Summers Heat SHP10 Pellet Stove

I'm basing my rating based on the cost of this unit. I purchased and installed mine in October of 2008. I am writing this in November of 2016, so the stove is starting its 9th year. I burn an average of three tons per year, so this stove has churned through about 25 tons of pellets so far. Here are my observations from that experience.This stove should not be compared to fancier and nice units by Harman, Quadrafire, etc. It's a do-it-yourselfer's model sold at hardware stores, and should be evaluated as such. I use this stove to provide 60-70% of the heat in my house, and it does a fine job. It seems to me I paid somewhere around $1100 for it, and I've not put a single dollar into replacement parts yet (famous last words). Even if it totally crapped out tomorrow, it will have cost me less than $140/year, and it luckily shows no sign of being near the end of its life. I'd suspect by the time all is said and done, this unit will have cost me less than $100 year in capital costs. There are very few heating appliances that cost so little. When it comes down to it, that's why you buy this unit. If you're seriously considering this one, you are motivated to save some dough, and there's nothing wrong with that. Here are the trade-offs:Negatives:-cheap finish, wears off or rusts through fairly easily. Keep some stove black on hand.-no removable ash pan-circulation fan needs to be removed and cleaned about once a year, and it's not particularly easy to do, but you can manage it with enough patience and swearing.-not exactly an "object d'art"-not programmable-hopper really does not hold a full 40 lbs of pelletsGood:-Inexpensive-Reliable (in my experience)-Not finicky on what it burns. Some pellets burn better than others, but size, fines, etc don't seem to matter much-Easy to find. If mine should die, I get another and hook it up to the same venting. No stress.Some on here have complained about customer service. I have found that e-mailing them with as much detail as possible and maybe a picture or two allows for quick and accurate feedback when I've had a question about anything.Bottom line to me is it's like Ford's Model T back in the day. It's cheap. It works. There's a million of them out there. You can get any color as long as it's black.Yeah, it's a pain to have to shut it down every week or so to clean it, but in life you always pay one way or the other in either money, or time and aggravation. There may be better options out there now since it's been over eight years since I bought mine, I honestly have no idea. What I can tell you for sure is I'm glad I bought mine, and if I were to go back and do it over, I'd buy this one again. It's served me well and it hasn't cost much.

We are completely satisfied with this stove! It was easy to install and works exactly as advertised. It's a really inexpensive way to heat 2 large rooms in our home. I highly recommend this product.

Nothing like buying a product that was from 2007

Purchased my Summers Heat 55-SHP10L in Nov. 2012 from Lowes. Both Home Depot and Lowes sell these and they are complete waste of money!The barely push any air at all and the blower vent in front pushes the air two different directions. One side is warm air and the other is just plain cold air.Meanwhile the sides of the pellet stove are so friggin hot you can cook on them ..I attempted to contact their customer service about the issue and could not speak with anyone after being on hold more than 35 mins!!I then attempted to return it to Lowes and to go through all sorts of hoopla just to speak with someone.. for some reason it had to be the main store manager..Who in turn simply had their employees try to call the same number I did and they spent almost 40 minutes on hold as well.. never getting to speak with anyone.Eventually the store manager miraculously got to speak with someone and then tells me that they cannot take it back unless a tech on the phone says so!!!The Lowes store manager then directs me to go home and start the stove and call their customer care # and then gives me an extension to speak with someone..So I go home call the company and the guy has me push a bunch of buttons and tell me it should be fixed though it was not so I called back and again he has me pushsome more buttons and again tells me to call him back and states the problem should be fixed .. but nope.I am through dealing with these jokers and playing this game..This is very poorly designed and cheaply constructed pellet stove.. Hands Down!Spend your money on a quality stove and save yourself the hassle of dealing with rubbish customer service, a rubbish stove and stress induced frustration ofknowing you could have bought a better stove!

This stove works adequately if the outside temps do not reach below freezing but then has a very difficult time keeping the home warm. I have had my stove for 4 years. Last winter during the coldest night the auger motor went out, we had to try to stay warm while we waited for a replacement motor to be sent through the mail. This winter I am having more problems with the stove, it is running but not very well and the house is not being kept warm enough. Every day with this stove it has to be shut down and ash removed and cleaned. This makes for more cold time during the day with no heat. Stove pipe outside has to be cleaned every couple tons of pellets and don't forget to take pipe off and clean the straight exhaust pipe out the back of the stove every now and then also or it becomes full of ash.