New owner of a Harman XXV(Black)

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lordgrinz

Member
Jun 20, 2010
183
Western MA
Should be installed in the next couple of weeks, but thought I would say hello and get any suggestions I can. Almost went with the Majolica Brown Enamel, but was worried about going with the enamel and really wanted black, wish they made it in enamel black I guess. Well end result is I got black and saved $400 doing so, cant wait to see it installed. Forgot to ask or purchase cleaning tools, bucket, etc. any suggestions on what I need to keep up with the maintenance? New to burning, but mechanically inclined, just not sure what I need. The stove, hearth pad, piping(including top vent option) and 3.6 tons of pellets are already purchased. Thx for the help guys :)

-David
 
The casting work on these stoves is a masterpiece, and they perform very well when setup and maintained to specs. Scrapping and vacuuming the firepot, with the tool that I believe is provided, is critical for the owner to do regularly (get under those clinkers!) - as well as dump or vacuum up the ash in the bin and sorrounding areas. There are special design vacuums for ashes and even hot particles that make this ugly part of owning a pellet stove easier to deal with. Love-Less Ash makes compact , economical vacs, the models "Cheetah" and "Cougar" - evidentally with color choices or rustic scenery on the can (so you don't have to hide it).
If you schedule a yearly cleaning and maintenence of the stove and vent system, you'll be amazed at the places soot or ash accumulate, and the labor intensive efforts involved in this task. What you do at the burning end can make the annual a more pleasant task, and save you fuel, too.
Nice product choice, safe and happy burning to you!
 
Welcome to the forum, David. Lots of nice and helpful members here, and many with the same stove as you have. Ditto to what Jimmie Ray said....keep it clean, and well maintained, and you shouldn't have any problems.

One of the things we love on this board, are PICS!! A pic or two of your installed stove, the hearth pad, and even the piping layout and install will be well received by the members....one of our sayings about that is: "no pic(s) means it really didn't happen". :lol:

As for the "extra tools" you might want to have include the above mentioned vacuum.....a "regular" shop vac w/ a fine dust filter CAN be used in place of the VERY expensive ash vacs.....you just need to let the stove cool an hour or two before using it.

Many people have a decorative container sitting near the stove filled w/ pellets and a scoop. A leafblower w/ vacuum capability is used by MANY members use to get every last bit of ash possible out of the stove. Depending on your exhaust layout, you may or may not be able to use one.

A chimney brush (either 3" or 4" depending what pipe you have) may come in handy to clean the pipes. I personally use a "LintEater" that I bought at Lowes to clean the exhaust pipe.

Oh, and what brand pellets did you buy? Did you get them delivered yet?

The reason I ask is that since you're new to pellet burning, it's usually not advisable to buy a large quantity of any brand until you have done some test burning of 2-3 bags. Some pellets are just junk to begin with, and sometimes certain stoves just burn better (or worse) with different brands. The members on the forum that have the same stove as you may be able to give you info on how well your particular brand burns.

Well, hope this helps.
 
imacman said:
One of the things we love on this board, are PICS!!

Oh, and what brand pellets did you buy? Did you get them delivered yet?

Thanks imacman and jimmieray! :)

I'll make sure and have Pics up as soon as its installed ;-)

The stove comes with 1 ton of free New England brand hardwood pellets, I purchased 2 pallets of 1.3 tons($239/ton) of O'Kanagan premium softwood pellets, hope those will all keep me warm until next spring. From what I see looking thru these forums, the o'Kanagan pellets are well liked, so feel good about that purchase.
 
lordgrinz said:
Thanks imacman and jimmieray! :)

I'll make sure and have Pics up as soon as its installed ;-)

The stove comes with 1 ton of free New England brand hardwood pellets, I purchased 2 pallets of 1.3 tons($239/ton) of O'Kanagan premium softwood pellets, hope those will all keep me warm until next spring. From what I see looking thru these forums, the o'Kanagan pellets are well liked, so feel good about that purchase.

Those pellets will do just fine, I'm sure. Use the NEWP's in the fall & spring, and save the Okies for the real cold weather.

Looking forward to the pics!
 
welcome to the forum!

Congrats on your new stove....nice choice ;-)

If you don't want to spend the $$ on a cougar/cheetah ash vac, just get yourself
a decent shopvac with a hepa filter.

The XXV is a solid stove and IMO is very easy to clean. The stove comes with a scraper so all you
will really need to get started is a good vac, a vent brush, and maybe a couple of cheap paint brushes.

