Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling
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tonymacprods
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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by tonymacprods » Thu May 09, 2013 10:05 am

I would advise people to avoid these fires at all costs. I have a Gazco studio 1 and it smells after its been on for about 15 mins. Its the usual story, fitter blames the fire, Gazco blame the fitter and round we go. Fortunately the room is very well insulated and so the fire is generally not needed but if I was actually relying on this fire for heat I'd be forced to change it.

In addition to the smell, the remote that comes with it is fairly hard to use, has a very poorly lit display and is very sluggish in operation (I generally end up pushing the hard wired buttons on the control panel).

For £2000 plus fitting there have to be better options.

Avoid.

Happy to give further info for prospective buyers or Gazco people alike.

Tony

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by kgerch01 » Thu May 09, 2013 3:02 pm

Hi Tony,

Can you explain the smell please?

Regards,

Kris.

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by tonymacprods » Thu May 09, 2013 6:30 pm

kgerch01 wrote:Hi Tony,

Can you explain the smell please?

Regards,

Kris.


Hi there are you asking for a description of the smell or the reason for it?

I actually don't know the reason for it, Gazco insist its due to surrounding materials (eg plasterboard etc). In terms of what it smells like...quite hard, essentially a bit like burnt dust I guess? My fire is actually disconnected at the moment however once its back on I'll run it and try and "describe" the smell :)

Tony

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by kgerch01 » Thu May 09, 2013 11:30 pm

Thanks for the reply Tony.

This has really made me cautious about ordering the slimline model.

FP2013
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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by FP2013 » Fri May 10, 2013 8:55 am

Hi
I can tell you that the smell is not toxic or gaseous but a solvent based odour. The last engineer that came around has suggested it may be the glue used on the glass door-seal. We are having this replaced shortly so will update this forum when I can.
Thanks

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by Biter » Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:19 pm

Hi

I had just had the Gazco studio 1 slimline installed and have the same issue as others have reported. The 45 degree panel at the top of the inner fire is painted. This paint is giving off the fumes, and under high heat is actually starting to peel.

IMO this panel should probably be an enamel surface. I would expect a replacement panel/fire will have the same issue unless this painted surface is in some way modified.

I will contact the supplier to allow them to rectify the issue.

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by who45jason » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:07 pm

Hi
I have just had a gazco studio 2 fitted in a brick chimney , but have put an inset above the fire for the tv , and have lined the back of this with superlux boad , so it's all been done as gazco ask , and like every one else on here I am getting a smell after about 20-30 mins after on full !! I have spoke to gazco and they are sending me a new door glass and seal to try , as I requested this as there are a few people on here saying it may be that ?! And that's as far as I am up to so far but wil post any further progress , but also I have found if you leave the door open ( but open the windows as the fire spills ) it didn't smell ! So if any one has any other information on this or resolved the matter then please let me no thanks
Regards
Jason

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by Snowboarder » Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:56 am

Hi I have just had my door replaced on my Gazco studio 2 fire and at last it seems to be a lot better. I have been running this now for 3 days and no smell apart from initial light up. I will report back later this week.

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by Snowboarder » Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:30 pm

Hi I have just had my door replaced on my studio 2 fire and all now seems to be fine have been running now for 3 days.
It has been a very frustrating journey and with the amount of people complaining about this surely Gazco must know they have a problem but seems they maybe covering this up . They replaced my door free of charge even though my fire was out warranty? Mind you I had condemned my fire as they recommended I use surplex boarding and not fire retardant plasterboard but having read comments from people that had rebuilt there fire place using the suggested materials and still had the problem with smell i decided to wait and investigate. It seems a few people had the door replaced and this rectified the smell problem.

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by fellows » Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:32 pm

Biter wrote:
I had just had the Gazco studio 1 slimline installed and have the same issue as others have reported. The 45 degree panel at the top of the inner fire is painted. This paint is giving off the fumes, and under high heat is actually starting to peel.

IMO this panel should probably be an enamel surface. I would expect a replacement panel/fire will have the same issue unless this painted surface is in some way modified.

I will contact the supplier to allow them to rectify the issue.



Hi Biter,

Did this problem get rectified and if so by who?

