Anyone seeing a problem running an Accentra FLAT OUT

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investor7952

Feeling the Heat
Jan 16, 2009
268
Norther NJ
I am getting good heat on these cold nights in the teens with my setting on room temp set at 80 - 85 feed 5.5.
Does anyone see a problem doing this? I know some will say just run it in stove mode. I have tryed to do this but for some reason when in stove mode I have to keep dial on 85 or #6 to keep heat up.Just doesnt seem to burn the same in stove mode looks and heats better in room temp.The hand held gauge at the room temp probe never gets over 70.5 anyway so keeping it in room mode it still runs constant unless I drop temp down. Again I am heating 1,550 ft downstairs and about the same upstairs. Does anyone think 75 room temp setting and 85 roomtemp setting when probe area is only 70 makes a difference? I always thought stove only has a max feed of 40 on 20 off in a 1 min cycle? So in theory 75 should kick out the same heat as 85 setting as long as probe location is 70 or under.Please correct me if I am wrong or explain how this stove does anything different from a 75 setting vs an 85 setting when probe location temp is well below both settings.But here is the kicker.I do notice a difference in heat output when set at 75 vs 85 so I am confused.
I am able to keep stove room 71-72 kitchen 28 ft away 70 and backroom 42 ft away 67.5. My upstairs 70 in hall 67-68 in bedrooms.So I just want to know is there any harm running almost flat out with this stove?
 
IMO I would say you're hurtin the little guy if you constantly have to run flat out...that particular stove wasn't meant to heat that amount of space..

"The Accentra delivers high overall efficiencies due to the unique cast iron heat exchanger. The Accentra is rated at 40,000 BTUs per hour and will typically heat 1450 square feet of living space."

if you're trying to heat over 3000sq.ft I would suggest buying a larger stove..most folks here seem to agree .. buy bigger than what you need so the stove doesn't have to work so hard..if you don't want to buy 1 maybe the ESP could use a cleaning..Mine was filthy and as soon as I cleaned it the stove ran much better
 
I don't really see how you could harm the stove. Harman designed it to burn "X" amount. As long as you don't somehow modify the feed rate to feed more than "X", you're not pushing the stove beyond what it was designed to handle. It has safety features to shut itself down in the event of an "overfire." If it hasn't shut itself down, then you're not overfiring. My 2 cents.
 
It's been said before that the Accentra is no hot rod when it comes to heat out put. I new that when we bought ours last spring, but we have a small cape cod with an old fireplace and it fit right in an doesn't take up munch space. It will heat the house just fine except the room off the deck when it gets down to 0". Have burned so far this heating season 3 1/2 tons and have 3 1/2 tons left so should make it alright.
 
How many bags are you burning "flat out" ? I agree with your observation that the stove will run a little hotter in room temp then in stove temp. The auger run time seems to be about 10 seconds longer at max room temp - 30 vs 40 seconds. As I also said, running that hot is beyond the efficient level of the stove. With oil at $2.10/gal it is cheaper for me to augment my heating with a little blast of oil heat twice a day and economize my $249/ton pellets.
 
On the cold days and nights 2 bags in 24 hrs.It has been in the 30s during the day as it is now and room is at 72-73 with stove setting 72.Just watching stove feed just enough fuel to maintain temp.
I use about a 1/2 bag or less above 30 degree days. I honestly dont think the stove does anything different if room sensor probe area is 69 or 70 and temp mode setting is 75 or 85.The stove has a max output of pellets 40 on 20 off.So I dont know what the stove can possibly do different to get heat to 75 if the probe area just wont get there as well as setting the stove to 85. The way I understand it it is asking for the same demand.
 
According to my Accentra Installation and Operating manual. the feed rate control knob should be adjusted to the point when at maximum burn you have 1" of ash or more on the front lip of the burn pot. This is to keep from pushing unburned pellets off the burn pot into the ash pan. My manual also says that that overfeeding is not a safety concern. but you will waste fuel if you overfeed. Different pellet brands may have different maximum feed rates. As long as you have adjusted the feed rate knob according to the manual, I would think you can set the temperature control however you like.

Somewhere, and I don't know where, I thought I read in Harman literature that the stove could not be over-fired. I can not find that tidbit in the owners manual. I may be wrong on that. maybe I had too many Coronas and misread?
 
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