# Harman vs Comfortbilt



## Poisnd (Feb 19, 2019)

I have been doing some research lately for a new pellet stove. In my previous house I had a Breckwell insert and loved it. It heated the whole house 1/2 double two floors 2000sq ft. New house is more bilevel style lower and main floor with two stairs from lower to main and open all the way through the lower.  The one end of house has a family room on lower which is where I’m looking to install the stove. I believe the heat will radiate through the house and circulate well in the natural flow up and down the stairs. The house is about 3k sq so I want to buy something that will handle it and won’t labor by running at top level to keep the house warm. The two stoves I’m finding that seem to have a lot of what I want are the Harman absolute63 and the Comfortbilt HP22 n. They both seem to get great reviews from users and the industry some of the best in fact and the Comfortbilt is 1/2 the price. Looking for the goods and bads from users here or experiences you have had with either. Thnx


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## Dataman (Feb 19, 2019)

I have Harmon XXV, does the job quite well.  Had some fan noise (screw impacting the distro fan housing).    Nothing since then I can blame the stove on.   (Black soot, chimney needed cleaning).   

If I was you I would get the biggest stove.   Harmon P68.  Comfortbilt HP22 n looks like good stove.    Gotta ask why it's so much cheaper?   

Remember your buying space heater not furnace.  I have 2000sq ft and another 600sq downstairs in basement.    Pellet stove does nothing downstairs for me.   We have to use electric heater.

My 1s year with Pellet, we switched from Blaze King King.    Harmon has kept the hallway at 74f even other day when it was -11f.  Now we went thru 1 whole bag of pellets that night.   

If it was me I would look at ease of use, cleaning and repair too!     Harmon is not too bad and it's lazy man's stove.    I shut it down when temps allow and do cleaning of glass and burn pot.    Can be done in less than 15 seconds with out shutting down if needed.    Have yet to see clinker.   No holes filled with carbon.    

We have burned about 3.5 tons of pellets so far.   Normally switch to furnace in March.


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## Poisnd (Feb 19, 2019)

Yes I definitely ask myself why is Comfortbilt so much less especially with all the really good reviews I have seen on it it falls in top 5 and 10 of many graded reviews as well. I have forced hot air oils now and I keep the house around 71. So I have a fall back if needed on really cold nights. But if I can get through 5 out of 6 months with out hitting the oil I’m satisfied. I didn’t use oil at all in my previous house once installing the stove and rarely punched the stove past 3 all winter heating too levels of an old house. Grant it a half so the other side attached does help in the heating process some. The only time I would kick oil on is during cleaning shutdown or if we went away for a few days. I hate the forced hot air oil it is killer on oil and lots of heat loss in the air transition from furnace to rooms.


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## Ssyko (Feb 19, 2019)

Check out the Enviro Maxx, its a heat beast and in the same ball psrk price wise


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## frankied (Aug 9, 2019)

I am also questioning why Comfortbilt HP22n is more than 2k less than Harman. 
We bought our Harman P61 in 1999. We used it through 2016/17 winter- 18 years. We did not use last year because it is burning through pellets like crazy, no longer efficient. I only had to replace the blower motor twice and the combustion exhaust motor once. I would HIGHLY recommend Harmon stoves. 
But then when you search and find Comfortbilt with great reviews, on the top 5 list (which does not include Harman) and it's sooo much cheaper I become undecided on what to buy.
I did some digging and found out that probably the main reason they are so cheap is Comfortbilt is MADE IN CHINA (even US stove is made in China). Have then been out long enough that they can be trusted? I highly doubt that it will last as long as our Harman did. Are the place reviewing even considering Harman cause high priced that they won't buy to include in review?
Please give me some feedback to help us decide. Thanks, FD


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## rich2500 (Aug 10, 2019)

The comfortbilt uses a lot of the same parts as the castle serenity which is a great stove for it's price and has lots of users here. The biggest difference between them 2 stoves is the comfortbilt uses tube heat exchangers and the serenity does not. Neither stove is a Harman but great stoves for their price.


