Alycidon

Further developments this morning, the crankcase is in two halves, the gasket between the two has failed not the case itself. !!. Husky are recommending re gaskit, new piston and rings and rebuild using old casing and service, repair cost is a lot more reasonable so have gone for that. The dealer wanted to put a new crankcase, piston, liner and new carb in. Think I feel me leg being lifted a bit. All its had is XP oil. So not ideal but it could be worse, probably now use it as a back up saw and or on lighter stuff. A

Fuel is only drained after end of season use, so around the end of Sept, then re filled March time with fresh fuel. It is then left with fuel in it between uses. These can be next day or in two months, I use it to cut down over sized pop ready for billeting and to cut up wind blown branches and occasional trees on the farm. I cannot though see how a fuel issue can cause poor delayed hot start ( after a 2 min stop for fuel it was fine) and cause the crankcase to develop a pin hole or maybe 2. My dealer said the pinhole (s) had caused the engine to run lean, that in turn had damaged the piston. I would have thought this is an out and out manufacturing issue but of course the saw is out of warranty. A

My dealer did not even know that when I bought the saw. After a large row and the threat of court action Husky rebuilt the engine, that was after 2 weeks of use. Now 4 years and about 250 service hours later the engine is again scrap even though it has only had the Husky synthetic 2 stroke mix at the recommended dose rate on their can. Thats 2% (1.50) using the Husky oil, page 18 here: http://service.webec.husqvarna.net/documents/HUSO/HUSO2017_EUenAPen/HUSO2017_EUenAPen__1156729-26.pdf A

I do think that as well, maybe if I ran 20 saws it would be different. We are currently talking direct to Husky via Twitter, if that fails maybe I should take it to the Arb show !!. A

I bought it new in early 2014, it was running Ok when it went in, just hot start issues. A

Thats fair enough, teh saw went in as it would not start having been stood for 10 mins for a chain change. Cold starts fine, as it did when having a 2 minute stop for fuel and bar oil. At present we are talking to Husky via Twitter, so public. While its out of warranty its sold as a pro forestry saw designed for continuous use. Given those conditions it would have done the work its taken me four years to do in a couple of months, about 250 hours. Assuming Husky wont play ball re engine rebuild then I propose to send it to you as it is, ie stripped out. Then you can see whats what. A

Dont know, nothing evident externally but they came to light when the crankcase was pressure tested. A

Thanks for that, Spud, am wondering what it would cost to put it back together, my dealer says it need new crankcase, piston, liner, air filter and carb. Cant see why it wants the latter. Its in bits at present. B, So even if it runs again as a back up I need a new saw, always used Husky ( 50 years or so) usually 10 years plus out of them, I hear bad things about the new Sthils, everybody seemed to like the Dolmar/Matika range but that seems to have tapered off after an issue. Have used Sthils but dont really like them. A

250 hours of use for what is described as an intensive professional saw for full time use is pretty poor. Its main use is cutting wind blown branches for firewood plus some ringing up bigger sticks, so hardly heavy work. A

I have a 560XP, about 4 years old, ( New Apr 14), done about 250 hours. Had an issue recently with hot start, a 2 minute break to refuel was fine but a ten minute break to change a chain and it would not start untill cool. Taken it into my local dealer who supplied it. They advise two small holes in the crankcase, this had allowed air to be drawn into the crankcase and has scuffed the piston, so new crankcase, piston etc and 4 hours labour to re build. Cost more than a new saw, Has anyone else had this issue, do not feel like buying another Husky given that the engine also seized soon after buying as the dealer had sold be Sthil 2 stroke mix to go with it, should be synthetic mix. Suggestions please, especially from Stubby ( ?) the guy that ports saws, Thanks A

Ask women, they always have the final word. But it will be a good stove that bests the Ecoburn 5 widescreen. How does a 21st century burner that can take a 21" log put out only a (rated) 5kW? We have a very middle market 5kW New Zealand built burner (~15 years old) that struggles to accept a 15" lo Nepia. All stoves in the UK have to be CE tested and approved, this is a Europe wide quality test where stoves have to achieve certain emissions and efficiency targets. The issue is the stove manufacturer usually ( always) supplies the fuel to be burnt on test and specifies how many bit are to be loaded at a time. So an average size bit of Ash, 250mm long, wedge shape, about 150mm at the wide end, nice and dry will have about 1.5kw of energy within it. So load three into a firebox and you get 4.5 kw out irrespective of the firebox size. Currently the building regs advise no air vent required for properties built pre 2008 at 5.0kw or below. Customers are increasingly looking for bigger and bigger glass areas without wanting the drafts from remote air vents, so some manufacturers give customers what they want, typically a 7kw - 9kw stove rated at 5.0 kw nominally. Respectable retailers now have a responsibility to ensure that gullible customers do not fall into the trap and buy a stove that is far to powerful for the room its going into. Usually I talk to the wife and tell her that if she allows her man a particular stove she will be spending the winter in her swim suit, that pretty well always ensures they buy an appropriate stove for their room. The problem is that on line retailers dont by and large have any verbal conversations with the buyer to assertion suitability. I am not a Stovax dealer but I thought they had the largest UK market share as they were, personally I do like their new Sheraton and Vouge ranges but its not me thats buying them. It also depends on what price level they have set for them, looks like the 5kw standard width Sheraton is going to be around £1100, thats at the top of the sector price wise and around £200 dearer than similar models from Arada ( ECB5) and Morso ( 04) so its a uphill battle for them. I assume they are made in Poland or similar, nothing wrong with that if the material spec is right but they do give the impression of being a British brand when that is not quite the case. Based in Britain certainly but owned by NIBE, a very large Swedish conglomerate many of whomes stoves come from Eastern Europe, but I dont think many Stovax brand stoves are built in the UK these days but I do stand to be corrected. But at least they are moving forward unlike some manufacturers particularly at the high end who are making little effort to update their model range and make them more saleable. I told one rep last week that his companies lack of effort to comply with the proposed Ecodesign 2022 requirements will cost him 5 - 10 stoves in my showroom this winter. The public are aware of these requirements and are wanting to buy Ecodesign ready products, Time will tell on Stovax, A

