Is this a good deal US stove 5500M

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Saw that Walmart is selling the US stove 5500M

http://www.walmart.com/ip/US-Stove-King-Pellet-Burner-with-Igniter/19590168

Seems cheaper than a lot of places. I have been using 2 wood stoves, Hearthstone Craftsbury and a VC Aspen.
Thinking about trying pellets, and selling one of the wood burners. Is the the US stove crap?

 

[Lousyweather]

folks are gonna hate this...sorry in advance for my reply......cheaper for a REASON

 

[Bioburner]

Look on CL for the resale prices. They are low to scrap price.

 

[smoke show]

you get what you pay for...

 

[jtakeman]

Is the the US stove crap?

Depends, If your handy you can work through the bugs it might have. Otherwise it could be a PITA. We have some members have decent luck with them after they battled the bugs.

So yeah, Its cheap for a reason. The US 6041 had less user blues than the 5500's. Biggest issue with the 5500's was ash pan leaks IIRC.

 

[imacman]

Save your $$....buy one of these....the best customer service in the pellet stove industry, free shipping, refurbed by the factory to "as new" condition......many satisfied customers of AMFM on this forum.
(broken link removed to http://www.amfmenergy.com/55trpah--epa-certified-pellet-stove--2000552000.html)

 

[kenstogie]

Save your $$....buy one of these....the best customer service in the pellet stove industry, free shipping, refurbed by the factory to "as new" condition......many satisfied customers of AMFM on this forum.
(broken link removed to http://www.amfmenergy.com/55trpah--epa-certified-pellet-stove--2000552000.html)

DItto. That's a great stove one of the ones I am considering. Why get a stove that doesn't have support and a bad rap when you could get one that is a quality product with tech support that is second to none?

I would also say that I have learned ALOT right here on the forums. I sure don't know everything but I do feel confident that I can figure it out if need be.

 

[imacman]

......I would also say that I have learned ALOT right here on the forums. I sure don't know everything but I do feel confident that I can figure it out if need be.

That's what this forum is all about.....great place to make new friends, and learn a lot.

 

[skibladerj]

As someone who is a 5500m owner (xame with the house) can tell you its a decent stove. The large capacity is very nice. But the stove does take some tinkering. The auto settings level much to be desired. If you want cheap heat this is a viable option.

 

[[email protected]]

What is the difference between 5500m & 5520?

 

[Shaw520]

I recently purchased the 5502, US Stove has updated many previous complaints, no more ash door, improved computer board, Ive only had mine 2 months but it has worked flawless, a great deal imo

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Did you read the review on the site. Buyer gives it 1 star
Here is the text from that review
"
Don't be fooled by USStove claiming they are great and have been in business for x number of years. Bought my pelet king 2 years ago for $1300. The ignitor went after a month but when I called customer service was told it was because a thermostat was hooked up. Now that I removed the thermostat I was figuring it would light up.NO! and when I called customer service I was told I was ill and hung up on. The second person I spoke to told me that person one lied to me 2 years ago, that the ignitor should be running even on thermostat. Several other reviews I read say the same problem with ignitor. It never heated my 2000 sq foot house even though the specs say it will. Save your money and go with another more competant company".

 

[mikkeeh]

saw this on Tractor Supply website:
Compare
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United States Stove Large Pellet Stove
109892599
Heater | Brand : United States Stove | Fuel Type : Pellet | Area Covered : 2,000 sq. ft. | Blower :
Rating: 3.8 (20)
$999.99

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Rating: 3.8 (20)
$999.99

All the good reviews are first ,if you keep reading you get to a lot of unsatisfied customers.

 

[schoondog]

Well here is my 2 cents. I've owned a US Stove for 5 years. Its been a great stove. I keep it clean, use a better pellet, (although it has gobbled up its share of Penningtons, Instant Heats and the one year of grass pellets) and it has only let me down once and it was a fuse holder problem, no cash spent. This year I did have to buy a new agitator for $46 and the folks at US Stove have always been nice. No ignitor, manual light It cost me $1600 5 years ago with a flex pipe and shipping. She has saved us thousands in oil Its a cheap stove and If your not mechanical or a tinkerer than this stove is not for you. If you want to light it and forget it than you will need to look for a higher priced spread.

I am going to replace this stove in the spring, Ya I'm gonna go for a higher priced spread, twice as much as I spent on the 6039i . But hey I've saved quite a bit the last 5 years and I may splurge in the spring. And I've got it sold for $500 when the time comes.

Don't shy away from the stove if your a hands on type and you don't have the $3500-4500 its gonna take to get you in the admittantly nicer stove.

Schoondog

 

[mikkeeh]

Ive got a 5500M in my woodshop. Does OK, took a lot of tinkering to get it running the way I wanted. Support from USSC seems pretty good. Id say its a good utility stove. Not sure Id put it in my living room tho. Certainly cheap enough tho. Ive had it 2 years with no problems. I did have a 6021 for a while. That was a PITA

 

[ad356]

i had a 5510 and hated it. even when i could get it to burn properly i was lucky to get 4 days of solid burning out it, many times i had to shut it down after 7-8 hours to clean out the massive chunk of clinker that would accumulate at the bottom of the burn pot. the glass was constantly so dirty forget seeing anything. it was noisy, and had a very poor heat exchanger design, well lets say it didnt really even have a heat exchanger, only a empty space above the burn pot. the stove would overheat the house on the mild days and didnt have enough heat on the cold days. the ash pan design was terrible and would leak air into the stove causing allot of the problems with consistent burn. the ignitor design was aweful, once it burned out i never bothered replacing it, the stove's PLC was setup to work with the ignitor making the manual igntion possible but a pain the i neck. i knew how poor the ignition was so i never bothered replacing it. the only good thing and i mean the only good thing about this stove in my opinion was the large hopper.

