FAQ's- Harman Hydroflex, agrafuels, tax credit, harman stoves

Question: I would love your take on the agripellet market. Seems to be getting started in EU.

Answer: Non-wood pellets are beginning to appear on the market in the mid-west. A sponsor for a recent bioenergy show in Minnesota was Sunrise Agrafuels. Harman was demoing the fuel in their PC45 biomass stove. It burned very well. They use ag residue from farm fields for raw material. The heat was consistent with a woody biomass fuel and the ash content was around 2%. You would definitely need a multi-fuel stove to burn this fuel and it does have a higher ash content but they worked well, and were cleaner than some bark mulch pellets I have seen.

Question: Did you like the new HydroFlex60. Would you get one? Any idea when one might be able to get one?

Answer: I do like the HydroFlex60. It is smaller in size and btu's than Harman's PB105, but it was designed that way. Some uses for it include assisting with geothermal heat pump setups, or smaller homes. I do have plans to install one- hopefully in conjunction with a solar hot water package in the next couple of years. It is anticpated that it will be able to go into production mid to late 2009. They are still trying to fill existing orders with current products. There are only a couple of prototypes so there is no pricing structure that I have seen. I will keep you updated! Here are some pictures for you though.

Question: Is your contact info anywhere on the blog?

Answer: No. I didn't want this site to be a sales tool, just an informational tool. I just want to try to answer things as best I can to promote the industry. If you leave a comment I will do my best to get back to you as quickly and accurately as my schedule allows :)

Question: My question is if (in my Harman P68) I change the temperature from 75 to say 85 will it use more pellets or will it just burn those pellets hotter and distribute that heat in the room more?

Answer: If you have your Harman set on room temperature the stove will use the necessary amount of fuel to keep your room at that desired temperature. Generally a higher temperature setting, 85 in your case, would mean that more fuel will be burned. Keep in mind that outside factors can affect fuel usage as well. Insulation, outside temperature, natural airflow through your home, doors and windows opening. The nice thing is that the Harman's self adjust by taking perpetual temperature readings from your room.

Question: What is the purpose of the feed adjustor on my Harman?

Answer: (from Harman)'The feed rate knob sets the maximum time per minute the control will let the feed motor run. The feed rate knob is set to have the stove perform its best depending on the ash content of the pellets you are burning. A feed rate of 4 to 4 ½ works best for most applications. Once you set the feed rate knob, no further adjustment is needed unless you make a change in pellet quality. A common misconception about the feed rate knob is that turning it to a lower setting will cause you to burn less fuel. Since turning the feed rate knob down will lower the maximum time you allow the feed motor to run every minute, the stove will feed at this maximum rate longer to satisfy the temperature setting, resulting in increased fuel consumption.'

I usually recommend starting at a four and you may need to adjust slightly up if you have long pellets, and less if you have shorter pellets. I have never moved mine off of a 3.5 setting for both my boiler and pellet stove.

Question: I burn a bag and a half of pellets a day. The stove runs constantly but the stove is rarely roaring. Is it better to turn it up so the fire is hotter for shorter amounts of time?

Answer: One of the great things about pellet stoves is their ability to adjust the fuel to air ratio so that you don't need to have a raging fire in all temperature scenarios. You can get an efficient clean burn whether you need 12,000 btu's or 68,000 btu's. Harman self-adjusts to give you the temperature you set. So in the morning if you turn the stove on in a cold house the stove will turn itself on and there will be a large fire. As the day warms the fire will shrink as your heat need is lower. When the sun starts to set and the temperature outside drops the stove may increase the size of flame. The thing to remember is that it will never give you more or less than you ask for.

Question: My dealer is telling me that I should put a deposit down to get on a waiting list for a boiler next year. Do you recommend that?

Answer: We took orders in May and June for stoves that would be delivered through the end of the year. It was a non-refundable deposit. We have not had cancellations and Harman has delivered stoves on schedule. Lennox did not release a stove per it's promise and we did give a couple of folks their money back. We did not take orders beyond the end of the year because stove manufacturer's were not giving ship dates or quantities of stoves for shipment beyond December. We now have numbers from Harman and Lennox for stove ship dates in the first quarter of 2009. We will shortly be taking orders and deposits for those stoves.

