Masport fireboxes

We selected a Masport firebox (varona) for our rebuild and our Builder's firebox supplier has told our Builder to tell us to stay right away from them and he will no longer supply them due to falling apart easily.

Its the first I have heard of this and considered Masport a really good brand.

What are others thoughts and experiences?

I have a free-standing Masport fireplace (the smallest one, Grand Arcadia) and it's a solid bugger Brilliant heater too, it shouldn't really heat my whole house according to its PR, but it does.

Swaggie, could I recommend you (or someone!) ring Greg at Better Mowers in Takanini and ask him. He sells Masports but also several other ranges of fireplaces and has been brilliant.

The other person you could try who could give you his recommendation is the installer Craig, a local (Glenbrook) fellow and also really great. I can PM you his details if you'd like to ask him. He works for his own company and installs all types of fireplaces, and doesn't have any affiliations to a brand, so I suspect would give you his honest opinion and horror stories. As I understand it, he is one of only a couple of installers who are pre-permitted in FDC. That is, he doesn't have to get his work separately inspected by a building inspector - they trust he does it right, so he must be pretty good.

Ah PG you are a reliable soul! You know I am going to bug you and everyone else now for the next 6 months for Kiwi thoughts...:cool:[] Anything in your consumer subscription by chance?

Many thanks, if you would email me with Craig's details that would be great and I could give them to D to telephone. I suggested he call Broadies for a 2nd opinion all the same.

We were going to go for the Grand Utopia, but my local NSW supplier suggests as this is a radiant fire instead of convention, its no good.... and certainly no output worthy of heating a radiator or under floor for the little it will produce.

Our good friends have a Grandview and its fantastic! A Much larger floor area than our replacement, but very effective all the same. They swear by theirs and I understand why. We are replacing burning plates on our smaller Jotul whilst their unit (much older) soldiers away....

ps do you remember you were telling me where your Dad sourced your roof materials from? Can you please pm me with those again....

Many thanks!

You may need to be careful with the selection, as different areas have different emission rules. Many need to have a hotter firebox to not create as much smoke, and because of this the thin steel on some fireboxes can burn through faster.

We fought with our council, getting incorrect info left right and centre. They only gave us a very small selection to pick from. None of which was desirable.
So then we asked which one was capable of multi-fuel, and were told that multi-fuel fires weren't a problem emission-wise. We now have a Yunca Blenz, capable of wood and coal (which we don't use).

I beleive in FDC you have to have your house on at least 5 acres or you are restricted to one of the approved "green" fireplaces that are designed to go out i.e. can't smolder a log overnight to be recranked in the morning.

I should add that my Masport (a few years old now) won't do that either but I think we unfortunetely scored a bad Model. Awesome heat when we are able to feed it but that is all. I think there are better on the market.

DiDi;163525 wrote: I beleive in FDC you have to have your house on at least 5 acres or you are restricted to one of the approved "green" fireplaces that are designed to go out.

Not just in FDC, that's relevant for anywhere a property is under 2.5ha, and a retailer should ask you - it's the first question I got asked. The list of woodburners is now much more extensive, as retailers and importers have had time to respond. There were only a handful when this rule first came in but now there's heaps more.

Will PM details of installer.

Swaggie, my roof came from Metalcraft in Hamilton ( www.metalcraft.co.nz ), 20% cheaper than the next nearest quote, arrived three days after ordering, and was perfect. Fabulous people to deal with too, super efficient, no mucking about.

They also did all my flashings for my windows (which are wood) - got those the day after I faxed through the plans!

Der to me PG I just replied to your email asking the roofing supplier....:rolleyes:

Many thanks!

Didi, which Masport have you got?

Don't know if this helps, but today we took our motor mower (just a year old and a masport) into the shop as the bar on the left hand side keeps bending, especially when you use the lever to put the deck up or down. Our last motor mower was a masport and was well over 10 years old when it finally died. The guy in the mower shop told us that NOW Masport is not a good brand as from a couple years ago Masport is now made in....yup you guessed it CHINA! He said Chinas steel is much poorer quality, hence the forever bending of this bar. Grrr If only we had of known when we brought it. So maybe Masport fire boxes may be made in China and therefore be weaker than they used to be to.

Pumpkingirl;163533 wrote:
Swaggie, my roof came from Metalcraft in Hamilton ( www.metalcraft.co.nz ), 20% cheaper than the next nearest quote, arrived three days after ordering, and was perfect. Fabulous people to deal with too, super efficient, no mucking about.

They also did all my flashings for my windows (which are wood) - got those the day after I faxed through the plans!

Now PG you know I am a bit slow about these things, but this website leds to an addy in Christchurch, is it the same one? You are not allowed to confuse me further you know!

I personally dont like masport as I had trouble with the 2 I had anything to do with. My recommendation is yunca. my only 'complaint' about the one we have is that the house gets too hot !

Doh, sorry Swaggie[]

www.metalcraft.net.nz/

It's the dot net dot nz that gets me...

We have a Metro fire and its absolutely brilliant.

Swaggie, get a Lady Kitchener...they're amazingly good

www.firenzo.co.nz/index.cfm/Woodfire_Collections

smilie;163539 wrote: Don't know if this helps, but today we took our motor mower (just a year old and a masport) into the shop as the bar on the left hand side keeps bending, especially when you use the lever to put the deck up or down. Our last motor mower was a masport and was well over 10 years old when it finally died. The guy in the mower shop told us that NOW Masport is not a good brand as from a couple years ago Masport is now made in....yup you guessed it CHINA! He said Chinas steel is much poorer quality, hence the forever bending of this bar. Grrr If only we had of known when we brought it. So maybe Masport fire boxes may be made in China and therefore be weaker than they used to be to.

similar to what our Builder was told with the fireplace we wanted.... well that makes 2 buisnesses in NZ saying the same thing... what a shame.