Not happy with local Harman dealers, in the process of buying!!!

[gpcollen1]

I looked at all the top brands in person, Harman, Quad, Enviro, Lennox, Rika, others like Thelin, and researched many lesser models online, I will stand by my statement, NOTHING comes close to Harmans burn pot design and maintenance free operation. Harmans can run months with about 1 minute of scraping a week, and no need to shut it down. The dealer network aspect of it works as long as the " local " dealer has the stove you want, or can get one in a reasonable amount of time, 2 months wasn't reasonable and they had a snotty attitude about selling the floor model when I asked, so yes that part of the experience sucked along with the dealers attitude.

Who are you trying to convince? So they have your favorite burn pot design - big deal. Have you actually burned all those other stoves??

I got a used Santa Fe, 5 years old, 2 years ago. Now it is 7 years old-ish and I don't have to do anything but the basic maintenance either. When I have a chance, I shut it down to clean it well and fire it back up. - 10 minutes of 'work'.

 

[chris288]

I looked at all the top brands in person, Harman, Quad, Enviro, Lennox, Rika, others like Thelin, and researched many lesser models online, I will stand by my statement, NOTHING comes close to Harmans burn pot design and maintenance free operation. Harmans can run months with about 1 minute of scraping a week, and no need to shut it down. The dealer network aspect of it works as long as the " local " dealer has the stove you want, or can get one in a reasonable amount of time, 2 months wasn't reasonable and they had a snotty attitude about selling the floor model when I asked, so yes that part of the experience sucked along with the dealers attitude.

Who are you trying to convince?

Anybody that will listen,,,, i'm going to shout it from the roof tops and spend every waking minute trying to convince the world to burn the best pellet stove known to man... Actually this was in response to the poster who said Harmans were overrated, and sharing my dealer experience, glad your happy with your toy.

 

[quickrch]

There are lots of inserts that look similar to the Harman p35i. Show the pictures of those to your lady and see if she will find any of those acceptable. Then research the ones that are ok with her and pick the best one for you to operate. I did this with my wife and it took me a while to figure out she liked the bay front on a stove with the pedistal. After that I just had to pick on I liked. Happy wife=happy life.

By the way I had the same experience with our Harman $tealer. He told me $1,500 to install + freight+MSRP on the stove AND I could pick our a hearth pad from him. My install was a new straight out of the house in a corner so a few feet of pipe and an air intake.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I looked at all the top brands in person, Harman, Quad, Enviro, Lennox, Rika, others like Thelin, and researched many lesser models online, I will stand by my statement, NOTHING comes close to Harmans burn pot design and maintenance free operation. Harmans can run months with about 1 minute of scraping a week, and no need to shut it down. The dealer network aspect of it works as long as the " local " dealer has the stove you want, or can get one in a reasonable amount of time, 2 months wasn't reasonable and they had a snotty attitude about selling the floor model when I asked, so yes that part of the experience sucked along with the dealers attitude.

Who are you trying to convince?

Anybody that will listen,,,, i'm going to shout it from the roof tops and spend every waking minute trying to convince the world to burn the best pellet stove known to man... Actually this was in response to the poster who said Harmans were overrated, and sharing my dealer experience, glad your happy with your toy.

You need to talk to someone other than your Harman dealer and read a few more threads on here.

 

[richkorn]

BTW, I agree with your last statement....there are many other stove companies that make great stoves. You live in Canada....why not consider an Enviro....they are making VERY good stoves these days.

I agree Enviro makes some nice stoves, as does Travis ind. Lopi and Avalon brands. Why do some people get so hung on Harman?

 

[imacman]

out of all the stoves I researched, Harman had the absolute best burn pot design and ease of maintenace I have ever seen. stove will run circles around other stove that need to be shut down daily or weekly, could probably go months with just a weekly burn pot scraping. overrated,,, hardly, overpriced, well thats another story...

Chris, that sounds like a challenge. I think you should try burning it for about 60 bags, never even open the door, and let's see how long it will go. Maybe you can come close to my 10-cpm:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/62598/

 

[gbreda]

could probably go months with just a weekly burn pot scraping. overrated,,, hardly, overpriced, well thats another story...

Tomorrow will be end of week three without a shutdown. Burning 2 bags of Spruce Point a day and the glass has very little on it and throwing tons of heat. Scrape the pot daily and no real need to shut down until the ash pan is full.

Expensive yes, but for someone like me that is not home all day and needs a stove that can handle itself without constant attention, Harman fills that bill.

BUT a poor dealer is a big problem unless you can get warranty parts and can work on the stove yourself.

Harman is not the only quality stovee out there, as others have said; there are more than a few.

As usuall, YMMV

 

[krooser]

My St Croix will run for a month without even opening the door...no need to scrape anything...

My stove will kick your stoves butt after school...meet us at the flag pole...

 

[ARGlock]

My St Croix will run for a month without even opening the door...no need to scrape anything...

My stove will kick your stoves butt after school...meet us at the flag pole...

Go St. Croix!!


AR

 

[Countryboymo]

The few people that have got the lemons got more than they paid for they are so awesome. If you have no issues they are a really GOOD stove. If you do have issues that the dealer don't care about you pretty much end up with a really expensive conversation piece.

 

[krooser]

My St Croix will run for a month without even opening the door...no need to scrape anything...

My stove will kick your stoves butt after school...meet us at the flag pole...

Go St. Croix!!


AR

And Harman's mama wears combat boots (that outta get 'em)

 

[MSmith66]

I have a 20yr old Harman that I can still get new parts for today without doing any research to find the parts or pay a hugh price for them. It still runs great, as long as you care for your stove it should last a long time. The auger motor is the only thing taht has been changed. That is Quality!!

