t-stat went

[magsf11]

after 4 yrs my low cost t-stat went on the brink. sometime it would tell the stove to fire up then after 5 mins would tell her to shut down. then last night stove fired up and after 10 min I heard a click from the stat and all of sudden the stove was droping pellets into the fire box like it wanted to restart. nothing like having to run over and shut it down befor i had a big pile of pellets and one huge fire in the stove. just glade it happend when i was awake and that lowes was still open. so-far sogood with the new stat.

 

[jtakeman]

Sounds like the contacts on the stat went south. I have that happen to relays at work all the time. We are slowly converting to solid state relays or ones that have gold contacts. The relays with gold contacts are very pricey, But last a long time.

 

[imacman]

.....lowes was still open. so-far sogood with the new stat.

What stat did you get? Programmable, I hope.

 

[magsf11]

.....lowes was still open. so-far sogood with the new stat.

What stat did you get? Programmable, I hope.

Yes I did this time. Didnt know you could use One till I seen all the post with everone useing them

 

[imacman]

.....lowes was still open. so-far sogood with the new stat.

What stat did you get? Programmable, I hope.

Yes I did this time. Didnt know you could use One till I seen all the post with everone useing them

Once you get that all set, you'll LOVE having the stove come on & off w/o having to turn it on manually....waking up on a cold winter morning to an already warm house is priceless!

 

[jtakeman]

I agree with imacman. Having the programmable stat is something I couldn't live without. Once you figure out how long it takes to raise the temp from your overnight low. You wake to warmth. I am a firm believer in lowering the temp when I am away or sleeping. I feel it takes more fuel to maintain the temp than it does to bring it to your liking when your about the house. Probably the biggest saver is the daytime temp.

I used one when I burned oil and it saved me money. That thoery worked on the pellet stove too. I also put a timer on my electric water heater and it saved money also. The money saved easily paid for the stats in one season.

 

[Brianm58]

I am in the process of buying a pellet stove, but in talking to some of these sales people they don't recommend using a thermostat. Their reasoning is having the stove shut down compeletely & then having the ignitor fire it back up. Alot of wear & tear on the ignitor. Does this make any sense?
Also, i am new to the forum, so any help is appreciated.

 

[Topshelf]

I have been looking into installing a Tstat on my stove also. My manual says "WALL: An external wall thermostat (such as our Part # GU-1E30-914) can be used on our corn/pellet units as long as it is a low-voltage that works with millivolt systems. Arnt most new digital Tstats millivolt? Are the min max voltage that high? I dont want tofry my stoves board or the Tstat's board.
Can I somehow piggy back my Stove on my existing programable Tstat for my Boiler system?
I took a look on Ebay and it looks like they sell the plane jane Honeywell nonprogramable that looks like the one in my manual. I guess I just need to know which model will work with my stove and which wont. Also are any better than others? My current Tstat is a honeywell that I have had for over 10 years. Just change the battery every couple years and no problems..

Any help would be appreciated

 

[magsf11]

I am in the process of buying a pellet stove, but in talking to some of these sales people they don't recommend using a thermostat. Their reasoning is having the stove shut down compeletely & then having the ignitor fire it back up. Alot of wear & tear on the ignitor. Does this make any sense?
Also, i am new to the forum, so any help is appreciated.

I have 2 setting on my stove, smartstat and t-stat. in the fall and spring I am on smartstat were the stove will shut down when no heat is called for. in the cold moths I use the t-stat mode where it will kick down to level 1 ( pilot mode) when the room gets to the temp I have the stat set for ( just cycles between 1 and 3 setting doesnt shut down). In the smartstat mode it saves time from you having to remember to shut the stove off when the house gets warm or remembering to turm it on, so I belive there is no more wear and tear on the ignitor useing the t-stat or doing it malualy.

 

[imacman]

I am in the process of buying a pellet stove, but in talking to some of these sales people they don't recommend using a thermostat. Their reasoning is having the stove shut down compeletely & then having the ignitor fire it back up. Alot of wear & tear on the ignitor. Does this make any sense?
Also, i am new to the forum, so any help is appreciated.

In a sense, they are correct, but some stoves also run on Hi-Lo, like my Englander, and at least some (all?) Enviro units.

Also, I had an Avalon Astoria that was going on 5 yrs old when I sold it, and it never needed an ignitor...and that was strictly an on-off stove.

Can you tell us what brands & models you've been looking at/considering?

 

[Brianm58]

The sale person who recommended not using the T-stat was trying to sell me a Lopi, but I think I'm going in another direction. I've looked at Vistaflame VF100, Lennox, Enviro Meridan, & HArman Accentra. After reading all the negative on the Harman here i've decided against that one. I was leaning toward the Vistaflame, but saw a lot of good feedback on here yesterday regarding the Enviro M55 insert. I'm going to price that one today & see where it stacks up. I know 2 completely different stoves, but as you can see I'm pretty confused right now. I have a big house, but all I'm trying to do is supplement my oil heat & cut down on the $500/month oil bill. Just concerned the M55 might blow us away with too much heat in the living room where it is. Couch is about 15 feet away. Any suggestions?

 

[jtakeman]

Brianm58,

The biggest reason I don't like inserts is the fireplace isn't always the best place to locate the stove. There location is more for looks than the best practical place to distribute the heat properly. I always try to recommend Free standing units and keep the fire place for looks. FS stoves are easier to maintain than an insert. And are generally easier to work on as things aren't stuffed into a small box.

But if the insert is what you decide on, You can always turn it down while your in the living room. The M55 runs great at any heat setting. Its just a few quick pushes of a button.

 

[richkorn]

I am in the process of buying a pellet stove, but in talking to some of these sales people they don't recommend using a thermostat. Their reasoning is having the stove shut down compeletely & then having the ignitor fire it back up. Alot of wear & tear on the ignitor. Does this make any sense?
Also, i am new to the forum, so any help is appreciated.

I have a Lopi and it only has ON/OFF (no HI/LOW). I run it on T-stat and it turns on and off as required. Ran for 2 years like this so far and no problems. Even if you run it in manual mode you might need to turn it off when it's too hot in the house if turning it down to #1 setting still keeps house too warm. I didn't like doing this because my stove runs like crap on setting #1 (really low flame & glass gets too dirty); mine likes #3 or higher. I love the T-stat personally (Skytech 3301P).

 

[imacman]

Don't give up on considering the Lopi just yet....Travis Industries makes a solid stove, and ignitors seem to last a long time in their stoves. The Lopi Pioneer is a real nice smaller stove.....will heat from 500 to 1600sq. ft (BTU Range 8,200 to 28,700 BTU's / Hour).

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I would also like to add that my Avalon Astoria also made by Travis Industries and has the same # 1 low heat setting as the Lopi Leyden of 1.7 lbs per hour works great at that setting as long as I have the air setting right on # 1. More air than that will cause black soot on the window but no black soot with # 1 just gets dirty a tiny bit more easily. I enjoy the 115 lbs hopper so I can put in 2 bags of pellets before it runs out and I am good for a couple more days!