Buying first pellet stove

Hit the nail on the head with the wife being in charge. I bought the black Sante Fe and my wife bought the mahogany Castile. Same guts, same btu's, double the price! 'yes dear.....yes dear..........etc, etc'...
Many sales people down here refuse to deal with women but look at this forum. There have been more well-written questions by women. AND more logically approached SUCCESSFUL solutions done by women in a shorter amount of time and posts! IMHO, of course!

And, usually women aren't afraid to ask the "stupid" questions - where guy's a lot of times aren't comfortable with looking like an idiot. I will happily play stupid (sometimes it isn't play - like with electronics)

Short story as to why I didn't buy a harmen. This is my first year burning pellets and love it, but when I was shopping and researching what route to go I landed on either a quad or harmen. The quad dealer was great awnsered all my wife's questions, very helpful. When I visited the harmen dealer, gave them the info of where it would be installed sq-ft"2000". I got one awnser the p-68. I said ok and left to discuss with the wife. We could not decide until I talked to fellow I work with who said his father in law worked for harmen and he'd see about a discount. Two days later I got a price of 1999.99 for a p-68 straight from the dealer. I said sold get it ordered. The next day he comes back and says sorry that is the family discount only but here is a 100 dollar coupon for that 4000 dollar stove. They may be the best, but not for me. Did more research and landed on a heatilator cab50, keeps me warm, a third of the cost and the parts all have quadrafire part numbers. I'm not saying anything bad about harmen I'm just not buying one.

tjnamtiw said:

And you are not the Original Poster, who lives in PA and was asking about Englander stoves versus other brands. He's the one who started the thread and was looking for advice. It would have been much less confusing if you started a new thread. The OP never answered you so he is long gone.

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Harman vs englander not other brands learn to read no hijack here?

RyansCAB50 said:

Short story as to why I didn't buy a harmen. This is my first year burning pellets and love it, but when I was shopping and researching what route to go I landed on either a quad or harmen. The quad dealer was great awnsered all my wife's questions, very helpful. When I visited the harmen dealer, gave them the info of where it would be installed sq-ft"2000". I got one awnser the p-68. I said ok and left to discuss with the wife. We could not decide until I talked to fellow I work with who said his father in law worked for harmen and he'd see about a discount. Two days later I got a price of 1999.99 for a p-68 straight from the dealer. I said sold get it ordered. The next day he comes back and says sorry that is the family discount only but here is a 100 dollar coupon for that 4000 dollar stove. They may be the best, but not for me. Did more research and landed on a heatilator cab50, keeps me warm, a third of the cost and the parts all have quadrafire part numbers. I'm not saying anything bad about harmen I'm just not buying one.

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Coming from someone who can't spell harman enjoy your cub51 (harmen)?

Gotta love that spellcheck

I will dump in my 2 cents worth.

I'm tight when it comes to $$$ on new stuff.

I buy used cars and get all the goody out.

Both our Whitfields were used when we got them.

Paid $200 each and one came with pipe and the hearth pad too.

Back in 93 we bought two new Quadrafire 1000 stoves and they are still here today.

The used Whits are great and serve well.

Have you checked out the used market ??

Age means little, condition is everything.

If the cabinet/chassis is in good shape, even if it needs a fresh paint job, and the firebox, grate and heat tubes are good, then the rest is all basic.

A good used stove will provide a far faster return on your investment than a new one at $4K

Even if you need to do a little work on it, such as a bearing or two and maybe a fan or feed motor, or worst case scenario, a control board, used can be a bigggggggggggggggggggggggg savings.

Truth is, most pellet stoves are not used full time, but instead as an instrument of ambiance and decoration.

Yessssssss, those of us here at the forum are die hard, hard core pellet stove freeks, and run ours 24/7 during the heating season, but by far, many stoves get used very little.

People get caught up in the idea of a pellet stove, then they have to clean it, and the misus gets all butthurt because of the ashes on the WHITE CARPET Yada yada yada and then the Widdle stove winds up at the next garage sale or on Craigs list.

People move and the new owners are scared to death of anything that has a in it (that they can see)

The reasons are endless.

Consider a used one maybe.

