Any Harmies changed to Stove temp?

[Tonyray]

Question actually is, Has any Harman users switched from " Set in stone" Room mode
to Stove mode since this Freeze has hit us past couple weeks?
My 90 yr old not well Insulated house is really not conducive to using room mode Auto or manual in a deep freeze as I know my heat loss is quicker & greater due to surroundings...
Have 12 windows in just 3 downstairs rooms here. 26 total..Actually there is less wall than windows..
why was it built that way back then? who knows... prob using coal or gas and it was cheap back in the 20's.
Anderson windows? check.. double pane? check..
Just would not pay to insulated the not wide walls in between this house of glass..
Great views all around but not for keeping lot of heat in..
anyways,
switched to Stove temp 4 days ago and deff makes a difference...
have been listening to the augar and pellet drops quite a bit and seems that once the ESP is up to par,
the augar is only turning sometimes 20 and sometimes 30 seconds even though I have my feed rate at #4.. bumped it up a bit to 4.5 and still 20- 30 seconds auger turns... set at #5/Half on temperature dial.. further proof that a Harman will ONLY use what it needs to maintain a setting.
keeping our main room at 73 degrees and warm air goes up the stairs..
keeps the 2 floor around 64 at nights which is good sleeping weather..
btw room temp guys, I haven't dis-owned ya...
soon as the weather gets back to steady upper 30's days and above I will be back on Room mode manual then Auto as the days warm up even more.
is just that it ramps up/down way to much in this brutal cold and uses more pellets due to my house layout and the steady Burn of stove mode seems better with less pellets used......I;m sure a tight ass house would do fine in room mode.. even Auto mode..
The Harman Technology of Room/auto works excellent but not all house are equal so not all will benefit from it..at least when living in Syberia weather for a month.!!
Last year I expirimented all winter with feed rates/modes/ probe placements etc.. Wife called it Messin around .
this year I had it down, left it alone until Hell froze over which it did..

 

[rcook430]

I pretty much stay in stove temp all the time. Even though my house is only 12 years old it also has more windows than walls so as cold as it is this winter I just control it on stove temp.

 

[Bigjim13]

I didn't read your whole post, but I heat almost exclusively in stove temp. Room temp when it warms (like consistently over 30*). I feel it keeps the house a more consistent heat.

 

[jp99]

I use nothing but stove temp. I found room temp wasted more fuel. It would be even worse with corn.

 

[Harmanizer]

I use stove temp.In room temp the stove seems to be either going full blast or shutting down.I prefer a nice steady heat.

 

[Husky]

I also switched over to stove temp last week. I seem to use less pellets then I was at room temp and house is the same temperature as it was in room temp. I'm running 5.5 fan on high 24/7. I'm getting about 15 hours on a full hopper.

 

[Tonyray]

I also switched over to stove temp last week. I seem to use less pellets then I was at room temp and house is the same temperature as it was in room temp. I'm running 5.5 fan on high 24/7. I'm getting about 15 hours on a full hopper.

yep.. that's what I'm talkin about....
Room mode works it's magic in keeping temps where you want but is not for every dwelling layout.

 

[pfmaloney]

I always use Room Temp/Auto. Given the cold temps and the space I'm heating (3000 sq ft), it hasn't cycled off since some time in December!

 

[Bassmantweed]

I switched because I am now using my furnace to supplement. In room temp mode the pellet stove almost shuts off when the furnace comes on. I want the additional heat.

 

[Tonyray]

I switched because I am now using my furnace to supplement. In room temp mode the pellet stove almost shuts off when the furnace comes on. I want the additional heat.

yes.. can't use the Harman probe and your furnace at same time.
my setup the stove is between 2 hot water baseboards.
stove would be off or in maint mode if I used Room mode.

 

[Superglyde]

my 52i works like a champ with room temp/manual, feed rate 4, set at 71 degrees. I never considered stove temp would burn less pellets...so if thats true, whats the optimal setting for stove temp in this bitter cold weather?

 

[3650]

one thing I noticed in stove temp is the top of the stove hardly warms up. In room temp it gets pretty hot.

 

[F4jock]

Nope. Still in room / auto. Works fine for me and, although the distribution blower sometimes shuts down the stove itself hasn't in a few months. Prefer maintaining a steady temp of 69 to 70f especially when the sun hits the window wall. Don't much care about saving pellets. Still have over a ton left and only going through about a bag a day, give or take.

 

[frankie]

Always stove temp for me. Like the even heat. I do feed rate 3 and stove heat 3 or 3.5. House is very warm.

 

[Husky]

my 52i works like a champ with room temp/manual, feed rate 4, set at 71 degrees. I never considered stove temp would burn less pellets...so if thats true, whats the optimal setting for stove temp in this bitter cold weather?

