Harman Pellet User Group

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I hope to pick up my P68 this weekend. I am SO excited. I was counting on running it 24/7 and assumed they were very safe. Does anyone know of any fire caused by a Harman? Or another pellet stove?
 
Sophie said:
I hope to pick up my P68 this weekend. I am SO excited. I was counting on running it 24/7 and assumed they were very safe. Does anyone know of any fire caused by a Harman? Or another pellet stove?
Not to frighten you, but this was asked not to long ago and I did a Google and this came up-

Check this out-
(broken link removed to http://forums.somd.com/home-garden/127015-my-pellet-stove-up-flames.html)
 
I guess nothing's foolproof, but they are supposed to be safer than woodstoves.
 
bungalobob said:
Not to frighten you, but this was asked not to long ago and I did a Google and this came up-

Check this out-
(broken link removed to http://forums.somd.com/home-garden/127015-my-pellet-stove-up-flames.html)
And here's one from July about an oil burner fire (broken link removed)

And a gas furnace: http://chemaxx.com/house_fire.htm

And one started by a wood stove: http://www.topix.com/city/snow-camp-nc/2008/02/wood-stove-sparks-alamance-county-house-fire

Point is, any flame producing (and a lot of stuff that's not intended to produce flames) appliance can cause a house fire. (In Britain it's television sets that are the biggest culprit :-) ) In 2006 (last year I have data for) someone died in a house fire every 2 1/2 hours and someone got hurt every 32 minutes. There were 412,500 house fires in 06. Twentyfive hundred people died. Most of them were not caused by pellet stoves. Most deaths were caused by fires where smoking was the cause and most fires were caused by kitchen appliances.

So, is everyone ready to give up smoking and stop cooking?

Didn't think so. Deep breath everyone. Get a sense of perspective. You're still more likely to die driving to work than you are from pellet stove fires.
 
Well, I hope everyone would try to give up smoking (I did), and they say that an uncooked vegetarian diet is very, very good for your health so you might want to give up cooking - and I'm sick of cooking, anyway.

But I am not ready to give up heating my home.
 
Sophie,

Digger makes some good points. Buy a unit that is tested and approved. Get it installed as per the manual and the building codes. (Installation is critical - this is where most fires happen - in the wall or ceiling or chimney not from inside the unit.) Work with a knowledgeable dealer and get some training on proper use of your unit. Use your common sense and your pellet or woodstove will be perfectly safe.
 
BP Pellet brought this subject up, but I think it's a very good thing that everyone gets a reminder to be careful.
 
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