Castle Wood Pellet Stove Serenity 12327 Indoor Heating Temperature Control, Free Standing with Flame Window and Smart Controler, 18- ¼”W x 34”H x 23 ¾”D

Update -Now that I have had this for a year, I wanted to update my review.After experimenting with exhaust blower speeds and the air inlet restriction adjustment, this stove works great! The hopper size is definitely it's weak point, but for the money, this stove is completely exceeding expectations. I also figure out the occasional "expansion" noises were due to the fact that I did not have the machine's weight evenly distributed over all four feet. Once I adjusted those to be about even, the only noise is the clinking of the pellets as the come down the shoot.You will need to factor in a time period to figure out the right combination of adjustments based on altitude, pipe length, and pellet quality. Once you do that, it's pretty much set it and forget it. I run it on the #2 setting most of the time and it keeps my 2200 sq. ft. tri-level home plenty warm enough. Below this sentence is my original review from last year when I received the stove.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I need to say that for a $1,000 pellet stove, this thing did not disappoint me at all. I got exactly what I paid for and I knew that when I bought it. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because the manufacturer could easily change just a couple of things on this to improve it with minimum impact to the cost, and it would be a top notch bargain.First of all, the shipping was good and it arrived in good shape. I did however need to go through and re-tighten every external screw on the thing.Let's get this out as well - some people complain about the nit-pickiest of things. Yes, this stove makes a few noises now and then from thermal cycling. EVERY stove does. When metal heats, it expands, and the joints are designed for that to "give" a little bit when that happens. Once the unit reaches thermal equilibrium, it is fine. If you are type A, suffer from high anxiety, and every little thing sets you off, you will not enjoy this or any other wood stove. This stove is no louder in operation overall than any others including Harmon.This unit will only run 18 hours on one 40lb. bag of pellets if it's on the lowest setting. On number 3 of 5, it will eat that bag in 12-13 hours. The hopper is truly only built for 40 lbs. of pellets so you will feed this stove at least twice a day. Again, I knew that before I bought it so no docking points there.It burns both soft and hard wood pellets perfectly. You do have to adjust the exhaust fan voltage a bit if opening the inlet gate (Inside the stove) doesn't work by itself. It's a bit of a dance to tune this stove, but once you do, it burns extremely well and very clean. YOU WILL NEED TO BE PATIENT TO DO THAT CORRECTLY. It is a game of wait and see and you need to adjust with small increments.Cleaning is it's strong point. It takes about 2 minutes to clean it and it's as easy as it gets.The blower on this is a bit loud, but not overly so compared to other brands. It does a good job and is fully adjustable for speed.If the manufacturer would increase the size by just a little bit and make it able to hold 50lbs. of pellets, this would make it so much easier to load. As it is, you have to throw a partial bag in to keep things going when it needs more fuel. Also, to clean the blower as they recommend once a month during continuous use, they should use some other type of fastener instead of phillips head screws. These will eventually wear out and need to be oversized once the threads wear out. Lastly, they need to increase the opening of the lid to the hopper. It's just big enough to dump the bag in and if you move even slightly towards the front, you spill pellets on top and get dust down the vent holes. It's a pain when you are in a hurry.This stove is well worth the money though. If you want a top quality stove that will last a lifetime, this aint it. It is however a good quality stove that I expect 8-10 years of operation from with the slightest of inconveniences.

This Castle stove may be the most enjoyable online shopping experience I've ever had -- bar none. The stove, out of stock when we ordered, nonetheless arrived faster than some regular purchases I've made. The carrier was great as well. One of the few who actually deliver the item inside, not just on the threshhold. After we had installed the stove it didn't work. On our first phone call to the Castle company, the service desk quickly diagnosed the problem and sent out a replacement switch that day. My husband, wanting to make sure our installer had done everything else correctly, called a few days later and talked to an actual living technician (Pete) who unhurriedly went over all questions. My husband had 2 more conversations with Pete -- I think they will be exchanging Christmas cards next year -- and his information was clear, concise and unstinting. He said if for any reason the stove still wouldn't work, Castle Pellet Stoves would replace it. Really, what a great company! As for the stove, itself, the size is perfect for our workshop. The shop is also home to 3 feral cats so the computer settings are perfect for keeping the place warm enough for them without shooting our fuel bill through the ceiling. It is also easy to clean and maintain. Not so heavy that we can't move it if need be. If I ever need another pellet stove, this is the only company I'd trust.

