Introduction and thanks

Hello all,

I've been a lurker on hearth.com for quite some time and have just today purchased a Harman P61A to take over for my aged and troubled Earthstove BV400 Wood Stove insert. The jump from wood to pellet is something my wife and I have been contemplating for several years, as I've gone from enthusiastically cutting and splitting my own wood in my 20s to getting tired of the routine in my 40s. I love wood heat, but honestly I'm finding less and less time and desire to put in the effort. That, coupled with our wood stove's recent problems, have made us decide its time to switch to pellets. After much research and reading, we've purchased a Harman P61A for our 1860 sq.ft. home and will install it in our living room. Since the old wood stove is in the basement, it will become my backup/emergency stove now and hopefully it will get to enjoy a quiet retirement.

Thanks to all on here who post. Your research and opinions helped me to make my decision. I'm sure I will have questions in the coming days.

Mike

Hi Mike

Welcome aboard! I'm a newcomer here myself. Love this site!

I'd say welcome to the forum, but you actually joined before I did!
Congratulations on getting one of the best brands of stoves that you could possibly find....Ahhh, the beloved Harman.
In your research, you probably looked at some different stoves and saw that you could get a different make and/or model for considerably less than the Harman, but you spent the extra money and bought the best. That, in my opinion, is money well spent. Do the same when selecting your pellets. There are some great pellets out there and there are some cheap pellets out there, but rarely are there any great cheap pellets out there! Have a ball and enjoy the stove.

I like the fact that the P Harmans are so easy to clean and maintain. Unlike some others that require you to be a contortionist or have to clean very frequently. Set the feed, set the temp, turn on to room or stove fan speed and relax.

Welcome and the Harman should do you just fine.

Eric

Weclome. Hoping to be your neighbor up in SNH sometime soon. Love it there.

Welcome !! Nice choice in stoves. There is a rule here without pic's it never happened & Smoke show will back me up on that one.

Happy Burning

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, and I will post pics as soon as it's installed. It won't be all pretty though...I had to opt out of the trim pieces for now. I might add them later if I can find a good price. Since this one will be in the room we spend almost all our waking hours in, it might be worth it.

Welcome!

Welcome to the group.

Welcome Mike

Pretty soon you'll be chanting the familiar refrain:

Mike: "Hello my name is Mike, and I'm a pellet addict"
Group: "Hello Mike"

Welcome.

Another victim...Welcome to the club!!

Thanks all. I will be spending this upcoming weekend rearranging the basement for the impending delivery of the stash. Several of my friends in the area with similar houses to mine go through 2.5 to 3.5 tons per season, so I'm starting off with 3. My wife is VERY excited about 1) having a heat source right there in the livingroom, 2) not having to deal with the woodstove when I'm not home, 3) having a heat source right there in the livingroom and 4) see 1 and 3.

We also looked at the Harman XXV, which looks really nice...very nicely designed, but the P61a was already at the very top of our price range...over it actually, so we stuck with that.

Welcome Mike,
What is the pellet -or- pellets of choice?

P.S. ..
-Don't post pics w/ light beer
-Don't dress up as a deer
-Don't chew on OMV's shrubs

Its ok in my book, as long as it cheap or free.

Now that's funny!!

lol

That was a good thread.

I think you'll find that the trim pieces will be easy to afford once you stop feeding the oil pig.

Hey Mike - welcome aboard. I am also a new stove owner living in the Merrimack Valley. If you are looking for decent pellets, you can get Geneva, Logik-e, and MWP at Dodge Grain in Salem. Also you can get Cubex at North East Coal Wood Pellets in Pelham, NH.

Thanks guys for the replies and great advice. Regarding pellets, for this season I went with New England Wood Pellets "Premium" (company in Jaffrey, NH). I saw they had mixed reviews with folks here and on the net - some people like them, some don't - though the other guys in my area that burn pellets and have tried some different ones have gravitated towards these. Jaffrey is 20 min from me and supporting the "local boys" is nice, but if they end up sucking, well, you know. My oil company is a "local boy" too...very nice guy, but I have to put my OWN kids through college before his. I already wrote down Scas's pellet suggestions just in case. I'll see how these work out. Honestly, I researched the heck out of the stoves, but I didn't do my legwork on pellets, so shame on me and that will be something I do for next season.

Stove shop guy is going to do the install and he's a couple weeks out, so I'll have pics then.

NEWP arent bad, per se.... just a bit dirty/ashy, not all that hot, and dont warrant their price tag. But they aren't BAD. you can generally just do better for the money and i think that is where a lot of the gripe comes in to play. You'll still have a hot house this winter. you'll just have to clean it a few more times than others and maybe burn a few more bags, and spend a few more $. If that's worth it to you to support the local boys, then that is your choice to make

Congrats on the stove. Looking forward to pictures. Mine also is a plain P61A with no trim or slate tile. I burned some NEWP last year and didn't have a problem. Your Harman will handle them just fine.

Saw that you mentioned stove shop, are you referring to the "Stove Shoppe" in Windham, NH? That's where I bought my stove. Really nice guys there, I did the install myself though. Was hard to justify to the wife that we needed the stove and someone to install it when I have a basement full of tools So far so good, my boiler has barely come on since I installed a couple of weeks ago. Still need to get my OAK installed though.

Scas - I've been to the Stove Shoppe several times...good guys there. They assisted me with locating some replacement parts years ago for my Earthstove. I purchased the Harman from Heart Line Stoves in Jaffrey. Also helpful guys there who know their stuff.

Mike

Mike, when we bought our P43 we thought we might like some of the trim pieces for it, but once we installed it, the wife and I both realized that we really like the look of the stove without any trim. I think the P61A looks very similar to the P43. Your room and tastes could be different but I don't think you'll dislike the look of the stove naked (uh-oh Pelletporn)

We've had the P43 since mid-October and love it!