Pellet Stove inserts update: PICS

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Sep 23, 2010
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Faulkner, Maryland
I've been going back and forth on a pellet stove insert. I have a 2 story 2400 sq ft house. Basically not an open floor plan, so just worried about being able to distribute the heat enough to justify it. Also one of my main concerns is where are the inserts made. I will not buy a foreign unit. Does anyone know which units are made in the USA? Thanks
 
roadrunnermoore said:
I've been going back and forth on a pellet stove insert. I have a 2 story 2400 sq ft house. Basically not an open floor plan, so just worried about being able to distribute the heat enough to justify it. Also one of my main concerns is where are the inserts made. I will not buy an foreign units. Does anyone know which units are made in the USA? Thanks
Can only tell you of my own circumstances. I run a St. Croix insert - 40,000 btu max. I have a 2400sqft home and it is not an open floor plan. 4 rooms down and 4 up. Insert is in living room fireplace. I put a 7" fan in top of the living room doorway, to blow the heat from the room and a small 12" tower fan on the floor to blow the cold air back towards the stove. The air circulates on it's own. I use the stove from October to March(Dec to Feb is 24/7). My downstairs stays 70-72 and the upstairs rooms 65. Went from 4 tanks of oil to 1. When I was using oil, I would keep the house temp considerably cooler. It's a little more work than just using the oil furnace, but the house is warmer and it is definitely one of the better investments I've made. I would have put in a free-standing, but I have windows everywhere and the town wouldn't approve any exhaust next to a window or door.
 
roadrunnermoore said:
....I will not buy a foreign unit. Does anyone know which units are made in the USA? Thanks

Off the top of my head, I know the Englander and Travis industries stoves are USA made, and I'm pretty sure the Harman & US Stoves are too. Other forum members will chime in, I'm sure.

Only units that I know are foreign made are Quads (China) and Enviro (Canada)
 
Too bad your cutting out one of the finest inserts made by not buying foreign. Even if a stove is assembled domestically, most manufacturers have certain components
made overseas. I believe Harmon is one of the few that is truly domestic. I believe in buying "made in the USA" whenever it is feasable. It was just hard to ignore for me
on this purchase.
 
Though you may find a stove "made" in the USA, you will NOT find one with all of the components made here. All of the motors an electronics come from our slaves somewhere else in the world. I cleaned and set up a Mt Vernon AE Insert today. I hope HHT doesn't turn Harman into that. I've always loved the simplicity and ingenuity of Harman.
 
When I took delivery of my US Stove the first thing I unpacked was the door which had a huge CHINA in the forging. Pissed me off. I know it was assembled in Tennessee, but unsure of its American content.

Schoondog
 
imacman said:
roadrunnermoore said:
....I will not buy a foreign unit. Does anyone know which units are made in the USA? Thanks

Off the top of my head, I know the Englander and Travis industries stoves are USA made, and I'm pretty sure the Harman & US Stoves are too. Other forum members will chime in, I'm sure.

Only units that I know are foreign made are Quads (China) and Enviro (Canada)

I am not so certain that the Quad Mt. Vernon insert is made in China. I believe it is made in Colville, WA.
 
I don't think a 40K insert is going to heat even HALF of that square footage,
ESPECIALLY with a non-open floor plan.
You've got to go bigger & AFIK, the biggest American made unit is the
free-standing Harman P68, & THAT will probably only heat 75% of your area.
I will admit to being ignorant of the temperatures in mid-winter where you live,
so my calculations may be erring towards worst case scenarios, as it's just a tad
colder round these parts.
 
A 2 story 2400 sq ft house is a lot to heat. Your going to need the bigger inserts to be comfy. 2 of the better choices would be the Quad Mt Vernon or the Enviro M55. I think the Mt Vernon AE is still a US model. But with most stoves your going to get some parts that are from over seas. Nothing wrong with a Canadian product either!

MT. Vernon is 60K BTU's and The Enviro M55 is 55K BTU's.