Each dealer is different!!!!!!

Questions to ask them might include whether they had a past track record of delivering on time? Do they have an actual ship date for the stove they are selling you? Is the deposit refundable or transferrable? What will they do if the date cannot be met (notification, discount, cancellation policy change...)?
Remember that most dealers are doing their absolute best to give you accurate information and a fair deal.

Question: I heard there was a tax credit for pellet stoves starting in 2009?

Answer: True! Senator John Sununu co-sponsored a tax credit for pellet stoves this fall saying, “We need to encourage renewable energy with strong tax incentives, and I am pleased that this bill includes my 10 percent tax credit for high efficiency wood pellet stoves,” said Sununu. “I have consistently fought to expand renewable energy tax incentives, and this is the second time that the Senate has considered our bipartisan proposal. It was passed in the bailout package in October. The credit will be up to $300 for a pellet stove, insert, or whole house system.

Got Gas? Harman won't.

A sign of the times? Another battle won imho!
News release from HHT and Harman-

Harman Gas Product Notice

October 9, 2008

Dear Harman Dealers,

As you are aware, the Harman brand is esperiencing incredible demand for pellet, wood, coal, and central heat units. We are dedicated to fulfilling your orders which requires us to make business changes to increase capacity, In addition to our existing ramp up plan we are stopping production of gas units for at least 18 months in order to gain production capacity in units with higher demand.

Your existing gas unit orders and pledge amounts will be filled. All gas units on order as of October 9th, 2008 and pledged units converted to orders before February 10th, 2009 will be shipped per acknowledged sales order dates. We will not process additional orders for gas units beyond the dates specified above.

The Harman brand will continue to lead in the hearth industry and make the necessary changes to respond to the market demands. Thank you for your continued support. Please contact your Customer Service Representative if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Karen McSherry

Brand Manager

Letter from Harman Representative

Posted with permission from Charlie Page:

Dear Harman Customer,

The demand for Harman pellet and wood stoves over the last three months in the Northeast has been overwhelming. The reality is that this demand is greater than plant capacity.

The company has allocated stoves to the dealers in the Northeast. In some cases lead times for stoves which were ordered have been pushed into “pool” dates in the first and second quarters of 09. The company’s plan is to provide a limited but balanced flow of stoves into the Northeast and move these back ordered stoves into production as capacity becomes available.

As the Northeast Harman Factory Representative I can assure you that the company is doing everything possible to help speed up support for the Harman dealer network and Harman customers without compromising on product quality. The production ramp up is significant and will involve purchasing new lasers and bending equipment, hiring many more employees and working very closely with company suppliers throughout the remainder of this year and into the first half of 2009.

The fact is, even with the aggressive ramp-up in production which is underway, it will take a while to fill back orders and meet future demand. While it is easier said than done, I am asking all homeowners that have either purchased or placed deposits on Harman stoves to be patient. Every stove will be built.

The company has committed to communicate realistic delivery dates months in advance in order to help my Northeast dealers manage expectations. Right now the stoves that have been pushed into 2009 have not been assigned to specific manufacturing runs, but will be within a reasonable period of time. We will let your dealer know when your stove is scheduled to be built as soon as those dates are established and you can then plan accordingly.

I know that many homeowners are upset about these long lead times – frankly I would be too – but there is one thing I would like to say – Harman stoves are worth waiting for! Unlike some people who are in sales – I am a Harman stove user and I have over 30 years experience heating with wood and pellet stoves. I use my Harman stoves in the spring and fall and in the dead of winter at -30° F. Harman stoves work, they are easy to maintain and they are reliable. You will be living with your new stove for a long time so my advice is to please be patient. Harman stoves are the best made and best designed stoves on the market today----that’s why the demand has exceeded production.


