Someone asked to let them know what I thought after the honeymoon was over, so here it is.
Had the stove for about a month now. It sucks!! No, I'm kidding. I really like it. I'll go over my pro's and cons from what I noticed so far. I used to have a lopi pioneer bay insert, which I got about 10 years ago. So that is my only frame of reference, but here is what I like and don't like.
Pro's:
1. Very consistent heat output. I have the stove on manual mode. I use our heat pump fan to help circulate the air around. Compared to my old insert, I don't see the flame going really low, then really big etc.
2. Clean glass - The glass stays remarkably clean. After maybe 24 hours of running, you may see a little bit of ash build up on the hinge side and near the handle. Probably the air wash the weakest at these two poings. You really have to look to see it. My other stove was not nearly this clean.
3. Puts out a lot of heat. I know this more a function of the pellets, but I haven't even cranked it to high yet. I've been running medium to medium high.
4. Even at medium or medium high, I didn't have to adjust the air. I do notice that it seems to run better higher as it pushes more ash off the burn platform. The lower you run it, the more ash that sits on the platform and it looks like it will start to limit the width of the fire due to more ash on the sides. The higher you run it, the less ash that builds up.
5. Cleaning inside the stove is pretty easy except for replacing the liners(That will be a con). I haven't done a major cleaning of the exhaust, convection fan, etc. It says yearly or after a ton, but I will probably do it once a year. The exhaust fan and convection fan are easy to get at, so when I pull the insert out I don't anticipate any issues there. The convection fan on my old stove was difficult to get out. This one isn't.
6. Hopper size - since this has an adjustable hopper, I was able to extend to the largest size. So much nicer not having to fill every few hours.
Cons:
1. Replacing the liners. The first time I took them off(it says you should only have to do this after a ton, but I like to clean a lot more then that) it must have taken me 30+ minutes to get them back on. I tried a second time and had much better success, but there has to be an easier design for these liners though.
2. This stove has a blade that cuts pellets too long. When it does, it really has a nice clinking noise. It startles me every time. I don't know why it would clunk so loud when the pellets should snap easily. This is more of me being paranoid as it appears as everything works fine.
3. I don't like how the flue attaches. The exhaust comes up vertical. The installer and stove place said don't disconnect the flue until you are going to clean the flue due to the gasket. The stove has a lid that snaps on to which the flue attaches. YOu should just have to unsnap the latch and remove the lid, without having to disconnect any of the pieces connected to the flue. I don't like that there is not a clean out cap, like I had on my old stove. it was easy to collect any fly ash. I can't really do that with this stove. They told me you should not have to do this more then once a year, so I'm taking there word until I clean out the flue in the spring. I keep the exhaust ports behind the ash pan really clean, so I'm hoping a lot of ash isn't getting back there(and there doesn't appear to be much at all)
4. I run in manual mode and there are several thermostat modes which i don't use. Other then adjusting the air, there is no way to change any of the other settings like feed rate etc. like on some other stoves. I don't know if this is really a con or not, but you can't really do much other then adjust the air.
Compared to the pioneer bay, this AGP is much better. Not much negative to say yet.
Had the stove for about a month now. It sucks!! No, I'm kidding. I really like it. I'll go over my pro's and cons from what I noticed so far. I used to have a lopi pioneer bay insert, which I got about 10 years ago. So that is my only frame of reference, but here is what I like and don't like.
Pro's:
1. Very consistent heat output. I have the stove on manual mode. I use our heat pump fan to help circulate the air around. Compared to my old insert, I don't see the flame going really low, then really big etc.
2. Clean glass - The glass stays remarkably clean. After maybe 24 hours of running, you may see a little bit of ash build up on the hinge side and near the handle. Probably the air wash the weakest at these two poings. You really have to look to see it. My other stove was not nearly this clean.
3. Puts out a lot of heat. I know this more a function of the pellets, but I haven't even cranked it to high yet. I've been running medium to medium high.
4. Even at medium or medium high, I didn't have to adjust the air. I do notice that it seems to run better higher as it pushes more ash off the burn platform. The lower you run it, the more ash that sits on the platform and it looks like it will start to limit the width of the fire due to more ash on the sides. The higher you run it, the less ash that builds up.
5. Cleaning inside the stove is pretty easy except for replacing the liners(That will be a con). I haven't done a major cleaning of the exhaust, convection fan, etc. It says yearly or after a ton, but I will probably do it once a year. The exhaust fan and convection fan are easy to get at, so when I pull the insert out I don't anticipate any issues there. The convection fan on my old stove was difficult to get out. This one isn't.
6. Hopper size - since this has an adjustable hopper, I was able to extend to the largest size. So much nicer not having to fill every few hours.
Cons:
1. Replacing the liners. The first time I took them off(it says you should only have to do this after a ton, but I like to clean a lot more then that) it must have taken me 30+ minutes to get them back on. I tried a second time and had much better success, but there has to be an easier design for these liners though.
2. This stove has a blade that cuts pellets too long. When it does, it really has a nice clinking noise. It startles me every time. I don't know why it would clunk so loud when the pellets should snap easily. This is more of me being paranoid as it appears as everything works fine.
3. I don't like how the flue attaches. The exhaust comes up vertical. The installer and stove place said don't disconnect the flue until you are going to clean the flue due to the gasket. The stove has a lid that snaps on to which the flue attaches. YOu should just have to unsnap the latch and remove the lid, without having to disconnect any of the pieces connected to the flue. I don't like that there is not a clean out cap, like I had on my old stove. it was easy to collect any fly ash. I can't really do that with this stove. They told me you should not have to do this more then once a year, so I'm taking there word until I clean out the flue in the spring. I keep the exhaust ports behind the ash pan really clean, so I'm hoping a lot of ash isn't getting back there(and there doesn't appear to be much at all)
4. I run in manual mode and there are several thermostat modes which i don't use. Other then adjusting the air, there is no way to change any of the other settings like feed rate etc. like on some other stoves. I don't know if this is really a con or not, but you can't really do much other then adjust the air.
Compared to the pioneer bay, this AGP is much better. Not much negative to say yet.
