Okay I believe I have decided on what I want, any thoughts?

PADave said:

So any good, bad or indifferent advice or thoughts?

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Stay away from Kozi and Breckwell. IMO

Well that stove will need attention everyday.. they all do. Why dealers lie to customers is something I will never understand.

I've got a PC45 and love it. These stoves will burn any pellets you find. Still there is no "set it and forget it" stoves. I clean the stove every week and the vent every other. On real good pellets I think I could go for a ton but on cheap Pennywise pellets the ash pan is after about 20 bags (2 weeks). Harman parts appear to be readily available but customer service is an issue they only work through the dealers. I'm new to this pellet stove thing too just my 2 cents.

I have 2 Harman stoves, I really like them. I know there are other good stoves available. The Harman's are also made in the US. I checked on the Thelin's site, but could not see where they were manufactured. That would be important to me.'

Tom C.

krooser said:

....... Why dealers lie to customers is something I will never understand.

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It couldn't possibly be because it may give them a sale, could it??? Nah :roll:

As for the decision, I agree with above posting to stay away from Breckwell & Kozi.

Then again, there seems to be a LOT of threads with Harman stoves that have problems. Hard to believe given their cost.

PLEASE OH PLEASE stay away from the kozi... I beg you..

I hope you ask around before you give that dealer any money. Sounds like his experience is limited to signing sales contracts.

Pellet stove mfgs. will ONLY reimburse the selling dealer for warranty repairs...so make sure your dealer has a great service dept. because you and him may wind up being close compadres if you have a warranty issue... this ain't like buying a car where you can take it anywhere. Harmans break just like they all do.... and don't bother trying to contact Harman if you have a problem...they won't give you the time of day (or even a phone #)!

I think you need a Piazzetta

cold front said:

I think you need a Piazzetta

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I had one with sausage and pepperoni last night....

PADave said:

save$ said:

I hope you ask around before you give that dealer any money. Sounds like his experience is limited to signing sales contracts.

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I have spoke to quite a few people that have dealt with this dealer, not sure how long they have been in business, but everyone I have talked to has nothing but good to say about them. My girlfriends father bought his there about 10 years ago. The pellets are made right up the road at the lumber mill, hardwood pellets, they are selling right now for 190.00/ton she told me they will be 175.00 in april.

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My feelings are to find a good dealer FIRST and a good stove second... looks like we agree.

Buy a few bags of several brands of pellets to see what you like. My stove will burn anything but I having been buying Doug Fir because they burn so clean... your mileage may vary.

krooser said:

..... I having been buying Doug Fir because they burn so clean....

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Sure, sure....keep rubbing it in.

PADave said:

silverfox103 said:

I have 2 Harman stoves, I really like them. I know there are other good stoves available. The Harman's are also made in the US. I checked on the Thelin's site, but could not she where they were manufactured. That would be important to me.'

Tom C.

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The brochure I picked up say made in the USA

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krooser said:

Well that stove will need attention everyday.. they all do. Why dealers lie to customers is something I will never understand.

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c'mon, Krooser......if youre saying that putting pellets in the stove is "needing attention" then you are correct......but I also feel you are spreading disinformation here as well......I dont agree that the ash bin will hold a ton's worth of pellet ash, as it differs depending upon the pellet (mainly).......I'll say 2-4 weeks, depending upon the pellet.

chrisasst said:

PLEASE OH PLEASE stay away from the kozi... I beg you..

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I have an Englander PDVC25 and I clean it of ash daily.

Here is my 2 cents on Harmans,

I love them, granted this is the only pellet stove I have owned, but as far as maintenance goes, it is minimal, and I run the cheapest Home Dumpster pellets I can find. 1 ton in the ash pan? Maybe with a good quality super premium pellet, but every 3 to 4 weeks would be average to me. I scrape the top of my ash pan every morning to keep the flame from going lazy and with every ton burned I break it down and do a thorough cleaning. I bought the Accentra because it was the closest clearance model Harman made and it didn't require me to buy a big stone pad, the Accentra sits on its own cast iron pad (that can even be set on carpet) I keep mine running on room temp and it keeps my room +/- 1 degree of what I set it at.

It works, plain and simple, no matter Which Harman it is.

cold front said:

I think you need a Piazzetta

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Saw one of those burning at a dealer on Saturday. Damn, they crank out some killer heat, using MWP at the time. VERY inpressed

BUT if you think Harman is pricey...ouch !!

Pellets stoves need attention every day. I have to pull a black knob every day, just like a woman, high maintenance.

I have a Harman XXV and love it. It does take maintenance though. I have to empty a full ash pan every week, clean the glass every other day ( that could go longer but I hate dirty glass) and once a week do a thorough scraping and vacuuming of the interior plus twice a day I scrape ash build up out of the fire box. I seem to get a lot of ash. Probably because I'm not to fussy about the pellets I buy. Anything that HD, Lowes or Sams Club are pushing. I don't notice much difference in heat output of the different pellets just ash output.
Chuck

chuckster said:

I have a Harman XXV and love it. It does take maintenance though. I have to empty a full ash pan every week, clean the glass every other day ( that could go longer but I hate dirty glass) and once a week do a thorough scraping and vacuuming of the interior plus twice a day I scrape ash build up out of the fire box. I seem to get a lot of ash. Probably because I'm not to fussy about the pellets I buy. Anything that HD, Lowes or Sams Club are pushing. I don't notice much difference in heat output of the different pellets just ash output.
Chuck

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if i was ever to buy another stove i would definitely buy the harmen xxv i just love that stove

I have dealt with 3-4 stoves, my latest one is a Harman Accentra. I love it!

PADave said:

Went stove looking today, looked at Kozi's and Harmans, Breckwells and St croix last weekend.

A Harman P45 with side shields, and on a custom 8-10 inch risor ( I am not as flexible as I once was) installed with a ton of pellets for around $3800.00.

From reading on here the Harman line seems to be top notch. I found it interesting that they told me it only needed cleaned when the ash pan got full about a ton of pellets through it, and then I was to cool it down and scrape and brush and vacuum it out, only daily was to open the door and wipe the glass with a dry cloth.

The same dealer also had one of these http://www.thelinco.com/stoves.php?Contemporary-Series-8 on the floor, not hooked up, but I looked hard at it it has a bunch of what I thought were really great features and about $1000.00 more on cost. The dealer told me they were both great products but he would go with the Harman.

So any good, bad or indifferent advice or thoughts?

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Your dealer is stretching the truth a bit regarding the maintenance requirements. Ok, that's being polite. He's flat out lying to you. All pellet stoves, no matter what brand, require maintenance more than once a ton. For what it's worth, my Harman dealer tried to sell me the same thing, only I knew he was lying because I'd owned a pellet stove since 2004 and I knew better.

You don't have to wipe the glass once a day - every 2-3 days is plenty. However, you do need to clean and scrape the burnpot at least once a week, and many owners do it more frequently than that. I clean the ash buildup off the end of the burnpot once a day (only takes a few seconds and you don't even have to shut the stove down), and I scrape the carbon out of the burnpot once every 3-4 days. I empty my ash pan once a week, and it's about half full when I empty it. I take out the inner panels in the stove and do a full cleaning once every 2-3 weeks. Admittedly I am a maintenance fanatic when it comes to my pellet stove - but I've been burning pellets for eight years and I've yet to have any major problems in all those years, mostly which I attribute to keeping my stove impeccably clean.

So if you buy a pellet stove, just know that there is more than "once a ton" maintenance required.