First Pellet Stove

One of the best brands is Harman.
It's personally the brand I use..They build them right.
But there are tons of brands and the marjority are good.
What kind of dealer do you have locallly..if your not a 'handy' person..you would need them to possibly clean yearly etc.
My Harman p38 might be a bit on the small side for the square footage you have..but they Have Larger models ..(rated probably for 2250 to 2200 sqft.
Im not familiar with the Heatilator.

Other things will add to install, length of venting-horizontal and verticals. Hearth pad. Good surge protection or UPS. What is the area-state your from as what kind of heat requirements you need. I need more here in MN than my friends in KY etc.

mikespirito said:

Harman is pretty awesome and they are beautiful I just looked at yours it seems great. I was told that the manufactures over estimate on the covered square footage a little, is that true?

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Whatever you do, don't buy a unit that's too small. You want some horsepower in reserve. If you buy a Harman, or any stove for that matter, you want at least 50.000 btu's, if not more. My P61 is big for my sq. ft., but I only have to run it at half throttle or a little more when it 's below 0. The test is extended periods of 0 or below.

I have the CAB50 and it works great. It's pretty simple to understand for a first time owner. My house is about 1900 sq ft. It's located in the basement and heats the basement very well and the upstairs needs the electric heat only when it gets REALLY cold outside.

Whatever you do find someone who KNOWS how to install one or you'll run into a lot of headaches like I did.

I pull the cleaning rod everyday, vacuum out the stove once a week, and do the full clean after about a ton of pellets. I'm very happy with it and yes I would buy it again.

Harman p series recommended cleaning about one ton of pellets. About what the ash pan holds. Now a quick scrape of the exchanger on a regular basis will keep it at top heat transfer.

Mike where are you located? Maybe update your profile and signature line to include that info.

if you get a Cumberland 3800MF (one of the smarter stoves)..you can do it within your budget and buy a few ton of pellets hehehehe, i need to boost the Cumberland ownership on here!!

For me an important part of the equation is hopper size.....as far as bells and whistles, the only must haves for me are auto on/off and hi/lo thermostat control....most will have this option.

mikespirito said:

Thanks Subsailor I was thinking about 50,000 BTU because I want to try to heat my house with just the Pellet Stove. My house everything from hot water to heat on oil. So I want to do just heat with the pellets.

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I have an 80+ year old cape with 1000 sq. ft. on the main floor. A bunch of small rooms. I heat only with pellets, my furnace has been off for 2 years. Electric hot water. Blew in insulation when I bought the Harman. Heat the place for around $1000/year. By this time of night usually 74+ in here. Wife delivers mail and comes home frozen like a popsicle and wants it warm. I don't know anything about the CAB50 or the Cumberland, but the Harman's will burn lower grade pellets, what some people call shoulder pellets, with ease. I bought it because I didn't want to have to pay top $ for better pellets. Coldest I saw last winter was 11 below, and I had to turn it down when it got over 75 in here.

Hi Mike, for 4,000 you can get some nice stoves. One great value is Quadrafire CB1200, 50K btu, a real workhorse. Enviro M55 steel might be in the budget too, a quiet machine at 55K btu. Good luck, lots of dealers near you, I'd check out Preston Trading Post, very well known in your neck of the woods. Good luck.

mikespirito said:

so it seems like Harman is the way to go........i think im going to bite the bullet...

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Harman's are for sure nice stoves. I would put the M55 on the list to look at in person. I believe it is said to be quiter than the Harman,
Has an agitator so it is not pellet picky and I believe has an optional hopper extension.

Would be my first choice if I were to buy now

I really like my Cumberland MF3800 (40k btu) supposed to be good for up to 2000 sq. ft, but....it's not big enough.

I have a 1600 sqft well insulated ranch with a decent layout. This will be my first full season depending primarily on pellets. I didn't find this site or research my needs thoroughly enough before buying and relied only on the dealer's recommendation. I learned pretty quickly last season that the stove is undersized for the task. I'm adding a second used stove to the partially finished basement to heat that space and help on the coldest of nights.

You won't complain that the stove is too big.

Yea, 10k btu can make a big differance. Remember the stoves don't put out said btu when you calculate their efficiency.

Bioburner said:

Harman p series recommended cleaning about one ton of pellets. About what the ash pan holds. Now a quick scrape of the exchanger on a regular basis will keep it at top heat transfer.

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I think in real world (typical eastern US pellet quality) that may be a stretch, but the P series ash pans are pretty big. Unless it's overflowing and choking the combustion fan, you'll be just fine. It kinda will depend on how anal you are about what the inside of your firebox looks like. Which brings me to my next point, referencing the burn pot, in particular....

Should us Harman owners tell you about the special "tool" Harman supplies with every stove? There's potentially LOTS of OCD fun to be had with that thing A lot of us have "issues" leaving that thing alone for fear of losing thousands of BTU's of efficiency....

I second the m55 steel. I can sell that stove for under 4k installed and it doesn't require a hearth pad. Great powerful stove for the money also is made under the vista flame line vf70 and I have seen it for $1700 on closeout

Should us Harman owners tell you about the special "tool" Harman supplies with every stove? There's potentially LOTS of OCD fun to be had with that thing A lot of us have "issues" leaving that thing alone for fear of losing thousands of BTU's of efficiency....[/quote]

Holy Chit Man... You read my file! I can't leave that stupid thing alone! Terrible condition...

mikespirito said:

so it seems like Harman is the way to go........i think im going to bite the bullet...

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You might want to consider the Drolet Eco-65 and VistaFlame VF170? Significantly more heat output for similar dollars

subsailor said:

I have an 80+ year old cape with 1000 sq. ft. on the main floor. A bunch of small rooms. I heat only with pellets, my furnace has been off for 2 years. Electric hot water. Blew in insulation when I bought the Harman. Heat the place for around $1000/year. By this time of night usually 74+ in here. Wife delivers mail and comes home frozen like a popsicle and wants it warm. I don't know anything about the CAB50 or the Cumberland, but the Harman's will burn lower grade pellets, what some people call shoulder pellets, with ease. I bought it because I didn't want to have to pay top $ for better pellets. Coldest I saw last winter was 11 below, and I had to turn it down when it got over 75 in here.

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I agree!
1st year we burned Maine Wood Pellets which at the time were terrible. (Much better now. Burning 4 tons/yr of MWP)
Many other stoves would choke on these pellets. Harman burned through them fine.
Had to clean burn pot more often but it sure kept the -25F temps at bay!
Harman is like the Honey Badger as far as food goes. It doesn't care what you feed it.

Funny Video (Honey Badger)