Hi All: My wife and I just became home owners of a nice 1920 3Br colonial 1450 Sq.ft. that has oil heat we want to put in a stove but are undecided on what type of fuel it will run on. Wood Pellet or coal. We live in Westchester county NY which is about 50 Min outside of NYC. Last winter we had 0 and low teen days. The house is not insulated and has 30 windows the with added single pane storm windows. We have looked at the Hearthstone Mansfield which is cast iron and soapstone (Would really love a Tulikivi masonry stove but way to costly all around install). Other stoves we looked at were the Harman TLC 2000 which can run on coal or wood. I have friends who heat with wood and pellet and I get mixed views some have had both, but all agree there is nothing like a real wood fire. But reality sets in I want to use the stove to heat my house. Any help out there would be great.

With vents in the floors, which are part of your natural containment structure of a home, do you have a death wish for you and your family? IF free flowing warm air can pass threw floors, then combustion products fire and carbon monoxide also can use that expressway. The name of the game is safe exit time. Safe exit time is increased by containment. Cutting unprotected holes in floors reduces containment and safe exit time A decision I would never make in my home, exposing my family to increased dangers. My typing skills needed to be criticized after that post I deserve it, but the safety message stays the same. I have sat in seminars reviewing burn characteristics found in homes. Part of every Rough frame inspection, equal time is given to fire blocking and daft stopping. Has anyone wondered why laundry chutes were eliminated from modern construction? CONTAINMENT All burn studies data supports, containment as being crucial to safe exit times. Did you know there are codes governing unprotected openings in floors and ceilings? Your floors and ceilings are natural containment structures, cutting un protected hole in them, created an expressway to disaster. Naturally the person criticizing my typing skills must be smarter than I. He would have pulled the required permit, He would have built in the necessary precautions, of providing protection to the openings and had it inspected and approved. Instead he would rather attack the messenger and try to discredit the message., Than admit, he had not though out the ramifications of his handy work. I took the time to warn the folly and safety issues of this practice. Hoping it might save another from making the same mistakes. There are some codes written as what I call idiot codes. Codes where common sense should prevail, but this is not always the case. Some codes are designed to protect the people from themselves. An example of such codes are many states now passed mandatory carbon monoxide detector codes, or expanding the smoke detector coverage to bedrooms. Ground fault plugs in bathrooms and near kitchen sinks. Smoke detectors used to be on dedicated circuits, but too many people just turned off the circuit breaker. Today they have to be wired in conjunction with a common light, a light that is used often. Many homes that light is your kitchen light. The most used light in your home. People will turn back on the detector circuit,if they have no light in the kitchen Ps I had George Bush's speech writer prepare my message, which probably explains how poorly it was initially delivered

Hello All! I am thankful that you have all left info on the Harman stoves. My HUsband and I are looking (preferably at the XXV) though with all of the common issues with the Auger , I am now wondering if the P 61 or the P68 are not better options for us. We had considered the Accentra, though our home is 1600+ square feet. It would not be a proper fit, I am afraid. I am wondering this from you: Now that "the honeymoon phase" is finished , would you tell you best friend to purchase one? If not, why ?? If yes, why?? I would hate to spend this amount of cash and have a dud or worse; a danger. We will most likely add the outdoor Air kit to whichever model we select. We have a large - open floor plan with bedrooms off of the main room. . With small fans (the ones at the corner of the door frame, we think that we will be able to cut our heating costs in half over the first three to four years (this includes the cost of the stove and pellets and installation) Thanks in advance for your appreciated response(s)!!! Stay cool this summer and warm this winter!!! Kate and Don in NW RI

Probably not supposed to advertise other sites, but hearth.com is really the place you should ask wood/pellet stove questions.