Harman p68, igniter question, room temp mode question

I used to only run on room temp for the same reasons as you, however I switch to only stove temp because I was going through to many igniters maybe four in 3 years. All on warranty the last one I put in was last fall my dealer told me it was a new,better igniter just made by Harman. Since your still on warranty get A new and improved igniter and see if it can handle turning on often.If it still fails often just do it until your warranty expires and then make the switch to stove temp, f.y.i., you will use less pellets on stove temp I have found.

I was under the assumption that if the switch is in manual, the distribution fan will not run or will run only to keep the stove from overheating... I am not 100% on that, what I can tell you is I have had no luck at all with burning in room temp mode the fan goes on and off so much that it drives us crazy... The only time I use room temp. is when we have a power outage, and the stove is my only source of heat...
As for the ignitor, I am sorry to hear yours is out, but my stove is going on it's fourth season with the original ignitor, and every time I go to light it, I hold my breath, maybe there is something to running in stove temp. mode and saving the ignitor...

If you put the igniter switch to manual when in STOVE temp then the fan will not run unless you put the tstat dial up past #5. If You put the igniter switch to manual in the ROOM temp mode, it will run to get to temp, then dial itself down to @ 1 lb/hr feed rate, and shut down the distribution fan untill the room sensor calls for heat again. Then, it will dial up, and the fan will come on. This way is actually a good way to run it, whether the igniter works or not, as the firebox stays warm, and it puts out heat again almost instantly.

THE ROOSTER said:

...what I can tell you is I have had no luck at all with burning in room temp mode the fan goes on and off so much that it drives us crazy... The only time I use room temp. is when we have a power outage, and the stove is my only source of heat...

Click to expand...

its because you have another source of heat. The stove's computer is getting confused. It doesn't simply sense the room's temperature; it senses the rate of change, and calculates the specific amount of fire/distribution blower it needs to maintain the temp. When your furnace/boiler comes on, it "suddenly" dumps a whole bunch of heat into the house, and the stove "thinks" that it needs to lower its output as quickly as possible...and with a wood fire, the only way it can do that is to cut off the distribution blower.
So, yeah, "stove temp" is the way to go, in your case. Let the stove put out a fixed amount, and control the house temp w/ your central system.

THE ROOSTER said:

As for the ignitor, I am sorry to hear yours is out, but my stove is going on it's fourth season with the original ignitor, and every time I go to light it, I hold my breath, maybe there is something to running in stove temp. mode and saving the ignitor...

Click to expand...

its not "stove temp vs. room temp;" its "manual vs. automatic". the number of fires you're igniting. fewer ignitions=less wear on the ignitor.

You can use a volt meter to check the resistance across the two wires for the igniter. It should be just under 40 ohms or so. If it reads 0 like my last one did, you know you need a new one for sure.

After cleaning-out the exhaust-port & 3 inch pipe behind my Harman P68, as well as removing the ash from the burn chamber, all seemed well....for a few days of use. THEN the fire just went out again, so I vacuumed-out the exhaust area in the back of the stove, the auger fed to the burning chamber just fine, but the stove wouldn't ignite.

I live a few miles east of downtown Tampa, so heating the house is necessary during short stretches of cold weather during the winter. This is the 3rd or 4th year of limited use of my Harman pellet stove (it's out of warranty now) and I'm not at all pleased about having gotten the pellet stove at this point (since the igniter seems to have a rather short life span.) --and the fact that I thought I was getting a fairly decent quality pellet stove and had to order it out of Georgia since there are no dealerships here in Florida. I'm not disappointed with how it heats----when it has operated. But, according to one forum on this site, one can use a hand sanitizer in lieu of 'starter gel.' --it's supposedly cheaper. So, I'm going to give the sanitizer a try. #HopeThisWorks

aaronnoel said:

I used to only run on room temp for the same reasons as you, however I switch to only stove temp because I was going through to many igniters maybe four in 3 years. All on warranty the last one I put in was last fall my dealer told me it was a new,better igniter just made by Harman. Since your still on warranty get A new and improved igniter and see if it can handle turning on often.If it still fails often just do it until your warranty expires and then make the switch to stove temp, f.y.i., you will use less pellets on stove temp I have found.

Click to expand...

