Harman Accentra or Mt Vernon

I would say the Harman. It is louder but much more simple and much easier and cheaper to service. If you go w/ the mt vernon make sure the dealer is close by so service calls are not as expensive. Make sure the dealer is a mt vernon guru because you really need to know that stove inside and out to troubleshoot. You can troubleshoot ther Harman w/ some electrical knowledge and a little help from here or your dealer over the phone.

I have a Harman Insert and would recommend. The distribution fan can be loud, however you can turn the speed down which reduces the noise. I run the fan on high when at work or at night and dial it back to reduce the noise when watching tv or when we have guests over.

The MtV is very quiet.

Can't speak for HarmIn. :lol:

The Mt Vernon rocks but can have some issues that can be costly. Mine is great but I hate cleaning it every 5-6 weeks.

Eric

Eric:

You clean yours every 5-6 weeks? Man I must be nuts.... I clean mine weekly....

I suggest downloading the manuals on both and read up on the cleaning procedures and add the ease of cleaning to your pro/con list.

Another thing is look at the minimum burn rate for those warmer days.

Seems like a classic choice, lots of threads have been started here by people choosing between the two. I had to make the same choice myself.

The Mt. Vernon won out because of the higher BTU capacity and the quiet factor. Since I am an IT guy, the high-tech aspect of it did appeal to me too.

I must admit that even though I've only had it since December, I already feel like I've mastered taking care of it. This forum has been alot of help. I'm pretty confident that if I take good care of it, reliability won't be a problem.

I know nothing about the Mt. Vernon, but we love our Accentra FS. The noise is not an issue for us, given the stove's location, but to be honest I don't find it loud even when sitting right by it.

In my house the Accentra does, however, struggle with temps below 20, not that we have had much of that this year. But from there up we are toasty.

Operation and cleaning is easy, IMHO, and performance has been flawless.

I have an Accentra insert and a Mt Vernon AE free standing. The Accentra is in the living room and it is somewhat louder than the Mt. Vernon, but we are pretty much use to the noise while watching TV. I do turn down the distribution fan when we have company. The Mt Vernon is a beast. It really throws some heat and is our primary heat source. I love the programable operation. We run the stove 24/7 and only need to add pellets once per day. They are very different stoves in design and operation but both have proven to be reliable and easy to maintain. You won't go wrong with either. I think your choice comes down to price, stove location, and BTU output.

how well is your house insulated? i have a poorly insulated 1200 sf house that my accentra wont come close to heating. seems to me there are more issues/posts about accentras then mt vernons. youll be scraping the burn pot daily on the accentra. my 2 cents.

I have 2x6 insulation and heat my first floor of my two story home which is about 1600 sq. feet. I have no problem with the Mount Vernon AE heating the 1600 Sq feet even on the coldest day which was ten below a couple of years ago here in CT. My neighbor has a Accentra. He said on really cold days he's had to supplement the stove with oil heat.

Ultimately I made my decision between the stoves using the same logic as I used when purchasing my HDTV...nobody ever complains about going to big ... only too small.

Four seasons with the AE and only issue was replacing one igniter.

My experience with the Accentra FS is very different from 3650's. I clean the burn pot once a week.

Every week I vacuum/scrape out the pot and other easily accessible areas of the stove, brush down the back plates and clean the glass. I use a gasket scraper for the burn pot and ceramic stove top cleaner for the glass. I find minimal carbon buildup in the burn-pot during its weekly scraping, mainly just a 'speed bump' along each side wall.

Every other week I also remove the plates, get at the fans and do a more complete cleaning. I have had no issues.

I don't think cleaning should be an issue with either stove. It takes me 15 minutes a week with the Mount Vernon and once a month I pull out the baffle and clean... maybe 30 minutes. The Mount Vernon is easy (for the wife)... thermostat high on the wall, and we program it a go 24x7. No need to get down on your knees and figure our stove or room temperature and hopefully you have good eyesight. The other benefit of the Mount Vernon is the marine battery backup option. Came in handy in the Fall when we lost power for many days... still had heat with a couple of standby batteries.

