Ideal setting for efficiency?

[Entburner]

I'm burnig my Enviro empress insert and I love it. It has 5 heat settings.

Most engines have an efficiency scale - in a car, 55mph gives you the most efficient reasonable speed/fuel ratio. Go 90 and your MPG drops. Does it work the same way for a pellet stove? It's been 18 deg. at night, and at a 1 it can't keep up. At a 4 it heats the place up.

Would it be better to run at a 2 or 3 consistently, or let it switch itself between a 4 and 1 by the thermostat?

 

[jtakeman]

With all the variables at hand. What may work for others may not work for you. Plus this is an on going debate as many believe in both. Some just run them between cleans at a steady speed. When the house/weather gets colder. They raise it up a notch. Some let the stat regulate the house temp(with High/Low or Auto/Off).

I think you need to do a week of set at one speed and see wgat you consume for fuel. Then let the Stat control the temp. See which uses the least for you.

Personally, I like the temp to be a set value, So having the stat is what I run with. What matters to me is a constent temp. I struggled trying to do the one setting to match a temp I needed/wanted. So I use Auto/Off in the shoulders and High/Low in the colder weather. I use a programmable stat and save by lowering my temp while away/sleeping. Then the stat program will raise the temp before I arrive/awake. It was just easier for me. But I can do that because my stove has the HP to recover. If you stove struggles to raise the temps? Then don't waste your time with my method!

Let the debate(battle) between 24/7 and stat control begin! hehe

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

There is a huge difference between a car going down the road and burning pellets in a stove.

I'd vote for a stat on hi/low as long as your stove can crank out the BTUs otherwise you might not be able to get the place to set point in any reasonable time if at all after having the set point lowered a lot and then raised via programming.

The stoves can rarely be tuned for multiple firing rates.

Running on/off can also present some interesting problems.

I don't use a stat, and so far I haven't frozen or baked.

 

[jtakeman]

The stoves can rarely be tuned for multiple firing rates.

Running on/off can also present some interesting problems.

This is getting better with some of the latest releases in the digital stoves. They were once one mixture per heat setting. We are seeing some draft trim and auger trim being added. I have rallied for one more improvement with each heat setting being tunable and held in memory. Was told there isn't enough memory left to do that. Take a look at the bixby with its computer tuning. You could tweak each heat setting to your liking. Its the most adjustable I have seen. Of coarse the latest Bixby's are high/low only. They do not do Auto/Off.

Sorry to go off topic here. But we are seeing better stuff being released. Still need to go a tad further?

 

[checkthisout]

The stoves can rarely be tuned for multiple firing rates.

Running on/off can also present some interesting problems.

This is getting better with some of the latest releases in the digital stoves. They were once one mixture per heat setting. We are seeing some draft trim and auger trim being added. I have rallied for one more improvement with each heat setting being tunable and held in memory. Was told there isn't enough memory left to do that. Take a look at the bixby with its computer tuning. You could tweak each heat setting to your liking. Its the most adjustable I have seen. Of coarse the latest Bixby's are high/low only. They do not do Auto/Off.

Sorry to go off topic here. But we are seeing better stuff being released. Still need to go a tad further?

The next generation stoves will let you interface and adjust the controls and monitor the readings on the various sensors wirelessly through your computer.

At least that is what I am counting on.

 

[krooser]

During these colder months I run my stove on 2 or 3... mostly 3. I run the stove up to 5 for 30 minutes every morning to help clean out the soot per my manufacturers suggestion.

The hotter the fire the more efficient the burn I believe... nothing goes to waste. A low burn is s sooty burn as a rule...