Harman Ignitors

[sig226!!]

Hello, I just had a Harman Accentra 52i installed. It is a very nice stove, my wife and I are very happy with it. I'm a little confused with the feed rate. I want the stove to run as efficiently as possible, but I also want the stove to last as long as possible. I read the sticky post of how my stove works (info that's not in my manual). Should I keep my feed rate low so that the stove puts out just enough heat to keep the house warm but runs almost constantly, or should I keep it higher so it shuts off occasionally. Maybe I can't have both, but I was curious. Last thing I want is to over use the ignitor and have it go bad prematurely, then again I also want to burn as few pellets as possible. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks

P.S. Anyone here in mid michigan? Are the kernel burner pellets the best in our area, or should I drive to get a different brand. I heard kirtland and somerset were good, is that still true? The less ash the better.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

If you read the Sticky it tells you how to set the feed rate. Do it once and forget it......

 

[Justin M]

Turn the temp. knob all the way up so the stove is running at full capacity. Then set the feed rate so that there is approximately 1" of ash at the edge of the burn pot. The setting will likely be between 3.5 and 4. If you want to burn less pellets turn the thermostat (temp. knob) down. That is not what the feed rate is for. The feed rate setting is what limits the feed at maximum capacity.

 

[Justin M]

And if you want to keep the fire going and the ignitor from cycling then set the switch to manual after the stove has started. The stove will idle when not calling for heat. I keep it set to automatic this time of year because it would be idling for hours on end, but I switch it to manual once it gets a little colder.

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

FWIW I have had my Harman Advance for 4 winters now and I most always run It on Room Temp.The feed rate Is set between 3-4. Temp is set on 70 Deg.Has been this way since I installed It.Original Igniter.(Knock Wood) But If I have to replace It the cost Is about $80.00 OR $20.00 a year OR 3 cents a day
Jim

 

[sig226!!]

Ok, thanks for the help, I have a better understanding how it works now. But I am still curious, how is the stove more efficient if there is 1" of ash at the end of the burn pot? I certainly want to maximize my efficiency, and I am new at this so I'm struggling to understand how it all works. Do I want to look at the smoke coming out of my chimney and try to set it so the smoke is as thin as possible?

 

[Justin M]

The 1" of ash is set at max. output so you can get the most heat possible when needed with out having pellets spill over in to the ash pan.

 

[lbcynya]

Don't sweat the efficiency stuff, follow guidelines in sticky, and run it so you are comfortable. Leave the switch in manual to save the igniter and keep the stove warm, especially during the dead of winter. Placement of your temp probe is key to insure proper room temp vs knob settings...

Shoulder seasons are always hit or miss on how you run your stove. I just let the stove turn on/off to avoid overheating the space. Same igniter since 2009...

Quick clean weekly (thoroughly clean burn pot inside and out) and better clean once a month will do more for efficiency than constantly fiddling with the knobs. Been there, done that. Enjoy!!

 

[exoilburner]

As a side note here. Sometimes when starting up my cold pellet burner (manual start) the pellets are slow to get completely burning and overflow the burn pot. It helps to turn the FEED RATE to minimum (not test) when that happens. Doing this appears to shorten the duration of the auger feed cycles and pushes less pellets into the slow burning burn pot. When the fire is going strong I turn the FEED RATE back to where it was.
Probably would help in AUTO START too if I was watching it.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

That sounds like a pellet and ignition problem...not a feed rate problem...

 

[exoilburner]

Occurs very rarely. Most of the time not a problem.

 

[sig226!!]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I think I have a good understanding now. My wife and I are loving the stove, its finally warm in our house instead of freezing and paying out the nose for propane.

 

[hockeyfan]

You can save a few more ignitor cycles by manually lighting the stove for every cold start (and switch to auto after that if you wish). Basically if you have to be there to turn the unit on, you might as well manually light it and save on the ignitor in the process. That way you can save the ignitor for when you're not attending to the stove.

Besides, it's good practice to know how to manually light the stove (ignitor failure or problem, operation when on battery backup, etc.). I was spoiled by having the ignitor, and when I first had to do an unexpected manual light I had no idea what to do and I didn't have the materials ready. It sounds silly now but as a novice it took a while to figure out how to do it correctly. Practice makes perfect.

 

[lightyear]

So, what could you recommend for us with doing acold start manually. Curious, incase I need to do one.

