What brand/model stove do you have and would you recommend it?

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Jasbolto

New Member
Oct 14, 2012
30
Manchester NH
I just bought a new house and it is heated with a oil boiler my wife and I have decided to purchase a pellet stove e to supplement he heating cost but there are so many different types rands/models out there that it can be a bit overwhelming. I I have a 1400+Sq ft cape that was built I am the 50s that I just blew $500 worth of insulation into the attic and eves. I the stove will be in the living room about 12ft from the stairwell to the upstairs. If anyone could recommend some different models for me to look at I would appreciate it.
 
I have a St. Croix Auburn. I'm heating approximately 1400 sq ft. So far, I've had to keep the stove on its lowest heat setting. Otherwise, I'd drive my bride and myself right out the door! Serious business! Even on its lowest heat setting, we have to keep a window open and, at times, the front door is opened.

I live in southern mid Michigan. We've had a handful of upper 20's nights. The window over the sink remains open. To hot otherwise. I have no doubt when the temperatures finally do get cold, I might have to bump the heat setting up, along with closing the window.

Would I recommend a St. Croix Auburn? From my all readings/investigations and real life experience, not only yes but hell yes!!

Cat.
 
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I have a Quadrafire CB1200 and really like it. For the money, I found it to be just what I need. It is very easy to run and to clean. Installed myself. The difference in what I paid to heat my house 2 years ago vs. last year pretty much paid for everything (stove, pad, piping and pellets). Granted last year was not a normal winter here but I am a very sastified customer.
As important as the stove (they all pretty much burn pellets and put out heat), is the dealer support. Talk to them, get to know them and go with what feels right. In the off chance something does happen, having a relationship with a dealer / service person is invaluable.
Also you have already made one very important decision, getting on this forum. I have found the members to be exceptionally helpful and patient.
Good luck.
 
Enviro M55 steel free standing. Heat a 2000 sqft home built in 2003.

We went through 4 tons last year. 2 tons of spruce point and 2 tons of fire side. Cleaned it once per week. Did not use oil the entire year. I would recommend the stove, with out reservation.
 
We have a Harman XXV which we use to heat the whole house. Upstairs and down. I put a fan in the downstairs ceiling to suck the warm air up and it does a good job. It seems with a pellet stove you have to be a little innovative to get the heat where you want it to go. You have to experiment. After all all your heat is coming from one place and sometimes it needs some help with fans etc. distributing it. This is our second year with the Harman and we are very pleased with it. Also as said above look for a reputable dealer.
 
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I would agree with IHATEPROPANEs suggestion. As you can see opinions vary. I think very few on here would chime in with "I hate this piece of junk I have right now". The Harman guys swear by them, the Enviro guys like myself do the same and there are plenty of guys with Home Depot stoves that keep the oil man away too. I love my M55 but it's an investment to be sure. Both in time and money. At the end of the day I would go broke keeping my house at 73 in CT using oil. Get a few ideas on what you like and guys will definitely tell you if it will do the job and if the price is in line. I went to the first dealer in my area only to find out I could get twice the stove for half the price. Shop around and let us know when you have a few in mind. These guys (and gals) on here are fantastic and whatever question you could dream up someone will be an expert undoubtedly or have that thing you forgot to think about. Good luck and happy hunting.
 
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Don't forget to look in Craig's list etc for some bargains. GOOD stoves can be cleaned and repaired to like new with a little elbow grease and some advice from here.
 
If it is going to be you main source of heat.. buy a new stove and go with a reputable dealer. Hearthworks in Hooksett would be a good start. If you can spin a wrench and/or using it for supplemental heat, look for a used stove or a big box stove such as Englander. I went with a used stove because it is supplemental heat for a wing of my house and I can fix my own problems. If you do not have the know how to look into an electrical problem with your stove.. go new. Harmon Accentra would be a great stove for your size house. Harman has the bottom feed stoves that burn bad pellets well but you have to be burning many tons to make it a major issue. It is amazing how may people sell their pellet stove because they do not know how to clean it.. runs crapy and they do not know why.
 
