Fire Hazard ? Harman vs Quadra-Fire

[buckscrape]

I am looking a two manufacturers, Harman and Quadra-Fire, I have this article from another forum and wonder if anyone can way in on this question.

What about possible fires caused by the two different technologies used in the manufacturer of theses pellet stoves! Thanks for the help.

"Harman and Quadra-Fire use 2 different technologies. Harman is a bottom feed (pushes pellets from the bottom of the stove); whereas Quadra-Fire is a top feed (it drops pellets down a tube into the firepot). Be careful listening to salespeople. They will push their product not because they are dishonest; but because they tend to be mis-informed about the competitor's products.
Bottom-Feed (Harman) has the advantage of requiring less cleaning of the firepot area (it pushes out ash and clinkers as it feeds pellets). There is inherently more danger of fire in the hopper with a bottom feed stove; just because of the way they are designed. Harman is an excellent product, by the way.

Top-Feed (Quadra Fire and many others) require more frequent cleaning of the burnpot (usually daily). Ashes and clinkers basically "pile up" until you clean it out. There is very little danger of fire in the hopper; because the pellets drop down a tube to get to the firepot. "

 

[MainePellethead]

I am looking a two manufacturers, Harman and Quadra-Fire, I have this article from another forum and wonder if anyone can way in on this question.

What about possible fires caused by the two different technologies used in the manufacturer of theses pellet stoves! Thanks for the help.


Top-Feed (Quadra Fire and many others) require more frequent cleaning of the burnpot (usually daily). Ashes and clinkers basically "pile up" until you clean it out. There is very little danger of fire in the hopper; because the pellets drop down a tube to get to the firepot. "

I LOVE the idea of the depth of the firepot I have in my Quad and especially love the top feed...works very good for me.

 

[JoeS]

I think that if you ran a Google search on pellet stove fires or the safety of pellet stoves you will see they are safe. Todays stoves have so many built in safety features and shut offs they are almost in line with modern furnaces (especially the Mt. Vernon AE). Also, on the AE, since it has an auto-clean feature, you don't need to clean the burnpot daily. The key to any stove however is the dealer you are purchasing it from. Make certain that your dealer knows the workings of each stove and is capable of servicing them.

 

[BrotherBart]

That's right. A bottom feeding stove is fine. A bottom feeding dealer isn't.

 

[jtp10181]

That info is basically correct. Both styles of pellet stoves seem to work well for everyone who posts here. Both style have safety triggers and switches in place to stop the stove is something does start to go wrong. There is the possibility for a hopper fire even in the gravity feed units. Also I have read a lot of posts from people who have bottom feed units saying they need to scrape the burn pot daily to keep it running good.

 

[fastrac]

I would say a fire making its way back into a harmon stove would be almost impossible. Unfortunatley allot of hearth sales people who dont sell harmon or who have never actually taken a harmon apart to understand how the pellets are actually handled spread this rumor of a possible fire danger because its a bottom feeder.

Tough thing about this industry is that if you ask a person what they think of there stove they say too much ash (they have to dump the tray after a ton of pellets), too noisey( they have to turn the tv up to hear it over the stove . Or they say hardly get any ash (just a 5 gallon bucket aday) or it the quietst unit I ever had (ther deaf) Its real tought to get an unbiased option on a unit from an average person as if they are not happy with there product then they look silly for geting it ,so normallly what ever your neighbor got is the best there is.

I mean how many folks to you hear say how gret there home depot stove is while there looking for some one to get it running again




anyways I carry a couple of pellet stove lines and I have to tell you these harmons are spectacular. I have seen them run with all quaility of pellets in them and I find them the easyest to service and also maintain as they seam to just insinerate the ash, I just can figure out the reason for it yet.

Well you might say I am biast in my option because we sell harmon. Guess what I am not selling you a unit and I dont own stock in the company so I have no reason to be biased