Harman P35i stove settings question

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belam

New Member
Oct 12, 2010
9
Maryland
Just got a Harman P35i pellet stove...loving it so far. Just had a question regarding what setting most people use on weekdays during the day (nobody's home). Do you turn the temp way down and then blast when you get home or just try too keep a steady comfortable temp all day? I'm assuming you save on pellets if you turn the temp down during the day, but I'm new to this so I figured I'd ask the experts.

Thanks,

Brian
 
Go back and edit your thread title to include the Make & Model of the stove....you'll get more replies
 
Did you every find the best settings for the Harman P35i stove. I have just installed one and am trying to get familiar with it.
 
Every house/install is different. What works for house A may be
totally inappropriate in house B.
Set your unit to a feed of 3 - 3.5 & leave it there.
Run it in "Room Temp" mode for awhile with a setting of 68 - 70.
See if you like the performance. If you (or the wife-GF-SO)
is unhappy, make an adjustment one way or the other.
Then try it on "Stove Temp" mode & leave it alone for a couple of days.
See if you're more comfortable in that mode.
Only THEN can you decide which way the performance works best in
your particular install.
There are those of us that run HARMANS BOTH ways.
I'll run in room temp from now til maybe Thanksgiving & then switch to
stove temp for a more even heat. I leave it that way until March, when
the weather starts to break & then switch back to room temp til I shut
er down for the season.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I have read here that people recommend putting the feed rate between 4 - 5. I understand that it is a limiter on the max feed rate but I do not have the experience with this stove to notice any difference. Have you experimented with this setting?
 
I leave the feed at 3.5 The only time I move that particular
dial is when I'm doing my "One Ton" maintenance.
At that time I turn it to "Test" so that the combustion blower
exhausts the unit & keeps the dust from spreading thru our kitchen...
You may have better results with the higher setting, maybe not.
When I sold Harmans, I told buyers that they were going to have
to learn to "BOND" with their new unit, until such a time as they
got to know what worked best for them. Once they've established
that bond, they just had to keep their unit clean & it would keep
them happy.
Good luck with yours!
 
Mike16W said:
Thanks for the quick reply. I have read here that people recommend putting the feed rate between 4 - 5. I understand that it is a limiter on the max feed rate but I do not have the experience with this stove to notice any difference. Have you experimented with this setting?

Feed rate is simply used to prevent not completely burned pellets from spilling out of the burn pot. Since pellet fuel can wildly vary (wood species, density, moisture, length, etc), 3.5 is safe, but it might limit your stoves ability to produce maximum output during peak demand periods...like 20 below zero outside... The manual tells you how to determine max setting for the type of pellet you are using now and they also suggest you repeat the process if you change pellets due to the factors I mentioned above.

In stove temp Harman's are controlled 100% by the ESP. In stove temp the temp dial simply corresponds to a temperature value for the ESP. So a temp setting of 5 might correspond to 400 degrees on the ESP. The stove will speed up or slow down feed to insure the ESP sees +/- 400 degrees flue gas temp. If you set your feed rate to 2, then the ESP might not see anything above 325 degrees since there isn't enough fuel and you'll never get the heat output you are requesting. On the other side, if you set your feed to 5 the stove feed rate may never go above 3.5 since 3.5 is sufficient to achieve the 400 degree requirement.

Room temp works the same way, but now 2 variables are controlled to achieve the proper heat setting, the room sensor (primary) and the ESP.

Higher feed rates = quicker response and more fuel to hit the requested target. Too high of a feed rate = not completely burned pellets spilling over the edge. You don't have to stay awake watching, just keep the burning pellet line about an inch from the edge on the coldest days and inspect your ash bin while cleaning to determine whether you see wasted fuel.

Feed rate is the most commonly misunderstood settings on Harman's...

PS - I use a Harman diagnostic tool, so the information above is based on facts as I've lived them. :)
 
Bob,
Thanks for the information. I will have to do some more bonding with my unit. I'm not quite sure what I am looking for if the pellet feed rate is to high or to low and what would be the ideal setting for the feed.

Mike
 
Mike16W said:
Bob,
Thanks for the information. I will have to do some more bonding with my unit. I'm not quite sure what I am looking for if the pellet feed rate is to high or to low and what would be the ideal setting for the feed.

Mike

I think we posted at the same time. See above. :)
 
I also just had a P35i installed. The installer also does maintenance and repairs on the units. He set the feed rate at 3.5 and told me to leave it there. Everything else he explained relative to the insert has been right on. Others have made some good points about getting to know the stove and after more use the feed rate might have to be adjusted slightly, but for now I would stay with 3.5.
David
 
Mike16W said:
Thanks David,
I have had the feed rate higher, but will now try it at 3.5.

Mike

If your higher feed rates didn't cause any spilling or possible spilling, no reason to lower it. Higher feed rates will allow your stove to "do its job" better.

As said above 3.5 is safe. I've found 4.5 to be better. Installers will always play it conservative to insure customers don't run into any problems that, in turn, gets lumped back on the installer...also known as self preservation. If 3.5 was in fact the "golden rule" then we wouldn't have an adjustment knob and they'd just make it another dip switch the consumer won't find, easily.

If you want to be safe, do what they say and set it and forget it at 3.5. If you're like me and you want give your stove the best chance to do its job, set it higher and watch for signs of overfeeding. Either way, nothing "bad" will happen.

Also, keep in mind that each numerical value on the feed rate represents feeding time in any 60 second increment. So a feed rate of 1 will only allow the stove to feed pellets for 10 seconds. Feed rate of 5 will allow the stove to feed for UP TO 50 seconds in any given minute. So the difference between 3.5 and 4 is five seconds per minute. :)
 
Thanks for the insight. I have been setting my feed rate at 4.5 also and have not had any issues with unburnt pellets being pushed over the edge. I will monitor it when I switch pellets.

Thanks
Mike
 
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