Suggestions - Looking for new Pellet Stove that has majority of heated airflow from the sides

[plan200]

New member here - but I have read posts occasionally over the years.
I have a very old Harman free standing Invincible with the 45 degree bay windows with the heated airflow exiting the stove at 45 degrees.
This works well for my stove placement and location - where my 2 large spaces are to the side of the stove.
Stove is almost 30 years old and finally the auger wore thru the feeder tube, now time for a replacement.
What I would like is a stove that has significant heated airflow from the sides over heated airflow from the front of the stove.
Been looking online at manufactures websites, and in person and not finding much.
So far I have found 3 models from Harman - Absolute 43 and 63 and the Allure50.
I have a small house - so the Absolute 63 is over powered.
While all of these stoves have side vents the amount of heated airflow out the side is in the order of 10 to 30% of the total heated airflow.
What I would like is something like 60% from the side and 30% from the front.

Looking closely at the Allure50 - the space behind the front grates that are attached to the front door is large and deep.
I am considering this stove - and than making some small steel inserts that I can tack in place here to force the airflow from the front vent to blow out at the sharpest angle possible.
What I can not tell is what is the heated airflow path? Can I actually restrict the front grate to force more airflow out the sides?

Anyone with either the Absolute or the Allure - have you done anything like this?
Any other suggestions?

 

[mtnbiker727]

According to Harman's website: the Absolute 63 BTU/hr output range is 14,100 to 61,800, and the BTU/hr output range of the Allure50 is 15,800 to 52,600. So actually the bigger stove can run at a lower rate and if needed a higher rate.

Aside from that, I can't really answer your question. I would recommend going to a dealer that hopefully has a floor model of some of these so you can see them for yourselves. The dealer I got my stove from had several stoves there running (obviously not this time of year) so you can see them and play with the controls and stuff.

 

[Washed-Up]

Can you put a picture up or an outline of the layout you’re trying to heat? We hear our 1600ft mobile home with a P61a and have zero issues with even heat at 0f to -40f…ceiling fans are used in the living room and directly above it in the kitchen.

 

[zrock]

I also heat a old drafty mobile home with a front blowing unit.. When i installed it i did not even think of air movement and probably put it in the worst spot possible. But with a ceiling fan and i also run air purifiers in all rooms everything stays nice and warm.. Back bedroom is unusually 3 degrees cooler. Might be had to find with specs you are looking for since they are mostly being designed as 0 clearance stoves

 

[rich2500]

here is my allure if it helps at all

 

[plan200]

Thanks for the replies.
I did hear back from the manufacture and they said the following.
1) On either stove it is NOT possible to change the amount of heated airflow between front and sides of the stove.
2) As normal for a company - they advised in the strongest terms "not to modify the airflow".
I am including a simple floor layout - that shows why I am after heated airflow from the sides or 45-degree angle from the front.
"rich2500" - I have been to the Harman dealer nearby and have spent time looking at the Allure50.
I am looking at this area that you have the pictures from - to add some metal "vanes" that would direct the airflow toward the edges, instead of straight out. Since the Allure50 has a lot of space here behind the front door grates - it will be easy to tack in a couple angled metal louvers that would not be visible from the front of the stove.
I am thinking that this will get me a long way to having good airflow towards the side locations (see my floor diagram).

"rich2500" - have you dug deeper into your stove and seen how the heated airflow is distributed internally?
In other words if I wanted to - could some modifications be made to force more of the airflow to the sides?

 

[mtnbiker727]

I don't think you need to worry about which direction the fan blows in that setup.... especially with only 600 square feet to heat.

If the stove runs for a little bit the whole place will get warm, not just the area that the fan is blowing on.

If you really need the heat to blow two directions, get a couple small fans to place on top of the stove and angle them however you want.

 

[rich2500]

If the entry way into the dining area and living area are open and not door ways I think you would be fine also, my allure is in my dining area and my kitchen ( open entry ) is directly to the left and the heat gets into the kitchen no problem.

