New to the forum...I've done lots of reading...a few Q's

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Washed-Up

Minister of Fire
Nov 5, 2011
1,234
Kananaskis,Alberta, Canada
I wish I would've looked for you guys long ago!
Anyways, lots of great info on this site...impressive.
I have and ancient Harman Pellet pro II. I got it for free from my parents, and have been using it pretty much trouble free for the last 4 years. Aprox 6 years use...winters.
Now, after doing some reading here, I understand that when its life is almost over, I should start looking at replacement. Parts being expensive and hard to find etc.
My Q's...how much more efficient are the new stoves(1000 square feet is what I heat) and I'm thinking of sticking with Harman. What should I expect to spend...and can I use my existing thimble and air locations?
 
Hi, I am heating a 1000 sq ft house with a Harman P43. I am partial to Harman stoves so I would suggest getting a Harman. They are more expensive but eventually it will pay for itself. I imagine that you would have to change your current venting because your current unit is quite old. Harman offers a great wall thimble that has an OAK for pulling in outside combustion air and then the regular place for your 3" exhaust pipe. I am not familiar with your current Harman so I cannot offer specifics, unfortunately. However I do own a P43 and the thing is incredible. It adjusts automatically to different pellets and makes the pellet burning experience even better than it already is. I would say efficiency is much better with the newer stoves. As I mentioned earlier my Harman burns nasty rotten pellets well. There are usually coupons and stuff on their website too. I think the current promotion is $100.00 coupon and 1 ton of free pellets. Not sure though. I have no affiliation with Harman, I just LOVE my little P43!!!!

As to why there haven't been many responses but some views. Probably because you do not have to be registered to view a thread. So it's a good chance that people reading your questions were not even registered....so they couldn't respond anyway.

EDIT Price for a new stove will vary considerably, my P43 was 2599.00 back in February of this year. Other Harman stoves are more expensive with the P38+ being less expensive. If you need the new thimble, pipe, etc, the price adds up from there of course.
 
I am not one of the Harman peeps that answer questions. But Its probably a good bet that the newer stoves are more efficient. But the Pellet Pro II is so old, Most here don't know what the efficiency would be. Newer Harman's are over 78% or they wouldn't get the $300 rebate allowance.

What model Harman interests you? We can probably get some numbers on it, But finding something on the Pellet Pro II might be tough to find!
 
Some folks here believe you might get 10 years from a pellet stove. (That's certainly what my dealer told me to expect - but he was making a sale.) If yours has seen six years' real use, not been rusting in a barn or the like, been maintained ... maybe you'll be lucky. Or maybe you could find another one of that vintage and use it for parts.

The efficiency numbers are all sort of fictional, as I understand it. But efficiency is said to have generally improved significantly since 1989. Harmans are spendy, but it'll take talking with your local dealer to find out what it would cost you. They could also fill you in on the parts availability. I know my friend with a Harman gets away with cleaning it a lot less often than I do my Quad, but when I was pricing them a couple of years ago a Harman was going to run half-again as much for the same capacity.
 
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

A number of us have a soft spot for old stoves for those folks exactly what is it about your unit that is hard to get or wearing out?
 
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

Football is the reason for a slow response on a Sunday...

Harman would be my LAST choice based on price and their lack of customer service... Englander has one of the cheaper stoves and has far better customer service IMHO (as long as you can turn a screwdriver or wrench yourself). I thought I HAD to have a Harman too until I did some homework.

10 years is the LEAST life I'd expect from a stove. My St. Croix Pepin is a 2000 model... still going strong with barely a hiccup. Other brands will do the same.

You can buy what you want... spend a little or a lot. It's really up to you.
 
krooser said:
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

Football is the reason for a slow response on a Sunday...

Harman would be my LAST choice based on price and their lack of customer service... Englander has one of the cheaper stoves and has far better customer service IMHO (as long as you can turn a screwdriver or wrench yourself). I thought I HAD to have a Harman too until I did some homework.

10 years is the LEAST life I'd expect from a stove. My St. Croix Pepin is a 2000 model... still going strong with barely a hiccup. Other brands will do the same.

