Harmon P68 Newbie

[Mainer]

Sounds like many experienced pellet stove users............ need help, please. We just installed our new Harmon P68 Pellet Stove today and it's way to hot and can't seem to get the temperature down. So a few questions:
Is there anyway to just shut the stove off. We were told the house would fill with smoke if we unplugged it.
What is the best way to maintain an even temp, stove or room temp?
We self installed and we were told the stove did not get hot on the outside but we apparently place the stove to close to the wall and may need heat shields for the sides. Does anyone have them?
Any help will be appreciated and we'll be back with more questions. Thank you.

 

[Roospike]

We self installed and we were told the stove did not get hot on the outside
.

??

 

[richg]

I have a P61A, which is the P68's little brother. Couple of things:

-These stoves get ripping hot on the outside when operating. The top and sides of the firebox will easily cause a serious burn if you touch them, hence the "clearance to combustibles" measurements. Hope you followed those!

-Are you using stove temp or room temp? For room temp, simply turn the temperature dial down to 50 and the stove will soon stop feeding. For stove temp, turn that down as well.

 

[elkimmeg]

Read you manual these stoves have to be adjusted according to a draft reading and voltage reading explained in your manual.
IT not a life safety issue but setting up the stove to run correctly ans effeciently. Unless you have a magnaholic (sp) around IT is real differcult to draft test these stoves, the voltage setting is dependent on the draft reading no two homes have the same consistancy in voltage. that is also why they are indivually setup.

BTW s common sheetrock is considered a combustiable. Heat shields or building reduction wall only reduce the clearance to combustiables to no less that 12" Unless the manufacture offers ones tested to reduce clearance that has been tested and listed to do so

Runaway stove could also be vent pipe leakage again check that manual. In many cases RTV caulk or additional 600 degree heat tape is required at every joint

 

[HarryBack]

Im guessing you have a settings issue on the stove. Please inform us as to what settings you have on the unit, and a bit more on clearances and your actual venting. Try these settings:

Feed Selector = 3
Room Temp Mode = set 1/2way between L and H
Toggle set to Auto
Temp = 65

Its possible it might be the draft, but I find that EXCEEDINGLY unlikely. Does your install go thru the wall, or into a chimney?

Heat shields are available for the p68, which will change the clearances from 20" on the side without shields to 12" on the side with them. Very easy to install, basically two screws/side, total time about, 2 minutes each. Note that heat shields do not decrease your frontal and rear clearance, only the sides!

The correct and accepted way to shut the P68 down is to turn the mode dial to "OFF", and allow the stove to finish bruning whats burning. All fans will run, the stove just wont feed anymore. The reason for this is to evacuate smoke from the stove. If you just unplug it, smoke in the burn chanber can leak SLIGHTY into the room, but there would have to be a tremendous leak in the stove or piping to fill the house with smoke....can happen, but not likely on a well-installed, new stove.

Im somewhat leery here, in that it seems your dealer didnt properly instruct you in the operation of the stove, let alone the correct methods of venting, clearances, etc. Dont be afraid to call them and ask questions.

Any more questions? Just post them here.....alot of Harman owners and dealers frequent this place! Good Luck!

 

[Mainer]

Thanks so much. Your information is very helpful. We have changed all the settings and we'll see how things so tonight. It's probably to warm to try and test all these right now. 70 in Maine today. After last nights scare we are going to be careful until we get this pellet stove business down pat, again thanks so much for your help. Anyone have any idea how much the heat shields for the sides are? Much appreciated and I'm sure we'll be back for more help and information.

 

[smirnov3]

I am a new pellet burner (using Harman accentra), and some items that took me a little while to figure out:

My stove is set to half way between 65 and 70 F *(aka 67.5). It lights when the temp falls below 65 F, and will keep the house at 66.

When the house temp exceed that, the distribution blower will go off, but the combustion blower runs until the stove is cold.

So all this adds up to: you will have to mess around a little to find settings that work well for you. just take it slow.

 

[GVA]

Just a quick addition to the comments....... Thermister probe placement..... Where do you have it located? Is it plugged in? Like HB said turn the stove to off, It may take a 1/2 hour or so to burn down and out but the dist. blower will shut off. The P68 is 68,000 BTU's The dealer may have mislead you a bit on the stove getting hot on the outside especially the front and sides. The back may stay cooler. How far off are your clearences to combustibles?

