My take on the New Harman Absolute..

At my Harman stove dealers today I got and eyeball view of Harman's latest new pellet stove.
Not to be a Debbie Downer here, but I found 2 Very valid reasons I would not purchase this one,

#1...Picture a square box without a top...
This is the Burnpot... it has a metal gate like rectangular piece that slides down In Front of the burnpot..'
Yes. In front of the burnpot causing a 4 sided enclosure...
This "Gate' has holes in it but not round burnpot type but more wavey type I assume for air flow..

My 1st question was," how does the ASH get out?'
he showed me that the " Gate" does not go all the way down but sits approx Half inch above the front of the burnpot so Ash can fall under the gate and out.....WHAT??
OK....I'm not buying one so doesn't really matter why it's there in the 1st place...
Regardless for the reason for this "Gate" which I never found out why it's there,
I soon visualized problems with ash in a boxed in area getting ash dams.
Specially if one was to purchase cheap pellets or any real BBS ashy pellets that form ash cakes or clinkers,
all trying to escape "under" this gate.... it's really less than an inch gap for ash to escape..
#2.
If you are like most who give the burnpot a scrape or two each day, or actually anytime,
there is NO POSSIBLE way to scrape the Hot burnpot Without taking a pair of heat resistant gloves and removing the Gate and hopefully not forget and lay the Super hot metal onto a carpet or bare floor.
The dealer had not read up on this new stove, just got it 2 days ago so he really didn't understand the reason for the "Gate" but it has to be a valid one... but this doesn't change the 2 flaws? that I mentioned that will not change.
I;m sure many will buy it just for the semi--ipad to play with...
just doesn't look right where it is mounted.. dealer thought the same.
I think there is also a light Inside the stove that you can turn off/on..
[that is something I would like just for cleaning and not have to use a flashlight or some external light.]
3rd,
The Absolute is over 4,000.00 for a 43,000 BTU Stove..
This could be a sticky point with people like myself who want more BTU's for our Buck..
My 61K BTU Harman is 3700.00.
It Does have the fancy Digital screen with all the option of setting feed rate, fan speed, temp settings, stock market, weather reports , email and whatever..[Actually the next Generation WIFI stoves will have that I;m sure.
The Harman tried/true technology is the insides of this stove so am sure it will perform as exspected but
just cannot go for a boxed-in burnpot for whatever reason. just screams of agravation and smothered flames from some heavy Ash pellet brands,,:
Note:
Have not read any user manuals but just "might" recommend using pellets with less ash for better performance..?...

 

The IoT (Internet of Things... smart tvs, appliances, etc) is taking off huge right now. My company has recently built a whole practice just to serve this niche. Like it or not, it's the future.

Imagine going to managemystove.com and knowing everything about the burn pot, how many hours of run time it has left, last cleaning time, est time to refill, etc etc

But as cool as all of that is, if the core appliance attached to it sucks, you'll still have a bad time.

My stove is only 37,800 btu so i don't think 43k is low. 61k is just a LOT. You are paying for the electronics. buy a dvd player, a network card, and a screen and add it to the price of any stove and you'll see where the extra 500 bucks comes in to play.

 

oh I agree 100% with your take on what is the "Now"
why else would a person buy a brand new car based on WIFI Enabled,, Electronic gizmos 1st and pay less attention to the reliability, performance, cost of repairs which were #1 concern for past 100 years when people shopped for new Cars.
This stove will sell just for the Smart screen attached to it.. another smart Appliance to play with..

 

Im playing with mine now (today). I am more curious about what you CANT see (interfaces, circuit board accessibility, etc.)......I do like how it looks.

As for the burnpot, time will tell.

 

here;s maint video....
my dealers son told me u had to remove the gate in order to scrape the burnpot.
.didn't know it dropped down...still see it as a potential Ash Dam during burning depending on pellets quality but then again I voted for Obama so what do I know...

 

btw:
if this stove turns out to be sucessfull which being a Harman it prob wil,, there will be a Bums rush to outfit future stoves quickly with digital controls to jump on the market which will include some of the cheap stoves coming out China.... oh the horror..maybe..

 

not talking manually Tending to the ash.. my concern is when it's burning all day or night alone.
the ash has to navigate Under the gate which I saw to be not a lot of clearance for Ash cakes or heavy buildup thus a potential ash dam if using cheap quality pellets.

 

maybe this will help? The front of the burnpot has been pivoted down to demonstrate the 1" gap where ash shall fall behind the gate and into the ashpan.....the video doesn't show this well....

 

and here is the top of the burnpot, showing igniter......note that to remove the igniter, its done now FROM THE TOP....the top is removed by taking out two cap screws on either side of the burnpot

 

here is the bottom of the burnpot......note you can still clean the igniter from the bottom, but cant remove it from there....access here is the door shown

 

here is the lower igniter door, opened

 

here is the rear of the unit, with the shields removed

one thing of note here is its pretty cramped in there with the two distribution fans

 

here is the circuit board......note that it ISNT the same circuit board from earlier models

 

here is a combustion blower....note, it as well, is new

 

here is the keypad control....note the existence of a USB port on the right side

 

Cool..I can play my music through it!!

 

here is a nifty new thing too.....a removable combustion blower impeller cover....just lifts off...need no tools! (Its behind the ash pan)

 

I think its a rolling narrative expounding on the great features of Harman Stoves......cant find the speaker on the stove yet though.....maybe you can upload modules remarking on your dashing good looks, or your astute choice in purchasing the 'latest and greatest"