Hi everyone - self installed a castle serenity stove last March shipped direct from the orange box store. Brother in law has spent well over 5 figures on 3 Harmon’s between two houses and I was looking to merely heat my first floor on slab which the ceiling forced hot air does not get above 63. The price and reviews were right so for less than 1k shipped I had minimal worries. About 900 soft feet between 3 rooms down here, the primary room it’s in I can bake in depending on what pellets I use. More on that below. I am extremely happy with the decision, just wondering how others have faired with these Asian built units and what I can expect. So far it seems fine, I have inspected the blower and other areas twice since install and everything seemed fine. A note here: the metal hardware isn’t all that great, I need to minimize my playing with the exhaust fan since I feel I will eventually grind out the screw holes or worse. Also, end of season I will probably scrape all the soot off or should I not scrape that hard or at all? Curious what others use as a tool for this job, razor or plastic paint scraper? I can go into details on pros and cons, cons are really silly things that for the price are super easy to live with. Since it was late in the season last year I could only grab bags from Ace, mostly Lignetics but they had some other brands sometimes. Lignetics are ok but seem to be very expensive for a marginal pellet. Though I do have to say I had a torn bag I recently found in my shed from last year and they burned fine so that’s nice. Purchased this summer a ton of northern warmth @350ish and Maine woods @249ish I think. Just finished the northern warmth and now that I am burning the Maine woods I have a good opinion. Northern warmth : yes top dollar, but oh my they burn hot! Keeping the stove at its minimum setting I could get 80 or higher no problem. Sort of a con, since the warmer days I had to shut it down to cool off the rooms! Plus the bags are super high quality. I used them for everything and continue to reuse them around my garage. I wish I used them sparingly since I feel they would store nice for a long time. They seem to easily last double the amount of time the Maine woods are, both being softwoods, I find the Maine woods are much smaller pellet and a lot more dust and chips in the bag which the northern warmth had almost none and large pellet size. I will most certainly buy next year but probably only use for the really cold periods. Maine Woods : great price, and since they aren’t as hot as the above I can keep the stove running longer and have a more suitable temp. The bags are weak, and can easily get holes etc just from basic handling, like when I moved them off pallet to my shed for long term storage. Might try something different next year but overall happy with them. Ash etc on both above I notice no concern. I am going to look at what a dirty stove looks like so I know I am vacuuming enough, which has been about every 2-4 weeks depending how bored I am. Alright I am tired now - thanks for any feedback on the Castle! PS: after years of research on going all fancy with a stone hearth etc etc...end up going to the orange box store and grabbing 4 2’ square pavers and dropping right on carpet in corner of room working perfectly fine and dare I say look great for $16...
Welcome aboard Jonny, The Serenity is an excellent stove for the price. No need to be cleaning the exhaust fan other then at the end of season unless your burning 4-5 ton a year. If you want to do a quick exhaust passage clean out when you clean out the firebox get your self a piece a packing foam and cut it to fit snug in the exhaust passage at the left bottom of the burn pot then cut a round hole in the center so a shop vac hose fits snug then run the shop vac on blow mode, this is a quick easy simple way to keep the exhaust passage cleaned out with out pulling the fan out of the stove. This pic is my Harman but the same can be done on the Serenity.
Sadly, Ive no idea how long the stove will last....my Harman is 21 years old. Ive replaced parts....so, I have to guess that at some point you will too in your unit, but as long as parts are available for it, that shouldn't be a problem! Now, as for your hearth idear........technically, youre not supposed to have a joint in the base that isnt sealed.....so, to do it "right" (if thats a concern), you should either put a full sheet of steel under, or over the blocks, OR seal the joints with stove/gasket cements (good for about 2000 degrees)......yea, I am that guy who always seems to find issues with peoples great ideas....sorry!
My only 2 complaints with the Serenity is the lack of the stove shutting down when set temp is reached and that you need to remove the side panel to adjust the intake air gate. The air gate is easily solved by adding your own adjuster out the side panel , now if they would just change the programming to allow the stove to shutdown by set temp that would be awesome. As for life expectancy, it's a steel box like many other stoves so that should last many years so like Lousy said it's just a matter of replacement parts. I would also recommend when pulling the exhaust fan to clean it that you spin and check it for trueness each time before reinstalling, it's easy to tweak back to trueness if it's off at all.
It was supposed to be temporary...would never recommend it! The end of this season I do plan on sealing the small gap, maybe some other things. Underneath the carpet is cement slab (6ft deep) so I wasn’t too worried. I like how the back half of this stove is cool to the touch during operation but it is meeting clearance in the corner, photo is deceiving.
Yeah the temp setting is useless; I like the weekly/daily scheduling though, and just use manual the days we aren’t at work. M-F turns on at 5am off at 730am then 3pm-7pm; forced hot air in the house still barely runs in the other times. Others have told me this might actually be better than constant on and off; less wear on starter.
Never worked on one.Last 3 year reports show,above normal maintenance/cleaning,slightly above normal breakdowns,BUT excellent customer service.As far as life expectancy,if you make it past 10 years,then you can talk about it.
Welcome... Use the Leaf Blower Trick after every ton of pellets you burn and your stove will be happy. BTW I'm heating with a 19 year old St Croix and it still works fine.
I realize this is an older thread, but I am wondering if in 2022, you would still recommend this pellet stove. At this price point, I'd be willing to give it a go in the family room. One important consideration is that I work in that room from 8-5 M-F(work from home IT). Being able to regulate the temp is important for me. The two wall heaters I bought for the room do a pretty good job of heating just this room. I have to close the door. If I don't I lose a bunch of heat into the hallway/bedroom off the family room and up to third floor. When the wood stove was in this room, we kept the door open and it would radiate some heat into the hallway/daughter's bedroom and up the stairs to the 3rd floor. With a pellet stove in this room, I'd leave the door open to benefit those areas. thank you Jason
