From my local dealers I'm sort of down to 2 stove options. Considering the venting, net cost will be about the same for either one. Recommendations? Tight, open 2 story house, about 2K sq ft with additional conventional heat.
Pallazetti Sabrina/Monia or Harman Absolute43?
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Oh, I found the other thread with Piazzetta vs. Harman Accentra - That vote went to Harman so I will keep that in mind
American made vs Italian, top feed vs bottom feed, multi fuel vs wood only, restrictive pellet lengths for the Italian machine, possible issue of parts availability for the import, American made 
I just bought an Absolute! Been burning pellets since 1998 and will not own a stove that is not a Harman!
I just bought an Absolute! Been burning pellets since 1998 and will not own a stove that is not a Harman!
Seems like Harmon is the safer choice. Only thing in the Italians favor seems to be higher claimed efficiency, something like 88% vs 78%. But I think reliability and usability with all wood pellet types probably outweighs that
Whats the cleaning like and how big of hopper? I have a Ecoteck and while its pretty and runs very nice it is a bit needy in the cleaning dept. LBT is its savior.
I think the Sabrina model says 66 lbs, I think the cleaning on the Harmon is pretty straight forward, I don't know specifically what it is on these units but I know they don't have the bottom feed which pushes the ash out automatically. I think there is a cycle where they blow ash out of the pot, don't know how complete that is.
I am very pleased with my Harmans and feel they are the best pellet stoves made but that comes with a price. That price is not chimes, bells and whistles although the new Absolute does have some but the price reflects quality, dependability, ease of use and maintenance, and just all around good and solid machines. In regards to bullet proof they are about as good as it gets in the pellet world. IMHO.
Just like fmsm I will own nothing but a Harman in a pellet stove. I am sold on them hands down. Yeah, yeah, .... never say never but I just did and I stand by that. There are many others here that feel the same way but less vocal. Not saying I wouldn't consider another stove if the deal was way right on a used or leftover model for the basement or shop. A deal is a deal. There are other good quality stoves too and everyone has their favorite truck brand. I have owned every truck brand out there and prefer the dependable great running ones.
Just like fmsm I will own nothing but a Harman in a pellet stove. I am sold on them hands down. Yeah, yeah, .... never say never but I just did and I stand by that. There are many others here that feel the same way but less vocal. Not saying I wouldn't consider another stove if the deal was way right on a used or leftover model for the basement or shop. A deal is a deal. There are other good quality stoves too and everyone has their favorite truck brand. I have owned every truck brand out there and prefer the dependable great running ones.
I have over 8,500 hours on my Palazzetti and it's a great stove. I use both hard and softwoods and the efficiency is 90 + percent, see my previous posts. 2 K sq. feet you would be pushing it with the Palazzetti!!
You should also consider the cleaning needed. The Absolute is as maintenance free as you can get! I could not believe how simple the weekly/biweekly/monthly cleaning will be, it is on par with DAILY maintenance of most stoves.
As cold as it was last year from October 1st - April 15th as a primary heat source for my 1950 cape cod house with 4 inch walls the Palazzetti consumed 92 bags of pellets!
My biggest concern about the Harman is the amount of mechanical part needed just to run the burn pot
![[Hearth.com] Pallazetti Sabrina/Monia or Harman Absolute43?](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/163/163910-7d698c501e7efbdfa41df7c598312b05.jpg?hash=f2kAo-fdAW "[Hearth.com] Pallazetti Sabrina/Monia or Harman Absolute43?")
I use a Piazzetta P-962 stove, it uses a cast Iron burn pot that you will never see the end of it. To clean it out it only use the combustion blower that already passes true, but it will increase to 2700rpm so it will clean the ashes from the pot without the taking the pellets out, there no need of wiggling parts neither a scraper. Piazzetta Italian stove dont even need an OAK they are fully adjustable from 1000rpm to 3000rpm on each level, none of American stove are capable of adjusting there combustion fan that's why they all absolutely need to be hooked to an OAK. no need to bring more cold air in the house. I usually always buy Canadian or American made but for my stoves I couldn't find nothing as efficient and also adjustable like my Piazzetta. I give the points to Italian on this, and what the big deal with Italian Math aren't they the ones that built Ferraris. 
I use a Piazzetta P-962 stove, it uses a cast Iron burn pot that you will never see the end of it. To clean it out it only use the combustion blower that already passes true, but it will increase to 2700rpm so it will clean the ashes from the pot without the taking the pellets out, there no need of wiggling parts neither a scraper. Piazzetta Italian stove dont even need an OAK they are fully adjustable from 1000rpm to 3000rpm on each level, none of American stove are capable of adjusting there combustion fan that's why they all absolutely need to be hooked to an OAK. no need to bring more cold air in the house. I usually always buy Canadian or American made but for my stoves I couldn't find nothing as efficient and also adjustable like my Piazzetta. I give the points to Italian on this, and what the big deal with Italian Math aren't they the ones that built Ferraris.
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If you don't include the main weldment there's three parts not including the igniter. You should see the operation of the Bixby.
Trade off is not needing to clean the stove from the sides and rear
Trade off is not needing to clean the stove from the sides and rear
It seems like in a tight house, any stove should have outside air. The stove will suck in outside air regardless if you give it an easy path or a hard path. If the house is tight, might not having outside air cause problems for the stove? I don't have enough experience to say. Also, on this new stove Absolute43 I think the combustion fan does vary speed, you can see the current rpm in the display
I did buy the absolute43. It is a very nice stove and I'm pretty happy with it. It does have a few glitches. The room sensor is useless. It is attached to the stove and goes over 90 degs quickly in a 70 deg space. They are supposed to be coming out with a wireless room sensor which would solve the problem. I run the stove on the other stove temp option.
The lowest temp setting is a little higher than I think it was on the Accentra I used to have, either that or this thing just makes heat better. It does well at that. On this stove I discovered you can get a lower heat output and quieter operation by actually turning the fan off through the menu and having it operate on convection only.
One reason I'm glad I stayed with Harmon is the Harmon feed from below. That just works so well I wouldn't want to change.
Anyway, by adding the wireless sensor it should be a very good stove. I've had it a month or so and am very happy so far.
The lowest temp setting is a little higher than I think it was on the Accentra I used to have, either that or this thing just makes heat better. It does well at that. On this stove I discovered you can get a lower heat output and quieter operation by actually turning the fan off through the menu and having it operate on convection only.
One reason I'm glad I stayed with Harmon is the Harmon feed from below. That just works so well I wouldn't want to change.
Anyway, by adding the wireless sensor it should be a very good stove. I've had it a month or so and am very happy so far.
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