Will Harman Meet Demand? Concerned...

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mjstev01

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Jun 25, 2008
14
South Shore, MA
Ordered a Harman Accentra insert June 5th. Delivery date to my dealer was given, Aug. 25th. Installation to be done mid-Sept. When ordering, I was aware of the recent demand for Harman stoves. I had a hunch Harman may have underestimated this year and could be in trouble. Postings on this site confirm this concern. What do people know about Harman? Should I be concerned that my delivery date could be pushed back, maybe even into the heating season? Seems like there is no hard data out there, just uninformed dealers who woun't garantee anything and forums likes this discussing what they've heard. Wonder what your thoughts are...
 
It is shaping up to be one of "those" years. It could be possible that your date get's pushed back. I had many of my orders pushed back in 05, not Harman's (I didn't sell them) but every mfg was in the same boat that year. Sometimes it's not even the actual stove manufacturer's who can't keep up, it's the component suppliers (fans, c-boards, etc.) that drop the ball. One thing's for sure, cancel your order now and you'll definately be in line for a while.
 
My guess is that you will get your stove by the time you need to use it. The "new" Harman is owned by a very large company with lots of capital and access to subcontractors for certain assemblies, etc.

As Shane said, you are already in line. If anything, some people in line may cancel their orders (dealers, etc.), so your chances are good. My usually line of thinking on this stuff - is if that is the exact unit you really want, it hardly matters when you get it. Sept 15, Oct 15 or even Nov 15 - in the end you will have it for a long time, and the satisfaction of ownership will soon make you forget about those few weeks when you didn't have it.
 
We don't deal Harman but last I knew they had tons of excess inventory which was one of their problems. I can't believe they sold through all that already? Maybe they did.
 
Webmaster said:
They sold through all that and more....that older inventory went out on the dating program.......

And "the dating program" is???
 
I talk to a dealer wednesday as a follow up after they looked at the house to see where I could put a stove. They suggested the coal DVC instead of the pellet. They told me the coal stove would be ready in December And pellets would be in in september when they looked at the house. Now they are saying they might sell out of harmon pellet stove.
 
My Dad just bought a Harman PF 100 hot air pellet stove from dealer in Lenox MA. They only had three in stock and sold one over the phone while he was filling out paperwork. West Springfield MA dealer did not have any (PF-100) in stock and said that they would be backordered until March! Also inquired about the freestanding Accentra, Lenox will put you on a waiting list with a delivery scheduled for July - Aug.
 
BrotherBart said:
Webmaster said:
They sold through all that and more....that older inventory went out on the dating program.......

And "the dating program" is???

Early buy........

In the hearth industry, it is tradition for manufacturers to offer their "good credit" dealers a deal on large buys of product in Feb-April, which does not have to be paid for until the fall. "Dating", I guess, refers to moving the due date on the invoice forward.

This allows the dealer to serve as an extension of the makers warehouse.

If you want an idea of how bad things were the year before - consider this: Many Harman dealers never sold though their dating and did not pay Harman.....and that is part of what put him in a pickle. Many stoves were actually returned from dealers or sent to another dealer (who could sell them or pay the bill). So it took all of last season and the "early buy" this spring to move the built-up inventory.

Of course, this is 2nd hand , but also common knowledge.
 
Craig,

With your experience, do you think I'll get my Enviro Omega before winter?

I placed the order this past Friday. The dealer told me, that Enviro told them delivery wouldn't be till October.

The dealer said he wouldn't be surprized if it showed up in August and that he thought Enviro was maybe being too conservative and giving him a worst case scenario.

But I don't know. I do know they are selling alot of stoves for this time of year.

Thanks,

FG.


Webmaster said:
BrotherBart said:
Webmaster said:
They sold through all that and more....that older inventory went out on the dating program.......

And "the dating program" is???

Early buy........

In the hearth industry, it is tradition for manufacturers to offer their "good credit" dealers a deal on large buys of product in Feb-April, which does not have to be paid for until the fall. "Dating", I guess, refers to moving the due date on the invoice forward.

This allows the dealer to serve as an extension of the makers warehouse.

If you want an idea of how bad things were the year before - consider this: Many Harman dealers never sold though their dating and did not pay Harman.....and that is part of what put him in a pickle. Many stoves were actually returned from dealers or sent to another dealer (who could sell them or pay the bill). So it took all of last season and the "early buy" this spring to move the built-up inventory.

