Harman Accentra vs. Castle Serenity

[foggonthemountain]

After 40 yrs of burning wood I am preparing to purchase my 1st pellet stove. Narrowed choices to a 2010 Accentra with 1 1/2 yrs usage that includes a nice tiled hearth & all the piping one could possibly need for $2000. Or a new Castle Serenity for $1000. From what I've read,(@wiseheat.com) the Accentra may not operate properly when having to always be run on a very low setting becuz my home is small.(barely1500 sq') The site also claimed that parts have to be replaced quite often-some of them 2-3 times,that the stove is overly noisy,and Harman is near impossible to GET HER in touch with.Since Harman makes top-of- the-line stoves I find all this negativity disturbing. As for the Serenity,not one bad review to be found.Husband passed last yr, seriously need help with this important decision.Which do I buy, the

 

[alternativeheat]

After 40 yrs of burning wood I am preparing to purchase my 1st pellet stove. Narrowed choices to a 2010 Accentra with 1 1/2 yrs usage that includes a nice tiled hearth & all the piping one could possibly need for $2000. Or a new Castle Serenity for $1000. From what I've read,(@wiseheat.com) the Accentra may not operate properly when having to always be run on a very low setting becuz my home is small.(barely1500 sq') The site also claimed that parts have to be replaced quite often-some of them 2-3 times,that the stove is overly noisy,and Harman is near impossible to GET HER in touch with.Since Harman makes top-of- the-line stoves I find all this negativity disturbing. As for the Serenity,not one bad review to be found.Husband passed last yr, seriously need help with this important decision.Which do I buy, the

The Serenity is a relatively new product compared with the Accentra and really hasn't had much of a chance to collect negative press yet. That said, so far so good !! There are pros and cons to both stoves but I don't think either is too large for your house at or around 1500 sq ft. If your wood stove isn't driving you out with over heat I don't think either of these pellet stoves will, especially that they will run at a moderate burn. I don't know that the Accentra has been particularly problematic . I don't recall lot's of threads stating anything like that here at the forum.

To me more the question is , do you really want to make this change and why ? Dealing with pellets is a bit of a different creature than wood and your wood stove is in, running and well proven..

 

[Mainiac]

After 40 yrs of burning wood I am preparing to purchase my 1st pellet stove. Narrowed choices to a 2010 Accentra with 1 1/2 yrs usage that includes a nice tiled hearth & all the piping one could possibly need for $2000. Or a new Castle Serenity for $1000. From what I've read,(@wiseheat.com) the Accentra may not operate properly when having to always be run on a very low setting becuz my home is small.(barely1500 sq') The site also claimed that parts have to be replaced quite often-some of them 2-3 times,that the stove is overly noisy,and Harman is near impossible to GET HER in touch with.Since Harman makes top-of- the-line stoves I find all this negativity disturbing. As for the Serenity,not one bad review to be found.Husband passed last yr, seriously need help with this important decision.Which do I buy, the

For the short time I have been converted to pellets from wood I can say that the ease of running my Accentra is exactly what I had hoped it would be. I have been burning it in room temp/auto mode with the temp set for 70. I have scrapped the burn pot every couple days but other than that it just comes on and shuts off exactly as I expected it would. I researched common replacement parts and didn't find anything to be overly pricey to purchase given the value of the stove at 2000.00 +/- used and close to 4000.00 new. I am 100% comfortable replacing parts myself as needed so that may be different from your situation. We seem to have similar home sizes and Maine is a big state but you're more than welcome to see ours operating if that would help you decide.

Eric

 

[rich2500]

Do you plan to use the stove as your primary heat, are you gonna be able to maintain the stove or would you need someone to do it for you.

 

[alternativeheat]

Do you plan to use the stove as your primary heat, are you gonna be able to maintain the stove or would you need someone to do it for you.

Rich, how is the serenity in terms of daily maintenance ( pot scraping etc), weekly cleaning, monthly etc ?

I know that on the monthly with the Accentra you do have to get into it a bit and clean behind the medallion. Nothing like some stoves with hidden passages everywhere and little screws to remove to access them though.. Still, if to go Harman, a P43 would be a lot easier.

 

[rich2500]

I scrape the pot once a day unless burning Greenways then its not necessary, once a week I pull the ashpan and do a quick firebox vacuum and that's about it.super easy stove to keep clean.

 

[foggonthemountain]

I scrape the pot once a day unless burning Greenways then its not necessary, once a week I pull the ashpan and do a quick firebox vacuum and that's about it.super easy stove to keep clean.

