The weight of a pellet stove. and purchase recommendations on used stoves respectively

[Soup]

Hello,

I am looking at used pellet stoves for purchase. I am enjoying the use, I have received out of the Avalon Newport.
It was purchased used, about ten years ago. It continues to provide nice relatively reliable heat.
I like that it was not heavy, steel construction with the cast iron rear burn plate, etc. etc.
I don't see many of these stoves out there on craigs anymore, few and far between.
Maybe, (cuz :: people don't want to give them up?(search meeeze...??)
So I don't know if I provided enough info for assistance with this topic, please ask more
questions to get a better Idea of what I am looking for, by all means. I do see a lot of
Harmons for sale out there and I can spend a few green backs, within reason, if I was
recommended one of those. Again, I just don't want to have to lug something that is
300 hundred pounds..... But, I don't mind taking something apart to make it lighter.
[Which is what I can do with the wood stoves I use]

Chime in please!,
Regards, Soup

 

[Soup]

Interested in opinions regarding the purchase of a used
pellet stove.

What would you purchase and why?

thanks!, Soup

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

I'm a wood burner, but the subject interested me. I checked our local craiglist and found 12 used pellet stoves. A couple even included a hearth pad and all the pipe and chimney for $1500 - 1800- I like the Vermont Castings looks of the Quadra-fire Castille. But, I've never used one. My son owns a pellet insert made by Hudson River. I helped him with the install a few years back. It only took us a few hours to run the chimney liner and hook up the stove. Great running pellet stove!

 

[johneh]

I am old school; the simpler the better. I like Envrio, I have had one for 24 years now and still burn 24/7
for about 7 months a year. I worked on many types and makes. Harman makes a good stove, but too finicky for me.
Plug and play with little tweaking and clean often . Kept it clean, and just about any make will work well

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

I am old school; the simpler the better. I like Envrio, I have had one for 24 years now and still burn 24/7
for about 7 months a year. I worked on many types and makes. Harman makes a good stove, but too finicky for me.
Plug and play with little tweaking and clean often . Kept it clean, and just about any make will work well

agreed 100% Simpler usually is better. Less to break or go wrong

 

[Soup]

Yes, Agree with simpler is better. Most of my equipment outside the realm
of pellets, is largely nicely aged, maintained etc. etc. (does break though!.. but, I fix it myself)

Speaking, on the topic of less complicated and simpler, where do we see this
point in the pellet stove world.
When at what point did stoves become more (sophisicated / complicated)

I understand there are these points of interest for sellers of stoves(that would be the manufacturers),
nowadays to, want to set themselves apart from their competition, offering on topics of
Efficiency and beeing(bumble beeing!) the greener stove. etc.etc. etc.

So where is that line.......?........ how long ago.......?. three years? five years? Pre:2020?

THoughts?

Soup

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

less complicated and simpler

What about the non-electric gravity feed pellet stoves? I've looked into them some but not seriously. Or are they too simplified?

I'm running a woodstove that was made in 1991. I have a magnet thermometer on the hottest part of the stove, which is the side (about 4inches down from the top and 3 inches from the right front corner. About 18 inches up the stove pipe I have another one.

It has one lever. Air control: Full open to the right and somewhat closed to the left. The stove pipe damper lets me dial it down some.

And really the thermometers are really not needed. If the fire is too big (ie I get hot) I turn it down. If the fire is too small (you know the opposite of being hot) I just turn down the intake lever and the damper, have a nice day.

My chimney and stove pipe are straight up about 16 feet in total through the roof of a one story family room addition. I bring out my trusty little giant clone ladder and 15 minutes later and I'm climbing back down, chimney and stove pipe cleaned!

 

[Soup]

Non-electric gravity feed. I would like to know more about them, absolutely.
The aspect of something being simplified, for me is the idea that, working on it,
is within my grasp.
Recently, I purchased a tool so I could fix TMPS (failed wheel sensors) in
Autos. Anything after 2008 is the requirement(T.R.E.A.D. Act). Must have wheel sensors.
So here I am buying another tool. It's ok!. But, I am more resistant to change
than to welcome it. Before all these crazy tires(low profile), one could more
or less look at the tire and say, " Looks like I better get some air!". Nowadays,
It is a little less obvious. So I fixed the wheel sensors, so when some one else
is driving the car besides me.(and I may not see this car for months) I can
explain[Don't trust the computer But, if you see the tire low pressure lite
on now.(being that it is working now) you better Damn well get some air
in that tire.[ Unfortunately, yes , you have a low tire but, which one is it??? ;{ ) sih sih sih.]

I don't want to purchase a pellet stove I am not able to repair.
It is ok, if I don't understand something about it, immediately. We'll get a handle on it soon enough.

AND I am really into autonomy.... So not relying on electricity is a really cool thing!.

Currently, there are three different sources of heat at this residence....
I also think about Solar hydroninc...????? HMMMM?

So many thumbs up for Quadrafire Castille pellet stoves???
How are they regarding working on them yourself. and finding parts? and cost of parts? etc. etc.

AND
by all means talk about anything other than this.... as well......
regarding opinions on what you like in your stove.....

Thanks, Soup

 

[mtnbiker727]

Do you move often? If you only move a 300 lb stove to install it once you can invite your friends over to help you get it there. My wife, her brother, and I successfully hauled my 300 lb Harman out of our basement up a full flight of stairs and into the bed of my pickup truck to transport it to our new house. We borrowed an appliance hand truck, and it went really easy.

 

[Soup]

Nice!.... Teamwork. Sometimes, I don't have a team.

