Harman (pellet) stove dealers try to keep up with demand (Maine)

[jpak]

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/5267416.html

More than a week after they were told orders for hundreds of pellet stoves would go unfilled, Harman dealers around the state now believe they will eventually receive the stoves they were promised.

Officials at Harman, who announced this week they have already ramped up production to three times the originally planned run rate, blamed the confusion on a computer glitch and a record pace of pellet-stove sales.

"It's a good company. They're going to help people out," said Rocky Gaslin of Rocky's Stove Shoppe in Augusta. "There's a ton of people that need stoves and they're going to produce them."

Gaslin was less optimistic last week after learning that orders for hundreds of pellet stoves would go unfilled. Gaslin learned last week that Harman could supply just 22 of the 350 stoves Gaslin sold based on figures originally provided by the company.

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[Plausible]

1. another option

for those of us facing unafordable oil heating bills, $4.70 a gallon here, is geothermal. I'm hearing good things about it. It uses either ground water or air via underground trenches and depending on the electric rates of the area, is the cheapest way to heat and cool homes, I've read about or seen. My neighbor installed it last year and says his highest monthly heating bill was $50 last winter.

[phantom power]

3. It works well, but it costs around $15k to install.

Also, it requires a bit of land. I wonder how many people struggling to afford their oil bill are going to afford a geothermal installation.

[Warpy]

2. I was thinking of converting to a pellet stove

once my firewood runs out. Now I think a corn stove might be a better idea, renewable fuel I can pick up at any feed store.

I'm getting too old and decrepit to hang out in the back yard with a chainsaw and maul.