Pellet stove

[Peterfield]

When I was looking for a stove earlier this year, I had a great conversation with an independent service technician who services many brands of stoves. I was contemplating buying a used stove and dealers here only service the ones they sell so I wanted to know I could reach out if needed. He explained the ins and outs and and said he would rehab any stove brand I bought and have it running like a top. He later told me he used to work at a Harman dealer and said they are built different and better than other stoves. He didn't say they were perfect, just built like a tank with features many other stoves don't have.

My son just bought a Napoleon free-standing stove for a third of what my Harman cost. It heats his house great, super simple to use and he is saving mucho dinero by not using natural gas to heat his home.

 

[Bioburner]

Sometimes it isn't the ability of a stove but the ability of a owner to understand the stove. Because a stove can be adjusted to all kind of varibles does not make it a good stove if it is a pain to keep clean and maintain. Understanding fire is not like it used to be. Sometime KISS is a better option. How many stoves end up CL because of inability to properly clean or adjust the stove. Probably most.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Is that what's needed to check for the stove warping?

Thats right, especially when you over feed the fuel and crank up the air......

...but you can, USSC's 60 series allows that (user controlled parameters). Kinda like getting more power from an engine...an American pastime I might add. People, in general always fiddle with stuff, look at chainsaws, you buy one and fiddle with jetting and exhaust to get more power. Same with a stove, everyone wants better 'performance'

I warped mine and I fixed it with the addition of a weldment (after I straightened the warped section).

Thats why I prefer a corn pellet mix. More BTU output from a given volume.

Me, I'm a fiddler. With a Harman, you can't fiddle (for the most part), what it is, it is.

They are asthetically pretty, mine isn't but in the case of heat, I'll take a warm sow's ear over a not so warm silk purse......

Your central furnace isn't 'pretty' is it?

 

[Big papa]

My 6039 can melt your Harman.....

Better check the performance figures and emission figures. Better than Harman and lots cheaper.

Probably the same reason Chevy owners blast Ford owners and vice versa. With a few exceptions, people on here really like their stoves and the best brand is whatever brand they own.

i own a ford don't even pay attention to the chevy hype no bother to me?

 

[SidecarFlip]

Additionally, one thing I don't see on this site is, owners having a lot of burn issues with 60 series USSC stoves. Interestingly, most all the 'perceived' issues concerning burn. soot and heat output issues are with other brands and models, the more complex the model, the more issues.

USSC 60 series units are basic units and IMO, at least, the simplier the unit is, the less chance of issues.

I like yo poke fun at the 'pretty units', but it's all in fun, you bought it, like I bought mine so that makes you happy with yours (I hope) and I'm happy with mine (I am).

 

[SidecarFlip]

i own a ford don't even pay attention to the chevy hype no bother to me?

Then why comment at all?

 

[F4jock]

Sometimes it isn't the ability of a stove but the ability of a owner to understand the stove. Because a stove can be adjusted to all kind of varibles does not make it a good stove if it is a pain to keep clean and maintain. Understanding fire is not like it used to be. Sometime KISS is a better option. How many stoves end up CL because of inability to properly clean or adjust the stove. Probably most.

I'd rather do some homework, spend some more money and have the versatility and flexibility to meet varying conditions than be sorry later on when whatever I've purchased cheaply fails to do what I want when I want. Stoves, even the more complex ones, ain't rocket science. I love the ability to set and forget my Harman and have it do the job in the background as well as having fun fiddling with it if I want to play. I also love being able to go three weeks without a cleaning and when I clean being able to do it in about half an hour. In this day of increasingly complex phones, computers and TVs a stove, even a supposedly complex Harman, is among the simpler and most satisfying things you'll ever own and operate.

 

[Bioburner]

I guess I would prefer that a stove not be able to be tweeked so much that it puts itself into a hazardous mode. Its a home heating device and having served 15 years on a fire dept have seen to many tweeks. If it revs up in the driveway or down the track and burns up its a risk you flirted with. Just don't like that risk being taken into a home.

 

[F4jock]

I guess I would prefer that a stove not be able to be tweeked so much that it puts itself into a hazardous mode. Its a home heating device and having served 15 years on a fire dept have seen to many tweeks. If it revs up in the driveway or down the track and burns up its a risk you flirted with. Just don't like that risk being taken into a home.

