anyone burn a Harman on #1 feed?

[Tonyray]

just curious how your unit holds up at that rate as far as heat and if more maint needed?
have read many times not a good idea....
running a Harman P61A...
With a Poorly insulated 100 yr old house,[ double pane windows but only wall insulation is outside under siding.

Stove temp/ feed rate 2.5/ temp #4 [70 degrees] low fan speed. pretty cold in Eastern Pa this week.
getting approx 15 hrs out of bag of Energex...keeps downstairs around 73 degrees..

tried Room temp and pretty close to same consumption due to poor insulation, the fire never goes out..
drops down but never out in room temp till 45 degrees outside or above. not complaining as it saves igniter wear and tear.... [Although I thought there would be a significant difference between both modes].

 

[john193]

Have you read "how your Harman works" thread?

Is your point in reducing the feed rate to save on pellets? I would guess insulation would be the better bang for your buck.

The automation in the stove will override your setting in order to meet its heat demand.

 

[subsailor]

Stove temp/ feed rate 2.5/ temp #4 [70 degrees] low fan speed. ].

Setting your feed rate at 2.5 isn't going to save you pellets but it might keep you from heating your house. Set it at 4 like Harman recommends and leave it there. The stove will decide how many pellets to feed. By setting it at 2.5, you're just limiting the amount of pellets it can feed.

I run my blower on high when it's cold out. More CFM = more heat.

 

[Tonyray]

Setting your feed rate at 2.5 isn't going to save you pellets but it might keep you from heating your house. Set it at 4 like Harman recommends and leave it there. The stove will decide how many pellets to feed. By setting it at 2.5, you're just limiting the amount of pellets it can feed.

I run my blower on high when it's cold out. More CFM = more heat.

when you have a good insulated house, I would think that following the Room temp standard of #4 feed rate would apply...
using less pellets when the probe senses the temp that you have it set for reaches say, 72 degrees..
well with an un-insulated house,, I would go thru the same situation when I used my oil furnace..
the furnace would shut down when my wall thermostat reached my setting...but, the heat loss would be sort of quick so the furnace would fire up again
sooner than later...... That loss of heat is not going to change even with a pellet stove..
my mission here is to keep the house at 72 or so with the least amount of pellets burned that I need...
not exspecting miracles since about 15 hrs is prob the most I can get out of a bag of pellets on days of low 30's and high teens overnite..

 

[fmsm]

I am burning Douglas Firs right now, the flame will throttle down and be just above a maintenance burn while still producing some pretty decent heat. I am using far less pellets but the pellets I am using cost me a bit more.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

The automation in the stove will override your setting in order to meet its heat demand.

Sort of...but it won't override his feed rate setting. If he sets it at 1 or 2.5 the stove will significantly underperform in cold weather like this.

 

[iceguy4]

Setting your feed rate at 2.5 isn't going to save you pellets but it might keep you from heating your house. Set it at 4 like Harman recommends and leave it there.

He dosent get it... sub

my mission here is to keep the house at 72 or so with the least amount of pellets burned that I need... not exspecting miracles since about 15 hrs is prob the most I can get out of a bag of pellets on days of low 30's and high teens overnite

You can go DAYS between fill ups...turn it off! Why are you so preoccupied with saving pellets? Your house needs BTU's of heat...If you don't burn them, the heat stay in side the pellet.

That loss of heat is not going to change even with a pellet stove

AAhh no truer statement has been made . Let me ask you ..would you feed your oil burner less oil then it needed?

I would go thru the same situation when I used my oil furnace.. the furnace would shut down when my wall thermostat reached my setting...but, the heat loss would be sort of quick so the furnace would fire up again

Your point? this is what furnaces do. My point is if you want to be warm your choices are burn oil or burn pellets. I understand your house looses heat, BUT I don't understand your cure to this is to try to burn as little pellets as possible?!? So Tony, my advice to you is think of it this way..." every ton of pellets I burn is equal to aprox 120 gal of oil"

 

[Tonyray]

He dosent get it... sub


You can go DAYS between fill ups...turn it off! Why are you so preoccupied with saving pellets? Your house needs BTU's of heat...If you don't burn them, the heat stay in side the pellet.


AAhh no truer statement has been made . Let me ask you ..would you feed your oil burner less oil then it needed?


