Recommendation for small compact pellet stove

chrislee

19 years ago

Would like recommendation for small compact pellet stove. Heating 900 sf in moderate climate.

Fancy auto igniters and thermastats are ok, but not a must.

Battery back up option would be a plus.

Thank you!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

Xanndra
19 years ago
Harman Pellet Pro 38+

Here is a link that might be useful: Harman Pellet Pro 38 Plus
jac2086
19 years ago
Harman makes a great stove and well worth the few extra dollars. When it comes to safety.... why go cheep. The mechanical design and manufacturing quality is, in my opinion, the best in the industry and it looks great too.
Related Discussions
ashes from wood pellet stove in compost pile/garden????
Q
Comments (22)
I often chime in on this subject .... I live on alkaline soils, the pH varies from 7.2 to 7.8. I burn 6-8 cords of wood a year, as did the owner before me, so figure 50 years of every winter week, throwing 3 gallons of wood ash around the place. When there's snow on the ground, I just heave it out widely over the snowy lawn so that any coals go out quickly. When there's no snow, I dump it in a pit, which is 5 feet from an oak tree. In the spring, the first grass to 'green up' is where I've thrown the ash. The oak tree pit gets flooded / seeps out, flooded/ seeps out etc. with irrigation water over the course of the summer, and the ash gets washed on down the slope. Where the grass grows much better, deeper green, thicker, than anywhere else on the lawn. The only times I've had problems are when I throw a 4-6" thick clump of ash on soils that are only a few inches deep, with sandstone underneath. That will kill the grass. But even then, by the end of the summer, the dead patch is covered by the grasses encroaching from around. I throw ash in my snow-covered flower beds all the time. I've stopped throwing ash in the vegetable gardens because I pile up grass clippings and chopped leaves all over the beds in the fall, and I'd likely set that on fire. I've also gardened on acid soils for years when I lived overseas, and we often burned charcoal for cooking, and used the ash constantly. The benefits were pretty dramatic. Of course, your milage may vary. I'd suggest starting off by dumping the ash in some out-of-the-way place and see what effect you find.
...See More
Wood Burning , Gas Insert , Pellet Stove Which is best ?
Q
Comments (22)
As far as how much the stoves can go down in the "off-season" depends on many factors. If there is a discontinued model, it will go cheaper. On others, it just depends on how motivated the dealer is or maybe there is a stove in a particular color that they want to clear out. Mostly, the off-season is best for scheduling the installation and ordering any parts. That's probably where you will save the most money. Maybe they can even throw in installation for free if they don't discount the stove. There is more bargaining room on everything when they have more time. As far as the motor and boards on the Harman, I only ever replaced one board, but I am convinced the owner of the stove messed it up (there were other issues with this guy). I never replaced a motor or even a blower, even on my own stove. There is fan noise with all pellet stoves and I would always recommend to people that it not be put in the TV room. It seems to bother some people more than others. If you are sensitive to sounds it will bother you. It is kind of like a range hood fan on low all the time.
...See More
Choosing a Pellet Stove
Q
Comments (5)
You raise some good issues. As a now retired gas furnace and gas fireplace repairman, I have some biases towards gas fireplaces since you have natural gas. It's an excellent fuel and the equipment is quite good these days. Also, gas fireplaces are the norm when selling a house. Pellet stoves are something of an exotic commodity I would suppose. I specialized in maintaining and repairing gas fireplaces for a number of years, but I was never interested in learning or working on pellet stoves. Just not enough around to develope real expertise or make it worthwhile. How likely is it that repairman in your area might feel the same way? Being able to get honest and competent service for your equipment over years and decades is very important.Even if there is one outfit available now to help you, you really want several outfits busy enough to be Xperts on pellet stoves so that good service will be available for decades to come. Around here, even in a big city, that may be hard to come by. Personally, I have a gas furnace for central heating and a wood stove for supplemental or back up heating if the power goes out. (how will your pellet stove operate with no AC power?) For simplicity and as a back up heat source, I'd choose a wood stove or a gas fireplace that will operate with the power off. If I wanted a supplemental source of heat to use a lot to avoid or minimize use of the boiler, I'd choose a wood stove, but realize this involves a big commitment of labor to make it work. Just not a fan of pellet stoves. Too much of a Rube Goldberg device for my taste. Choose a pellet stove if you want to and are willing to learn to tear it apart to clean it and maintain it yourself most of the time.
...See More
pellet stove insert questions
Q
Comments (2)
The Accentra Insert from Harman is able to be installed in a zero clearance setup using Harman's zero clearance box which is sold separately. Harman is a great stove. Among the easiest to clean, and maintain. The thermister control is state of the art, and very easy to use. Plus it's cast iron body looks great. The insert comes in multiple sizes to fit in different sized fire boxes. The zero clearance box only comes in one size, however and is sold separately (as everyone installing this stove will not need it). Regardless of stove brand (as long as stove is certified for zero clearance install) you would need a full reline if your chimney is dilapidated. It sounds like yours is an even more extreme scenario since there is a gap between the end of the chimney(inside the building envelope) and the roof. This would either take a mason to extend the chimney to the roofline or a very complicated install of rigid pellet pipe from the stove up through the roof. Standard pellet pipe is sufficient to run through your chimney. In your attic (if you did not continue the chimney to the roofline) you would want to make sure to use PL rigid pipe for the entire line, and obey the correct clearance for the pipe (3" standard) and the correct passthroughs for any ceilings, walls or roofline. If you had a mason complete the chimney you should be able to get away with a flex liner. (IMO rigid pipe would be better for you by your description) You may also want to check with your local building inspector. There are many times local ordinances that would override stove installation recommendations... Here is a link that might be useful: Harmans Zero Clearance Install Specs
...See More
chrislee
Original Author
19 years ago
The Harman looks like a great stove but it needs 16" clearance on the sides. I have heard some stoves only need a few inches on the sides. I'm installing it in a tight spot.
Any other suggestions?

