At last - objective reviews of the Most Reliable Pellet Stoves

[John Ackerly]

At last someone has built up enough of a database of repair histories on the most common pellet stoves out there today. Scott Williamson, who has a database of more than 5,000 service calls, decided it was time to get this info into the public: (broken link removed to http://www.forgreenheat.org/consumer_resources/reliablepellet.html).

He gives highest ratings to the Englander 25PDV, Sherwood Enviro Mini-A, Harman Accentra and Lopi Leyden. He also gives details about what is most likely to go wrong with each of these four models.

Plus, he adds plenty of street smarts, straight talk and humor. Here is my favorite passage: "My mother-in-law has this stove [Lopi Leyden] and has had no trouble with it since she bought it five years ago. This is the same woman that wrecked a Harman, an Englander, and a Rika prior to owning the Leyden. Trust me; she punishes stoves with her half-hearted and lackadaisical approach to routine maintenance. She was my first customer and I owe her a debt of gratitude, since without her I wouldn’t have got into this business."

John

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

At last someone has built up enough of a database of repair histories on the most common pellet stoves out there today. Scott Williamson, who has a database of more than 5,000 service calls, decided it was time to get this info into the public: (broken link removed to http://www.forgreenheat.org/consumer_resources/reliablepellet.html).

He gives highest ratings to the Englander 25PDV, Sherwood Enviro Mini-A, Harman Accentra and Lopi Leyden. He also gives details about what is most likely to go wrong with each of these four models.

Plus, he adds plenty of street smarts, straight talk and humor. Here is my favorite passage: "My mother-in-law has this stove [Lopi Leyden] and has had no trouble with it since she bought it five years ago. This is the same woman that wrecked a Harman, an Englander, and a Rika prior to owning the Leyden. Trust me; she punishes stoves with her half-hearted and lackadaisical approach to routine maintenance. She was my first customer and I owe her a debt of gratitude, since without her I wouldn’t have got into this business."

John

Already been brought up and btw Scott is also member here.

 

[webbie]

I would really question the "science" here. I probably did that if it were brought up before!
For instance, we know from these forums that Englander owners expect to..and do...fix their own units almost 100% of the time.

Assuming that is true, then this list covers more opinions than facts. It also suggests that some owners are more apt to call for servicing than others, while others are DIY.

I do know Harman and Lopi are fairly reliable. As to Englander, we'd really need data from the manufacturer - but it stands to reason that a stove model made similarly for many years can have the bugs worked out. Enviro has a good rep, too.

I'm not saying these are bad stoves...just that other factors are involved in a real comparison. As an example, efficiency is not mention...one stove could burn 50% more pellets than another for the same heat, and we would not know about it.

I applaud Scott for sharing this info. What we need is a LOT more, including lab tests of all the stoves for efficiency and polls of ALL owners everywhere in terms of use and service history (DIY and pro).

 

[Harman Lover 007]

At last someone has built up enough of a database of repair histories on the most common pellet stoves out there today. Scott Williamson, who has a database of more than 5,000 service calls, decided it was time to get this info into the public: (broken link removed to http://www.forgreenheat.org/consumer_resources/reliablepellet.html).

He gives highest ratings to the Englander 25PDV, Sherwood Enviro Mini-A, Harman Accentra and Lopi Leyden. He also gives details about what is most likely to go wrong with each of these four models.

Plus, he adds plenty of street smarts, straight talk and humor. Here is my favorite passage: "My mother-in-law has this stove [Lopi Leyden] and has had no trouble with it since she bought it five years ago. This is the same woman that wrecked a Harman, an Englander, and a Rika prior to owning the Leyden. Trust me; she punishes stoves with her half-hearted and lackadaisical approach to routine maintenance. She was my first customer and I owe her a debt of gratitude, since without her I wouldn’t have got into this business."

John

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/80599/

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Certainly there is some worth to his experience but there are a lot of factors that are not taken into consideration.
For example if two different brand stoves ate bought at the same time, one may run all day every day and eventually have a problem. If the other is never used and never requires a service call one would assume it is a "better" stove. You could list a hindred variables. I agree that to get a real good idea you would need each manufacturer to submit how many replacement parts have been sold compared to units.

