Holy chit! Trouble with my Harman

We've been burning wood all week and have about another 5 days to go before the service tech guy comes out. I must say... I miss my pellet stove! Running wood only -- while lovely fires -- can get old, repetitive, and frankly is a lot more work as you need at least 2 hot fires a day or more. With the pellet stove, I wake up to a warm house. I burn half the wood and I do less than half the work. Don't get me wrong, there is work a pellet stove. Keeping it clean and hauling pellet bags around. But they're isn't 18,000 trips to the wood pile either nor nearly the mess.

I find, however, that burning pellets at late night/early morning (bed time hours) and wood during the afternoon/evening greatly reduces my pellet intake while we have less work feeding the wood stove and our wood goes a lot further. So do the pellets. Plus we get to enjoy the natural flame of a fire without the noise of the fan... not to mention a dry cord bought in the off season is cheaper than a ton of pellets and they both go quite a bit further during the burn season. It seems the combo of the two is the best solution for us. But it's noticeable w/o the pellet stove. As I mentioned, it sounds like we are done for the year anyway. I'll be burning wood only throughout the months of April and May.

 

Ok, so the Harman guy came out and checked my stove out. He said I clean my stove way better than most around here and agreed my problem was most likely caused by a congested flue. He did confirm that even though I was burning around the clock, a summer time flue clean was all that I really needed. Well considering I am going from from 3 1/2 tons to about 2 tons, I think this will be sufficient. And after my sweep guy comes out in June, I will start doing that myself.

 

Oh and he confirmed with some of the early 52i batches there was an auger problem but they jumped on it quickly. I told him I thought there was an increase in frequency and we agreed to just monitor it. He listened to it at startup and didn't have any concerns.

 

It's been about 2 weeks now. I've missed my pellet stove! We are under warranty for another year.

 

someones confused, and it isn't me......no auger problems in the early 52i's.......that's not it

 

Yeah I have repeated multiple times I am good with the stove. I suspect as good as most in here. Even the tech acknowledged that. But cleaning the flue is fairly easy thing to do and I appreciate your concern. It's good advice.

 

instigator!

 

LOLgonna watch.Maintaining the "system" is different than maintaining the "stove".Looks like low burn,damp weather creosote to me.

 

Holy chit...clean the flue every 50 bags?? You should have bought an Enviro or better pellets! One ton... fuk

 

Just wondering do you need to clean your flue with burning pellets more often than with a wood stove? I love my wood stove,but have been playing with the idea of a pellet stove in the basement. The reason is because in the cold months our basement is to cold for my wife and daughters. Sometimes Floyd too.I'm thinking a pellet stove in the basement would more than likely heat the whole house. 1600 SF ranch with 1100 sf in the basement. Not sure how I would run a chimney tho...

 

Many people in the past have thought the same thing, but it's not as easy as you'd think. First of all, is the basement finished & insulated?

 

I have had 2 professional folks come out and say 50 bags is overkill. But I will be cleaning my own. I will let you know my experience.

 

IMO, do it at the 1 ton mark....then you'll get a good idea of the amount of any build-up over that amount of pellets, and can gauge the next one accordingly.

 

Always better to do more frequently to be safe. But I also have a life and don't want to spend all my free time feeding/cleaning my stove. So i am interested in finding the sweet spot.

 

That is good for a start - just to get an idea. During the height of burning season I empty the P61a ash pan every 2-3 weeks (I run cr*ppy, ashy pellets - and can burn up to a ton a month in that stove alone). While the ahs pan is out of the stove, I usually take off the combustion fan cover so I can take a look at the exhaust from the stove to where the 90* elbow is. I also take a look at the outside exhaust jet and see if there is any build up and judge when I need to clean from there. Gotta admit though that the exhaust is only a couple of feet above ground so it is easy for me to do this on a regular basis. And, although I do the LBT every 4-6 weeks, I only do the soot eater and vent brush a couple of times thru the burn season.

The P43 doesn't burn nearly as many pellets, and I run a slightly better quality thru that stove, so I usually content myself with performing the LBT twice during the winter then do a good vent cleaning when burning is done.

FYI - the manual for my stoves actually says that at the 1 ton mark you should thoroughly clean the stove AND clean the flue with a brush.