 

[chris288]

out of all the stoves I researched, Harman had the absolute best burn pot design and ease of maintenace I have ever seen. stove will run circles around other stove that need to be shut down daily or weekly, could probably go months with just a weekly burn pot scraping. overrated,,, hardly, overpriced, well thats another story...

Chris, that sounds like a challenge. I think you should try burning it for about 60 bags, never even open the door, and let's see how long it will go. Maybe you can come close to my 10-cpm:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/62598/

The Harman Kool Ade is nice and cold, sit down for a sip ! It won't do it, you need to scrape the burn pot from carbon build up once a week, takes about 1 minute, but you do need to open the door, most maintenace free stove I have ever seen or used, glad to hear your stove is even more maintenace free than the Harmans...

My " local " harman dealer sold Lennox, and breckwell also, 5 miles down the road was a dealer who had enviro and quad, over in CT, Thelin, I looked at all the ones that I thought would fit my needs and was a substantial upgrade from my older Whitfield, I wasn't about to replace a great stove with a junky, ugly stove.

 

[Delta-T]

just for the sake of reference...been running an Enviro Omega here for 14 weeks...3+ tons...total shutdown time....15 minutes. Have emptied ash pan 2 times...cleaned glass 3 times...cleaned burnpot 1 times.....mind boggling...YMMV, of course.

 

[mascoma]

out of all the stoves I researched, Harman had the absolute best burn pot design and ease of maintenace I have ever seen. stove will run circles around other stove that need to be shut down daily or weekly, could probably go months with just a weekly burn pot scraping. overrated,,, hardly, overpriced, well thats another story...

Chris, that sounds like a challenge. I think you should try burning it for about 60 bags, never even open the door, and let's see how long it will go. Maybe you can come close to my 10-cpm:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/62598/

I ran 2 full tons of barefoots thru my P61A last winter without a cleaning, just dumped the ash pan once and did not have to turn the stove off to do that.


Local harman dealer used to sell quads and dropped them due to problems before quad bought harman. Other local shop carries 5 brands of stoves and the Harman dealer still puts 4 times as many pellet stoves into the area as his competitor. Hmmmm????

 

[chris288]

You could probably run a Harman an entire season without ever having to shut it down, I'm just wayyyy to anal about everything and usually shut it down every 2 weeks and give it a thorough cleaning.

 

[rona]

I wonder how much heat you will push out the exh pipe versus into the house by not cleaning the convection area. I can go three weeks but find a very noticable difference after a decent cleaning.

 

[FordMastertech]

I wonder how much heat you will push out the exh pipe versus into the house by not cleaning the convection area. I can go three weeks but find a very noticable difference after a decent cleaning.

Lots

 

[chris288]

out of all the stoves I researched, Harman had the absolute best burn pot design and ease of maintenace I have ever seen. stove will run circles around other stove that need to be shut down daily or weekly, could probably go months with just a weekly burn pot scraping. overrated,,, hardly, overpriced, well thats another story...

Chris, that sounds like a challenge. I think you should try burning it for about 60 bags, never even open the door, and let's see how long it will go. Maybe you can come close to my 10-cpm:

www.hearth.com/talk/threads/62598/

I ran 2 full tons of barefoots thru my P61A last winter without a cleaning, just dumped the ash pan once and did not have to turn the stove off to do that.


Local harman dealer used to sell quads and dropped them due to problems before quad bought harman. Other local shop carries 5 brands of stoves and the Harman dealer still puts 4 times as many pellet stoves into the area as his competitor. Hmmmm????

Harman owners are also 2:1 over any other stove on the forum: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/25201/

 

[slls]

Buy the Harman and deal with it.

 

[Countryboymo]

While we are into statistics I think I am going to run a poll.

I changed my mind as there is no need. Harman is a great stove but as far as warranty work goes they don't care if the dealer stands behind their product or not. Its in black and white over and over in this forum. They are a good stove with a Cadillac price and the buyer either gets the Harman warranty or the used car 30 seconds or 30 feet whichever comes first warranty that the dealer wants to support.

I am done beating this horse. I just wish Harman would pull their head out before it is too late.

 

[imacman]

Harman owners are also 2:1 over any other stove on the forum:

Too bad their also about 3:1 in having "issues". Way overpriced & over-rated, IMO.

 

[krooser]

I certainly am not knocking Harman stoves... they are good units.

I actually had drunk some Harman kool-aid before I even bought a stove. I had heard all about the high quality of the stove, the balanced, ball bearing motors, how quiet they are, yada yada yada. So I was sold even before I burned my first pellet...

Then I walked into the showroom and 'holy national debt' Batman... the cost vs. benefit calculation that went on in my soon-to-be Alzheimer-laden noggin just didn't compute. I had to set my sights lower... much lower.

So after cruising around the store looking at Thelin, Enviro, Lennox, Country, St.Croix, Quad, Austroflamm and maybe a few other brands (all at one store) I went out side to the dealers 'tent sale' on used units. There I found a St. Croix for a mere $1,000.00. I asked the sales guy how good this stove would be... you know reliability, ease of service, etc. He said the St. Croix's were one of the most reliable stoves they sell and they seldom see used trades because people keep them a long time.

That's what I wanted to hear... so I said 'sold'...

I still don't like that bottom feed system on the Harman's... I guess I kinda like the simple gravity feed of a top feeder rather than one that has to push the pellets up out of an auger... seems too complex.... but then again I'm a very simple man.