The Sting’s “confidence game” acts reminded me of my just completed woodstove install. The players, actions, and events of this little drama all built confidence toward a preconceived conclusion on the part of the “stingee” (me in this case) that getting a new wood stove would be a relatively simple process along a well thought out path that others had traveled before me. And while the end result is what I wanted, a new wood stove, the journey sure as hell felt like a sting operation.

• The Players – me, my 1977 Vermont Castings Vigilant wood stove, The City of Keene, US Tax Code
• The Hook – $1000 voucher to replace an old wood stove, 30% tax credit, help with cleaner air
• The Tale – take a few pictures, fill out a form or 2, draw a floor plan, get a permit, get a voucher, take voucher to store, pick out a stove, subtract $1000, pay balance, installed wham – new stove, deduct 30% of final bill (including install) from bottom line of taxes.
• The Shutout – How big is that hearth and what’s it made of? Fire codes have changed in 30 years, need a new hearth, new non-combustible protection for  rear wall, new double-wall stove pipe for chimney connection, $$$$, oh and here’s a new form that we didn’t tell you about at first, and by the way that’ll be $75 for the permit.
• The Sting – money already committed to purchase, paper work filled out, permits obtained, do I really need this? Nothing really wrong with the old stove. Could invest money in other projects? Don’t really need tax write-off. Sniff, air quality seems fine to me.. sigh.. I’m already here – might as well continue.

To be fair, every one of the players (including the vendor/installer) was as helpful as the could be. The people at city hall went out of the way to be helpful and answered my questions no matter how many trips I had to make. The vendor and installer were professional and told me exactly what they needed from me in order to do the job right. I read all the documents available to make sure I thought I understood what I was getting into.

If I had to add another act to this saga, I guess it would be called “The Gripes”:

• Timing – This is probably my largest issue. The program only had $100,000 in vouchers. At $1000 per person only 100 people could participate in the program. With a population of 22-23K it seemed like “first come, first serve” would go fast. Add to it that once accepted into the program a new stove had to be purchased within 21 days. Install could drag out but the purchase had to be complete. Oh and the program only lasts from Oct. 22, 2009 – Jan. 29, 2010 – slightly more than 3 months from start to finish. Don’t forget the holidays…
• Requirements – there should have been a fire code/pre-install check list to ensure that the consumer understood the areas in and around the install that may need to be addressed. Hearth construction requirements, sizing issues, non-combustible space requirements, all fees, etc. Finding these out as I went along and from different people (mostly the vendor and installers) make the process feel unorganized and haphazard. Granted I could have done more up-front investigation but the “time constraints” on the project meant that things had to happen quickly.
• Game changing – to be fair, I didn’t get my install permit finished until just before the install. Problem was there was a “new form” to complete before getting the permit that neither I or the vendor had ever seen. If I had completed the permit right after the purchase, the form would not have been required – my bad. Still, adding a step to the process that some had to complete and others didn’t smacks me the wrong way. I certainly understand the need for the extra form but the city should have thought of that before hand and once added, informed all parties of the change and what it meant.

If you ever need an appliance part, here’s a shameless plug for RepairClinic. The first 2 dealers claimed to have the module in stock only to bail after I ordered it. One didn’t even bother to tell me that it wasn’t going to ship until October – I had to ask them to find out when it would ship. RepairClinic was $25 more than the first 2 places, but they shipped same day. Outstanding service from them!

The stove: rebooted

So module in hand I removed the back panel, removed the old board, swapped out the faceplate – the new one was in black and white is no longer an option evidently – reconnected all the wires, turned on the gas, connected the electric and Presto! I have a working oven!

To those of you that lent me your support, I thank you. It’s OK to stand down.

I cycled power with no change in the display. Next day I called our local appliance store and talked to “Jeff” about what might be wrong. He suggested cycling power for an extend period. So that night I tripped the breaker on the range for a good 3 hours with the same results: one lone LED segment lit and no error codes.

Maytag Control Unit

Back to “Jeff”, except this time it’s “Dave” on the other end. I give Dave the model and serial number, describe the problem, and await the bad news – new control unit, probably $215 + labor. I ask about installing it myself. Sure, just check the power to make sure you’re getting 110-120 volts across “power-to-neutral” and “power-to-ground”. If that’s OK, then they can order the part and a dozen screws later it’ll be in.

So this evening I pulled the stove out – not too hard. I shut off the gas and removed the dozen or so screws holding the back panel on. Once unplugged I tested the voltage – all set at 119 and change. I labeled all the wires to the control unit, and then removed it. I started looking around for a burned part on the control unit. It didn’t take to long to find it – a burned solder trace between 2 IC parts. Some Siemens part that controls voltage. The color of the trace was visibly discolored between the parts.

I looked up the model number on line and found the part for about $130. Jeff and Dave won’t be getting my part business but I appreciate the debugging help they gave me. Consult local, buy global – that’s my motto. Hopefully the part will be in before the weekend. Until then, grill, baby, grill.

Pictures of the PC board in various stages of dis-assembly are here.

Fast forward to this year. Same cold winter, lots of ice and snow on the roof, and now in the middle of February we get a warming trend and some light rain. While I’m out last night helping a friend with a computer problem, the front half of the ice/snow on the east side of the roof lets loose. Had my truck been at home, I think it would have avoided the ice and any damage but it would have been close. My wife called me to tell me how lucky I was not to be at home and decides to move the van, just in case. She no sooner moves it than the back half lets loose. The impact area was right where the van was parked! It would have been damaged again for sure.

Perhaps we should buy a lottery ticket at this point given our run of luck!