Harman Advance Pellet Stove

[UpStateNY]

Looking at purchasing the Harman Advance Pellet Stove. I like the patented auger system which pushes the pellets up into the burn area rather than blowing the ashes out of the burn area.
Anybody want to comment on this stove?
Also do you recomment New England Pellets and if not what kind of pellets?

 

[kzad]

I just gave mine its end of season cleaning this morning. Three years at three tons per year, no problems yet. I used New England hardwood the first two years, New England softwood last year. My observation is that the hardwood required more frequent burn-pot scraping, but the softwood made more ash and was less friendly to my white siding.... more smoke/soot. I'm trying Dry Creek this year on the advice of a friend.

 

[Bxpellet]

I have the advance for 1 season I burned 3 tons, the only problem that i had and so did others was that when the hopper got low on pellets smoke would appear in the hopper, this was corrected with a modification from the dealer, One person as able to get there stove replaced, I think the newer ones come with modification done at the factory, make sure it is a newer model and not a left over, you can tell by looking at the back of the stove with the covers off and look for the # 2 under the auger. Other then that it heated my house keep the first floor above 75 degrees 2nd floor was 70 degrees, but it is a new house and well insulated. and the cat loves it. Con Ed did not

 

[UpStateNY]

I am almost ready for winter. We purchased the Harman Advance Pellet Stove from a local store on Saturday. Today I just wrote a check to another local store for the purchase and home delivery of 4-tons of premium wood pellets. Now all I need to do is buy all the additional install stuff, install it, plug it in, tested it out, and wait for winter.

 

[Bxpellet]

Good luck let us know how it works out, What did they charge you in upstate NY? I paid 2800 with a ton of pellets

 

[UpStateNY]

Good luck let us know how it works out, What did they charge you in upstate NY? I paid 2800 with a ton of pellets

Hard Wood pellets $279.25 per ton delivered. Interesting their is no NY Sales tax on heating fuel of any type.

 

[Bxpellet]

Pellets are 239.oo a ton next month they are 249.00, But I have tp pick up what part of the Catskills?

 

[Alan]

I have the advance for 1 season I burned 3 tons, the only problem that i had and so did others was that when the hopper got low on pellets smoke would appear in the hopper, this was corrected with a modification from the dealer, One person as able to get there stove replaced, I think the newer ones come with modification done at the factory, make sure it is a newer model and not a left over, you can tell by looking at the back of the stove with the covers off and look for the # 2 under the auger. Other then that it heated my house keep the first floor above 75 degrees 2nd floor was 70 degrees, but it is a new house and well insulated. and the cat loves it. Con Ed did not

Regarding the #2 below the auger -- where exactly is it? Is is etched in the metal, written with a felt tip pen, etc? My unit was purchased last August & I'm still battleing smoke smells in the house. I'll looking the the rear below the auger & see no numbers. Slightly below the auger & to the right is a plug where a blue & yellow wires enter the housing.

Thanks.

 

[Bxpellet]

The #2 Is ecthed under the arm in the back of the auger housing, if you don't see that number it means that it did not have the modification done at the factory.

 

[Fire]

3 trouble free seasons. Lots of heat. Highly recommend!

 

[Bxpellet]

John, haven't heard from you how is it going?

 

[UpStateNY]

Its Jan 3, 2009 and I finally got my Harman Advanced Pellet stove delivered and installed. It actually arrived a few weeks ago but we were away on vacation. Since I ordered it on 5/27/2008 it took a tad longer to get than I thought it would. I was told in August that I would get the stove a little late sometime around Nov 15 because Harman had so many orders. Then it was Dec 15.

The good news is the stove is working fine. Knock on wood. Now I can start working on all those bags of pellets I had delivered months ago.

Oh BTW the stove came without the front grill pieces and the knob for the top hopper. The dealer is working on getting these.

Wish me luck.

 

[imacman]

Its Jan 3, 2009 and I finally got my Harman Advanced Pellet stove delivered and installed.

We need to see pics......no pics means it really didn't happen....LOL

 

[Alan]

I've been dissappointed with my Advance. Lots of smoke leaks with repeated dealer reinsallation of the pipe (Simpson is bad, the Excell seem much better). We still have smoke smell at higher burn setting I believe is the stove itself. Also the Auger motors are noisy (I've gon through two) that in addition to the normal motor/fan noise, add griding sound that sounds like cheap gear quickly wearing out. I'd re-think the purchase of an Advance -- mine is about to go bye bye.

 

[crausch]

I have been happy with my Advance. It couldn't be easier to operate and is very easy to clean. I love the style. I burned some crappy pellets along with some good pellets so far this year and it handled them well. I have not had any smoke issues with the stove. My stove says "Advance-2" right on the back of the stove. I guess this means it has the updates that BxPellet spoke of.

UpStateNY - You said that you don't have the hopper handle? Have you covered the hole in the hopper lid where it attaches? I am asking because the hopper needs to form a seal when closed.

 

[UpStateNY]

I have been happy with my Advance. It couldn't be easier to operate and is very easy to clean. I love the style. I burned some crappy pellets along with some good pellets so far this year and it handled them well. I have not had any smoke issues with the stove. My stove says "Advance-2" right on the back of the stove. I guess this means it has the updates that BxPellet spoke of.

UpStateNY - You said that you don't have the hopper handle? Have you covered the hole in the hopper lid where it attaches? I am asking because the hopper needs to form a seal when closed.

Yes I have a temporary handle that does plug the hole for the hopper handle.

Advance still running strong with no problems or issues.

BTW - I am currently running with the stove pipe going straight out the wall and then pointing down. I do not have a 3 foot or higher stove pipe going up. The pipe goes out the south end of the house. I will see how this works for awhile before adding the vertical pipe extensions.

 

[crausch]

That's good that you thought to do that. There was one thing I wanted to add in my opinion of my stove. I like most everything about my stove and how it performs so I would give it 4.9 stars out of 5. The only reason I would not rate it a full 5 stars is that whenever I need to open the front window door, I have to open both side panels first. No biggie, its just an extra step. I guess the silver lining is that at least I don't have to clean the burn pot multiple times a day.

 

[UpStateNY]

What is your cleaning schedule on the Harman Advance ?

I still need to buy a shop vac with a good filter. Got any recommendations for a shop vac to clean the advance?

 

[crausch]

I cleaned mine after about a half ton (25 bags) just because I wanted to get familiar with the cleaning process before it got too cold. I had been burning some pretty decent hardwood pellets with very little ash. I was surprised how clean everything was. There was ash but nothing like I expected. I would recommend that clean around 30 or more bags for the first time. This will allow you to see how long you can expect to go the next time. The way mine looked I could have easily gone 1 ton before cleaning. Latey I have been trying different pellets and many produced high ash compared to first clean interval. So I'll probably clean early again.

As for shop vacs, I have a 1 gallon with a fine dust filter and I used that on the inside of the stove just because it was small and manuverable. I have a 5-gallon along with a drywall bag that I used for the vent pipe and floor cleanup. Just remember to make sure your ashes and stove are cool if you use a regular shop vac...safety first!