looking to purchase new pellet stove

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Tom D

New Member
Jul 10, 2007
46
Watertown , Wisconsin
Just joined this forum and think its a great sight,I have been doing alot of research into purchasing a new Harmam pellet stove. will be installing it in living room where we spend most of our time. I have a couple of questions.I live in Wisconsin and my Harman dealer is about 20 miles away.He has been in business for about 10 years if he happened to go out of business there is another Harman dealer about 70 miles away would he still service my harman stove under warranty,I understand there could be a service call.Also the two stoves i am interested in is xxv and the Harman advance would like some pros and cons between the two stoves cleaning etc. Also do the ceramic logs last very long .I like the old stove look of the xxv,also like that you can see the fire on the advance the way the glass front is angled,because where i will be installing it i might not be able to see the fire in the xxv unless im right in front of stove.
 
Pro's and con's??????
Welcome to the forum....
PROS...............................................................................CONS
The Advance has a moster sized ash pan.............................You have to remove the bottom of the stove to empty it.
The Advance has alot of Glass ............................................Alot of glass that needs to be cleaned.
The Advance is 40,00BTU....................................................I believe the XXV is 44,000 BTU
The Advance looks better in the corner.................................Hey it's my list I think it does ;-P

Me I love the Advance but I have no experience with the XXV...
The XXV has that one way glass which is nice but only works when the fire is out.
All stoves and Harman is no Exception will get soot on the glass when it is burning, and the more glass generally the more soot because there is not enough airwash to keep it clean. Attached is a pic of my Advance from last year note the soot starting to accumulate on the left pane and the left center pane of glass. This is 2 days after cleaning the glass, after about a week it starts to turn black.
Not trying to freak you out or anything but lots of people aren't told that the glass gets dirty when they buy them, just a heads up..

Next as far as the ceramic logs are concerned, they look pretty but have heard that they make the glass soot up even quicker, I don't know I never got them.

Last the Warantee should transfer, but I would expect to pay at least travel time to a dealer 70 miles away. Harry knows more of this and I 'm sure you'll hear from him soon.

Good Luck,
 

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Not a pellet stove owner (I burn cordwood) nor do I have any personal experience w/ any sort of pellet stoves. I would suggest using the search function to look for "Harman" and "Warrantee" and read some of the many threads on the subject, then making your own opinion.

From what I've read, it appears that Harman itself doesn't do support except through dealers, and they expect the dealerthat sold the stove to front most of the money for any warrantee work out of the profit markup the dealer gets on the stove sale. There seem to be a significant number of horror stories about people getting little or no warrantee support when needing it from any dealer other than the one that sold them the stove. Of course as pointed out by others, we tend to hear more about the problem situations here on the Hearth because people mostly don't go online to tell us about their good experiences...

However, based strictly on what I've seen posted here, I'd be leery of Harman because of their apparent warrantee policy, and say that regardless of what the paperwork might have on it, you should consider Harman's warrantee to be only as reliable as the dealer you bought the stove from...

Gooserider
 
In general ceramic logs don't las that long and often increase glass sooting. Although there have been some serious grievances aired here about Harman warranty, their pellet stoves are good units. You might also want to look at the Quadrafire Mount Vernon as an alternative.
 
Harman is a popular stove.

One thing that is often repeated here is to find a dealerthat you can work with. A good dealer will make the whole process easier.

Good luck, and post some pics when you get your new stove in!
 
I was looking at the Harmons as well and ended up with a quadrafire Santafe. The quad is not as high of a BTU output but it has no problems heating my house, I have an 80+ year old house with old windows some single pain some aluminum framed with broken seals. It kept the 1300 sft downstairs at 69, what I had it set at, and the upstairs, 400sqft at 65.
 
Below is a copy of the warranty explanation. I will say that it's better then most however, Kenny has a VERY good point. The warranty is only as good as the dealerthat you purchase your stove from. Please make sure that the dealer you purchase your stove from is #1. willing to service the unit #2. If they charge a service call to come to your home to do warranty work. Remember the Harman warranty only warrants the product and the time spent working on the product. It does not warranty any other expanses that the dealer charges (such as service call fees, mileage etc). AND #3 (this is a big one) If you install the unit yourself (self install) be sure to find out if the dealer will still service it. There are some dealers out there that will charge you a arm and a leg if they didn't install it and they need to come out to do something to it.

One final note - Just keep in mind, Harman Stove Company does not OWN the dealerships selling their units. Dealers are free to charge you anything over and above what Harman pays for warranty work. This is something Harman has absolutely no control over.


Hope this helps!




