New Harman Insert

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I know all too much about big business.. I worked of a family run business for years. Bought out by a 4 billion dollar public company. When you start answering to share holders the main focus is the bottom line. Topic for a different thread.
 
We all know that small business is a great incubator for innovation.. less red tape and more motivation. Unfortunately recent washington politics have done little to encourage small business. Regulation, red tape and new laws that no one can properly interpret. It really is a shame.
 
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smwilliamson said:
View attachment 109806

Nothing here that's looks like 50% less work than the Accentra v 1.0, except that I see they added a line....I wonder what their definition of "regular basis" is?
Click to expand...


It says clean or inspect, from stories I have heard a regular cleaning is a annual thing.
 
back to the "rollers" in the rear:....yup, makes it much easier to pull the unit out for when the user doesn't clean it. They started this with the p35i.....and it seems to work better than the old "glide it on a sticky flat gasket" idea which was in place prior to the P35i roller system.
 
I did not get to hear it run yet. I'm going to work to get it installed tonight/tomorrow. I will post an update in this thread and the thread I started also.
 
I just finished installing my Harman Accentra 52i and would like to post some helpful tips. First-I made a track system for rolling the unit in/out. As seen by JasonD a couple of posts above, there is a guide Harman calls the service rail kit to go under the rollers in the channel. The channel measures 1.48" x 0.38 x 24" deep. The price is about $500.00. One can be be made for $25.00 using 1-1/4" x 1/4" x 4' flat steel bar and 2 pieces of 2" x 4" x 12" and 1 2" x 4" x 24" wood screwed together to make leg supports. The local hardware store did not have the 1-1/4" so I used 1-1/2" but the sides had be ground down to fit. The stove weighs about 475 #'s and this handled it with ease. I also drilled one countersunk hole in each flat bar and used common 1-5/8" sheetrock screws to attach the rails to the leg support to prevent any movement. Second-the frame is unpainted so I painted mine with semi-gloss black (don't paint the 4" exit pipe). The insert itself was sparsely painted and had several bare spots so I painted mine with two cans of Bright Stove satin black. Third-instead of using Harman's adjustable chimney intake extension, PN 1-00-674104 at $85.00 I modified my existing chimney cap. I used a 4-1/2" grinder with a cut wheel to trim the stainless steel expanded metal sides down to a 1" height and bolted it back together with 1/4" stainless nuts, bolts, washers. I then used a dremel to cut a 4.25" hole in cap to let the 4" flex line protrude. I then bolted the supplied cap 13" x 13" (no extra charge) to my modified cap with stainless bolts and some silicone. Saved $160.00 on this. Total savings of $700.00 for 6 hours work. Sorry for the long winded post but I just want to get some info out there. Also-use of gloves and eye protection is mandatory. I will try to post some pictures and the homemade service rail kit should work for other Harman products with modifications.
 
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carlschmarl2 said:
Any update?
Click to expand...

I can't compare this stove to any other so with that in mind when I run the stove and the fan is on low it's not to bad and doesn't really require me to turn the TV up that much if at all. However when the fan is on high I have to turn the TV up quite a bit in order to hear it clearly. I figure while we are in the room I can turn the fan to low and then turn to high when we go to bed at night.

Harman claims "Dual 134 CFM blowers for quieter operation". If these are quieter I would hate to hear the louder fans. Small price to pay to dodge increasing oil costs.

Regardless of noise I'm a happy camper.
 
Rock Crusher said:
One can be be made for $25.00 using 1-1/4" x 1/4" x 4' flat steel bar and 2 pieces of 2" x 4" x 12" and 1 2" x 4" x 24" wood screwed together to make leg supports. The local hardware store did not have the 1-1/4" so I used 1-1/2" but the sides had be ground down to fit. The stove weighs about 475 #'s and this handled it with ease.
Click to expand...

