Harman P68 Question

[Smitty814]

I'm new to the forum and would greatly appreciate any help. I had a large Quadrafire wood stove that we used for the last 8 years. This year we purchased a Harman P68 pellet stove. I had the stove installed where the wood stove was and run the exhaust up the existing 6" chimney. The problem I'm finding is the ESP reaches max temp, 500 degrees after about 5 minutes of burning the stove slows the auger down to cool the sensor. I had the service tech come out and he verified it with the diagnostic tool. The stove is drawing air from the room, no Oak. The auger normally settles in running about 30 or so seconds out of 60. Any higher the ESP slows it down.

The tech thinks the stove is drafting to fast up the chimney and this is overheating the probe so quickly. He recommends venting through the wall and installing a fresh air intake.

Anyone else experiencing this with there stove? We are heating 2100 sq. ft. It doesn't help that this year we are steadily in the single digits. By the way, it the same whether on stove or room temp. Both turned all the way up. Auger speed is set on 6.

Thanks for any help.

Sincerely, Kevin

 

[alternativeheat]

I'm new to the forum and would greatly appreciate any help. I had a large Quadrafire wood stove that we used for the last 8 years. This year we purchased a Harman P68 pellet stove. I had the stove installed where the wood stove was and run the exhaust up the existing 6" chimney. The problem I'm finding is the ESP reaches max temp, 500 degrees after about 5 minutes of burning the stove slows the auger down to cool the sensor. I had the service tech come out and he verified it with the diagnostic tool. The stove is drawing air from the room, no Oak. The auger normally settles in running about 30 or so seconds out of 60. Any higher the ESP slows it down.

The tech thinks the stove is drafting to fast up the chimney and this is overheating the probe so quickly. He recommends venting through the wall and installing a fresh air intake.

Anyone else experiencing this with there stove? We are heating 2100 sq. ft. It doesn't help that this year we are steadily in the single digits. By the way, it the same whether on stove or room temp. Both turned all the way up. Auger speed is set on 6.

Thanks for any help.

Sincerely, Kevin

I'm fairly new here as well and actually still burning coal but I've done a ton of reading around here and asked a lot of questions too.. That stove is capable of heating 3900 sq ft, I think you can turn it down and you may find that stack temp fall more in line with your needs and lets the stove put out heat. Most of these guys with P61 and P68 stoves don't run a whole lot of feed rate over 4 and some less than that. basically the ESP is just cutting off an over feed/over fire situation. Just a hunch but I think one worth trying.

I'll be watching this thread and see how it unfolds.

 

[CBL]

A) Is it being vented out of a 6" dia stainless steel liner/prefab chimey? If so that could be part of your problem. Generally speaking, The max dia of vent should be between 3-4" depending on how long the run is or how you vent it.

B) feed rate of 6 is way to high. You'll want to keep that setting between 3 to 4.

 

[lbcynya]

"The tech thinks..." That makes me nervous. Ask him if he knows what a magnehelic is...if not, run. There is a draft adjustment fine adjust on the control panel allow up to a 30 (from memory) volt adjustment to slow things down. Did he make this adjustment? 6" chimney is another issue. Might be wise to get a second opinion.

 

[rickwai]

Turn your feed down, I think this will solve your problem. It has nothing to do with the 6" chimney. Hooking into a large chimney will not increase your draft.

 

[Enigma869]

I've never heard of anyone with their feed rate on 6. Heck, even Harman says to put it on 4 and forget about it. I've always had mine on 3 or slightly higher.

 

[briansol]

Get the OAK

 

[Hoot23]

So you have it running on 90 or 7 depending on what mode your in and a feed of 6? You guys like it hot there. Your stoves in meltdown mode.

 

[Ctcarl]

I'm a newb as well. Have my harman p35i at 4 and it's outstanding.I would try that then if still not good get second opinion.good luck

 

[lake of fire fuel]

I've had a Harman P68 for 6-7 years.....It has taken years to find the right settings and pellets to get the most from this stove. My current setting are: feed rate 1.5.....room temp mode at 90degrees.....fan mode @ room temp high. I have 2,400 square feet which includes 2 story great room and foyer and 9' ceilings on main floor. I have not included the 9' basement which is another 1,500 sq ft. All in all with all the cubic volume I'd say I'm heating approx 4,500 conventional square ft with the help of my furnace fan(only) evening the 3 floors out. It's -14 out right now and it's a comfy 73 degrees. BTW your distribution motor does require oil a couple of times per season.....not in manual but found on the vendors website