Justed added OAK to Harman P38

[Presa canario]

Well I sold old house and left my Englander multi fuel pellet stove with house and purchased another house that already had a harman P38 installed about year ago from previous owner. Well burned through almost 1st ton with the Harman and since it was nice this weekend I added an OAK. Got the Harman OAK metal pipe ($20 for 5 feet) and the Harman outside air kit cap ($61). A bit expensive for what you get and I would have just purchased Englanders's OAK kit if I knew the price was going to be that high.

There sure is a difference. Big difference and I am a true OAK believer. I had an OAK w/ my Englander multi fuel stove and was undecided if it actually did anything.

House is a cape code built in the 50's with brand new windows and OK insulated. But the floor (hardwood) was always cold and the air was very dry.... I also noticed that the stove's fire was getting lazy after about a day of burning..... Also I had trouble keeping the temperature consistent.

Now w/ OAK, house is noticably warmer, and the fire is not lazy at all! Stove's overall performance seems to be way more effiecient. Very happy that I now have my stove running effecient and got the house toasty warm.

For anyone that is interested also. I am completly satisified with this Harman stove... Like it a lot more then the Englander multi fuel stove I had previously. My Englander heated well too, just was always dealing with clunkers in burn pot, dirty window, (3) igniters replaced. Englander tech support was always top notch and if I had to purchase I would probably have chosen an englander pellet stove again because of their customer service and accessiblility to parts.

Harman I have burned Hamers, Lignetics (blue), Cheat River, Stove Chow, and the window stays clean for almost 5 days and then very minimal build up. No clinkers at all in burn pot, and very basic construction and extra large ash pan.

 

[Presa canario]

Picture of Harman P38

 

[Xena]

Did u forget to attach the picture?

 

[imacman]

Did u forget to attach the picture?

:lol:

 

[dsnedegar3]

I'm convinced the dealers say you don't need an OAK because they're afraid that the buyer will view it as a layer of complexity that may derail the sale. Or possibly they are just "old school
" from a time in which nobody had OAKs. Personally, I think if you were a buyer of an insert, they ought to include the OAK for no charge (assuming you're going to use the chimney) just for customer satisfaction reasons. It requires no effort on their part.

 

[Presa canario]

Sorry, here is the OAK, prior to being screwed down and siliconed.

 

[DexterDay]

Looks good..... How does it Run compared to the CPM? Easier/harder

Maintenance routine? Easier/harder

Cant really compare its heating capabilities. Its a different home with a different stove, so there cant be a good comparison. Just looking for your general thoughts on the ease of use and cleaning on the stove itself.

The P-38 seems to be a time proven stove, that can really stretch its legs when needed.

Although the 10-CPM has an agitator to aid in the pot cleanings (How do you compare it to Harmans bottom feed?). And this year they have really gained popularity here.

Congratulations on the new stove and home.

 

[Presa canario]

I liked both stoves, cpm was just more difficult to tune in with their settings. And depending on brand of pellet that setting needed to be changed. Harman has burned 6+ brands and see no issues with besides ash and heat output. Both stoves my favorite pellet was hammers.

Harman a lot easier to clean, larger ash pan which is all open to burn pot. CPM had smaller ash pan with gates that opened to scrape ash below, by the time you did this it was easier to shop vac the ash. I could see the harman not needing cleaned as much due to this.

Bottom feed is nice have not seen a issue with it and the burn pot in harman has always been clinker free. I tried CPM with and without burn pot auger and still had clinkers with all pellet brands. I like that the harman has the acordian heat exchanger and the harman tool and a shop vac cleans it a heck of a lot easier then the CPM.

Harman is a lot quieter running. I feel this p38 can push similar heat as CPM just not as large. Harman had no breakdowns so I'm weary when that comes. I'm 15 miles from harman's plant so there are several dealers locally. Englander customer service was top notch. My stove in 2 years had the air pump replaced and 3 ignighters. When I sold house the techs thought my board was shot cause ignighters would not get hot so it was manually started.