Single digit temps first of 2016 what are you roasting ?

b you've got some kind of magic going on there. If I set my feed rate at .5 to 1, the amount of heat I would get out of the stove would basically be like not having it on at all, especially during these freakish cold days. Almost wonder if we have a mixup of terms going on here. My P43 is feed rate 4 and I run it in stove temp/auto with the heat dial setting between 1.5 and 3 depending on how cold it is outside. I adjust the heat dial based on trying to keep the wall thermostat reading ~70 degrees. On the P68, I have the feed rate at 3 (could just as well be at 4) and also stove temp/auto with the temp dial anywhere between 3 and 4.5 (this stove has a much bigger heating job to do than the P43 does). Feed rate 1 just doesn't compute for me, it would't make enough heat to raise the temp in a single room, unless it was already 50+ degrees outside. I am NOT questioning you or trying to belabor the point, so please don't read it that way! I just want to know how you are able to pull this off because I wish I could!

 

Bogieb, don't take any of this the wrong way. I'm just trying to figure out what is going on in your stove. None of it makes sense. For example, if you set your feed rate at 4 and your heat setting at 1, the stove won't feed any more pellets than it would if the heat setting was set at 1. The feed rate is the maximum amount of pellets it will feed an hour. The heat setting determines how many pellets to feed up to the maximum as determined by the feed rate. The stove will still only feed the amount it needs to maintain the set temp. That's why Harman says to set it at 4 and leave it there. It's a good all around setting.

When toe sthve is run in stove mode, the heat output is determined by the esp probe based on the exhaust temp. When in stove temp auto, the blower runs. When in stove temp manual, the blower is off. That's the only difference between the 2.

 

X2.

 

Got up this morning and it was 79* in the freaking bedroom (farthest from stove). Had to shut the P43 right down. Okay, first I put it on Room temp / auto and let the thermostat register that it was way over the 72 degrees set point for the middle of the house.

Leaving the cellar dweller at a simmer because the igniter has been extremely slow to light and overflowing pellets into the ash pan. Friday night I did an emergency clean between jobs figuring that the area below the igniter was full of stuff. Nope, very clean with no ash in the igniter area although the ash pan benefited from being emptied. Also cleaned the fines box It was stuffed - but that isn't unusual) then did exhaust fan, path and ESP. None of those were dirty out of the ordinary. Still extremely slow to light after that.

Ordered another igniter and it shipped yesterday so should be here by the end of the week (slow boat). It will be in the 90's down there while I let the stove simmer along with the outside temps in the 30s-40s the rest of the week, but I don't want the foundation getting cold. I'll just deal with it and at least my main floor floors will be toasty warm on the bare feet anyway .

 

So here is the deal:

• This system has worked quite well for me during this mini-cold snap. Further experimentation will need to be done when we have extended cold snap.
• I like having a constant temperature come out of the stove, which I achieve by having a steady, predictable feed rate (as has been proven by the thermometer I have set in the air stream)
• Trying to figure out what ESP temp I want, to keep my house where I want seems overly complicated (stove temp manual)
• I definitely don't want my house at 75* or above (room temp / manual >75* setting)
• I NEED the stove to blow warm air at all times in the extreme cold temps or my furthest rooms will get down in the 50's (room temp manual / <75* setting)
• If Harman really only wanted us to run at feed rate of 4, then there would not be any other feed rates available

You guys can run your stove(s) it whatever manner gives you the results you want and makes you happy and I promise not to try to convert you over to the dark side

 

Ha, at least something in my life is going well, that's a first in the last 3 years .

The thermostat in the air stream says I am getting slightly over 150* out the tubes of the P43 and I don't bother to measure the P61. My "heat setting" is on 70* (which translates to 4, I guess looking at a picture in the manual).

Maybe there is some misunderstanding here - I am not trying to raise the temp on my main floor, but to maintain it. It was already at 72-73 when I switched over from room temp / auto to stove temp / auto. I did have to raise the feed dial to about 2 Saturday night as the house temp was dropping. I also get good solar gain - had lots of good sun over last weekend.
The P61 is only heating 650 sq/ft. Let that sink in for a minute. That stove should be able to fart once and raise the temp down there . Although I don't get good heat flow to the upstairs (hence, having to get a stove for the main floor), some of that heat does rise and keeps the mainfloor floor warm too.

