BLOWER SPEED

[mpoland33]

Good evening everyone,
I have a Harmans ACC52i Pellet stove. I'm also looking for new ways to save money (cheapskate) and I've been burning my stove on low blower speed. A buddy of mine told me the other day that low blower speed won't slow down the burn rate/feed rate. Is this true? If it's true, then why wouldn't everyone just put it on high all the time? I would then feel like I'm getting jipped if I'm not creating as much heat but still burning through the same amount.

Also, the feed rate standard is 4. Would lowering it or raising it help on a low fan speed?

 

[Nitro-Fish]

I assume you are talking about the distribution blower, which does not change the pellet usage. there is a good write up here in the sticky's:

How Your Harman Works -what your manual doesn't tell you..

Thanks Mod for correcting the title! Now, let's have some fun and stay warm! How your stove works - The facts are pretty straightforward, but how you get people to properly interpret the facts is the hard part. It's your toy, run it the way you want as long as you understand what's going on...

www.hearth.com

Hope this helps

 

[SciGuy]

Good evening everyone,
I have a Harmans ACC52i Pellet stove. I'm also looking for new ways to save money (cheapskate) and I've been burning my stove on low blower speed. A buddy of mine told me the other day that low blower speed won't slow down the burn rate/feed rate. Is this true? If it's true, then why wouldn't everyone just put it on high all the time? I would then feel like I'm getting jipped if I'm not creating as much heat but still burning through the same amount.

Also, the feed rate standard is 4. Would lowering it or raising it help on a low fan speed?

Higher blower speed extracts more heat from the firebox but makes more noise. You’ll send more heat out the vent pipe with a low distribution blower speed. If you’re using the stove in “stove mode” you will burn more pellets per hour at a specific stove setting when using a higher distribution blower speed as the vented gasses will need more heat added to warm up the ESP.

Hugh

 

[fmsm]

Please read the sticky on how your Harman works
Then ask any questions you may have.

 

[mpoland33]

Thanks for the replies. I read the article but it must be going over my head. I use my stove in room temp mode as he calls it with my dial set anywhere between 67 and 73 with a feed rate of 4. By his article it adjusts feed rate depending on the delta but then why do I have a setting for it? Besides Hugh's comment above, the article doesnt mention distribution blower speed. What are the pros and cons to running a blower full speed vs low speed on room temp mode?

Do you guy prefer room temp vs stock mode?

Hugh, so your saying high speed blower pushes more air while low speed loses are to the chimnet vent?

 

[SciGuy]

Thanks for the replies. I read the article but it must be going over my head. I use my stove in room temp mode as he calls it with my dial set anywhere between 67 and 73 with a feed rate of 4. By his article it adjusts feed rate depending on the delta but then why do I have a setting for it? Besides Hugh's comment above, the article doesnt mention distribution blower speed. What are the pros and cons to running a blower full speed vs low speed on room temp mode?

Do you guy prefer room temp vs stock mode?

Hugh, so your saying high speed blower pushes more air while low speed loses are to the chimnet vent?

Increasing the distribution blower speed passes more cool air around the hot fire box extracting more total heat from the fire box which cools it and the combustion products within it. So with a higher distribution blower speed the exhaust leaving the stove is at a lower temperature and therefore carries less heat with it out the vent. Conversely, if you run a lower room distribution blower speed, less cool air is blown around the firebox, cooling it off less resulting in warmer combustion products being exhausted out the vent i.e. wasting heat energy that could heat the room rather than the out of doors. The room distribution blower does no influence the amount of air that the exhaust blower moves but it does influence the temperature of the air that it's moving.

The feed rate dial only influences the maximum feed rate that the stove will be able to auger when the controller is calling for heat. You can have the feed rate set to 2 or 3 or 4 and the room temperature will still be held at what ever you set it for as long as 2 provides at least enough pellets to hold that temperature. Feed rate is like a governor to the maximum rate pellets can be added.