You can buy what you want... spend a little or a lot. It's really up to you.
LMAO...forgot about the football thing...VERY TRUE!
As for parts, I'm thinking mother or daughter board...it does have a pillow block to auger feed...customer service, I had no idea it was poor. I am looking for opinions and experience on various stoves that are used by ALL on the site...I'm a third year MillWright(still loads to learn), and should be able to maintain, or fab things that I need...but less maintenance is more productivity with these units.
I really appreciate all the replys, and hope to contribute what I have learned and will learn back to the site...Thanks again!
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

A number of us have a soft spot for old stoves for those folks exactly what is it about your unit that is hard to get or wearing out?

motherboard, daughterboard, and a few other items are no longer available or being produced for the Invincible T or the old Pellet Pro......
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

A number of us have a soft spot for old stoves for those folks exactly what is it about your unit that is hard to get or wearing out?

Nothing wearing out...I THINK...but since the last clean/oil, and vacuume...the feed has gone from bottom of the burn pot, to every 2 min or so...I may need to change the ESP probe, but until it starts going through above average amount of pellets...1 40lb bag every 24hrs...I'll let it be.
Soft spots...yeah...my dad and I bought this 22 years ago...he passed 9 years ago...and was amazed by this stove and its output...he grew up on a farm with a wood burninig stove...his chores were as such!
 
Washed-Up said:
krooser said:
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

Football is the reason for a slow response on a Sunday...

Harman would be my LAST choice based on price and their lack of customer service... Englander has one of the cheaper stoves and has far better customer service IMHO (as long as you can turn a screwdriver or wrench yourself). I thought I HAD to have a Harman too until I did some homework.

10 years is the LEAST life I'd expect from a stove. My St. Croix Pepin is a 2000 model... still going strong with barely a hiccup. Other brands will do the same.

You can buy what you want... spend a little or a lot. It's really up to you.
LMAO...forgot about the football thing...VERY TRUE!
As for parts, I'm thinking mother or daughter board...it does have a pillow block to auger feed...customer service, I had no idea it was poor. I am looking for opinions and experience on various stoves that are used by ALL on the site...I'm a third year MillWright(still loads to learn), and should be able to maintain, or fab things that I need...but less maintenance is more productivity with these units.
I really appreciate all the replys, and hope to contribute what I have learned and will learn back to the site...Thanks again!

What gets me about Harman is they won't even take a phone call from a customer.... everything is referred back to the selling dealer. If that dealer goes away you have a heck of a time getting another dealer to service your stove since Harman's policy is to only reimburse the selling dealer for warranty repairs....

I guess I'm cheap but i would never pay a premium price for lousy customer service.

My two used stoves cost $1100.00 and $950.00 each... the latter only 4 years old. As I said I'm cheap..or is that frugal (or poor?)....
 
Bringing this back to life...butter fingers and an old flame guide(cracked). I was cleaning the stove and dropped it on to the hearth...it split in 2 and now I need to aquire a replacement.
I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a flame guide from a newer Harmon stove that would work.
 
wow, 22 years and still going. that is impressive!

When we were looking at stoves one thing that we liked about our stove was the thick metal it is made of, not like some of the flimsy sheet metal in some of the cheaper models out there. It doesn't get very hot either.

We were looking at our model stove at a dealer, went to another dealer a few weeks later to price shop and found out the 1st dealer had gone out of business and this place was pushing lenox down our throat. I didn't like that stove at all.

We lucked out and found the exact model we had been looking for on craigslist for less than half the price.
 
Washed-Up said:
Bringing this back to life...butter fingers and an old flame guide(cracked). I was cleaning the stove and dropped it on to the hearth...it split in 2 and now I need to aquire a replacement.
I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a flame guide from a newer Harmon stove that would work.

yea, I believe you could get a flame guide from an existing dealer....the original part, 3-00-00225, is no longer available, but I believe the 3-00-08534 flame guide would fit, and should be obtainable from nearly ANY harman dealer.....$20-$30 bucks or so......
 
krooser said:
Washed-Up said:
krooser said:
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

Football is the reason for a slow response on a Sunday...

Harman would be my LAST choice based on price and their lack of customer service... Englander has one of the cheaper stoves and has far better customer service IMHO (as long as you can turn a screwdriver or wrench yourself). I thought I HAD to have a Harman too until I did some homework.

