Used Harman P43 or used Accentra?

[RavingZeus]

Hi

I have a little less than 2000 square feet house built in end of '80s and I'am looking to buy a used pellet stove, there is 2 harman stove (p43 and accentra) for sale near by.

I can get the accentra for (1500$US) 60% of the price of the P43 (2500$US). I was looking to buy a P43 at first, but for now the only one I found seems a bit expensive, but it has only 1 year old. I don't know yet the age of the Accentra, I just emailed the seller.

I have some concern about the Accentra model. I was trying to find some review of the accentra but can't find a lot of stuff, but find out a lot of people having problem with it compare to the P43.

What would you suggest? Do they have the same reliability? Is Accentra enough to heat around 1900 square feet?

thanks for your help

 

[alternativeheat]

The P43 is a little easier to clean, the Accentra a bit more stately looking but you will have baffles to remove when cleaning ( not a huge issue, just mentioning it) and some things not as as easily accessed as on the P stove... The Accentra is cast iron, it tends to retain heat and depend on the blower to distribute it's heat effectively. The p43 is steel, it tends to radiate heat as well as blow heat, also effectively but it probably will be a bit more noisy ( mechanical noises are transmitted via the steel vs dampened with cast iron to some extent). The steel of our P61 is one reason why we bought it, we had an area to the side of the stove ( dining room/kitchen) that might not have gotten blown heat so well. So we wanted some radiating heat. Generally speaking many pellet stoves are not known for radiating heat but heat houses well world wide..

I don't know of any particular reliability issues of either stove, it does stand to reason where the Accentra needs a bit more attention to detail in cleaning that new folks to it's design might have missed a detail and thus experienced some sort of performance issue or temporary let down till they got their cleaning methods more organized..

Neither stove is over sized for your space, depending on insulation and such ( how tight your house is and exact layout), you might be tapping the limit of either selection. But I don't know your climate, if you hit sub 0 temps you might find your central heat helping out on occasion, milder climate they might do fine. The P 43 has slightly more output potential FWIW ( not huge).

Edit: Oops, I see you are in Montreal. I'd probably be looking at 50,000 btu stoves and up. So P61, XXV class stoves ( 50,000- 61,000 btu), one up from what you are looking at. That said, the P43 is a pretty capable stove in it's own right but anywhere in the NE , up through Maine and NH and into Canada heating 2,000 sq ft I'd think of it as auxiliary heat vs main heat source just by default, excluding knowing your exact conditions. Everything I said about the Accentra vs P43 pretty much stands for the XXV vs the P61 except the XXV has powerful twin blowers, it really pumps some heat out compared with the free standing Accentra. it's 10,000 btu more and more powerful blowers and super quiet. I really like the XXV after having seen it in action under full out test run. And the P61 is a know heat monster if more noisy and not as pretty. You live in an area that is known to hit -30f and frequent -0 to single digits.

 

[jackman]

I've got 10 years on my Accentra. I've replaced the igniter, control board pots, distribution blower, and the auger motor in that time. It runs continuously in the winter. It's been a trooper.

 

[RavingZeus]

Neither stove is over sized for your space, depending on insulation and such ( how tight your house is and exact layout), you might be tapping the limit of either selection. But I don't know your climate, if you hit sub 0 temps you might find your central heat helping out on occasion, milder climate they might do fine. The P 43 has slightly more output potential FWIW ( not huge).

Edit: Oops, I see you are in Montreal. I'd probably be looking at 50,000 btu stoves and up. So P61, XXV class stoves ( 50,000- 61,000 btu), one up from what you are looking at. That said, the P43 is a pretty capable stove in it's own right but anywhere in the NE , up through Maine and NH and into Canada heating 2,000 sq ft I'd think of it as auxiliary heat vs main heat source just by default, excluding knowing your exact conditions. Everything I said about the Accentra vs P43 pretty much stands for the XXV vs the P61 except the XXV has powerful twin blowers, it really pumps some heat out compared with the free standing Accentra. it's 10,000 btu more and more powerful blowers and super quiet. I really like the XXV after having seen it in action under full out test run. And the P61 is a know heat monster if more noisy and not as pretty. You live in an area that is known to hit -30f and frequent -0 to single digits.

RIght now I have a Pacific Energy Super 27 at home in the basement (broken link removed to http://www.pacificenergy.net/products/wood/super/super/) and I can get 83F inside when it'S -13F outside easily. I only heat my house with that stove, no electricity, I have to put wood when I wake up and 2 to 3 times during evening depending of the weather We rarely get to -30F outside, for a total of 6 days maybe during winter we get around -22F, but average temperature is more around 5F outside during winter season, for example, this week we had 40F during the day, since saturday (but this is a bit exceptional )

.
I went to 2 harman dealer around here and they all suggest me the P43, they say p61 is too much for my need. Because I was looking for the P61 before visiting them. Now after what you are saying, not sure anymore, maybe I should also take a look for a used P61. better be safe than sorry!

Thanks for you help by the way, if any of you have more info, please share!

 

[alternativeheat]

You're presently heating with a 72,000 btu wood stove ( cord wood specs). In and of itself that doesn't mean a whole lot, because wood stoves have a huge heating curve involved and pellet stoves don't. But just sayin.

 

[RavingZeus]

You're presently heating with a 72,000 btu wood stove ( cord wood specs). In and of itself that doesn't mean a whole lot, because wood stoves have a huge heating curve involved and pellet stoves don't. But just sayin.

I shared it to give an idea, because i really don't know the difference of btu needed between a wood stove and pellet stove.
I really need a pellet stove that will be powerful enought to be my primary source of heat in my house

 

[alternativeheat]

Yeah, they are two different concepts for sure. With pellet stoves you heat on a more or less constant plateau of heat. Where wood stoves have the peak and valley thing going on.

