Bottom feed verses Top feed

[jrd1990zr1]

New to this forum. Contemplating purchase of a pellet stove. Considering a Harman P43.

My concern is with a hopper fire. Non-Harman dealers highlight this as a concern.

Has anyone with a bottom feed experienced this? Does anyone have statistics on if this is a real problem to be concerned with?

Thoughts and advice are appreciated.

 

[rona]

Two things should be brought up concerning hopper fires.
Most Harmans have a slide that closes between the hopper and the feed auger preventing fire to get into hopper.
Another thing is most good installers suggest a short vertical exhaust run which creats a natural draft which sucks the smoke out of the stove if the electricity goes out. Pellets will continue to smolder without power where as corn will just go out.

 

[cncpro]

I considered this idea when I chose my stove. I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a bottom feeder stove but I do trust my top feeder for 24/7 unattended burning.

 

[smwilliamson]

Most hopper fires that I have seen have been with top feeders. Keep the unit clean, do not run for extended periods of time on low, use a high grade pellet and perform all needed maintenance and you'll be good. P43 is great stove.

 

[namz111]

I have a harman advance and love the bottom feed I run it 24/7 only shut it down to clean it once a week i have never had a problem, my buddy has a qfire and he is forever having a problem with pellets loading up in the burn pot.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

You can have a hopper fire with both types of feeding systems.

If the stove gets to that point you have several issues in play.

Scott hit the nail on head with his suggestions, they also reduce the reliance on safety devices to catch the unsafe conditions.

For example some stoves have sensors to detect heat or flame in the feed system, if the stove isn't kept clean those sensors could be so covered in crud they can't function.

namz111,

It sounds like your friend isn't getting proper air flow through his stove, or it is dirty, or he is using pellets that produce too much ash, or the stove isn't set for the kind of pellet he is burning.

 

[smwilliamson]

I have a harman advance and love the bottom feed I run it 24/7 only shut it down to clean it once a week i have never had a problem, my buddy has a qfire and he is forever having a problem with pellets loading up in the burn pot.

Either your bud had the control box on the wrong setting, the stove is dirty or his exhaust vent is obstructed. It shouldn't do that ever.

 

[imacman]

Either your bud had the control box on the wrong setting, the stove is dirty or his exhaust vent is obstructed. It shouldn't do that ever.

I agree.

 

[krooser]

I'm not fond of bottom feeding stoves... I guess don't like to rely on new pellets pushing out the ash. My St. Croix will run for two weeks without opening the door... no scraping the ash of the pot everyday. That makes it nice when I'm on the road and my bride only has to feed the pellets everyday.

And I've never had a pellet jam and don't have to worry about a fire in the auger.

But that's me....

 

[Nicholas440]

Both top and bottom feed seems to work well and gets the job done. I think as with anything else if you dont keep it in good shape youre in for a problem. I have a Quad Castile insert, and it has sensors in the feed chute and hopper to shut down in case of excessive heat, but as someone said if I dont keep it clean, those sensors would not function. That being said, I dont see many bottom feeders out there. Maybe its cheaper

I like my top feeder, and never had a problem as far as pellets loading up in the burn pot, the person who has that should clean it up real good.

 

[DAKSY]

We've been a Harman dealer for the last 10 years, & I've YET to see a hopper fire in one of their stoves.
Bottom feeders do a good job of clearing the burn pot of ashes by pushing them into the ash pan.
My P43 runs 24/7 for about 3 weeks before I hafta do any MAJOR cleaning,
& I can go top to bottom with a scraper & a brush in about 42 minutes.
I keep the feeder knob in the "TEST" position & that blows all the
dust out thru the venting during the cleaning process...
I scrape the burn pot when I load every other bag of fuel.
I scrape the heat exchanger once a week.
In either one you have to scrape the burn pot to make sure the combustion air gets to the pellets,
but the top loaders rely on the combustion blower to clear the burn pot, as well...
Most top loader folks that I deal with hafta empty ashes every other day...
Harman ash pans will fill up after 40 -50 bags...YMMV...
Bottom feeders will feed pellets even if the auger gets loaded with fines.
I've seen top loaders STOP feeding when the fines get too thick.
You'll get pluses & minuses with either type & arguments all day long
as to why you should burn one or the other...
Bottom line? Get what fits your budget & be prepared to learn
what it takes to keep it running smoothly...
You have to be a tinkerer to burn pellets....
It's the nature of the product.