HARMAN GOLD WARRANTY
6 YEAR TRANSFERABLE LIMITED
WARRANTY (Residential)
1 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY (Commercial)


Harman Stove Company warrants its products to be free from defects in material or workmanship, in normal use and
service, for a period of 6 years from the date of sales invoice and for mechanical and electrical failures, in normal use and
service, for a period of 3 years from the date of sales invoice.
If defective in material or workmanship, during the warranty period, Harman Stove Company will, at its option, repair or
replace the product as described below.
The warranty above constitutes the entire warranty with respect to Harman Stove Company products. HARMAN STOVE
COMPANY MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING “ANY” WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY, OR WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. No employee, agent, dealer, or
other person is authorized to give any warranty on behalf of Harman Stove Company. This warranty does not apply if the
product has been altered in any way after leaving the factory. Harman Stove Company and its agents assume no liability for
“resultant damages of any kind” arising from the use of its products. In addition, the manufacturer and its warranty administrator
shall be held free and harmless from liability from damage to property related to the operation, proper or improper, of the
equipment.
THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES WHICH EXTEND BEYOND THE DESCRIPTION ON THE FACE HEREOF.
THESE WARRANTIES APPLY only if the device is installed and operated as recommended in the user’s manual.
THESE WARRANTIES WILL NOT APPLY if abuse, accident, improper installation, negligence, or use beyond rated
capacity causes damage.
HOW TO MAKE A CLAIM - Any claim under this warranty should be made to the dealer from whom this appliance was
purchased. Then contact is made with manufacturer, giving the model and serial numbers, the date of purchase, your dealer’s
name and address, plus a simple explanation of the nature of the defect. Extra costs such as mileage and overtime are not
covered. Nuisance calls are not covered by these warranties.
THIS WARRANTY IS LIMITED TO DEFECTIVE PARTS - REPAIR AND/OR REPLACEMENT AT
HARMAN STOVE COMPANY’S OPTION AND EXCLUDES ANY INCIDENTAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES CONNECTED THEREWITH.
WARRANTY EXCLUSIONS: Failure due, but not limited to, fire, lightning, acts of God, power failures and/or surges,
rust, corrosion and venting problems are not covered. Damage and/or repairs including but not limited to; remote controls,
filters, fuses, knobs, glass, ceramic brick panels, ceramic fiber afterburners, door packing, tile, ceramic log sets, paint, batteries
or battery back-up and related duct work are not covered. Also excluded from this warranty are consumable or normal wear
items including but not limited to; flame guides, grates, coal bars, afterburner hoods, fire brick, gaskets. Additional or unusual
utility bills incurred due to any malfunction or defect in equipment and the labor cost of gaining access to or removal of a unit that
requires special tools or equipment are not covered. Maintenance needed to keep the stove in “good operating condition” is not
covered. This includes, but is not limited to, cleaning, adjustment of customer controls and customer education. Labor,
materials, expenses and/or equipment needed to comply with law and/or regulations set forth by any governmental agencies are
not covered.
This Warranty provides specific legal rights and the consumer may have other rights that vary from state to state.
In the event of change in ownership, the remaining portion of this warranty may be transferred to the new owner by
sending the new owner information to the Harman Stove Company.
PLEASE READ THE LITERATURE BY THE MANUFACTURER FOR THE VARIOUS ACCESSORY DEVICES.
THE MANUFACTURER WARRANTS THESE ACCESSORY DEVICES, NOT HARMAN STOVE COMPANY OR THEIR
WARRANTY ADMINISTRATOR. FURTHERMORE, THESE ACCESSORY DEVICES MUST BE INSTALLED AND
USED ACCORDING TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MANUFACTURER.
REMEDIES - The remedies set forth herein are exclusive and the liability of seller with respect to any contract or sale or
anything done in connection therewith, whether in Contract, in tort, under any warranty, or otherwise, shall not, except as herein
expressly provided, exceed the price of the equipment or part of which such liability is based.
CLARIFY - The above represents the complete warranty, which is given in connection with stoves, manufactured by
Harman Stove Company. No other commitments, verbal or otherwise, shall apply except by a written addendum to this
warranty.
 
Mostly accurate information above.

I dont believe logs are available for the XXV, and the Advance logs tend to get covered in ash quite quickly, as well as being frail. They also seem to obstruct the air wash of the unit to some degree as well. With all the glass in the Advance, yea, it gets dirty. Id have to say the glass gets dirtier on the Advance than any of the other Harman units. Also, In my opinion, its much easier to clean the XXV than the Advance...no heat exchanger covers, so you can visually see how filthy they are without shutting down the stove, allowing it to cool, and the removing the brick panel and cover plates to inspect the heat exchanger. Also, not mentioned as well, the XXV is a much quieter unit than the Advance.

The warrantee. The dealer who sold the unit is required to service it as per Harman. They cant make another non-selling dealer do so. As stated above, at least half of the import of the sale of the stove is the dealer you buy it from. Make sure you talk to the dealer selling the unit, and make sure you believe what they say. In our neck of the woods, here in New England, 70 miles is a LONG WAY to go to service a stove. Convoluted roads, stoplights, stopsigns, school zones, etc, can make a 70 mile trip 90-120 minutes, easily, and that can really add to the cost of the service. Most dealers these days are charging travel time, even with the warrantee work. We dont charge travel time for the first 60 days after the stove purchase, but after that, we do. If you install the unit, and do it incorrectly, expect to pay a service charge as well...thats not covered under warrantee. If you dont maintain the unit as well, expect it not to be covered under warrantee (this is quite common).

Any other questions, blast away!
 
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