Thanks to all for taking the time to answer me. As for some of your questions, Yes pellets will become my primary source of heat,and for several reasons.With my husband gone and with my medical limitations I'm afraid I just can't handle the work involved with burning wood all by myself. Plus, his siblings with the help of an extremely mean and very capable lawyer, now own all but 6 acres of the land we have lived on and heated our home with for 40yrs.making the need to find a new source of heat a priority. Finally, our late child who is now 20 has no intentions of living with mom forever. Yes I will be able to handle the daily, weekly and monthly care that a pellet stove requires- I may be slow and careful, but I ain't dead yet! As for repairs, so long as I can find the parts I'm pretty sure between the advice of kind people like you & You-tube- I'll manage. If you subtract the value of the extras included with the stove from its $1900 price it makes it difficult to turn down a stove that new sells for $3800. and will probably last thru my lifetime. As I've always believed that heavier is better, I'm really leaning towards the Harman. It's the Serenity's ease of cleaning and great customer service that makes the choice difficult. My husband always did dislike my inability to make decisions!

 

[rich2500]

Honestly with what you have said I would go with the Harman also, The Serenity is an awesome stove for the price but it would be a bit more hands on, smaller hopper so you would be filling it more often,gonna need daily pot scrape where the Harman could go for a few days,Parts are gonna be more readily available for the Harman.I don't think you could go wrong with either stove though.Since the Harman is used though I would make sure to see it run before buying it if you go that route.

 

[alternativeheat]

Here is a link to a series of videos on care of the Accentra: http://www.harmanstoves.com/Owner-Resources/Use-and-Care-Videos/Accentra-Pellet-Stove.aspx

The maintenance video series of events is a must do ( in any pellets stove, though each has it's own little tasks ), it has to be performed but depending on quantity and quality of the pellets you burn, it may or may not be on the time intervals mentioned. Also, the time required you learn to trim way down. I can give my P61 a good cleaning in about 15 minutes now or maybe 20 minutes when I include the fines box ( feed cover removal in that video). But notice that most things needing removal in the Accentra is just a matter of releasing a lever or two and lifting out. Also that rear ( black sheet metal) cover they removed can be done with the stove in place, you also could take the screws to your local hardware store and replace them with thumb screws to which now there would be no tools required for access.

 

[bcarton]

It would be helpful if you could post photos of where you intend to install the stove, and the venting materials that come with the Harman. Some may disagree with me, but I strongly believe that a right install can make as much of a difference as the right stove. There are many considerations, but ease of access for cleaning both the stove and vent are important. Also,small adjustments to the vent arrangement can make a difference in vent performance. For example, will the house get smoky if you lose power? Will windy days cause issues? Will your vent need to be unusually long? Will you be re-using a masonry chimney?

Another concern: pellet stoves require power to run. Most require power that is very clean, something that cheaper generators don't provide. So you'll need to do some research along those lines. One person told me that a pellet stove is a computer that burns wood, and that's a good description. Computers need power, and they need to be protected from bad power.

This is a complicated decision to make and plan out on a short timeline. In a perfect world, you'd be able to limp through one more year on the wood stove while planning your pellet stove, and looking for the right deal on the right stove. If that's out of the question, then my gut would say go with a Harman. If it needs some TLC to get running properly then that will be your first learning experience - and the kind folks here will be glad to help you through it.

 

[sparklow]

After 37 years of burning wood I bought my first pellet stove. I went with a Castle Serenity for the same reasons that you are looking at it. You've got a choice to make but from the sound of it it seems that either stove would do you well. Harman appears to be the leading pellet stove manufacturer, I looked at them at two dealers local to me. I certainly liked the Harman stoves but they were more than I was looking to spend and I didn't see any great deals on used ones. I went with the Serenity based on positive reviews and a nice price point. The Serenity does have a small hopper but this not a huge problem for me as I'm home most of the time, and the stove is easy to clean. Good luck, either stove will work.

 

[Marina1327]

After 37 years of burning wood I bought my first pellet stove. I went with a Castle Serenity for the same reasons that you are looking at it. You've got a choice to make but from the sound of it it seems that either stove would do you well. Harman appears to be the leading pellet stove manufacturer, I looked at them at two dealers local to me. I certainly liked the Harman stoves but they were more than I was looking to spend and I didn't see any great deals on used ones. I went with the Serenity based on positive reviews and a nice price point. The Serenity does have a small hopper but this not a huge problem for me as I'm home most of the time, and the stove is easy to clean. Good luck, either stove will work.

