How to get MAX heat

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geppapa

New Member
Dec 2, 2012
21
West Lebanon, NH
When I went to bed last night it was 74 downstairs and 65 upstairs. I knew it was going to be single digits so I cranked our Harman p61 to 7 and full blow. Woke up this am and it was 56 upstairs and 63 downstairs. I am a noob to the whole pellet stove experience and wanted some thoughts on this. Is it just because it was a cold northern NE night or should I readjust my settings? I'd appreciate any helpful thoughts.
 
When I went to bed last night it was 74 downstairs and 65 upstairs. I knew it was going to be single digits so I cranked our Harman p61 to 7 and full blow. Woke up this am and it was 56 upstairs and 63 downstairs. I am a noob to the whole pellet stove experience and wanted some thoughts on this. Is it just because it was a cold northern NE night or should I readjust my settings? I'd appreciate any helpful thoughts.
Sounds like you had it cranked up all the way. If it was really a cold night it might not be able to keep up. They do a lot but can't work miracles.
.
 
How well is your home insulated?
 
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If you live in an uninsulated house, the stove can only do so much. If you had the P61 maxed out it would have burned over 7 pounds of pellets an hour. was the hopper empty?

Eric
 
it got down into the single digits probably around you, or close to it
 
Were you running the P61 on stove temp. or room temp.? Also, where is your heat probe placed?
From what he said in his post I would say he was in Stove Temp since he referenced 7 as a setting.
 
Limited insulation. Its an 1860s victorian that has had very little added help in regard to being sealed up. I guess we know how warm it can be on the coldest of nights. The room where the stove is stayed pretty warm :)
 
As has been said, definitely turn the feed rate up to 4.

Tom C.
 
As has been said, definitely turn the feed rate up to 4.

Tom C.


Feed rate can go higher depending on pellets. The only way a Harman will put out max BTUs is to have the feed rate maxed and the temp setting maxed. For a P61 to get 61000 BTUs it will need over 7 pounds of fuel an hour. For a P-68 it will take over 8 pounds per hour.

Eric
 
How many BTU's is your furnace/boiler that will give you a hint if it has trouble keeping up?
 
when its really cold out, if you werent running in stove temp mode, switch it over......we find it seems to work better for those really cold evenings....good luck....
 
I'm not sure about that. Didn't kick on last night. Will probably use it in Jan/Feb as the temps drop to supplement the pellets.

A lot of them have plates on them stating the max output. It would only provide a hint though. My boiler is about 75k BTU my stove max is about 45k BTU that gives me a idea when I run it on low why its does not keep up.
 
Welcome geppapa,

Give your instruction manual a read through, you seem to be missing some points =) Also at the top of the pellet forum section, there is a in-depth guide to Harmans.

For starters your stove has multiple settings -

Stove temperature - The stove will output constant heat.

Room temperature - The stove will heat until the thermistor is satisfied. It will throttle up/down to meet the set temperature.

Feed rate - This is the MAXIMUM it will feed per hour.

Stove temperature mode -

If you set it to 95* but set it to feed rate 1 - The feed rate will limit how hot it gets.

If you set it to 65* but set it to feed rate 7 - The temperature will likely limit how hot it gets.

If you set it to 95* and feed rate 7 - Your stove is going to burn as hot as possible until it runs out of pellets.

Room temperature mode -

If you set it to 95* but set it to feed rate 1 - The stove will burn at a LOW fire rate until the room (Thermistor) reaches 95* (Never happen most likely)

If you set it to 65* but set it to feed rate 7 - The stove will burn as HOT as possible until the room (Thermistor) reaches 65*

If you set it to 95* and feed rate 7 - The stove will burn HOT as possible until the room (Thermistor) reaches 95*

Check out your instruction manual for setting the feed rate correctly or the Harman guide.
 
I am hoping he means manual by the toggle switch for the igniter vs. automatic.
 
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