I converted my in-laws from a cheap HD stove to a Harman 52i

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CladMaster said:
POS ! That depends on the POS you have...... Not all of us can afford a POS Harman and so we have to make do with the limited funds that we have on hand.

Not all of us have jobs that pay the $$$ to buy the more expensive POS that you have. :p
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Grab the popcorn!
 
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08specB said:
Now my next task is to try and convince my father in law to not run cheap lowes pellets. He is convinced that hardwoods are the way to go and they they burn slower and hotter. This will be fun explaining to him that he has been wrong for many many years, LOL.
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Why not let the man experiment himself? I'm sure he is capable of forming his own opinions, and his decisions in life haven't killed him yet. Let him enjoy his stove. He's letting you enjoy his daughter after all.
 
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mepellet said:
Grab the popcorn!
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I ate two wafer cookies and started on a cup of tea while reading this thread, pure entertainment !!

Truth be known, I own a Harman but am thinking of an Englander for my basement wood working shop. With retirement looming up in three days I'm not spending another $4000 to put heat in my work shop.
 
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alternativeheat said:
With retirement looming up in three days I'm not spending another $4000 to put heat in my work shop.
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Congrats. You aren't retiring. You are graduating from work.
 
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hossthehermit said:
Obviously when Jesus left Chicago, he moved to Connecticut ..................
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Not quite sure what that means, but ay if it gets you through by gorry knock yourself out it is!
 
BrotherBart said:
Congrats. You aren't retiring. You are graduating from work.
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Ya 44 years turning wrenches in a heavy truck fleet ( aka, head fleet mech).
 
I like buying expensive POS, USED. Let someone else eat the depreciation or not use an education to read a manual
 
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alternativeheat said:
I ate two wafer cookies and started on a cup of tea while reading this thread, pure entertainment !!

Truth be known, I own a Harman but am thinking of an Englander for my basement wood working shop. With retirement looming up in three days I'm not spending another $4000 to put heat in my work shop.
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Enjoy retirement. ;)
 
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08specB said:
So my in-laws have seen and liked our Harman XXV for the past couple months. They were fine with their HD/Lowes New Englander POS stove for 8+ years. Last week it started shitting the bed the controls arent working and it only works on high.

After telling them Harman was the Cadillac of stoves they picked the 52i for thei 2,000sq ft colonial. They will be getting it from Squier Lumber where I got mine and having Bryan install it on November 11th.

Now my next task is to try and convince my father in law to not run cheap lowes pellets. He is convinced that hardwoods are the way to go and they they burn slower and hotter. This will be fun explaining to him that he has been wrong for many many years, LOL.
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My father in law is the same, but what you probably haven't figured out is the fixed income crowd doesn't find boutique pellets too sexy... all the talk of soft wood on the east coast is like begging for higher shipping costs than we already have in new england. Awesome to hear they'll get something that will last them quite a while though.
 
Interesting thread.I believe it is still england's stove works,Right BB?So the POS they are replacing heated the place for 8 years,it is broke and they don't know how to fix it,so they buy a caddillac to replace a pinto,while bitchin about the pinto?(sorry,just reading the thread,drawing conclusions).People out here that have over 20 year old england stoves may disagree with the logic.Not knocking harman,own one,have not installed it yet,bought it cheap.People that owned it got suckered into the "must be serviced by a dealer" thing,so every year it cost them a ton of money(less heat savings)and dealer did shoddy work,which led to the units demise.If they had used one of the good independent stove repair places they would still own this unit.If harman provided better customer service they would sell more units.Oh well just had to rant a little.
 
bob bare said:
Interesting thread.I believe it is still england's stove works,Right BB?So the POS they are replacing heated the place for 8 years,it is broke and they don't know how to fix it,so they buy a caddillac to replace a pinto,while bitchin about the pinto?(sorry,just reading the thread,drawing conclusions).People out here that have over 20 year old england stoves may disagree with the logic.Not knocking harman,own one,have not installed it yet,bought it cheap.People that owned it got suckered into the "must be serviced by a dealer" thing,so every year it cost them a ton of money(less heat savings)and dealer did shoddy work,which led to the units demise.If they had used one of the good independent stove repair places they would still own this unit.If harman provided better customer service they would sell more units.Oh well just had to rant a little.
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OP has burned his Harman for exactly zero winters. Kind of like buying a Cadillac for your first car and knocking everyone else's Pinto before you know how to drive.
 
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The thing with Harman is not just that the dealer you bought it from is the only one to service it but in most cases other Harman dealers won't touch it for warranty work. They build great pellet stoves but they don't build the dealers.

Local shop had a lady come in back in 2008 when you couldn't find a pellet stove on a bet. She was from Maine and demanded that he sell her the one Harman he had left and wedge it in the back seat of her car. To take back to Maine. He begged her not to buy it because if she got home and it didn't work he was the only dealer in the country that would fix it. And he had no plans to go to Maine. She didn't care. They stuffed it in the back seat.
 
Interesting to see how many more/less pellets he burns.
 
BrotherBart said:
The thing with Harman is not just that the dealer you bought it from is the only one to service it but in most cases other Harman dealers won't touch it for warranty work. They build great pellet stoves but they don't build the dealers.

Local shop had a lady come in back in 2008 when you couldn't find a pellet stove on a bet. She was from Maine and demanded that he sell her the one Harman he had left and wedge it in the back seat of her car. To take back to Maine. He begged her not to buy it because if she got home and it didn't work he was the only dealer in the country that would fix it. And he had no plans to go to Maine. She didn't care. They stuffed it in the back seat.
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That is another good point.I remember the same thing in the auto industry,cannot remember if it was the 70's or 80's.when a dealer would not touch your truck if you did not buy it from them(for warr.).All it took was the beginning of a class action lawsuit and it all went away.
 
bob bare said:
That is another good point.I remember the same thing in the auto industry,cannot remember if it was the 70's or 80's.when a dealer would not touch your truck if you did not buy it from them(for warr.).All it took was the beginning of a class action lawsuit and it all went away.
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The major problem with stove warranties is that dealers get squat for warranty labor. And nothing for travel. So the guy that sold it is the one that got most of the money when he sold it. Nothing in it for any other shop to work on one.

What attracted me to ESW. They support me. I don't have to kiss some dealer's butt to get what is needed.
 
BrotherBart said:
The major problem with stove warranties is that dealers get squat for warranty labor. And nothing for travel. So the guy that sold it is the one that got most of the money when he sold it. Nothing in it for any other shop to work on one.

What attracted me to ESW. They support me. I don't have to kiss some dealer's butt to get what is needed.
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Yep seen it before,almost a form of price fixing to sell all their products at the highest price,everywhere.Yet same company sells some of the worse stuff on the market.I have fixed friends englander stoves,before I found this thread,and was amazed at what a phone call would do!(I have a farmer with an england stove that is as old as my integra,92,and has only ever replace the auger motor,burns 3 ton a year,not a full time stove).Also I can still call lucky dist. about a rika problem,and just ecently talked to energy parts plus tech about older austroflam problem/part.Never happen with harman.
 
I think all that matters in the end is whether or not the owner is happy. Whether it's an Englander, Harman or whatever. Each brand has it's own unique features and quirks. Like many things we buy the best is what you can afford at the time. If that happens to a Harman great, if it happens to be an Englander that's great too. They are both great stoves and have served many people's needs and that is to provide heat at a reasonable cost. Learning to maintain your stove properly is far more important than what brand you have.
 
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