I have the serenity mainly because of the good reviews, the size of my house and the price. I am a single lady with a full time job and I have managed to fill and maintain the stove thus far. My elderly mother who is 86 has also managed to clean out the stove and fill it if I am not here with not much effort. It's not a hard stove to clean and it was 2200 professionally installed including the price of the stove. I don't know much about the harmon but the serenity has been good so far once I worked out some of the kinks of learning to use it and found pellets that burn well in it.

 

[alternativeheat]

Marina inadvertently brings up a good point that I can only cross over to the Harman and expand on. She said ( paraphrasing her) she says it works well once she got the hang of operating it and once she found pellets that burned well in the Serenity. If Harman is known for nothing else, they are known to build pellet stoves that are pretty user friendly in terms of controls, and they burn about any pellet you can throw at them. Just sayin. There are times like the winter before last where you need to grab any pellet you can get, the pickins got mighty slim that winter. What ever the brand, the Harman is probably going to burn it. Now I'm saying this coming from a P61 which is notorious for chewing through about anything you can dump in it but I've had pellets swollen and breaking down because they got damp ( not the whole bag and they were dried back out) and I just dumped it in and it burned them up never blinked, coughed or snorted. I had a few bags like that at the bottom of a pallet and just threw them in in portions along with the good ones .

Conversely, You hear all these night mare stories about auger jams because a certain pellet isn't just right, too many fines, what ever else with some stove brands. Again, just sayin. The Serenity may be an awesome stove, it certainly has a following here. That can't be by coincidence. But //////

 

[Marina1327]

Marina inadvertently brings up a good point that I can only cross over to the Harman and expand on. She said ( paraphrasing her) she says it works well once she got the hang of operating it and once she found pellets that burned well in the Serenity. If Harman is known for nothing else, they are known to build pellet stoves that are pretty user friendly in terms of controls, and they burn about any pellet you can throw at them. Just sayin. There are times like the winter before last where you need to grab any pellet you can get, the pickins got mighty slim that winter. What ever the brand, the Harman is probably going to burn it. Now I'm saying this coming from a P61 which is notorious for chewing through about anything you can dump in it but I've had pellets swollen and breaking down because they got damp ( not the whole bag and they were dried back out) and I just dumped it in and it burned them up never blinked, coughed or snorted. I had a few bags like that at the bottom of a pallet and just threw them in in portions along with the good ones .

Conversely, You hear all these night mare stories about auger jams because a certain pellet isn't just right, too many fines, what ever else with some stove brands. Again, just sayin. The Serenity may be an awesome stove, it certainly has a following here. That can't be by coincidence. But //////

I agree with the right pellets for the stove...I am burning GS which alot of people don't seem to like but yet the serenity does...so is it that my stove just likes them? Or did I luck out and get a good batch? The cheat river ones burned horribly in my stove...so are they bad or the serenity just doesn't like them? Hard to know 100 percent for sure, either way. As for the controls....I probably would benefit from reading the manual...LOL...but I am more of a turn the thing on and figure it out. I think for me the main reason I went with the serenity was the price with the good reviews.

 

[alternativeheat]

I agree with the right pellets for the stove...I am burning GS which alot of people don't seem to like but yet the serenity does...so is it that my stove just likes them? Or did I luck out and get a good batch? The cheat river ones burned horribly in my stove...so are they bad or the serenity just doesn't like them? Hard to know 100 percent for sure, either way. As for the controls....I probably would benefit from reading the manual...LOL...but I am more of a turn the thing on and figure it out. I think for me the main reason I went with the serenity was the price with the good reviews.

I don't know a whole lot about your stove, Marina. But many stoves have a damper in the exhaust path or in the intake path that needs to be set and or reset for various pellets. It's a simple mechanical devise that can make quite a difference in how a given pellet burns or doesn't burn. I think I read someplace along the way that the Serenity has something along these lines. i read where a guy attached a simple rod to his so as not to have to access it for adjustment but just slide that rod a little bit ( hope I'm thinking of the right stove here !) So ya, you might just want to read your manual ( I know, don't say it, they are so boring !). But you might learn something new.

The Harmans do this automatically by combustion motor speed control and so I'm sure that is part of the reason, that and the burner design (pot) why most pellets get consumed pretty well in most models.

 

[Marina1327]

I don't know a whole lot about your stove, Marina. But many stoves have a damper in the exhaust path or in the intake path that needs to be set and or reset for various pellets. It's a simple mechanical devise that can make quite a difference in how a given pellet burns or doesn't burn. I think I read someplace along the way that the Serenity has something along these lines. i read where a guy attached a simple rod to his so as not to have to access it for adjustment but just slide that rod a little bit ( hope I'm thinking of the right stove here !) So ya, you might just want to read your manual ( I know, don't say it, they are so boring !). But you might learn something new.