For me personally, I felt my P68 simply didn't run hot enough in stove temp. I switched to room temp and it seems to work much better (in terms of heat output). Once it's lit, I simply switch the igniter switch to manual. That allows the stove to go down to a maintenance burn, when not calling for heat, but the flame stays lit. Much less wear and tear on your igniter. The only time my stove needs to be re-lit in when I shut it down to clean it.

Enigma869 said:

For me personally, I felt my P68 simply didn't run hot enough in stove temp. I switched to room temp and it seems to work much better (in terms of heat output). Once it's lit, I simply switch the igniter switch to manual. That allows the stove to go down to a maintenance burn, when not calling for heat, but the flame stays lit. Much less wear and tear on your igniter. The only time my stove needs to be re-lit in when I shut it down to clean it.

Click to expand...

Same thing with me and my P61. I'm sure I could crank the stove temp up and get more heat than I do but Iike room temp manual.

In the beginning I was experimenting and did both. On my harman p35i I have found stove temp mode wrks best. Room temp uses more pelletes also cause more ash and I don't like the idea going on and off giving it the wear and tear.On the coldest night I never had to go as high as 6 and a half. I have a 1800 split level.Good luck

Ctcarl said:

In the beginning I was experimenting and did both. On my harman p35i I have found stove temp mode wrks best. Room temp uses more pelletes also cause more ash and I don't like the idea going on and off giving it the wear and tear.On the coldest night I never had to go as high as 7. Good luck

Click to expand...

Any theories about why less ash in Stove Temp? I mean besides the obvious where you say it uses less pellets that is.

alternativeheat said:

Any theories about why less ash in Stove Temp? I mean besides the obvious where you say it uses less pellets that is.

Click to expand...

I believe it due to the fact in room temp mode it ramps up to hit the temp burning more pellets cause more ash . Is my guess

Ctcarl said:

I believe it due to the fact in room temp mode it ramps up to hit the temp burning more pellets cause more ash . Is my guess

Click to expand...

So a more consistent range of flame you think causes less ash ? Less super low burn and I assume almost no super high burn but a constant narrower range in between ? Did you find yourself making any big changes in feed and temp range ? I just switched my P61 to Stove temp between these postings. I had it on room temp 75 and feed 4.2 ish. I simply switched to stove temp, changed nothing else and will see from there.

alternativeheat said:

So a more consistent range of flame you think causes less ash ? Less super low burn and I assume almost no super high burn but a constant narrower range in between ? Did you find yourself making any big changes in feed and temp range ? I just switched my P61 to Stove temp between these postings. I had it on room temp 75 and feed 4.2 ish. I simply switched to stove temp, changed nothing else and will see from there.

Click to expand...

For feed I find 4 is perfect. As far as ash line and all. Tryed 3.5 and it was good but seemed better at 4.im using green supremes so it gets ashy regardless but in the stove mode seems less. Also I'm not burning through pellets as I did room temp. I first I thought my house was not warming up well with the stove mode.i had it to low.somebody here explained it to me . With stove mode there's low ,med, high.So since I understand it better .it is all I keep it at and wrks great.

Ctcarl said:

For feed I find 4 is perfect. As far as ash line and all. Tryed 3.5 and it was good but seemed better at 4.im using green supremes so it gets ashy regardless but in the stove mode seems less. Also I'm not burning through pellets as I did room temp. I first I thought my house was not warming up well with the stove mode.i had it to low.somebody here explained it to me . With stove mode there's low ,med, high.So since I understand it better .it is all I keep it at and wrks great.

Click to expand...

Low Med and High temp or convention fan ? If temp, what are the defining marks ? My wife had the oven on and the stove is in Stove mode now so the house went up to 76 deg. In room temp it would still be at 73, where it's mostly been since I switched to room temp. I guess this is something you get used to working out, kind of like my coal stove used to be.

alternativeheat said:

Low Med and High temp or convention fan ? If temp, what are the defining marks ? My wife had the oven on and the stove is in Stove mode now so the house went up to 76 deg. In room temp it would still be at 73, where it's mostly been since I switched to room temp. I guess this is something you get used to working out, kind of like my coal stove used to be.

Click to expand...

