compare stoves

[Sarge]

I have decided to buy a pellet stove and have narrowed it down to two units. 1) a Harmond P61A or 2) a Englander 55SHP240.
The Harmond being about twice the cost of the Englander.
my concerns are:

Maintenance frequency and ease

reliability

service and parts support

Is the prrice differance warranted ? are they comparable ?

 

[petejung]

I think that both stoves would be equally reliable. Personally, I own an Englander, and have found their service and support to be excellent. Your biggest difference from a maintenance/service standpoint is that with the P61A, you'll get a warranty from your dealer so that they come out and fix the stove. I believe it's a 3 yr warranty. with the Englander, I think you get 1 year, and you have to fix it yourself, with help from England Stove Works tech's over the phone/email. I'm not too familiar with the P61, but in general, the Harman stoves have very nice visual appeal. The Englander's aren't bad looking, just don't have the frills of the Harman. I believe there's a big difference in hopper capacity between the p61 and the 240 as well, with the 240 being much larger. My apologies to the guys at ESW, but to me, the 240 is one bad looking stove. It's like they took my 25pdvc and stacked a big ugly hopper on top of it.

The bottom line for me: If money was no object, I'd buy the Harman, just for the added visual appeal. But, that wasn't the case for me. After much research, I purchased my ESW stove and have been quite happy with it. The 25pdvc isn't a bad looking stove, and it's specs were right there with everyone else. The support is great, and I now know lots about my stove from doing the maintenance and repairs myself.

One thing my Harman dealer told me, when he was trying to sell me a stove, was that the top feed auger systems are really noisy and you can hear the pellets dropping into the burn pot. Don't fall for that one, it's BS.

I really don't think you could go "wrong" either way. Both stoves are made by reputable comapnies with proven track records.

 

[webbie]

I think you are comparing two stoves that should not be compared! They are as different as two pellet stoves can be - the Englander is the budget unit built for the "working person" (I have heard that from Englander) , and the Harman is the "built to a standard not a price" (that is their words, not mine).....

If you asked Englander to build a unit similar to the Harman...well, they could do it, but it would cost a lot more than their existing unit! A bottom fed unit which uses all those heavy-duty components cold a LOT more to make.....

You have to also look at your wallet and your priorities. A lot of people have the $$ for a Harman and if you do, you might keep in mind the old saying:
"The pain of poor quality lingers on long after the pleasure of low price wears off."

Not to say Englander or other stoves are poor quality, just that you have to determine what your particular goals are. If they are to get the most bang for your buck, the Englander might do the job. If they are to buy the "best" and heat a larger area - and burn lower ash pellets (and other benefits of bottom augers)....well, then think again.

Another factor is service. Englander does a great job of responding to customers, but it will be you that will be repairing the Englander....if I am not wrong, they never send a service person out to your home. Harman is dealer serviced.....even there your results will vary, depending on the quality of your Harman dealer.....although Harman was recently sold to a large company which is fairly well regarded in the service dept.

So, it's your choice - but in my opinion these are not two stoves that should be directly compared.

 

[BrotherBart]

What pellet stoves in the market would you say should be compared to the Harman's Craig?