 

[tinkabranc]

When I was hunting for my first pellet stove I got the same stories from the dealers I went to.
The Harman dealers bashed the other brands, and the others bashed Harman.

I took what they all said with a grain of salt and chose the stove that worked for me.

I do not need to scrape the burnpot daily, I prefer to.
Also, bottom feeders are not picky at all with the quality of pellets like some stoves are.

Get a list of YOUR wants and have fun shopping.

 

[mascoma]

My concern is with a hopper fire. Non-Harman dealers highlight this as a concern.

.

Its a scare tactic.
Of more concern to me is which type feed will jam repeated, or burn pot clog if you do not use just the right pellet.

I have run 12ish tons thru my harman of some real crappy fuel at times with NO JAMS.
The combustion air will clear the burn pot on a harman if you are using good pellets and the incoming fuel will push that ashe out even if your burning Michigan sand pellets.

 

[jtakeman]

I see no issue with either feed system. The key is how clean you keep your stove.

I have been using top feeders for over 10 years and have had no issues with 3 stoves so far! But I have always keep them clean and tidy.

 

[summit]

been in the game since '01, and have seen 2 hopper fires... neither were in a Harman. Both were due to severe neglect.

 

[rona]

The short story is a clean stove with clean pipes and dry fuel will work well.
With poor cleaning habits even the best stove won't work correctly.
This is something that all new owners should be taught. I had a friend who owned his own dealership and he told me 90% of the problems encountered by his customers were human error that should have been prevented by proper cleaning and dry clean fuel.
His remedy was to put on a open house and have a cold stove handy so he could make sure people understood how to clean their stove. The other idea he had was to supplement the owners manual with additional information the manual didn't cover.
I helped on several service calls and found most of the time there was clogged pipes, corn was to wet or had stalks in it.
People would forget to cover the vent and a bird would build a nest or after they were through burning in the spring they would forget to do a spring cleaning.
I am sure we could have a good discussion about strange things service people have found when on a service call.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I have a harman advance and love the bottom feed I run it 24/7 only shut it down to clean it once a week i have never had a problem, my buddy has a qfire and he is forever having a problem with pellets loading up in the burn pot.

Either your bud had the control box on the wrong setting, the stove is dirty or his exhaust vent is obstructed. It shouldn't do that ever.

Yea, it sounds like your buddy hasn't discovered all the little holes around the sides of the burn pot that have to be cleaned out to allow a good fire. Normal maintenance item. It takes a minute to run a gun bore brush through them when you dump the hopper ash.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

bottom line (as stated repeatedly and eloquently above) a clean stove is a happy stove and will take care of you as you took care of it.

a neglected stove will not be a happy stove and will let you down when you need it most (murphy's law) i look at stoves constantly part of my job is to burn units and measure outputs and such but i also do "pathologies" occasionally when we have a stove returned. the thing i see as a constant is the units i "autopsy" have one thing in common, neglect. virtually all of hem once cleaned out run just as well as a new unit.

hopper fires can happen in both top and bottom feeders, its never pretty but it doesnt burn down houses. when it happens its generally the fault of the operator for not properly maintaining their stove. ive never been able to make a clean stove burn back into the hopper even under artificially enhanced conditions which should have made a hopper fire more possible than any home installation would duplicate. trust me , ive done some pretty "stupid" things to try to cause it to happen in my lab and i usually walk away suprised i couldnt make it happen.

for the record ESW builds both top and bottom feed units so i dont have a dog in the fight about which is better or safer than the other, im just a humble tech with the dream job of being paid to "play with fire"

 

[Idahokid]

I bought a Heatilator eco choice ps50 made by hearth and home and works great.I also use north idaho energy log pellets and they work great.Keeping any stove clean is important.I was looking at the P43 also.But the Heatilator was 1699.00 and a free ton of pellets.Its a very simple stove and works great.It's are first pellet stove and love it.