Harmon Stoves
 

I am thinking of purchasing a Harmon Pellet Stove. Their dealer network seems to be fairly limited and base price is consistant. Incentives are where there seems to be some variation. My question is who would people recommend for dealers as far as price, after sale support, and reliability. I am located in Moultonborough.

Thanks

First of all, its HarmAn not HarmOn. Nothing personal but us Harman owners are very sensitive about that. Your sig doesn't tell us where you are from but I'll give you a ten thumbs up for Home and Hearth in Hampton Falls NH. I have 2 Harman stoves, an Invincible RS and a P61A. The Invincible is 17 years old, was my primary heat in my Mass home and is now living out its retirement in my place in Maine. The P61A is a beast and has automatic operation meaning it lights itself, heats to the set temp and shuts off. Most all brands of stoves are like this today. You will find lower priced stoves. The Harman is the Cadillac of stoves and for good reason. Do your research. It will pay you dividends. BTW, there is a $300 online coupon available at www.harman.com

If you haven't found it yet, there is a great web resource at www.hearth.com Just click on the Pellet Stove forum and read away. There is a great search function in the upper left corner. Good Luck. If you go with the Harman, you won't be disappointed.

BT

Edit: Just saw you said you were from Moultonborough, sorry.

+1 on Blue Thunders comments. I have a Harman P38 that has run the past 7 years with no problems. Just do a thorough cleaning at the end of the year and it ready to roll next. I also purchased at the same place he did. Another shop nearer to you that I have bought from is Woodmans Forge in Wakefield. Nice folks. My only comment on a pellet stove up your way would be to purchase the battery backup system for when the power goes out. In Tuftonboro we lose power often and if I heated there with pellets I would have the backup. The blower requires power to operate.

I have a Harman Advance and love it. But keep in mind, the Harmans of today (post-bankruptcy) aren't quite the same as the "originals".

For their general lack of innovation the last several years, I would consider alternatives. Features that used to be unique to Harman (auto-light, temp control, etc.) are available on other brands now.

I don't think they actually went bankrupt but they would have if HHT hadn't bought them out at a bargain basement price. HHT bought them without taking on any of the debt or real estate liability. Your point is well taken as to not much new in design these days but their customer service is actually better under HHT ownership.

BT

Fireside Living in Laconia is listed as a dealer as well. It's a lot closer than the other two.

Fireside Living next to HK Powersports on Union Ave in Laconia sells them. The family that operates the business has been involved with stoves for years and know what they are talking about. Give them a shout.

Thanks for eveyones help and comments so far. I have used wood stoves for the last 30 plus years and just tired of everything that goes into it as well as the associated mess. The stove that I'm looking at is the P-43. So far I have gone to Woodmans and Abundant life in Chichester. I went back thru some of the older comments and back in 09 there were concerns with Service Issue at Woodmans. Nothing since then. Have they improved in that area. I also enjoyed BT's former posts, especially on 9-20-2010.

Abundant Life
 

Abundant life has done a bit of work for me both at my home in Chester and they also installed a propane stove at my island camp on the lake. They were 100% professional with everything they did for me and I was very pleased with their install prices. Service after the sale was also excellent.

I see Abundant Life also sells Harman Stoves. I wouldn't hesitate a bit purchasing from them. They have been around for a long time.

Good Luck!

Dan

Tks
 

We are going to build in Maine and one of the things we are considering is a combination wood/oil furnace. I just went to the web site and noticed that Harman makes a pellet furnace. We will have to look into weather they also make a combo oil/pellet. Only in the planning stages but good info to have.

Fireside Living is your local Harman dealer. They are the former owners of all the Fireplace village stores in southern NH. Fireside is family owned and operated with over 35 years in the business. Check them out at http://firesidelivingnh.com/
They also have boats and barges to use for island installs.....

We decided to go with Fireside Living based on several things. Although they were a few dollars higher than another dealer, they were willing to spend time with me to go over the stove, they were local, and some of the comments on this space helped. We won't take delivery until the end of the season, but are looking forward to it. Thanks to all for your help and comments.

Can't speak for all service on stoves but I can tell you Woodmans service is horrendous at best. I have a you'll pr opane stove that wasnt lighting correctly anymore. Bought it from Woodmans about 10 yrs ago. Called them mid September and took 4 weeks before they got they got there. That I understand given the time of year. They start the service clock when they leave Wakefield not totally uncommon. They arrive and after an hour they clan
Me nothing is wrong. Sine the stove was apart we agreed to replace thermocouple and thermopile. Two hours and fifteen miniutes later they leave and charge me for three hours time and parts at $275. Next morning stove won't work. Call them back. Takes a few weeks but they go back sending a new guy. This guy takes it apart and tells me some tube carrying the gas to the pilot is cracked and they don't have the part on the truck. So they charge me another $195! I even spoke with the manger claiming they should be flexible on pricing the work because the first guy misdiagnosed the problem. No luck. So they order the part and go back a third time. Guess what another $195 charge. Absolute thievery. Never would I set foot in their store or recommend to anyone again.

Harman P-43
 

Just had this Harman P-43 installed today at our home in Gilford. The second pic shows how simple it is to vent to the outside. It's going to be used to heat a finished basement area and supplement the rest of the house heating.

I purchased it from Fireside living in Gilford who had the best price and they did a great job on the install. I would recommend them if anyone is looking...

Dan

That doesn't get hot enough to meny the vinyl siding?

Nope not at all. If you go to fireside living they have a half dozen of these stoves vented exactly like that out the front of the store. That is one of the things that attracted me to a Harman Pellet stove is the simple install and the efficiency, all the heat stays in the house!

Dan

All of the pellet stove vent piping is double walled and designed for through the wall venting. After the 5' or so run up to the vent exit the temp is down to safe levels.

Because the stove is power vented, do you need a battery backup to make sure the exhaust fumes get vented out if your power goes off while the stove is running.

No. It's very sealed (I have a Harmon Advance), you might get a little bit of a smoke smell in the room, and the burn chamber gets a little smokey, but it's not like it's going to continue burning through 30lbs of fuel or something. The flame goes out pretty much as soon as you lose power, and then whatever pellets are lit will smolder out.

Deep cycle marine battery
 

You can hook up a deep cycle marine battery to an inverter to keep the stove running if you need to.

Congrats, Dan. That particular design of Harman is a beauty (same as my P61A). Just a question, though. Do you have the ability to swivel the very end of your exhaust vent down to say a 45 degree angle?

BT

Not sure B.T... Won't be at the house till Friday and I'll check. Are you thinking to keep water out??...

Dan

Most all of the direct pellet vents that I have seen have a "turn down" of some sort and yes, I would be worried about a driving rain getting in there. I can't really tell but it looks like there may be a screw on top and one on the bottom to possibly swivel it? Not saying anything is wrong either...just an observation.

FWIW, I've had that same basic exhaust setup for about 7 or 8 years now with no problems from rain, snow, etc. You can see it in the pic below:

http://brk.m2mcamview.com/cam1/2013-...3-06_09:51.jpg