Yes. The flame is a bit higher. Have to see how it reacts now that the sun is going down but it wasn't doing that with the probe in it's former position.
How Does YOUR Harman Work In Room Temp Manual?
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alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
I was thinking of manual. My stove isn't running today so I can't check it right now. Last night was in the 40'sand today it was 54 out I ran oil .
Testing it now. Temp should hit mid-20's tonight so a good test. Hit 48 today but stayed with the stove as I'm WAY behind last year's consumption.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
l .
Where my probe is presently I've concluded that in this weather my stove comes on too much. The heat came on twice today, once as I got up this morning because I kicked the temp up for the day. And once a couple of hours ago. The stove would have been on off on off in Room Auto and run all day in Room Manual.. So my probe needs to go in the dining room where the house thermostat is. Once moved I can then dial in my controls to match. I think where it is turns out to be a colossal waste of pellets in this time of year when it's mild like this. I just have to try it and see, it tough to compare because the central heat has cast iron radiators in every room that give off heat long after the boiler shuts down. The stove pin point heat with a blower.
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alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
Harmans don't shut down in room manual unless you run out of pellets.
F4,
I was wrong on the pot switches maybe having issues. It dawned on me as soon as I was driving somewhere after I had posted and shut the laptop cornfuser down. New board = new pots. Duh! The dimly lit bulb went off..............
I doubt your new board is working incorrectly but defects do happen. I have experienced my stoves dist. fan varying some at times when I have it set below 4.5 on the temp dial in room manual. I am really not a fan of the fluctuations in the flame up, down, and all around in room auto nor the distribution blower up and down in any mode. Just me.
What I have done is keeping the fan constantly running on high, medium, or low (whichever) and in essence adjust my inside room temp by simply bumping up or lowering the feed rate. I have found the sweet spot and good probe location for my set up here. I will at times adjust the dist. blower dial down if for example it is feed rate 1 or less and warmer outside so less heat is being pushed into the house and it is not needed or getting a bit too warm. However, when in room manual with the temp dial at 4.5 the distribution blower will stay at whatever speed I set it without ramping up nor down. Just a consistent speed.
It really is like more of a true cruise control in operation this way for me. Just a constant function all the way around instead of room auto and set temp forgetting it. I say this because when a vehicle is on cruise it stays at one steady speed and does not slow down and speed up. Technically it does with more or less fuel depending on demands but the speed is steady and and not on and off like room auto. Old style cruise control you could feel it vs. the more seamless cruises of today.
This said when running in room temp auto the only thing on cruise control is the inside temperature. At times in that set up the stove goes from coasting mode to an all out drag race. This is a great way to run without a doubt to maintain a set temp and there is no thinking or input involved at all other than dumping pellets. I have figured out how to keep a constant temp inside with my stove running the same old boring consistent speeds depending on outside temps. Right now it's cruising at say 45 MPH on a flat straight country road = (room auto manual igniter feed rate less than 1 and dist fan at half speed). Now when the colder stuff hits the feed rate goes up accordingly for expressway speeds. Some freeways are 55 MPH = (same modes with maybe a small bump up in feed rate and/or dist fan) and some are 65-70 MPH plus = same modes with feed rate usually 3 - 4 and dist. fan on high). All handled with the feed rate or steering wheel cruise adjustments. I am presenting this in an abstract way for a reason to look at it in a different way possibly. There is more than one way to get from point A to point B.
I usually just run my dist. blower on high at all times and mainly adjust feed rate. Main exception is when the stove is throttled all the way down and still making things a tad bit too warm which is where I will adjust the dist blower down accordingly. I rarely mess with the dist blower speed. I don't mess with any knobs until warranted by outside temps.
My house stat has not varied by more than a couple of degrees at any time with outside temps varying by 30 degrees within a given 24 hours. Another thing I look at is my reading on the house stat. It gets cooler and temps dropping outside then that is handled with a simple feed bump. Same as if it is 35 tonight and going to be 10* tomorrow night. Just a quick little feed rate bump. A feed rate adjustment does not happen very often and really only does when there is a larger change in outside temps. Outside temps can fluctuate 10 -20 degrees and really not much of a temp swing inside on the house stat. Not worth fussing over and adjusting a knob anyway. i could care less if it's 74* in here now and only 72* tomorrow. The only way I really notice is by the difference in the number on the stat.
I was wrong on the pot switches maybe having issues. It dawned on me as soon as I was driving somewhere after I had posted and shut the laptop cornfuser down. New board = new pots. Duh! The dimly lit bulb went off..............
I doubt your new board is working incorrectly but defects do happen. I have experienced my stoves dist. fan varying some at times when I have it set below 4.5 on the temp dial in room manual. I am really not a fan of the fluctuations in the flame up, down, and all around in room auto nor the distribution blower up and down in any mode. Just me.
What I have done is keeping the fan constantly running on high, medium, or low (whichever) and in essence adjust my inside room temp by simply bumping up or lowering the feed rate. I have found the sweet spot and good probe location for my set up here. I will at times adjust the dist. blower dial down if for example it is feed rate 1 or less and warmer outside so less heat is being pushed into the house and it is not needed or getting a bit too warm. However, when in room manual with the temp dial at 4.5 the distribution blower will stay at whatever speed I set it without ramping up nor down. Just a consistent speed.
It really is like more of a true cruise control in operation this way for me. Just a constant function all the way around instead of room auto and set temp forgetting it. I say this because when a vehicle is on cruise it stays at one steady speed and does not slow down and speed up. Technically it does with more or less fuel depending on demands but the speed is steady and and not on and off like room auto. Old style cruise control you could feel it vs. the more seamless cruises of today.
