Fair Price for Harman Accentra Pellet Stove?

Bridgeman said:

Why do you need a pellet stove in so. California ? I was there at Christmas and it was 50s at night and 80s during the day. I was sleeping with the window open. Keep in mind this thing puts out a theoretical 40,000 btu and runs better the harder it works. It is 26F in so. NH this morning my Accentra is running at 20% capacity. They also burn much cleaner the harder it works. Still a great deal. It would have been $2000 plus in this market. Is there a supply of pellets available locally?

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The pellet stove is for a cabin which is at 5500 feet. We already have a wood stove in the cabin (a huge Englander 30) that heats part of the home very well. But, the lower floor gets VERY chilly. This weekend it was 22f outside when we woke up. I believe the stove will be a little much for our needs, but I couldn't pass it up.

I am going to clean it tomorrow and then try to fire it up in the garage. There is NO venting attached at this point. Is it OK to burn it that way to test and make sure it all works? I will obviously have the large garage door open when I fire it up.

Bill

Bridgeman said:

Not a good idea in the house door or no door. Move it ten feet away, put on a few feet of pipe and fire that baby up! Do they sell pellets locally?

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Yes, no problem getting pellets around here.

Ok, I just finished cleaning for the first time. Here are some pictures of what I took apart and how it looks after the initial cleaning. Is this what it should look like when it is clean? Did I forget anything?

Thanks!

Bill

Well, nobody was here to see it, but I captured the moment with photography. I just had a test fire in the stove. As you can see, I stuffed a piece of pipe on the exhaust and pointed it out the door of the garage. The self ignitor worked perfectly (took about 5 minutes to start a fire), the feed motor worked fine, and the combustion blower was working great. I let it run for a few minutes, and then turned it to "off". I didn't leave it on long enough for the distribution blower to turn on, I guess. I didn't realize this until after it was shutting down. Does this blower turn on by itself after the stove heats up a bit?

Everything shut down after about 45 minutes. So far so good!

I do have some questions though.....I will make a short list and post them in a little bit.

P38X2 said:

Nice!

I like the straight pipe

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Yeah, I'm sure the inspector would love the pipe being supported by a cardboard box!

Ok, here are a few questions if anyone can weigh in:

1. There is a small toggle switch behind the control door that toggles between "hi" and "low". I can't seem to find any mention of this in the manual I have. What does it do? (Pictures 1 and 2)

2. I am possibly wanting to order the "leg set" for this stove. Anyone have a good lead on somewhere I can get these mail order? I have looked on-line and am not having too much luck. (Picture 3)

3. The final location of the stove will be on a hearth that is already constructed with a wall thimble that is already in place that fits a 3" pipe. The installation will be basically like the one in Picture 4, except the vertical run will not be near that long. The installation looks to be straight forward, but I am unclear as to how I get a piece of pipe that is of the exact length to fit between the two 90 degree joints. Is there a telescopic pipe section that fits here? Best place to purchase pipe and fittings?

4. I'm not sure what is involved with sweeping the pipe each season, but I am wondering if there is anything that I can do now during my installation that will simplify the sweeping of the pipe later? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks so much for all of the help.

Bill

Lake Girl said:

Congrats on the new stove! You get the idea of pics or it never happened Throw in a pic of the view along with the install please!

A point to consider in the cabin at 5500 elevation, you have to keep your pipe EVL at 7 or adapt to 4" pipe. CO detector and surge protection for it's new home and consider an outside air kit (OAK).

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I will definitely send a pic of the install when it is complete, but for now I need some help with the install.

I understand the OAK. I was going to try it without the OAK at first and then add later, if really necessary.

I don't understand "keep your pipe EVL at 7 or adapt to 4" pipe". Could someone help with what that means?

Also, I am still hoping to get some more input on the 4 questions above. Maybe I should start a new thread with a more descriptive heading?


Thanks!
Bill

P38X2 said:

Bill, did you get the owners manual with that stove? If not, I recommend you at least download one from the Harman website. Even better, print it out. It will help tremendously with a lot of things, including specific installation questions you will have.

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Hello P38X2,

Yes, I downloaded the current manual. It is VERY helpful. In fact, that is where this picture came from for the install. It should be very straight forward since the hearth is present, the wall thimble is in place, electricity is there, etc.

Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't seem to find a telescoping 3" pipe section that will between my two elbows (maybe someone could point me to a good company that would sell such an item.) Next, how in the heck does one sweep the pipe assembly once it is all fitted together and then sealed with silicone? I'm thinking now would be the best time to design an easily cleanable system. Maybe I am over thinking it all.

Thanks!


Bill

P38X2 said:

Are you planning to use any of the venting that came with the stove? If so, you need to stay with that brand.

Does your manual give specs on vent length, EVL, etc?

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I don't think the venting that came with the stove can be used. It is all too long (unless it can be cut to size). The manual says "3" pipe up to 15' then increase to 4" pipe" "No horizontal runs longer than 48" The manual is silent on a high altitude conversion of these numbers. I just now learned what EVL stands for (as clipped below). Seems like I might need to go to 4" pipe.

Bill

This is not from the Accentra manual. It is clipped from another website.