My dealer just called me yesterday and informed Harmon won't be able to deliver my XXV. To say the least I was not totally surprised just a little more disappointed. I had ordered the stove several months ago but Harmon can't produce. I don't know if it's a production problem but I can't get my stove either way. Therefore, I was offered the Lopi leyden. I don't think it's a bad stove and I've asked other dealers (a couple hours away) and they told me Lopi was fine stove. I know the hopper isn't quite a big but is the Lopi worth getting. It's going to be in my living room and my wife likes the "free standing" types. What do you guys think? :bug:
Should I settle for a Lopi Leyden pellet stove
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It's one option. Another might be the Quad Mt Vernon (or Castille depending on size needed) or maybe the Enviro Empress?
Lopi Leyeden is a fine quality stove as is Quadrafire. I would not say that any of these are inferior to Harmon stoves but this is just my opinion.
with the lopi, i wouldnt exactly call it "settling for" its a good unit , excellent track record. would serve you just as well as any out there.
Good unit, as others have said, BUT - spending $2500 or more for a stove that is not your first choice may not be the way to go - up to you, of course!
You could simply wait it out - possible the production will catch up - and nothing wrong with buying next spring if not. Very few pellet stove purchases are "mandatory - right now".
You could simply wait it out - possible the production will catch up - and nothing wrong with buying next spring if not. Very few pellet stove purchases are "mandatory - right now".
I really liked both stoves but Harman seemed to be so loved by sooooo many. I have no problem in getting a Lopi Leyden (I think it's a very nice looking/well built stove). My concerns were that there weren't many reviews on them. I guess the leyden pellet model is fairly new, so I guess I can't expect too much feed back. I know the Lopi leyden wood stove is well rated and Lopi has been making pellet stoves since 1989 (I think I've read in one other post). Thanks for all your advice. I really appreciate it. I sure hope Lopi won't back out on there promise to deliver my stove like Harman did to me and many others :cheese: . I really feel bad for the dealer as they're having to make a lot of phone calls and refund a lot of money to unhappy people. I sure hope Harman gets their chit together as they seem to make a really good stove. Thanks again everyone.
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Well this part I might differ with. Depending on a person's circumstances and the way the price of oil is going up a different form of heat might be mandatory. If the experts are right then oil could very well hit $200.00 a barrel come fall and the heating oil crunch is on. IF oil runs $6.00, $7.00 a gallon and a person is out of work, retired, low paying job then the choice would be a cheaper form of heat or sell the home and move to an apartment which would really suck.
Now oil may drop and be cheap heat by winter who knows and a person might be able to wait till Nov. to see where oil is sitting at then buy a stove but then taking the chance on price of a stove being even more or even being able to buy a stove.
Not trying to give into the panic or anything myself just looking at both sides of the picture. Myself I bought a pellet stove just incase oil is high. If oil turns out to be cheap heat then will burn both but a lot of people out there are going to be bad off if they have to burn oil and it stays high.
My take on it anyways.
I keep going back and forth on the same issue. Do I risk waiting on a harman or buy another stove that is in stock. How much oil would need if you do not get a pellet? The only reason I may wait are: Less cleaning, easier to clean, better warranty, less fussy with pellets, and should use less pellets to get the same BTU. These could be myths or facts. Reason I might go with another brand: Cheaper, save more money by burning pellets earlier in the year, go with a muilti fuel stove just in case I can't get pellets, oil price go up.
What are your reasons for choosing the harman?
What are your reasons for choosing the harman?