Thank you!
Xanndra
19 years ago
I do not recommend any other brands. In my opinion, the Harmans are the only pellet stoves to buy. I have tried others and I had numerous problems with them (do you like waking up to a cold house at 3:00 in the morning and having to first clean the stove then restart it and then try to go back to bed?). Harmans never gave me any problems. I could run them for weeks at a time continuosly without having to do anything but load pellets and sometimes open the door (while it's running) and scrape the burn pot. Plus, they will burn ANY brand of pellet out there. Not so with the others.
There might be somebody who makes smaller pellet stoves with lower clearances, but I do not think you would be happy with them. You should read all the posts on this board regarding pellet stoves, especially the one where someone bought a St. Croix instead of the Harman against my recommendations because it was a little cheaper.
If you are having a problem with clearances, maybe you should consider a direct vent gas stove instead.
twosevenright
19 years ago
If you're looking a really compact stove, about the smallest one out there, and it's the one I use is the Thelin Gnome. At only 16" in diameter, it's ideal in my small sunroom. This is much small than anything else out there. Believe me, I looked hard. I have the ivory enamel with 24K gold trim, it's beautiful, and it fits ideally into the light colors in my sunroom. Now, it's a top loader, and contrary to what heard on this site concerning top loaders, I've had no problems what so ever with it. It has battery backup, and will float charge the battery when not in use. It also will control the auger speed with an external thermostat if desired.

Two negatives: Due to its compact size, there is no ash pan. You must vacuum the burn chamber every couple of days. This is not a problem for me as the stove is used only a few days a week if we're in the sunroom, and not as a primary heat source. Secondly, and one that annoys me is due to the proximity of the fire to the door, the glass ashes over quickly regardless of the pellets used, and by the end of a 12 hour burn period only a yellow glow can be seen from the window. Not that the flame is attractive to look at anyway. All pellet stoves burn ike a blast furnace, but it's still nice to see the fire.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thelin Stoves
suzannews
19 years ago
I'm not suggesting that the Harman is not the best quality pellet stove. I don't know, I've never owned one. But I can't imagine that every other manufacture is not worth taking a look at.
I do own a Whitfield and an older model Thelin (not the Gnome). I don't think they make the model I have any more, and both stoves have worked fine for 10 plus years.
As for clearance, both of my pellet stoves do not even get hot on the sides.
Good luck!
Macey
19 years ago
The Whitfield Profile 20 and Advantage Optima 2 are small in size and only need 4" clearance to a combustible side wall. You can go the the Lennox website and download the installation manual and spec's.

While The Whitfield brand may not "walk on water" as the Harmon brand does (sic), they are good stoves and there is no reason to believe you can't get another 10 years out a new one. The Lennox website is www.lennoxhearthproducts.com
Macey
begreen1
19 years ago
I've had excellent service with QuadraFire pellets stoves. They are well engineered and I think easier to clean and maintain than the Harmon.

Recommendation for small compact pellet stove

Comments (8)

Xanndra

jac2086

Related Discussions

chrislee
Original Author

Xanndra

twosevenright

suzannews

Macey

begreen1

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Recommendation for small compact pellet stove

Comments (8)

Xanndra

jac2086

Related Discussions

chrisleeOriginal Author

Xanndra

twosevenright

suzannews

Macey

begreen1

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

chrislee
Original Author