Quadra-Fire Classic bay 1200 I vs HArman accentra Insert

[smirnov3]

Ok, I know this may starts a religious war (about which is better), but I am considering buying one of these two pellet inserts, and want some advice:

1) do either of these have any maintenance 'issues' (ie manufacturing defects, wearing out fast, hard to maintain, etc)

2) which is quieter (I thought about asking the dealerto fire them up so I could hear for myself, but I didn't feel like being laughed at, given that it was in the upper 80s)

3) the Classic Bay 1200i claims a minimum feed rate of 2lbs / hour (harman's minimum is 0.5 lb/hour). so it seems like it will end up overshooting / shutting off a lot on days that aren't so cold. Any problems with that? sounds kind of wastefull.

 

[begreen]

Both are good stoves. We had the 1200i for 5 yrs. and think it is a great insert. (Sold due to complete remodel and removal of the fireplace.)
We've never had a Harman so I won't compare. Overshoot is not possible on mild days because the stove is running on a thermostat. If you don't need heat, the stove is off. Ours was on a digital thermostat which allowed us to set it up for night and daytime temps. Nice to wake up to a warm house with the stove going. We found the stove to be reliable and easy to use. Quietness is relative. We almost always ran ours on high which meant a louder blower noise, but it was not so obnoxious that we couldn't hear the tv when it was running. At low speed it's pretty reasonable. Minor quibbles with the stove would be a) the glass would get dirty pretty quickly and needed cleaning every other week and b) due to the shallow nature of the hopper, one had to coax the pellets towards the bottom of the chute once or twice a day. I found that this was mitigated by waxing the metal chute at the beginning of the season to make it more slippery. But overall, we loved the stove and will miss it.

 

[smirnov3]

Anybody have an opinion on the Harmon?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

You, know, there both good pelletstoves. The 1200 is one of the best that quad has made. it been in production the longest, and has most all the bugs worked out. Any pellet stove is going to have issues. Its in there nature, expecially with the modern plug and play ones. You have 2 or three blowers, a computer, snap disks, and more. Harmon and Quad are both top of the line. You will be happy with either one you buy, better yet, but the one from the dealerthat is going to do a better job servicing it.

 

[pelletheat]

I have an Accentra Insert , love the temperature control & ease of operation/cleaning. Try using the rate your stove page on hearth.com. Maybe comparing both models by user reviews will help you decide.

https://www.hearth.com/ratings/art.php?id=1669

 

[pelletheat]

Try this link

https://www.hearth.com/ratings/search.php