

I feel for you. Have had to tell many people over the years the same bad news for furnaces and fireplaces. Most of these company's reopen under slightly different name building same crap that put them under and not having to warranty products sold before . Profab went down earlier in the summer so I've been watching "Canada's top Empyre dealer" web site . Lee Price is owner , the site went blank for quite a while then showed up again with even a different boiler (French video couldn't understand it). Now the site is blank again [emoji849] . Wouldn't even buy the regular stove now from them . Our top dealer really helped out profanity by not selling gassifiers AND telling everybody what garbage they were [emoji47][emoji47][emoji47]. I hvac Central E Classic but know of 3 200 models working fine.


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[waldershrek]

Unfortunately in the nanny state of NY we can only have phase 2 compliant stoves. I'll run this one until it craps out I guess since it's paid for but it ran like garbage last year due to the stove making too much creosote which then runs down the wall, into the air duct and stick the blower door shut. So when I get home after work the water is down to about 90 and the blower is going but the fire can't get air because the door is shut. Pro Fab just kept telling me to I'm over loading the stove. Well sorry, when you work a 12 hour day I have to put enough in it so that it doesn't run out. They might as well be out of business I suppose since their stoves were junk and their customer service sucked for both customers and dealers.

 

[NSMaple1]

Maybe a combo of dealing with warranty/repair issues - and the hoop jumping of getting EPA certification for new units?

From the little bits I've read about the last part, I would be surprised if more outfits didn't just say the heck with it & fold their tents. Even with an existing unit that burns clean & meets all the EPA regs, I think getting the actual testing & certification done is a red tape nightmare.

 

[olyman]

epa,,putting allll woodstove co's out of business..is there goal..and no coal stoves either..ovomit hates coal...

 

[unclemoustache]

Hmmm - class action law suit??

 

[blades]

Well if you have really deep deep deep pockets and are about 20 years old now and live till you are 90 something you might just see some sort of result. Out gunning a Fed entity on there own turf and winning is a rare event.

 

[waldershrek]

Dealer said they were over whelmed with creosote issues on the new stoves and leaks on the older ones. Basically giving away stoves left and right under warranty. Pro Fab did absolutely nothing to try and resolve issues with stoves, every issue you had to fight tooth and nail to get some sort of resolution.


Don't worry he said, they'll probably just open up under a different name and be back cranking out junk in a few months


It'd be funny if it wasn't true.......

 

[CUCV]

This is some frustrating news about Pro-Fab. I have a 200 pro model that I have run for 3 winters. I experienced the air-inlet / blower door creosote problem the last week of the 1st heating season and failed the blower motor at that time. Since it was not during a critical heating time it was not big deal to shut it down. But it was a huge deal to clean it out!
During the 2nd heating season I had the air-inlet / blower door creosote problem 4 times. It was a huge pain to deal with returning home to lower water temperature in the middle of the winter, immediately cancel my plans for the evening to clean out the creosote. I was in and out of the air inlet so many times that winter trying to prevent this that the sheet metals screw threads in the sheetmetal that hold on the door and blower stripped out. In hind sight my wood that season was not very well seasoned. I burned mostly chunks, ends, cookies which are hard to season in a heap on pallets.
During the 3rd heating season I made some progress on improving the seasoning of the wood I was burning and started to tinker with boiler settings. I only ended up with getting a restricted air-inlet tube 2 times. Basically when the boiler recovery time took longer than normal I knew where to look to solve the problem before to completely clogged and could not maintain temperature. I have drilled and tapped qty 4 1/2" holes in the inlet tube to help me access and clean out he creosote with a screw driver as well as burning out the creosote with a propane torch.
At the end of the last heating season the access door to the heat transfer tubes rusted out. Moisture got between the steel door and firebrick causing the rust. Now I can't get a new door from Pro Fab warranty or purchase.... I guess it's fortunate I can fab up one myself...
I plan to cut out my air inlet tube and make an easily removable tube. I have wanted to do this since the first year but its a tough area to work and I had hoped to solve the problems in other way.

 

[superwd6]

Unless they improve their gassifiers they will fail again. Canada is very small market for smoky models AND I'm sure we won't be far behind United States banning them[emoji52]


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[TMFARM 2009]

big gov wants nobody in business. this is not surprising to me.