New Pellet Stove Insert Purchase Help

[Dreadnaught213]

I'm replacing my first pellet stove insert and been reading a ton on here and all over the web SO many questions and some conflictions of details but I'll start with my current needs haha. I'm replacing an old Earth Stove HP40, we use it to heat the main level of our house, it's a 2 story, to try and supplement for electric heat as much as possible. I believe the manual stated the HP40 was about a 40k BTU stove (back then who knows what that means). It worked decently but probably far from efficient now.

I met with two dealers and one recommended Enviro the other Quadra-fire.
After that I was considering a CB1200 from Quad w/ thermostat (for about 2600) however after reading something on here about no high/low mode I found the manual and it looks like the stove shuts off when it reaches temp, is that correct? I feel like that might be an issue with so much use on the igniter down the road? I also see the controls for this stove are VERY limited almost to the point that it can only be controlled by the thermostat. The dealer expressed his like of this unit because it's American made and can get parts easy, but I see some said it's built in China?

The Meridian from Enviro was my other choice (no price yet, any averages?) but has much more in the way of control on the side but no thermostat (i could always get one). Based on website descriptions, "efficiencies" are very similar. Just a smaller hopper for the Enviro.

Does anyone have any experience with these and positives or negatives on controls or better to use thermostat actual heat output? Our HP40 was just a high/med/low with a change of the blower speed if I turned it up to Med so i'm looking forward to a little more automation in any regard haha. I use SuperPremium Yellow Pine pellets est 8080BTU/lb. Thanks SO much for any help.

 

[Ssyko]

Both are very good stoves. I have had a cb1200 for 19 yrs and have replaced 1 thermocouple and 1 igniter. But like you said it does not have a high low setting but it works great with a thermostat. I retired the stove this year, it will be tore down and refurbished. I haven't worked on any meridians but i do like the enviro stoves and their versatility is great. We replaced our cb1200 with an enviro maxx, so far its great. So whichever one you. Decide to get I'm sure you will be happy.

 

[Dreadnaught213]

Both are very good stoves. I have had a cb1200 for 19 yrs and have replaced 1 thermocouple and 1 igniter. But like you said it does not have a high low setting but it works great with a thermostat. I retired the stove this year, it will be tore down and refurbished. I haven't worked on any meridians but i do like the enviro stoves and their versatility is great. We replaced our cb1200 with an enviro maxx, so far its great. So whichever one you. Decide to get I'm sure you will be happy.

That's good to know! Thanks for the details. I did find out that my local chimney/stove place will not service the Quadra-fire brand because there is no circuit board on the stove, only the thermostat. So being one of the only reputable companies in the area, that might be a deciding factor. I do like the ability to control the stove w/o the thermostat if needed, for whatever reason, but that might just be the part of me used to doing it with my old stove.