decent stove on a budget?

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milnh

New Member
Oct 8, 2014
2
NH
Any opinions on a decently dependable and easy to clean stove in 2k to 2.5k price range? I am looking to reduce heating costs for a 2200 square foot Cape in NH. A few relatives own Harmon stoves and say great things about them, but a new Harmon is outside of the budget. It would be great to heat as much of the house as possible, so I am looking for a mid to large sized stove. I have burned wood in the house and the heat seems to circulate around the house OK for the most part. The pellet stove would replace the existing wood stove. Thanks for you input.
 
(broken link removed to http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/hsd/4680982366.html)

or maybe a used Harman.
 
From what I remember, pellet stoves cost more to heat than wood stoves. So switching might not
reduce costs unless you haven't been using the wood stove.

I would search around for dealers near you and see in person. Many Harman dealers also sell other
brands, and one of them around here had a 0% financing. We basically paid for the difference in stove
cost with the savings from heating costs the first season, and after the second season we've saved
enough in heating to pay for the unit. Now it's all just savings ;-)

So see if you can find a dealer to check out stoves in person. "easy to clean" is a personal preference
so have them show you what the daily/weekly maintenance would be. My dad's requires much more but
he still loves his non Harman. But in the end you want something that will work for you, as having a dirty
stove burns less effectively and if it's a pain to clean you might not use it as much negating the savings..
 
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From what I remember, pellet stoves cost more to heat than wood stoves. So switching might not
reduce costs unless you haven't been using the wood stove...

I am not sure that's true anymore. The competition for wood between the cordwood and pellet folks has heated up, no pun intended. My friend just called to have a cord delivered and they quoted him $300 for a green cord. That is $60 more a cord than the same place charged last year and $80 more than two years ago. I just had two tons of Maine's Choice put in my garage for $239 a ton and I stopped by a TSC yesterday and they charge $254 a ton regardless of brand.
 
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A good stove for your price range is a Quad Sante Fe or a 1200. They are easy to run, easy to clean, reliable as all get out, and have very few adjustments to mess with or confuse you. Basically you turn it on, adjust the feed gate to get the proper flame height for the pellets you're burning, sit back and enjoy. Cleaning it every few days takes about 5 minutes. It just doesn't get any easier.
 
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I too think a Quad CB1200 might be a good choice. My "local" dealer provided a fair discount on my 1200i purchase. Santa Fe might be too small? Another good product and less money - the Heatilator EcoChoice CAB50 (an HHT brand). I believe the burnpot shape and configuration contributes to less potential maintenance.
 
I too think a Quad CB1200 might be a good choice. My "local" dealer provided a fair discount on my 1200i purchase. Santa Fe might be too small? Another good product and less money - the Heatilator EcoChoice CAB50 (an HHT brand). I believe the burnpot shape and configuration contributes to less potential maintenance.
He did say 'reduce heating costs' which is why I mentioned the Sante Fe. It does a good job of keeping my heat pumps off in zero degree weather.
 
Wait you get 0-degree weather in north Georgia?!
 
Wait you get 0-degree weather in north Georgia?!
We sure as heck do! Most people don't realize how cold it gets down here in the winter. The ONLY good thing about it is that we know that in a few days, it will most likely be 40 or 50! It's not like Chicago where it would stay below zero for weeks and you wouldn't see the sun for a month. But, yes, it gets cold!!!!!!
 
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