Ring roller should be no issue on the roads. A

I find the speed adequate, its rolling the lumps to the splitter and stacking the billets that takes the time. A

You could also change the spark plug, I had an issue today with a 560XP that had been running fine then after lunch just would not start. Eventually it did start but a shut down for more fuel and it refused totally to play, new plug in and away it went. A

I did say it is my best sellers. That Aduro 9 looks a nice stove, air wash down the side glass panels is something many similar models do not have. Down the front glass yes but not the side panels. A

No, this one here: https://www.posch.com/en/p/hydrocombi-20/ I dont use the standard roller two way head that it comes with but use the older design wedge that has a 4 way that just clips over it, so on and off in seconds. A

How a stove retailer can advise the ten most popular stoves is beyond me and I speak as a retailer myself unless they are his ten most popular. No stove manufacturer or importer is going to give anyone their sales figures by model so I suspect most of whats above is based on what is popular for Bowland plus a few that were popular. I find it hard to believe that a contempory stove such as Neo outsells Ecoburn Widescreen, certainly that is not the case in my showroom. The Morso 61 series are a lovely stove for a fireplace. however they used to also be installed as a freestanding stove in the room with no fireplace. The contempory Morso 74 series with side windows now outsells 61 series in my showroom ( I am a Morso dealer) by 10 - 1. yet I have just tied a deal up for 5 6143s for new builds to be supplied over the next three years. But whats popular in one area may not be in another, and of course fashion has an impact. Some winters I sell lots of twin door stoves, others very few. Somebody mentioned a stove that would not shut down, ( Stockton ?), this is now the norm in modern stoves in order to hit efficiency and particulate emissions targets. With Ecodesign Ready stoves now coming forward into the market meeting the proposed Europe wide requirement for further increased efficiency and further reduced emissions means that most stove designs older than 5 or 6 years with probably be phased out. If anyone wants a stove that they are able to close right down buy it now while you still can. Ironically Morso stoves meet the Scandanvain Swan label scheme, these requirments are higher than Ecodesign so very few Morso's will go I understand. My own best sellers are: Ecoburn Widescreen Ecoburn 5 Esse 100 Morso 04 Morso 74 series. A

My head hurts !!. Farmers running ag rigs at 24 tonnes are one of the main drivers of this scheme, they will be covered as will whatever they are using to tow with, the days of a MF135 and 4 tonner at 10mph are long gone. Shame they seem to be coming down to 750kg levels, is that loaded weight or empty ?. if the former that covers pretty well everthing short of a wheelbarrow with a hitch from your local Halfords or similar. A

I use a Posch 20 ton vertical splitter to create billets from 900mm long rounds, powered my a MF135, so 45hp when new. These are then stacked for a year before going through a small processor. The stroke of the machine can be restricted, the return height is what is adjustable, you can then get a raised base as an option to put the ring on. Cutting rings that are to big for my processor then I stack three or four rings up and power through the top 3 with a 4 way head, that gives me 6 usable logs from the back of the split, slide the pile further in and chop another 6, then tidy up the remainder. The bottom ring I try to leave in place as the stroke ends just short of the base so part of that ring may still be hanging on if its a stringy timber. Big volume then the Fuelwood Splitta is a real good tool, so good that Posch have now copied it by the looks of things. Fully auto as well. A

For me door rope is the most common need, then glass, then firebricks and top baffle plates. On my home stove I replace the door seal every two years and the side firebricks every three, gone through one baffle plate in 8 years, new one fitted this time last year. A

The brand names Arrow, Villager and Stratford are now all being dropped in favour of ARADA, not sure about Hamlet but suspect that will be the same. Arrow, Villager and Yeoman were started by three brothers, when Yeoman went bust the other two joined together and formed Arada. A

I have about 5 or 6 tons of Pop around, mainly oversize stuff. On Tuesday I was cutting some of it for my own use this coming winter, this has been in a cord stack since August 14. Bark has long gone, some of te timber is now starting to decay and is WET inside, you can feel it as you handle the logs. A

Not had that pleasure, my wood is delivered in crates or vented bags and rolled into a garage or similar, A

Hamlet carry a lesser warranty than the Ecoburn range, but the major point is that the glass area on a given Hamlet is 40% smaller than the same model Ecoburn. So far less visible fire. My most popular stove is the Ecoburn widescreen, never sold the Hamlet version. A

I would agree that having got your stove properly certified currently there is nothing in any legislation to prevent you burning wet wood unless you are causing a smoke issue for people living close to you, that is an offence for which you can be prosecuted. There are simply not enough people in local building control offices to enforce the regs currently in place. Personally I would like to see a legal maximum moisture content on firewood sold by vendors like me but not only is that highly unlikely again it cant be enforced. A