I to built a rail kit with 2x4's although rather than using just one piece of flat bar I bought two pieces of C channel steel and two pieces of thin flat bar. I then had a buddy of mine weld the flat bar and the C channel together to get the 5/8 or 0.625 height I needed in order to marry up with Harman rails on the stove frame. Essentially it looks exactly like harmans rails on the frame however a little wider. I can also post pics a little later.
 
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Jason -
I am considering purchasing the Harman Accentra 52i this week. I am looking for any advice you have to offer since you had the stove running in your home last winter. My main concern is the noise from the fan. The stove would be placed in our Great Room and that is where we watch TV and typically entertain. Is the fan so loud that you can't watch TV or entertain? In my research I read that the fan is very loud when it is on max speed. Also, did you have any problems in running the stove last year?
Thanks for the info!
Jennifer
 
mrsjenniferodonnell said:
Jason -
I am considering purchasing the Harman Accentra 52i this week. I am looking for any advice you have to offer since you had the stove running in your home last winter. My main concern is the noise from the fan. The stove would be placed in our Great Room and that is where we watch TV and typically entertain. Is the fan so loud that you can't watch TV or entertain? In my research I read that the fan is very loud when it is on max speed. Also, did you have any problems in running the stove last year?
Thanks for the info!
Jennifer
Click to expand...

Hello Jennifer,


The stove on high is indeed loud and you will need to turn the sound up on the TV. I'm not entirely sure what the decibels are but it's considerably louder than when the stove is on low. Mine too is in my family room so I just turn the TV up and enjoy the warm air. As far as having the stove on while entertaining you can turn the stove to low and easily be able to hold a conversation. You can also have the stove on high and be able to talk with someone. My wife and I never seemed to have a problem last year. Although, depending on the amount of people you are entertaining you may not even need to have the heat on that high any way. My wife and I hosted a Christmas party last year and she was worried about the house being too cold for ours guests. So I kicked the oil heat on and the stove on high to get the house to 72 before our guests arrived. Well long story short, when you have a sizable amount of people in your house you won’t need the fan to be on high since there are plenty of warm bodies keeping the house warm for you. My house went to 80 degrees with everyone in it and the front door was open with only our storm door being closed.


My only problem with the stove was towards the end of the season when the igniter wasn’t doing the job. Instead of calling a technician in their busy season I just picked up some sanitizer from CVS and used that to ignite the pellets. It works well in a pinch and is readily available.


Make sure you keep the stove clean, cleaning it once a week and doing a complete cleaning once every 1 ton of pellets. Time period between cleanings will ultimately depend on brand of pellets used.


Best of luck, it truly is a nice addition to your home.
 
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Jasond said:
Hello Jennifer,


The stove on high is indeed loud and you will need to turn the sound up on the TV. I'm not entirely sure what the decibels are but it's considerably louder than when the stove is on low. Mine too is in my family room so I just turn the TV up and enjoy the warm air. As far as having the stove on while entertaining you can turn the stove to low and easily be able to hold a conversation. You can also have the stove on high and be able to talk with someone. My wife and I never seemed to have a problem last year. Although, depending on the amount of people you are entertaining you may not even need to have the heat on that high any way. My wife and I hosted a Christmas party last year and she was worried about the house being too cold for ours guests. So I kicked the oil heat on and the stove on high to get the house to 72 before our guests arrived. Well long story short, when you have a sizable amount of people in your house you won’t need the fan to be on high since there are plenty of warm bodies keeping the house warm for you. My house went to 80 degrees with everyone in it and the front door was open with only our storm door being closed.


My only problem with the stove was towards the end of the season when the igniter wasn’t doing the job. Instead of calling a technician in their busy season I just picked up some sanitizer from CVS and used that to ignite the pellets. It works well in a pinch and is readily available.


Make sure you keep the stove clean, cleaning it once a week and doing a complete cleaning once every 1 ton of pellets. Time period between cleanings will ultimately depend on brand of pellets used.


Best of luck, it truly is a nice addition to your home.
Click to expand...
 
