Your local Harman dealer should be able to answer all of these questions for you.

Thanks, I'm sure if he ever sold one he could, but no one has one around here. Doesn't matter, bought it anyway. Thanks, be warm.

I'm not surprised. Although they have been made for many years, people are just now starting to discover them. I would have one if I had a source for rice coal where I live.

I just bought mine too!! After looking at other stoves I decided to purchase the DVC-500. I will pick it up in a few weeks. I almost didn't go with Harman becuase of the phone situation with them. However, I understand the dealer, customer, and Harman's relationship better. The warranty is also great! Three year parts and labor is important on a stove with moving parts.

Hang in there my friends. DJM and I will let you know how it goes. I have 2 tons of rice already stacked on my 3 season porch. Bring on the snow and ice baby. Gotta tell ya, this is one heavy machine, I took off the door and bricks to lighten the load a little as I moved it around. Were gonna do the kitty corner position. Wish me luck.

Rob I think the corner location will be nice. I was thinking of doing that too. However, we may put in between two far windows. Did you get the coal in bags. Is it white ash or red ash coal? How much did the coal cost? I need to build a pad for our stove and coal bin. I'm hoping to have this project done by mid Sept. Good luck.

I paid 195.00 a ton in bags. I went with the coal as not only is the BTU better, but I think coal prices will be stable and i worry about pellets going up as demand passes production. Coal is a lot more work, but to me it's about saving money. I don't know what type it is, rice coal from PA. I bought a stove pad at Lowes for 30.00. Seems a tad small but i'm doing it for now. Make sure you use the 8" terminator, not the 12" one if you have 5" type wide walls, also don't forget 45* that needs to go with it.

I think the stove pad needs to be about 4 feet x 4 feet, or a little smaller. What size is yours? I was going to build one. However, $30.00 is really cheap. What is it made of?

I think it would be considered to small, by the standards they ask for so I may bring it back. It only comes out about 6"in front of the stove, 1" on the sides and nothing on the back side. To me, that should be fine, the fire is inside, not in the back or on the sides. Any thoughts, I'm new at this?

The owner's manual says it should have 8 inches on each side, 16 inces inthe front and 1 inch in the back. I may take a ride to Lowes/Depot to see if they have anything. If not I will be building a 4x4 pad constructed of 2x4's, plywoof, cement board and tile. The stove dealers sell them for about $350-$500. It should be worth my time to build one.

Talked to a friend of mine that does coal. Told me if I would like my house to be covered under fire insurance I better follow those dimensions, so quess I'll be bringing the small Lowes board back.

check to see if they have a bigger one.

To both of you: You should check to see if your fire insurance would even cover a homemade stoveboard. You may have to use a UL listed one only. Of course, in the cases of mobile homes, a UL listed floor pad is required, not an option.

Thanks, I brought back the smaller board, and got the larger 48x36 board. It is UL listed. You can find it on Lowes.com under stove board. It was 50.00 and should do just fine. I get a little confused on the 1" from the rear thing? From the main stove, the farthest sheet metal part? If thats the case even this board is to small. Just looked at the picture, looks like from the farthest sheetmetal side so now this goes back. I hate this start up stuff. I guess I'm gonna have to spend 350.00 for a fancy one or talk the wife into cutting the rug and having a friend tile in the correct area flush to the floor.

Talked to my insurance guy. He says some policies do have you answer questions about wood stoves etc. My company does not, being listed as a back up source of heat rather than the only source helped also. So I'll call my friend, have him tile in the correct area flush with our rug (wife finally said o.k) and that nightmare is over.

I just stopped at a gas stove place, keep learning stuff. If you spend that 350.00 to 500.00 on a wood/ceramic hearth pad,don't be putting it over rug. Code in CT says you must cut out the rug area first. On that note, back to the tile guy, much cheaper.

I already knew which stoveboard you were referring to and had originally purchased, but I looked it up online anyways.
We used to call them arco boards. They are the hugest piece of cheap crap sold. Stove shops don't sell them, only hardware stores do because stove shops only sell quality items.Plus, as you found out, you can't even use the small sizes they sell. Hardware stores usually only sell inferior quality woodburning items because they are only looking at a cheap price. All they are is a very thin sheet of metal that covers a thin concrete board. They are very fragile and will dent the first time someone steps on it or the stove is placed on it. I tried those when we first started doing stove installations. I ordered a set via UPS. I had to return them 3 times as each time they came in very damaged. It was more trouble than it was worth and we felt embarrased to have sold such ugly garbage. After that, we only sold the tile boards from American Panel.

I stopped at Loews to check out the pad today. They are "garbage" and not very attractive. I will check with insurance company about building the pad.

I already called the carpet and tile guy. Took the wife to Home Depot and picked up the tile (forgot the groute of course). I gotta tell ya though. I brought the first Lowes stove board home and dragged my 450 Lb stove on it and moved it around, then ended up dragging it off to return it and there were no marks dents or anything? I would say to someone with a smaller size stove that was looking for the sheetmetal protection it was o.k. I also think they make a good stand up wall board to deflect heat. What i'm doing now is waiting for the 45* angle pipe to come in, then I'll cut my walls, install the pipe, set the stove to mark where it has to go, mark out the proper inches away from the stove, remove the stove, call the rug and tile guy, put it back, find some sort of strong gate for the little one, bolt it down because he's strong as all heck, fire that baby up. Thanks for all your inputs, will return for sure to answer the first question. DVC 500 dust mess?

Finally some good info was sent to me and here it is------You will have no problems with the stove. It is a good unit and really puts out the heat! The only thing I dont like is that you have to empty the ash from it about every third day. I'm told that with wood pellets you can go forever before you have to empty. I start my stove in mid November and it burns until mid March. There is no dust with the coal as it is washed prior to being packaged in 40# bags and is usually still damp when you load it. Occasionally if a bag is damaged and has a small hole in it some "black water" might drip out onto the floor while loading but it does not stain if you wipe it up early. The "brand" coal I burn is Blaschalk from PA.
Hope it helps.

I loaded 2 bags of rice coal in the stove and fired it up. It was a little hard to start, follow the rules and it will work. I used pellets and a long flame lighter. The stove fresh paint smell was real bad, you need to burn that off at a time when it's o.k to open windows. Bottom line, no coal dust if coal is washed and bagged. Gave off super heat.

we found out the hard way. Dont measure and cut your hole until after you have your stove board....lol
hmmmmm

Yes!! That is true! I had to be careful with the stove on the pad while cutting the hole. I was afraid of cutting it too big! I almost did on the bottom of the chimney, it was close. The hardest part was refitting my vinyl siding to the house. I will post pics over the weekend!This is a great stove!

Here are my pics. When my youngest one gets older I'll drop the gate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stove pics

I learned on the coal users forum, http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/index.php that the DVC 500 is a very controlled burn system, without the need for a barometric damper.
I also learned that most people prefer the Blaschak brand of rice coal, for the amount of heat and because it is washed 3 times before being bagged.
Most insurance companies merely specify that everything must be UL approved and installed according to UL specifications.