Pull up a chair and be sure to stick around. This place is not only a great source of information, it can
get pretty humorous sometimes too. Lots of good people here.

Also as imacman stated- we will need pics or it didn't really happen. :lol:
 
as for additional accessories, maybe an ash vac, the Cougar or Cheetah, but thats really about it. The stove comes with a marginally useful scraper, and I find a long heavy screwdriver to work better for scraping the burnpot anyhow. When the stove gets installed, be sure to ask the installer about maintenance. I figure about half of the purchase of the stove is picking a quality unit, while the other half is picking a quality dealer!

Im sure the XXV will serve you well, and theres alot of helpful owners here with them as well. Good luck, David!
 
I personally adhere to using the right tool for the job, when economically feasible. I use a Sootmaster vacuum for oil-fired cleanings, and an ash vacuum for wood-fired cleanings. Plenty of homeowners, and even service guys, get by with (soon to be disposable) shop vacs - but you have to watch what you suck up, and what's coming out of the exhaust. Certain ash vacuums can handle hot particles, are very compact, and have an external provision to "shake" the filter clean - so you only have to open it to occasionally dump it out. The designer colors and patterns available are a benefit in that you keep it right next to your stove or fireplace, as opposed to the shop vac that is usually out of sight, and out of mind. You'll be much more inclined to regularly vac out the easily accessed areas with the equipment right there at all times, I'd suppose...
 
Wow, those ash vacuums aren't cheap! $219/$249? Yikes! The stove/Pad/piping/pellets/installation is already $4950, this stove is going to save me money, right? Should only take me 10 years(they do last this long, right?) or more to realize a savings...LOL Well at least I get 30% back from the Gov and a $300 gift card from Harman. :)
 
They arent cheap. We sell them here locally for $199. Our sweep and installer also use them. I can say this much, we have never had a complaint about them. (knock on wood) You can always rig up something somehow to do the job that something else is designed to do...and a lot of times save money. But when dealing with fire, etc. I always try to sell something specc'd for the job.
 
lordgrinz said:
Wow, those ash vacuums aren't cheap! $219/$249? Yikes! The stove/Pad/piping/pellets/installation is already $4950, this stove is going to save me money, right? Should only take me 10 years(they do last this long, right?) or more to realize a savings...LOL Well at least I get 30% back from the Gov and a $300 gift card from Harman. :)

AND the free ton of pellets as well!
 
Franks said:
..... We sell them here locally for $199. Our sweep and installer also use them....

Much easier to swallow the high cost when a business can depreciate their cost on their tax returns each year.
 
Lousyweather said:
lordgrinz said:
Wow, those ash vacuums aren't cheap! $219/$249? Yikes! The stove/Pad/piping/pellets/installation is already $4950, this stove is going to save me money, right? Should only take me 10 years(they do last this long, right?) or more to realize a savings...LOL Well at least I get 30% back from the Gov and a $300 gift card from Harman. :)

AND the free ton of pellets as well!

Found the pellets in the driveway when I got home today, the free pallet of New England pellets was fine. However, one pallet of the Okanagans I found had about 15 partially wet bags, found 1 partially wet bag in the third pallet. Not too happy at the moment :-( , especially after lugging 180 bags into the cellar. Its pretty obvious these were stored outside, why anyone would store wood pellets out in the rain is beyond me.
 
call the dealer up, let him know! See what they do! If they dont know about the issue, there is nothing they can do for you. Im guessing you'll get credit for the wet bags, or they will offer to replace them.
 
Lousyweather said:
call the dealer up, let him know! See what they do! If they don't know about the issue, there is nothing they can do for you. I'm guessing you'll get credit for the wet bags, or they will offer to replace them.

Yeah I plan to do so tomorrow, they closed at 5pm and I didn't even start unloading them until then. I just wasn't going to leave everything out in the driveway, so I brought it all inside. Some of these have like 3 inches of the corners that are wet and disintegrated, is the whole bag toast? I didn't separate all of them, just the worst ones. I hope don't have to go thru these again, my back isn't happy right now...LOL
 
jimmie ray said:
The casting work on these stoves is a masterpiece, and they perform very well when setup and maintained to specs. Scrapping and vacuuming the firepot, with the tool that I believe is provided, is critical for the owner to do regularly (get under those clinkers!) - as well as dump or vacuum up the ash in the bin and sorrounding areas. There are special design vacuums for ashes and even hot particles that make this ugly part of owning a pellet stove easier to deal with. Love-Less Ash makes compact , economical vacs, the models "Cheetah" and "Cougar" - evidentally with color choices or rustic scenery on the can (so you don't have to hide it).
If you schedule a yearly cleaning and maintenence of the stove and vent system, you'll be amazed at the places soot or ash accumulate, and the labor intensive efforts involved in this task. What you do at the burning end can make the annual a more pleasant task, and save you fuel, too.
Nice product choice, safe and happy burning to you!

didja know that all the castings are made by VC?
 
lordgrinz said:
......Some of these have like 3 inches of the corners that are wet and disintegrated, is the whole bag toast?.....

