I have had the Harman insert for 9 seasons. The only thing I have replaced is the ignighter and the board. The board got fried because of a lightning strike. I didn’t have it plugged into a good surge protector. My fault.
I ran a Jutul 3 non cat wood stove at my two previous houses. It was a great cast iron stove made in Norway. The only issue was it was too small. You could only fit 3-4 pieces in at a time when I would fill it up before bed. So, it limited the burn time.
I was going to buy this stove 10 years ago:
https://www.woodstove.com/the-progress-hybrid-wood-stove
But I decided to buy this instead with the brown finish:
https://www.harmanstoves.com/products/accentra52i-tc-pellet-insert
Frankly, after running this Harman pellet stove for nine years I would never go back to a wood stove.
Want a ton of pellets? Good quality hardwood.
The Breckwell is a blow through stove. Didn’t know that and would never have another. It also bottom feeds with an auger through an elbow. Breckwell didn’t adapt the angle of the elbow as the designer learned it had to be so it jams with pellets. When it jams it shears the drive of the auger then it burns back into the hopper. Dreadful design and hazardous. Should be taken off the market, recalled and money refunded at least. Breckwell borders on fly by night and won’t address their product.
The Hearthstone soapstone stove stays warm, runs without electricity and I have lots of dead fall and stuff to cut up for wood. I would like an outside air supply. Heating for us is sometime late November to about March so not so much. I sometimes have my doubts the air sucked from the house is not a net loss in heating even though our house is newer and tight. The stove pipe has to heat up to get much draft at all and the ash cleanout is the key to getting a fire started.
The thing about a stove is more wood doesn’t necessarily last longer, it mostly just makes it hotter. Loading up before bedtime gives a very hot house that gets cold a little slower. The higher the delta T the faster the heat goes out.