Harman Accentra 52i help

[MartyD]

I just had a new Harman Accentra 52i installed in the fireplace in my basement family room yesterday. My house is a rancher with ~1100 sq ft per floor. The family room where the pellet stove is installed is 25 ft X 14 ft. The stove faces a hallway that has steps that lead to the upstairs. I'm having issues maintaining a consistent comfortable temperature in the family room.

When I first started the stove, I set it on the continuous mode lowest setting. The outside temperature was in the low 30s. Within a couple of hours, the temperature in the room climbed from 70 degrees to 77 degrees.

My next step was to set the stove on 72 degrees in auto mode. The room was at 71 degrees and in less than an hour jumped to 73 degrees before the stove to shutdown. When the stove was running it felt blazing hot in the room. Once it shutdown, the room quickly felt like it cooled down, although the temperature on the stove stayed around 72 degrees. I'm concerned that if the stove is re-igniting every couple of hours, the igniter will not last very long. I realize a change of a couple of degrees doesn't sound like much but the room either feels too hot or too cold.

This pellet stove replaced a Whitfield Advantage II insert which I tended to run on the lowest setting, except on days when the temperature dropped below 30 degrees for the entire day. The family room stayed at a comfortable consistent temperature.

Ideally, I'd like to run the stove on continuous mode (I like to see the fire burning) and maintain a room temperature of 70 degrees. Are there any adjustments I can make to ensure the temperature does not climb above 72 degrees in continuous mode? If not, are there other suggestions to help maintain a more consistent temperature.

I'm already starting to regret "upgrading" to the Harman so I hope someone has some recommendations on how to maintain a more consistent temperature.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[Mt Bob]

Is yours a 52i-tc? If so, try continuous mode ,with room blower turned off. This used to be called "fireplace mode" on the older dial type stoves.Your igniter will last just fine, many have year son theirs.

 

[jackman]

I would try the stove in Auto, Room Temp settings, and move the room sensing probe around to find a location that works best. Keep the distribution fan set at a speed that is convenient to the ear. Keep the air in the room moving to moderate the temperature. If I'm not in the room I set the distribution fan to high to get the heat out of the stove and into the room.

 

[Ocelot]

I currently run mine on room temp manual at the moment which instead of turning on and off just drops to a small maintenance flame when the room reaches temp. When it's not real cold out if I keep the fan on the lowest setting, it pretty much shuts off for periods of time to more of a fireplace mode. The trick for me was finding a spot for the room temp probe which will be a different location for every room due to all the variables. In my case the temp probe is about 4 feet from the stove and about 4 feet from the floor. For me in that spot, the thermometer across the room runs about 2 or 3 degrees above the rough setting on the stove dial which is good enough for me. My house is much smaller than you have and only one floor. I also have a 12" fan mounted high in the doorway of the living room where the stove is that leads to the kitchen and the rest of the house to move the warm air. Oh, and My oil furnace that we barely use because of the pellet stove is forced air so I have a smart thermostat set to cycle the furnace fan 5 minutes per hour which also helps move air and even things out around the house some.

Ray

 

[MartyD]

I currently run mine on room temp manual at the moment which instead of turning on and off just drops to a small maintenance flame when the room reaches temp. When it's not real cold out if I keep the fan on the lowest setting, it pretty much shuts off for periods of time to more of a fireplace mode. The trick for me was finding a spot for the room temp probe which will be a different location for every room due to all the variables. In my case the temp probe is about 4 feet from the stove and about 4 feet from the floor. For me in that spot, the thermometer across the room runs about 2 or 3 degrees above the rough setting on the stove dial which is good enough for me. My house is much smaller than you have and only one floor. I also have a 12" fan mounted high in the doorway of the living room where the stove is that leads to the kitchen and the rest of the house to move the warm air. Oh, and My oil furnace that we barely use because of the pellet stove is forced air so I have a smart thermostat set to cycle the furnace fan 5 minutes per hour which also helps move air and even things out around the house some.

