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.

This year I purchased my third insert in the past 12 months, so I've done a fair amount of investigation and shopping recently. I put one in the house that I sold and two in the house that I just bought. The main difference between an insert and a simple wood stove is the fan that an insert utilizes. Circulating the hot air into the living space is a huge efficiency advantage over just having a hot stove radiating heat. Believe it or not, the price between a good insert and stove is about the same. Of course, you can pay a little more for the blower and trim kits for the inserts, but it's not a huge difference. Try to get the dealer to include them in the deal and don't let him "nickle and dime" you on those items or the installation. Shop around and be sure to ask if the price that you are getting includes those things. The other issue is that an insert in your fireplace looks more "finished" sitting in the opening as opposed to the wood stove. If you have a standard masonary fireplace, chances are a wood stove would not fit inside the fireplace itself. Then you have the stove sitting out in the room and the fireplace opening left to deal with. My wife wouldn't go for that in her living room! And guests have commented on how nice the big glass doors make the fireplace look. There is a lot of info on the internet so do your homework and shop around.

First of all, all stoves today require a 6" chimney. So you will have to put a 6" liner all the way up in your existing chimney and possibly insulate it with Kaowool. And then place a rain cap on it. You cannot just vent a stove into the existing chimney. NO code will allow that. Now you say you're doing it yourself. How much experience do you have in this area? I ask simply because you must notify your homeowner's insurance company that you now have a stove. And you will be asked who installed it. If you installed it they may require an inspection by a certified person to ensure the job was done correctly. If you don't tell them about the stove and there's a fire or other situation due to an incorrectly installed stove, they could deny the claim. Have it done by a pro.

I believe if you direct vent a woodstove, you defeat the purpose of long burn times, as the power vent creates a draft which burns wood at a faster rate. With a stove you want to damp down the fire so you have long overnight burns. A pellet stove has a constant feed of pellets so the power vent has no effect.