Good Morning All...
I'm still fairly new to the pellet game. This is my second season with my Harman Accentra insert. I wanted the P68, simply because I live a fairly large home (3100 square feet) and I knew the Accentra is a bit undersized, in comparison to the P68. That said, it came down to aesthetics for both my wife and I. We both thought the Accentra insert looked a whole lot better than the P68. Not to mention, there wasn't a need to lose a corner of our family room to accommodate the P68. I also don't care for the mirrored glass on the P68 (still not sure why Harman did that). I do believe Harman's numbers on the square footage their stoves will heat is VERY conservative. 98% of the winter, my main floor about 70 or 71 degrees (anything warmer than that, and it would simply be far too warm for me) and the upstairs bedrooms are 68 degrees (also plenty warm enough for sleeping). I believe Harman says the Accentra insert is rated for about 1400 square feet. My home is only 10 years old, and well insulated with higher quality Andersen windows and doors throughout, so I'm sure that helps some. It is sort of interesting to me that there is almost no price difference between the Accentra insert and the P68, given that the P68 is much higher in the BTU department.
The past couple of days, it's been ridiculously cold in the Boston area (not getting out of the teens during the day and about 2 degrees at night). I woke up the other morning to a chilly house. Only 62 upstairs and 64 on the main floor. I guess I'm not surprised, just given how cold it is. I understand that when it's this cold, it's tough for a stove rated for 1400 square feet to keep up with more than double that. After reading all the great information on this forum, I decided to try pellets that supposedly burn hotter, so off to look for some Barefoots and Turmans. I picked up 10 bags of Barefoots and Turmans in Central MA to see if they would really make any difference over the Green Supremes that I purchased at Lowes. Given that they are a whopping 50% more money, my position was that they better be able to give off more heat (and even then, I wasn't convinced that it was worth 50% more). After burning the Barefoots for the past two days, I can now safely say that they don't make a bit of a difference in my house. I woke up to the same 62 degrees upstairs and the same 64 degrees downstairs. On the one hand, I'm disappoitned that the more expensive pellets didn't even make a degree difference (again, the temperature has been pretty much the same for the past couple of days, so I believe it's a fair comparison). On the other hand, it's nice to know that I can go to a place like Lowes and get the same heat for under $200.00 a ton where I live.
John
I'm still fairly new to the pellet game. This is my second season with my Harman Accentra insert. I wanted the P68, simply because I live a fairly large home (3100 square feet) and I knew the Accentra is a bit undersized, in comparison to the P68. That said, it came down to aesthetics for both my wife and I. We both thought the Accentra insert looked a whole lot better than the P68. Not to mention, there wasn't a need to lose a corner of our family room to accommodate the P68. I also don't care for the mirrored glass on the P68 (still not sure why Harman did that). I do believe Harman's numbers on the square footage their stoves will heat is VERY conservative. 98% of the winter, my main floor about 70 or 71 degrees (anything warmer than that, and it would simply be far too warm for me) and the upstairs bedrooms are 68 degrees (also plenty warm enough for sleeping). I believe Harman says the Accentra insert is rated for about 1400 square feet. My home is only 10 years old, and well insulated with higher quality Andersen windows and doors throughout, so I'm sure that helps some. It is sort of interesting to me that there is almost no price difference between the Accentra insert and the P68, given that the P68 is much higher in the BTU department.
The past couple of days, it's been ridiculously cold in the Boston area (not getting out of the teens during the day and about 2 degrees at night). I woke up the other morning to a chilly house. Only 62 upstairs and 64 on the main floor. I guess I'm not surprised, just given how cold it is. I understand that when it's this cold, it's tough for a stove rated for 1400 square feet to keep up with more than double that. After reading all the great information on this forum, I decided to try pellets that supposedly burn hotter, so off to look for some Barefoots and Turmans. I picked up 10 bags of Barefoots and Turmans in Central MA to see if they would really make any difference over the Green Supremes that I purchased at Lowes. Given that they are a whopping 50% more money, my position was that they better be able to give off more heat (and even then, I wasn't convinced that it was worth 50% more). After burning the Barefoots for the past two days, I can now safely say that they don't make a bit of a difference in my house. I woke up to the same 62 degrees upstairs and the same 64 degrees downstairs. On the one hand, I'm disappoitned that the more expensive pellets didn't even make a degree difference (again, the temperature has been pretty much the same for the past couple of days, so I believe it's a fair comparison). On the other hand, it's nice to know that I can go to a place like Lowes and get the same heat for under $200.00 a ton where I live.
John