i noticed that US Stove company changed the design of this stove several times in the last couple of years, so maybe they fixed some of the problems. i still would never buy one of their pellet stoves ever again nor would i recommend them. i just seemed that the earlier versions of this stove were released with ZERO testing, and i mean ZERO testing i do not trust them with $1,000 as cheap as it may seem its not worth the headache. an englander can he had for aprrox the same amount of money, and i have heard much better things about them.

the earlier 5500 series stoves were so bad that they should have recalled them. nothing like comming downstairs in the morning and finding that the burnpot was filled to the top with clinker crap and the pellets were actually burning in the ash area. i did have a couple good burns on the stove but for the most part it was terrible. i sold the stove for $400 and i was glad to be rid of it. i had moved it from the home to barn and i wasnt anymore happier with it out there, it had nowhere near enough heat to heat up my old barn. i took the $400 and spent it towards a class A chimney in the garage.

now i have a harman P61 and while it was expensive it is an amazing piece of machnery and hopefully will last me 20 years or more. that's right i will probably be an old man before i have to replace it. spread out over 20 years, $3500 no longer seems like that much money. cheaper then a high efficiency furnace with thin heat exchangers that will have to be replaced every 10 years.

unless they have made significant improvements in the stove i would stay away, far away from it. spend the money buy a new harman P61 or P68; look on craigslist buy a used harman; or go buy a englander. i would look elsewhere then US stove company.

 

[Shaw520]

unless they have made significant improvements in the stove i would stay away, far away from it..

Well,...they have made several changes, and although Ive only had my 5502 for a couple months, it works fantastic!

spend the money buy a new harman P61 or P68; or go buy a englander .

not everyone has 4k to drop on a pellet stove,...and I have an Englander, and the 5502 blows it away in every aspect.

 

[kenstogie]

I saw one of these on CL on the cheap but the reveiws were so so. ..... So I stayed away. It does spec out nicely, much nicer than my new shiny englander. Specs are are only part of the story.

 

[ad356]

doesn't Englander have a better reputation with their pellet stoves and aren't they price comparable to the us stove products. personally I will never buy another US stove pellet stove ever again. I had a really poor experience and the experience with the Harman has been quite the opposite. I know they are expensive to buy, but I think they might be cheaper over time. if it lasts me 30 or 40 years guess what that $3,000 was actually pretty cheap. don't know if it will last that long but I do know that's its a very high quality unit. my experience with the 5510 was such that it never really heated enough, was noisy, required constantly cleaning, and started rusting inside the firebox, they unit was only 3 years old when I parted ways with it and it already had quite a bit of rust on the inside. I was glad to see it go. I wouldn't recommend that stove to anyone. as I said they might have improved the product but I still don't want anything to do with it.

 

[Bioburner]

Some of the so called US stoves are made in China. One has to wonder about the steel and craftsmanship. Forester is one such stove.

 

[MCPO]

[quote="Shaw520, post: 1545549, member: 24014
,...and I have an Englander, and the 5502 blows it away in every aspect.[/quote]

In every respect ? I don`t think you could get a concensus on that statement.

 

[Gigi]

Apologies in advance because I'm pretty sure I'm posting this is in the wrong place..frustration level is making it hard for me to navigate I've found invaluable information on this site since purchasing a home last year with a 5500m King pellet stove...y'all have saved my bacon (AND kept it warm!) a number of times! Issue now is with the igniter - the dreaded Err6. I like the idea of the manual lighting until I can get a replacement igniter ordered and installed, but can't seem to get the timing right. The Purell trick is great (soak some pellets then manually light) - the problem is the stove has to go through its whole start up cycle and the Err6 inevitably pops up and it shuts down. At what point do you light the pellets? Or do you light them THEN turn stove on? Is there a way to disconnect the igniter altogether (remove the fuse?) and just manually light til Spring? Just can't seem to bypass enough of the start up process for a manual light to work.

Appreciate any help on this! The north winds be blowin'! Thanks.

 

[Shaw520]

[quote="Shaw520, post: 1545549, member: 24014
,...and I have an Englander, and the 5502 blows it away in every aspect.

In every respect ? I don`t think you could get a concensus on that statement.[/quote]

Consensus you say?....I dont need one,...I own both and its my personal opinion.

 

[Shaw520]

Apologies in advance because I'm pretty sure I'm posting this is in the wrong place..frustration level is making it hard for me to navigate I've found invaluable information on this site since purchasing a home last year with a 5500m King pellet stove...y'all have saved my bacon (AND kept it warm!) a number of times! Issue now is with the igniter - the dreaded Err6. I like the idea of the manual lighting until I can get a replacement igniter ordered and installed, but can't seem to get the timing right. The Purell trick is great (soak some pellets then manually light) - the problem is the stove has to go through its whole start up cycle and the Err6 inevitably pops up and it shuts down. At what point do you light the pellets? Or do you light them THEN turn stove on? Is there a way to disconnect the igniter altogether (remove the fuse?) and just manually light til Spring? Just can't seem to bypass enough of the start up process for a manual light to work.

Appreciate any help on this! The north winds be blowin'! Thanks.

Manually light , then turn on stove.
You know, US Stove will send you a new igniter.