This said when running in room temp auto the only thing on cruise control is the inside temperature. At times in that set up the stove goes from coasting mode to an all out drag race. This is a great way to run without a doubt to maintain a set temp and there is no thinking or input involved at all other than dumping pellets. I have figured out how to keep a constant temp inside with my stove running the same old boring consistent speeds depending on outside temps. Right now it's cruising at say 45 MPH on a flat straight country road = (room auto manual igniter feed rate less than 1 and dist fan at half speed). Now when the colder stuff hits the feed rate goes up accordingly for expressway speeds. Some freeways are 55 MPH = (same modes with maybe a small bump up in feed rate and/or dist fan) and some are 65-70 MPH plus = same modes with feed rate usually 3 - 4 and dist. fan on high). All handled with the feed rate or steering wheel cruise adjustments. I am presenting this in an abstract way for a reason to look at it in a different way possibly. There is more than one way to get from point A to point B.
I usually just run my dist. blower on high at all times and mainly adjust feed rate. Main exception is when the stove is throttled all the way down and still making things a tad bit too warm which is where I will adjust the dist blower down accordingly. I rarely mess with the dist blower speed. I don't mess with any knobs until warranted by outside temps.
My house stat has not varied by more than a couple of degrees at any time with outside temps varying by 30 degrees within a given 24 hours. Another thing I look at is my reading on the house stat. It gets cooler and temps dropping outside then that is handled with a simple feed bump. Same as if it is 35 tonight and going to be 10* tomorrow night. Just a quick little feed rate bump. A feed rate adjustment does not happen very often and really only does when there is a larger change in outside temps. Outside temps can fluctuate 10 -20 degrees and really not much of a temp swing inside on the house stat. Not worth fussing over and adjusting a knob anyway. i could care less if it's 74* in here now and only 72* tomorrow. The only way I really notice is by the difference in the number on the stat.
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Another consideration to definitely factor is we are running different stoves and different styles as mentioned above. My P68 and Alternative's P61 are very, very similar. Your stove does radiant heat as well but on a different scale. Most inserts (pellet, wood, and otherwise) do rely heavily on the distribution blowers so that said your best bet could very well be room auto anyway or possibly room manual with dist blower on high and just figure out feed rates to handle outside temps. Once you figure them out there really isn't much to it or knob fiddling to do.
We are kind of comparing muscle cars to rally cars here. One is going to win on the drag strip and the other on the hair pin curves. IMHO either could be set up with cruise control. Temp wise or consistent flame and blower wise. Just have to get it dialed in for whichever set speed or race you want to win.
I will also mention my feed rates will probably vary from yours just because the P68 is different and throws oodles of radiant heat which was a factor in my decision on the stove I chose. So you may need a higher feed in given temps but that too is a guestimate because everyone's situation, home, stove and locations vary. FIDDLE AWAY! Or at least until you are frustrated and pissed.
Good Luck
We are kind of comparing muscle cars to rally cars here. One is going to win on the drag strip and the other on the hair pin curves. IMHO either could be set up with cruise control. Temp wise or consistent flame and blower wise. Just have to get it dialed in for whichever set speed or race you want to win.
I will also mention my feed rates will probably vary from yours just because the P68 is different and throws oodles of radiant heat which was a factor in my decision on the stove I chose. So you may need a higher feed in given temps but that too is a guestimate because everyone's situation, home, stove and locations vary. FIDDLE AWAY! Or at least until you are frustrated and pissed.
Good Luck
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I'm guessing that using an external wireless thermostat changes how the distribution fan works in room/manual which is where I've run my P43 since we got it. When the desired temp is reached on the thermostat (located about 10-12 feet off to the side of where the stove is), it shows OFF in the display. The receiver box connected inline with the stoves temp probe has a 3-position switch, Off-Remote-On (set to remote obviously) . So when the thermostat goes to Off, the stove just stays in maintenance burn until the temp drops 2-3 degrees below the thermostat's set temp. All I hear is the combustion blower in maintenance burn until the thermostat goes back to On when temp is called for. Then the distribution fan kicks back in.
Sam
Sam
Okay, I'm pretty sure that there is a problem with Room / Manual.
I talked to the board vendor yesterday and they basically said the distribution fan should operate the same in either auto or manual except in manual, as we all know, the igniter stays off and we maintain a light burn.
I ran it in manual all last night and all I got were intermittent distribution fan starts probably due to temperature at the ESP. Switching over to auto this morning I got proper distribution blower operation. I think there is a board problem. Will call the board vendor again today and see what they think.
By the way, pellet used last night was outrageously high.
I talked to the board vendor yesterday and they basically said the distribution fan should operate the same in either auto or manual except in manual, as we all know, the igniter stays off and we maintain a light burn.
I ran it in manual all last night and all I got were intermittent distribution fan starts probably due to temperature at the ESP. Switching over to auto this morning I got proper distribution blower operation. I think there is a board problem. Will call the board vendor again today and see what they think.
By the way, pellet used last night was outrageously high.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
In the shoulder season I've found pellet consumption to be higher in Room Manual than Room Auto personally and FWIW.
Keep us posted on your board situation. If you don't mind my asking, who is the vendor ?
Keep us posted on your board situation. If you don't mind my asking, who is the vendor ?
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
Ok, next step in the saga. The vendor agrees the board is not working correctly in Room Temp / Manual. They will replace the board if it is defective however I had to pay for a new one to be sent out and, when I swap that one out and send back the old one, if it is found to be defective they will refund that price. I guess that's fair enough.
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alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
Yep. But if they claim it's okay they're going to have to explain in detail why the fan does not ramp in Room Temp / Manual.
At worst I'll have a spare.
At worst I'll have a spare.
Feed rate is not the problem, distribution blower function is. Will let you know how the replacement board works out.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
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