One thing I recommend when buying a pellet stove is checking how the pellets arrive at the burn pot. A drop feed auger is better than one that just pushes the pellets to the pot. I have the latter, my parents have the former. BIG difference in maintenance!! The drop feeder needs cleaned maybe once a week. The push feed needs cleaned daily. If I would have known that earlier, I would not have bought this stove. I purchased it at Lowes. It was around $1200 after I purchased all the other kits ( chimney, fresh air intake kit, etc.), I also installed it myself. Unless you are installing this into an existing chimney, I recommend having it installed. You really need to have experience in room remodeling because it is a lot of work making the hole(s) in the wall. Home Depot and Lowes purchase low end stoves, so I do not recommend them. I have had issues with mine every year since I purchased it. It is and Englander Stove model 25-PDVC. I have replaced several parts on it already due to frequent shut down errors. So far I have replaced three vaccuum/ shut down switches, an auger, an auger motor and several heat gaskets. I'm not impressed. If you are not mechanically inclined, the task of repair could seem overwhelming. On a positive note, their customer service is very good. They can walk you through the steps to fix things, but it is very time consuming and the parts are not cheap. My advice is find a local dealer that installs and services their stoves. That way you know you have backup. Plus most of these stores will buy quality products because they can't afford to be making a lot of house calls for stove repair! :) Plan on spending close to $2000 minimum. That is the price of a small mid range stove. I have seen them go as high as $5000. With the price of oil and nat. gas on the increase, I think you will get a good return on your investment quickly. If you have some storage space, purchase pellets in the spring. You can sometimes get them for 1/2 price because they need to get rid of them. I saved $100 on a ton last spring at Home Depot. That sent the price per bag down to $2.72! Hard to beat that! Keep them dry and you're in business!

We are on our third heating season with a quadrafire insert. We heat the main part of our house--an area of approximately 1300 square feet. Noise was a consideration in our puchase (it is in our TV room) as was quality and looks. We have been extremely happy with our stove. We program the thermostat just like we would for our oil boiler. The hopper holds one 40lb bag of pellets. The burn pot is self cleaning. Once per week we thoroughly vacuum the burn chamber, clean the glass, and empty the ashes from the lower tray. We have it serviced annually. The amount of ash in the tray and dust in the pellets varies with the brand of pellets you burn. This year we found a dealer (in CT) that offered several different brands of pellets and detailed the wood and size of pellets. Our price for pellets was about $2.25 per bag--purchased by the ton. We will burn just over 2 tons. Quadrafire Mount Vernon insert. (60,000 btu)

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

Anyone replace their auger on a Harman Pellet stove Accentra auger and know the procedure? Mine never really looked right from the start, it look liked you took a file and filed it thin on both sides about 11-15 mm on the end, looked flat spoonish on the end. You coud see the metal curl over time and sure enough the tip has broken off. I am not sure if it hurts performs having the tip of the auger missing but at some point I would like to replace it. Anyone have instructions on doing this. About Harman, this is a love/hate relationship: Couple of things I dislike about Harman and something to keep in mind, Harman Company itself will not help you, if you do get replies they are vague to the point of useless, usually referencing you to a local dealer as the main point. What local dealer? I had to drive 3 hours to the nearest retailer to buy the stove. Many Harman dealers will give you the cold shoulder if they know how far away you are from them. They see less interested in selling you a part and instructions wanting to install it, having one of their people work on it. With my old sheet metal Breckwell that rattled like a tank, Breckwell listed each part number in the manual, if you were the orginial owner and could prove it they would sell you the part at a huge discount, give you instructions. Most of the motors in a Breckwell are standard stuff and working on a Breckwell is like working on a lawn mower. Breckwell seem to understand local dealers come and go, not located in every city, people move with their stoves, aka move away from dealers, and that these things are long term investments. I like the auto running model of the Harman over the Breckwell but if I were located in Alaska I would take a Russian like built Breckwell over a Harman any day. I gave away my old Breckwell, it was a 1990 model, it is on its fourth owner. Gee.