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  1. rmcgr8one New Member

    joined: Oct 24, 2012
    45 posts
    Southern NH
    I just got my stove a week ago and was wondering how much you are burning. I live in a older house but am only. heating a smaller area of 900 squars feet. Lately it has been in the 20s at night and 30s during the day. I know that my house is not the best when it comes to insula
    tion. I am running the stove on auto with the blower low and temperture around 68 and going though 2 bags a day Running 24/7 . Is something wrong here?
    #1

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  2. imacman Minister of Fire

    Most likely you have already determined the cause of poor heating....."I know that my house is not the best when it comes to insulation."

    However, since you haven't told us what stove you have or what pellets you're burning, hard for us to come up w/ any other reasons.

    It helps if you put your stove info into your signature line, or even in the thread title.
  3. rmcgr8one New Member

    joined: Oct 24, 2012
    45 posts
    Southern NH
    Harman p35i and am buring GS until my Vermonts show up.
  4. SmokeyTheBear Minister of Fire

    joined: Nov 10, 2008
    11,440 posts
    Standish, ME
    Do something about that insulation, air leaks, and windows, it will make a huge difference.
    kinsmanstoves likes this.
  5. Harman Lover 007 Minister of Fire

    If you haven't done it already, click on the link in my signature and read it all. It's great info and a must read for a new Harman owner. We need a little more info. Are you running room temp or stove temp? What do you have the feed rate set to? Set it to 4 and forget it. You say you are running in auto 24/7. Why are you only running the fan on low? If you are using 2 bags a day with the blower on low you might be sending some of that heat right out the exhaust. let us know.
  6. jvanase New Member

    joined: Sep 27, 2012
    23 posts
    Northern CT
    I have no insights about your Harmon, but to simply answer the original question I've been burning about 2 bags per day here in CT. I'm heating roughly 3600 sq ft in total across 3 floors. So for the space you are heating, 2 bags does sound like a lot.

    It's helpful to compare BTU's to see if it's reasonable. If you were burning fuel oil before, 2 bags is approximately equal to 4.5 gallons of oil, or roughly half of a 275 gallon tank per month. Keep in mind, your furnace (or baseboard or whatever) distributes heat very differently than a pellet stove, so it's not a straight 1:1 comparison.
  7. IHATEPROPANE Minister of Fire

    joined: Feb 24, 2011
    800 posts
    Southern,MA
    Been burning 1.5 bags a day...heating 2000+ sq feet. Just had some air sealing and insulation done....HUGE difference
  8. Aquion New Member

    joined: Oct 7, 2012
    85 posts
    Portland, CT
    I'm heating 1500 square feet or so all on one level. I'm burning one bag a day.
  9. Bioburner Minister of Fire

    joined: Aug 4, 2012
    840 posts
    West central Mn
    Ceiling height, heater location etc make a differance too. Just had a minor cold snap, 18 for high, 9 low with some winds over 40 and I went up to 60lbs a day. Stove set to 73, high blower speed,4 for feed.
  10. kinsmanstoves Minister of Fire

    Set the thermostat and keep filling the hopper, do not sweat the small stuff. Insulation, sealing windows and doors, and ceiling fans can be your friend or worst enemy if you do not have them.

    Eric
  11. bbfarm Feeling the Heat

    joined: Jan 2, 2012
    330 posts
    wisconsin
    About 1.5 bags a day.

    Heating about 1900 sq feet, 9' ceilings, 2 story 142 year old farm house.

    We just switched to the good pellets now, so the BTU's will be higher
  12. mepellet Minister of Fire

    joined: Aug 10, 2011
    1,493 posts
    Central ME
    Averaging 1 bag a day right now.
  13. ducker Feeling the Heat

    joined: Apr 22, 2008
    371 posts
    Leominster, MA
    i'm at 1 bag a day. kinda surprised that I'm at that lvl already.
  14. jtakeman Minister of Fire

    joined: Dec 30, 2008
    12,723 posts
    Northwestern CT.
    About a bag and a half here too! Near 2K sqft. Temps are kept to a toasty 72ºF.
  15. oldmountvernon Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 27, 2011
    2,157 posts
    SE Mass
    hmmm 1 1/2 to 2 almost 3k sqft coasting on 74 F
    one thing i will say about Somersets the temp stays solid unlike most other brands i have used
  16. russ79@hotmail.com Member

    joined: Mar 1, 2009
    79 posts
    saratoga, ny
    running around a bag a day maybe a little less. I heat the whole house, about 900 feet. The insulation and windows make a big difference, I spent $1500 on insulation after my first year and cut my usage from 4 ton to 2-2.5 tons a season.
    The Ds likes this.
  17. Hoot23 Minister of Fire

    joined: Mar 28, 2012
    505 posts
    Alfred, Me
    Bag and a half.1900 sq feet. Two floors nice and warm.
  18. jgrz0610 Member

    joined: Dec 13, 2011
    106 posts
    Eastern CT, Andover
    1 1/2 bags per day of box store stuff. 2200 sqf @73 deg. Your usage is high but if it's going out the windows it will be. Do what you can insulation wise, get that plastic stuff for the windows and see if it changes. Good luck.
  19. RWB1 Member

    joined: Mar 6, 2011
    45 posts
    STILLWATER, NY
    2 stoves....1.5 bags a day 24/7 in the basement stove....living room stove approx. 1 bag a week. Temps are low 20's @ night here and the basement stove keeps the house about 70 on low. 2200 sf split level
  20. Curve New Member

    joined: Oct 13, 2012
    47 posts
    Central, MA
    About 1.5 bags per day. Heating about 1,900 sq ft on 2 floors. Not a very well insulated house, so I'm sure I am using more than I need to.
  21. teetah222 Feeling the Heat

    joined: Oct 11, 2009
    288 posts
    WA state
    I'm heating an 1100 sq ft house with about 1 bag per day right now. Temps are averaging 45 degrees outside the last couple of weeks. I don't really think it's that much about the brand of pellets (they help, don't get me wrong), but you can't have 0 insulation and expect not to use up pellets. Case in point, my house was 62 degrees inside when I came home tonight (let the fire go out since it needed cleaning). 3 hours later it's warmed up to about 70 where the stove is. So, for a 900 sq ft house you should be way lower than 1.5 bags a day... :(
  22. TheMightyMoe Feeling the Heat

    joined: Aug 2, 2012
    419 posts
    Fairbanks, Alaska.
    I'm heating 1.8k square feet at -20 to -30 using 2 to 2.5 bags a day. However my home is well insulated, and the flow favors the stove.
  23. midfielder Member

    joined: Dec 17, 2011
    169 posts
    NH
    Low temps running 15 to 20, highs in the mid to upper 30s; 2k sq. ft. +/-. Keeping house at 70 deg. burning about 1.5 bags/day shoulders. Not into the good stuff yet.
  24. AkOriginal New Member

    joined: Jan 29, 2012
    13 posts
    Interior AK
    Roughly 2 to 2.5 bags a day heating 1300 square feet. I should probably mention that its currently -35 at my house here in Alaska :)
  25. oldmountvernon Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 27, 2011
    2,157 posts
    SE Mass
    -35 ouch i would def need another stove or 2 !

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