Harman PF 100. Give me your thoughts.

we've got about a dozen of these out in the field: very dependable, throws TONS of heat, easy to clean, operate... the low fuel light on the tstat is quite a handy option.... however you are going to burn more pellets over the course of the season with a big pellet central heat unit vs. a free standing stove (about 2-3 ton more, to be exact.)

depends on your access to coal: being in PA I would say you have it... check out the rice coal units harman makes: very easy to use, and HUGE heat outputs.

I have the pf 100 this is my second season heating 3300sqft. only heating with pellets I will use 6.5 tons this year for heat. As for reliabilty never an issue yet except upper baffle plate is starting to warp this is a simple fix as it just lifts out, I do a teardown cleaning( except for exhaust) every ton or so on warmer days,and clean exhaust once a year usually just after heating season. I hear people talking about igniters but I have not had an issue as of yet. We love the constant heat that the stove gives as opposed to the high and lows that we get with oil and we keep temps at 70 to 72 all the time day and night. The layout of your house may make more sense for a free standing stove or even a rice coal burner but my 3300sqft is a one story ranch with a full basement so the zone heating of a freestanding was not an option. pros are: great heat, easy to use, large hopper, and large ash pan, self starting, very reliable to name a few. cons: can be awkward and messy to clean but I'm sure most are messy, and this thing likes to eat pellets, I've heard this from several others but heating such a large space I can live with 6 or 7 ton since this is all I'm heating with.

I am pretty handy and did the install myself I guess with exhaust ,duct work,and the 3500.00 for the stove I would say approx. 4100.00 total. this stove was very easy to install you can download installation guide from the harman website and see for yourself.

I have a PF100 installed with paralell ductwork to a oil furnace. It made sense to go the furnace route to take advantage of my existing ductwork. No more cold bathroom as when using a pellet stove (spot heater).

The heat from the pellet furnace beats the oil furnace hands down. It provides a much more even house temperature than the oil burner.
It does require much more fuel than a pellet stove. The BTU is almost twice as much as Harmon's stoves so if you do the math it means equally more pellets burned. But the even temperature distribution from the air ducts in the house is worth the extra BTU cost in comfort. Plus you can control the heat distribution by closing or opening duct registers.

My PF100 has run well. The only problem has been with the burn pot and my local dealer has a great service department that has provided excellent service all under Harmon's warranty. It has a low fuel indicator on the thermostat up in the house which is nice. The pellet hopper holds 4 bags (160lbs) and the ash pan is so big I think I only empty it once a season. My lawn likes the ashes. There is quite a bit of smoke when I start it in AUTO-LIGHT with the igniter so I light mine with a torch and run it in MANUAL-LIGHT.

It seems the honest PF100 posters on the forums are averaging around 6 to 7 tons of pellets a burning season. So something to plan for is more storage. One ton of pellets set on a US pallet is W=3.5' D=4' H=4'.

The PF100 is currently experiencing some burn pot issues but Harmon and some of the forum members are working on it. Do a search on PF100.
It requires 4 inch vent pipe. Have not had any parts go bad except the burn pot.

I looked at the Harman, ended up going with the St. Croix, same type setup, parallel with oil furnace, basement install, into ductwork. Last year, 4 ton pellets, ran out March 9, used about 100 gal oil after that. This year, bought 5 ton pellets, 86 bags left right now, no oil since mid -late Oct. No mechanical issues, running 24/7. I think St. Croix is underrated, 'cuz it wouldn't be PC to say Harman is overrated

I have a 2600 sf split level home (1/3 over a basement, 2/3 over insulated crawl space) in Canada. Typical weather in December to February will see temps drop to -30 to -40 range for a few weeks and average 70 to 80 heating degree days for most of the 3 month period. I burn an average of 2.4 bags a day during this period. Some days I put in 3 some days only 2. I have a Harman PF100 forced air pellet furnace. This is probably on the extreme end of heating use from all the posts I have read on these forums. It’s still cheaper than oil (about half what I was paying). My pellet prices average 225 to 275 a ton and I lay in 7 tons for heating from Oct 1 to May. I agree with the above posts.... even heat, reliable stove, self starting, etc. ..... also, the burnpot issue - I've replaced one burnpot (covered under warranty no questions) and one igniter (warranty also). Both fixes I did myself, it was easy. I installed the furnace myself. If you are a "do it yourself" kinda guy, it should present no real problems.

Oh yeah, the ash thing..... It still amazes me that the ash can will hold the ashes from 7 tons of pellets. You look at the floor space 7 tons takes up when stacked 4 feet high and then look at the size of the ash can in the stove (granted it is "generous" but still) and then wonder ....... Where did all that wood go??????????????/

ex-oil,
Did you vote and make comments in the PF100 burn pot poll? Other PF100 owners are trying to figure out what the burn pot problem is.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/53004/

yes, I voted and posted as well

did anyone set it up parallel? Did you install baffles?

you pretty much have to set it up in parallel (unless its the only furnace) so that you dont have the hot air from one stressing out the blower on the other.

so every one does install the baffles? Where are you buying your baffles/dampers and what kind? I won't have any round pipe on mine and will have to figure out how to get one on the top of the AC coil before the top duct work.

does anyone have input on this?

i think you could find them at a place like FW Webb. You could do manual dampers,barometric, or electric and you should be able to find them in the size to match your duct work.

dmaclaren said:

so every one does install the baffles? Where are you buying your baffles/dampers and what kind? I won't have any round pipe on mine and will have to figure out how to get one on the top of the AC coil before the top duct work.

does anyone have input on this?

Click to expand...

http://pottorff.com/catalog.php?model=BD-20

They make the dampers custom sized. I'm waiting on mine to be built still. I couldn't wait to fire up my pf100 so I made a temporary slide gate on my existing furnace.

in reading the specs on it, it mentions "y in either exhaust or intake installations for low velocity and pressure applications"

So, the unit will be roughly 1400 cfm and a main unit furnace is from 1000 - 2500 cfm. Is this the right baffle?