Looking for info for first time purchase.

Hello everyone, first time posting here, I am finally ready to purchase my first pellet stove, I've heated with wood my entire life, had many different brands of stoves over the years, some good, some, not so good, I am currently using a Harmon Exception, probably one of, if not the very first one made, for the most part, it has served me well, but, there has been issues that customer service from Harmon just won't address, they refuse to talk to me about any problems that I have with my stove, even my local dealer has said, after researching my serial number, they can't help me, so, purchasing a Harmon pellet stove is out, what are the next best options? I have looked at several makes, such as St Croix, Englander, US Stove Quadrafire, there are many choices, but in reading all the threads in these forums, every manufacturer has problems, is there one stove that doesn't have reliability issues? I guess what I'd like is something in the 50,000 + BTU range, 60 lb minimum pellet hopper, adjustable speed blower with an ash pan, is there such an animal?

Thank you
Wilbur Feral
rich2500
for responding, I guess I would like to add, I really want to purchase a pellet stove for the same reasons most people do, tired of cutting 4 to 6 cord of wood every year, between the stacking to dry, hauling it indoors in the fall, stacking it again, the messy house, etc, I don't mind spending time on maintenance, and I'm pretty confident I can rig up something in the event of an emergency to keep it going, that being said, I have spent quite a bit of time the last few weeks reading about the pro's and con's, and even though we are getting close to the end of the heating season, I would like to get something in place now, I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" but, I have a hard time justifying spending four or five thousand dollars for a Harmon when there are so many stoves in the sub two thousand dollar range, can anyone recommend something that might do what I am looking for? I am not opposed to purchasing used either, so any recommendations about what might be a good pre-owned stove might be would also be welcomed.

UpStateNY said:

bobcat911, let me say welcome to the forum. As rich2500 said, I would research pellet stoves so you know what your are getting into. If you have problems with a wood stove and think your going to have less problems with a pellet stove, well that is just not possible. Too many moving parts on a pellet stove. By design pellet stoves will have more issues. On the plus side, pellet stove will mean you don't need to worry moving parts that may break on a log splitter or a chain saw.

Personally I have had my Harman pellet stove for 8 years and the only thing that I fixed was the igniter which cost about $100. Some pellet stoves are easier to clean than others. My Harman Advanced takes longer to clean than a Harman P61a pellet stove for example. Cleaning the stove pipe is much easier and worry free on a pellet stove.

I don't have any experience with other pellet stoves. I can't help you with that.

Welcome and good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the post!, the issues with my Harmon wood stove are unrelated to operation, but are concerned with the gasketing on the feed door, basically, Harmon would not honor their warranty on the design flaws that my stove has, all the Harmon Exception stoves that I have seen since I purchased mine are different, I don't know if the realized this and stopped production and changed the design, but they refuse to acknowledge my phone calls or when the actually had an E-Mail address, correspondence from that, I just refuse to do any business with them, I guess it's a matter of principle now, other than the issues I had with the stove, it's been great, I just feel I am ready to move on to something that although it might be more maintenance, it's all at the stove, not out in the woods cutting wood, hauling, stacking etc.

Lake Girl said:

Welcome to the forum bobcat... A few details might be helpful. Size/layout of house, where will the stove live, what exhaust set-up? Have you given thought to keeping the wood stove and add a pellet stove in another location? Plan to have a inverter generator for power outages?

Pellet stoves still create some mess...

Click to expand...

My home is a two story log, approx, 1800 sq ft, with a full basement, I currently have an oil fired hot air furnace in the basement that is vented into a masonry chimney, on the ground level is where my wood stove currently lives, and it is at the opposite end of the house, its vented into a class A "Metalbestos" chimney, I originally planned to put the pellet stove in the basement, and eliminate the wood stove, but since the brick hearth and chimney would still remain, I figured I would be better off using them to vent the pellet stove, as far as the second story is concerned, our main bedroom is located there and since both me and my wife like it cooler for sleeping, we don't heat it, I currently have a 10K "clean power" generator as I live in a very rural area that has its fair share of power outages, I realize there is a mess associated with the burning of any solid fuel, and am prepared for that too, I just would like to get rid of the yearly job of cutting, stacking, (sometimes twice) and general mess of firewood, I would be happy with an outdoor boiler, but don't have enough sustainable wood to keep up with the demand, and with wood prices being what they are, I couldn't afford to purchase enough, that being said, I have several friends that have pellet stoves, one has a King, from TSC, she has had it for several years and is pretty happy with it, but she has to shut it off and vacuum it out every day in order for it to work properly, another has a Harmon P-43, it works good too, less daily maintenance, but with a original cost of around 3K.
Maybe a pellet stove might not fit my needs, I guess that's why I posted in this forum, so far I have gotten several good responses that have me rethinking my point of view of Harmon stoves, I know they are well made, but I guess I would consider another brand, I just don't know anyone who has had any experience with any others than the two that I have seen, I have learned one thing though, everyone I have spoke too about stoves tell me the same thing, the more you spend, the more happy you will be in the end, anyway thank you everyone who has responded so far, I look forward to reading more posts about my situation.

Update, Pulled the trigger on a "used" P -61A, so far it's been great, been burning Energex and Cubex, but going to try some Spruce Point, maintenance has been very limited, glad I went with the Harman.

Lake Girl said:

How good a deal did you get on the Harman? Spruce Pointes are what I burn. How much are they costing you in Vermont? $7 cdn. here

Click to expand...

Stove was 6 years old, I paid $2200 the dealer replaced the ESP probe, the stove had all the options as well, stainless trim, top and bottom, I am paying $220 for the Spruce Pointes , but for a ton, not the 50 bags which are on a standard Canadian pallet.

alternativeheat said:

Congrats on the stove ! Spruce Pointes are a premium pellet, about the same heat as the Energex, maybe a touch less ashy. I liked them when we burned them but I can't seem to secure a decent deal on them.

If your local Home Depot is selling Fireside Ultra, pick up a couple of bags of those to try and see what you think. They should be pretty equal to the Energex as well and often for less money at the BBS.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't have any local Home Depot's or Lowes, just local mom and pop hardware stores, but they are very competitive.

I paid $220.00 per ton would of been $270.00 if I took the whole pallet, I paid $ 225.00 for Energex, $ 220.00 for Cubex.