You can save a few more ignitor cycles by manually lighting the stove for every cold start (and switch to auto after that if you wish). Basically if you have to be there to turn the unit on, you might as well manually light it and save on the ignitor in the process. That way you can save the ignitor for when you're not attending to the stove.

Besides, it's good practice to know how to manually light the stove (ignitor failure or problem, operation when on battery backup, etc.). I was spoiled by having the ignitor, and when I first had to do an unexpected manual light I had no idea what to do and I didn't have the materials ready. It sounds silly now but as a novice it took a while to figure out how to do it correctly. Practice makes perfect.

 

[Bioburner]

About half to cup of pellets in pot, stick torch into pellets about 45 seconds to get a ball of red hot pellets while having the stove running to exhaust smoke. Shut the door and the mass of hot pellets should take off within a few seconds just like a igniter would. Hopefully the amount of pellets will be enough to get the ESP warm enough to trigger auger . Stepped someone Through this AM to get their enviro with a dead igniter going.

 

[hockeyfan]

A couple of issues that I had with a manual cold start, to possibly keep in mind:

1. (if you use starter gel) Use enough gel to accomplish the task. Don't be too cheap. The first time I tried I used a small amount and I ended up with a gobbledygook mess. The fire went out after a few minutes, and it was more difficult to light a second time. If you have a torch you likely don't have to worry about this.

2. Open the door enough to create a little draft so the starter fire gets enough air. It's similar to a wood stove cold start (if you have experience with this). But if you close the door too quickly, the fire will just smolder out. I wait a couple of minutes or so before closing the door.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Maybe it's me but I just don't understand the concept of "saving the igniter". Why buy a fully automatic Harman stove and not use it to it's most efficient ability? An igniter is $70 and lasts for years. You'll save more than that 70 bucks over the 3-5 year average life of the igniter.....JMHO.

 

[rowerwet]

it's not so much saving the ignitor, as much as saving on electricity, the ignitor takes a lot of juice to light the pellets

 

[Harman Lover 007]

it's not so much saving the ignitor, as much as saving on electricity, the ignitor takes a lot of juice to light the pellets

300 watts for 3-5 minutes??? Now we are really splitting hairs......that's like telling my wife to only dry her hair every other day

 

[Bioburner]

400watts(preasure igniter with pump)divided by 1000(kilowatt hour) = .4, times .12(cost of average kilowatt hour) equals .o48 to run the igniter for a whole hour. So if the igniter is stuck on for a whole hour it will cost less than a nickel. Is my math wrong and I need some more coffee?

 

[SteveB]

400watts(preasure igniter with pump)divided by 1000(kilowatt hour) = .4, times .12(cost of average kilowatt hour) equals .o48 to run the igniter for a whole hour. So if the igniter is stuck on for a whole hour it will cost less than a nickel. Is my math wrong and I need some more coffee?

No Bioburner, i don't think you need any more coffee! I don't see anything wrong with your math, in fact I had figured out my own ignitor costs a liitle bit ago after reading this post, and my 300W ignitor at .10 per KWh is about 3.3 cents per hour to run. I figured about 50 ignitor cycles to use 10 cents worth of electricity. I'm not concerned about using maybe $15 dollars worth of electricity over the whole heating season to set and forget the stove except for pellet filling and cleaning. The wife is cozy and happy and that makes me happy I save so much in fuel oil in our big, old farmhouse that I really don't worry about maybe having to replace an ignitor every few years or so either. Not knocking the folks who like to do the manual start method, if thats what ya like, then enjoy it while you're doin' it, but I prefer the automatic convenience, plus now in the shoulder season I'm only using a bag every few days instead of a bag a day if I left it burn all of the time.

 

[hockeyfan]

Maybe it's me but I just don't understand the concept of "saving the igniter". Why buy a fully automatic Harman stove and not use it to it's most efficient ability? An igniter is $70 and lasts for years. You'll save more than that 70 bucks over the 3-5 year average life of the igniter.....JMHO.

Well, I do agree with this. That is why I use auto all of the time, except when I am manually attending to the stove. As I mentioned, I might as well save an ignitor cycle there while I'm at it, since I have to turn on the unit anyway. It certainly can't hurt, and it keeps me in good practice if I ever need to do a manual ignition.

Otherwise, such as when the thermostat I installed calls for heat at 4 in the morning, I let the ignitor do the job it was designed for.