new harman p38 questions

[rayttt]

I just self installed my new harman p38 and am burning it in.
When I first turned it on to test mode the convection blower came on for the first minute or so as its supposed to, then turned off.
I lit the fire and turn the unit on turbo and ran it for a little while in turbo, then kicked it down to everywhere from low to med, and I have yet to have the convection blower come back on..so its just radiating instead of convecting .
How big should the flame be in the flame pot? even in turbo mode the flame really seems no larger then about an inch high. Its getting combustion blower thru the flame as when I open the door I notice the little flame goes soft and lazy. I assume that the convection blower will come on when/ if exhaust temp reaches a certain temp, but have yet to see it.
Right now its on low blower and low feed rate and the oil furnace's thermostat that is a few feet away from it is staying right about 71 and its comfortable in here, but Im concerned that the blower hasn't came on at all, that something may not be right with it.

 

[redhat]

I'm on my first year with a self installed P38+. Great little stove, so far it has performed flawlessly. I routinely run mine on a feed rate of 3, blower set at about 1/3. Flame in the burnpot is around 3 or 4 inches tall at these settings. At startup it takes a while for the blower to kick in, so long that sometimes I wonder if it is ever going to turn on.

You might try bumping your feed rate up to 3 or 4 and wait it out. If it doesn't kick in within a half hour or so I'd place a call to the dealer have them and take a look at it, if there is a problem you should be covered under warranty.


redhat

 

[freebird77]

Im FAR from an expert. Have the P61 first season, so Im still experiementing, but the distribution blower should defintly be running. When I have my stove turned up, sometimes with the auger running Ill have a flame about 10 inches high. Other times of course it drops down. Are you in a mobile home? If so do you have outside air hookup?
I agree call the dealer and ask to talk to the service man. Please let us know how you make out. Where in Pa. are you?

 

[freebird77]

Also, my didtribution blower runs constantly. I asked the service dude about this and he said it was supposed to. Sometimes itll alternate between low and higher when in room temp. Have you experiemented with both room temp and stove temp modes? Either way the blower should be running. How low a feed rate?My guy said to put the P61 at 4 and leave it there.

 

[rayttt]

I dont know if the p38 has room/stove temp modes.
I went to bed, at 11, it was 71 by the stove. I got up this morning it was 63, and the fire was still a tiny little thing, so I will increase the feed rate. I turned it up to turbo and it didnt turn blower on, right away (probably a time delay Im assuming), so I turned it off for 10 seconds and turned it back to turbo mode to see it the convection fan came back on ...and it did. Not much heat since embers etc.
Within about 10 minutes the flame was about 10 inch's high and cranking nicely. within about an hour, the thermometer was back up to near 71, then 81 , then 91, within about 1 1/2 hours. I turned the feed rate down to about a 3, and left it there. I had to come to work, and Ill check it when I get home to see how its doing then. It can crank out the heat when its turned up, so Im sure it will just take getting used to. The blower speed is now on high, and when I left with it on 3, the convection blower was still blowing, but the flame was back down to about an inch, inch and a half high.

 

[ch17601]

I installed a P38 in November. First time using a pellet stove. There is a learning curve with these , as with everything else. I have the outside air hooked up, the primary reason is that I want to be the one to direct where the air comes in the house, I live in a 1930's brick house. It is not very airtight. I bought a magnetic stove thermometer, put it on the side of the stove to see what settings produced what amount of heat. The turbo setting really kicks out the heat. I usually keep the setting on 4 if the temps are cold- like this past weekend or 3 if the temps are warmer. The setting is a rheostat which can be different for everyone depending on how the decal is applied. This stove is to supliment the existing reliance on the Natural gas bill. There is a difference with the pellets also. The blower fan is set up on a tstat. When the stove is hot enough it will come on. I think that there was a break in point for the stove. I believe it took a couple bags of pellets to get the stove started. I've pretty much burned non-stop since then.

Craig

 

[GVA]

Low flames in burnpot and no distribution blower sounds like maintenace burn to me...
Which means the stove thinks the room is up to temp......
So it could be room sensor or board related..........
Have the dealer come out and plug into the stove to see what the stove sees....
good luck and welcome...

 

[rayttt]

thanks for the info.
I set the feed rate to about 2 and half this morning ..and tonight when I got home ..its 72 by the stove and still going.
the blower is blowing and everything seems good with it. I just had it set too low on both feed rate and blower.


Im sure it will take me some time to get used to it and know what to expect from it under different conditions.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[MikeStove]

Does anyone have any experience connecting a Harman P38 to a programmable thermostat? I’ve read a few posts where someone was able to get manual thermostats running. I’ve got a new p38 installed in a finished basement mainly to heat that room but also as a secondary heat source for the house. I’d like to find a thermostat that will allow me to set the temp to low at night, and then kick in for warming in early morning. I’m not concerned about manually lighting it at night as that is expected. My model does not have auto ignite.