The Harmans do this automatically by combustion motor speed control and so I'm sure that is part of the reason, that and the burner design (pot) why most pellets get consumed pretty well in most models.

I did open the damper more to increase the air flow but the cheat river pellets still burned terribly. The GS ones are burning well. I do know you can play with the voltage settings depending on the pellet, but even though I am a computer tech and not afraid to play with electronics...I am hesitant to play with those settings...maybe because the stove is still new and I am afraid to mess anything up and then be stuck and freezing. I may work up the courage eventually. When I had it installed, they did not put in an OAK because they said it wasn't necessary, but after reading more on here I am planning to put one in.

 

[alternativeheat]

I did open the damper more to increase the air flow but the cheat river pellets still burned terribly. The GS ones are burning well. I do know you can play with the voltage settings depending on the pellet, but even though I am a computer tech and not afraid to play with electronics...I am hesitant to play with those settings...maybe because the stove is still new and I am afraid to mess anything up and then be stuck and freezing. I may work up the courage eventually. When I had it installed, they did not put in an OAK because they said it wasn't necessary, but after reading more on here I am planning to put one in.

Well Harman's may burn any pellet but it doesn't mean that some are not messy LOL ! If I had my druthers I certainly would burn all AWF Pure White Pine or all Douglas Fir. By far the least messy pellets I ever have used.

The OAK I installed last year with out doubt reduced cold drafts in this old house.

 

[alternativeheat]

Marina, if you don't mind me asking ? You're a woman, my wife is a woman, the OP is a woman. My wife happens to be a pretty tough bird but she is not big and she has arthritis problems. She can't really handle 40lb bags of pellets so hot. She is fine if I bring them in and say I won't be home for what ever reason, she can then scoop pellets into the stove . How do you get along with handling 40lb bags of pellets ? I'm asking this for the benefit of any woman, in what ever condition, who might be wondering as well or not even thought of it.

 

[rich2500]

I have thrown alot of the different big box store pellets at my serenity and it burned them all well just needed more frequent cleanings and some just lack heat output.The only adjustment I ever made on my stove is the draft and that I have not touched since the beginning of last season.

 

[alternativeheat]

I have thrown alot of the different big box store pellets at my serenity and it burned them all well just needed more frequent cleanings and some just lack heat output.The only adjustment I ever made on my stove is the draft and that I have not touched since the beginning of last season.

Good info Rich !

 

[Marsha Cook]

Marina, if you don't mind me asking ? You're a woman, my wife is a woman, the OP is a woman. My wife happens to be a pretty tough bird but she is not big and she has arthritis problems. She can't really handle 40lb bags of pellets so hot. She is fine if I bring them in and say I won't be home for what ever reason, she can then scoop pellets into the stove . How do you get along with handling 40lb bags of pellets ? I'm asking this for the benefit of any woman, in what ever condition, who might be wondering as well or not even thought of it.

Have not contributed to this thread but feel i can answer this one. I am 65 yo female with Harmon p61A. House is about 1000 sq ft. Pellets are on pallets in the garage, across a deck about 15 ft wide. I use a modified two wheeler. The mod is a larger wooden platform bolted to the frame. I bring is about 2 bags at a time. Once i hit the house door i can bring them into the house, one at a time. For filling the hopper, i set the bag on a chair and then tilt it into the hopper. Not difficult at all as i usuall burn one bag a eay

 

[wayn]

I have thrown alot of the different big box store pellets at my serenity and it burned them all well just needed more frequent cleanings and some just lack heat output.The only adjustment I ever made on my stove is the draft and that I have not touched since the beginning of last season.

Rich, I'm new to the forum, have had a Serenity for two years, and once I got past an initial 'loose feed screw' issue that made a helluva racket I'm more or less happy w/the stove.

Can you tell me more about adjustments? I kinda just installed/filled/fired her up/enjoyed, so insights are always appreciated.

Also, is the reason some pellets last much longer than others due to pellet composition and quality? I've noticed some nights she'll burn half a load & others she's gasping for pellets from overnight...

Thanks!

 

[rich2500]

If you read through this thread alot of discussion about settings
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/castle-serenity-lots-of-ash.157734/

 

[wayn]

If you read through this thread alot of discussion about settings
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/castle-serenity-lots-of-ash.157734/

Thanks! I'll dig right in!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk