It's NOOB TIME!

[stillyslalom]

Hello all,
My family recently visited our state fair and walked into a fireplace store's building on impulse. Some of the staff there asked about our needs and we were pointed towards pellet stoves. I've been researching pellet/corn stoves on all the websites I can find, but I'm still completely in the dark about what would best fit my 3-story house's needs.
We have a natural gas furnace that heats the top two floors of the house very nicely, but the finished basement is frigid in the winter. Whatever stove we get won't be the primary heat source, instead it'll be there to keep the 1200 sq ft basement nice and toasty whenever we're using it. I'm located in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, so there's an abundance of both pellets and corn nearby. Flexibility between fuel types would be nice, but not necessary I guess. I don't want a piece of junk from Wal-Mart, but since this isn't the primary heat source it doesn't have to be absolutely top of the line.
So far I've looked at:
Harman P38 (manual ignition :/ )
Quadra-Fire Castile
Neither of these really won me over, but the Harman P43 (same as the P38 but with auto ignition) looked nice in the shop guy's leaflet.


Must haves:
Automatic ignition
Able to heat 1200 square foot basement
Reliability
Relatively easy to adjust heat output

 

[summit]

harman p series is absolutely awesome and pack a big punch for a small stove: check the "small" p series 38 or 43 against any other medium to large size pellet units and the btus/hr is pretty close or better. get the P43.. they are running @ 2500 right now, great buy against other's large units, and much easier to clean, operate, and work on. look at the huge heat exchangers, and ask the guy to show you how to clean the different stoves you are looking at the shop. when he is done dissassebling the firebox in the other units (vs basically opening the door in the 38/43s), you will have made up your mind on the p43. ......




this message brought to you by HHT ;-) :lol:

 

[jtakeman]

stillyslalom,

Welcome to the forum,

Lots a tips and really good people hear to help you.

1200 sq ft should be easy to heat and all the stoves you mension will do fine.

If money is tight there are the englanders stoves which also do just fine. Breckwell are slightly more but will too. There are Enviro's and for the money are great stoves too.

I would consider a multi fuel stove. They burn pellets just as good but will give you options in the future. Also aren't as picky with the pellet quality.

Don't just lock yourself into pellets.

Have fun picking out the new stove.

jay

 

[smoke show]

agreed, has to be multi fuel

 

[imacman]

I agree 100% w/ Jay and No Pane above...make sure you get a multi-fuel unit....then you can burn whatever's cheaper at the time....corn, pellets, a combo of those, or whatever comes down the road in the future (sawgrass, cherry pits, etc, etc).

And since you mentioned that the basement is finished (we're assuming it's insulated somewhat?), and that the "pellet" stove will only have to heat down there, that means you won't need a very large unit.

And speaking about multi-fuel units, maybe someone can list the most popular small ones here. I know Harman and Enviro make them, but I'm not sure about "true" multi-fuel models from other companies. My Astoria bay will burn up to 50/50 mix of corn/pellets after I modified the burn pot, but I don't really consider it a multi-fuel unit....

EDIT: almost forgot....welcome to the forum Stilly

 

[jtakeman]

Enviro's M55

http://www.enviro.com/fireplace-products/pellet/freestanding-fireplace.html#m55

Breckwells SP6000-FS

http://breckwell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=30

Englander

http://www.englanderstoves.com/10-cpm.html

US Stove Co.

(broken link removed to http://www.usstove.com/products.php?cat=2)

Quad

(broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/Pellet_Burning/Pellet_Model.asp?f=mtvernon)

Just to name a few

 

[imacman]

Hmmmmm....that Englander multi-fuel unit looks nice.....

 

[stillyslalom]

Thanks,
Yes, it is an insulated basement...
The budget is pretty flexible; multifuel would be nice but more important for me is that it starts when I want it to, has solid manufacturer/rep support, and a hopeful lack of major issues.

***Edit***
Automatic starting (push a button, and the stove starts the fire for you) is a priority if I can get it.

 

[stillyslalom]

Wow, the Enviro M55 looks pretty nice.
Anybody out there have experience with that stove?

Just remembered, I also looked at the Magnum Baby Countryside. It looked good in the retailer's tent, but then I saw this (spoof?) video on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c866NrhXno0

Also, any input on the Napoleon NPS40? Consumer Reports said good things about it in their last issue.

 

[imacman]

......Anybody out there have experience with that stove?

No, I just couldn't get past the fact that stoves like that remind me of a toilet. :grrr:

 

[stillyslalom]

......Anybody out there have experience with that stove?

No, I just couldn't get past the fact that stoves like that remind me of a toilet. :grrr:

Looks, or money-down-the-toilet?

 

[trylon]

Just my 2 cents-
I have a Harman PC45 and really like it. You'll need to make adjustments when burning corn vs pellets but its pretty easy. Less air and different feed rate for corn. But its all automatic with some fine tuning after conversion. Its actually overkill for my 1200 ft house but its better than electric heat. Very expensive unit though- on another note I heat a finished basement with a kerosene heater and an old woodburner for about 200 bucks a year.

 

[jtakeman]

......Anybody out there have experience with that stove?

No, I just couldn't get past the fact that stoves like that remind me of a toilet. :grrr:

Looks, or money-down-the-toilet?

I't may look like a toilet, but it will run like a swiss watch. It may not be a harman, But will be less in price. Very simple to change from multi to pellets. I like my enviro omega very much. I have burned corn, switch grass and some very crappy pellets(maine woods) my nabors harman P38 just couldn't stand because of the excessive ash. And a friend's Breckwell 24i ACP pellet disaster(shute backup)!
My Omega sucked them up and thru out the heat. I only had to empty the ash pan a few days earlier compared to good pellets. The M55 is basically a down sized Omega. But with a few improvements added. Rod Poplarchick (hearthtools) recommended the Omega to me, ANd I am glad he did.

One of the easiest controls on the market to adjust. And a simple draft control rod for the air adjustment. You don't need to even use a screw driver to make the adjustment from multi to pellet and back again.

Just to set the record strait. It won't be a money pit!

just my 2
jay

 

[smoke show]

with the quad mt vernon the only thing you need to change when changing fuels is the setting on the digital thermostat.
no burn pot changing or draft adjustments, just push a couple buttons. and it's nice to look at.

 

[imacman]

......Anybody out there have experience with that stove?

No, I just couldn't get past the fact that stoves like that remind me of a toilet. :grrr:

Looks, or money-down-the-toilet?

Looks

 

[summit]

the new enviro M55 is quite horny, we hope to have one of the new vista flames (same stove, different name) VF55 at the shop, soon.. also, PE is coming out with a similar multi fuel unit based on the super series firebox and enviro multi fuel design, can't wait to see that one...