Your point? this is what furnaces do. My point is if you want to be warm your choices are burn oil or burn pellets. I understand your house looses heat, BUT I don't understand your cure to this is to try to burn as little pellets as possible?!? So Tony, my advice to you is think of it this way..." every ton of pellets I burn is equal to aprox 120 gal of oil"

ok guys:
all good points and I understand it all... I should have elaborated a bit in my situation...yes, any oil furnace needs to re-fire but it did it more often here as heat loss was quick..
my house is 1200 sq.. 600 up/600 down. only 2 of in the house... all bedrooms and main bath upstairs.
I keep a draw curtain at the bottom of the steps to keep from heating the upstairs all day since once we come down in the AM, rarely go upstairs for anything.
did this to with oil since not using the 2nd floor 18hrs a day so now trying to do same situation with a pellet stove.... still a newbie here.
. at night maybe hour before bedtime, I pull back the curtain, kick on the ceiling fan at top of steps and that brings up heat to 2nd floor.
sooooooo, having the feed rate at #4, set for 70 degrees, the main room the stove is in would get close to 80..[ Harman 61A heating downstairs 600 sq is too big but it;s here to stay. I wanted a big heater.Even set at 65/ feed rate #4 was too warm. so
I have to back off on the settings to keep it around 72 degrees or we would melt..according to everyone here backing off on feed rate is not the right way. Not trying to save pellets but rather not waste but, it sounds the same either way I guess. One thing I do right is give good cleaning every 10 days.....

 

[P38X2]

Harman needs to either eliminate the feed rate knob, or rewrite the description in the manual of exactly what it does. Obviously, it's causing far too much confusion

 

[P38X2]

I agree, your stove appears to be oversized for your application and personal heating preferences. If you continue exposing your first floor to massive shots of cold air from upstairs, yer gonna overheat the first floor.

IMO, a good solution would be to insulate the crap out of your attic, get rid of the curtain, get a fan to displace the hot air from your main floor and find your house's preferred convection path. You'll sacrifice pellet consumption for comfort, but may be happier in the end.

Do not lose sight of the fact your stove is nothing more than a giant SPACE HEATER.

 

[iceguy4]

ok guys:
all good points and I understand it all... I should have elaborated a bit in my situation...yes, any oil furnace needs to re-fire but does it more often here as heat loss is quick..
my house is 1200 sq.. 600 up/600 down. only 2 of in the house... all bedrooms and main bath upstairs.
I keep a draw curtain at the bottom of the steps to keep from heating the upstairs all day since once we come down in the AM, rarely go upstairs for anything.
did this to save oil since not using the 2nd floor 18hrs a day so doing ssame with stove running.
. at night maybe hour before bedtime, I pull back the curtain, kick on the ceiling fan at top of steps and that brings up heat to 2nd floor.
sooooooo, having the feed rate at #4, set for 70 degrees, the main room the stove is in would get close to 80..[ Harman 61A heating downstairs 600 sq is too big but it;s here to stay so
I have to back off on the settings to keep it around 72 degrees or we would melt..according to everyone here backing off on feed rate is not the right way.

get more fans to move the heat. If your stove is too big now with a leaky house you can expect it to be WAY to big after you tighten things up. I just looked up your stove and the sq/ft est. 1300-3500 sq ft! Your Mini Cooper needs an engine...you have an extra engine, a 454 big block SOOoo your gonna use it!! (geez now that I think about it... not a bad idea) IMHO your gonna need to switch stoves. Put the stove on craigs list and buy the proper size stove. IMHO there is NOTHING worse then a stove that is too big. The only thing I hate more then being too cold...being too hot.

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Harman needs to either eliminate the feed rate knob, or rewrite the description in the manual of exactly what it does. Obviously, it's causing far too much confusion

I agree it does confuse a lot of people. In my opinion it is works no different than any other stove on a thermostat. I set mine at three, when the stove calls for heat it can go no higher than this. Same as Harman and the feed rate setting. I could set it at two and save pellets.....but also freeze lol. Harman's do have a better control as it ramps up and down but basically the same idea

 

[iceguy4]

IMO, a good solution would be to insulate the crap out of your attic, get rid of the curtain, get a fan to displace the hot air from your main floor and find your house's preferred convection path. You'll sacrifice pellet consumption for comfort, but may be happier in the end.