Ray

Thanks for the suggestion. By room temp manual, do you mean to set the burn mode to auto and the igniter to disable? I tried the setting this evening and it kept the room temperature comfortable. The only issue is I noticed an odd burning smell when the flame was small. I'm not sure if that's just the new stove smell that will dissipate over time or not. I didn't notice any smoke coming from he stove so I'm not sure what was causing the odor.

 

[Ocelot]

Thanks for the suggestion. By room temp manual, do you mean to set the burn mode to auto and the igniter to disable? I tried the setting this evening and it kept the room temperature comfortable. The only issue is I noticed an odd burning smell when the flame was small. I'm not sure if that's just the new stove smell that will dissipate over time or not. I didn't notice any smoke coming from he stove so I'm not sure what was causing the odor.

Yes, exactly. That way it just goes into maintenance burn and ramps up and down as needed and the igniter is only used on initial start up. I'm impressed at how stable it keeps the room/house that way except if outside gets too warm and even maintenance burn is too much, but then I just shut it down. I can't account for the smell, I don't have that. If it is new stove smell from the paint, it will go away eventually. Not sure why that would only be on low burn though.

Ray

 

[Mt Bob]

Yes, exactly. That way it just goes into maintenance burn and ramps up and down as needed and the igniter is only used on initial start up. I'm impressed at how stable it keeps the room/house that way except if outside gets too warm and even maintenance burn is too much, but then I just shut it down. I can't account for the smell, I don't have that. If it is new stove smell from the paint, it will go away eventually. Not sure why that would only be on low burn though.

Ray

Yep,this time of year,mine is in room temp manual a lot. Room fan has not run all day. But colder weather is surely coming.

 

[miteclipse]

Remember to leave the igniter to auto to start. Once there is fire switch to manual

 

[fmsm]

Thanks for the suggestion. By room temp manual, do you mean to set the burn mode to auto and the igniter to disable? I tried the setting this evening and it kept the room temperature comfortable. The only issue is I noticed an odd burning smell when the flame was small. I'm not sure if that's just the new stove smell that will dissipate over time or not. I didn't notice any smoke coming from he stove so I'm not sure what was causing the odor.

Did you burn in the stove before using it?

 

[mr meener]

I just had a new Harman Accentra 52i installed in the fireplace in my basement family room yesterday. My house is a rancher with ~1100 sq ft per floor. The family room where the pellet stove is installed is 25 ft X 14 ft. The stove faces a hallway that has steps that lead to the upstairs. I'm having issues maintaining a consistent comfortable temperature in the family room.

When I first started the stove, I set it on the continuous mode lowest setting. The outside temperature was in the low 30s. Within a couple of hours, the temperature in the room climbed from 70 degrees to 77 degrees.

My next step was to set the stove on 72 degrees in auto mode. The room was at 71 degrees and in less than an hour jumped to 73 degrees before the stove to shutdown. When the stove was running it felt blazing hot in the room. Once it shutdown, the room quickly felt like it cooled down, although the temperature on the stove stayed around 72 degrees. I'm concerned that if the stove is re-igniting every couple of hours, the igniter will not last very long. I realize a change of a couple of degrees doesn't sound like much but the room either feels too hot or too cold.

This pellet stove replaced a Whitfield Advantage II insert which I tended to run on the lowest setting, except on days when the temperature dropped below 30 degrees for the entire day. The family room stayed at a comfortable consistent temperature.

Ideally, I'd like to run the stove on continuous mode (I like to see the fire burning) and maintain a room temperature of 70 degrees. Are there any adjustments I can make to ensure the temperature does not climb above 72 degrees in continuous mode? If not, are there other suggestions to help maintain a more consistent temperature.

I'm already starting to regret "upgrading" to the Harman so I hope someone has some recommendations on how to maintain a more consistent temperature.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

you are asking for too much. any heating systems like hot air hot water are warmer when they come on after a while then when they reach temperature they go off and the room cools down. your stove is working fine and after a while when you get to know it you can tweak it. you are looking for perfection and looking for a problem