I also live alone and never have company. There is not a lot of opening doors, or even opening the refrigerator. Most of the time when I leave the house, I go thru the garage - which has much warmer air than if I used the front door (which is never used). If I can just keep a positive pressure in the house (yeah OAKs), I can pretty much maintain the temp with not much heat. I actually can use more pellets per day when I turn to room temp / auto when it is in the teens than I used during the frigid spell over the weekend with constant burning (crazy, but true).

 

Bogieb, in the pic below the temp settings are actually 2 separate scales. The outer scale in degrees is for Room temp, the inner scale of 1-7 is for stove temp. There is no correlation between the 2. If you are set at 70 in room temp and switch the stove to stove temp without changing the setting, you will drive yourself right out of the house. If you want the stove to blow air steadily, run it in stove temp at about 2 and adjust accordingly from there. Just remember it will always blow that temp no matter what the inside and outside temps may change to.

 

Sub, earlier in the season I spent some time playing with the stove temp settings to get an idea what temp each setting produces in the P68. When I say temp, I mean the magnetic stove pipe temp gauge I put on the side of the stove. It pretty much works out like this, with little variances from time to time:

Stove temp 3 = 300 degrees, 3.5 = 350 degrees, 4 = 400 degrees, and so forth. I adjust it up and down based on trying to keep the wall thermostat in that room somewhere between 67 and 70 degrees. The cold snap this past weekend made it a 4.5 weekend almost the whole time. On the other side of the house, I do the same with the P43, only it's heating a smaller area so I can pull it off with lower heat settings, I don't think I have ever needed to go above heat setting 3 with that one.

 

Some nice info there , TT for us Harmone burners thanks bud

 

I concur with your findings. I get pretty much the same with my P61. However, that is when the stove is clean. After about a week the temps are lower. This past weekend though, with a freshly cleaned stove, at 4.5 I was seeing 500* on the side of the stove. I don't remember if it was Blazers or Olympus in the hopper, but it was hot, hot to even walk by.

 

Alright, I'm confused, it's okay that tt plays with the heat setting to adjust his house temp as needed, but it's not okay for me to leave that setting alone and play with the feed rate to do the same thing? No, I'm not upset, I find that amusing (I am literally LOL'ing).

Hmm, looks suspiciously like your feed rate is too low

Thank you guys for the refresher, and thank you tt for the data. I am still evaluating my options on how to run these so that I am the most satisfied with the results I am looking for. The only reason I will complain about this mild winter is that I haven't had a chance to compare several different settings and styles of burning during cold temps.

 

OK I'm guilty of calling it feed rate but the label on the dial says Feed Adjuster. The heat setting is the 1-7 number on the dial with the temperature settings. If you have your feed adjuster set to 1 your stove will only feed for 10 seconds per minute no matter if you're running in stove or room temp. Running at a really low heat setting may work because a 10 seconds feed give you the amount of pellets you need to get to the desired temp. But if its bitter cold out and you are in room temp and set the heat setting to 75, the stove will only feed for 10 seconds. That probably won't give you enough pellets to get to the desired temp. TT was talking heat settings. His feed adjuster is set at 3.5 or 4. Each number on the feed adjuster is approximately 10 seconds. 1=10 seconds, 2=20 seconds, etc. This is the maximum amount of pellets that the stove will feed in a minute.

 

Well that has done it, I am so thoroughly confused now that I don't know what you guys are talking about anymore. Pictures shown seem to contradict words written.

Might as well give up on this as I obviously don't get why you guys have trouble with how I am running my stove getting pretty much the results I want (I stayed toasty warm and stoves didn't blow up). I switched over to room temp / auto, on thermostat yesterday anyway (raised the temp knob to 80 so it doesn't interfere with Tstat and feed rate is at 3 since it is on a diet of really small pellets). I think that will make y'all happier knowing that

 

There are many ways to skin a cat. So long as your house is how you want it, run that Harman any way you like.

 

Me too.. I woke up this morning to a 77° dining room... (usually 68°)
I "meant" to change it from stove, to room/auto..
knowing it was going to be a warm night...
but didn't...
This thread has been interesting to say the least... albeit confusing at times!!

But I do agree, that whatever it takes for you to be warm AND happy,
is the setting for you!
While my stove was off the other day, I did do a draft test on it.
It was overdrafting for sure... Now whether or not I see a difference in consumption,
remains to be seen.. I monitor the temps pretty often with an IR gun,
so we'll see... Although I am also switching brands, so that may not be accurate..
More confusion........

Dan

 

+1 - We are all achieving the same thing in the end, just using different methods to get there.