I've been looking for a new pellet stove since the used Englander crapped out on the 3rd use. I looked at lots of new ones both at shops and on websites. I had plenty of choices that I would have liked to have, like another Harman (a smaller one), an Enviro Mini and others (I won't bore you by listing them all). Although looks weren't the first thing on my priority list, it was something I was looking at since the stove would sit in my living room.
Once I determined that all of my first choices (about 8), were really just out of my budget, I started looking on Craig's List. Any used Harmans were either more expensive than I planned on spending (for 10 year old stoves), and there were plenty of the Home Cheapo variety that people thought they could get their money back on (not from me they weren't).
Monday I went to look at a St. Croix Greenfield stove. ST. Croix is a well respected name, the stove had been test with Outside Air Intake (OAK), and had reduced minimum clearances from doors/windows (1st priority as the exhaust goes between two windows about 2' from each) and is a really nice looking stove. Downfall - no electronic ignition so either it is on or off. Sure, there are multple heat output settings, but my Harman will idle for an hour and if no heat is called ofr, it will shut down until heat is needed. Thsi is a big pellet saver. Anyway, I looked at the stove and saw how easy it was to light (very easy, so would be simple to start up when I get home from work).
However, the blower fan didn't seem to be working properly, although the owners didn't realize it. They had bought it new in 2008 and had always worked that way. Well, a lot of St. Croix 2008 stoves either had blowers that didn't run right to begin with, or blowers that quit working properly after some use. Sure, air comes out, but at that rate that would really only warm up my living room and never reach the bedroom. I passed on that stove.
The next day, a St. Croix Harding came onto CL for the same price as the Greenfield. Same year and basically the same model, but with elcetronic start and ability to control it with a thermostat. I went and looked at at Thursday and watched it start up and run. The guy had replace the blower so it was good. I offered them their asking price as long as they threw in the hearth that it was sitting on (much nicer than the hearth I had), and they accepted. Friday EX drove all the way out to Hollis (40 miles) loaded it up and delivered it to my place.
Yesterday I set it up, with some finageling of the pipes (it's exhaust is a little lower than what I had run for the old Englander). Well, there was an issue because I was a dummy and didn't manage to remove all the wadded up newspaper that I had placed in the pipe to keep cold air from entering the house. It go smokey in the house real quick, before there was any fire, and it leaked out the stove door. I opened doors and windows (20 degrees outside) and put the Harman on High, Set my fans to evacuate the smoke, moved Birdie to another room and disconnected the smoke detectors. Even after removing the remaining paper from the pipe (fortunately it was the straight pipe that could be reached from outside of the house), the exhast pipes never got any heat, so the smoke just kept going into the house.
After about an hour, the stove quit belching smoke, and 1.5 hours later enough smoke had cleared from the house and I could close everything back up. I turned on the propane heater to get the temp to 64, then shut it down and let the Harman do the rest.
Today, I searched all around until I finally found new gasket material for the door (the old gasket wasn't as tight as I would have liked) an finally got it installed about 3. I waited an hour for the high temp glue to cure, then fired up the stove.
It is now a balmy 80 degrees in the living room as I figure out how to adjust the flame for optimum burn (something that the Harman does by its lonesome - but the St. Croix doesn't). I have turned all the register fans off and have a couple of fans set to move the air; one on the floor of the bedroom blowing cold air out and the other blowing warm air in (obviously higher up).
The room started out at 63 degrees and is now at almost 66 (I just set up the fans about 30 minutes ago). The bathroom is warm without a fan setup and the craft room seems to be warmer than it was (I really don't care about that room as long as it is warm enough that the FHW pipes don't freeze.
Ahhh, warmth!
Things are looking up. Fingers crossed that it gives many years of good service
Posted by: c | November 17, 2014 at 08:37 AM
Yay! Heat is a good thing!
Posted by: Ruth | November 17, 2014 at 10:14 AM