I have just had the slimline model installed and on the first day the panel at the top has started to peel and we have a strange smell in our front room!

Any info is appreciated.

Regards

Gary

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by colinwmth » Sun Jan 12, 2014 10:18 am

I have read this forum with much interest as I bought a Gazco Studio 1 Slimline fire in November 2013 to replace my existing balanced flue fire. However I was unable have it installed as the flue terminal and basket are gigantic and not practical in my location. There was no mention of the flue size in the Gazco pamphlet or in other available information.
I have written to this forum to say that Gazco have been very reluctant to accept any responsibility for their misleading information. Furthermore their customer service department has an attitude of indifference. They and the retailer are too willing to fault anyone but themselves.
This forum has shown the same attitude occurs with problems that arise after the installation of Gazco fires. I would recommend that potential buyers of Gazco inset fires fully understand that product description can be limited and if a problem does arise customer service is poor. There are other makes of gas fires which should be given consideration.

Colinwmth

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by bertieandme » Mon Jan 13, 2014 5:05 pm

I don't have a slimline, but a Gazco E-box balanced flue fire. I previously had a regular E-box but it didn't work with my flue (lonnnng story which nearly involved the courts!) and it didn't smell at all - it nearly killed me with Carbon Monoxide but that's a whole other story.

I have the exact same fire now but the balanced flue version and it smells *all* the time. I initially did a 6 hour burn on full with all the windows open and the smell was horrendous. But I've now had it for 4 months and it still smells - the higher it's turned on the worse the smell is.

It's like a strong smell of burning dust as others have said. You don't notice it so much when you're sat in the room, but when you go out and come back in again it's very noticeable.

I have no clue what the smell is all about. I have a cast-iron front on my fire (the Stockton front which looks like a traditional stove) as I have an old cottage. It's not the slimline model, but the E-box which has a deep square back to it.

I'm not even bothering to contact Gazco who are one of the worst firms I've ever had to deal with. They won't take responsibility for any of their products and always say everything is fine!

As I didn't have this problem with the normal fire (which had the same front, coals, door etc), it must be something to do with the actual balanced flue pipe, or maybe it's not working very well and the smell is combustion gases coming back into the room?!!

I'll NEVER buy another Gazco product ever again.

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by robertgarvie » Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:22 pm

Hi, I'm needing some advice, just got a logic HE gazco fire installed and having a few issues. The marble surround and hearth and the wooden mantle piece are getting really hot when the fire is on a high(ish) setting. There was no problems with the last gas fire this has only started to happen with the gazco. Does anyone know who should take responsibility - we were shown the catalogue and chose one from only a couple that were suitable. I don't want to have to take out the mantle and surround as replacing the fire was £1500. The smell that made us aware of a problem, we think, is the smell from the overheating surround, mantle, sealants, varnish and adhesives.

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by thedoctor » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:10 am

Guys, we have been following this post for a while to give Stovax & Gazco the opportunity to intervene and explain what is happening here. They haven't, so this morning I have mailed their Company and will follow this up with a phone call later on today. I will report back if we hear anything at all from them. In the meantime please all bombard them with emails and/or phone calls to tell them this is a bigger problem than just one "rougue" fire - until we get a response.

Their contact details are on this page

http://www.stovax.com/system_pages/cont ... ation.aspx

Mike Edwards - Brand Manager - DIY Doctor

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Re: Gazco balanced flue gas fire smelling

by Huggy009 » Wed May 07, 2014 12:42 pm

Dear Mike

Have Gazco responded to you?

I have just had a Gazco Studio Slimline fitted at the start of April and I have 3 major problems with it. I notified my fitter over a week and a half ago when the problems started and they notified Gazco who have so far not responded with a solution.

We have used this fireplace less than ten times: the wall is cracked above the large frame we were advised to choose to hide potential small cracks due to the heat output, the fireplace previously switched itself off after 5-10 seconds (this was intermittent at first but one night we had to 8-10 times before it would stay lit) and now it won't even switch on. It has a new brick effect back panel as the other one cracked after being fitted and this now has a large soot line near the right corner after only being used twice.

I am really concerned after reading these posts and this cost a lot of money plus after less than one month in, there are serious problems.

Thanks

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