To increase the options you would need to go to a free standing unit. That would get a few more choices into the mix. But go big to ensure warmth. You may not need it all, But its much better to have it than not to when you need it! They will run on the lower heat settings no problem. Staying in the middle heat range is much better than maxing the stove out all the time. IMHO anyway!

The ultimate fit would be a multifuel furnace that could sister to your existing furnace. There are lots of info here on them too!
 
Some of it will also depend on how well your home is insulated and how good the windows are. My house is not a open floor plan and I need to run 2 stoves to be comfy. My Harman insert is 50,000 BTU and while we only run it on low, while using 2 stoves, it would not even be close to take care of things if it was by itself. My house is not well insulated and the windows are old and I have 1850 square feet on a single level.
 
I have a 2400 SQ FT Colonial and heat the entire house with a Quad Mt. Vernon AE Insert. It is rated at 60K BTUs. The living room is open to the kitchen, other than that everything else requires going down a hallway. Temp diff between upstairs is about 2-3 degrees. I only have data from Feb. on though so this winter will be the real test.

Steve
 
Harman has a coal-burning fireplace insert that is rated at 80,000 btu's. You should have coal available in Md. Once you burn with coal, you will be absolutely spoiled with the consistent, warm heat. When I lived in Pa, I had a free standing coal burner that heated the whole house on less than 3 tons a year. It was 80+ in there all the time. Admittedly, it wasn't 2500 sq ft but the consistent heat is what spoiled me.
 
My Chinese made Quadrafire 1200i has been trouble free for three seasons and it runs everyday all winter. It's been through 13.5 tons of pellets. All the electronics and the little motors are made offshore anyway, no matter whose you buy.

You may have to come up with creative ways to move the heated air through your house if you don't have an open floor plan.

just sayin
 
roadrunnermoore said:
I've been going back and forth on a pellet stove insert. I have a 2 story 2400 sq ft house. Basically not an open floor plan, so just worried about being able to distribute the heat enough to justify it. Also one of my main concerns is where are the inserts made. I will not buy a foreign unit. Does anyone know which units are made in the USA? Thanks

Well, after looking around, lurking through the forums, I narrowed my choices to the Quad Mt Vernon AE and the Enviro M55 cast insert. I choose the Enviro because it was made in North America (Canada) and not China. I know, most of the controls etc. are made in China, but at least I feel I am helping the North American economy. I'm supposed to have it installed today, will post pictures later.

Thanks for all the help. I'm sure I will be asking for more in the coming months.
 
Sorry I can't help you with anything made in U.S.A. I bought a Canadian Comfort Industries aka Dansons aka Glow-Boy in 2005 not really knowing much about these things and fortunately I think I got lucky. This is the fifth burning season and have had no problems other than a couple caused by my own doing and a couple caused by poor quality pellets. I did have to replace the igniter this year. 165.00$...ouch! but considering 4 full seasons of use, I suppose that's not too bad. This insert is rated to heat areas of 800 to 2000 sq feet. Manual doesn't give BTU output.

BTW: found the igniter at the Spa Place, Nixa Missouri of all places...www.spaplaceinc.com. I couldn't get this part from two local Danson dealers. Not happy with one that never returned calls.(about 11 miles away.) The other is over 50 miles away and they said they would have to charge me a 40$ shipping/customs fee on top of the part cost. The Spa Place was the best place for me considering the options. They seem to stock parts for a variety of different models so if you're in need...

Good Luck.
 
Good luck with your new stove... stick around here... you can learn a lot around here as long as you don't listen to MY advice....
 
j-takeman said:
Congrats on new new M55 cast! They seem to be pretty popular lately. Can't wait to see it!

Here it is. Hasn't really been cold enough to know how well it will heat the house, but I like my new toy (as my wife puts it).
 

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Very, Very Nice! Fits well with the stone.

Keep us posted on how she(your new toy) performs for you. But if it heats as good as it looks. You should be all set for that winter chill!
 
Beautiful setup! Looks nice against the stonework.
Congrats and Enjoy
 
Great lookin Install. you should be really happy and warm this winter..Enjoy!!!
 
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