Sincerely,

Charlie Page
Northeast Harman Stove Representative

Harman

Harman's annual dealer meeting was held this last weekend. This is an event we dealers look forward to each year to see new products, discuss the upcoming season, and see Harman's facility which is always growing and changing. This year was even more anticipated as Harman has new owners, and demand is back to surge levels resulting in supply and distribution challenges. Not necessarily new challenges but with new faces, procedures, and at a higher volume than we have seen previously.
Many people have been spreading rumors and/or beating down Harman online. Unfortunately, I have not seen credible information or sources to this end. I would like to throw my two cents in to the ring for consideration. I am biased. We are one of Harman's larger dealers, and are big proponents of the wood pellet industry.
Our orders started increasing in volume in May. At this point we were still operating off of our early buy inventory. This is an order done by dealers in the spring that equals approximately 1/3 to one half of anticipated sales for the year. By June those stoves had all been spoken for and we started putting in little orders as we our sales occurred. We were cautious because many MANY of us were burnt hard the last time (2006) we really ramped up to meet an overwhelming demand. We did not want to put ourselves in that dangerous put you out of business situation we had just barely recovered from. Home and Hearth Technologies was in the process of introducing a distribution program to the larger dealers that would accomodate our desire to not stock large amounts of stoves. While this was going on Harman was making a needed software change to HHT's system as this is usually the quiet time of year. As the orders began to pile up we heard through the grapevine that an old tactic of dealers placing large orders in anticipation of high demand had begun. We placed a large order ourselves even though the new distribution program was still on the roster. The new computer system started spitting out paper. It automatically processed and placed the orders in their system and faxed confirmation. Around this time the dealer's on the new program had to put their orders in for the coming months. We put that order in, too. At this point Harman was already sending warning shots for orders ship accuracy. We kept taking orders but informed our customers it may be a wait extending in to first quarter. This did the opposite of slow things down. People were in full panic mode at this point. We would sell record numbers of stoves, have ten people waiting on a 90 degree day, and the phone would ring non-stop all day.
I would like to point out that our other pellet stove lines are also backordered and giving out inaccurate dates at this point due to the overwhelming order volume. Not just Harman. We have had dates pushed back on multiple lines, and backorders are in place for all but a handful of dealers/stoves.
Harman visited key dealers to determine if the orders they were receiving were real or just anticipation ordering as has happened in the past (like the last time we all ramped up for demand that disappeared overnight= last year). As soon as they determined it was a real demand they began to act. They made a decision not to flood the market with stoves fearing that it would trigger a pellet shortage. I do think that the PFI and stove manufacturer's could greatly benefit from communicating real sales numbers to each other to make sure there are enough of both to meet demand but that is a topic for a different time and group... Harman also decided to take control of the situation and allocate stoves to all dealers instead of sending huge numbers of stoves to people as the orders had been submitted. (10 here, 10 there... instead of 1000 to one). This does not make the one guy who ordered 1000 very happy but keeps a hundred dealers who ordered ten able to cover at least some of their demand. They spent a great deal of effort to best determine how to accomodate the maximum number of consumers throughout the Northeast (peak of demand) and the rest of the country. I did not get all of the stoves I ordered but I fully understand why Harman did it and agree with their long term prognosis. We heeded their warnings and have minimal schedule conflict other than a stove ship date being a couple of months off. This is frustrating to some but this is a long term solution and a stove will last fifteen to twenty years with proper care and maintenance so a couple of months is relatively small in comparison. Harman is continuing to hone their existing production lines and working to add additional capacity which may improve the status even more.
I have confidence in Harman, and Hearth and Home technologies. I would like to think that we have turned the corner on acknowledging wood pellet heat as a viable and needed alternative. I don't think we will have many more chances if the public once again turns their back on pellets like they did last year. We need to stop exporting inexpensive, local, renewable wood pellet fuel to decrease our dependence on expensive imported oil and gas. If you want things to grow and change faster write your congressman and senator. Send a donation to the Pellet Fuels Institute to support lobbying efforts to push through rebates and/or tax write offs for wood pellet appliances and or fuel. Be part of the solution.