I had ten years as a firefighter up to Lieut. in Roxbury Twp. and have seen many fires, the majority caused by so-called "simple" wood burners. IMNTBHO the major cause of stove-related fires is improper installation or creosote build up. Never saw creosote in a pellet burner and if you don't have the brains to do, or have done, a proper install you shouldn't have a stove of any type.

How does that old saying go - "It's a poor workman who blames his tools."

 

[Bioburner]

Problem is those without the $$ are the ones more apt to cut corners or try burn wet wood etc. Like the guy not using the NG furnace because he was taking home LP tanks from work and using gas heaters till he got a overfilled tank and it popped the valve when it got into the warm house. We seen here the use of plain 3 inch ducting, Ive seen someone about to use pvc venting.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I guess I would prefer that a stove not be able to be tweeked so much that it puts itself into a hazardous mode. Its a home heating device and having served 15 years on a fire dept have seen to many tweeks. If it revs up in the driveway or down the track and burns up its a risk you flirted with. Just don't like that risk being taken into a home.

No issue there. It's human nature to explore the limits of anything and everything. I've never liked 'status quo' nyself. IMO, any appliance/stove with an open flame and the inability to immeadiately extinguish that flame (instantaneously) if an issue develops, is at risk and none of these stoves have the ability to immediately extinguish themselves. Conversely, people do 'stupid' things like placing flamable items close to the front viewing glass or wonder if, placing a Christmas tree near a stove is a bad idea.... of course it is, you and I know that, but not everyone does. and not everyone operates under safe procedures, so we need fireman (and women).

Any solid fuel burning stove/appliance in any home is a calculated risk, no matter what brand. The risk can be mitigated by proper install and operation or it can be magnified by improper operation and/or installation (at the end users choice of course).

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I had ten years as a firefighter up to Lieut. in Roxbury Twp. and have seen many fires, the majority caused by so-called "simple" wood burners. IMNTBHO the major cause of stove-related fires is improper installation or creosote build up. Never saw creosote in a pellet burner and if you don't have the brains to do, or have done, a proper install you shouldn't have a stove of any type.

How does that old saying go - "It's a poor workman who blames his tools."

Here ya go 'sote in a pellet eater http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/buildupheatexchange.jpg so you can no longer say that and further there are any number of people that shouldn't be anywhere near anything with a flame inside it.

ETA: Unfortunately this includes more than just a few "professional" installers.

 

[Bioburner]

Can have the same issue in the Hestia when on low to keep the garage from freezing. Very cold exchanger condensing the flue gasses to much. Seen the same on a Whit when use while camping so now never low fire it while camping.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Hi pbug just my 2cents but I reasearched for quite some time and found that the harman stoves are highly recommended by most.u will get a few telling you to save your money but the majority says u get what you pay for. I just bought a new harman accentra,and I'm here to tell ya it's one of the best things I have ever bought ease of use looks and it's a heating power house I have 2000 sqft and it runs on low most of the time.very easy to clean and takes maybe 5 min of your time a day to scrape the pot and fill the hopper.do some reasearch hope you find one you like

So if you have TWICE the square footage as the OP and your stove runs on LOW, why in the world would he want the same stove? He would be roasted out, which is exactly what he said he didn't want!
A Quadrifire Castile would fit his budget and his 'wish list' just fine. Easy to operate and maintain and the output fits his heating needs. Too much Harman hype on here and not enough presentation of alternatives for newbies. Brainwashing, really.

 

[F4jock]

Problem is those without the $$ are the ones more apt to cut corners or try burn wet wood etc. Like the guy not using the NG furnace because he was taking home LP tanks from work and using gas heaters till he got a overfilled tank and it popped the valve when it got into the warm house. We seen here the use of plain 3 inch ducting, Ive seen someone about to use pvc venting.

Darwin

 

[SidecarFlip]

The thing I see with (professionally installed stoves) is that the stove owner assumes that because it's installed by someone else, it's plug and play or 'set it and forget it' and none are plug and play, quite the contrary. People get in trouble when they assume 'wrongly' that a stove behanves like a central furnace, not that a central furnace don't require preventave maintenance because they do though most are neglected until they no longer function and then become a priority issue...

My take is installing it yourself gives you a better understanding of the principles of operation and you actuall have to read the OM isntead as Owen puts it, use the OM to light the first fire.....

 

[SidecarFlip]

Problem is those without the $$ are the ones more apt to cut corners or try burn wet wood etc. Like the guy not using the NG furnace because he was taking home LP tanks from work and using gas heaters till he got a overfilled tank and it popped the valve when it got into the warm house. We seen here the use of plain 3 inch ducting, Ive seen someone about to use pvc venting.