Jason,
Thank you so much for the info! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.
When you have the fan on high and the TV at a louder volume, is the TV able to masque most of the noise? I realize a fan will make noise but I'm nervous because I'd hate to make this purchase then have our Great Room off limits when the stove is on.
I've heard that most often the fan wouldn't be on max and it can heat a home quite well on low. Do you find that to be true? Would you make this purchase again now that you've had it for a year?
We just found out yesterday that my husband's cousin has a Harman Accentra - it's 6 years old and I realize the fan noise wouldn't be the same but we're going to go check it out on Sat. I would think the Accentra 52i would be quiter than their older stove.
Sorry about all the questions - I just want to make sure I do all my homework!
Thank you!
 
You should look at the Quad Mt Vernon's as options as well--both AE and E2 are very quiet--I'm having one installed in a few weeks.
 
Our family room is 26 x 32 with a vaulted ceiling. After a week or so the fan just becomes white noise and we tune it out. We run our fan on high all the time as I don't think it makes much sense to run run it slower.
Ron
 
railfanron said:
Our family room is 26 x 32 with a vaulted ceiling. After a week or so the fan just becomes white noise and we tune it out. We run our fan on high all the time as I don't think it makes much sense to run run it slower.
Ron
Click to expand...

Jennifer,

I agree with Ron's statement above. I use my stove to heat my entire house and need to run it at high as I'm trying to keep a 2500sq ft colonial warm without using oil. It does a decent job for the exception of when it drops below 0 at night. When that occurs I tend to use the oil heat just so water will circulate through the baseboard pipes in an effort to reduce the chances of them freezing. Probably just being paranoid but it helps me sleep.

I would absolutely purchase the stove again. I calculated what I would have spent if I had used oil to keep my house at the same level of warmth and I believe I saved some where close to $1,300. With that type of savings I will pay for the stove in roughly 3yrs. Of course buying a used stove would soften the blow of the initial investment and recovery of investment cost becomes quicker.
 
When the price of propain got over $3 the payback on our investment finished in February. 3 months early. 1 1/2 years. If we have another series of heating fuel events it will be more $$$$ in the bank.
 
Bioburner said:
When the price of propain got over $3 the payback on our investment finished in February. 3 months early. 1 1/2 years. If we have another series of heating fuel events it will be more $$$$ in the bank.
Click to expand...
At $3 a gallon, propane becomes the most expensive heating fuel available, costing more than even the reigning high price method of electric resistance heating, per 1 million Btus. Propane has to go below $2.56 per gallon just to beat out electric resistance. I was shocked to learn that my method of choice for heating jobsites with those gas grill tanks at $4 a gallon propane was costing me $54 per million BTUS. Mostly i use a wood stove and burn scrap wood. When the price went up to $6 this past winter folks were paying $81 per MBTUs More than double the cost of ELectric or heating oil.
 
Just noticed this site.... Had my 52i installed just after Christmas 2013 - had 4 tons of Barefoot pellets delivered Jan. 17th-ish.... (just in time before the shortage from what I have read)... and OMG how lucky I was!

Heated my 2,300 sq. ft. colonial without a problem this past winter (stove is not exactly what you would call "centrally located" in the house). I am happer than I ever thought I would be especially considering I have electric baseboard heating!
 
smwilliamson said:
No it's good....I'm not sure. What I haven't been able to do is actually play with the new stove. Looks like the ditched the accordion style heat exchanger but made some other improvements mostly around access. You gotta remember that this isn't Harman anymore but a HUGE marketing company called HHT running the show. They don't bring models to shows anymore, they bring salesmen. It's not the same company anymore. More choices are made from a profit standpoint and ALL decisions are toward a profit. Gone are the days of creating for the passion of it...that's
kinda why Dane lost the business right?
Click to expand...
Wrong, when Dane showed off his new absolute stove and gave me a personal demo of his new digital color touch screen control panel that he is in charge of the Harman Brand and his daughter is marketing manager of the Brand!
 

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