Stove temperature or room temperature??

darlineharris said:

I have a Harman Accentra Pellet Insert...our heat output have has been disappointing...Today someone said they use "Stove" temperature setting for better heat..any feedback or suggestions?? Also, any opinions on Corinth Pellets

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I heat my entire house with my stove so I use stove temp for the constant heat output now that its really cold.....all of november i was able to run room temp seeing that the temps weren't that bad.....put your title to this thread in the search box and you'll get alot of good insight on it.

darlineharris said:

I have a Harman Accentra Pellet Insert...our heat output have has been disappointing...Today someone said they use "Stove" temperature setting for better heat..any feedback or suggestions?? Also, any opinions on Corinth Pellets

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If you do a search on this you will find several threads regarding this very topic and your answers will vary. For the most part though I would say the majority are of the belief that stove temp heats a little better depending on how much space you are trying to heat. I have a P61A and have switched over to "stove temp" mode in the last few weeks. It took a little tweeking with the temp setting and feed rate but I finally found a combo that keeps the house toasty and doesn't burn us out of the room where the stove is.

For the record, I found that I use the same amount if not less pellets in stove temp than I do in "room temp" and I don't have major temp differentials from one end of the house to the other (well insulated 1200 sq ft ranch style).

Darelineharris, There are a few of us on the site that have the same stove. In many cases the insert is a different stove in comparison to the standalone Harman units. The heat exchangers are one important factor that need to be cleaned on a weekly basis to get good heat. In recent weeks I have been expereimenting with stove temp vs. room temp. I pretty much always run in stove temp but for some reason with the Accentra Insert room temp sranks out more heat when site high. If your setting it to 80-85 in a room that is 70 it's going to run FULL THROTTLE to meet demand. The issue you'll face though is your going to eat pellets very quickly. Corinths aren't a bad pellet. I've never used them so I really can't add my opinion. If you can find a few Barefoots or OKies in the area pick up a few bags just to experiment. My fisrt guess though would be to try to clean the heat exchangers if you haven't yet.

I've never used stove temp. What I've found in the past is that placement of room temp sensor is critical, do as the instructions say, air must be able to move freely around the sensor, it will not work correctly if it's against wall or floor or any object. If the stove is operating correctly it should keep the area uniformly warm at the set temperature. It will only feed as much as needed when set on a feed rate of 4, and with the blower on high it will only be on high speed when needed. Cleaning the heat exchanger once a week is overkill on an Accentra unless using junk fuel, once a month is plenty. Of course all this is just my opinion, but I've been using my stove this way for several years with success. We have FHA as back up, with the thermostat for the furnace in our bedroom, at the furthest point from the pellet stove. The only time the furnace kicks on is when the bedroom door is shut on the coldest nights, which is enough to prevent the pipes from freezing.

I have the exact same stove as you do. I never had luck with good heat in stove temp. I always run in room temp I set my feed on 5 and my dial to 70=73. I have my room sensors hanging off my hearth. I have a small temp gauge by my room sensor.The area where my room sensor is never gets over 68 when the outside temp is below 20. My stove puts out 250-270 degrees with lignetics and 230-250 with cleanfire pellets. These #s drop dramaticly by day 5 and 6 after I clean my stove.When its is very cold out that stove needs to be cleaned every 5-7 days.When temps are 25-30 outside I can get away with ever 2 week

Interestingly enough, I've been experimenting between Stove and Room Temp lately. I had been running Room temp mode and we had a very cold snap. I was going through a LOT of pellets (3 bags a day). Since than I started playing with some settings. I set my max burn feed rate for my pellets. (ie.. What feed rate can I run on max stove temp mode and not have pellets getting pushed outside the burnpot after running for some time). For me my max burn feed rate was 6 with the pellets I'm using (Oki and MWP).

So far this is what I've got.

FR: 6 ST: 3 = 67- 72 degree temps (depending on ouside temps) using a bag every 19 hours
FR: 6 ST: 2 = 64- 67 Degree temps using a bag every 25 hours

Curently doing a test with ST of 2.5. I'll be curious what Temp setting I'll need to keep the house comfortable when temps dip below 0 again... But so far it looks like Stove Temp mode may be cheaper.

As a bonus.. the glass definitely stays cleaner for longer in ST mode.

I run stove temp. It seems more efficient and definitely more dependable. I know that on 3 stove temp/ med fan 1 bucket of pellets will make the night. If it turns excessively cold the oil will take over at 64* I can adjust it accordingly for more or less output. Also there is no cycling on and off when it approaches warm outside.

Stove mode for me. The pellets will always be used for heat and not wasted on idle. (Room mode)

This question seems to come up alot lately too. Guess it is one of those things
where everyone has their own preference.

I run the stoves in stove temp all winter and switch over to room temp during the shoulder
seasons. It is pretty much set em and forget em for me. With stove temp, my home
feels warmer because the heat is consistant and the stoves seem to burn through less pellets
in a 24 hr period than when using room temp.

EDIT: BTW- welcome to the forum!

I use stove temp, heating the entire house with this stove, the temp probe isn't long enough for me to put in an ideal spot to be able to heat the whole house.....maybe someone out there has a pic of how they made theirs longer?

HEMI said:

I use stove temp, heating the entire house with this stove, the temp probe isn't long enough for me to put in an ideal spot to be able to heat the whole house.....maybe someone out there has a pic of how they made theirs longer?

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I don't have a picture, but all you need is some 2 conductor thermostat wire, 18 ga I believe, some crimp spade connectors like the ones one the probe wire now, and a couple of wire splice connectors. Lengthen the wire to what you need, I think Harman says upto 50'. You can find the wire and connectors at HD, Lowes or most any hardware store.