You have to experiment to see if it works for your situation. Mine was also working like a champ on room temp but it seemed like I was using a lot of pellets when it got real cold, so I decided I would try stove temp and play around with the settings. I found that when it is real cold out I am better off running in stove temp 24/7. This produces an even heat and keeps my house (2 story 2600 sq Ft) at the comfortable 75 down stairs 67 upstairs. At room temp I was burning 3-4 bags a day in this cold and now at stove temp I am burning about 2.5-3 bags a day. My house is staying the same temp so I know this is a better setting for me. Every home will be different but it is worth playing around with if you have never experimented.

 

[Tonyray]

one thing I noticed in stove temp is the top of the stove hardly warms up. In room temp it gets pretty hot.

fry and egg on top of my stove either mode...for real!

 

[Tonyray]

my 52i works like a champ with room temp/manual, feed rate 4, set at 71 degrees. I never considered stove temp would burn less pellets...so if thats true, whats the optimal setting for stove temp in this bitter cold weather?

leave it as it is if it burns like a champ.

You have to experiment to see if it works for your situation. Mine was also working like a champ on room temp but it seemed like I was using a lot of pellets when it got real cold, so I decided I would try stove temp and play around with the settings. I found that when it is real cold out I am better off running in stove temp 24/7. This produces an even heat and keeps my house (2 story 2600 sq Ft) at the comfortable 75 down stairs 67 upstairs. At room temp I was burning 3-4 bags a day in this cold and now at stove temp I am burning about 2.5-3 bags a day. My house is staying the same temp so I know this is a better setting for me. Every home will be different but it is worth playing around with if you have never experimented.

Correct.. If not for this cold spell past week or so, I would still be using room temp but like you I decided to give Stove mode a try and it surely works as you said..
getting plenty of heat with less pellets...even at feed rate 4.5 for me..
When the weather warms up eventually, it might be a different story with stove temp.Then it's back to Room mode...
tonite will be below zero here so I am putting my Oil heat on and set at few degrees above my stove temperature Only because all my heat and water pipes are in the basement.
Can't do that on Room temp.. well, ya can but your stove would prob shut off if it's near any baseboard heat.

 

[F4jock]

Man I feel sorry for you who have basement freezing problems. No matter how cold it has been mine hasn't in 26 years.

 

[Tonyray]

my 52i works like a champ with room temp/manual, feed rate 4, set at 71 degrees. I never considered stove temp would burn less pellets...so if thats true, whats the optimal setting for stove temp in this bitter cold weather?

Actually, there is no Optimal setting for stove temp that I have heard off..
the trick is that as long as you are at a good feed rate , the heat will flow steady. no high flame/ low flame/no flame. therefore the stove, even if you have it on feed rate #5, it will only cycle the auger maybe 20-30 seconds to keep that steady flow going.. that uses less pellets in the long run but as always, mileage will vary.

 

[Husky]

Man I feel sorry for you who have basement freezing problems. No matter how cold it has been mine hasn't in 26 years.

What?? I don't follow.

 

[Tonyray]

Man I feel sorry for you who have basement freezing problems. No matter how cold it has been mine hasn't in 26 years.

My basement never got cold enough even last year during the Polar vortex to freeze pipes.
I have them all wrapped and the lowest I ever saw it down there was 38 degrees.. usually stays at 50 in winter 60 in summer.
that said, I saved soooooooo much on Oil last 2 yrs that when it get's below zero with windchills even lower like tonite,
, I sleep better and don't mind using few gallons oil just to be sure...
..Be.keeping the downstairs wall thermostat couple degrees above the stoves output so it kicks on few times After midnite till morning...

 

[pfmaloney]

yes.. can't use the Harman probe and your furnace at same time.

Not true. I frequently run the furnace at times to bring raise the temperature in the house when the outside temps get very low. The furnace does not cause my Accentra to cycle off. It does help that the furnace's thermostat is in a different room than the insert.

 

[Tonyray]

Not true. I frequently run the furnace at times to bring raise the temperature in the house when the outside temps get very low. The furnace does not cause my Accentra to cycle off. It does help that the furnace's thermostat is in a different room than the insert.

jesus.... well there ya go..
u should save that for trick question night..
the example was the stoves probe being in the same room with baseboard heat.. or blower vents thereby affecting the stoves output
as in my pix below you can see the probe would ALWAYS be Temperature satisfied by the heat from the baseboards and prob never come on.

 

[shtrdave]

I have mine on a thermostat, run in manual room temp, set it at 70-72 in the evening when we get home and I turn it back to 64 when I get up in the morning. these single digit days and below 0 nights I am going through about 1.5 bag per day using Hamers. I have a nice place but I seem to have drafts that I can't locate only feel.

 

[jp99]

Not true. I frequently run the furnace at times to bring raise the temperature in the house when the outside temps get very low. The furnace does not cause my Accentra to cycle off. It does help that the furnace's thermostat is in a different room than the insert.

As long as two automatic control systems are separated so they don't affect each other much, you can do this. If the heat sources and thermostats are close to each other the two will bounce off each other and not work together, but overcorrect for the other system. Control theory 101.