However, since that info is not available his real world experience becomes very useful and should be used to help make a decision.

I would really question the "science" here. I probably did that if it were brought up before!
For instance, we know from these forums that Englander owners expect to..and do...fix their own units almost 100% of the time.

Assuming that is true, then this list covers more opinions than facts. It also suggests that some owners are more apt to call for servicing than others, while others are DIY.

I do know Harman and Lopi are fairly reliable. As to Englander, we'd really need data from the manufacturer - but it stands to reason that a stove model made similarly for many years can have the bugs worked out. Enviro has a good rep, too.

I'm not saying these are bad stoves...just that other factors are involved in a real comparison. As an example, efficiency is not mention...one stove could burn 50% more pellets than another for the same heat, and we would not know about it.

I applaud Scott for sharing this info. What we need is a LOT more, including lab tests of all the stoves for efficiency and polls of ALL owners everywhere in terms of use and service history (DIY and pro).

 

[webbie]

On a related matter - our store sold quite a few pellets stoves way back in the day...and although the satisfaction rate among Pellet stoves in general at the time was low, our store had decent success in that dept.

But the reasoning is the same as why one "study" cannot be used.

We made certain that anyone who bought a pellet stove liked to tinker. We told them from day one that they were likely to have some problems and that they would not get the reliability of a wood stove. Therefore, in most cases, they hardly ever called for home service, and even when they did, more than likely we could convince them to fix things themselves.

Pellets stoves are a moving target for many reasons - many dealers have gone under leaving vast numbers of orphaned stoves...as least as far as service from the dealer where it was purchased is concerned. I'm sure Scott runs into many such situations.

Yeah, I know....I'm being picky, but I just think there are too many variables here.

 

[RiddleMasterMorgon]

The real take home message:

'71% chance of only needing a cleaning to make them operational again' (Lopi)

'62% chance of only needing a cleaning to make a non-operational stove operational' (Harman)

'70% chance that the stove will only need a cleaning to make it operational if it is experiencing problems' (Enviro)

'69% chance that only a cleaning was required to make a non-operational stove run again' (Englander)


A vacuum a day keeps the service guy away....

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The real take home message:

'71% chance of only needing a cleaning to make them operational again' (Lopi)

'62% chance of only needing a cleaning to make a non-operational stove operational' (Harman)

'70% chance that the stove will only need a cleaning to make it operational if it is experiencing problems' (Enviro)

'69% chance that only a cleaning was required to make a non-operational stove run again' (Englander)


A vacuum a day keeps the service guy away....

Really you mean krooser has something right ;-) ?

 

[stovelark]

People are chiming in and this is an issue that we all have opinions on. Being a dealer in Central CT, I will tout a number of stoves as well. Having worked on most brands of stoves the past years, four or five stand out. The Enviro EF3, the Whitfield Advantage 2T, the Quadrafire 1200 classic bay, and Country (Now Lennox) Winslow come to mind quickly. All good reliable units, I do feel Enviro for the money spent (with Quad and Harman, thats the rub for most folks) is the best value out there. The Whitfield 2T (the most copied stove ever) is probably the most bullet proof, will not die stove. There are many good stoves out there folks, Its personal preference most of the time. Keep them clean, good fuel used and they all will keep us warm.

Stovelark
Enviro EF3
Enviro Empress Ins
Enviro Kodiak 1700 wood FS

 

[begreen]

Good assessment stovelark. There are other stoves on the market like the Quad and the Country that work quite well. For us the Quad 1200i was a standout because of the low maintenance. I cleaned it out every other weekend and it ran great. When I hear about someone having to clean out clinkers daily it makes me wonder who would put up with that?

 

[smwilliamson]

Though I am an independent but my data is biased. If brand x has a 12% need for parts in the first year and brand y only has a 6%, it doesn't really mean than brand y is a better stove or there is abetter chance of it being trouble free in the first year. I'm not a dealer. I'm sure if I were, I'm sure my part percentage for any specific brand would be lower just because of the volume within one brand. Additionally, because I'm independent, available or whatever....I seem to go to more calls that actually need something...perhaps this is due to a failure on the dealers part, perhaps they have tried but failed, perhaps they were too busy or maybe they were never called...I do not know.