Which pellet insert?

[Cheeks]

Hi, i'm currently in the market for a pellet stove insert. My wife and I have been looking at the Hampton GCI60, and the Harman Accentra. We came down to these two because the wife approves of their appearance.

Does anyone have input into either of these, or recommend another insert?
The local dealer pushed the Harman because they say it's much easier to maintain/clean than any other pellet insert. The Hampton has more max BTU (55k), is more efficient, and has a larger viewing area. It looks like the Hampton is also about $300-500 more.

Our house is about 3000 sq feet so bigger is better (use the oil less). We still have our HI300 wood burning stove on the other side of the house and would probably use it less than the pellet stove.
Thanks for any opinions or input.

 

[begreen]

Quad stoves are easy to clean too. The Quadrafire 1200 only needs to be cleaned once every week or two.

Moved the thread to the pellet forum. You will get a lot more input from the folks that use these inserts. For good looks take a peek at the Quad Mount Vernon and Enviro M55.

 

[Delta-T]

I am familiar with both the Harman Accentra Insert and the Enviro M55 Insert. Both are good units. Both have the slide out rail system to help with the cleaning. M55 is more powerful, bigger viewing area, nice faux double door that you can open. Accentra maybe has slightly bigger ash pan and independant control of fire and fan. Is a tough choice,

 

[begreen]

How often do you need to clean the Accentra vs the M55? What is the cleaning routine?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Hi, i'm currently in the market for a pellet stove insert. My wife and I have been looking at the Hampton GCI60, and the Harman Accentra. We came down to these two because the wife approves of their appearance.

Does anyone have input into either of these, or recommend another insert?
The local dealer pushed the Harman because they say it's much easier to maintain/clean than any other pellet insert. The Hampton has more max BTU (55k), is more efficient, and has a larger viewing area. It looks like the Hampton is also about $300-500 more.

Our house is about 3000 sq feet so bigger is better (use the oil less). We still have our HI300 wood burning stove on the other side of the house and would probably use it less than the pellet stove.
Thanks for any opinions or input.

I am a Harman dealer so I will say Harman. As for the max BTU of the Hampton, do you know attempting to get 55,000 BTU needs almost 7 pounds of pellets per hour? Will you ever burn 7 pounds per hour? I doubt it.

Quads CB1200 is an awesome unit but more modern style. The Mt. Vernon is a great unit and slightly more money than the Harman. There is a new Mt Vernon coming out this year and is a pellet unit with wireles remote and controls on the stove. around $500 cheaper than the current Mt. Vernon.

Eric

 

[Delta-T]

with a decent pellet, I run 'em both for about a 15-25 bags before I address the ash pan, front glass, and the heat exchange areas. On the Accentra this includes taking out the 2 baffles and giving them a quick karate action with a paintbrush. On the M55 you gotta pull the heat exchange scraper thingy, and pull out the giant cast thing in the back (not difficult). Both machines can take some abuse, but I have them next to each other in the showroom and they need to keep up appearances . I am religious about cleaning the Accentra igniter at least every 2 weeks, and I'd do it more frequently if we turned it off and on frequently, but we tend to run them straight for about 2-3 weeks at a time. Both units are DV out the back, so no liner to address. Thy will run pretty well for a few tons before I have to pull them out and clean the combustion blowers, and the venting. We don't keep any pets so animal hair on the fans is not a factor here, like in many homes.

 

[Defiant]

As Eric stated I would go for the Harman

 

[Cheeks]

Thanks for all of the replies so far - very helpful. Just to clarify, is the Enviro M55 the same as the Hampton GCI60? I know they look slightly different, but the inside is the same?

 

[jtakeman]

Thanks for all of the replies so far - very helpful. Just to clarify, is the Enviro M55 the same as the Hampton GCI60? I know they look slightly different, but the inside is the same?

Only difference is the trim package. Both units are made by Sherwood Industries. They share about all the same parts as well.

The Hampton will do all of 55K BTU's. They actually have an adjustable feed gate because with certain pellets they were pumping closer to 65 to 70K out of them and they were hitting the high limit switch. Also increased the Convection fan CFM's to keep it cooler and push more air around. Yes Eric well over 7 pounds per hour!

With 3K sqft to try and heat? I'd not even bother with anything less than 50K. That's a lot of house for a dinky stove(you'll freeze you cans off with a CB1200)! Go with all the horsepower you can get or you'll be using the back up to assist in the very cold weather.

 

[Cheeks]

we completely expect that the oil might be kicking on in other zones of the house, or that we may be using the wood burning stove on the other end of the house. I'll report in later this winter on what we chose and how well it works. Thanks!

 

[Lousyweather]

I am a Harman dealer so I will say Harman. As for the max BTU of the Hampton, do you know attempting to get 55,000 BTU needs almost 7 pounds of pellets per hour? Will you ever burn 7 pounds per hour? I doubt it.

Quads CB1200 is an awesome unit but more modern style. The Mt. Vernon is a great unit and slightly more money than the Harman. There is a new Mt Vernon coming out this year and is a pellet unit with wireles remote and controls on the stove. around $500 cheaper than the current Mt. Vernon.

Eric

also a new Harman Insert coming out with different controls, architecture, and a higher BTU rating!

 

[Aquion]

I had an Enviro M-55 Cast insert installed back in November. It's a great stove. It kept the main floor of my house (1600 sf) at a toasty 73 or so all winter long. I cleaned it once a week. The cleaning takes about 30 minutes. Every other week I would clean behind the cast iron plate in the back of the stove. I usually ran the stove on level 1 or 2 (out of 5). If it got really cold, I'd bump it up to 3. Levels 4 and 5 were too much. It's a great stove and looks very nice too.

 

[stovelark]

Hi cheeks, think you'd be happy with either stove. My bias is toward the multifuel Enviro stoves though. Very quiet, fairly easy to clean and service, most of the issues have been ironed out. Hard to go against the Harman stove either, maybe a little noisier, but a great looking heater. I like the Quad 1200CB too, another easy to clean and service stove. Good luck.

 

[mattyice5290]

the new accentra insert thats coming out hopefully soon has more btu's dual dist blowers and you can get it in enamel which looks pretty slick i personally think the m55s are a pain in the butt to clean and enviro is notorius for having electrical issues harman makes a pretty solid product plus the m55 is almost 1500 dollars more in enamel and abot 800 dollars more in regular flat black depending go with the accentra or maybe even the 35i its a great utility stove

 

[stovelark]

Enviro electrical issues?? Don't know about that. Don't think they are difficult to clean either, are you confusing them with Stcroix?? Ha. I clean a lot of Enviros, I find them pretty solid pellet stoves, not perfect certainly but overall as good as any brand.

 

[iron stove]

also a new Harman Insert coming out with different controls, architecture, and a higher BTU rating!

Really, a new Harman. Details

 

[Cheeks]

we've decided on the GCI60. about $5500 for everything including installation, the optional rail system, fake logs and thermostat. Tax holiday this weekend in MA, so that helps.

I have a question about thermostats (millivolt?) but i'll search for prior posts or start a new thread.

 

[CygnusX1]

Check out the Enviro M55. Nice stove and looks good too.

 

[The Maine Stove Guy]

Really, a new Harman. Details

Could be a re-work of the Accentra with more BTU's and some other features.......at least that's what I "imagine" <wink>. Also a new stove could be in the works too......or so I heard.

 

[stovelark]

Hi cheeks- congrats on the new stove. Think you will be happy with it, just remember get the best pellets you can and the stove will do the rest. Good luck