I've gone and done it.

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alan323

Member
Apr 17, 2011
20
Rockland, Maine
Since this is my first post, let me introduce myself. My name is Alan and I live in Mid-coast Maine. After seeing the unrest in the middle East start up a few months ago, I could see the price of oil heading for the roof. So, I started researching a pellet stove for my home. After reading many reviews here and on other sites. Talking to different dealers in my area. I decided to put a Harman P68 in the corner of my living room. The installer came today and did the install. He did it in an afternoon. I just put the first 40lb bag of Maine's Choice in the hopper and the stove is warming the living room, kitchen and the upstairs very nicely. Now since this is near the end of the season I won't be using it much till fall. I'll be testing some different brands of pellets for the next few weeks and then I'll look into a season buy of 3 tons of the brand I find that works best.

Since this is my first pellet stove, I'll take any advice I can get on maintaining/running my Harman.
 
Welcome! I think you will enjoy your P68 very much. My first piece of advice is to read the manual several times. I keep mine near the stove. Read this link which gives helpful cleaning tips. Even though it says it's for a P61, it's close enough to the P68 so it's helpful.
http://www.homewarmth.com/38&61cleaning.html
Try and test those pellets so you can take advantage of the early buy. I think we may see the prices going up rapidly if the price of gas stays where it is. Enjoy!
 
Congratulations, I hope you enjoy the setup.

pen
 
Congrats alan!

Keep us posted on the pellet hunt and how they burn for you. We love chatting pellets and stoves here! We also love pictures of the new stove installs.

Enjoy the new toy!
 
Your P68 is a real gem. I had a P61 for many many years. The P68 is pretty much the same stove with a more aggressive pellet feed. 68k vs. 61k in BTU's. The cool thing about Harman is their use of the bottom feed. Not many manufacturers use the bottom feed anymore and IMHO I find the bottom feed to very quiet and efficient. Because of this, you get a very even top down burn of the pellets even at a very low draft. This makes the unit capable of an even cycle from high to low on its thermostat (room temp mode) feature. You'll find many models have air and auger feed trim adjustments on their control board for the express purpose of "dialing in" your low burn to maintain combustion during a high to low burn cycle. Harman does this by virtue of the bottom feed. Brilliant.

You should have no problems regardless of whatever pellet you decide upon, Harmans chew right through them. I would suggest just about anything in your neck of the wood except for possibly the Corinths. They are pretty ashy. You live in good region so supporting your local mills should be easy enough. I have like the Maines Choice in Harman stoves but lurk around in here and you'll get all of the education you can handle.

Again, welcome and we look forward to those hearth pics.
 
Welcome to a fellow Mainer. You will find a lot of friendly advice here. I don't have a Harman. This is common to all installs. Did you also have outside air installed (OAK), and do you put on a surge protector? From Harman "Harman Home Heating and Hearth & Home Technologies
strongly recommend attaching outside air
in all installations, especially lower level and main
floor locations. You don't want to be paying to for heated air to feed the burn chamber and be exhausted outside. No outside air will cause drafts and waste a lot of money.
A good surge protector is needed to protect your stove from power spikes. You have a electronic control board in your stove that needs to be protected. I have found that there are a lot of install where both these accessories have been neglected.
Welcome to the group. Post some pics when you can
thanks
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome and the beginning advice.

Congrats alan!
Keep us posted on the pellet hunt and how they burn for you. We love chatting pellets and stoves here! We also love pictures of the new stove installs.
Enjoy the new toy!

I'll keep you posted on my hunt. Also I have a pic or two we took of the stove. I'll post them as soon as I can.

Your P68 is a real gem. I had a P61 for many many years. The P68 is pretty much the same stove with a more aggressive pellet feed. 68k vs. 61k in BTU’s. The cool thing about Harman is their use of the bottom feed. Not many manufacturers use the bottom feed anymore and IMHO I find the bottom feed to very quiet and efficient. Because of this, you get a very even top down burn of the pellets even at a very low draft. This makes the unit capable of an even cycle from high to low on its thermostat (room temp mode) feature. You’ll find many models have air and auger feed trim adjustments on their control board for the express purpose of “dialing in†your low burn to maintain combustion during a high to low burn cycle. Harman does this by virtue of the bottom feed. Brilliant.

You should have no problems regardless of whatever pellet you decide upon, Harmans chew right through them. I would suggest just about anything in your neck of the wood except for possibly the Corinths. They are pretty ashy. You live in good region so supporting your local mills should be easy enough. I have like the Maines Choice in Harman stoves but lurk around in here and you’ll get all of the education you can handle.

Again, welcome and we look forward to those hearth pics.

The bottom feed is one of the major factors why I chose the Harman.
We spent our first night with the oil burner off last night. With a temperature of around 35 degrees outside the house was a comfortable 68 degrees through out the house. Except for the most outer room (the bathroom) which was about 5-10 degrees cooler.

