P61 vs P68 for 1600sqft 2 level house?

[bags]

I'm not sure the 68 has a hopper extension on it now. Maybe the seller has one that I'm missing. The stock P68 has a 76 lb. hopper as OEM equipment. If my hopper is totally empty I can and have gotten two bags into it or 80 lbs of pellets. I dump them in as much as it will take and then massage them around a bit and this frees up a little room to work the remaining pellets left in the second bag. The hopper is stuffed to the gills but it can be done.

The factory hopper sticks up past the top of the stove a couple of inches from the flat part of the top steel. I just went and looked at my PC45 and they look about the same as to how the hopper sticks up.

I looked at the seller's listing again and the pics. The 68 doesn't look like it has heat shields or a hopper extension on it. I think the seller copied a spec and option sheet after re-reading the ad to stick into the sale ad. The seller does have a bunch of money in options though from what I see as is. The more the merrier and adds to the deal. If this stove would have been around when I was shopping for my P68 I would have likely jumped on this because of the accessories and being able to save a couple of grand. Then that extra cash would have paid for the used PC45 with the leftover cash paying for venting on both.

Hopefully the OP assesses everything and figures out a good deal. Either stove will heat him up. I think we can all agree if he was pulling a new one off of the showroom floor a 61 would be the stove. But beggars looking for deals in the used dept. have to roll with the options they have. I see both of his options as winners it is just how the OP wants to win the race.

As suggested by many around here it may be a good idea to google the manuals for both to see if anything factors in but I think Bogie covered that because the only difference would be clearances between the two.

 

[bogieb]

I'm not sure the 68 has a hopper extension on it now. Maybe the seller has one that I'm missing. The stock P68 has a 76 lb. hopper as OEM equipment. If my hopper is totally empty I can and have gotten two bags into it or 80 lbs of pellets. I dump them in as much as it will take and then massage them around a bit and this frees up a little room to work the remaining pellets left in the second bag. The hopper is stuffed to the gills but it can be done.

The factory hopper sticks up past the top of the stove a couple of inches from the flat part of the top steel. I just went and looked at my PC45 and they look about the same as to how the hopper sticks up.

I looked at the seller's listing again and the pics. The 68 doesn't look like it has heat shields or a hopper extension on it. I think the seller copied a spec and option sheet after re-reading the ad to stick into the sale ad. The seller does have a bunch of money in options though from what I see as is. The more the merrier and adds to the deal. If this stove would have been around when I was shopping for my P68 I would have likely jumped on this because of the accessories and being able to save a couple of grand. Then that extra cash would have paid for the used PC45 with the leftover cash paying for venting on both.

Hopefully the OP assesses everything and figures out a good deal. Either stove will heat him up. I think we can all agree if he was pulling a new one off of the showroom floor a 61 would be the stove. But beggars looking for deals in the used dept. have to roll with the options they have. I see both of his options as winners it is just how the OP wants to win the race.

As suggested by many around here it may be a good idea to google the manuals for both to see if anything factors in but I think Bogie covered that because the only difference would be clearances between the two.

You are correct that it does not have the hopper extension or heat shields on in the pictures. I am assuming, since the OP talked to the people, that they said they have those items, just packed away in a box from moving. I would take everything off that could be removed to move that beast - less chance of damaging something.

However, as usual, buyer beware and if this is the stove the OP picks, he should make sure it has everything he expects before forking over the money.

 

[bigeclipse]

I'm not sure the 68 has a hopper extension on it now. Maybe the seller has one that I'm missing. The stock P68 has a 76 lb. hopper as OEM equipment. If my hopper is totally empty I can and have gotten two bags into it or 80 lbs of pellets. I dump them in as much as it will take and then massage them around a bit and this frees up a little room to work the remaining pellets left in the second bag. The hopper is stuffed to the gills but it can be done.

The factory hopper sticks up past the top of the stove a couple of inches from the flat part of the top steel. I just went and looked at my PC45 and they look about the same as to how the hopper sticks up.