Stove specs of course are subjective. So much depends on your structure you are heating and climate, insulation etc. That said, in a perfect scenario, what ever that is, a P43 should heat 800-2400 sq ft. and a P61 1300-3500 sq ft. I would submit that in any older house, it's probably not meeting modern day specs and that would lower that top number by any number of numbers less. Those top numbers are a hopeful ideal loaded with speculation. We have people here heating 1600sq ft with two stoves and others heating beyond the max of one stove with that very one stove. We have others who just can't heat their house because of poor or no insulation and poor layout,.

I'm heating 1800 sq ft with a P61. It's tapped out to 2/3 of it's capability a few times in the going on 5 years we have been using it. Generally speaking, it does a lot of loafing but generally speaking a P43 probably would have as well. It's not a basement install, it's a living room install heating two floors and an out room I call a studio. If that out room were tighter probably a P43 might have worked. As is, those 2/3 capacity days would have taxed the P43 to it's max limit. This way I still have head room. To me this is the sign of a perfect fit for one stove, that it has some reserve on the worst days. Now it could be in your scenario, the p43 has reserve, I don't know that answer.

 

[railfanron]

If your house is all on one floor and not completely tight and not insulated well I would thing you need to go bigger. Alternative heat explained it well. I heat 2250 sq ft all one floor (no basement) with a p43 and if I use it 100% the far rooms are hard pressed to get above 10 degrees less than the room the stove is in when it's cold out. If I was you I would go for the P61 or P68.
Ron

 

[RavingZeus]

Thanks for your help. Per the Hamran dealer, they told me since it is in the basement (I have 2 floor) he said the upstair floor count for the half of it size since the heat go up, he told me my 1900 square feet should be more consider like a 1500 square feet. But hey! I'am not an expert, this guy is the owner of it's store since 30 years, i hope he knows what he is saying... I'am still not sure now if I should go with p43 and take a p61, but I don't know why this guy would tell me lie, he can tell me to buy a p63 for 1200$ more, habitually that's what sellers do, convince you to buy more!

I will think about all that, thanks for your help, I will avoir de Accentra for sure, since it's less powerfull than the p43

 

[bogieb]

Thanks for your help. Per the Hamran dealer, they told me since it is in the basement (I have 2 floor) he said the upstair floor count for the half of it size since the heat go up, he told me my 1900 square feet should be more consider like a 1500 square feet. But hey! I'am not an expert, this guy is the owner of it's store since 30 years, i hope he knows what he is saying... I'am still not sure now if I should go with p43 and take a p61, but I don't know why this guy would tell me lie, he can tell me to buy a p63 for 1200$ more, habitually that's what sellers do, convince you to buy more!

I will think about all that, thanks for your help, I will avoir de Accentra for sure, since it's less powerfull than the p43

He is not necessarily lying. First off, I have 1,600 sq/ft with 650 of it in the basement. When I went to pick out a stove, I questioned whether I might need two smaller stoves (one for each floor) and the dealer told me the P61a would heat my house easily from the basement (I even gave him a layout of my house). Yeah, well - nope. I have a P61a that heats the basement really well (heck, I could easily hit 100* if I wanted to), and the kitchen and living room are fairly well heated - the bathroom and bedrooms NOT. I have done just about everything possible from insulating and tightening up the basement foundation, to new triple-pane windows, new wall insulation (tore out old sheetrock and replaced everything), new roof etc. I cut holes in my floors and used register booster fans to force hot air up (and cold air down), used other fans to circulate and still the bedrooms would be in the 40's when it was in the negative numbers outside. So, I ended up putting in a smaller stove upstairs anyway. I wish I had gone with two small stoves to begin with - which incidentally would have been more money for the dealer.

I'm not saying the P43 won't heat your whole place well, I'm just saying that what "should" happen as written on paper, is not necessarily what happens in real life.

 

[alternativeheat]

I've tried to heat this house from the basement from what almost could be considered a coal furnace. It made unbelievable heat for the basement. I could get the basement to well over 90f even pushing on towards 100 but the main floor of the house on a really cold day made it all the way up to 64f. But we had warm floors for sure. The good news is I already had a main floor coal stove, so between the two I could cut them both back. I have to kind of bow out when people start talking about fully heating their house from a basement installed pellet stove because the mechanical heat transfer factor is a total unknown to me. Your dealer seems to know about that well though, so maybe you should just follow his instructions.

My personal inclination ? I'd be thinking two P43's, one in the basement , one on the main floor. Both could be run on medium to low burns and save on pellets. My personal inclination or thought ? You're going to be cranking that single basement install. But see, I don't know your house. If you say the wood stove got the upstairs up to 83, then your house heats better than this place I live in for sure. I had my basement ready to go into spontaneous combustion to get the main floor up to 64.

I would add this: If a proper sized stove has a mechanical disadvantage because of the install location or house layout, then more stove put in the same location can't solve that dilemma.

 

[alternativeheat]

Thanks for your help.

I will think about all that, thanks for your help, I will avoir de Accentra for sure, since it's less powerfull than the p43

The Accentra would be a nice main floor stove, real nice main floor stove..

 

[RavingZeus]

Ending up buying the P43, installed it and tried it since more than 2 weeks and it's enought for my house, have to set it to 2/3 of the heat during cold day or night and can set it to half during warmer day. So it seems to be enought for my need

In the last week It was 32F to 23F during the day and 23F to 5F during the night, was able to heat the house with 7 bag of pellets for 7 days, this seems to be a good quantity to me

thanks for your help.

 

[bags]

I like all the extra radiant heat the P Series offer too besides what the blowers push. Every bit helps in the cold.