Harman inserts P35i & Accentra vs. the US STOVE 6041i

[lightyear]

The pros of the 6041 from US Stove is that it is cheap and has 50,000+ BTUs, while the harman p35i has 35,000 and the accentra has 42,000.

I have done a lot of researching, and want to make up my mind by tomorrow so I can get it ordered. Anybody here have either one and can pipe up about these.

Some questions...
1. how hard of an install will it be for me with a gas fireplace insert I will be removing?
2. Is the accentra really worth $1,000 more (and close to $5,000 if I have it installed?)
3. Will I regret getting any of the above mentioned items....I have heard that harman customer service isn't the gretaest, and I can't find a ton of info regarding US Stove.

 

[maglite67]

I know alot about harmans. The harman is a good stove it's not the company it's the dealers who give service so check on the dealer. The downside is the stove will need a rail set to pull out that makes it hard for you to service. And yes the harman is built better so it costs more. Check mt vernon ae 60200 btus but cost more than the harman but is more expensive to fix.

 

[lightyear]

do you mean less expesive to fix, or are you saying costs more up front and more expensive to fix?

 

[maglite67]

what harman did was to make all their parts interchangable from stove to stove so control boards are cheaper and motors tend to be cheaper. What you are paying for is the cast iron and the name. The mt vernon control boards are expensive and so are the motors but it is the most quiet US made stove. As far as us stove I don't know what replacement parts would be.

 

[lightyear]

gotcha, do you know anything about the m55 unit?

also, is there anything wrong with getting a freestanding unit and piping that through the fire place...does that look okay, or does it look odd.

 

[maglite67]

the enviro parts are expensive but are good heaters make sure it's over 80% efficient. Any stove you get will heat fine. All the Harmans quads and enviros the heat exchangers haven't failed and will heat as long as your willing to clean and replace parts. A harman control board, motors will fit a stove 10 years old. Quad has also caught on to that idea. Enviro has been using the same control for the last 7 or so years. Harman always updates software.

 

[lightyear]

thanks. I can't make up my mind. We want a free standing stove so we can keep our gas fire place-less hassle, but we are having concerns about install (near a window). It will kinda dwarf the room which would look odd. how close does the stove need to be away from window...12 inches right?

 

[maglite67]

depends on the manufacture and if it's out side air kit. most are 12 with OAK. pull the gas sell it on craigslist and put in a pellet stove. The heat will amaze you and wonder why it took so long to make up your mind.

 

[tkasek]

For me it came down to a good stove that looks great! If the Harman Accentra insert didn't look so good I could of talked my wife into a Jotul wood stove on the hearth and a free standing pellet stove in the rec room. Damn Accentra! I love my fireplace, but I know it would not look right for me to put a free standing stove next to my fireplace. The pellet stove had to look right in the room!

 

[lightyear]

we were going to put the free staning in another room (on teh opposite wall. is ther much difference between a wood stove and pellet stove?

you bought the accentra? how many square feet did it heat/does it heat well for you? Can you give me a run down?

 

[tkasek]

I'm 2000 square feet with an open floor plan. I have a hard time heating the back rec-room, the hot air goes right upstairs. It does a great job in the high 20's and 30's. If it gets teens its really struggles. Pellet stove are convection hot air heaters. The thing i love about a Cast iron wood stove it they are radiant heaters. They are obviously much more work, but if I put a Jotul Oslo on my hearth instead it would have no problem keeping the house in the 80's if I wanted to. It's hard to compare a wood stove to a pellet stove.

As far as insert vs free standing.... An insert was the only option because of aesthetic of my house setup. I didn't want the stove just stuck somewhere out of place. Free standing stove are usually cheaper, less costly to install, and easier to work on.