I'm Liking Harman Accentra Insert

[Rick @ Great Northeast]

Ok all, had my Assentra Insert about a one week now and I am liking it! Was a little hesitant because I was a wood stove burner for long time and I had a hard time believing pellets stoves could put out the serious heat that top quality wood stove could. Well to my surprise this Harman really did extremely well on the auto thermostat setting over this past cold(single digit weekend). Had Insert set on 70 degrees and the original programmable second zone thermostat showed 71 to 72 degrees, and it maintained that temp, Great I thought. After reading about different pellet brands and of course different preference's I was on a task and purchase 5 or six different brands of pellets.Guess either I'm in a good area because every store and TSC along with fireplace & stove shops had lots of pellets. Over the week of burning different ones, truthfully I did not noticed a difference in the difference heat output of pellets. Now is this because my insert is on auto and the temps pretty much set? Not much ash either and window is still very clean, I do like the way temp is pretty steady on auto. But when I was burning wood it was either so hot your are your skivies and or the candles on wall just folder over melted, or it was cold, never could maintain temp like this. I imagine if I ran this Insert on manual it could almost do the same as wood stove and really make it too hot but it probably would use lots more pellets right?
Thanks, Rick

 

[DAKSY]

Ok all, had my Assentra Insert about a one week now and I am liking it! Was a little hesitant because I was a wood stove burner for long time and I had a hard time believing pellets stoves could put out the serious heat that top quality wood stove could. Well to my surprise this Harman really did extremely well on the auto thermostat setting over this past cold(single digit weekend). Had Insert set on 70 degrees and the original programmable second zone thermostat showed 71 to 72 degrees, and it maintained that temp, Great I thought. After reading about different pellet brands and of course different preference's I was on a task and purchase 5 or six different brands of pellets.Guess either I'm in a good area because every store and TSC along with fireplace & stove shops had lots of pellets. Over the week of burning different ones, truthfully I did not noticed a difference in the difference heat output of pellets. Now is this because my insert is on auto and the temps pretty much set? Not much ash either and window is still very clean, I do like the way temp is pretty steady on auto. But when I was burning wood it was either so hot your are your skivies and or the candles on wall just folder over melted, or it was cold, never could maintain temp like this. I imagine if I ran this Insert on manual it could almost do the same as wood stove and really make it too hot but it probably would use lots more pellets right?
Thanks, Rick

By running on "Manual" I assume you mean on "stove temp"?
Stove temp will eliminate the high/low swings of temperature
but YES, you will burn more pellets. Not sure where you are in
"Upstate NY" - I'm East of Albany - but this past weekend I kept
the P61A on Stove Temp, for the most part & the house stayed
very comforatable. I ran about 3 bags per 24 hours of heating...
Just make sure you keep that Accentra Clean
& she'll keep you warm & happy...

 

[jdege]

Welcome Rick, like you I am in the first year of owning an Accentra Insert and very happy with the stove. I did not see much heat difference in brands till I put some Vermonts in the stove, now I am a believer that there are some brands worth having for the cold snaps.

I have found if I keep the stove clean it will provide all the heat I need without having to work to hard.

Good luck and enjoy the stove.

 

[subsailor]

I don't notice a lot of difference between pellets in my P61 because the Harman's run based upon temp setting and not feed rate. I'm burning Greene Team and MWP's. 3 degrees outside last night and 72 inside. My average cost per bag this year is $4.15, or $207 per ton. No need to buy high $ pellets unless you don't like dealing with a little ash.

 

[Rick @ Great Northeast]

Ok all, had my Assentra Insert about a one week now and I am liking it! Was a little hesitant because I was a wood stove burner for long time and I had a hard time believing pellets stoves could put out the serious heat that top quality wood stove could. Well to my surprise this Harman really did extremely well on the auto thermostat setting over this past cold(single digit weekend). Had Insert set on 70 degrees and the original programmable second zone thermostat showed 71 to 72 degrees, and it maintained that temp, Great I thought. After reading about different pellet brands and of course different preference's I was on a task and purchase 5 or six different brands of pellets.Guess either I'm in a good area because every store and TSC along with fireplace & stove shops had lots of pellets. Over the week of burning different ones, truthfully I did not noticed a difference in the difference heat output of pellets. Now is this because my insert is on auto and the temps pretty much set? Not much ash either and window is still very clean, I do like the way temp is pretty steady on auto. But when I was burning wood it was either so hot your are your skivies and or the candles on wall just folder over melted, or it was cold, never could maintain temp like this. I imagine if I ran this Insert on manual it could almost do the same as wood stove and really make it too hot but it probably would use lots more pellets right?
Thanks, Rick

By running on "Manual" I assume you mean on "stove temp"?
Stove temp will eliminate the high/low swings of temperature
but YES, you will burn more pellets. Not sure where you are in
"Upstate NY" - I'm East of Albany - but this past weekend I kept
the P61A on Stove Temp, for the most part & the house stayed
very comforatable. I ran about 3 bags per 24 hours of heating...
Just make sure you keep that Accentra Clean
& she'll keep you warm & happy...

Thanks Bob, yes I did mean on manual, and understand that stove temps will mean more pellets. Thanks for the reply,oh I'm located North of Albany in a little town called Galway.
Rick

 

[Rick @ Great Northeast]

Welcome Rick, like you I am in the first year of owning an Accentra Insert and very happy with the stove. I did not see much heat difference in brands till I put some Vermonts in the stove, now I am a believer that there are some brands worth having for the cold snaps.

I have found if I keep the stove clean it will provide all the heat I need without having to work to hard.

Good luck and enjoy the stove.

Thanks for replying, I'll be on the lookout for some of those Vermont pellets or maybe when i'm Rving in Vermont in the fall,( only 45 miles away) I'll pick some up.

 

[Rick @ Great Northeast]

I don't notice a lot of difference between pellets in my P61 because the Harman's run based upon temp setting and not feed rate. I'm burning Greene Team and MWP's. 3 degrees outside last night and 72 inside. My average cost per bag this year is $4.15, or $207 per ton. No need to buy high $ pellets unless you don't like dealing with a little ash.

Interesting, just what do you mean Harman's run on temp setting and not feed rate? Is that different from other pellet stoves? Thanks for the input.

 

[movemaine]

Our Harman was just installed the day before Thanksgiving, and we love it too. We've only burned oil this year to heat our water - it's been great (the Harman heats about 90% of our 2200 sq ft home)

Some stoves just run off of the feed rate, Harman's run off an ESP (external sensing probe?) - Feed rate us controlled by the stove ESP. The stove will select a feed rate based on the actual temperature and target call for heat.

Here's a great post about how a Harman works:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/83574/P22/#1009016

 

[subsailor]

I don't notice a lot of difference between pellets in my P61 because the Harman's run based upon temp setting and not feed rate. I'm burning Greene Team and MWP's. 3 degrees outside last night and 72 inside. My average cost per bag this year is $4.15, or $207 per ton. No need to buy high $ pellets unless you don't like dealing with a little ash.

Interesting, just what do you mean Harman's run on temp setting and not feed rate? Is that different from other pellet stoves? Thanks for the input.

Harman's, unlike other stoves, do run based on temp and not feed rate. My P61 only feeds pellets once a minute, and the length of the feed time is based on how much heat is being called for to maintain the set temp. So irregardless of the amount of heat any given pellet gives out, the stove compensates for it with the feed time.

 

[Defiant]

ESP stands for " Exhaust Sensing Probe "