Last year my wife and I bought a new home with a very ancient wall heater. Not wanting to use it we installed a pellet stove that we bought used from a company in our small town who builds them (the company is Heat Tech). This year we paid the owner to do a service on the stove to make sure it was ready for the season, which he did and declared it in perfect working order. A week later the blower fan died. It took two weeks to get him back out to replace the control panel which fixed the blower fan but killed the auger. He said he would come and fix it again in a couple weeks. We have a newborn in the house so we couldn't wait for heat so we ran down to the local Tractor Supply and bought the King 5510 because it was on sale. Later that day I read a couple reviews on Amazon that didn't paint the stove in a very flattering light and I got nervous but not having any other options we stuck with it...and we're so glad we did!
The reviews I read addressed many problems which I'll try to outline:
1. The Stove Doesn't Output Heat
We didn't find this to be true at all, in fact quite the opposite is true. Not having any source of heat in our house when I installed the stove it was 60 degrees in the room we installed it in. Upon installing it and letting the start-up go through its proceedure (which took all of about 3 minutes) it took only about 45 minutes for the house to get up to about 80 on setting 3. The instructions are very clear that the stove must be left on setting 3 for no less than 4 hours in order to let the paint set. Needless to say within an hour and a half of starting the stove we were opening windows.
2. The Seal Around the Door is Poor
I performed the "dollar test" on the stove to check for this. I simply slid a dollar bill into the door way and closed it to see how hard it was to pull the bill out. It wasn't budging. I checked every inch of the door and found the seal to be perfect all the way around.
3. It's Noisy!
Well, its not quiet but I wouldn't call it noisy. It's no louder than say a box fan on high. Mostly what you hear is the sound of the air being blown out and mild hum of the motor. The auger is completly inaudable. So does it make noise? Yeah, it does. Is it unbearable? No, not at all.
4. It Produces Way Too Much Ash
After a day of running there was a light dusting of ash inside the burn chamber and a few flakes on the ash chamber below it, certainly not what I would call excessive by any means. Thing is people will buy cheap pellets and then complain that they get no heat and tons of ash but with this stove, just like any other, if you put quality into it you'll get quality out of it.
What really impressed me about this stove is that its not only made in the USA but the instructions are written in the USA in plain English that is easy to read and understand.
The hopper is very large. We got 4 40lb bags into the hopper easily but without a hairs width to spare. Our old stove had a 45 pound capacity which meant waiting until the stove was almost empty before it could be refilled and to make matters more complicated was that the opening to fill the stove was only 6" by 16" where as this stove has an opening of almost 28" by 28". Its so easy to fill and with our fairly mild Northern California winters we only have to fill it once a week or so.
The only "WTF" moment was that the entire stove came fully assembled except for the two little knobs on the ash pulls and they were a real pain to get on however a little Pam Spray and a pair of pliers fixed the problem really quickly. I just can't for the life of me figure out why they didn't just install them at the factory.
We love this stove, we couldn't be happier. The only thing I would change is the burn chamber door handle. It sticks straight out from door by about 8". If this stove was installed in an area where you're going to walk directly in front of it often then this might be a problem but for me its no biggie.
If you're looking for a good stove for a great price (we paid $1099 out the door) I highly reccomend this stove.
The reviews I read addressed many problems which I'll try to outline:
1. The Stove Doesn't Output Heat
We didn't find this to be true at all, in fact quite the opposite is true. Not having any source of heat in our house when I installed the stove it was 60 degrees in the room we installed it in. Upon installing it and letting the start-up go through its proceedure (which took all of about 3 minutes) it took only about 45 minutes for the house to get up to about 80 on setting 3. The instructions are very clear that the stove must be left on setting 3 for no less than 4 hours in order to let the paint set. Needless to say within an hour and a half of starting the stove we were opening windows.
2. The Seal Around the Door is Poor
I performed the "dollar test" on the stove to check for this. I simply slid a dollar bill into the door way and closed it to see how hard it was to pull the bill out. It wasn't budging. I checked every inch of the door and found the seal to be perfect all the way around.
3. It's Noisy!
Well, its not quiet but I wouldn't call it noisy. It's no louder than say a box fan on high. Mostly what you hear is the sound of the air being blown out and mild hum of the motor. The auger is completly inaudable. So does it make noise? Yeah, it does. Is it unbearable? No, not at all.
4. It Produces Way Too Much Ash
After a day of running there was a light dusting of ash inside the burn chamber and a few flakes on the ash chamber below it, certainly not what I would call excessive by any means. Thing is people will buy cheap pellets and then complain that they get no heat and tons of ash but with this stove, just like any other, if you put quality into it you'll get quality out of it.
What really impressed me about this stove is that its not only made in the USA but the instructions are written in the USA in plain English that is easy to read and understand.
The hopper is very large. We got 4 40lb bags into the hopper easily but without a hairs width to spare. Our old stove had a 45 pound capacity which meant waiting until the stove was almost empty before it could be refilled and to make matters more complicated was that the opening to fill the stove was only 6" by 16" where as this stove has an opening of almost 28" by 28". Its so easy to fill and with our fairly mild Northern California winters we only have to fill it once a week or so.
The only "WTF" moment was that the entire stove came fully assembled except for the two little knobs on the ash pulls and they were a real pain to get on however a little Pam Spray and a pair of pliers fixed the problem really quickly. I just can't for the life of me figure out why they didn't just install them at the factory.
We love this stove, we couldn't be happier. The only thing I would change is the burn chamber door handle. It sticks straight out from door by about 8". If this stove was installed in an area where you're going to walk directly in front of it often then this might be a problem but for me its no biggie.
If you're looking for a good stove for a great price (we paid $1099 out the door) I highly reccomend this stove.
Preferably of the stove burning...we LOVE pics