10 years is the LEAST life I'd expect from a stove. My St. Croix Pepin is a 2000 model... still going strong with barely a hiccup. Other brands will do the same.

You can buy what you want... spend a little or a lot. It's really up to you.
LMAO...forgot about the football thing...VERY TRUE!
As for parts, I'm thinking mother or daughter board...it does have a pillow block to auger feed...customer service, I had no idea it was poor. I am looking for opinions and experience on various stoves that are used by ALL on the site...I'm a third year MillWright(still loads to learn), and should be able to maintain, or fab things that I need...but less maintenance is more productivity with these units.
I really appreciate all the replys, and hope to contribute what I have learned and will learn back to the site...Thanks again!

What gets me about Harman is they won't even take a phone call from a customer.... everything is referred back to the selling dealer. If that dealer goes away you have a heck of a time getting another dealer to service your stove since Harman's policy is to only reimburse the selling dealer for warranty repairs....

I guess I'm cheap but i would never pay a premium price for lousy customer service.

My two used stoves cost $1100.00 and $950.00 each... the latter only 4 years old. As I said I'm cheap..or is that frugal (or poor?)....

I guess it does come down to what the consumer values in a stove....although I submit, Kroos, you'd be pretty hard-pressed to show me a 22 year old Englander :lol:

as with anything one has to maintain, the longevity of a unit is gerneally directly proportional to the care given it while it has been used......that being said, nearly anything is "fixable", as long as one has the know-how to fix it, or know someone who can.
 
Lousyweather said:
krooser said:
Washed-Up said:
krooser said:
Washed-Up said:
Really...lots of views and no comments?

Football is the reason for a slow response on a Sunday...

Harman would be my LAST choice based on price and their lack of customer service... Englander has one of the cheaper stoves and has far better customer service IMHO (as long as you can turn a screwdriver or wrench yourself). I thought I HAD to have a Harman too until I did some homework.

10 years is the LEAST life I'd expect from a stove. My St. Croix Pepin is a 2000 model... still going strong with barely a hiccup. Other brands will do the same.

You can buy what you want... spend a little or a lot. It's really up to you.
LMAO...forgot about the football thing...VERY TRUE!
As for parts, I'm thinking mother or daughter board...it does have a pillow block to auger feed...customer service, I had no idea it was poor. I am looking for opinions and experience on various stoves that are used by ALL on the site...I'm a third year MillWright(still loads to learn), and should be able to maintain, or fab things that I need...but less maintenance is more productivity with these units.
I really appreciate all the replys, and hope to contribute what I have learned and will learn back to the site...Thanks again!

What gets me about Harman is they won't even take a phone call from a customer.... everything is referred back to the selling dealer. If that dealer goes away you have a heck of a time getting another dealer to service your stove since Harman's policy is to only reimburse the selling dealer for warranty repairs....

I guess I'm cheap but i would never pay a premium price for lousy customer service.

My two used stoves cost $1100.00 and $950.00 each... the latter only 4 years old. As I said I'm cheap..or is that frugal (or poor?)....

I guess it does come down to what the consumer values in a stove....although I submit, Kroos, you'd be pretty hard-pressed to show me a 22 year old Englander :lol:

as with anything one has to maintain, the longevity of a unit is gerneally directly proportional to the care given it while it has been used......that being said, nearly anything is "fixable", as long as one has the know-how to fix it, or know someone who can.

Mine isnt 22 yrs old. But this May mine will be 17 yrs old. I call it a 25-PDV, but its actual model is Englander (US 25-5670). Still chugging!! ;-P
 
Lousyweather said:
Washed-Up said:
Bringing this back to life...butter fingers and an old flame guide(cracked). I was cleaning the stove and dropped it on to the hearth...it split in 2 and now I need to aquire a replacement.
I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a flame guide from a newer Harmon stove that would work.

yea, I believe you could get a flame guide from an existing dealer....the original part, 3-00-00225, is no longer available, but I believe the 3-00-08534 flame guide would fit, and should be obtainable from nearly ANY harman dealer.....$20-$30 bucks or so......
This is exactly the info I was looking for! Thanks for everyones input...this seems to be the only problem in the last 5 winters I ve used it...other than some really crap pellets I've experimented with!
 
Found a dealer locally, explained my situation, and they are ordering it in for me...$25!
 
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