Pellets
 

Just purchased the new harmon programmable pellet stove. Where is the best place to purchase pellets and which brand does everyone like. Thanks for your responses.

First of all it's a HarmAn, not Harmon. Us Harman owners are very sensitive about it!! I own two of them and this is my 20th season of pellet burning. You will find pellets at all of the big box stores and at most stove shops. Pellet quality varies significantly but a Harman will burn anything. You bought the best pellet stove on the market and you paid dearly for it. Enjoy.

I run green team supremes.. Like the post above I've found they'll cycle pretty much any type of pellet I try.. Enjoy

I've burned multiple brands of pellets in my Harman stove. The only ones that never worked well were called "Patriot Fuel", and the pellets were larger than the normal size.

I tend to buy whatever is cheapest/most convenient. Our pellet stove is supplemental heat at home and I've never been too concerned about getting absolute "best value" pellets. I use about 1 ton per winter, so a price difference of $20/ton doesn't really change the budget very much :)

We have a Harman P43 and mostly burn Lowe's or Home Depot stuff. We had good luck with Green Supreme (Lowe's prior 2 years, Aubuchon Hardware in Alton this year). Also had good luck with Fireplace Ultra (Home Depot).

While the P43 will burn anything, some brands produce more ash. With better pellets I can go about 22 bags between cleanings. With some off brands only about 15 bags between cleanings. Even then it is almost 2 weeks of continuous running prior to shutdown and cleaning. And once the stove is cool cleaning is only about a 10 job.

I also have a Harman and like the others above have noted it will burn anything very well.

I paid a little extra last year and this year and I'm burning the "Green Team" brand of pellets. They are a premium hardwood pellet. The only reason I burn these is because of the less ash they produce which means less stove cleanings I have to do (I'm lazy!).

I have found no difference in heat output in any of the brands I have tried through my stove. I have checked probably 7 or 8 different brands both hardwood and softwood makeups using a temperature probe. The only difference I ever saw was ash content. More ash = more cleaning and that's not for me!

If cleaning is not an issue for you, I would burn whatever is cheapest and easiest to find.

Dan

What's a decent brand middle of the line stove? Not a Harman but not a PIS either lets say maybe the Ford or Chevy of Stoves (as opposed to a Ferarri!!)

quadra fires are pretty solid. Have had one for a few seasons now and seems to work just like the Harmons for my house. (still pricey compared to the kias of stoves)

OK Blue Thunder one more time:D

Our previous stove was an Enviro Empress:
http://enviro.com/products/catalogue...d=EMPRESS-1-FS

Nice looking and efficient. It is a top feed stove with pellets falling into a burn pot. That means that the stove has to be shut down and cleaned frequently, at height of heating season once a day. It has been moved down to the basement for use only on two stove nights.

The Harman is a bottom feed with the burn area being a ramp. Ash gets pushed off the end of the ramp and falls into a large ash pan. I can go 15 to 22 bags of pellets between shutdown and cleaning. Once a day I open the door while still burning and use the provided tool to do a quick scrape of the ramp. About a 1 min task done while adding pellets.

I would look for a bottom feed stove with a large ash pan, no doubt there are options other than Harman. Look for a display of a operating stove and ask about how it works and how often you have to shutdown to clean.

It's hard.....so very hard.....

You won't find us HarmAn owners recommending another brand. It's a true "you get what you pay for" story. There are not many, if any, stoves that can run 24 hours 7 days a week for a couple of weeks without any maintenance other than putting a bag of pellets in.....

You forgot the for years on end........

these stoves just keep on crankin