accentra insert questions

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shelbylul

Member
Jan 2, 2010
43
L.I. New York
first year pellet burner with questions about my insert . For the most part I run it on stove temp. , fan low-med., feed between 3&4 and temp. at 80* . I'm burning AWF pellets running24/7. Is it normal to fill the ash pan once a week? I saw the test on this site and AWF had one of the better ash ratings. Mine seems a bit excessive . I' m burning about 1.5 bags a day.
Does it heat better or is more efficient to keep the fan speed in the lower range or upper? The air temp. exiting the stove drops about 40* with the blower up towards high. I understand why that happens, but which do you think is better, high volume/ lower temp. or low volume /higher temp.?
In room temp. when you set it at your desired temp. are there any further settings that I make , or does the stove take total control of the feed rate and fan speed?
Thanks for your help in advance. I have a fairly large house (2500sq.ft.) and I need to squeeze the most out of this sucker to keep the wife,kids & dog off my back and the furnace off!

Thanks again,
Bill
P.S. I clean it once a week, (brush and vac. heat exchangers, covers etc.)

Harman Accentra 8/09 install
 
shelbylul said:
first year pellet burner with questions about my insert . For the most part I run it on stove temp. , fan low-med., feed between 3&4 and temp. at 80* . I'm burning AWF pellets running24/7. Is it normal to fill the ash pan once a week? I saw the test on this site and AWF had one of the better ash ratings. Mine seems a bit excessive . I' m burning about 1.5 bags a day.
Does it heat better or is more efficient to keep the fan speed in the lower range or upper? The air temp. exiting the stove drops about 40* with the blower up towards high. I understand why that happens, but which do you think is better, high volume/ lower temp. or low volume /higher temp.?
In room temp. when you set it at your desired temp. are there any further settings that I make , or does the stove take total control of the feed rate and fan speed?
Thanks for your help in advance. I have a fairly large house (2500sq.ft.) and I need to squeeze the most out of this sucker to keep the wife,kids & dog off my back and the furnace off!

Thanks again,
Bill
P.S. I clean it once a week, (brush and vac. heat exchangers, covers etc.)

Harman Accentra 8/09 install
Click to expand...

With my Accentra there is no way I could burn a bag and a half in a day, mine just doesn't burn as hot in stove temp vs room temp. I will admit filling the ash pan as you are saying does seem to be rather quick, but I am not familar with that brand of pellets. I too burn in stove temp on 3 and feed rate of 4 until it hits the teens and then I switch over to room temp and put it on 72-74*...
You don't need to clean it like that every week, more like every 50 bags or so!!!
 
I'm on the other side of the spectrum...

I do burn between 1.25 and 1.5 bags per day right now depending on outside temps. I run mine in room temp only mode set at 75*. Look at it this way at abotu 1 your burning .75 pounds per hour at 6 your pushing 5 pounds/hour. In stove temp you gonna burn about 2.5 pounds per hour set around 3 plus or minus. In 24 hours you're looking at about 60 pounds.

I burned through 10 bags af AWF and they are a little ashier than some others (Green team, winter warmth, Okies very low ash) with AWF yea fills up every 7 -8 days. That being said I clean it out every 7-8 days anyway including a brush down of the heat exchanger. I have no doubt the efficiency of the heat exchanger is droppin 20% over that time. I do not want it getting worse than that...

A clean stove uses less pellets set in room temp mode. And cleaning it regularly makes the cleanings easier.

my 2 cents
 
Feed rate set at 4 or whatever you like for max and leave it the stove controls the rate.

Room fan set at whatever you have a tolerance for (Noise wise) and let the stove control it. Laws of thermodynamics say VOLUME is better. You want the coolest air traveling as fast as possible over the exchanger and it will pick up the most heat.

Look at it this way the wall of that exchanger is about 400*. While the slow air will get warmer by remaining in contact longer say 10 seconds.... the first second of contact has the highest temp difference so it picks up the most heat. By the time the air is 200* it picks up less than 50% of the heat in its last second. If you toss more air over the same space (faster) then you effectively increase your efficiency by say 1/3. I would have to run the exact calcs but the important thing is always faster is better.
 
I'd say a pan of ashes a week is average this year. I'm not going to say anything about numbers or lbs/hour, but I know when I clean it, which is usually every 5 or 6 days, the air coming out is much hotter and I do notice it uses less pellets for a few days at least. Having said that...cleaner is better and I'll burn about 4.5 tons this year, so anywhere I can save, I will!
 
I keep my Accentra Insert set at about 73* on room temp. My first year burning mostly Cleanfire pellets I dumped the ash pan about once a week. This year with Michigan pellets the pan fills up every 2 or three days. I do a good disassemble and cleaning every 2 weeks. Right now we're burning about 1 to 1.5 bags a day. Keep using this forum as a resource and it will definitely improve the pellet burning experience for you. Very knowledgeable and friendly people here....
 
shelbylul said:
first year pellet burner with questions about my insert . For the most part I run it on stove temp. , fan low-med., feed between 3&4 and temp. at 80* . I'm burning AWF pellets running24/7. Is it normal to fill the ash pan once a week? I saw the test on this site and AWF had one of the better ash ratings. Mine seems a bit excessive . I' m burning about 1.5 bags a day.
Does it heat better or is more efficient to keep the fan speed in the lower range or upper? The air temp. exiting the stove drops about 40* with the blower up towards high. I understand why that happens, but which do you think is better, high volume/ lower temp. or low volume /higher temp.?
In room temp. when you set it at your desired temp. are there any further settings that I make , or does the stove take total control of the feed rate and fan speed?
Thanks for your help in advance. I have a fairly large house (2500sq.ft.) and I need to squeeze the most out of this sucker to keep the wife,kids & dog off my back and the furnace off!

Thanks again,
Bill
P.S. I clean it once a week, (brush and vac. heat exchangers, covers etc.)

Harman Accentra 8/09 install
Click to expand...

dont forget to FULLY clean the air tubes to the combustion fan....one on the right (facing the stove), will take about half the length of the brush, but the one on the left will completely swallow the brush....and this is IMPORTANT!
 
Iwould think it's 4500-5000. There's still a 1500.00 tax credit for this year i think, so that helps . I got mine (on Long Island) last August and the place was running a special and so was Harman. It definitely helps to buy off season.

Bill
 
I got mine (philly suburbs) for 5200 installed with s/s liner all the way up chimney
 
Find one used. Buy if from someone that can give you a demo. Most people selling them feel like they are to much work and just don't feel like messing with it anymore. Mine installed (Harmon Accentra) $1,875. Runs like a champ. The warranty is transferable.
 
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