I never owned a pellet stove before, and I was so excited to get started. I should have done a LOT more research... all pellet stoves are NOT equal!I have been using the Serenity pellet stove for the past three weeks, trying different pellet brands and types to see what works best. Now that I know what I am looking at, and seeing in other stoves...I am very dissatisfied with both the design and operation of this stove and really would like to return the unit.The first problem I had was the stove would burn the pellets faster than the auger could supply new ones and kept going out. I had to adjust the sliding air vent inside to slow the burn and this corrected the issue. Customer service was of no use figuring this out...they had me check EVERYTHING else. I had to figure it out myself.Now that it burns reliably without going out, it does heat my 1200 sf building well, BUT it has these design flaws which DON'T exist with other pellet stoves like the English Stove Works model for the same price... and these really make it a pain.First problem... I find that the auger does not completely empty the hopper! It "runs out" of pellets while there is still 1/4 bag left stacked up along both sides of the hopper! This is just poor design! The pellets "get stuck" and you have to reach in and keep knocking them down into the center!Second, the auger is mounted vertically, which is unreliable and slow to add pellets to the burn cup, and then they slide down a chute into the cup, splashing ash, sparks and soot all over inside the burn chamber! Every time pellets come shooting out the slot, this fly ash accumulates all over the lips and crevices both inside the glass door and UNDER the ash pot and all around the burner cup! This is a real mess, and hassle to clean. It gets all over my floor when I open to door to clean it, and I can only reach into the bottom UNDER THE ASH PAN with a vacuum crevice tool! Also, the glass gets coated with soot daily is a pain having to clean it daily.I called the manufacturer and after holding for 20 minutes, they transferred me to voice mail! I wrote them an email asking if I can return or exchange the unit because of the poor design. Haven't heard back yet, but I sure hope I can get rid of this stove and get something better.***UPDATE***Amazon accepted my request to return the unit, and actually arranged to have a team of men come with a truck to pack it up and take it back! Holy cow!I replaced this unit with an Englander model 55-SHP10 which is identical to the Model # 25-PDVCH that Home Depot sells for about $900. Here is a comparison:Electronics:The controls on this unit offer thermostatic control (toggles the unit from low level 1 to high level 5 and back). The Englander does not offer that. The Englander controls are MUCH simpler, giving you control over the burn speed (1-9) and the blower speed (1-9) with a simple up/down arrow button. WAY less complicated than the Castle, which I personally like.Auger: This unit has a very unreliable vertical auger (does not reliably grab a consistant amount of pellets with each rotation) which then plops the pellets down the chute at velocity into the burn cup causing fly ash to go literally everywhere! Even out the flue! A small ash vacuum is an absolute requirement to keep it clean. The feed rate on low is so anemic that if you leave the lid open longer than about 10 seconds to refill the pellets, the fire starts to go out!The Englander has 2 augers! Both are mounted horizontally. The top auger runs intermittantly at variable speeds to deliver pellets to the feeder auger which runs continuously. This extends the time you can leave the lid open without the fire going out. The bigger bonus with this configuration is that all your ash stays in the burn cup, and gets compacted into a solid mass that you can easily remove to clean. An ash vacuum is also needed to get all the nooks and crannies, but it's WAY easier to clean and there is MUCH less fly ash - next to none!Heat output:This unit is anemic on the lowest setting, but adequate at HI (5). The thermostat feature was great, because it quickly heated my 1200 sf building, then switched down to LO (1) which was enough to maintain the temperatures when it was below 35 degrees outside.The fan speeds are static during run time, and if you want to change them, you have to go into "CONFIGURATION MODE" and tinker around through all these menus, then choose "voltage" rates... WTH?The Englander produces MUCH more heat at lowest speed (1) but allows you to very easily adjust the FAN SPEED with a simple up/down arrow button. So you have literally 89 setting combinations to tinker with all with 2 buttons. Putting the burner on 1 and the blower on 1 yields a VERY hot stove! Even the pellets get too hot to comfortably touch! I set my burn on 1 and blower between 5-7 and this produces enough heat to quickly warm my building. Here is the problem! It is TOO HOT, and the lowest setting will still bring my building up to 85 degrees in about 3 hours when it was -15 degrees F outside! I had to turn it off at 3AM because it was roasting! It took 12 hours for it to cool down to 70 degrees! So while the stove is rated at 1500 SF, I wager you could do a much larger building with it. Remember, the burn rate goes from 1-9!Cleaning:As hinted at earlier, this was the biggest problem I had with the Castle, and the ONLY reason I wanted to replace it after only 3 weeks!It is literally a NIGHTMARE to clean! Even with a good quality ash vacuum, the fly ash turns to a very fine powder that evenly coats EVERYTHING inside the unit! Literally NO ash fell into the ash pan, leaving me to wonder why it's there in the first place! The amount of fly ash that accumulated in my flue "T" trap alone after only 3 weeks was astounding and unsafe! It was a requirement to vacuum out the entire unit every day because the fly ash powder collected EVERYWHERE.By comparison, the Englander is a dream! I found a video on YouTube that shows how to completely clean the unit "in the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee"... and it is true! You need a vacuum, but it's SO much easier because the ashes actually COMPACT in the burn cup! You simply turn off the unit, empty the burn cup, and replace it! I give it a full cleaning once every week, and there is hardly any fly ash powder after all that use.Capacity:This unit actually holds one full 40lb bag in the hopper.The Englander only hold about 30lb! Pretty stupid design flaw, and I'm shocked they haven't fix this!Final analysis:Overall, the Englander is still a much better choice for me because I hate cleaning, and enjoy a good hot fire. I will deal with having too much heat. If the Castle had a horizontal auger and easier controls I would have kept it. As it stands now, I am SO GLAD they took it back!

Installed this stove in a 1200 square ft cottage with no insulation to allow use of the cottage in the cooler spring and fall months here in eastern Canada. Works like a charm. Great price, solid well made unit that really kicks out the heat with a nice looking fire to boot. Easy to install and easy to use and maintain. Very pleased.

window is black in an hour or two but stove runs,, burns great, excellent little heater but hopper needs to be a bit larger to handle a bag at a time, otherwise a beauty

Love it, 3 months and love it still.Only downside is the controller isnt as good as it could be, the temp mode will not shut off the device if it goes over, just puts in lowest mode amd keeps running forever, somtimes room gets over 85 degrees... But in program mode or manual works well

Great stove. Good price. Make sure you clean it out regularly and correctly. It's such a joy to just press a button and it auto ignites. Very satisfied. And really pumps out a lot of heat.

Easy to maintain Remote control system very simple to follow