Harman Invincible

[dirtsurfer57]

Hey Everyone, newb to the Pellet Stove World, just bought a house that uses propane heat and man what a Surprise the first gas bill was, LOL, so we decided to look into getting a Pellet Stove, been looking around and found a Harman Invincible stove but people we are buying from are not sure how old it is as they bought it used also, the model # is WHI-001204 and it has a cream color ceramic finish to it. I think we are getting a really good deal would just like to be sure of the age and get any feedback you might have about the stove.
Thanks
Roger

 

[Bkins]

Older stove but built like a tank. I believe the born date is under the hopper lid. Make sure you get a owners manual and do a complete teardown and cleaning before putting it into service at your new home. The owners manual will tell you how to install and how to figue EVL.

Might want to take a look at how big a stove you are going to need and make sure you understand how do do a proper hookup. If you post what you plan on doing exhaust wise members will help you out with you or someone else doing it correctly. Try not to make a mistake right off the get go.

I don't believe your model will have auto ignite so figure if that will be a issue with how you plan to use the stove.

 

[dirtsurfer57]

Older stove but built like a tank. I believe the born date is under the hopper lid. Make sure you get a owners manual and do a complete teardown and cleaning before putting it into service at your new home. The owners manual will tell you how to install and how to figue EVL.

Might want to take a look at how big a stove you are going to need and make sure you understand how do do a proper hookup. If you post what you plan on doing exhaust wise members will help you out with you or someone else doing it correctly. Try not to make a mistake right off the get go.

I don't believe your model will have auto ignite so figure if that will be a issue with how you plan to use the stove.

 

[dirtsurfer57]

Thanks for the help we are having a contractor install it as our insurance wont cover it otherwise we are getting it for $1800 after hearing that it is older a little concerned that might be to much but it is in excellent condition and comes with newer pipe kit

 

[ironpony]

great stove I have one, heats the whole house,
built like a tank. easy to work on, most parts available
Its a Harman Invincible, so light it, set it and forget it, keeps chugging along
scrape the burn pot daily, I do mine twice a day once in the morning when I top off pellets and in the evcening before bed
clean it about every ten days and it will be a happy stove
will burn any pellet you put in it efficiently beacause of Harmans ESP design

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Mine is 17 years old and is known as the "workhorse" in the Harman Stove line from way back. Might be a bit pricey depending on it's age but I constantly hear of them going for around $1500 in excellent shape.

 

[Lousyweather]

were it me, I'd be happier around $1500 or less, but yours is a fairly rare unit.....a baked ceramic Invincible. Yup, parts available, easy to fix, a bit harder to clean than Harman's modern line, but do-able!

 

[Bkins]

Don't take my comment on the age as a negative as you really need to look and see how old the one your looking at is and go from there with your offer.

If I were you I would, and I'll say it again, ask the members here about the install even though your having someone else do the work. Very easy to make a mistake and since I don't know the experience level of your installers I would be safe and ask. Lots of people have had to go back and redo piping because a simple mistake was made. It gets very expensive very quickly.

Very nice stove by the way. I have never seen a enameled one.

 

[boosted3g]

Seems quite high to me but its not the best time of year to purchase a stove. I didnt think they offered a cream except on the older models. serial number will be the best way to determine age. Units around serial number 2000 will be built in 1992. I dont know how many they sold per year i was just doing some searches and ran across those numbers. Its not uncommon to find an XXV only a few years old for similar or only a few hundred bucks more and they are both rated for nearly the same heat.

Heres one on craigslist near me for 750obo. Same color and everything. There is no shortage and this in the most expensive one i found.
(broken link removed to http://reading.craigslist.org/app/3556604238.html)

 

[spospolita]

great stove I have one, heats the whole house,
built like a tank. easy to work on, most parts available
Its a Harman Invincible, so light it, set it and forget it, keeps chugging along
scrape the burn pot daily, I do mine twice a day once in the morning when I top off pellets and in the evcening before bed
clean it about every ten days and it will be a happy stove
will burn any pellet you put in it efficiently beacause of Harmans ESP design

I just picked up a used Invincible T for $400 and it is in excellent shape except the control board has a short in it and has to be wiggled to get it to stay functional. I saw in your response that most parts are available and as far as I can see the control boards were discontinued a while ago and I can't seem to find any floating around the web. I did find a thread on here with a person on ebay that does repairs to them and i also read that other model control boards could be used or a home made one can be made? Do you have any good links for parts or know of the threads that talk about modifying or building control boards for this unit? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Lousyweather]

ok....far as I know, no one any longer has those boards.....I tried to buy all Harman had, but by the time it was announced and we got to it, they were already out of stock, never to be restocked. There are outfits online who do repair boards, and this is likely the only way to go anymore, unless you have a electrical-savvy friend or acquaintance. Its also the reason I don't recommend spending any money on obsolete units which are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

 

[HarmanInvin1992]

Devastated, I just had the same problem with my 1992 Invincible T - Has anyone developed a work around or have an idea ? This was my primary source of heat and I just lost my job (sort of) cut back.

 

[MSmith66]

The control boards and the Enhancement boards along with some other parts for the older Harman's are no longer available. You do take a chance when buying an older stove, even a rare one.

 

[Tim_M]

I've had my '93 Invincible T for about 5 years now and love it. I'm not sure if the one you're considering is a T or the successor RS model, which I think came out around '94-'95 and was discontinued in the early 2000s. I think the main difference is they automated the feed rate control on the RS - it's a manual knob on my T - and maybe added an ignitor. $1800 is a bit high, especially if it's a T, but it's an awesome stove and that particular one looks to be in great shape.