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## paulnlee (Aug 10, 2019)

Don't know if Harman's customer support is better with pellets but it s$$ks with their wood stoves. And yes I just bought another one.


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## railfanron (Aug 11, 2019)

I don't know how you can compare a stove with a maximum 48,000 btus to a stove that produces 71,200 btus. That almost 50% more btus. The "heats square feet" is a sales ploy and actually means nothing. Btus are what actually heats the house and the more you have the more house you can heat with all else being equal. You could easily heat a berm house with r128 insulation in the ceiling with a small output stove. But a standard stick built house is going to depend on several factors. How good are the windows and how many of them is there, how much insulation is there in the walls and ceilings and also how tight it is. So it is possible to heat a 300 sq ft house that's extremely well built and insulated with a 48,000 btu stove it's also possible to not be able to heat a 15,00 sq ft house with 71,000 btus if there is minimal insulation and it's not sealed very tightly. If it were my money I would get the 71,000 btu stove to heat 3000 sq ft.

Ron


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## Overfireinthehole (Aug 12, 2019)

It’s been said before, but one has been around for decades and is built in Pennsylvania and the other has been around for a couple years and is built in China.


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## Tonyray (Aug 12, 2019)

frankied said:


> I am also questioning why Comfortbilt HP22n is more than 2k less than Harman.
> We bought our Harman P61 in 1999. We used it through 2016/17 winter- 18 years. We did not use last year because it is burning through pellets like crazy, no longer efficient. I only had to replace the blower motor twice and the combustion exhaust motor once. I would HIGHLY recommend Harmon stoves.
> But then when you search and find Comfortbilt with great reviews, on the top 5 list (which does not include Harman) and it's sooo much cheaper I become undecided on what to buy.
> I did some digging and found out that probably the main reason they are so cheap is Comfortbilt is MADE IN CHINA (even US stove is made in China). Have then been out long enough that they can be trusted? I highly doubt that it will last as long as our Harman did. Are the place reviewing even considering Harman cause high priced that they won't buy to include in review?
> Please give me some feedback to help us decide. Thanks, FD





frankied said:


> I am also questioning why Comfortbilt HP22n is more than 2k less than Harman.
> We bought our Harman P61 in 1999. We used it through 2016/17 winter- 18 years. We did not use last year because it is burning through pellets like crazy, no longer efficient. I only had to replace the blower motor twice and the combustion exhaust motor once. I would HIGHLY recommend Harmon stoves.
> But then when you search and find Comfortbilt with great reviews, on the top 5 list (which does not include Harman) and it's sooo much cheaper I become undecided on what to buy.
> I did some digging and found out that probably the main reason they are so cheap is Comfortbilt is MADE IN CHINA (even US stove is made in China). Have then been out long enough that they can be trusted? I highly doubt that it will last as long as our Harman did. Are the place reviewing even considering Harman cause high priced that they won't buy to include in review?
> Please give me some feedback to help us decide. Thanks, FD


Burning thru pellets like crazy? Now? Why would that be. Usually the stove doesnt change how much it decides to burn . Burning different pellets than before?


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## Don2222 (Aug 12, 2019)

Tonyray said:


> Burning thru pellets like crazy? Now? Why would that be. Usually the stove doesnt change how much it decides to burn . Burning different pellets than before?


Sounds like if the Circuit Board was replaced with the new Rev F updated circuit board the Harman P61 would be much more efficient and work like a new stove for only $200. That shows to me that Harman is the best and even a used Harman is better than many brand new stoves!


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## Heat Slinger (Aug 20, 2019)

Don2222 said:


> Sounds like if the Circuit Board was replaced with the new Rev F updated circuit board the Harman P61 would be much more efficient and work like a new stove for only $200. That shows to me that Harman is the best and even a used Harman is better than many brand new stoves!



