opinions on harmen p68 pellet stoves

Hard to beat the p series. I am blending corn for the Harman as corn is down to about 140 per ton. There is a standing offer to buy large used Harmans in our state.

Knock on wood very happy with my harman p35i.keeps my 1800 split level nice and toasty.

ndmcsx said:

I'm trying to heat a drafty old farm house in Michigan. about 2200 sq ft total. we have an Englander multi-fuel stove we bought 4 years ago that does okay, as long as the temp stays above 25 degrees f. It was supposed to heat 2200 sq ft, it might in better conditions, we don't even heat our upper level. We tried cherry pits, corn, and learned pellets are the best bang for the buck, and the cleanest, so that's what we're sticking with. I've been looking at other stoves because ours is starting to give us problems every now and again. The harmen p68 is what im stuck on. Kind of pricey, but it looks like it'll heat more area, burn any pellet, and what I can find is very reliable. I know of one that is 7 years old without a problem. I'm looking for some opinions good and bad. thanks

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It's tough to say where the place is loose and drafty. Tightening that situation up is the obvious answer. Could you give some indication of layout inside the house?

A 68 will heat you up pretty nice. Where you have a drafty house, hook up an OAK.

Love mine... No regrets!

1/2 way through our 4th season with one ... enthusiastically satisfied!

The P68 is a HEAT MONSTER! Even with a very drafty house, I think you'll find the P68 will do the job, fairly easily. My only caveat with all pellet stoves is the placement of the stove, and how open your floor plan. If you have an older home, with a chopped up floor plan, no pellet stove is going to do a great job getting the heat to the rooms you need it in. I can tell you that my P68 keeps my home (3300 square feet) very warm (would be 80+ if I allowed for it), even when the temperatures are in the single digits outside. I do have a very open floor plan, so that allows the heat to travel throughout our home and doesn't leave any one room feeling too hot or too cold.

My brothers house was drafty, but some blown in insulation is helping a bunch. Tough to heat any building if you have no insulation and free air blowing through the place.

The Harmans are hard to beat for a good stove. I bought my P43 from MacDowells in Grand Ledge. They treated me right and they seemed to know what they are talking about. Also work on tightening and insulating the house as that will save you the most money.
Ron

Enigma869 said:

The P68 is a HEAT MONSTER! Even with a very drafty house, I think you'll find the P68 will do the job, fairly easily. My only caveat with all pellet stoves is the placement of the stove, and how open your floor plan. If you have an older home, with a chopped up floor plan, no pellet stove is going to do a great job getting the heat to the rooms you need it in. I can tell you that my P68 keeps my home (3300 square feet) very warm (would be 80+ if I allowed for it), even when the temperatures are in the single digits outside. I do have a very open floor plan, so that allows the heat to travel throughout our home and doesn't leave any one room feeling too hot or too cold.

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Hi -new to web & just purchased P68. Do you use another source of heat with P68? It seems we are going through lots of pellets and it is only 62 degrees. If we put it at 65-70 we use 5 bags a day. Ceiling fans on too. Just bought log home and replaced soapstone wood stove with P68. It keeps the oil off in certain zones but it's not heating like we thought. Any suggestions as I see you have a 3300 sq ft home. Thanks.

With log homes your working with thermal mass. Would be interesting to see the structure with a thermal camera. I would suggest that you try and see if you can rent one from Home Depot and take a good look.
The stove on full bore and a 80 eff. that's 54,000 btus and would bet that is not enough for that structure in this extreme weather.
Welcome and good luck

begreen said:

What is the house sq ftg.?

200 pounds of pellets per day = 1,600,000 btus, a huge amount. The issue does not sound like the stove, the house is losing heat badly. Log homes in cold weather can take a lot of heat due to thermal conduction through the wood. If the sealing between logs is poor it gets worse. In this bitter cold weather don't be afraid to run the oil furnace in conjunction and don't let the house cool down a lot at night. It will take a lot of energy to warm up those walls again in the daytime.

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Our previous home for 20 yrs was log - wood furnace. We got in this one late so really didn't get a chance to check chinking. Looked ok but I am sure it needs some maintenance. It doesn't seem too drafty but most nights are below zero lately. 2500 sq ft with 25' cathedral ceilings in living room and 3 bedrooms. We have spent so much on oil & wood that we are hoping pellet stove would help.

Bioburner said:

With log homes your working with thermal mass. Would be interesting to see the structure with a thermal camera. I would suggest that you try and see if you can rent one from Home Depot and take a good look.
The stove on full bore and a 80 eff. that's 54,000 btus and would bet that is not enough for that structure in this extreme weather.
Welcome and good luck

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Thanks. I will look into a camera. This year is a trial run. Hoping for more from the P68 but definitely know we need to check the logs. I appreciate your feedback.

begreen said:

With a 25 ft ceiling I suspect a lot of the heat is sitting up high at the 20ft level. That in part is what is eating the fuel up. This is a lot of cubic footage to heat. More like two 2500 sq ft homes worth. Cathedral ceilings belong in cathedrals.

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Yes - At 6 degrees out and the stove cranking - I'm thinking the same thing. Thanks.

begreen said:

PS: Welcome. My wife grew up in a large log inn in CT. It was beautiful, but no central heat. One morning she woke up and her goldfish bowl had frozen solid. The inn's saving grace were lower, 9 ft ceilings. I put in a whopping large 175,000 btu hot air system for the new owner which made it much better, but the winter oil bills could be high.

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Beautiful but not good for the fish! We are through at least 900 gal of oil and at least a cord of wood or more since Oct. It's going to be. Busy spring getting this house sealed. I wondered why the last owner never really answered me about heating. Similar to your pic.

P series are great stoves, simple design, easy to maintain.

I can tell you right now that underneath garage is not doing you any favors in the heat department. I have a one car garage and the cold coming thru the floors is amazing, even with new R19 insulation, vapor barrier and thicker sheetrock than what was originally there - plus area rugs. So not only are you battling the heat rising 25 feet, but with cold coming up from below.

I have an old 1880's 3,000 Sq. Ft. Home with 11 foot ceilings with an add on room on the back side. I have a P68 in main area with a P43 in the back side of the house. When Temps drop to the low teens or below I need to turn on my furnace to maintain temps. I put the stoves in stove mode and haveI have the furnace thermostat maintain temps. I have 3 layers of brick on the perimeter walls. A huge heat sink for me. Temps in the teens furnace runs maybe 10% of the time at night. 50% below zero. A lot of volume with 11 foot ceilings and an old home. Ceiling fans work as I notice the difference. Also not turning the temp down at night helps as it doesn't have to bring everything back up. I seem to use less money just setting and never touch the temp. Homes that are not newer construction are a huge challenge. Pellet stoves are space heaters so placement is critical.