Probably not. Usually the corner or edge that has a tear in it will have lots of expanded pellets, but I'm sure a lot of the bag is still usuable. However, that's besides the point. If the dealer is a stand up guy and runs a reputable business, he'll replace the damaged bags, or refund your $.....that should be your choice.

If it was me, I ask to get replacement bags that I pick out myself.
 
imacman said:
lordgrinz said:
......Some of these have like 3 inches of the corners that are wet and disintegrated, is the whole bag toast?.....

Probably not. Usually the corner or edge that has a tear in it will have lots of expanded pellets, but I'm sure a lot of the bag is still usuable. However, that's besides the point. If the dealer is a stand up guy and runs a reputable business, he'll replace the damaged bags, or refund your $.....that should be your choice.

If it was me, I ask to get replacement bags that I pick out myself.

I don't really feel like lugging bags back to the dealer, so if he refunds me some of the money I'll just sift thru the mess later. I will say that the bags that the Okanagans come in are pretty flimsy, the New England pellets were very well packaged(plastic almost double the thickness) , no complaints there.
 
yea, I'd say just let them know how many you want credited back....basically what would be fair, as per you. Its a tossup, I guess, as to whether you should be credited for a whole bag when you are going to actually use 90% or so, but again, its really what you think would be fair.
 
Bring back the broken bags and tell them to make a swap, if they won't,leave them there in the showroom Let them clean it up.
 
summit said:
jimmie ray said:
The casting work on these stoves is a masterpiece...

didja know that all the castings are made by VC?

I do now, thanks! As mentioned, I'm very new to this branch of the heating business, and absorbing alot of experience and information. The elegance of so many products in this field is bewildering, after being mostly familiar with neglected, drab looking boilers.
 
summit said:
jimmie ray said:
The casting work on these stoves is a masterpiece, and they perform very well when setup and maintained to specs. Scrapping and vacuuming the firepot, with the tool that I believe is provided, is critical for the owner to do regularly (get under those clinkers!) - as well as dump or vacuum up the ash in the bin and sorrounding areas. There are special design vacuums for ashes and even hot particles that make this ugly part of owning a pellet stove easier to deal with. Love-Less Ash makes compact , economical vacs, the models "Cheetah" and "Cougar" - evidentally with color choices or rustic scenery on the can (so you don't have to hide it).
If you schedule a yearly cleaning and maintenence of the stove and vent system, you'll be amazed at the places soot or ash accumulate, and the labor intensive efforts involved in this task. What you do at the burning end can make the annual a more pleasant task, and save you fuel, too.
Nice product choice, safe and happy burning to you!

didja know that all the castings are made by VC?

Someone else told me that too. Perhaps that has something to do with why VC got out of making pellet stoves? So...Harman manufactures what...the burn pot?
 
Congrats on a great stove! I love mine. My personal experience let me to two rules for using the stove.

Room temp mode in Fall and Sping.
Stove Temp mode in Winter.

Also, there have been issues with Ignitors, although I haven't experienced any yet. For this reason I try to not let the stove shut down and restart over and over during the fall. After the fire is going I usually put the ignitor switch to Manual so the fire never burns out in the fall/spring.. it just throttles down.

Lastly... (my experience) is that More isn't always better when it comes to the distribution blower. By the end of the season I was running my blower on low most of the time and heating just as effectively.
 
Bobforsaken said:
Congrats on a great stove! I love mine. My personal experience let me to two rules for using the stove.

Room temp mode in Fall and Sping.
Stove Temp mode in Winter.

Also, there have been issues with Ignitors, although I haven't experienced any yet. For this reason I try to not let the stove shut down and restart over and over during the fall. After the fire is going I usually put the ignitor switch to Manual so the fire never burns out in the fall/spring.. it just throttles down.

Lastly... (my experience) is that More isn't always better when it comes to the distribution blower. By the end of the season I was running my blower on low most of the time and heating just as effectively.

Thanks Bob, I'll keep those suggestions in mind! :)

I got a call today, the stove goes in next Friday morning, so pictures will be not soon after ;-)
 
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