Can you expand a bit on the Rev F circuit board?  My P68 pellet consumption has increased over the last 4 years.  May be a candidate for a circuit board upgrade.  Where can you buy it for $200?


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## Overfireinthehole (Aug 20, 2019)

Changing the board has little if not no impact on pellet consumption. If you want to burn less, clean your stove, buy better pellets and turn the heat down.


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## Don2222 (Aug 20, 2019)

Overfireinthehole said:


> Changing the board has little if not no impact on pellet consumption. If you want to burn less, clean your stove, buy better pellets and turn the heat down.


I have worked on many Harmans and changed many circuit boards. I am not saying you are incorrect. Sure if you change a Rev E Board for a Rev F Board then the difference that you will notice is when the stove has a vacuum error the board status light will give 2 blinks! That makes fixing a vacuum error a little easier when you notice the auger is not turning. LOL
However I have seen some 6 to 16 year old stoves with who knows what Rev Circuit Board ( The Rev was not on all the older boards) actually benefit in performance and heating quite a bit.
Just Google Harman OEM 4-Output Circuit Board to find it.


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## Overfireinthehole (Aug 20, 2019)

Don2222 said:


> I have worked on many Harmans and changed many circuit boards. I am not saying you are incorrect. Sure if you change a Rev E Board for a Rev F Board then the difference that you will notice is when the stove has a vacuum error the board status light will give 2 blinks! That makes fixing a vacuum error a little easier when you notice the auger is not turning. LOL
> However I have seen some 6 to 16 year old stoves with who knows what Rev Circuit Board ( The Rev was not on all the older boards) actually benefit in performance and heating quite a bit.
> Just Google Harman OEM 4-Output Circuit Board to find it.


I haven’t noticed any difference, but the ones I changed boards on had bad pots or had been shorted. As far as I know, the voltages are the same and the timing on the auger is the same. Your sensors will still kick things off and on the same. If you are wanting to change pellet feed and airflow, you can adjust those on your board. So, what is being changed?


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## Don2222 (Aug 21, 2019)

Overfireinthehole said:


> I haven’t noticed any difference, but the ones I changed boards on had bad pots or had been shorted. As far as I know, the voltages are the same and the timing on the auger is the same. Your sensors will still kick things off and on the same. If you are wanting to change pellet feed and airflow, you can adjust those on your board. So, what is being changed?


There is more too it when the stove is in room temp mode and feeds more or less pellets depending upon the resistance of the room temp probe. Since the board maker does not share that info we will not know for sure. I have noticed that the voltage of the room blower and exhaust blower changing differently on some boards. Also when the stove shuts down and restarts are different too.
I am sure when they went to the fluted burn pots some air adjustments were made by changing the exhaust blower voltages differently. Also a Harman rep recently told me that to make the stoves 2020 compliant air adjustments were made so they must have made a board revision just for that! However the details is company info they do not have to tell!


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## Overfireinthehole (Aug 22, 2019)

Speaking of which, the fire pots on the new TC stoves are awesome. Also, in room temp mode  you can control how many pallets are being fed on the feed limit knob, or are you just referring to when it goes into shut down from run mode?. I know the voltage is change from start up mode to shut down. I just haven’t noticed any difference  between boards on the run mode voltages. I definitely like how much more you can play with the airflow on the TC boards, but I just don’t know how Long the touchscreens are going to last. It seems like all the pellet dust is going to be an issue with them.


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## JRemington (Sep 10, 2019)

Overfireinthehole said:


> It’s been said before, but one has been around for decades and is built in Pennsylvania and the other has been around for a couple years and is built in China.


It may be put together in Pa but where are the electronics built?


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## Overfireinthehole (Sep 10, 2019)

JRemington said:


> It may be put together in Pa but where are the electronics built?


Slovenia, Taiwan, USA, and Mexico. There’s probably a Chinese. They build the fire boxes and all the metal pieces: fire pots, baffles, auger assemblies, etc.


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