I always thought you could, much less expensive and easier to work with..............lol

Glue and go.....

 

[F4jock]

Here ya go 'sote in a pellet eater http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/buildupheatexchange.jpg so you can no longer say that and further there are any number of people that shouldn't be anywhere near anything with a flame inside it.

ETA: Unfortunately this includes more than just a few "professional" installers.

Oil burners and natural gas boilers have caused their share of problems as well. There are no guarantees of ANYTHING in life. People have a responsibility to act responsibly and even then. . . . . You can't spoon feed the world. One gives the best advice one can and hopes for a good outcome. It's also unfair and unrealistic to assume everyone is incompetent and clueless and wishes to remain that way.

 

[Bioburner]

We need to get the thread back to OP question. What stoves are low and easy maintenance and not so big as to melt the candles? A Santa Fe is a good starter stove and not to high in $$. A Harman p43 on the higher end of $$.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Find out what the heat loss of your house is, get a stove that can meet that requirement at its middle firing rate.

Since you were on electric you should be able to back into that heat loss figure a bit easier than most.

Why the middle firing rate you ask, well when the wind is ablowin', the outside world is cold enough to to make even Bioburner say to he double with it and go into hibernation, and you have to let the stove go out for cleaning. You will thank your lucky stars you have the additional horses. Remember not all stoves will take prolonged firing at their top rate.

When it gets cold out I change to my middle firing rate and stay warm even at -22.

The best investments you can make are in permanent pellets: insulation, air sealing, and an OAK.

The stove is on a stat and the house is 2688 square feet total, with 1800 sqaure feet or so open to the stove which is in a corner of the lower (below ground on three sides) basement level.

 

[F4jock]

I always thought you could, much less expensive and easier to work with..............lol

Glue and go.....

Smells great while it melts too, just before it bursts into flame.

 

[F4jock]

Find out what the heat loss of your house is, get a stove that can meet that requirement at its middle firing rate.

Since you were on electric you should be able to back into that heat loss figure a bit easier than most.

Why the middle firing rate you ask, well when the wind is ablowin', the outside world is cold enough to to make even Bioburner say to he double with it and go into hibernation, and you have to let the stove go out for cleaning. You will thank your lucky stars you have the additional horses. Remember not all stoves will take prolonged firing at their top rate.

When it gets cold out I change to my middle firing rate and stay warm even at -22.

The best investments you can make are in permanent pellets: insulation, air sealing, and an OAK.

The stove is on a stat and the house is 2688 square feet total, with 1800 sqaure feet or so open to the stove which is in a corner of the lower (below ground on three sides) basement level.

If you size the stove properly as Smokey said, it'll handle things fine. Thing I like about my stove is that once dialed in I don't have to do anything but feed it and clean it.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Oil burners and natural gas boilers have caused their share of problems as well. There are no guarantees of ANYTHING in life. People have a responsibility to act responsibly and even then. . . . . You can't spoon feed the world. One gives the best advice one can and hopes for a good outcome. It's also unfair and unrealistic to assume everyone is incompetent and clueless and wishes to remain that way.

No kidding. Really. I'm not so sure about that, have you seen some court rulings over the years. I try. No one is saying everyone is that way, just more than a few.

 

[Ranger72]

Probably the same reason Chevy owners blast Ford owners and vice versa. With a few exceptions, people on here really like their stoves and the best brand is whatever brand they own.

I put a GM tranny in my Ford Ranger....

 

[F4jock]

No kidding. Really. I'm not so sure about that, have you seen some court rulings over the years. I try. No one is saying everyone is that way, just more than a few.

In the words of the famous American poet and author Anthony John Merola, "It wasn't my turn to watch them." It's 37 out, rainy and yucky. My Harman is firing about a six second feed and the distribution fan comes on for maybe thirty seconds every five minutes to keep the place at 69f. (We like it cool most times.) Except for dragging the ashes off the burn pot lip every so often (Optional) I haven't cleaned it in two weeks. I operate in Room Temp mode. If I want it warmer I turn the thermostat where I want it. I can also operate in stove mode as you know. I like the options and the way the stove banks itself down or fires up to maintain what conditions I want. Since install in 2008 I've replced one part, an igniter this fall. 78 bucks. To me the thing has been worth every penny I spent on it but as has been said above in this thread, what one gets is,a personal choice. Again, as Smokey said, be sure it's sized right, installed properly and maintained well and you'll be fine.