Harman XXV question - big flames on the sides?

[mfglickman]

Hi all,

The XXV was installed on Friday and I went away but DH has been burning it all weekend. He had jams with Vermont pellets that caused it to turn off in the night twice. So far he says Potmacs are giving good heat and Energex seem good as well.

My question is about controlling the flame. The flames reach the glass in front, from the two sides (e.g. the middle of the flame goes up the middle but the sides reach around and lick the glass). DH said he cleaned the glass once already but the right side in particular is getting sooty and black.

It's running in room temp @ 70, feeder set at 3 and blower in the middle - everything pretty middle of the road. I tried turning down the blower and the feeder rate but the flame stayed just as big.

Is this normal?


Thanks

Mary

P.S. Have pics on iPhone, gotta get one into my sig...

 

[lbcynya]

Hi all,

The XXV was installed on Friday and I went away but DH has been burning it all weekend. He had jams with Vermont pellets that caused it to turn off in the night twice. So far he says Potmacs are giving good heat and Energex seem good as well.

My question is about controlling the flame. The flames reach the glass in front, from the two sides (e.g. the middle of the flame goes up the middle but the sides reach around and lick the glass). DH said he cleaned the glass once already but the right side in particular is getting sooty and black.

It's running in room temp @ 70, feeder set at 3 and blower in the middle - everything pretty middle of the road. I tried turning down the blower and the feeder rate but the flame stayed just as big.

Is this normal?


Thanks

Sounds normal.

Jamming is more odd to me. Never had one. Those must have been some long pellets.

Mary

P.S. Have pics on iPhone, gotta get one into my sig...

 

[gbreda]

Jamming is unusual, sounds like the stove doesn't like Vermonts.
But the rest sounds normal.

Definitely post some pics !

 

[bcb1]

Hi all,

The XXV was installed on Friday and I went away but DH has been burning it all weekend. He had jams with Vermont pellets that caused it to turn off in the night twice. So far he says Potmacs are giving good heat and Energex seem good as well.

My question is about controlling the flame. The flames reach the glass in front, from the two sides (e.g. the middle of the flame goes up the middle but the sides reach around and lick the glass). DH said he cleaned the glass once already but the right side in particular is getting sooty and black.

It's running in room temp @ 70, feeder set at 3 and blower in the middle - everything pretty middle of the road. I tried turning down the blower and the feeder rate but the flame stayed just as big.

Is this normal?


Thanks

Mary

P.S. Have pics on iPhone, gotta get one into my sig...

Yes, the big flames are totally normal if you're running in room temp mode. The fire is going to be big when the stove is trying to reach the set point temp, once it gets closer to your set point it'll become smaller. Right side of the glass always gets dirty quicker in the Harman stoves.

Agree with the other poster that the jams that shut down the stove are not normal. Are you sure the stove isn't simply shutting down because it reached your set point temperature? What did you have to do to get it going again? A long pellet shouldn't create any problems, the feeder mechanism will simply chop it up as your pellets feed into the burnpot.

If you can give a little more information about the red status light on the side of the stove - are you getting a series of 4 or 5 or 6 blinks when the stove shuts down? Did you have to unplug the stove and plug it back in to reset it when it turned off during the night?

 

[SmokingAndPoking]

Rolling flames with the feed limited to 3 doesn't really make sense.

What is your venting system like? Did the installer check your draft on high and low?

 

[bcb1]

I get huge flames like that and my feed rate is set to a little below 3. Once the temp probe senses that it's getting close to the set point, then it automatically feeds less pellets and you'll see a much smaller flame.

If you want the exact same size flame all the time no matter what your room temperature is, then you'll have to run it on stove temp mode. Then you can mess with the feed rate and stove temp setting until you get the exact flame size that you want.

 

[mfglickman]

I get huge flames like that and my feed rate is set to a little below 3. Once the temp probe senses that it's getting close to the set point, then it automatically feeds less pellets and you'll see a much smaller flame.

If you want the exact same size flame all the time no matter what your room temperature is, then you'll have to run it on stove temp mode. Then you can mess with the feed rate and stove temp setting until you get the exact flame size that you want.

I don't mind the flames as long as they are not hurting the stove/glass etc.

The installer didn't do a heck of a lot once installed - the draft is strong as it's up a chimney via full liner but I'll need to research to find out how to test/adjust the draft.

The jams...hmmm. DH was home and they both happened when he was asleep or out - he came home to find the stove shut down but with pellets in it, so he gave the pellets in the hopper a stir and it went back to business. Has not happened since I've been home in the past 24 hours but we're now on to our bags of Energex. I doubt he looked for an error code.

The room is definitely not up to temperature...I've turned the oil therm down to 57 and it has not come on but the house temperature is running 59 (according to the therm) and the room where the stove is (next to the thermostat room) is warmer but still not really warm. Standing in front of the stove is lovely, and the bedroom above it is fairly warm. It is in the 40s today and beautifully sunny.

Had attic insulation installed today so hoping that will help.

 

[mfglickman]

OK, a few more observations..now that I've sat and stared into the flames for a prolonged period of time...

Room temp set at 70, house is now about 61 degrees, slightly warmer in room with stove.

Feed set at 3 and blower on the middle-high setting.

I am seeing lots of still-burning pellets dropping off the sides of the burn pot into the ash pan. Is this normal? It doesn't look like ash it looks like red hot glowing pellets.

Thoughts?