p38 with skytech 3301p thermostat

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rayttt

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Jan 11, 2008
358
poconos pa
I have a harman p38 and I bought a skytech 3301P programmable thermostat and tried hooking it up with no success.
The thermostat itself is working, I check across the wires while not connected to the stove via an ohmeter and it turns on and off
as expected. But with it connected to the stove, the stove acts as if the thermostat is on all the time. It goes to turbo mode and
just keeps cranking out the heat.
The manual simple says to connect the thermostat to the 2 spade lug connectors, which I have done. It acts like it needs a pull up resistor or something...
If I turn the thermostat to off mode and connect it to the stove with it still off..it stays off on the stove ..I hit the on mode and
it goes to turbo as its supposed to, but I then hit off and the stove stays in turbo instead of going back to front panel settings which Is
what it is supposed to do when the thermostat is satisfied.
Has anyone had any success hooking the skytech 3301P to the P38 harman??
 
Skytech remotes are NOT deesigned for Harman pellet stoves. They are for millivolt gas valve systems.
Harman stoves have their own T-stat design.
which is simply a thermistor or a room sensor which feeds back thru the wiring to the Harman control board.
IIRC, the Harman P38 does not use an electronic igniter system...Without an igniter, the thermostat won't work anyway...
I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I think you wasted your money on the Skytech Remote.
 
You can indeed hook a thermostat to the P38, but it will not turn the stove on and off. What it will do (which I'd prefer anyway) is toggle it to it's highest setting when the thermostat calls for heat, and then drop it down to the low setting (which you preset) while it's not calling for heat.

With that said, I know nothing about the Skytech 3301P programmable thermostat so I will not comment of its compatibility with the P38.
 
the harman p38 will work with a thermostat....just apparently not a millivolt thermostat..
(the P38 does a hi/low instead of on/off)

I was pretty sure I read on these boards that someone was using the p38 with the skytech ..but
I guess not. I may have to make a circuit to convert the millivolt output and feed it to a relay with dry
contacts that I can use :(
 
DAKSY said:
Skytech remotes are NOT deesigned for
Harman pellet stoves. They are for millivolt gas valve systems.

Not sure what is different with the stoves, but the 3301p works great with
my St Croix Prescott pellet stove. Several of us St Croix owners on here
use this stat.
 
most pellet stoves run on about 12v and most pellet stoves will run a millvolt t-stat. i am not sure what or how that t-stat is set up but it it may be a programming error in the remote rec. reading most skytech have a learn button and then you need to hit mode to on the hand held to get them to work right try reprograming it.
 
DAKSY said:
Skytech remotes are NOT deesigned for Harman pellet stoves. They are for millivolt gas valve systems.
Harman stoves have their own T-stat design.
which is simply a thermistor or a room sensor which feeds back thru the wiring to the Harman control board.
IIRC, the Harman P38 does not use an electronic igniter system...Without an igniter, the thermostat won't work anyway...
I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I think you wasted your money on the Skytech Remote.

Wrong on all counts except that the p38 does not ignite itself. The 38 is unique in the Harman lineup, it is the only pellet stove they make currently that does NOT use the thermistor room probe.
The skytek remote works fine on a p38.
All a thermostat does on a P38 is cause it to run on Turbo (full output) when the thermostat is calling for heat. When it is not calling for heat it will revert back to what ever you have the manual controls set for. I.E. if you have the feed rate at 3 the stove will only go down to medium burn. If you want it to idle down when the thermostat is not calling for heat you need to set the feed rate to 1
 
rayttt said:
the harman p38 will work with a thermostat....just apparently not a millivolt thermostat..
(the P38 does a hi/low instead of on/off)

I was pretty sure I read on these boards that someone was using the p38 with the skytech ..but
I guess not. I may have to make a circuit to convert the millivolt output and feed it to a relay with dry
contacts that I can use :(

The remote does NOT produce any power to its contacts, millivolt or otherwise. All it does is open or close the circuit between the two wires. All a thermostat is, any thermostat, is a switch that reacts to a temperature which you set. All it can do is close or open a circuit. Simple. Millivolt compatible just means it will work on a millivolt system, Millivolt systems, because of their low low low voltage, are very suseptible (sp?)to resistance from corosion and other things.
 
Again, I don't know anything about your stat, but I would tend to agree with PH.

You said you checked the stat with a meter and it is opening and closing as expected, so it sounds like it is functioning correctly. Have you taken a jumper wire to the two lugs on the stove and checked to see if it kicks over to turbo when jumped, and then back to your preset when removed? I haven't looked at the manual (check first), but I would assume it should work this way.
 
Wet1 said:
Again, I don't know anything about your stat, but I would tend to agree with PH.

You said you checked the stat with a meter and it is opening and closing as expected, so it sounds like it is functioning correctly. Have you taken a jumper wire to the two lugs on the stove and checked to see if it kicks over to turbo when jumped, and then back to your preset when removed? I haven't looked at the manual (check first), but I would assume it should work this way.

yes, good point. test with a jumper, that way you will know for sure if the stove has a problem, or the t-stat does.
 
Parrot Head said:
Wet1 said:
Again, I don't know anything about your stat, but I would tend to agree with PH.

You said you checked the stat with a meter and it is opening and closing as expected, so it sounds like it is functioning correctly. Have you taken a jumper wire to the two lugs on the stove and checked to see if it kicks over to turbo when jumped, and then back to your preset when removed? I haven't looked at the manual (check first), but I would assume it should work this way.

yes, good point. test with a jumper, that way you will know for sure if the stove has a problem, or the t-stat does.

yes I have tested it with a jumper and with another thermostat..
it all works well...the skytech doesnt work with the p38...
it switchs to turbo as it should when the the heat is called for but then it never shuts off...it stays in turbo, and
keeps just pumping out the heat. The output from the skytech is not a relay switch like you would expect.
It apparently is using a transistor or other device as the switch and its stopping the stove from switching back off.

Im using a lux thermostat from lowes and its works correctly but its not the wireless remote that I want to use.
Sorry parrot head but the skytech doesnt work with the p38. The off state doesnt register once its been switched on..
which means the impedance in the skytechs receiver when off isnt open but some HIGH value that the stove cant use.
 
rayttt said:
Parrot Head said:
Wet1 said:
Again, I don't know anything about your stat, but I would tend to agree with PH.

You said you checked the stat with a meter and it is opening and closing as expected, so it sounds like it is functioning correctly. Have you taken a jumper wire to the two lugs on the stove and checked to see if it kicks over to turbo when jumped, and then back to your preset when removed? I haven't looked at the manual (check first), but I would assume it should work this way.

yes, good point. test with a jumper, that way you will know for sure if the stove has a problem, or the t-stat does.

yes I have tested it with a jumper and with another thermostat..
it all works well...the skytech doesnt work with the p38...
it switchs to turbo as it should when the the heat is called for but then it never shuts off...it stays in turbo, and
keeps just pumping out the heat. The output from the skytech is not a relay switch like you would expect.
It apparently is using a transistor or other device as the switch and its stopping the stove from switching back off.

Im using a lux thermostat from lowes and its works correctly but its not the wireless remote that I want to use.
Sorry parrot head but the skytech doesnt work with the p38. The off state doesnt register once its been switched on..
which means the impedance in the skytechs receiver when off isnt open but some HIGH value that the stove cant use.
Again I know nothing about the T-stat in question, but that seems rather odd. If the stove is functioning as it should when the circuit is opened and closed, and the stat is also funtioning (opening and closing), I don't understand how it could not work. Strange!
 
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