New member, old Harman Advance

[Romy]

Hello, I've been lurking around a while but finally thought I'd post an intro.

In this economy I am trying to be frugal as possible. I bought an older Harman Advance stove for heating my small 900sf ranch. It came from a camp and was not well cared for but I refurbished it myself. It mostly needed a good cleaning however it was missing the brick plate and needed a new ignitor. I've got it all cleaned up and new parts installed and everything is working. The stove came with a through-wall kit with the fresh air vent and some Duravent piping. I've ordered some additional piping to include a rise with a tee and cleanout. As a do-it-yourselfer I also made my own hearth pad (pictures coming soon). The initial investment of material was about $100 but I spent $20 more and got enough tile and trim to make a second one. This way I could sell it and recoup my material cost. As it turns out, I traded it for just under 1/2 ton of pellets. So, all told I will have about $1600 into this with a fair amount of my own labor.

 

[smoke show]

sounds great
need pics

 

[Romy]

Here's a pic of the stove all refurbished and the hearth base too (both took a lot of elbow grease). The towel is temporary. It is there to make it easier to slide into place. I'll need to fine tune its position once I get the vent pipe I ordered. Oh yea, that's my cat, Wiskers. He likes heat so I think he likes the stove.

 

[smoke show]

awesome, nice looking stove

 

[tinkabranc]

Looks great-Nice install. Wiskers is a purty kitty too

BTW: Welcome

 

[Bxpellet]

Romy,

As you see in my avatar Izzys favorite spot is right on the Advance with it CRANKING
Good luck

 

[defield]

ROMY,

It is VERY refreshing to read a post from someone who has a 900 S.F. ranch, who did not jump on the "easy money" refinance bandwagon of a few years ago to expand their home, or trade up into an unaffordable McMansion, and who is willing to do the hard work to restore and install a pellet stove instead of purchasing the "latest and greatest", and who not only builds their own hearth, but is intelligent about the purchase of materials.

Congratulations on a very fine looking, well planned job and thanks for sharing!!

Ranger

 

[Romy]

ROMY,

It is VERY refreshing to read a post from someone who has a 900 S.F. ranch...

Ranger

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We bought in 2002 near the peak of the housing price-bubble but refused to sign beyond our means (despite being told by the lenders that we could). The Wife and I, one cat, one dog; its all we need. Inexpensive to maintain, cheap to heat even with oil. This is our first house yet we never saw a need to upsize. Been here 7 years and with the exception of the same SF with a garage, I won't trade it for anything.

 

[crausch]

Nice setup! I don't know how bad it looked when you got it, but it sure cleaned up nice. Almost looks new. I hope you get to enjoy it for many years.

 

[Romy]

It was pretty bad. I should have taken a 'before' photo. but I'll try to describe it. The glass was brown, the gold trim was tarnished and dull. The top had been used as a cupholder. Inside, the back covers and the distribution blower had serious dust-bunny buildup. The inside had not been maintained at all. The old style ceramic brick plate must have broken because they were running it without one (scary). Heavy ash buildup on the heat exchangers, creosote crust in the burn pot, behind the ash pan and of course in the flu. The seller complained that it would not heat his camp... hmm... wonder why?