I have these Jotuls,F118's. They (woodies) have all these
parts that just pop off. All of sudden, the pup is manageable.
I have a pretty decent appliance hand truck it works well
moving most stuff. Though, I moved an eighty gallon two stage
compressor recently off the truck. That was a little hairy solo.
Sometimes even if you can remove just a door and a lid.
you can cut the weight 50 pounds and it makes a difference.

The quadrafire castilles are rated at 265. Does anyone
know if those come apart?

Are all the models of the Harman, are they all around 300 pounds?

 

[Ocelot]

According to Google, my Harman P43 is 213 lbs. It's been the easiest, lowest maintenance, and nicest stove I've used. For me personally, it's my 2nd pellet stove, but I've also helped and repaired a few friends and family's stoves several times as well.

We use the pellet stove for 95-98% of our heat. Our oil furnace only runs a few minutes in the morning on the coldest days. I use maybe an 1/8th tank of oil per year.

My first pellet stove was a bay front Englander EP25 which worked fine until I sold it after about 12 years of use when I bought the couple year old Harman P43. It's been far less daily/weekly maintenance than the Englander and works great. The Englander kept the house warm and worked well. Other than replacing a few auger and combustion motors, a couple burn pots and igniters, it did the job fine.

Aside from my old Englander and my Harman, I've worked on or repaired Quadrafire, Ashley, and US Stove. They all do the job, but some are just easier and seem more reliable.

What I like about the Harman is that being a bottom feeder instead of a drop feeder, the burn pot is almost self cleaning. I used to have to shut down my Englander daily to clean the burn pot and the ash bin. That only took a few minutes once it was cool enough to do, but if I didn't do it, it would clog up and not burn as well. On my Harman, I can go a couple weeks without ever shutting it down. Just a quick 5 second scrape of the burn pot once or twice per day while it's running and that's it. I use pine pellets, which have very little ash and I can go a few weeks without emptying the ash bin and even then, it's not close to full.

Another thing I like about the Harman is with the exception of the hopper, the whole stove body gets hot and throws heat, a little like a woodstove. The sides and even the base gets hot. Our house is small and when I'm not as worried about the rest of the house and we're mainly in the living room, I can keep the room blower very low and quiet and with the whole stove throwing some heat, it still keeps that room nice and warm. With my Englander, only the top and the front got hot, and even the top wasn't as hot as the Harman gets.

I've never used one of those gravity feed stoves, but I do like the idea of them and have watched quite a few videos of them over the years. They're kind of like a rocket stove concept, but I don't know how well it would work running 24/7 throughout the winter.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

my Harman P43

There are more than a few threads on here about the P43, seems to be a good stove.
How old is yours @Ocelot ?

Wondering what sort of changes Harman may have made good/bad in the last several years?

They're kind of like a rocket stove concept

Yeah, I get that. I'm going to look around the forum and see what kind of info I can find. Sure be interested to hear from someone that owns one.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

I'm not crazy about the looks of those Wiseway stoves. The Independent Stoves GAP2020 stove is interesting to me but there really isn't anything on the site about anyone actually owning or running one. It's a more conventional looking pellet stove/ pellet insert.

 

[Ocelot]

There are more than a few threads on here about the P43, seems to be a good stove.
How old is yours @Ocelot ?

I think mine is a 2015. I bought it used in 2020 from a guy who had it stored in his garage for a couple years and it hadn't been used much. I still tore it down and overhauled it all anyway before I installed it.

As far as I know, there haven't been any significant changes to the P-series in quite a few years. The last change I can think of was when they went from clear door glass to what they call flame reactive mirrored glass sometime in the mid 2010's. Before that, there was a change that added a silicone vent tube to the auger area, but that was way back. It's pretty much a solid design and hasn't needed changes.

I don't think there's anything new in the past few years, but I haven't seen a new one to know for sure. However, when I was looking at parts last year online, I didn't see anywhere where parts depended on the year for the P43, so if there were changes, it can't be much.

Ray

 

[Whitenuckler]

I think mine is a 2015. I bought it used in 2020 from a guy who had it stored in his garage for a couple years and it hadn't been used much. I still tore it down and overhauled it all anyway before I installed it.

As far as I know, there haven't been any significant changes to the P-series in quite a few years. The last change I can think of was when they went from clear door glass to what they call flame reactive mirrored glass sometime in the mid 2010's. Before that, there was a change that added a silicone vent tube to the auger area, but that was way back. It's pretty much a solid design and hasn't needed changes.

I don't think there's anything new in the past few years, but I haven't seen a new one to know for sure. However, when I was looking at parts last year online, I didn't see anywhere where parts depended on the year for the P43, so if there were changes, it can't be much.

Ray

I had mine installed this year in Feb brand new. I agree with all the previous comments by Ocelot. I have not had any other stoves, but I am really happy with it. I had to pay more to get it, but it's worth it. The board is all analog, and the feed system is a great design.

 

[Soup]

I am going to look at a Quadrafire Castille tomorrow(used).
Comes with all the fixin's , it is about ten years old. I will see it run in their driveway(test drive).
Comes with about a 1/2 ton of pellets.....
Any thoughts on things to look for. It is the Mahogany enamel finished one.

Soup

 

[Soup]

I like the idea of the the bottom feed pellets.

What I like about the Harman is that being a bottom feeder instead of a drop feeder, the burn pot is almost self cleaning. I used to have to shut down my Englander daily to clean the burn pot and the ash bin. That only took a few minutes once it was cool enough to do, but if I didn't do it, it would clog up and not burn as well. On my Harman, I can go a couple weeks without ever shutting it down. Just a quick 5 second scrape of the burn pot once or twice per day while it's running and that's it. I use pine pellets, which have very little ash and I can go a few weeks without emptying the ash bin and even then, it's not close to full.