Need help with American harvest 6039

[SidecarFlip]

Being 'down east' I see is real progressive... Banning kerosene heaters sounds real, shall we say, politicially correct. I'm not real fond of propane ventless space heaters though, probably because I can't stand the smell of the propane odorant (methyl percapitan I think it's called)., the main reason I don't have a propane grill but I consider it in poor taste to grill good meat on a perfumed fuel anyway, I'm a charcoal and wet flavored wood person myself.

Maybe a 6039 HF or the Chinese Ashley would work for ya. I wonder if they use what they make in China????

 

[alternativeheat]

Being 'down east' I see is real progressive... Banning kerosene heaters sounds real, shall we say, politicially correct. I'm not real fond of propane ventless space heaters though, probably because I can't stand the smell of the propane odorant (methyl percapitan I think it's called)., the main reason I don't have a propane grill but I consider it in poor taste to grill good meat on a perfumed fuel anyway, I'm a charcoal and wet flavored wood person myself.

Maybe a 6039 HF or the Chinese Ashley would work for ya. I wonder if they use what they make in China????

The added benefit of a pellet stove in the basement is that the fuel is already on hand and it puts out enough BTU to probably help heat the end of the house downstairs above the stove that is currently the coolest part of the whole house. I could crack open the door to the basement and get a bit more heat than just the floors warming as well, since that is also on that end of the house. And yeah, that odor of propane can give me a headache actually.

I have considered Summers, the Ashley, Englander, TimberLand , Timber Ridge and now this 6039 ( or Other USSC that makes sense as well for that matter). I was not aware that the Ashley was made in China till the other day, that taints that choice for me.. I'd prefer American Made or as much as possible anyway. Timberland I believe is a spin off of Enviro and is a bit more money than I wanted to go ( $1799- $2000), though well made. The Englander I looked at has no ash pan, seems kind of stupid since stoves make ash ! I don't mind even a small ash pan but it makes sense to have one to me. I'd love another Harman but I'm retired now, not in my budget for a part time stove anyway ( although one dealer had a used old P61 for $1500 last year, I should have scoffed that up)..

A propane heater I can get for $300 but currently everyone seems out of them, Maybe that is just as well.

 

[Bob E]

WTF, they really banned kerosene heaters in MA?
I had a vent less inferred propane wall heater once. It did pretty good. kept the small place I was living in at the time warm. It didn't need hardly any attention, very low maintenance. If you can smell the propane you have a gas leak that needs to be fixed. Operating cost would most likely be a little more than a stove, depending on your prices, but it was cheaper than running the old inefficient propane furnace that house had in it.

For the longest time, I had no idea what an 'OAK' was, thought people were referring to hardwood pellets, then dense me, I realized it was outside combustion air., which I've always had anyway. When it's real cold outside the flex pipe for the outside air supply frosts up......




I also don't like the human representation at USSC. Everytime I've called there, they seem to have a nonchalant attitude, like they are doing you a favor talking to you, no, I did them a favor by buying their product and keeping them working.....

For a while I couldn't figure what the heck an OAK was either. The K was what threw me off. I've also noticed with the oak installed the stove temps fluctuate with outside temps. Just the other day when we had that thaw out I thought I was burning a better than average bag of propellets, until I realized the outside temp had jumped up by about 20 inside a couple hours.
I was just talking with ussc customer service through email. Obviously not the same as talking to them on the phone, but they seemed nice and helpful. They gave me a free whistle gasket.

 

[alternativeheat]

WTF, they really banned kerosene heaters in MA?
.

Yep. Wouldn't be so bad cause you can still get them in Ri ( 50 miles each way) but the fuel itself looks sparse and expensive. And if it's a banned heater I don't imagine the insurance company would like that much even though I ran one for years with no issue before the ban. But some of us MA citizens aren't so bright, somebody probably didn't use one right and burned their house down or something. So in this state, the answer ? For a few dumb ones ban it from everyone !

 

[SidecarFlip]

WTF, they really banned kerosene heaters in MA?
I had a vent less inferred propane wall heater once. It did pretty good. kept the small place I was living in at the time warm. It didn't need hardly any attention, very low maintenance. If you can smell the propane you have a gas leak that needs to be fixed. Operating cost would most likely be a little more than a stove, depending on your prices, but it was cheaper than running the old inefficient propane furnace that house had in it.



For a while I couldn't figure what the heck an OAK was either. The K was what threw me off. I've also noticed with the oak installed the stove temps fluctuate with outside temps. Just the other day when we had that thaw out I thought I was burning a better than average bag of propellets, until I realized the outside temp had jumped up by about 20 inside a couple hours.
I was just talking with ussc customer service through email. Obviously not the same as talking to them on the phone, but they seemed nice and helpful. They gave me a free whistle gasket.

I must ask what a whistle gasket is. Sounds like OAK to me....

 

[SidecarFlip]

Not on subject but worth relating for the humor aspect (not the recipient, us...)

One of the guys I hunt with owns the local propane company and years ago, they has to add the 'perfume' to each load as it wasn't added at the bulk plant (propane is odorless btw). His wife was screwing around on him and her concubine had a new Corvette. My buddy took a small bottle of propane odorant and dumped it on the seats. Needless to say, he had to sell the Corvette because no amount of cleaning would rid it of the horrible smell.

Paybacks are a biatch....

 

[Bob E]

I must ask what a whistle gasket is. Sounds like OAK to me....

It quiets down the noise of the air blowing through the heat exchanger. My stove was making a noticeable whistle. I found that by loosening the screws that hold the louvers in place it allows them to angle down a little bit and reduces the whistle. But it didn't completely eliminate it. I did some searching and found an old thread that mentioned the whistling was a problem that ussc knew about and if you complained about it they would send some kind of special gasket to stop it. So, I complained and they sent one right out. It's just a rope gasket with an adhesive backing. It goes in the little cavity right under the louvers. I thought it seemed like kind of a joke, but It actually works pretty good. The stove is noticeably quieter.

 

[mustangwagz]

HA! thats odd..Never noticed mine whistling..nor is there any gasket rope stuff jammed in there.. Interesting!

 

[SidecarFlip]

It quiets down the noise of the air blowing through the heat exchanger. My stove was making a noticeable whistle. I found that by loosening the screws that hold the louvers in place it allows them to angle down a little bit and reduces the whistle. But it didn't completely eliminate it. I did some searching and found an old thread that mentioned the whistling was a problem that ussc knew about and if you complained about it they would send some kind of special gasket to stop it. So, I complained and they sent one right out. It's just a rope gasket with an adhesive backing. It goes in the little cavity right under the louvers. I thought it seemed like kind of a joke, but It actually works pretty good. The stove is noticeably quieter.

Didn't know that but then, mine don't whistle. Could be I restrict the air flow a bit with having a K&N filter on the blower intake because it's never whistled. I can get the fire to roar like a blast furnace if I open the slide all the way....... Don't do that either...lol Most times, it's closed all the way. Why use heated room air for combustion when the cold air is available.

I've considered taking the louvers off and opening the round holes up into a rectangular opening but that would take my Hypertherm and it's out in the shop so that nixed that idea.

I see you are in south Michigan, so am I but you must not be too close because I can't smell your pellet burner....

 

[mustangwagz]

Think we could open the holes to a large rectangle and not compromise anything? Ill fire up my jig saw and let that baby rip when no ones home! haha

 

[Bob E]

They told me it whistles because of the way the air blows through the louvers. But when I was first messing with the louvers I took them off altogether and it whistled louder. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the way the air blows over that lip that sticks up along the bottom of the rectangular hole the louvers set in. When I had the louvers loosened they sat down on top of it blocking the air from flowing over it, and the gasket pretty much fills the cavity making it flat across the bottom so there isn't much lip left sticking up. It could be a manufacturing defect. Maybe the rectangular hole wasn't cut in exactly the right spot or maybe the panels weren't lined up perfectly when they were welded together...
Opening up the round holes behind the louvers might mess up the way the air from the room fan flows around the outside of the fire box, but I'm just guessing, don't know for sure.
I've been trying my best to make the neighborhood smell like pellet smoke, but even when I close the damper all the way the dang stove still burns too clean for anybody to notice.
My neighbor might disagree

 

[SidecarFlip]

Interesting thoughts. I believe my Hypertherm with Fine Cut consumables in the torch would do a nicer job, problem is, I don't want to screw anything up, it heats just fine the way it is....I could not ask for more really and you can only get so much output from so much input anyway, this isn't a rocket engine though I can make mine sound rocket like if I pull the damper plate out all the way, but again, that defeats the purpose because all the heat is going out the venting and I don't need to heat the roof.....

I try to set mine where the flame is just at the point where it's a bit lazy and then crack the damper maybe 1/8" more, leaving everything on automatic and my PPH at 2.75/HR9.

At that point it's doing everything it can do, the stray ash on the glass is snow white and by the end of season, I have all the paint above the door burnt off. A couple years back, I had to take it out to the shop and weld in a length of 1/2x1/2 angle about 6" long, right above the top of the arch on the door opening, I was actually warping the top of the door frame from the heat. Was an interesting weld, in as much as space is at a premium in the firebox. I had to use a mirror to weld the angle in.

Don't think it will do much more. I also have a big breezebox fan perched on top of the hopper to distribute the heat a bit more.

I never get any smoke out of my venting, maybe a tad on startup and shutdown but thats it. Just smells like someone is burning wood outside but no telltale smoke.

 

[Bob E]

Dang, I'm going to have to keep an eye on the arch in my door opening. I have noticed ash build up and a little paint discoloration there.
2.75 PPH on HR9 seems a little slow. I've been leaving mine on the factory setting for my control board, 6.00 PPH for HR9.
The factory fan setting doesn't very much more than about 20 CFM from low to high even though it has a large range of capability. I played around with that a little bit, but the draft fan is pretty much either on or off when running it in auto, and doesn't seem to need a whole lot of variable range. I could see how adjusting the fan settings would be necessary if you didn't have the damper or if your trying to run in manual mode. With the factory fan settings and my OAK set up I only need to pull out the damper 1/4" to 1/2" for that slightly lazy flame that gives the best heat. Before the OAK it was closer to the inch that most people talk about in other threads on the forum. I thought about slowing down the fan a little so I could pull the damper out more and give myself a little bit more range of adjustment. But, nah I like it the way it is. I still have enough range to fine tune the flame and with the damper just about closed most of the combustion air is coming from outside.

 

[Bioburner]

The added benefit of a pellet stove in the basement is that the fuel is already on hand and it puts out enough BTU to probably help heat the end of the house downstairs above the stove that is currently the coolest part of the whole house. I could crack open the door to the basement and get a bit more heat than just the floors warming as well, since that is also on that end of the house. And yeah, that odor of propane can give me a headache actually.

I have considered Summers, the Ashley, Englander, TimberLand , Timber Ridge and now this 6039 ( or Other USSC that makes sense as well for that matter). I was not aware that the Ashley was made in China till the other day, that taints that choice for me.. I'd prefer American Made or as much as possible anyway. Timberland I believe is a spin off of Enviro and is a bit more money than I wanted to go ( $1799- $2000), though well made. The Englander I looked at has no ash pan, seems kind of stupid since stoves make ash ! I don't mind even a small ash pan but it makes sense to have one to me. I'd love another Harman but I'm retired now, not in my budget for a part time stove anyway ( although one dealer had a used old P61 for $1500 last year, I should have scoffed that up)..

A propane heater I can get for $300 but currently everyone seems out of them, Maybe that is just as well.

Have you tried Northern tool or handyman whatever they call themselves today? Propain heaters of all sizes and shapes here in MN. Their pulling out fish houses on to the lakes as already had 7 inches of ice a week ago.CL in my area must have twenty LP heaters in just general section let alone sporting.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Dang, I'm going to have to keep an eye on the arch in my door opening. I have noticed ash build up and a little paint discoloration there.
2.75 PPH on HR9 seems a little slow. I've been leaving mine on the factory setting for my control board, 6.00 PPH for HR9.
The factory fan setting doesn't very much more than about 20 CFM from low to high even though it has a large range of capability. I played around with that a little bit, but the draft fan is pretty much either on or off when running it in auto, and doesn't seem to need a whole lot of variable range. I could see how adjusting the fan settings would be necessary if you didn't have the damper or if your trying to run in manual mode. With the factory fan settings and my OAK set up I only need to pull out the damper 1/4" to 1/2" for that slightly lazy flame that gives the best heat. Before the OAK it was closer to the inch that most people talk about in other threads on the forum. I thought about slowing down the fan a little so I could pull the damper out more and give myself a little bit more range of adjustment. But, nah I like it the way it is. I still have enough range to fine tune the flame and with the damper just about closed most of the combustion air is coming from outside.

Ooops, I meant 2.75 on forced idle and 6.5 on HR9. I leave the fan run on the alogrithm as well and control the draft with the shutter and the restricted outside air (have a gate valve on the intake side on the back of the stove). as the stirrer and run the room fan balls to the wall. You can tell if it's warping by sighting down from the top looking toward the bottom with the door open. Just look at the top of the door arch, it will warp inward. I had to do a bit of blue point tool work prior to welding in the stiffener. 1/2" black angle works fine, about 6" long. Prep is a PITA. Had to use a die grinder to clean the inner wall and welding clamps and a mirror to weld it in. Used pulse MIG, spray arc transfer with EROS 6, 030 wire, plain and 75-25 shielding gas.at 125 amps You have to watch the heat or you'll blow through the metal front.

 

[alternativeheat]

Have you tried Northern tool or handyman whatever they call themselves today? Propain heaters of all sizes and shapes here in MN. Their pulling out fish houses on to the lakes as already had 7 inches of ice a week ago.CL in my area must have twenty LP heaters in just general section let alone sporting.

I did look there the other day but didn't see the 99% odorless versions. I'm looking for the wall hanging type with blue flame if I go that way at all. Around 19,000-23,000 btu or what ever will heat up to 1000 sq ft. but still use smaller tank sizes of 20-30 gal. My main shop area is 750-900 sq ft. depending how I utilize space. If I heat it to 60 deg I'd be happy though.

