Been lurking for a long time on the old forum under my other forum name I use on the net. I have been leaning toward a Paromax. Are they quite a bit better than the older Dells? What are the weak points of both? I want to make sure if I buy something Parts will be available. I have also looked at Bixby. Not sure I need something with auto ignite. The closest dealer is about 200 mi away. I guess my big reason for looking at Paromax is the claimed better efficiency over other brands. Can anyone back that up? tnx martin

I owned an FPI stove and it had a handful of leaks that needed to be sealed before it would burn well. Some FPI's had problems with circuit boards as well, mine included. After all of the problems were out of the way, I loved the stove. Very miserly on pellets and electricity and it would go a month without cleaning and still burn very well. I cleaned weekly, but I know others go much longer than that. Very little ash accumulates in the pan over a couple of weeks time because of the efficiency and the secondary burn that this design achieves.

I am now in my second season of burning a Paromax stove. It is much easier to burn because all of the leaks in the prior stove have been taken care of through new designs. In addition, the burn pot screws into place as well as the top ring of the burn pot. The door has an airwash, which helps to keep the glass a cleaner for a bit longer. It looks like the electrical components are a bit different, perhaps built a bit better. The stove is built like a tank and you can actually talk to the owner/designer of the stove company if you have questions. It has a good warranty. The dealer network is likely the weakest link regarding this stove because it is not that widely distributed in the US.

Good luck with your selection. I don't think you could go wrong with a Paromax stove. No matter what stove you choose, you will have to clean and maintain it properly. There is not one single stove that I am aware of that only requires you to feed it, no matter what the sales people tell you. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that neither of these stoves has an auto ignition system. Some people really think that this is a big deal, but the 10 seconds it take me to squirt hand sanitizer on the pellets and light it far outweighs having to shell out $150 for a new igniter in two years. They will fail.

Lots of information on the new stove is posted on Hearth from a dealer.

He slams the earlier FPI Dell-Point.
Doesn't bother me though.
I have wanted to send mine back for years.

The Paromax Europa has a solid design on the burner. The top plate, burn tube and bottom plate all thread together forming a good seal. FPI stoves have 2 bolts that secure the top plate. Run one hard and it will eventually warp, fouling up combustion.
HF

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/45118/

I also was concerned about the lack of auto ignition before I got mine, but it really is no problem. I splash a bit of methanol (heet gasline antifreeze) on some pellets in a baby food jar, swish it around for 30 seconds, dump it in and throw in a match. The fire is roaring even before the convection fan turns on.

I really like my FPI stove, although I'm sightly disappointed in their service. Last spring I ordered a replacement center auger from Claude, but they sent the wrong one. I returned it this fall, but they've failed to replace it, despite several calls and e-mails. Claude said they were very busy. Well, it was $80 to buy it originally and $10 or so to ship it back. The center auger on my stove is completely gone - even the shaft itself is narrowing down. But it continues to remove ash just fine with the two side augers, even with their increasing wear. So maybe I'll just pester Claude again at the end of this burning season.

Tnx for the replies. First off in response to the middle auger wore out, I seem to remember reading somewhere to have the fire burn higher up in the burn pot. Keeps the high temps away from the auger.
As far as the better efficiency, is that compared to previously owning a pellet stove and comparing it to what you had? And what brand/model. I wouldn't mind paying more for a stove if it will save you money in the long term on pellets. I guess that is my biggest reason for looking at these stoves. There are a lot of stoves out there at half the price and if efficiency isn't there I don't know if I could justify the price on that alone.
One other feature that I do think is interesting is the 12 volt back up. I already have wood heat so battery backup is not a make or break thing but knowing that if the power goes out and you are not home, it will continue to burn takes one less thing out of the equation to worry about. Granted you could buy a UPS for any stove out there to get that feature.
Oh one last thing, ever burn corn in them? Anything different or quirky about corn burning in them? tnx.

The Europa is my first pellet stove, so I don't have a hands-on basis for comparison. You will see that most people like the stoves they have, whether they are Dell Points, Bixby's, 6039's, etc. So there is always that bias to contend with.

I was at a showroom that had Dell Points and other stoves. I had them run a couple, and one thing that I remember clearly is that the Europa was QUIET compared to some others, which had a much higher convection fan velocity. In some cases (i.e. stove in the basement), this doesn't really matter, but our stove needed to be in the living room, right next to the TV, practically. Plus, our open-plan house with wood floors carries noise pretty well. The Europa is quiet enough that there is no problem with the noise level.

I use about 7000 lb/yr, and heat around 2500ft2 completely. But we do have a very efficient house.

I burned corn last year. Pellets are easier and (by my estimation) put out a little more heat. But if corn is much cheaper, I go that way. There's something about corn, it looks great. THe flame is nice and blue. You have to empty the ash drawer a LOT more, and keeping the ash bed height correct is tricker. Proper ash bed height is important for auger life; I talked with Claude at Dell Point about that last year. I think I recall him saying that auger life ideally is in the 3-5 year range, but that it is difficult on the older stoves to keep the best ash bed height. I don't know how much easier it is on the new stoves. Should be, with fewer air leaks.

In any case, I'm at the point where I don't sweat the details about ash auger life, leaks in the stove, or corn vs pellets too much. All stoves will require finessing certain things. There is no doubt that the Europa is an impressive design. The flame pattern looks great, it's quiet, fuel efficient, and at least in my case it's pretty problem free - it just runs and runs.

Oh, and regarding pricing - I think they are ALL overpriced, since I have a cheap streak. I ended up getting mine off a showroom floor for $1900, it had been run off and on in the showroom for a year. I don't save money compared to natural gas, since it's cheap, but our house is usually 75-77F in the winter. Worked out great!

If any of you are looking for repair/replace parts, we can help you. We sold the FPI product and now the Paromax.

We have many Dellpoint parts in stock for 2 day shipping. Send a private message please because I am not on here every day.

Lastly, I am biased, but I think the Dellpoint is the best bang for the buck in performance and dependability.

We service all pellet stoves when customers call and their dealer went out of business or quit selling the brand.