Just some thoughts

Snowy

My opinion (after 30 years of owning and watching) is an Englander is a cheapo stove with basic parts and output, USSC is a step above that but still a basic unit.

Unlike the Englander, the USSC has a real ash pan and adjustability plus a more advanced electronic control, then comes the higher end models like Harman and Quadrafire with their ornate cabinets, better output and proprietary feed designs at a price of course. Nothing is free despite what Obama tells you...lol

I want a basic unit with some advanced features (like a real ash pan) and a more advanced electronic control so the Englander isn't what I need and don't meet my requirements for a basic unit.. The USSC fills my bill for a basic no frills stove thats still customizeable. I'd like to get a Harman or Quad someday and may.

Every unit does the same thing and that is oxidize a solid fuel to produce heat (British Thermal Units). How they produce the heat (the burning systems) is what makes each unique as well as convenience and asthetic features.

It all depends on what you are looking for and the depth of your wallet.

I don't think (again my opinion) that there is one unit thats heads above all the others, it distills down to personal preference.

ports said:

I go through on average about 1100 gals of oil.

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Might look into a pellet furnace for that amt of BTU's

Big papa said:

Harman vs englander not other brands learn to read no hijack here?

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One sentence --- learn English.

tjnamtiw said:

One sentence --- learn English.

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Sorry had some coal in my eye,when typing that.

Big papa said:

Sorry had some coal in my eye,when typing that.

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HAHAHAHA. Now THAT'S FUNNY! You win!

WTF is a Harmen? Kinda sounds like an Arab bevy of women....????

SidecarFlip said:

WTF is a Harmen? Kinda sounds like an Arab bevy of women....????

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I thought it was 'whoremoan'.......

tjnamtiw said:

I thought it was 'whoremoan'.......

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I always heard thats what occured when you witheld payment for services rendered...................

Pellet stoves do last a long time. I'm into 30 plus years and only on my second one and I only replaced the original one because I wanted a better fuel delivery system, but the one I had originally is still being sold and there are quite a few on this site (mostly way out east interestingly). I considered it a bit archaic in design back then.

I purchased a pellet stove to save money on fuel oil! I installed the stove myself to save more money. Total cost was right about $2,000.00! If I had installed a more costly stove, that price would have been $5,000.00 to $6,000.00!
My Return On Investment was seen quickly.
Now that Oil prices are dropping, the ROI would be much longer!

So Happy I Bought England's Stove Works!

Bill

For reliability, see http://www.forgreenheat.org/consumer_resources/reliablepellet.html
My 25PDV is one of the most reliable stoves available so I got the best of both worlds!

bill3rail said:

I purchased a pellet stove to save money on fuel oil! I installed the stove myself to save more money. Total cost was right about $2,000.00! If I had installed a more costly stove, that price would have been $5,000.00 to $6,000.00!
My Return On Investment was seen quickly.
Now that Oil prices are dropping, the ROI would be much longer!

So Happy I Bought England's Stove Works!

Bill

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If you would have been like my neighbor who bought a used stove and installed for around 700 at the end of January was able to recoup investment in a little over a month with propain at over $3+ and burnt some corn and had a warmer house.

I hope everyone starts heating with oil again and the prices stay down. I won't though and you better heat with it while the getting is good. Don't hold your breath is all I will say.

I have a p68a that has been great, a few what I would call routine maintenance things but my stove is 9 or 10 yrs old and going strong If I was in the market for another I would pay the money for a harman. Easy as hell to work on for the most part!

bill3rail said:

I purchased a pellet stove to save money on fuel oil! I installed the stove myself to save more money. Total cost was right about $2,000.00! If I had installed a more costly stove, that price would have been $5,000.00 to $6,000.00!
My Return On Investment was seen quickly.
Now that Oil prices are dropping, the ROI would be much longer!

So Happy I Bought England's Stove Works!

Bill

For reliability, see http://www.forgreenheat.org/consumer_resources/reliablepellet.html
My 25PDV is one of the most reliable stoves available so I got the best of both worlds!

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Glad to hear things worked out for ya that's great.but I would still recommend the OP to read the reviews on both stoves.lol