Thanks Zeta, those big cohones are sugar pine.  I found them at Lake Tahoe, they are all over the place.  I picked them up and brought them home because I always wanted big cohones.

As far as my install goes, I chose the Harman XXV because it looks like a wood stove, ...and especially with the “top vent adapter option”.  Just as Harman advertises, it work great for replacing a standard woodstove.  BUT....in addition to the noisy blower I have one more gripe.

They require a 1’ section of 4” pellet pipe be stubbed up inside the 6” single wall pipe to prevent the hopper lid from contacting hot 6” pipe when you open the hopper lid.  This appears to be an after thought, because there is no way to securely connect the 4” pellet pipe to the “top vent adapter”, it just rests free on top of the adapter and in the 6” pipe.  If Harman knew that the one foot section was going to have to be used, I have to believe they would have provided a standard connection that a 4” pellet pipe section would snugly fit onto.  As I have 6” pipe all the way up, cleaning the exhauset is going to be a big problem.  I can see the process coming and am not looking forward to it.  I use a 6” brush from above, and brush everything down, everything falls into the 1ft’ high gap between the 4” and the 6” pipe.  As leaving it there will prevent a fire hazard, I am going to have to disconnect the 6” pipe between the ceiling box and the stove to clean out the space (I am not looking forward to the mess that is going to make).  When I do this, I plan to run 4” all the way up inside the 6”, but still have to figure out how to securely fasten the 4” pellet pipe to the top vent adapter.  By the time I get to this step, I would have to think Harman has recognized this issue and made the necessary change in the design of their “top vent adapter”.  If they are as reputable as their corporate image projects, they should offer to replace these poorly designed top vent adapters free of charge.  (Harman...........are you listening?). 

I am really venting now (no pun intended), but as I just spent $3k I feel I have every right to do so.  Assuming they redesign the top vent adapters, how about providing 3 phillips head nuts instead of hex head nuts for the connection at the bottom.  As presently designed, there is not enough room between the edge of the hex head bolt and the “top vent adapter” to fit a wrench or socket over the bolt head. 

Except for the squeeling blower, and the poorly designed top vent adapter, I really like this stove.  Before I bought this stove, I did think about potential problems by buying a first year model, but figured that with Harmans good reputation, they would remedy any issues. 

As my serial number is really low (#1006), maybe I got a guinea pig model.  Looking forward to hearing what Harman Reps, or any other owners have to say.

Actually Harman didn’t have a “afterthought”. The folks testing the unit wouldn’t have approved it if they didn’t add the vent pipe within the 6” pipe. Fortunately anything and everything on a stove that has to do with combustion of clearences needs to be tested and performed by a reputable UL listed test lab. Whatever test lab they used felt it was necessary to use the 4” pipe for proper operation and safety.

These stoves usually burn pretty clean (depends on the fuel) so I don’t think you will be having any major issues cleaning the venting.

F350R - 31 December 2005 12:25 AM

I finally decided on the Quadrafire Mt Vernon…

F350R, I like that Saguaro cactus and kitty cat(?) you put INSIDE the stove. I assume those are NOT Quad options.

A friend of mine made the catus I don’t have a plasma cutter.  We had been talking about making something like that, soon after he saw some figures simular in a stove store so we decided to make our own.  He has a plasma cutter so all we needed was some 1/8 material.  I put the patterns together on the computer and he cut them out.  Both cats were timid of the stove when we put it in this fall but both lay in front of it when it is cold out.  The older cat seems smarter and sleeps on it when its really cold out.  Both cats are black although one is about twice the size of the other so we call them fat cat and mini me.

Mike

I just spoke to one more person (by email) who has the same problem with their Harman XXV, a SQUEELING BLOWER>

Keep on posting if so.

Still no word from Harman or the Rep or the Dealer if they ever plan to make good on the claimed “gold warranty”.

Pete S:

“Still no word from Harman or the Rep or the Dealer if they ever plan to make good on the claimed “gold warranty”.

I’m sure Harman will make good on their warranty as long as they know about the issues at hand. Did your dealer try to contact Harman about this?

The dealer told me they are in contact with Harman.

I am getting tired of having to call and ask them for the status.  I just wrote them a letter today and cc’d Harman asking them for something in writing about what their plans are “repair or replace” per the warranty.
It’s going on 3 months now, and this stove has had the probem since day one.  I am getting tired of waiting.  No communication at all from the dealer other than “we have to wait for Harman”.  Can’t even get number for Harman, and if I suppose I did, they would just tell me to talk to the dealer.  So far the dealer has been out 3 times (they have been great in trying to resolve this), but when they get a defective item from Harman, they have to wait for Harman for a fix.

Before I made my decision to buy a Harman, I read all their reviews on this site and felt great about choosing them.  Currently I am not so sure.  If they actually ever do make good on the warranty, I will follow up here accordingly.

harman has no problems with giving warranty, the problem is if they don’t know they need to replace it then they won’t. somtimes Harman is always the blame for something not getting done. Most times often then not if Harman is asked to have a part replaced under warranty by a dealer they aren’t very quick on saying no. I know the person that runs there warranty dept. and he’s not that harsh when it comes to warranty repalcement parts. He’s a very trusting person.

The thing is they already replaced the blower once, and it didn’t fix it.  So either they got a batch of bad blowers, or it has to do with how the blower mounts in that box, or how the box mounts to the unit.  Would you mind contacting your warranty rep to see if he has heard of this issue?

Turn that cat over I think hes done on that side!

Just an update on my XXV Harman. I just finished burning my first ton of fuel. I have burned it since the last week in October till now, Jan 24 AND HAVE NEVER TURNED MY FURNACE ON ONCE! I will admit we have had an unusually mild winter and the one stretch of cold weather we had in December, about 10 days, I burned my BIS fireplace.
I think only spending 169.00 on a ton of pellets for this lenght of time a bargain.
My XXV does not suffer from any squeeling blower problems and works flawlessly.
ernie

As stated in one of the posts above, when my issue was resolved I would update here.  I already did on the other thread. The issue was resolved, my stove now runs quite. 

This stove now is all I hoped it ever would be, I truly love it.  If you are considering buying a new pellet stove, this is the one.

Here is a new photo of my Harman XXV.