Harman P38 installed!!!

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ducker

Feeling the Heat
Apr 22, 2008
409
Leominster, MA
Yea!!! Last Thursday I got my P38 installed.. It's perfect!! I had enough clearance from the front to have it kitty-cornered on my hearth pad to point towards the center of my house.

I'll have to post some pics later.

Any tips on the first fire??? They didn't to a test fire, as the silicone they used to seal the joints in the piping needed to dry 1-2 hours.

I want to make sure...
a) it works
b) there aren't any leaks in the piping

I figure I can tell the first item rather easily :) But the second.. I'm not sure what a pellet stove running would smell like. I know the first burn might have a bit of an odor.

Thanks!
 
You might get a slight wood stove smell at the moment of ignition and when you open the door, but it shouldn't have much of an odor at all when running.
 
is there a way I can insure that I'm not getting and CO2/smoke in the house? Aside from just looking at the pipe. man - being a new dad is freaky... lol I feel like a bozo asking such, trivial, questions :)
 
ducker,
For piece of mind you may want to purchase a co2 detector and place it in same room as stove.
 
your first burn at high temp. will create quite a stink and some smoke as the paint cures on the stove.open all the windows in the house and let her rip!!
 
yea I have they left me paint for the venting tube to paint over. I was going to do that at a later time.

So how long should I let 'er rip/burn :)

and I guess I should put it at/near 100% to really crank out the btus.
 
Sounds like you need to read your owners manual, all your answers are in there, at least most.
 
ducker said:
is there a way I can insure that I'm not getting and CO2/smoke in the house? Aside from just looking at the pipe. man - being a new dad is freaky... lol I feel like a bozo asking such, trivial, questions :)
wait till it is dark out, fire up the stove, turn out the lights, and look at the joints with a flashlight, any leaks will be evident at startup and less while running.
The CO detector is mandatory anyway...
 
slls said:
Sounds like you need to read your owners manual, all your answers are in there, at least most.

I just reviewed the manual again. I don't need to know how to operate it. I understand that.

I'm looking for tips/suggestions for the first firing.
 
GVA said:
ducker said:
is there a way I can insure that I'm not getting and CO2/smoke in the house? Aside from just looking at the pipe. man - being a new dad is freaky... lol I feel like a bozo asking such, trivial, questions :)
wait till it is dark out, fire up the stove, turn out the lights, and look at the joints with a flashlight, any leaks will be evident at startup and less while running.
The CO detector is mandatory anyway...

CO detector is mandatory? I haven't read anything like that. I'll look in to getting one regardless. My house is old and drafty, so I don't really expect to much of an issue, I just want to be safe :)
 
I would do about three burn cycles now, each about an hour or two. I'd run the fist at a low to med. temp. Let it cool and then do another hour or two burn at med. I'd probably do one last hot fire and then shut her down until your ready to burn this winter.
 
ducker said:
GVA said:
ducker said:
is there a way I can insure that I'm not getting and CO2/smoke in the house? Aside from just looking at the pipe. man - being a new dad is freaky... lol I feel like a bozo asking such, trivial, questions :)
wait till it is dark out, fire up the stove, turn out the lights, and look at the joints with a flashlight, any leaks will be evident at startup and less while running.
The CO detector is mandatory anyway...

CO detector is mandatory? I haven't read anything like that. I'll look in to getting one regardless. My house is old and drafty, so I don't really expect to much of an issue, I just want to be safe :)
Massachusetts law not Harman's ;-)
 
yeah, it went into effect in March, I think. We're all supposed to go out and buy CO detectors...even if your house is old and drafty. (cuz...that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China) :cheese:
 
ducker said:
slls said:
Sounds like you need to read your owners manual, all your answers are in there, at least most.

I just reviewed the manual again. I don't need to know how to operate it. I understand that.

I'm looking for tips/suggestions for the first firing.

Sorry, I thought your manual was like mine, it tells you how to first fire right down to plugging it into the wall. How long to run, what heat settings, and also shut down.
 
cac4 said:
yeah, it went into effect in March, I think. We're all supposed to go out and buy CO detectors...even if your house is old and drafty. (cuz...that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China) :cheese:

cool thanks for the comments... I wonder how your typical lay people are suppose to find out about stuff like this!!
 
cac4 said:
It was "all over" the news...very heavily publicized.

don't really watch the news - with my tivo I always have a backlog of other shows I'd rather be watching then a lot of the doom/gloom that's in the news.

Paper?? na... again, if it's that important it will show up online somewhere.

but thanks for the updates guys!
 
fired it up for the first time last night!!! So exciting :)

I went the propane torch method. Left the torch on the pellets for about 45 seconds and then closed the door and waited.

Woo :) was very neat! Now I was a little concerned about the heat output since when I jacked it up to around 5/turbo I didn't notice a great increase in heat output - then again, I didn't really need heat - the house was around 70F at the time. (it was around 56F last night outside)

Couple more test fires and I'll be all set and ready for the winter!


How long does the cooling period usually take? I didn't want to unplug the stove, I just simply turned it down to off and let the fire die out on its own, but I went to bed before the fans stopped running about 20mins after I turned it off.
 
Does anyone have experience connecting the p38 to a thermostat? I had my p38 installed last week. I connected it to a Honeywell RTH230. The stove is constantly calling for heat at all temps. The baby cranks which is great but I do need it to turn off once it reaches the desired temp. Love the stove. My goal is a programmable thermostat so I can light it at night, leave on low setting, then have it crank up in the AM at set time. I posted something similar in another thread which is not active so trying this one.
 
here's a pic of my p38 .
i installed it back in june
 

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Update - I connected the stove to an old-time mercury thermostat with no intelligence. This works perfectly, calling for heat and raising the blower when needed and setting back when desired temp is reached. I'm still searching for a programmable thermostat that will work with the P38. If anyone has had success doing that please post the make and model. Thanks.
 
oc4man said:
ducker,
For piece of mind you may want to purchase a co2 detector and place it in same room as stove.
Amen!
 
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