Advice for a first time pellet stove shopper

[MJS6781]

I am in the market for a pellet stove and have been researching for quite a while now. I think i've made my choice, but wanted to get some opinions. A little history...We recently bought a split level home in SE PA and have a new oil furnace heating the house. It works great and is relatively efficient, but want to offset some of the oil cost. The house is about 2000 sq. feet, but it is all small rooms. I want a pellet stove due to clearances and size of the room (i can keep it closer to the wall). I dont wanna say which one im leaning toward yet...I want to see if my research was good or not

So, I want to be out the door at around $2k-2500...can i do this and get a quality stove that wont cause me headaches, or do I need to spend $4k on a harman?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[johneh]

Have no idea what the prices are South of the border
but 25hundred in Canada would be a stretch for a
good stove. This purchase is one that you get what you
pay for. My Enviro is a 2002 model and has had only 2 problems
since new and I burn 24/7 from November to April this year into May
There are many Good Stoves out there just remember to buy
the one the wife likes within reason.

 

[rich2500]

When you say small rooms do you have small openings that lead into each room or small rooms with an open floor plan, If you have the small openings I think you will be very disappointed with a pellet stove if plan to heat the whole house.

 

[MJS6781]

When you say small rooms do you have small openings that lead into each room or small rooms with an open floor plan, If you have the small openings I think you will be very disappointed with a pellet stove if plan to heat the whole house.

So, its a split level home and don't really want to heat the house, I just want to supplement the heat, and have a bit of ambiance.
The house has six levels, basement, garage/family room level, kitchen/living room/dining room, bedrooms, attic bedroom, and open attic in other peak. The most open area is the main level with kitchen etc...i was planning on cutting vents into the ceiling of family room to allow warm air flow to the bedroom level....the family room is 15X18 with 7 steps going up to the main level. Definitely not the idea situation, but its really nice, and its in a great neighborhood, which is what we wanted moving out of the city.

 

[Nitro-Fish]

I hope that your house has an elevator too!

 

[Nitro-Fish]

Do your research before cutting any holes no matter if going with pellet, wood or gas stove; usually not very effective (& in some cases a code violation/insurance no no).

 

[Dataman]

I did a lot of research too. Was set on Cab50. Big Hopper, easy to clean. Cheap too. I ended up with Harmon XXV. Got it for $3500 with tax (floor Model). April they blow them off the floor. Been very happy. Of course I think Cab 50 would have made me just happy.
(broken link removed)

 

[zrock]

I would speak with your local installer or inspector and get their advice on stove/installation. I made several calls to my stove inspector before installing and it saved me a lot of headaches. Even if i bought a new stove i would do it again i have easily saved over 1/2 on my gas and hydro bills and every year i fine tune it a bit more by playing with different brands of pellets. Only time my heat was used this year was for about 15min in the mornings while the stove lit and came up to temp. This year with whats going on i also had someone home all day so the stove was running more than normal

 

[MJS6781]

What is you recommendation for a stove? What stoves do you have in your house? i just found a couple refurbished and floor model stoves on Craigslist that are big names and seem like new...

 

[Dataman]

I was going to get CAB 50, but got Harmon XXV floor model when I did this in 2018. Been great stove. Used to heat with Blaze King King. Wood is a lot of trouble. Always handling it. Mess. Hard to get exact temps. Too hot or use Furnace.

Wife wanted pretty stove. Instead of Black Cube

What BTU is very important for you. Size of House your trying to heat. Remember it's space heater. We use couple of Box Fans to move the air down the hallway. 200sq ft room in basement we use electric heater.

I hope your home is not Mobile Home. If so that will also determine the unit you buy. Do you have place to store the pellets? That also will be part of the heating. I use 3-4 tons per Winter. I keep 5 tons on hand just in case Winter From Hell. Also only used it 2 years.

I am stocking parts. Have all Gaskets and Distribution Blower. Price the parts you will need, it will help determine what you get too. I will get Combusion Blower spare by Winter. New Ash VAC (replace one Wife does not like - Loveless Cougar).

I spent $1000 on backup. Think about that too. What happens when you lose power? I went with Two 100ah batteries and AIMS 1250 Inverter Generator. Will by Honda 2k generator or such (Inverter) later on. Biggest power outage has been 12 hours in Winter. Ran Inverter 8 hours and then shut it down. It was not that cold. So I added another batter after that (used generator battery in place of 100ah battery). I plan on later getting lithium-ion battery when house is paid for (23 months). Those last lots longer. Might even put in Solar Panel to charge them. I have 7kw House Generator, but it's not Pure Sine Wave.

 

[homeskillet]

I am in the market for a pellet stove and have been researching for quite a while now. I think i've made my choice, but wanted to get some opinions. A little history...We recently bought a split level home in SE PA and have a new oil furnace heating the house. It works great and is relatively efficient, but want to offset some of the oil cost. The house is about 2000 sq. feet, but it is all small rooms. I want a pellet stove due to clearances and size of the room (i can keep it closer to the wall). I dont wanna say which one im leaning toward yet...I want to see if my research was good or not

So, I want to be out the door at around $2k-2500...can i do this and get a quality stove that wont cause me headaches, or do I need to spend $4k on a harman?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I lived in the Pacific Northwest before moving back east and I have had a Lennox Montage Pellet Stove, A Cumberland Pellet Stove, a Hearthstone Pellet Stove, A Ravelli Pellet stove, A Harman Accentra Pellet stove and now a Harmon P68.
Hands down the easiest to maintain is a Harman P68. Its like a 73 Ford F-250.......it just works. I bought a used one for 1700 last year. Knowing what I know now about the P68.......I would always ....ALWAYS......buy a P68 and a used one at that.. Mine is a 2008 model and I decided to change the feeder weldment as it had a small hole burnt thru it (see post on here). I currently have it totally stripped down and it took about 4.5 hours and thats with figuring it out on the fly. I am going to put in a new feeder weldment....a updated burnpot weldment, a new auger and new combustion motor and fan for a little over 700 dollars. I say.....if you have a little bit of mechanical know how.......buy a used P series Harman on the cheap and rebuild it as needed. I am so happy i did. BTW....i didnt need the combustion motor/ fan or the updated burnpot......but seeings how i had it stripped down, i thought I would update them . And simple to maintain....NO PELLET Stove I have owned has ever been this easy to maintain. I am sold on the P68 and being in PA, i bet they are rather plentiful down there.