Harman P68 Distribution Blower Setting

[rhincephalon]

Hi all. I just had a P68 installed last week. I'm really enjoying the stove so far. One question I have is what speed is best to run the distribution blower at when the stove is operating in auto in the room temperature mode. After initially starting on high, I turned it to low simply to decrease the noise. I'm pleased with the heat output I'm getting but I'm wondering if this setting might be causing me to eat more pellets and lose more heat up the chimney. I have found lots of comments about the feed rate but not very many about the optimal distribution blower setting.

One final comment - some have mentioned that there is a medium setting for the blower. This doesn't seem to be the case for me. I only find high or low and the speed switches from one to the other as soon as I pass the 12 o'clock position on the dial. There does not seem to be a way to fine tune the speed on a gradient.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Chain]

I have a Harman P61A that I operate in Room temp. manual. I have my feed rate at 4 and blower speed just a hair past the middle toward the high end of the setting. Daytime temp when I'm at work is set at about 67-68 degrees and turned up to around 70 degrees on colder days when I'm actually in the house. Keep in mind that even when you have the blower set higher and it makes more noise, it will stop altogether once your probe reaches the temp. you have it set for. But I think anything at medium or slightly above for colder days will work fine for you. It's really about your own preference as far a pushing air into your living area.

 

[bdaoust]

I have a P68 installed in a half finished basement. I set my blower to high because I'm counting on the heat to go mostly up the stairs. The house has a few grates cut, but not in ideal spots - I'm assuming due to code restrictions?

How many bags are you guys burning through on the P68? Seems like I burn a bag in 12 hours not matter what setting I'm on.

 

[TheMightyMoe]

I have a P68 installed in a half finished basement. I set my blower to high because I'm counting on the heat to go mostly up the stairs. The house has a few grates cut, but not in ideal spots - I'm assuming due to code restrictions?

How many bags are you guys burning through on the P68? Seems like I burn a bag in 12 hours not matter what setting I'm on.

Basement walls absorb A LOT OF heat, you are pouring the heat into the mass around the home, instead of the home itself. I go through one bag a day between 30's to 0 then 0 to -40 2 - 3 bags. Basement installs are very hit or miss, especially if the basement is drafty (Heat will move up to the outdoors instead of the home) and basements tend to be very under-insulated.

I max out my blower, more heat in the room, is always better, then out the stack.

 

[Hoot23]

I'm running in room temp auto right now and the fan speed is on low. But during the winter I run the same settings as Chain. Room temp manual with the dial just under 3/4. It works good for my house. Stove is in the living room.

 

[subsailor]

Keep in mind that no matter what you have the blower speed set at, if the stove starts ramping up and building a larger fire, the blower will start speeding up as well. As far as the optimal setting, it's a guess. As Chain mentioned above, some people set the blower on a higher speed and the blower will cycle on and off. I tend to set mine at a lower speed so mine runs all the time. Which is better? That's for you to decide.

Now if it was very cold out, forget everything I said. I run stove temp with the blower maxed out.

 

[dhall28]

some people set the blower on a higher speed and the blower will cycle on and off. I tend to set mine at a lower speed so mine runs all the time. Which is better? That's for you to decide.

if you have an older version of the control board and run the unit in room temp mode when the temp is met for the room the unit will shut the dist. blower off, while new control board will not shut off the dist blower when temperature is met in the room.
depending on what control board you have the variable speed of the blower may appear to be just hi or low. if you have the newer control boards it should have a wide range of variance in speed. the easiest way with out pulling the control board off to check if its a newer control board is with the stove off and cool put it in test mode. open the front door, then take it out of test mode, if the combustion blower doesn't shut off it should be a fairly newer control board, but there have been many many many changes to the control boards over the years so its hard to say with 100% certainty with out the part # and revision letter

 

[rhincephalon]

Thanks for the feedback. Why do some of you guys run on room temperature manual during the colder months? I have seen others saw they seem to go through less pellets running the p68 on the stove mode when it gets cold - but not as you are suggesting. I'm not sure why you would ever run in manual and want to have the hassle of lighting the fire yourself!

 

[Chain]

Thanks for the feedback. Why do some of you guys run on room temperature manual during the colder months? I have seen others saw they seem to go through less pellets running the p68 on the stove mode when it gets cold - but not as you are suggesting. I'm not sure why you would ever run in manual and want to have the hassle of lighting the fire yourself!

You may be a bit confused as to what room temp. manual means as we're describing it. Here's, I think, a better breakdown. Let's say the stove is shut down completely for a cleaning. To restart, I put mine (a P61A) in room temp. automatic and turn the heat dial up. The sensor senses the need for heat and thus begins to feed pellets, eventually starting the igniter to start the fire. Once it takes off, I flick the toggle to manual, which means the stove itself will not shut down completely but only go into a sort of stand by mode once the probe senses that the temperature near the probe has reached the temp. I set. There will still be a flame, but the feed rate will slow way down and only feed enough to keep a small fire in the pot. The distribution blower will also stop. If I instead leave the toggle set to automatic, the stove will completely shut down altogether when it reaches the temp. set on the dial. When the probe senses the need for heat again, it will go through the entire start up process again. Leaving the stove in manual basically saves on using your igniter and going through the entire start up process. The trade off is you may burn more pellets in manual as, again, the stove is constantly burning some amount of pellets.

The room temp/manual is what I ran throughout the cold months. Now that we've reached spring and the days and nights are warmer, I've switched to room temp/ auto. as I'm guessing the stove won't actually go through too many complete start ups as the stove doesn't need to actually burn too long or constantly to maintain the temp. in my house. I've discovered in the past few days that keeping the stove in room temp/manual actually keeps the house far warmer that I like as even in stand by mode with the blower shut down, the radiant heat alone from the stove in stand by still throws a lot of heat into the house. Since it's warmer outside, the house gets a bit too warm. Does all this make better sense?