 

[plan200]

Providing an update on our choice.
To answer "rich2500" question - from the picture the downstairs is basically two open areas.
The "wall" shown in the picture is a normal 2x4 construction - but on each side of this wall are cabinets (kitchen/refrigerator) and a large buffet on the opposite side. So the blocking effect here is like 5 feet.

I spent some more time at the local Harman dealer and was able to do some disassembly of the Allure 50 (with the dealers approval of course).
Based on this we have purchased the Allure 50 and my plan here is to make some small metal vanes that I can tack in place in the large area behind the front door to "angle the airflow towards the sides".

What I can say is the price increases on pellet stoves since I ordinally purchased the Harman Invincible back in 1993 are huge.
I paid around 2000 USD back then and now days we are talking 4200 USD.

One other question - Does an older Harman stove "Invincible" have any remaining value to be sold?

Thanks for all of your replies.

 

[Washed-Up]

An older Invincible does have value. There are quite a few that have been “updated” with modern boards and other modifications. The right person just has to see that it’s for sale.

 

[ABusWrench]

Put it on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. They'll be racing to your place for it.

 

[stoveliker]

What I can say is the price increases on pellet stoves since I ordinally purchased the Harman Invincible back in 1993 are huge.
I paid around 2000 USD back then and now days we are talking 4200 USD.

Simple inflation would have made 2000 USD in 1993 already 3779 USD today. A non-inflation increase of 420 USD (*current* USD, i.e. about 250 USD back then) is not a "huge" increase imo.

​

 

[mtnbiker727]

Simple inflation would have made 2000 USD in 1993 already 3779 USD today. A non-inflation increase of 420 USD (*current* USD, i.e. about 250 USD back then) is not a "huge" increase imo.

​

Yeah, the dollar isn't worth what it used to be, and lately it's getting worth less each day.

 

[TStark]

Pretty easy to take the Invincible apart, remove the weldment. the tube in the weldment can be tigged closed by a local welder for 25 bucks. Ask me how i know.
reassemble and look after the hopper gasket and hopper area RTV, get the flame out of the auger and onto the ramp

 

[Tim_M]

My Invincible developed a hole at the front of the auger tube about 5 years ago. I was able to patch it fairly easily by removing the auger and burn pot, inserting a small bolt down through the hole and tightening a nut on it. Some stove gasket material on either side of the bolt ensured a tight seal. It has been working great ever since.

From what I’ve read these holes are not unusual on some older Harmans, and they’re often caused by leaky seals on the hopper lids.

 

[plan200]

An update from the original poster.
I did purchase the Allure 50 - it was installed early OCT and since early NOV it has been running continuously using the remote sensor control. No issues.

- I have to say compared to the very old Invincible that I replaced - having an automatic stove that keeps the temperature constant without having to manually adjust the Invincible all the time is amazing. It is like a real heating system - such a novel idea!!

- The other huge difference for me is how much quieter the new stove is compared to the Invincible - and I had added a lot of noise control material to the Invincible over the years. My wife would always complain about the stove was too loud for talking on the phone. In many ways - I should have replaced the stove a couple years ago. In our case the stove is in the middle of our living/dining area.

- I have taken some steel corner braces - bent them to about 40 degree from the 90 degree angle - they are now sitting in the large opening behind the front door and are doing an OK job of forcing the distribution air out at an angle. They need some more work to better direct the airflow - but for a first attempt they are accomplishing what I wanted.

- The old Invincible was retired (I purchased this in 1993 and only replaced the auger feed motor twice, and the ESP probe once).
- I gave this stove away to a person that attempts to clean up stoves and resell them with the information about the auger feed tube needing to be repaired. This person is not able to work full time anymore due to a injury and is able to make some money this way.
He came out with his uncle and the uncle and myself with a lot of lifting was able to get the stove out of the house and up into his truck.