I liked the accordian heat exchanger, easy cleaning, and alleged quality. However, I don't know if I would take one now even if I could get one. If they can't produce the stoves (or meet demand) do you think you'll be able to get parts if you need them? How about that warranty? Will they stand behind their warranty? Harman was (hopefully still is) a very good stove company, :roll: but they definitely have their issues. What bothers me more is the dealer I was going through just had a big meeting with their distributors for Harman and they said for them to keep "pushing the sales" and there was no hint at all that they couldn't meet demand. I'm sorry, that's just bad business. Be honest! The other thing that was a major drawback to Harmon was I heard their customer service was the pitts. My personal feeling now is that Harmon did make a great stove but they've disappointed and harmed a lot of people (dealers). They're going to have to prove themselve to me before I'd buy a stove from them. A dealer I spoke with this morning told me Quad did the same thing to him a couple of years back and now there doing it again. I think I'll go with a proven company that will stand behind their product. I spoke with several people (other than my dealer) and they told me Lopi was a fine stove and the rep for this area was very responsive. I'm not trying to bash Harmon (Hearth industries) , but they've changed. These stoves companies are in a up and down business and they have to be able to go up and down with the times. Just my two cents. :gulp:
mit said:
What dealer did you order you Harman from??
I have on on order from early june from Rockys in augusta.
Hi Mit, welcome to the site. I have a Lopi Leyden that i bought this past March. They ain't cheap but it was well worth it for me. It heats like a champ , more so than i expected . Simple operation , just set it & forget it. Bought it in Skowhegan . Made my own hearth pad & saved a few $$$$ there . Good luck in any you choose . Muss
I ordered it from frost and Flame in Westbrook/Gorham. I was told it was a Northeast thing. I'm sure I'll be happy with the Lopi. My only concern was there just aren't that many reviews on them. They seem really well built and my wife really likes the brown enamel. It's like four hundred more for the brown enemal but it's still cheaper than divorce. Thanks for all your replys, it's helped a lot. To the guy with the Lopi leyden who really likes it, how's the cleaning. Is is pretty straight forward and is is pretty quiet. You might want to read the post "Bad news on the Harmon front" . I hope this doesn't come as a surpise. It's from the kennebec journal. I hope this helps. Maybe you're one of the lucky ones.
Cleaning is a breeze. I wash the windows on a daily basis,clean the ashes out & voila , 10 minutes top . I saved a couple $$$ by having only a 2' horizontal exhaust with no problems on soot whatsoever. Wait till burning season comes & you see some of the posts here. They might scare ya. There is usually a lot of talk about burning peletts & the "fines" that some leave . Some people even strain their pellets before putting them in the hopper . I don't . I've burnt 3 different pellets & could've cared less about the ash & fines . Fines are exactly what it sounds like, the fine wood residue found in the bags. Some people are very finicky bout that but it hasn't effected the quality of burning in my Lopi. Like i said earlier, i just set it & forget it . Couldn't be simpler for me & i'm french. lol Muss
I can't believe what I'm reading! Harmon is again saying they will meet most of the demand in today's Portland Press Herald. They're saying it was a computer glitch and peak demand that caused the mess and they're committed to making most of the deliveries. They'll have new (correct) delivery days next week. What't going on in that place? Who's making the decisions on what to put out to the public and it's dealers? So what's my dealer going to do, call me and ask me whick pellet stove do I really want (lopi leyden or harmon XXV) or do I take the 1st available one to be delivered? What a mess! I think I would take my phone off the hook if I were a Harmon dealer right now. Getting a Harmon seems like dating a pretty girl (that has a lot of baggage). What is one to do? :gulp: I think I'll just stick with my Lopi Leyden. I don't need empty promises, just a good stove. I shouldn't have said "settled" for a Lopi Leyden as they're a beautiful, efficient stove that will hopefully serve me well for years to come.
I just purchased a Leyden last week and it will be installed end of Sept. I narrowed it down to the XXV and the Leyden both sold by the dealer. I walked in there to order the XXV and they told me the same old 'can't get one till next March (but don't hold your breath)'. So I went with my 2nd choice and after reading up on it more I'm happy with the purchase. The dealer actually said they have been selling Lopi longer and the owner said it was a good performing stove with a good warranty. It's a slightly smaller footprint than the XXV but still rated up to 45,000 BTU. I read the install/ops manual a few times and it looks easy to take care of and it is a good looking free-stander with a cast wood stove look.