Harman News

With Hearth and Home Technology's recent purchase of Harman there was a lot of buzz about the company before and during the Hearth Show in Atlanta. What would change? Or would it be the same? Harman was the largest family owned company in our industry, and many were left wondering what the short and long term effects of a large corporation purchasing it would have. I am glad to say that other than the new Operations Manager it is the same great Harman with Dane and Gloria firmly at the helm with the new guard. There was more comment about how little had changed than anything, except an acknowledgement that it should not be changed. The old If it's not broken, don't fix it mentality.

Showing that they are still on the leading edge of innovation they had two new pellet products introduced. One is the long requested low price auto light stove. The P38 is probably the best value stove on the market, but the downside was that it had a simple control board, and manual ignition.
They released the P43, which has the same body as the P38, with a fresh new side panel option, but the automatic ignition control system found in their other stoves. There will now be an automatic and a manual value stove available from Harman.

They also released a new smaller pellet boiler. The HydroFlex60.
This innovative product won the Vesta award this year. It has a 60,000 Btu burner with a new remote thermostat operation, and the easiest maintenance cleaning system yet. It also has an extremely small footprint while still providing a 160 pound hopper.

Pellet Forced Hot Air and Boiler Systems

(Harman rep with Bulk Fuel Bin and PB105- Reno HPBA March 2007)

Harman has long been the front runner in the pellet stove marketplace. It's underfired feed system has given us some of the largest btu, lowest maintenance pellet stoves available in the US. That coupled with Harman's strong coal, and wood furnace background lead to the introduction of their whole house pellet systems. The PF100 Pellet Furnace was first released in 2004. This innovative unit was the first pellet furnace to be made in and for the US market. In the fall of 2006 it was followed up with the PB105, the first pellet boiler manufactured in the US. The fall of 2007 showed continued innovation and promotion with the bulk fuel bin that Harman designed to work with both of their whole house units, as well as their P-series pellet stoves.

The PF100 contains the same control, feed, and venting systems as the Harman freestanding and insert stoves, just on a larger scale. It has an impressive heat range from 0 to 112,000 Btu's. The unit itself holds 160 pounds of pellets, or hook up Harman's latest innovation the bulk feed bin for 1400 pounds of hands free use. It's large ash pan means that cleaning needs to happen only after three or so tons have gone through. This is a great system that many people add to their homes for central heat. Some replace their old system entirely, while others leave their old system in place as a backup and simply install the pellet furnace in series by tapping into exisiting plenum systems.

Many areas use hot water, and forced hot water heat systems. While they had to wait a little longer it was well worth it. In 2006, Harman released the PB105. This unit will heat water up to 120C with a heat range of 0 to 112,000 Btu's. The optional hot water coil gives an added benefit of heating domestic hot water. Again using Harman's control, feed, and heat transfer system from their stoves and inserts. This unit has an extra large ash pan, and pellet hopper, as well as the ability to direct vent using a four inch PL rated pellet stove pipe. The bulk fuel bin may reduce filling to once or twice a month!

Harman's latest innovation gives us a glimpse of the future. The bulk fuel bin is designed has a small footprint, and is designed to be fed from bagged fuel, as the vast majority of pellet fuel is delivered in this manner. It is a step in the direction of elminating the bag, and moving to a bulk feed and delivery system. We may learn a great deal from Europe about bulk pellet fuel systems. They have pellet trucks that deliver fuel in much the same way as we have oil and propane delivery trucks here in the US. There are a handful of dealers and consumers who buy bulk pellets using bulk sacks, or other bulk deliveries such as rail, and I suspect that this method has room only to grow. New England Wood Pellet received a grant a few years back to purchase the first bulk pellet fuel delivery vehicle. Grain silos have been the predominant fuel holders in the US. Europeans often make wooden bins, or pellet closets that may be similar to what coal bins or closets were like in the late 1800 and early 1900's here.

In the coming years we may see other companies follow suit with similar boiler and forced hot air pellet systems. Central Boiler has recently released a multi-fuel outdoor system, Tarm offers an imported boiler or furnace system as examples. Europe's wood pellet leads the market as far as wood pellet boiler and furnace systems with many innovative and viable designs in place, but with people like Dane Harman behind the US market keep an eye out!