I looked at the seller's listing again and the pics. The 68 doesn't look like it has heat shields or a hopper extension on it. I think the seller copied a spec and option sheet after re-reading the ad to stick into the sale ad. The seller does have a bunch of money in options though from what I see as is. The more the merrier and adds to the deal. If this stove would have been around when I was shopping for my P68 I would have likely jumped on this because of the accessories and being able to save a couple of grand. Then that extra cash would have paid for the used PC45 with the leftover cash paying for venting on both.

Hopefully the OP assesses everything and figures out a good deal. Either stove will heat him up. I think we can all agree if he was pulling a new one off of the showroom floor a 61 would be the stove. But beggars looking for deals in the used dept. have to roll with the options they have. I see both of his options as winners it is just how the OP wants to win the race.

As suggested by many around here it may be a good idea to google the manuals for both to see if anything factors in but I think Bogie covered that because the only difference would be clearances between the two.

We spoke to the lady and the stove does not come with hopper extension or heat shields. She just copied and pasted the specifications and such in the ad like you said. It comes with the stove, the trim, the slate place and the ceramic logs. The lady seemed very shady as she couldn't really answer many questions like how often cleaned even though she had claimed she babied it. We opened it up and it was dirty on the inside. Also, it is not hooked up and we cannot test drive it. Beginning to feel like more and more this is not the deal for us. We found a plain jane P68 which was only just purchased in October of 2016 (so only a few months old) and the person is firm at 3000$ which seems like a good deal. No fancy extras like this one but my wife honestly said she likes the looks of the plain black one. We also went to a stove store just to look at new ones and the store wanted 3800$ tax included out the door price for a new P68 plain black. But then my wife caught her eye on the Absolute 63 on the Harman website and wants to check that out. All I can say is ouch to my wallet haha I started another post on P68 vs Absolute 63 if you would like to comment on that. We are having hard time finding many reviews on the absolute 63.

 

[bogieb]

Yeah, that sounds like that P68 isn't what you thought it would be. I wondered about that disclaimer in the ad that said they specs were the "best of their knowledge". Then to find out the extras shields and hopper extension aren't there just doesn't seem right as they could have easily removed them from the spec. Probably a good idea to stay away.

I believe the absolute 63 is a newer offering. Could swear I saw a post or two on the forum earlier this fall but will have to see if I can find them or if my memory is just playing tricks on me.

 

[alternativeheat]

Is there any negative with going with a P68 over the P61 minus cost?

After comparing our options when we were looking for a stove to replace our living room coal stove we came down to the choice of the p61 or p68. Since in a perfect house either stove was capable of heating twice our area we bought the smaller one. In retrospect a 50,000 btu stove probably would have been fine but there weren't any that combined radiant heat and convection blown heat like the p series stove do. But the XXV has powerful twin convection fans and is quiet and is pretty ( I've seen this stove in action run wide open and full blower speed during a test run after repair, you feel the hot air streaming from it near 20 ft out in the show room). We have no regrets for buying the p61 though, it's a true work horse but I can see where the XXV would have been fine as well and quieter, though it doesn't offer as much radiant heat. It makes up for that in fan power. Still, because of our house layout I wanted some radiating heat from the sides of the stove like our coal stove gave . This I felt would best address the south side of our house and that seems to be the case. With blown heat getting to our stairway and upstairs, and the north side basically is the length of the stove room/living room so obviously that is warm. That blower makes a huge difference over a coal or wood stove that may not have that on board. In colder weather my house is best heated with full blower on, it pushes the heat into outer rooms and upstairs. In shoulder season half blower is fine or some days none.

The Absolute series was not out yet when we were looking. I can't say a whole lot about those. I know they have the smart technology etc etc. But I know a guy who has an XXV in a house larger than your house and loves it. It's a great stove for those looking for a traditional look in stoves rated at 50,000btu and a less industrial look of the P series. If you guys are now thinking new, check out all your options. That's what we did at the time, then took a couple of months to think on it and collect some money together. The P61 won because of it's work horse status and easy cleaning access, it is a simple stove to clean for sure and it makes beautiful heat but the blower is more noisy than some of the more modern designs like the XXV, the 52i and perhaps the Absolute series too.