RKS130 said:

My experience with the Accentra FS is very different from 3650's. I clean the burn pot once a week.

Every week I vacuum/scrape out the pot and other easily accessible areas of the stove, brush down the back plates and clean the glass. I use a gasket scraper for the burn pot and ceramic stove top cleaner for the glass. I find minimal carbon buildup in the burn-pot during its weekly scraping, mainly just a 'speed bump' along each side wall.

Every other week I also remove the plates, get at the fans and do a more complete cleaning. I have had no issues.

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RSK130.what plates are you referring to that you remove to get at the fans.im about to install an accentra that i just overhauled.i get at the combustion path inside the stove by removing both baffles and then taking out the exhaust chamber cover.to get at the fans i remove both sliding panels from the back of the stove .are those the panels you are referring to

corkman said:

RKS130 said:

My experience with the Accentra FS is very different from 3650's. I clean the burn pot once a week.

Every week I vacuum/scrape out the pot and other easily accessible areas of the stove, brush down the back plates and clean the glass. I use a gasket scraper for the burn pot and ceramic stove top cleaner for the glass. I find minimal carbon buildup in the burn-pot during its weekly scraping, mainly just a 'speed bump' along each side wall.

Every other week I also remove the plates, get at the fans and do a more complete cleaning. I have had no issues.

Click to expand...

RSK130.what plates are you referring to that you remove to get at the fans.im about to install an accentra that i just overhauled.i get at the combustion path inside the stove by removing both baffles and then taking out the exhaust chamber cover.to get at the fans i remove both sliding panels from the back of the stove .are those the panels you are referring to

Click to expand...

I was referring to both the baffles (didn't know the right word)the chamber cover and what I gues are the rear access panels.

My Quad runs has spent about 90% of its total run time over the last few seasons on Low.
Granted its not a Mt. Vernon. But Quadrafires in general burn very good on a Low setting. My Fahrenhrit is like most stoves. Where it doesnt like to burn down low for long periods. But the Thick Cast Iron Pot and the Large amounts of air provided to the pot. Results in a good burn. At least in all the Quads I have seen run. None are Mt. Vernons, but that is one intelligent stove. Should be able to burn ehatever, wherever, and for as long as it would like. (Should).

Personally, I would look into the Enviro M-55 cast or Regency GC-60. Multi Fuel witg the cast look your going after. If you haven't looked it them, I would at least take a peek. It has an agitator in the pot to keep it clean for days/weeks, without the need of a pot scrape or an auto clean (shuts stove down/loss of heat). If you have looked into them and didnt like it, then disregard.

DexterDay said:

My Quad runs has spent about 90% of its total run time over the last few seasons on Low.
Granted its not a Mt. Vernon. But Quadrafires in general burn very good on a Low setting.

Click to expand...

Amen brother, mine runs on low more than 90%.

works good that way. ;-)

Jm15 said:

I went to the last dealer before I make my decision. It was a quad dealer. They said the Mt. Vernon was way more than I needed. They said that I could run into problems because the stove would always be running on low. They said the stoves need a workout from time to time (they compared it giving a car gas from time to time). I don't know the accuracy of this statement . But, they suggested the castille, which I am not going with.

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In auto mode, the Mt. Vernon will run on Low, Medium-Low, Medium, Medium-High, or High for the heat output depending on the difference between the current room temperature and the temperature set on the thermostat.

I have mine set to 76-78 which causes the stove to run on low once it gets to 74. This generally allows me to keep my first floor at 74 and the upstairs at 70-72.

In manual mode, you set the temperature and the heat output. You can set it to run on any of the 5 settings listed above.

From time to time, I put mine in manual on High to get it good and hot, akin to taking the car out on the highway and blowing it out at 75-80 mph.

Most of the time the stove will run on Medium-Low, or Low once it gets the house up to temperature and just has to maintain. I am sure the Harmans work the same way with the whole room temp and stove temp thing. I'd venture to say that any stove with some kind of semi-intelligent controls will operate in somewhat the same way.

Are you a cadillac or chevrolet kind of guy? :gulp: