Mt Vernon AE Auto Mode - Temp Stays Well Below T-Stat

[mcmanus]

Hi all. I've got a new Mt Vernon AE (board rev C) for this winter and I've been very happy with how it has performed the last couple of cold days. (low was 15 last night.)

I'm just trying to sort out one last nit. If I put the stove on Auto, the stove will not run at high enough of a level to reach the temp set in the thermostat. Its a significant gap - for instance right now I have the thermostat set at 73 and the temperature is hovering around 69 (26 outside) and running on medium. there is some play in the number (a degree either way), but that's typical.

And this is the self reported temperature of the thermostat, so its not a calibration issue. Its also not a capacity issue, if I turn it to manual-high the temp zooms right up and the thermostat shuts down the stove. When it is warm outside just running it on low pushes it past temp and it shuts off and restarts fine. And if the gap is large enough, for instance when turning it on after the setback expires and it is 60 inside vs a setting of 73, it will run at high to close the gap somewhat but it slows down well before reaching 73.

It makes sense that it would try and keep the temp a little below the target to avoid wear and tear on the ignitor, but this gap is really big. It's also not that big of a deal - I really desire 69 or 70, so I have it set up at 73 and it works out. But it's just not right, ya know?

The house is hungry for BTUs, no doubt about that. It's an early 19th century farmhouse with period windows that is basically only insulated in the attic. (I'm working on that insulation project too - but the windows stay and I'm willing to suffer for them.)

It appears the auto mode is under-estimating the heat loss and won't crank things up to compensate.

Anybody else seen anything like that?

 

[BDPVT]

I have the exact same experience with my Mt Vernon. We just installed it a week ago in our 200yr old house, original windows and very little insulation. Its been pretty cold in Vermont with temps down around 20 degrees. So far we have mostly run on auto program and the room temp never gets closer than 2 degrees from the set point. I figured the program is setup for more typical heat loss of a modern insulated house. Probaly need to run on manual high when its really cold out to keep up. Hoping that some more experienced users might have some suggestions?

 

[JoeS]

When it gets fairly cold outside you would be better off switching to manual mode and running at MH to H (4-5). Last night it was probably around 30 degrees and I had the stove set at 73 on MH. When I woke this morning it was 70 degrees upstairs and 69 downstairs and I am heating close to 3,500 sq/ft. Personally I never run on auto, it just doesn't seem to work as well.

 

[LJ4174]

Hmmmm... I thought I'd be able to pop on here and say about that 2 degree thing, but that's been covered, now I have a question...

I also have a Mt. Vernan just started it burning it last Saturday. I've noticed the same thing kinda, however I was unaware that there was a manual setting with low, high, etc. So you can put it on manual and set the thermostate so it runs until it gets to a certain temp??? If so, is that under the user settings on the thermostate type of thing? I programed mine, but it's not doing exactly what I want it to. It's warm, except for 2 rooms upstairs... I was all over that thermostate, but didn't see anything with the low high... I seen my fan could be normal or quiet???

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread, but how do you all move the air around your house, to get it to heat a 3500 sqr ft home? My house is under 2400 sqr ft and as mentioned some areas are a bit colder... I'm going to post this on a thread too, but wanted to know what experience other. Mt. Vernan users have. My neighbor has the same stove, another neighbor has a wood burning stove. The installed vents/fans in the walls and said that has made a HUGE difference...

 

[mcmanus]

II was unaware that there was a manual setting with low, high, etc. So you can put it on manual and set the thermostate so it runs until it gets to a certain temp???

yes -there is a screen for Auto/Manual/Off

If you set it to manual it still turns off and on according to the thermostat setting, but will run at the heat output rate you set whenever on. On auto it adjust the heat output rate automatically. If you have it set to manual there will be a "heat output" option on the main screen (using the right button) that lets you slide it from 1 to 5 (aka low, Med Low, Med, Med Hi, Hi).

my post was about auto being too conservative with the heat. I like the auto concept because it will run some of the time at lower heat output levels than if I was using manual and the fans are quieter at those levels.

From the replies it appears other folks see the same behavior. It seems like the kind of thing that could be updated in thermostat firmware without any hardware changes.

 

[LJ4174]

II was unaware that there was a manual setting with low, high, etc. So you can put it on manual and set the thermostate so it runs until it gets to a certain temp???

yes -there is a screen for Auto/Manual/Off

If you set it to manual it still turns off and on according to the thermostat setting, but will run at the heat output rate you set whenever on. On auto it adjust the heat output rate automatically. If you have it set to manual there will be a "heat output" option on the main screen (using the right button) that lets you slide it from 1 to 5 (aka low, Med Low, Med, Med Hi, Hi).

my post was about auto being too conservative with the heat. I like the auto concept because it will run some of the time at lower heat output levels than if I was using manual and the fans are quieter at those levels.

From the replies it appears other folks see the same behavior. It seems like the kind of thing that could be updated in thermostat firmware without any hardware changes.

Nice, thanks for the reply... Now I gotta go home and play with my stove I noticed that too and didn't understand why sometimes the fan was louder than others. We have our TV hanging above it and you start to notice you can't hear it

 

[mc67]

It's funny this topic came up.I too have been running on auto working great until two days ago.The stove would cycle through the different settings (low med high) as the temperature called for.Now on auto the stove stays on the lower settings taking much longer to satisfy the thermostat.On manual it seems to be working fine pumping out the heat quickly.If I have to run it on manual I will but was wondering if their was something wrong with the stove or not since it had been working perfectly.So many things to think about with a pellet stove you just want it to be working right, especially for the price of them.

 

[LJ4174]

So I went home and messed my stove and thermostat. As far as that manual setting, it seemed to work great and my temp seemed consistent throughout the down stairs and my upstairs was warmer as well. The only thing that was driving the wife and I bit nuts was the blower. It was on a lot and was noisy, even though I had it on the quiet setting. Thoughts on that???

I was either running at med-low or med either way the blower speed was the same...

 

[JoeS]

My blower isn't noisy at all even on normal setting. I never run it on the quiet setting. When you say noisy do you mean loud or is it making some sort of other sound? The only time I had a problem with noise is when I had a bad convection blower.

 

[LJ4174]

My blower isn't noisy at all even on normal setting. I never run it on the quiet setting. When you say noisy do you mean loud or is it making some sort of other sound? The only time I had a problem with noise is when I had a bad convection blower.

Loud, no noise, just loud to the point where we couldn't hear the TV... I thought this was supposed to be quieter???

 

[globewyre]

When it gets fairly cold outside you would be better off switching to manual mode and running at MH to H (4-5). Last night it was probably around 30 degrees and I had the stove set at 73 on MH. When I woke this morning it was 70 degrees upstairs and 69 downstairs and I am heating close to 3,500 sq/ft. Personally I never run on auto, it just doesn't seem to work as well.

I agree with JoeS. Manual seems to work better than Auto. I also think manual burns less pellets

 

[Jabberwocky]

Same exact situation here. I think I'll run it on auto when its warmer than say, 35+ outside. This am was in the teens so it really needed to be told to run on high. Didn't notice this last year.

 

[eric_s]

Mine does the same. Now that it is actually cold out, Low isn't enough to heat my house. I prefer auto because it maintains the temperature better. I don't see any reason to run it on a higher manual mode and have it go off and on either.

 

[LJ4174]

So, I just wanted to follow up here with this quick. I was running my stove last week on Manual mode, med or med-low. It seemed to go through a bit more pellets and it also produced a lot more ash, probably because of burning more pellets, but it seemed like the ash was 3 times more than it was on auto and I didn't use 3 times more pellets. I set mine back to auto and it seems to be doing about the same job keeping the heat consitant...

 

[schenkp]

What is the latest revision on the main board?