A good idea too. The curtain is a great idea but you will need to size your stove first before you can use a curtain.

looks like your stove is worth $2000.00 +- used. I saw one 3 years old going for $2600.00 . apply any monies toward a p38...

 

[Tonyray]

maybe I should swap it out but this winter it will stay.....
stove temp 2.5 is where it;s been all day..keeping downstairs around 74...
Noticed when it drops in room temp, the downstairs cool down is a bit too quick so switched back to stove mode.

 

[iceguy4]

maybe I should swap it out but this winter it will stay.....
stove temp 2.5 is where it;s been all day..keeping downstairs around 74...
Noticed when it drops in room temp, the downstairs cool down is a bit too quick so switched back to stove mode.

I'm sure with any stove there is a 'learning curve". good luck..

 

[Enigma869]

I've always had my feed rate at number 3 and have never moved it up or down (also left it at 3 on my Accentra). I always leave my blower on high (not sure if that's good, bad, or ugly) and always run my P68 in "Stove Mode". All of my adjustments are made with the 1 through 7 dial. When it's not terribly cold, I usually just leave that at one (and I'm usually able to maintain 73 on the first floor and about 75 on the second floor with the dial at 1) if the temperature is above 35 degrees. I very rarely ever turn the dial all the way up to 7, but today was one of those days. I've been running it at number 7 all day long, because it's been super cold (-5 this morning) and I haven't cleaned my stove in a month (it's due and will be done on Friday, when it's supposed to be in the mid-40's). The temperature outside has finally climbed to about 15 degrees, and I've finally managed to get it to 72 degrees on the second floor and 69 degrees on the first floor. Time to clean this beast.

 

[subsailor]

Here's a thought. Set your stove in room temp, set the temp for say, 65, and flip the igniter switch to Manual. If it's warmer than 65, the stove won't shutdown but will go into Mintenance burn and keep a small fire going. If it calls for heat it will ramp up. If not, it will just maintain a small fire with the blower off.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I very rarely ever turn the dial all the way up to 7, but today was one of those days. I've been running it at number 7 all day long, because it's been super cold (-5 this morning) and I haven't cleaned my stove in a month (it's due and will be done on Friday, when it's supposed to be in the mid-40's). The temperature outside has finally climbed to about 15 degrees, and I've finally managed to get it to 72 degrees on the second floor and 69 degrees on the first floor. Time to clean this beast.

I know I sound like a broken record but the above vindicates me (at least I think it does). The reason it took all day for you to "finally manage" to heat your space is because your feed rate is too low on 3. With that beast of a P68 (set on stove temp 7), if you had the feed rate on 4 or maybe 4.5, you would have reached your desired goal. What you did was the analogy that several of us use when we are desperately trying to get our fellow Harman owners to understand feed rate. You put a brick under the accelerator pedal (feed rate 3) and then pressed the accelerator wide open (stove temp 7). Trouble is...you couldn't get it all the way to the floor......

 

[Lousyweather]

yea, a lot of info above.....cant figure why, if someone really understands the feed rate setting, they would limit themselves by setting it at 1. Although it seems to be a good way to make some service money.....my stove isn't producing enough heat....send a tech out, turn a knob, PRESTO! Mo' heat.......that'll be $189 please.......
The reason it is there is to account for different qualities of fuels....not just pellets, but trust me, there's been ALOT of other fuels in these stoves than wood pellets...seen em burn alfalfa, peas, buckwheat, etc.....

 

[Tonyray]

I know I sound like a broken record but the above vindicates me (at least I think it does). The reason it took all day for you to "finally manage" to heat your space is because your feed rate is too low on 3. With that beast of a P68 (set on stove temp 7), if you had the feed rate on 4 or maybe 4.5, you would have reached your desired goal. What you did was the analogy that several of us use when we are desperately trying to get our fellow Harman owners to understand feed rate. You put a brick under the accelerator pedal (feed rate 3) and then pressed the accelerator wide open (stove temp 7). Trouble is...you couldn't get it all the way to the floor......

that does make sense....
I would think a P68 would melt steel on stove temp 7... I know my P61A is a beast... but keeping a P68 on feed rate 3, I can see it holding heat back a lot.
I have never run mine on Manual since the flame never goes out in this constant cold weather.
my stove is new so Warranty on the Igniter for now.