Just curious if anyone has any modifications they want to share. Can be something you have done or maybe a youtube vid you've seen. Anyone tried solar to run the stove or battery backup? I have a few ideas I'm working on. Wondering what you got.
Any really cool mods? How do you get more out of your stove?
- Thread starter smwilliamson
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Take the decorative grill off the front of the Harmon Accentra. It adds to the noise (air hitting the flat surface on the back of the grill) and blocks the air flow. The castings are so rough, I think it adds to the noise level. Get a Dermel and round all edges over to help air flow and noise. OR just take it off. BIIIIG difference. Have you ever pulled a landscape trailer with a large expanded steel lift gate? Its like your pulling a parachute. Air hits it like its a solid piece of steel. The grate does the same thing. Try it you'll like it. NOT SO PRETTY THOUGH.
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smwilliamson said:
Not the neatest installation but after proving the theory, you could dress it up quite well. It seems to be well thought out with the water injection and all. Scary looking but it WORKS
!! I too wonder about the exhaust blower since it should be seeing a lot of flame and high temps. Might have to go with loose fitting, high temp ball bearings. Very, very interesting.Not sure but the inverter he has is a modified sinewave and this is not recommend for pellet stoves.smwilliamson said:
This could cause more harm than good over time.You should always use a pure sinusoidal sinewave inverter for electronic devices.
jamesdjs said:
Actually, in the case of pellet stoves, the "electronic devices" are the control boards, and they won't have a problem with the modified (square) sine wave....it's the exhaust & convection motors that might suffer.
Seeing my Omega is now out of warrenty. I am really gunning to upgrade the convection blower from a Maxx(sister stove to the Omega). They use the same chassis and the blower is a bolt in and only requires a little tin smoothing to fit. Upgrading the blower would give me more air circulation at about double the CFMs of the current blower. What ever I do I want to be able to undo just in case the extra cfms is not really worth it. Might need a dimmer added IDK!
Once the Maxx M comes out I want to look into the control board. It also maybe a good fit to the upgraded blower.
The disclaimer is I will not touch any factory safety device on the stove. It will be as safe as day one. If Enviro added anything new to the Maxx M as far as safety I will upgrade the Omega to match it.
The one thing I have already added is a fuse between the control panel and the ignitor circuit. Seems if the Igniter dead shorts it can damage the board. Mine shorted and took out the 3 amp relay mounted on the control board(little blue module). I have a post on the Omega igniter. Adding an inline 3 Amp fuss is working so far. Both the air pump and ignitor are fused between the control board as a safety! I have a 1 Amp fuse on the air pump! These are nice neat auto inline fuses that are plugged inline with component. The original wire was unplugged and the fuse was added into the circuit. They can easily be unplugged and the component can be plugged right back to the factory harness.
Sorry for the extended post. I get going its hard to stop!
Once the Maxx M comes out I want to look into the control board. It also maybe a good fit to the upgraded blower.
The disclaimer is I will not touch any factory safety device on the stove. It will be as safe as day one. If Enviro added anything new to the Maxx M as far as safety I will upgrade the Omega to match it.
The one thing I have already added is a fuse between the control panel and the ignitor circuit. Seems if the Igniter dead shorts it can damage the board. Mine shorted and took out the 3 amp relay mounted on the control board(little blue module). I have a post on the Omega igniter. Adding an inline 3 Amp fuss is working so far. Both the air pump and ignitor are fused between the control board as a safety! I have a 1 Amp fuse on the air pump! These are nice neat auto inline fuses that are plugged inline with component. The original wire was unplugged and the fuse was added into the circuit. They can easily be unplugged and the component can be plugged right back to the factory harness.
Sorry for the extended post. I get going its hard to stop!
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j-takeman said:
Does the Omega use a TRIAC controlled system for the blowers? I assume being digital it would. The problem many digital boards have is when the control board (for whatever reason) sends a signal out of phase, the motor kicks it. I wonder if a mod to control the phase would keep the motor safe and happy. Any ideas?
smwilliamson said:
The Maxx and the Omega use triacs to control the motors. I see no difference in how the motors are controlled. The only difference I see is: The amount of voltage output to control the end rpm speed for each heat setting.
The Maxx M has the exact same control board as the Omega with different programming(speeds and feeds). I should be safe to play!
Oh' and both motors are of the same type. Shaded pole. I would worry if one was a SPC or something! A SPC motor on a shaded pole control = no speed reduction motor runs full out! Shaded pole on a SPC control = IDK never tried it. I always keep the motors the same to match controllers!
j-takeman said:
What is the low end volt on the Omega? Is it around 82v as with the Meridian? I would assume they could go lower having the agitator.
smwilliamson said:
The Maxx control low is 0 on 1 and 84v on 2. What I see is it will not go as low with the Omega controller. I think its safe to try it. I will probably go with the Maxx M controller once its available. The Maxx and the Maxx M use the exact same motor! I did my home work. Did I pass?
j-takeman said:
You are always much smarter than I am.
So, am I to understand that the Maxx controller uses the stoves natural draft for the lowest setting?
smwilliamson said:j-takeman said:
You are always much smarter than I am.
So, am I to understand that the Maxx controller uses the stoves natural draft for the lowest setting?
Now, now I never said that! You will get me at something as I don't get to play much with the stoves anymore. I respect your opinions on many things, That's why I am running my mod by you. Keeps me on my toesies. :lol:
Yes the Maxx on low fire is natural convection only. The heat exchangers on these stoves rock!
One day(seeing as Enviro isn't making a furnace anytime soon!) I may try to fab some duct work to the stove to force the heat upstairs. The main reason for the larger cfm blower is to reduce the overall air temps in the duct work. Otherwise I might get hot floor vents and burn my totsies on the vents. I have never seen a furnace put out more than 100ºF temps from the duct work. I have seen others add duct to there stoves but never have I seen them reduce the temps out the vent. Seeing as my stove will easily throw temps over 200ºF on medium. I feel it would be better to cut the temp in half. I just need to figure out how to cut the fan speed in half on low. I am thinking a 2 speed motor and a temp comtroller or snap disc? I have a lot more details just to lazy to type them all out here. If it goes good, I will post the progress! I really need a furnace to heat this dump properly!
Now if this seems scary let me have it! :cheese:
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