Hugh

 

[mpoland33]

Increasing the distribution blower speed passes more cool air around the hot fire box extracting more total heat from the fire box which cools it and the combustion products within it. So with a higher distribution blower speed the exhaust leaving the stove is at a lower temperature and therefore carries less heat with it out the vent. Conversely, if you run a lower room distribution blower speed, less cool air is blown around the firebox, cooling it off less resulting in warmer combustion products being exhausted out the vent i.e. wasting heat energy that could heat the room rather than the out of doors. The room distribution blower does no influence the amount of air that the exhaust blower moves but it does influence the temperature of the air that it's moving.

The feed rate dial only influences the maximum feed rate that the stove will be able to auger when the controller is calling for heat. You can have the feed rate set to 2 or 3 or 4 and the room temperature will still be held at what ever you set it for as long as 2 provides at least enough pellets to hold that temperature. Feed rate is like a governor to the maximum rate pellets can be added.

Hugh

So why would anyone run it at a low speed if it's just wasting money/energy/pellets in regards to heat?

 

[MalcolmH]

It gives you the ability to tune the feed rate/combustion blower speed and convection motors to your application, outside temp, room size, insulation, vent pipe configuration and size, draft setup/adustment. I run a different stove on low feed rate low convection fan, there is a balance between feed rate/combustion blower, draft and convection blower for everyones application and needs, for my particular application I run the stove draft almost closed, convection fan on low while the feed rate is low so I burn a bag a day or so, I like my stoves to radiate heat and be hot to touch, they stay cleaner and give off heat as appose to cool air, but I dialled it in to run like that and it is a cast iron stove externally so it takes heat well and has a thermostat that kicks the convection blower on high if it gets to hot for a period of time.. Some stoves have a room temp thermostat/probe and with the fans on high it will circulate more air and adjust feed rate accordingly to heat the space.

 

[SciGuy]

So why would anyone run it at a low speed if it's just wasting money/energy/pellets in regards to heat?

The stove is a lot quieter when run at a lower distribution blower speed so if you're having a conversation or listening to the radio or TV that may influence your decision on blower speed. It's a lot less "windy" in the room with a lower distribution speed and that may be more comfortable if you're sitting right in front of the stove. The air coming out of the distribution blower will actually be a warmer but much gentler breeze on a low blower setting which may be preferred over the not so warm gale emitted at a high blower speed.

I'm cheap too so I generally run quite a high blower speed except when the sound level interferes with hearing conversation.

Hugh

 

[zrock]

one thing to also remember with the blower speed when you put it on high yes it will move more air but if your stove is feeding pellets at a slower rate or in low then the higher blower speed is going to cool the air coming into the room compared to if your feed rate is on high and you have lots of heat in the stove. Its a fine tuning act hence why if you turn the feed rate up the blower speed increases as well on some stoves.. My stove the blower speed is relivent to feed rate i have no control

 

[FirepotPete]

one thing to also remember with the blower speed when you put it on high yes it will move more air but if your stove is feeding pellets at a slower rate or in low then the higher blower speed is going to cool the air coming into the room compared to if your feed rate is on high and you have lots of heat in the stove. Its a fine tuning act hence why if you turn the feed rate up the blower speed increases as well on some stoves.. My stove the blower speed is relivent to feed rate i have no control

While it might be true that the air feels cooler when running the blower on a higher speed the truth is that overall you will run more efficiently stripping as much heat out into the room compared to blowing it out of the exhaust.

It's just like wind chill. It has little to no effect on solid surface temps, only exposed skin or even heat loss in animal with fur. If the air is feeling cooler it's because the surfaces in the area haven't had time to warm up properly to be comfortable.

If a stove is producing 20,000 btu and only stripping 10,000 btu into the room, running the fan low you have wasted a bunch of btu's. No stove is 100% efficient so it's not wasting 10,000 btu. But let's say that running the fan on high would strip 15,000 btu's instead of 10,000. I don't care if the air feels cooler for a while, you are still putting an additional 5,000 btu's into the house and that means more heat in the long run. It takes time for these space heaters to warm surfaces up, just like it takes time for them to cool off.