We can all tell you how much we like our stoves and what we can heat with them. But it all boils down to what the other half likes and is up
to you to get it to heat your home. Best to look around your area and find a dealer that will work with you in finding a model that fits your
house size and style. I would recomend a Multi Fuel because they seem to burn about any quality pellet well. I am currently heating 2200sq.ft
T shaped ranch with an M55FS steel.
 
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Someone has been quoting that 80 percent of stove problems are related to not being clean or some such. I got a stove that was two years old and owner said it was not putting out heat any more. He never broke the seal on the owners manual. Took me half an afternoon to clean up. Worked fine with a bit of TLC. Some mechanical ability is needed to keep these stoves running optimally.
 
Someone has been quoting that 80 percent of stove problems are related to not being clean or some such. I got a stove that was two years old and owner said it was not putting out heat any more. He never broke the seal on the owners manual. Took me half an afternoon to clean up. Worked fine with a bit of TLC. Some mechanical ability is needed to keep these stoves running optimally.

Must have confused it with his self cleaning oven in the kitchen ;lol
 
I'll repeat what I say regularly any stove can be made to heat well even some that a lot of folks give up on that are actually junk as delivered.

But unless you are willing and able to get down, dirty, and become totally familiar with your stove and all of its pieces, you are going to be constrained by the dealers staff and customer service skills which vary widely. Research the dealers more than the stove otherwise you will regret your decision even if it was one for the cats meow of a stove.

If you plan on using the stove as primary heat make certain you have a backup heating system that works, common spare parts for the stove, or a combination of both.
 
We went to a couple of dealers and compared all the stoves they carried. We liked the St. Croix Afton Bay the best out of all of them. some selling points were the ability to run on a thermostat, the ease of working on it, the looks, the fact that it is a multi fuel stove, the heat output, the fact that the outside metal does not get hot when running. then we got the estimate of almost $4000. no way we could aford that.

When I found the same stove on Craigslist I was estatic. We brought cash and left the guy with a large hole in his wall. got 2 tons of pellets with it, all the venting, cleaning tools and the hearth.

We have had to fix a few things on it, but it has been a great stove. we are on our 2nd season heating with it.

We only had to use our furnace once when waiting for a new combustion fan motor for a few days. otherwise it heats our 1800 square foot 2 story farm house that was built in 1870 with no supplemental heat source. Very easily keeps the heat at 75 - 78 degrees on level 3. We do not need any fans to move our heat. The upstairs stays about 70 degrees.

As others pointed out keeping your stove clean is a must! We clean ours weekly and have gotten lots of excellent advice from members here.
 
Someone has been quoting that 80 percent of stove problems are related to not being clean or some such. I got a stove that was two years old and owner said it was not putting out heat any more. He never broke the seal on the owners manual. Took me half an afternoon to clean up. Worked fine with a bit of TLC. Some mechanical ability is needed to keep these stoves running optimally.

What you have to read a manual?
 
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I absolutly love my Harman P61a. From what i read on here the Harman and Enviro owners have the strongest opinions of their stoves and probably for good reasons. There are so many stoves out there and it all comes down to quality price and looks. While not my cup of tea the cast iron models seem to have a good following also.
 
Most will be a lil biased ;)

But what is available locally?

Welcome to the Forums
 
Consider how hands on you want to be. Englanders are a good value but require more independent resources. I purchased a Harman insert for the ease of pulling it out for cleaning compared to my Englander. You should also consider ash pan size and the amount of time you are willing to spend performing routine maintanance. Do you want self ingnition and thermostatic control?

Above all welcome! It is so much fun telling people what it costs me to keep my house at 74 degrees!
 
If you need an insert, then Enviro M55 or Harman Accentra are the only two I would suggest. They both slide or roll out on rails which is a must for an insert IMHO. Otherwise, the most popular three brands are Harman, Enviro and Quadrafire. Can't go wrong with those stoves. Sometimes the best way to make up your mind is to take the wife and let her decide based on looks.
 
I love my Whitfield. Of course if you wanted one you would have to find one, and fix it up since they haven't been made for over a decade, but it keeps my house nice and toasty.
 
As stated many times already, many opinions and many brands. See what is around and what you both want out of a stove first.