Welcome to a fellow Mainer. You will find a lot of friendly advice here. I don’t have a Harman. This is common to all installs. Did you also have outside air installed (OAK), and do you put on a surge protector? From Harman “Harman Home Heating and Hearth & Home Technologies strongly recommend attaching outside air in all installations, especially lower level and main floor locations. You don’t want to be paying to for heated air to feed the burn chamber and be exhausted outside. No outside air will cause drafts and waste a lot of money.
A good surge protector is needed to protect your stove from power spikes. You have a electronic control board in your stove that needs to be protected. I have found that there are a lot of install where both these accessories have been neglected.
Welcome to the group. Post some pics when you can

Well, I had the installer setup the stove with outside air intake for the reasons you've stated. Besides, I have an old farmhouse that is drafty enough as is, I don't need any more reasons for cold air to come in :)
Also I do have the stove plugged into a surge suppressor. But it is a very basic one (A cheap one I bought a while back) I'm getting a much better one in a day or two

Again, thanks for the advice guys, I'll post a few pics in a day or two.
 
smwilliamson said:
Your P68 is a real gem. I had a P61 for many many years. The P68 is pretty much the same stove with a more aggressive pellet feed. 68k vs. 61k in BTU's. The cool thing about Harman is their use of the bottom feed. Not many manufacturers use the bottom feed anymore and IMHO I find the bottom feed to very quiet and efficient. Because of this, you get a very even top down burn of the pellets even at a very low draft. This makes the unit capable of an even cycle from high to low on its thermostat (room temp mode) feature. You'll find many models have air and auger feed trim adjustments on their control board for the express purpose of "dialing in" your low burn to maintain combustion during a high to low burn cycle. Harman does this by virtue of the bottom feed. Brilliant.

You should have no problems regardless of whatever pellet you decide upon, Harmans chew right through them. I would suggest just about anything in your neck of the wood except for possibly the Corinths. They are pretty ashy. You live in good region so supporting your local mills should be easy enough. I have like the Maines Choice in Harman stoves but lurk around in here and you'll get all of the education you can handle.

Again, welcome and we look forward to those hearth pics.

Aren't the Englanders bottom feed, they being the bottom of the line in pellet stoves.
 
Welcome Alan ummm folks we are slipping a little here............... NEED PICS OR IT NEVER HAPPENED!!!! Good luck Alan.

Schoondog
 
OK guys here are a couple pics of the new stove.

The first is of my daughter putting the first pellet in.
 

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IHATEPROPANE said:
Looks good. You will love it I am sure. Let us know what pellets you decide on burning.

Tried a few different brands, Maine's Choice, Inferno and New England. I went with New England brand. Just ordered 3 tons for early bird delivery.
 
alan323 said:
IHATEPROPANE said:
Looks good. You will love it I am sure. Let us know what pellets you decide on burning.

Tried a few different brands, Maine's Choice, Inferno and New England. I went with New England brand. Just ordered 3 tons for early bird delivery.

Welcome to the forum Alan.....stove looks good, and will keep you nice & toasty next winter. :)

Of the 3 pellet brands you mentioned, the NE was the best choice......stay away from the Inferno garbage!
 
Alan,
Welcome to the best site for all of us Pellet burners!!
The P68 should work great!
Our P61 has helped us to reduce our oil consumption by 54%

We are currently burning Maine Woods Pellets. Good heat and good price.
The Harman design will burn almost any pellet out there!
Enjoy the heat.
 
save$ said:
Welcome to a fellow Mainer. You will find a lot of friendly advice here. I don't have a Harman. This is common to all installs. Did you also have outside air installed (OAK), and do you put on a surge protector? From Harman "Harman Home Heating and Hearth & Home Technologies
strongly recommend attaching outside air
in all installations, especially lower level and main
floor locations. You don't want to be paying to for heated air to feed the burn chamber and be exhausted outside. No outside air will cause drafts and waste a lot of money.
A good surge protector is needed to protect your stove from power spikes. You have a electronic control board in your stove that needs to be protected. I have found that there are a lot of install where both these accessories have been neglected.
Welcome to the group. Post some pics when you can
thanks


Don't scrimp on the surge protector, get a good one. As for Summer the only real protection from lightning is unplugging it. Darned lightning can invite itself right inside from a strike on the line miles away.
 
Lookin good Alan !! Thats a great idea having loved ones drop in the first pellet for good luck. I'm sure you will get years of comfort and economy from a Harmon Stove. Keep yur pellets dry and enjoy the thought that you and family will be nice and warm next winter.

Schoondog
 
Thanks for all of the comments everyone. So far the stove has done well. We have been using it for the cold rainy days we've been having here in Maine lately. I'm hoping that summer will eventually get here and I can do a final cleaning for the season.
 
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