Steer clear of the Primus Firehole Stove series

[acnewman55]

I bought a Primus Firehole 200 stove at REI a little over a year ago.

Used the thing about three times, and the gas tube on the inside of the stove corroded and broke right off, creating a gas leak that rendered the whole stove useless.





I'm currently working with Primus customer service to see what they're willing to do for me, REI rejected my attempt to exchange it, because I bought it over a year ago.  I won't buy from REI again.  Used to be a company that stood behind that brands that it carried, but over the past 4 years their service and quality has plummeted.

Probably not going to buy another Primus product in my life - the pending customer service transaction will determine that I guess.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

That sucks. Right at the solder connection. You could get a tiny coupling and solder it in carefully....

[Knocker of rocks]

REI rejected my attempt to exchange it, because I bought it over a year ago.

I would write a letter to management, explaining that this is a serious safety issue where liability does not magically disappear after a calendar year.

[acnewman55]

REI rejected my attempt to exchange it, because I bought it over a year ago.

I would write a letter to management, explaining that this is a serious safety issue where liability does not magically disappear after a calendar year.

Not a bad idea.  The plot thickens here too because REI has discontinued the sale of this model, and Primus has discontinued the 300 model which is the same gas system with a few different features, so both REI's buyers and Primus seem to be aware of quality issues with this system.

[ICEMAN]

If you liked the stove I would be inclined to fix it.

[acnewman55]

Hard to say if I "liked" the stove. It boiled water on four separate occasions before the gas tube failed.  That barely qualifies it as a stove.  A good dry log can boil water four times before it becomes useless.

I lack the skill-sets and equipment to fix this myself.  And I'm not interested in spending $$ to fix it. 

Primus replied to me and said they would replace the stove, but they currently have no inventory for this model and no replenishment date, so they'd need to move me to a different model - which I'm going to consider.