BTW,
England's PDVC
Definitely reccomend it!
Support is great by Email and phone!

Bill
 
Love my englander 10-cpm. Very easy to maintain and the company support is top notch.
 
Look around for local dealers and talk to them. See what the deals are (cash is king). Compare warranties, and look at pellets. You would be surprised if you talk to a dealer and go for the whole package deal with them. Just like shopping for a car.

Eric
 
If you need an insert, then Enviro M55 or Harman Accentra are the only two I would suggest. They both slide or roll out on rails which is a must for an insert IMHO. Otherwise, the most popular three brands are Harman, Enviro and Quadrafire. Can't go wrong with those stoves. Sometimes the best way to make up your mind is to take the wife and let her decide based on looks.


I'm in a similar situation as the earlier "rookie" - just bought a house (2 story, 1,600 sq ft, "normal" insulation, newer double paned windowes) and the previous owners relied on a wood stove insert (that is on 1st floor) and supplemented with electric baseboard heat (electricity is extremely expensive). I'm looking at the pellet insert for the convenience factor - tired already of the stacking and packing of wood. I've looked at this site extensively and have talked to a couple dealers in the area for both the Accentra and the M55 - one dealer has quoted me prices of both that are within $500 of each other - the Enviro was the more expensive of the two. The dealers comments about the two were "the enviro is a better heater, but the Harman is built better with more bullet proof technology".

It's probably also helpful to share that the temperatures where I live (on the coast south of San Francisco) rarely get below 30 in the coldest of winters.

I want a stove that is going to be as easy and maintenance free as well as dependable as possible. I've seen plenty of other brands that are considerably cheaper; however, I'm looking at this as an investment (of sorts) as well as a way to heat the house. Can you (or others hopefully) share some recommendations - whether it's with the Harman or Enviro or other less expensive models that maybe I haven't even considered? If you can recommend any Northern Ca retailers or Online retailers that info is welcome as well.

Thanks in advance..
 
I'm in a similar situation as the earlier "rookie" - just bought a house (2 story, 1,600 sq ft, "normal" insulation, newer double paned windowes) and the previous owners relied on a wood stove insert (that is on 1st floor) and supplemented with electric baseboard heat (electricity is extremely expensive). I'm looking at the pellet insert for the convenience factor - tired already of the stacking and packing of wood. I've looked at this site extensively and have talked to a couple dealers in the area for both the Accentra and the M55 - one dealer has quoted me prices of both that are within $500 of each other - the Enviro was the more expensive of the two. The dealers comments about the two were "the enviro is a better heater, but the Harman is built better with more bullet proof technology".

It's probably also helpful to share that the temperatures where I live (on the coast south of San Francisco) rarely get below 30 in the coldest of winters.

I want a stove that is going to be as easy and maintenance free as well as dependable as possible. I've seen plenty of other brands that are considerably cheaper; however, I'm looking at this as an investment (of sorts) as well as a way to heat the house. Can you (or others hopefully) share some recommendations - whether it's with the Harman or Enviro or other less expensive models that maybe I haven't even considered? If you can recommend any Northern Ca retailers or Online retailers that info is welcome as well.

Thanks in advance..

I can tell you that with the M55 you won't have to open the door between cleanings since it has an agitator that keeps the burn pot breathing at it's peak. Sounds like the Harman may require an occasional scrape of the burnpot between weekly cleanings, easy enough. But the Harman has a better designed docking station what automatically connects both the exhaust and the OAK. The Enviro only connects the exhaust, you have to come up with your own way to get the OAK connected which could be a real pain in certain circumstances.

The only reason why the M55 is a better "heater" is because it is rated for higher BTU input (55,000) vs 40,000 for the Harman. So don't let that sway you, the Harman will be as efficient as the Enviro when converting pellets to heat. Based on your climate the Harman will be plenty unless you have more than 2500sf. Neither stove will be maintenance free as they all have motors and electronics that can break down/fail. I don't think either has a better reputation as far as breakdowns are concerned.

As you said, it is an investment, so I imagine looks count. I would choose based on which looks better to you or your wife. Both are great stoves.
 
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