Advice on Insert / CT Dealers

Welcome Jm15,

All 3 are nice units. And all 3 will have pros and cons. I am biased towards the M55 so I will silence myself here!

If we had some sq ft of what your trying to heat would help us. Definitely don't want to go to small if your trying to totally ween from the present heat source. No biggie if your just trying to assist it and plan on having the furnace to help the stove on cold days. I'm a firm believer in more is better in choosing a stove. Thye have stats to go to off if its too warm. and running it in the mid range is much easier on it than flat out b@!!s out! It will last longer when just cruisin.

Choosing a dealer is tough. Generally the first impression goes a long way. Asking co workers/friends/family that own stoves can lead to a good stove shop. Or list who you have near you and maybe one of your new family members(people from this group) can chime in to assist. ;-)

Keep us posted.

Shop, shop, shop.

I got a Mt. Vernon for the price the first dealer wanted to sell me the smaller Accentra.

When I purchased my Quad several years ago I went to Phelps & Sons in Vernon, CT. They were very nice and full of information for me. I had them do the install and felt that they did the job professionaly and made sure that my house was kept clean and neat. At least give them a look.

Check out Black Swan in Newtown. I got my Harman Advance there a couple months ago. Bob T was great. He missed a piece of trim and threw it in for nothing.

Anyone living in CT, check out CHIF.ORG. Connecticut Housing Investment Fund. They gave us a loan for the stove that is 3% interest for 10 years, no prepayment penalty. And they do everything from Solar panels to windows, doors, furnaces, etc.

I visited Black Swan and a competitor of theirs on the same street in Newtown. Both sell Harmans, which is what I bought. I liked both shops, found them knowledgeable and friendly. Ultimately I went with my gut with my decision - I'd recommend visiting both if you go to Newtown, and see if either of the dealers there strikes your fancy.

I bought my Harman accentra insert form Afterglow...berlin turnpike. They were a family run place, weren't pushy and answered any questions I had. I have had them out to clean the stove and they were always easy to deal with and seemed to care.

Night and day difference from my original stove purchase at Dean's in Southington

afterglow, great people. i go there for parts when needed. my dad purchased his mtvernon from supirior in southington, on the pricey side but they know their sh@t, that is worth something.

my unit came from a dealer a quad dealer in torrington, i regret dealing with them and their "install sub" big time!make that BIG TIME!!

ray

If the stove is going into an entertainment room (tv) I would seek out dealers to hear the units running to see if one or the other is too loud.
My Regency=Enviro M55 is quiet compared to the Harman Accentra, but I couldn't tell you (other than it is a brand new unit) if it has the latest fan unit.

Another point is I've never had to run on a setting higher than 3 of a possible 5 to heat my house (2150sq ft) with my Regency.

Having said that, the Harmans' ability to adjust itself to any pellet you choose makes it a great option.

Which leads me to a final point that is to make sure you ask whoever is doing the install if they intend to run and set up your stove damper with a mag test (I believe Harman recommends this), for this is very important for clean burning. I had to do this on my own, so I didn't even know that my stove wasn't working correctly (what a huge difference in pellet performance, and cleaning, etc).

I went with what appeared to be the most reputable and knowledgeable dealer in my area, yet I found that their actual knowledge was lacking when compared to the very helpful people on this forum, so I recommend you do your own research.

I have two Enviro products and I have found that once you learn how to adjust the stove they will burn almost any pellet efficiently, but it was a learning process for me because the installer didn't set up the damper properly.

I would make sure that you have an outside air kit (OAK) installed, and read up on the technical manual to make sure that the dealer is installing your unit with one of the "most recommended" installations not just the easiest. Demand the best factory recommended install not the easiest for the installer, for this will save you a bunch of headaches and maintenance over the life of the stove.

I hope this helps, good luck, and enjoy the warmth,

1D

I highly recommend Maynard Farms in Coventry. The owner, Pete, is awesome, has no problem coming out to help out when there's a problem. And he's very kind when the problem is due to operator error. LOL!

We had a smoke situation, he came out on his own dime and helped the fire marshal and us figure out what had happened. Spent hours at my house until we figured out it must have been a freak perfect storm of wind & draft that sent smoke up one chimney and down the other.

I bought 3 stoves from Afterglow. 2 quads and 1 Harman. They stock the parts and they will come out to your home pretty quick when you need service.