Mine will go right in front of my metal prefab fireplace and vent up the same flue with the liner kit. Adding a 48" x 18" hearth extension so it will fit there. I'm looking forward to taking care of this and saving on some oil.
Rich in CT.
Mine will go right in front of my metal prefab fireplace and vent up the same flue with the liner kit. Adding a 48" x 18" hearth extension so it will fit there. I'm looking forward to taking care of this and saving on some oil.
Rich in CT.
I had a Leyden from Frost % Flame, and they ended up taking it back and replacing it with an Enviro Empress. (My second one) The Leyden would not burn right no matter what. It ran extremely rich, producing a black sticky resideue all over the inside of the stove. The Empress burns very well in the same spot. In addition, the Leyden was so noisy it was really distracting, and it raised my electric bill about $40.00 a month. Again, both issues were solved by the Empress. F&F;are good people to deal with, but they have a definite preference for Lopi for some reason. They were planning to re-sell the stove they took back from me, which I think is wrong. It should have gone back to Lopi IMO.
I hope that was a bad batch of early run stoves there au2183. I guess that can happen and lemons in the bunches. I'm hoping mine runs good with no problems, if not I'll get it rectified. I'll post in the late Fall on how it is running. Thanks for the info.
richkorn said:
You may be right, and I hope so for your sake. The important thing is, they took care of me in the end. That made me a lot more comfortable doing business with the same dealer again. I would recommend them to anyone, and have done so numerous times.
I'm glad to hear Frost & Flane took good care of you. I'm sure there are lemons in all stove brands. The key is the dealer stands behind what they sell. That's why I went with Frost & Flame and not HD or Lowe's or a sml hardware store. I want someone to install it and have someone to call and service it if there's a problem. I wanted someone who's main line of business was stoves. The guy's at frost & flame took a lot of time with me and seemed very informed about what they were selling. I also owned a lopi gas stove that was really nice and had no problems. My neighbor is driving to New Jersy to get a Harman P68 (I think) but I hope he doesn't have any problems. I wonder who'll service it for him? What if it's a lemon? Thanks for all your posts and I appreciate everyone's input.
I can't get my Harman XXV thids year either. Been lloking at alternatives. Anyone have any experience on with Kozi products? The Previa looks OK
I'd say count you blessings that you can't get your XXV. HHT is supposedly tripling produciton so you can guess what's going to happen to quality. From what I'm reading, those that are getting stoves are getting ones from 06 and 07. I do believe there were some ungrades so who's to know if these stoves are updated. Just remember, you get what you pay for. That's why Harman fetched such a premium. They were a great stove, but it remains to be seen if they will continue to offer a quality product. Good luck in whatever you buy.
lopi pioneer or yankee are both free standing stoves .I have the pioneer works great keeps the house nice and warm ,the stove is in the basement.had the stove now for a couple of yrs still working strong.
I hope this helps anyone looking for a lopi stove
I hope this helps anyone looking for a lopi stove
Take a look at replacement parts your xxv will cost about 500 - 600 for a rebuild. No idea on the lopi. Harman does have a very good warranty and they do stand behind it. Just as an example a Harman board retail with no discounts is around 200 where some lennox boards run between 350 - 750 depends on age. A quad board is around 350 unless it's the Mt Vernon it's over 650. The harman heat exchanger will last for decades and will run as long as you want to put money in it.
I did look up the lopi it is only 75% efficient not enough to get a tax credit your harman will.
I did look up the lopi it is only 75% efficient not enough to get a tax credit your harman will.
Not true - ALL Lopi wood stoves, wood stove inserts, pellet stoves and pellet stove inserts exceed the 75%-efficiency standard and qualify for tax credit.
(broken link removed to http://www.lopistoves.com/taxcredits/)
http://www.travisdealer.com/TechnicalNotices/L_TC_Certif.pdf
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