If the new house came with gas logs, I'll wager the builder used a chimney lining/material designed for such (aluminium) rather than a true, multi-fuel liner (steel). I'd be real leery of venting a wood stove into such a liner. I've been heating with wood for 32 years now and just installed a new stainless-steel flue pipe inside the chimney that already had tile liner.

I have two fireplace inserts (wood burning). I bought Regency units. They are terrific. Because the door is closed, you will not get smoke in the room. I have a 4000+ sq, ft. home and heat exclusively with wood - however our winter temps never drop below freezing at worst. Good Luck!

After 1 1/2 years I started getting smoke in my hopper like many others here in my Harman P38.I am using outside air. I let it go for a while and was seeing a residue on the slide plate in the hopper. I kept cleaning it up and did a total clean of the stove to no avail. Finally the stove refused to feed pellets and was clunking at times like there was a jammed pellet or something jammed in the feed area of the stove -- Cleaned the stove and saw nothing jammed. I called my dealer Ace Swim and leisure and they sent a tech the next day. He pulled the auger on the stove and said the stove was history and needed replacement. He showed me the auger and said that the ash should go no farther than the second ring on the auger and mine went all the way to the back of the auger. He said that there were problems with some of the harmans. The tech said that he a had a stove in stock but had to get Harman approval for the replacement and modification. I questioned him on the modification. He told me that they had to send the new stove to a machine shop and modify the burn pot and pressure relief chamber tube. I thought this was odd that Harman had an issue and the new stoves were not corrected. I finally got the stove and they had drilled 10 extra holes at the bottom of the burn pot. I do not know what they did to the Pressure relief chamber Tube on the stove but now there is a real good vacume in the hopper compared to my old stove. So far no problems with the stove and no smoke in hopper. The tech also said that outside air was not the cause of this. I guess I was lucky to get a good tech that knew the issue. He said that my stove is the 3rd one to get this mod no problems with the others. Just thought I would update you all since I have read many posts and seems like all run to a dead end and no resolve. I'll keep you updated if any problems arise with the mod but is looking real good so far...

Tmnca, yes, you can buy tsp in CA. I know about the substitute tsp products that you have mentioned, but you actually can buy real tsp in CA. There are boxes of real tsp on the shelf at my local hardware store. They have the substitute too. Real tsp is evidently also available for pickup at the Lowes and Home Depot stores that are closest to me (according to their websites), though I've had trouble finding the real tsp at the big box stores in the past. If, for some reason, you can't find it at a store near you, you can just order it online and have it shipped to you. Edited to add, I actually went through a period of time where, like you, I thought you couldn't buy it in CA. I don't know the exact laws and whether or not it is actually not legal, but...it's definitely for sale here, one way or the other. I think it may just not be legal to sell dishwasher/washing machine/other detergents with it added?