Of course, this is 2nd hand , but also common knowledge.
 
I ordered June 6 and was told it would ship June 23. No Stove yet!! They just told me that the inserts won't ship until late August now. WTF ??
 
lecomte38, that's my concern as well. I contacted the webmaster on the Harman website to see if he could me in touch with someone who might have more details.

His response..."I don't think anyone will guarantee any date. There is a good way of estimating availability, and that is for the dealer to contact the order fulfillment team and check the order against the production schedule. There is always a chance of a schedule change and / or difficulties, so no one really knows."

For those of you who have an Accentra insert on order, give this a try, let me know how you make out.
 
I called a dealer yesterday to see about getting a Harmon Advance and he said he'd have to call me back by Thursday and let me know if they would be able to get them. He had been saying October even before that but now they didn't know if Harmon would be able to supply them. He mentioned that Harmon may be changing their production schedule to fill orders on the most popular models first which tend to be the inserts.

Take it for what it's worth but that's what one dealer said to me. Since then I've been looking at the QuadraFire Mt Vernon. I'm a little concerned about Harmon being able to maintain quality if they are rushing to fill orders.
 
Since pellet stove makers don't make many of the components in the stoves (ie. auger motors, fans, etc.) my bet is that component shortages are going to hit pretty soon.
 
flamegrabber said:
Craig,

With your experience, do you think I'll get my Enviro Omega before winter?

I placed the order this past Friday. The dealer told me, that Enviro told them delivery wouldn't be till October.

The dealer said he wouldn't be surprized if it showed up in August and that he thought Enviro was maybe being too conservative and giving him a worst case scenario.

My guess is that you will have it well before winter.......but some of this depends on the dealer you purchased from. If they are a fairly big dealer and have sold the units for years, you probably have more of a shot......assuming they pay their bills, etc.

For now, I would take the dealers word on that.
 
Product will become hard to find at this point i am back ordered only till late july with the volume we do but my guess is that by the end of the month the product will be out till september and by september we will be out till january febuary time just on the pace we are going at. best advice is to order quickly and go with some one who has been around for a good amount of time they will have better relations with the vendor then a new guy good luck.
 
On another note, can anyone point me in the right direction regarding domestic hot water through a tankless Burnham oil-fired boiler (prob C3 or C4 model, installed new in 2000)?

1) internal min/max temp settings. can these be adjusted down if my intent is now only to use the boiler for domestic hot water?, no longer needed at the high temps forced hot water radiators require...

2) does anybody turn off their oil-fired boiler when hot water is not required? i.e when at work, sleeping at night. are there pros/cons to doing so?

Thanks for all the help so far.
 
Well I don't know much about boilers but with the price of oil and your only planning to use it for hot water would you be any better off using electric hot water?? I had it priced compared about 3 years ago, I was thinking about getting an oil hot water heater. I was told that an electric hot water heater would cost about $500.00 a year to run and oil company said about a tank a year ( 200 Gallon) for the oil heater, so at the time the price worked out about the same so I stayed electric. Now the price of oil a tank would cost at least $1000.00. So if a boiler would compare in anyway to an oil fired hot water tank going electric might be the cheapest. Just an idea.
Terry
 
I think if everybody could do it again they would just say the stoves would be in sometime in the fall.

If I had not be told June, then August, I am not too sure it ever would of matter when I was eventually told September.
 
this is definately "one of those years" demand is unreal on new stoves this year due to ... well you all know why. if you have purchased or have a unit on order, check in from time to time , but dont cancel the order unless you have another option , this way when the unit comes you will have it and not the next guy in line. we at ESW are running pretty well at this point , the second plant couldnt have opened at a better time so i believe we should meet our retailers demands within reason (they want a years worth yesterday but will accept what we give em when we give em im sure). of the other brands out there, im sure they will rise to the occasion as well.

pellets seem to be in good supply , from what ive heard the supply is actually in good shape in most regions. and virtually every plant ive been in contact with is kickin em out pretty well. see early buys from retailers help the pellet mills more than you might think. they have a limited amount of storage capacity in most cases, and usually in late spring early summer , they sometimes even have to ease back a bit . not this year , and the opening up of valuable storage space allows them to "keep up the skeer" william bedford forrest so to speak. pellets may not be as scarce as many are thinking they will be. but with transport costs rising , they may go up in price reflected by deisel costs.
 
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