I wouldn't stray too far from home when you're shopping. Since most times you are dependent on the dealer to service you, going too many miles away from home might result in a delay getting to you should something go wrong. Sounds like many good options close to you in Central CT.

The CHIF program is great, but I think it took us close to 8 weeks to get the loan. Bob from Black Swan is familiar with it since he had to be so patient with us. Let me know if you have any questions. It's a great program. I'm considering solar panels once I pay off the new stove and boiler.

JM - I was where you were last week. all 3 inserts looked really good. I ended up ordering a Quad Mt Vernon (see my thread for details). If the Harman was at the same BTU rating I would have gone that way. I know that once you get the place hot, you don't need the stove that hot to keep the temperature. The main section of my house is 3200 sqft. I know I can't heat is all and will have to close off rooms, etc, yet startig with 55-60K BTU over 40-42K I decided to put down the extra $600 in startup cost.

Jm15 said:

Thanks again everyone. I am going to check out a few more places this weekend before I make my decision. I still keep going back and forth between the 3 stoves. I think if Harman had the same amount of btu's as the others I would go with them hands down.

JCAYER- I spoke with CHIF today and they said because they are in between seasons it might be quicker. I wanted to purchase one soon because they have $100 coupon and a ton of pellet promotion... I'll see what happens with them. Thanks for the heads up.

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Don't compare the btus from a quad AE that is stopping and starting to a stove like a Harman that just keeps running. While that stove is cooling down to dump the pot and restarting plus ramping back up to speed you are not getting that huge amount of btus.
one other thing to remember is when a stove is running wide open it is losing a lot of heat out the exh. If you have a bigger stove running 1/2 to 3/4 speed they will leave more heat in the room.

rona said:

Don't compare the btus from a quad AE that is stopping and starting to a stove like a Harman that just keeps running. While that stove is cooling down to dump the pot and restarting plus ramping back up to speed you are not getting that huge amount of btus.
one other thing to remember is when a stove is running wide open it is losing a lot of heat out the exh. If you have a bigger stove running 1/2 to 3/4 speed they will leave more heat in the room.

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I am unfamiliar with this cooldown you are talking about. My AE shuts down, dumps the pot, and restarts in a matter of minutes. The convection blower never stops, and the cast iron around the blower vents is still ripping hot when the stove reignites.

Trying to figure out how many btu you need based on square footage alone really doesn't work, and you need to consider many other factors.

I have a 2150 sq ft two story colonial with a somewhat open air lay out (not a lot of chopped up rooms with doors everywhere). It is eight years old and has 2x6 exterior walls, and is well insulated with good windows. We also have paddle fans in almost every room.

We went with the Regency version of the M55 insert because it was larger than the Harman Accentra. I can't compare the two directly, but I can tell you that the Regency doesn't need to be over the middle range to heat the whole house to the mid 70's @ 8*F, so I think that the Accentra would have done quite well.
I had to stop running High/Low because at anything above 35*F outside temp the house would overheat while on the low setting and never kicked up into high to clean itself out. I now run automatic with the heat range in the middle (3), and the stove only cycles on off three times a day (24hrs) while holding 74*F.

I explained all this because I have read where others with smaller homes around 1400 sq ft have had troubles keeping warm running at full blast.

I recently installed the Maxx in the basement without insulated walls (a bunch of concrete), and many said I needed to insulate for any type of stove.
The Maxx can bake me out of the basement in one hour if I dare to turn her up to high, so I'm very happy to run here on medium and watch the temps increase to a pace of 10*F per hour. ;-P

Overkill has served me well, but it is best to consider what you are trying to heat, and research these threads for some that compare to your situation.

1D

Here are a couple of things to consider regarding these inserts. The Harman and the Enviro M55 inserts slide out on rails when you want to do a deep cleaning on the unit.
The Mt. Vernon does not. These beasts are quite heavy so don't underestimate this feature.

Do you have a masonry or prefab fireplace? If you have a prefab fireplace, it must be removed and an enclosure must be built if you go with the Enviro M55 per their installation manual. The Harman and Mt. Vernon do not have this requirement.

Another place is Hot Spot Stove in Berlin. http://hotspotstoves-ct.com/index.htm

Agree with Afterglow too.

Fireside Supply in Hebron is haveing a sale all this weekend.