It bothers me a little that these are open flame and I sometimes get saw dust filled air down there. Mostly from my old timer stationary belt sander that won't die ! I'll have to think on that one. I just know Jan is coming and it gets cold down there by then. Right now it's fine.

 

[alternativeheat]

How much % of heat on that 6039 is radiant vs convection more or less ?

 

[Bob E]

SidecarFlip: That sounds more like it. For a second there I thought if you're heating your place with 2.75 pph as your high setting I must really have my stove out of whack
Are you running a thermostat and jumping between 2.75 on idle and 6.50 on hr9? I've been thinking about hooking a thermostat up to my stove. I see on ussc's faq web page they say any milivolt thermostat should work. My stove hasn't warped but I'll remember to check for that if it starts acting like it needs a new door gasket.

alternativeheat: I would say a pretty low percentage of the heat is radiant. The door and front of the stove get hot. The top above the firebox and the vent pipe get warm. The rest of the stove stays cool to the touch.

 

[alternativeheat]

SidecarFlip:

alternativeheat: I would say a pretty low percentage of the heat is radiant. The door and front of the stove get hot. The top above the firebox and the vent pipe get warm. The rest of the stove stays cool to the touch.

Perfect !

 

[mustangwagz]

mines starting to warp..ill drag it to garage in the summer and fix it..or replace it for a different one. either or. lol

 

[alternativeheat]

mines starting to warp..ill drag it to garage in the summer and fix it..or replace it for a different one. either or. lol

Oops !!

 

[SidecarFlip]

SidecarFlip: That sounds more like it. For a second there I thought if you're heating your place with 2.75 pph as your high setting I must really have my stove out of whack
Are you running a thermostat and jumping between 2.75 on idle and 6.50 on hr9? I've been thinking about hooking a thermostat up to my stove. I see on ussc's faq web page they say any milivolt thermostat should work. My stove hasn't warped but I'll remember to check for that if it starts acting like it needs a new door gasket.

alternativeheat: I would say a pretty low percentage of the heat is radiant. The door and front of the stove get hot. The top above the firebox and the vent pipe get warm. The rest of the stove stays cool to the touch.

I run a cheap digital Honneywell with 2 AA batteries, it's about 30 feet from the stove in another room. You pull the jumper on the board and put spade terminals on the T'stat wire and put the wires in place of the jumper. It then runs on the T'stat with a forced idle fire on HR2 and a high as high as you set the HR range. Run everything on auto and everything adjusts to the pre-programed alogrithm on the baord. Simple as that. If you jump the PPH firing rate above the default program setting, the alogrithm adjusts the firing rate across all ranges. Why I like the unit so much, It's so adjustable....

My side sheets get warm and the corner radius metal gets hot too...If it's running hard.... I ran it so hard last year (remember how cold it was) that I boiled the grease out of the agitator drive and had to repack it.

What I did was, I pulled the drive and pulled the back cover (carefully so as not to loose the spacers and fudge up the gears inside and I drilled a small hole in the very top of the back cover. at the bottom, on the right side (side closest to the front of the stove), I drilled and tapped a hole and installed a right angle alemite (zerk) fitting. I replaced the back cover but before I did, I cleaned it and put a bead of silicone on the edge. Then I closed it back up, let is set for a couple hours (to let the silicone cure) and filled the gearbox with good synthetic grease with my greasegin (same stuff I use on my farm equipment). so this year, I just put the grease gun to it and pumped in grease until it came out the hole on top. Problem solves, everything is running in grease.

 

[Bob E]

That must be what happened to my agitator motor. It was really loud, almost grinding the first couple of times I fired the stove up. I pulled it apart and and packed it with some high temp grease. It was so quite I had to get right up next to it in order to hear it run. That only lasted about a week before it started getting a little louder. Still not bad, but I've been running the agitator down on 1 or 2 hoping to prolong the motor's life span. USSC has the replacement listed for about $180

 

[SidecarFlip]

Goggle up USSC Stove parts. There is an outfit. I think called NorthEast Stove that has them for 60 bucks. Conversely Grainger has them too. It's a 1rpm Counter Clockwise (CCW)rotation 110 volt shaded pole gearmotor. Get the largest outboard bearing carrier you can. The agitator motor takes all the abuse, combustion fan is second.

 

[mustangwagz]

Did the "Leaf Blower Trick" to mine last weekend...HOly cow, what a performance difference! I always went through my stove with a bunch of different shop vac adapters and stuff, rods for poking, hoses for stuffin through small areas...yah...that worked great...but now that i did the LBT for the first time, holy crap...MAJOR output difference! and its so freaking easy too! WOrks GREAT!! if any of yinz haver never done it, i suggest doing it! OPen door on pellet stove and leave it open during the process though to avoid vacuum switch issues. (not speaking from experience, just common sense) Totally amazed still!