Any adjustment on pellet consumption in maintenance flame mode of Harmon?

Hi Folks,
During the shoulder season, my Harmon P68 runs in maintenance flame for the times that I have it
turned-on. Often from about 5 PM through the evening, through the night, to about 10 AM each morning.
It puts out more heat than I need, heating the kitchen to about 80*. Is there an adjustment to reduce
flame size, pellet consumption, and heat output while in the maintenance flame mode?
My P68 uses about 2 lbs/hour of pellets while in maintenance flame mode.

I was also wondering if a P38 or P43 would put out less heat and consume fewer pellets in maintenance flame
mode than a P68? Those of you who own both a P38 or P43 and a P68 or P61 might have some experience to answer the previous question.

I am aware of setting the igniter to AUTO, but I prefer not to have the stove cycling on/off so as not to
put wear on the igniter . (Yes, I know igniter phobia has been discussed in other threads.) If I decide to
downgrade to a P38, I realize I will have to run it in igniter MANUAL mode.
Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

I run mine in auto.Set my temp and leave it alone.Unless it is warm out or sunny it rarely shuts down completely.I think pellet usage is much less in auto.Maintenance burn is just wasting pellets.Igniters are cheap and easy to replace.Mine is 4 years old and going strong.

 

yea, I know you don't want to, but run it in auto, like Pellethound sez. The modern iteration of the igniters are quite good.
P38's are no longer available new......maybe find a used one? They haven't been made for a couple years now.
If its run in auto, it wont make a difference which stove you have.

 

You could try Bogieb's method. She dials her feed rate down to 1 or less to reduce pellet consumption. I haven't tried it so I can't comment on the effectiveness.

 

Don't like this AT ALL. This does nothing but limit the feed to a max of 10 secs per minute, and causes the fire to burn down at the end of the auger and auger tube. Eventually this holes the auger weldment and erodes the auger.....want to hazard a guess at how much that costs to replace? You can buy a lot of pellets for what you'll pay for THAT repair, even if its just parts.

 

Actually it has little to do with pellet consumption and everything to do with how my main floor looses heat. I need a constant positive pressure to keep the bedrooms from getting way cold while the rest of the house is comfortable (the way my house is set up). but I don't want the living room at high temps.

I only do that for the really cold spells (negative numbers or if the wind is howling and in the teens). Otherwise the P43 is on a thermostat. I'm not sure how the flame/burn would be different than from a constant burn, manual, but then again I've never claimed to be very smart and I usually miss nuances in explainations

Orson - I would think that the stove is running as low as it can go and sending most of the heat out the exhaust - assuming you have the room temp set at something below 80* anyway. Unfortunately I haven't compared my P61a and P43 in fuel consumption in the mode you are interested in (and this year both stoves have been in auto for all but a couple of nights anyway).

 

P61A here. run pretty much on auto mode.
deffinitly uses less pellets than In manual.
In Manual lot of time is spent with blower off and heat going out the exhaust heating my neighbors yard.
I already changed an igniter and it was not a problem at all to replace. $59.00.
[ Igniter wire caseing had a bare spot and was blowing my fuse]....

 

Its been said here alot, but anyhow. The ONLY thing the feed rate does is set a maximum timing in a worst case scenario for an upper limit of feeding. So, set at 2, the unit can feed UP TO 20 secs per minute.....1 would be 10 secs per minute, 6 would be 60 secs per minute.
So, by setting the feed rate at 1, you are limiting your feed to a maximum of 10 secs per minute regardless of how warm or cold it is. So, if its cooler, its conceivable that you will burn pellets faster than the stove is set to feed them, so, the fire burns down near the auger tube. All that heat in one place isnt good for your weldment and auger. If they need replaced, and we do it a few times per year, usually for folks who are trying to conserve pellets, we have to de-install the unit, bring it back to the shop, quite literally take the stove apart, replace the weldment, put the stove back together, and re-install it. Depending upon model, this job will run $800-$1000.
Anyhow, I say this because I dont everyone reading these things, looking to save a ew bucks, and causing damage as a reslt

 

i leave mine on auto all the time. there's a spare igniter ($38 I think) in the drawer for whenever i need it. been 3 seasons now.

the only time i turn down the feed rate is if the stove does not start fast enough and you get pellets spilling over into the ash pan.
then i set it as low as it will go (without going into test mode) for a few minutes to move the burn back to normal. seems to be when the stove starts from stone cold, and then only once in a while.

 

Good point!!!

 

I've never seen that happen with my stove. Are you talking unlit pellets or partially burned pellets?

 

same here..
never had overflow of pellets even when feed rate is at #4.
burned or un-burned..

 

Ditto. The stove does it's initial feed than just sits and waits for it to light.

 

The pellet feed process during the startup sequence runs on a separate program. The feed rate does not affect startup feed at all, it only comes into play after the stove has started and the ESP recognizes the minimum temp has been reached for the startup sequence to end.

Having said that, I've seen the behavior artc described a couple times on the P43. On a rare occasion it takes longer than usual to light so you end up with pellets rolling off the end of the burnpot ledge into the ash pan. Pellets are slow to light, igniter chamber is dirty, burnpot has too much residual ash or speed bump from last burn, whatever. It happens.

 

You stole my Thunder JT!!

 

They ARE perfect.......its your perception of whats actually happening that is imperfect.

 

I have watched my burnpot fill up then sort of stop feeding, or slow down as the igniter is doin it's thing.
never had an overflow but I imagine it has happened on occasion with a harman IF something is not up to snuff with the stove.
Harmans are the Trumps of the stove world...
everyone takes a shot now/then.. it's fine.

 

It works like those .4mg pills LW sometimes they do something, sometimes they don't, depends on what is in the bladder.