Whats the best pellet Insert?

I'm looking at the Milan or the Empress from enviro. Is there a better insert out there??


Thanks Johnnywarm

We looked long and hard at the Empress. It's a really nice looking stove.

We had a couple of concerns, though:
1) Enviro reduced the BTU rating by a substantial amount. Nobody could explain to me why the did this.
2) The burn-pot has no self-cleaning capability. My understanding is that you need to clean out the burn-pot much more often as a result.

We've gone with the Harman Accentra. It's too early for us to make and conclusions, but so far I am very happy. My only gripe with the Harman is that you can't hook it up to a traditional thermostat. It's also fairly loud for an insert, although this doesn't bother me too much since we don't have a TV in that room.

We have a TV next to the fireplace and noise will be an issue. I need to manualy clean the burn pot on my Big-e, so doing it with the Empress should be no problem.


I thought the only "self cleaning" burn pot was the enviro Omega????


Thank you Johnnywarm

Harman's don't have a self cleaning burn-pot per se. However, the auger feed from underneath pushes ashes out of the burn-pot, so less manual ash removal is required.

At least that's my understanding.

I do belive in the future that self cleaning pots will be the in thing. I hope so because it make it easy.

Have you checked the cost of pellets? The cost per KBTU using pellets?

My chimney cleaner guy was by today to do a roto-cleaning on my main fireplace and we talked about fireplace inserts and he commented on the high cost of pellet fuel, he even gave me a number but I didn't take much note as I'm a wood (or coal) burning guy.

I will be using wood in the cellar. I love the easy way the pellet stove operates.My allergies don't allow the use of wood upstairs.


When pellets go up so does wood.

I really like the Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200i....and not because I happen to have a new one. It's a proven design that's been working for years. Simplicity, heat output, good looks and great tech support. What's not to like?

Thanks shooter

Any Enviro is typically good. The Harmans are good, Lopi & Avalon are good. Aren't the 1200i's made in China now?

Thanks shane. Thats a good Question

Bought a Quadra - Fire Mt. Vernon insert, in Dec. it is self cleaning. All you have to do is empty the tray and the collection outside the pot once a week. I burn locally made pellets from Corinth Maine. Have to empty the tray every two weeks or so. It is a great stove, the earlier version had many problems due to a major change in there design and engineering. If you want a stove that is quieter, low maintances and looks great. You should give it a look. I also have it in my family room, where we watch T.V. not a problem you can adjust the noice from quiet to normal.

Thanks deed. Will do. JW

THis is just my opinion, but a self cleaning pot on a pellet stove is kind of like auto locks or auto windows on a car. It's just one more electric motor to go bad. Of course it should be noted I do not own a vehicle without these amenities!

I think it makes the stove more user friendly.

In this world just about everything is mechanized and have moving parts, this is to bring the lamen person to these products. I rather have to replace a part in time then have to take chizzle out to get rid of the rid of the build up. I've seen them in pictures but never in my pellet stove. I also have a friend that owns the stove shop that sold me the stove. He is on my speed dial, lives down the street. He is a service rep.

have a Quadra 1200i insert. Like it. A guy from Homedepot to evaluate my windows and told me "you stove is so quite and even on max setting". He had one from Homedepot (New Englander?) and the noise was much louder even on lowest settings. We also have a TV close to the fireplace, no problem with the stove in terms of noise.

The only burnpot I've ever seen that you had to take a chisel to is the Harman. With mine I just brush it and it's good to go for another couple weeks.

The best pellet insert is a free one.

My thoughts

Eric

While I don`t endorse a pellet stove in these times with price being so uncertain. I will say that Enviro makes a good product, I just bought one of their wood-burning inserts. If you read the thru the threads, you won`t find many complaints about enviro products,actually you probably won`t find much at all cause they are a vancouver island company that is not that well known in the east. I can only speak for my own purchase that has 5/16 steel on the top, unlike most others. So if you are looking for quality,definetly,go with the enviro.

We had an Austroflamm insert for almost 15 years (almost totally silent and built like a tank) and just last year got an Enviro. Would still have the Austro, but it needed $1200 worth of parts (provided we could even find them).

We did all the same sort of research we did before, and liked the Enviro best. Some of the stoves must have a wired, proprietary, expensive thermostat. That kind of thing doesn't work for us - our fireplace sticks out into the room by three feet. There's an outlet right there for our TV, so the power cord for the stove can be routed in a way that is mostly invisible. Thermostat wires would have to go all over everywhere, though.

We looked at one with the self-cleaning burnpot thing, and to me, it's just something else to go wrong. And then I asked the guy if it was truly self-cleaning. "Well, no. You still have to periodically scrape down the sides of the burn pot." Then I asked if it could come out so you could be sure of doing a good job of it, and the answer was that it was replaceable, but wasn't meant to be periodically removed.

Simpler is better. Heavy construction: even better. So that's why we settled on the Enviro.

Best advice: see what works best for you. Watch them start. We discounted one (the self-cleaning burn pot one) after we saw smoke puff into the room as it was starting. Look past the sales pitches, some salesmen will run down others' stoves just to get a sale of theirs. Sad, but sometimes it happens.

Also: get a good surge suppressor to protect the stove.

Hope this helps.

I want to thank everybody for your time. I do belive it will be the Millan.

JW