Yes exactly. Stove mode has one constant heat source. So depending on if your home is older like mine in the 50s it's loosing x amount of btu in the cold wear the stove replaces it. On very cold nights I'm talking the poler vortex I never had to go full blast so my p35i is treating me right

Ctcarl said:

Yes exactly. Stove mode has one constant heat source. So depending on if your home is older like mine in the 50s it's loosing x amount of btu in the cold wear the stove replaces it. On very cold nights I'm talking the poler vortex I never had to go full blast so my p35i is treating me right

Click to expand...

Ok, so I have the stove currently running at 4.75ish temp, the feed 4 and blower auto and a little over low. I'll see what it does. In room temp I didn't get to play with knobs, heck even as a kid I liked playing with knobs !!

I'm burning Okanagan Premium tonight. The Cape is under a blizzard watch for late tomorrow and into Sunday, wonderful. I need pellets !!

alternativeheat said:

Ok, so I have the stove currently running at 4.75ish temp, the feed 4 and blower auto and a little over low. I'll see what it does. In room temp I didn't get to play with knobs, heck even as a kid I liked playing with knobs !!

I'm burning Okanagan Premium tonight. The Cape is under a blizzard watch for late tomorrow and into Sunday, wonderful. I need pellets !!

Click to expand...

Update:

I think I can trim back the temp setting, the dining room thermostat reading is
75 deg after the overnight burn. I've been holding that at 73 . The house is quite warm but it only got down to 29deg. last night, so not real cold. Pellet use looks similar to room temp at this outside temp. Ash was not bad but I'm using decent pellets too. So while a bit inconclusive, perhaps over the long haul this route might work fine. Too early to tell but I think the heat is more consistent throughout the house with that steady output. Someone else mentioned this about a month ago actually and he too ran in Stove Temp mode for that reason, liking the steady output from the stove ( I don't think that was you Ctcarl but it could have been).

alternativeheat said:

Update:

I think I can trim back the temp setting, the dining room thermostat reading is
75 deg after the overnight burn. I've been holding that at 73 . The house is quite warm but it only got down to 29deg. last night, so not real cold. Pellet use looks similar to room temp at this outside temp. Ash was not bad but I'm using decent pellets too. So while a bit inconclusive, perhaps over the long haul this route might work fine. Too early to tell but I think the heat is more consistent throughout the house with that steady output. Someone else mentioned this about a month ago actually and he too ran in Stove Temp mode for that reason, liking the steady output from the stove ( I don't think that was you Ctcarl but it could have been).

Click to expand...

I like stove temp for a lot of reasons also the fact no wear and tear in the igniter

Ctcarl said:

I like stove temp for a lot of reasons also the fact no wear and tear in the igniter

Click to expand...

Room temp manual doesn't use the igniter. Instead of the stove cycling off in manual, it just drops down to a maintenance burn when the probe isn't calling for heat.

alternativeheat said:

Room temp manual doesn't use the igniter. Instead of the stove cycling off in manual, it just drops down to a maintenance burn when the probe isn't calling for heat.

Click to expand...

The big key to room temp mode is placing the probe correctly and knowing your temp offset between actual room temp and the stoves idea of room temp. Once established, the house never varies more than maybe 1 deg, if that.

alternativeheat said:

Room temp manual doesn't use the igniter. Instead of the stove cycling off in manual, it just drops down to a maintenance burn when the probe isn't calling for heat.

Click to expand...

The dealer and the tech told me in room mode that the igniter is always used. In my study's I saw It shut down for like a hour then kicked back on.with it dead and brought back to life it sure was the igniter.so with mine on room temp the Igniter is used on a constant basis.Now on cold cold days it never shut down.So on I wear and tear

Ctcarl said:

The dealer and the tech told me in room mode that the igniter is always used. In my study's I saw It shut down for like a hour then kicked back on.with it dead and brought back to life it sure was the igniter.so with mine on room temp the Igniter is used.Now on cold cold days it never shut down.

Click to expand...

I see, maybe the inserts work different than P series stoves. In the P61a at least, I just switch the toggle to manual once the initial fire is going and that's that, no igniter. The P35i may not work that way, that's too bad if so because in room temp I much prefer manual personally..

Edit:

Well the P35i manual says it runs a maintenance burn in room temp manual also. Have you tried that ? Switch from stove temp to room temp manual ignition ( ignition switch down vs up ) ? Just sayin !