 

[Mainer]

Gee, we may be in trouble with our instillation location. The right side of the stove which also has the controls on it ...is 12in from a wallpapered wall. Anyone have ideas of anything we could put on the wall that would be fire resistant and safe other than the heat shield on the stove itself? This may be a temporary thing for this winter and probably move the stove next year. We just put stove board on the floor for the time being.
Thanks for all you help.

 

[GVA]

Gee, we may be in trouble with our instillation location. The right side of the stove which also has the controls on it ...is 12in from a wallpapered wall. Anyone have ideas of anything we could put on the wall that would be fire resistant and safe other than the heat shield on the stove itself? This may be a temporary thing for this winter and probably move the stove next year. We just put stove board on the floor for the time being.
Thanks for all you help.

Harry said the distance with the heat shields is 12" you may be in luck :roll:

Just wondering did you pull a permit and get it inspected?
It's none of my business......But my wife's in the Insurace claims business.... And if this stove is unpermitted and something happens your S.O.L. So if it's not permitted, pull a permit, fix the clearance issues and get it inspected and notify your ins. company of the install.

I've heard some horror stories about people losing rights to thier claims because no permit was pulled..

This also goes out to any stove owner that has a dealer install it.. No Permit No Protection Just a Heads up.

(i'm sorry if I offended anyone here)

 

[HarryBack]

12" From the outside edge of the heat shields. As a dealer, my suggestion is NOT to burn it until you can satisfy ALL of the clearance requirements! The only solution is to move the stove so it meets clearance. Move it, get shields put on, then have it permitted! Please.

 

[Mainer]

Ordered heat shields today... it will take two weeks for delivery and we were given two different prices from the dealer so they are either $62 or $82. Now that we have purchased the stove, the dealer isn't all that helpful. Having regrets about this decision. Not nearly as knowledgeable as everyone here. thanks Any idea how far the heat shield sticks out from the stove? Just trying to see if we are getting to code and we need to feel safe until we use it. Much appreciated.

 

[HarryBack]

estimating here....about 1-1/2"

 

[Mainer]

Update and yet another question. We have worked with all the information you have given and much appreciated. I'm just beginning to like the stove that everyone said I would love........ so were making progress. Another question? We have what looks like smoke stains on one corner of the window in the front of the stove. Anyone have any ideas of that it might be? Thank you.

 

[HarryBack]

smoke stains? are they inside or outside the glass? There shouldnt be anything on the outside....if its on the inside, its just ash....youll get some of this in the normal course of burning...the glass does get dirty.

 

[GVA]

Update and yet another question. We have worked with all the information you have given and much appreciated. I'm just beginning to like the stove that everyone said I would love........ so were making progress. Another question? We have what looks like smoke stains on one corner of the window in the front of the stove. Anyone have any ideas of that it might be? Thank you.

As HB said if it's inside it's normal....
Just wondering a couple of things is it the left side or the right side that's fogging up?
and also i'm curious if you have the fake logs inside (I don't even know if they are available for this) but these will add to the glass smoking up..

 

[Mainer]

the smokey fog is on the inside and it is pin the upper right hand corner. Nope no fake logs, we're still learning the basics and this forum has been very helpful.

 

[GVA]

Well there's been a couple of threads on here about the glass fogging up, most recently the advance..... On mine it's about a week before the left pane of glass is completely fogged... Then the center pane starts to fog after about 2 weeks it's pretty black in places.... For me, heat is primary.......looks secondary, my wife Heat is primary as well as looks..... so if the stove shuts down she will usually wipe the glass down to keep it "pretty"

 

[HarryBack]

also, GVA, you can open the door whle the unit is running as well, and wipe the door glass down with a clean DRY paper towel, or crumpled up DRY newspaper......takes most of the heavy stuff off, but will still leave a residue that cant easily be removed unless you let the stove cool down and do a thorough cleaning.

 

[Richgvt]

I bought the p68 last year. The window soots up starting on the right side fairly quickly after cleaning. This is normal. The fire is still visible when running though.