Pros/Cons of top feeders vs. bottom feeds

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I've paid more for things that have less uses :D
 
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Top feed here, do like the idea of the bottom feed but would miss the tink, tink in the night. I do not worry too much about clinkers in the burn pot. The stove is very quiet and hard to hear in the bedrooms, about 35 db at six feet.
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I had a top-feeding Quad 1200 for a few years. It was a nightmare: no matter what brand of pellets were used, it invariably formed a huge clinker in the burn pot which required shutdown 2x per day to chop out. I dumped the thing and got a Harman P61A: what a difference. The Harman just pushes the ash and clinkers out of the burn pot. There would be a "scale" that formed in the burn pot that needed to be scraped out every other day, but that could be done while the stove was running. The Quad was simply a cheap piece of junk compared to the Harman.
 
My top feed goes well over a week without having to open the door for anything. And that's usually because the ash area is full. Honestly, I think the harman's need a lot more work. I could probably go 2 weeks without needing to address the burn pot if the ash pan was larger.
 
I was wondering the same regarding the top or bottom feed system. I ended up buying a Harman not because of the bottom feet, but because it seemed to have better reviews. While I was at the other dealer who was selling other stoves (some with bottom, some with top), I asked which he preferred/had better experience(s) with, he said that he would give a SLIGHT edge to the bottom feeders because in his experience he saw fewer clinkers from them.

Soooo for what thay may be worth....
 
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I had a top-feeding Quad 1200 for a few years. It was a nightmare: no matter what brand of pellets were used, it invariably formed a huge clinker in the burn pot which required shutdown 2x per day to chop out. I dumped the thing and got a Harman P61A: what a difference. The Harman just pushes the ash and clinkers out of the burn pot. There would be a "scale" that formed in the burn pot that needed to be scraped out every other day, but that could be done while the stove was running. The Quad was simply a cheap piece of junk compared to the Harman.

I have had clinkers with only 1 brand of pellets. I can go usually 1 week before I open the door, I use the little black knob lower left side.
I don't like the idea of opening every day to scrape the burn pot, like some owner manuals state.
 
Top feeders are blue collar workers building a country

Bottom feeders are .........................................
 
My Quadrafire Sante Fe is a top feeder. I also burn cheap wood pellets from Walmart. I have no problems whatsoever. My friend has a Harmon P68. I like his stove too. But I love my Quadrafire. I'll always own a Quadrafire. I trust the top feeders more.
 
Top feeder ... gravity ..
 
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