newbie looking to buy

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jmorden20

New Member
Jan 18, 2016
6
kitimat,BC
Hello everyone, I'm new to pellet stoves and I will be buying one for next years winter. I like to read and do research before making a purchase like this. Being on the west coast of Canada its hard to compare prices etc. with guys from east coast and in the states. just bought a new 2400 sq ft home with electric heat and cost 600$ to heat for 2 months. Plus the heat fluctuations with electric is annoying. I figure it will take about 3-4 years to see advantage of a pellet stove which i think is good. just wondering what brands and when a good time to buy a stove is (on sale) be great if there was a few people from around my area on here. Anyways look forward to hearing from everyone now and in the future. ( theres a forum for everything now and its great!)
 
Welcome.
We have a few burners from Canada. I would hope some others may be able to answer your questions. Prices as you have mentioned are regional.
A good deal on a name brand stove with a good reputation can be a good investment if you have some mechanical skill and ability to get things cleaned up. I have only bought 1 stove new. You have the equivalent of CL, kijiji and that would be a very good starting point for a used stove.
Good luck
 
Harman and Quadra-fire are the big boys, and there are fans of both here. Whatever you get, be sure to get a large enough stove that will put out enough BTUs for you. I unfortunately went to small with mine (Quadra-fire Castile) and it can't keep up when it's really cold (like this week). If I were to do it again I would get a Quadra-fire Mt. Vernon or a Harman (larger ones).

As for when to buy, if you wait until spring, both Harman and Quad will have sales up to $300 off I believe. I saved that much on mine last April (You have to sign up on each are their websites and they will email you the coupon to use at a dealer).

Have fun!
 
awesome ! thanks for your help. Just from a bit of reading I will defiantly get a bigger stove, even overboard, to make sure I can heat the house. I think my house has a good floor plan and has a central staircase that is open so that will help to heat the upstairs which is a open floor plan. How reliable are used stoves?
 
Caution, US Stoves has many models made in China and have had many unhappy customers coming here to get help.
You can find a stove by using the search feature of the site and see what pops up. Lot of Harman stoves here and the p series seems to be a very hardy work horse with a big ash pan, on board temperature controls and very easy to clean exchanger. It has a couple faults, one being the control board pot switches but are available reasonable on ebay.
Cleaning or the improper cleaning leads to many of the used stoves going for sale used. I bought one and the owner never broke the seal on the operating instructions and ran for two years before putting up for sale as it wasn't putting out heat. It was very plugged with ash.
A hour or so with a shop vac and an air compressor can blow life back into most stoves.
 
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awesome ! thanks for your help. Just from a bit of reading I will defiantly get a bigger stove, even overboard, to make sure I can heat the house. I think my house has a good floor plan and has a central staircase that is open so that will help to heat the upstairs which is a open floor plan. How reliable are used stoves?

It's better to get a stove that can produce enough heat effortlessly than to get one that needs to run full bore 24/7 just to keep up. Used stoves of certain brands can be more reliable than other, but even certain models of the same brand but different years can have more issues that others. I'm not much for buying used stuff, unless you know a lot about them to begin with...like buying a used car, if you don't know what to look for you're going to get #$&*@$%.

I'm usually for buying new if you can swing it...
 
It's better to get a stove that can produce enough heat effortlessly than to get one that needs to run full bore 24/7 just to keep up. Used stoves of certain brands can be more reliable than other, but even certain models of the same brand but different years can have more issues that others. I'm not much for buying used stuff, unless you know a lot about them to begin with...like buying a used car, if you don't know what to look for you're going to get #$&*@$%.

I'm usually for buying new if you can swing it...
That's what I've learned from past experiences also. But new. Unless I know where and who it's coming from but even than it's risky. Thanks for the input guys
 
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