New Harman p43 that seems to be burning too many pellets

[jlsracing]

What kind of a burn time would be considered normal for a bag of pellets? I realize there are variables, but I'm getting around 14 hours out of a bag and that is on the number 2 setting for feed rate. Something seems way out of whack as I was told somewhere around 24 hours out of a bag. This is a brand new Harman p43 and I am using Pur Heat pellets. I am loving the heat, but it's coming at a cost.

 

[jackman]

We need to know more. How big is your space, how much insulation is there, and the outside air temp. I'll use 2 bags/day if my outside air temp is in the teens heating 1500 Sq ft.

 

[jlsracing]

I don't think any of that has to do with running in the constant on mode which is what I'm doing. It kept my 2600 foot very well insulated earth contact very comfy, but used too much fuel for a #2 feed rate.

 

[Tonyray]

I don't think any of that has to do with running in the constant on mode which is what I'm doing. It kept my 2600 foot very well insulated earth contact very comfy, but used too much fuel for a #2 feed rate.

Harman P61A.. 2nd biggest burnpot in harman line. Stove or constant mode loves to eat pellets. The feed only takes a 40 second break if your set at #2. Iwould get less than that using stove mode. Now it goes against the harman feed rate rules of feedrate 3 to 4 but on anothet pellet website that is my main go to for info along with this one " thanks to "bogieb : i stumbled onto a better hack of using less pellets in constant mode and that is using the feed rate more or less as a govener of sorts. I put the tempb on #6. Feed rate on 1- 1/half. Fan speed on low or high depending on how warm u want it. My downstairs stays at constant 72. If i want warmer i bump the fan up more. My pellet consumption is now half what it was using normal harman suggested settings. Now people say you should not burn that low Due to flame too close to the auger but the pile of pellets are in front of the auger. Not down closer like u get on room manual maint burn whereas the feed just dribbles a few pellets to keep the flame alive. Have been burningv8vyrs 24/7 and always steered clear of stove mode due to its pellet appetite. But not now.. i use less than when running room auto via the probe. Now 1 impotrant fact: i burn very good softwoods like douglas firs, matra and EasyBlaze .the firs burn around 9K btu.. super hot so no chance of cresoot due to low feed rate. Box store middle rd stuff?? Dont know.. might not be a good idea if using cheapo crappy pellets . Maybe... I checked my internal exhaust tunnel and outside exhaust few weeks after doing this method and nothing changed meaning my pipes were normal light pellet ash. For what its worth i now have a steady constant heat output without going thru pellets like before. Worth a try i would say.

 

[Bear Camp]

I have an absolute 43 and it is calculating out at 1 bag for 16 hrs. That's when the basement is warmed up and it isn't brutally cold (below 10). You know, as a first time pellet stove owner, I also expected much better. When the dealer looked the basement over he said the 43 would roast the basement out. I can say it adequately can keep the basement at a steady temp, but that is about it. We have a Hitzer 50-93 hard coal stove upstairs and it is truthfully amazing. In hindsight we should have bought a smaller coal stove for the basement. If available, hard coal is the only way to go!

 

[SciGuy]

What kind of a burn time would be considered normal for a bag of pellets? I realize there are variables, but I'm getting around 14 hours out of a bag and that is on the number 2 setting for feed rate. Something seems way out of whack as I was told somewhere around 24 hours out of a bag. This is a brand new Harman p43 and I am using Pur Heat pellets. I am loving the heat, but it's coming at a cost.

As a basic rule of thumb, burning a bag per day delivers ~ 10,000 btus/hour. The stove P43 can devour ~ 3 bags per day at max consumption.

YMMV,

Hugh

 

[scajjr2]

I don't think any of that has to do with running in the constant on mode which is what I'm doing. It kept my 2600 foot very well insulated earth contact very comfy, but used too much fuel for a #2 feed rate.

I run our P43 in room temp/manual, use the feed rate to control the temp (1-1.5 for when it's above 32* outside, 2 for 20's, 3 for single digit-teens). Colder outside = more pellets used. Some days I use 1 bag, real cold I use 2. 1600 sq ft 2-story, well insulated. Temp in the house we try to keep around 72.

A lot of factors effect pellet use- outside temps, temp you are trying to maintain inside, quality of pellets, stove just been cleaned, stove needs cleaning.

I plan what I need per heating season (for us mid-Oct to mid-April) as 1 bag per day for 6 months plus another 30 bags for days I use 1-1/2 or 2 bags. So 210 bags. Now many days in late Oct-early Nov and late Mar-early April I may not need to run the stove at all or just at night. So I plan on 4 tons a year. Last year used less due to warmer than normal temps. This year so far looks like the 4 tons is about right. But the next 10 days are forecasted to be in the 40's and 50's so I may only need to run the stove at night and if it stays similar in march we'll use fewer bags.

Sam

 

[jlsracing]

The reason I switched from room temp to the constant feed was it reached the temp and shut down, but when it got going again I had a huge pile of unburned pellets and they were almost being pushed out of the burn pot. I didn't like that so went to the constant feed and adjusted temp with the feed and fan. I think the 2 setting is pretty low and was kind of shocked to still see so much pellet usage.

 

[Washed-Up]

Well, it’s brand new, you’re going to have to mess around with the settings a bit to see what works for your place. Do you have outside air hooked up? Also do you have a room temp probe? Most here find that a setting of 4 and 4 on room temp works. I only use mine on stove temp if I want a burst of heat and that uses quite a few pellets.

 

[jlsracing]

I haven't got the outside air hooked up yet. Trying to find some black single wall pipe and fittings to use, but not having any luck. Why should constant mode burn alot of pellets on a low setting? It's half of where it was set earlier and still using about the same amount of pellets.
How do I keep the room temp mode from plugging up the burn pot with unburned pellets when it shuts down and kicks back on?

 

[Washed-Up]

That sounds like an air issue, check the back of the stove where the oak is supposed to be attached, the flap may be stuck closed being a new stove.

 

[jlsracing]

There is an expandable metal hose coming off the back.
Another thing I have noticed looking at videos and such is my flame is always around 2 inches high and occasionally gets taller. The ones I have seen have huge flames off the burn pot. I have the ceramic logs coming, but I don't think my flame will even be visible with it installed.

 

[Washed-Up]

Check that the hose is free and clear, and if that doesn’t change anything then check the flapper

 

[bogieb]

#2 feed rate is actually a pretty good pellet rate for constant mode. Unless it is really cold (negative digits) and super windy out, I can't do that. I must have a smaller house the @scajjr2 becuase I can't even think about running constant mode if it is above 30* (and at 950 sq/ft, that is a real possibility).

If pellets seem to be feeding too much at start up, and they are smaller pellets, try a feed rate of 3 instead of 4. If that doesn't help, then you definitely have an air flow problem somewhere. You will use less pellets by running in room temp mode than in constant mode IF the weather conditions are such that the stove doesn't start right back up after shutting down.

 

[rickwai]

Try a different brand of pellets. Put it back in room temp auto. Just to rule out a bum pellet brand. If you are using stove temp mode, the stove is going to feed to keep the ESP at approx. 310F. If the pellets are not to good it has to feed more fuel to mantain that temp at the exhaust. Post a picture of your control board so we can see exactly how you have it set. With a delayed ignition issue it could be the pellets??

 

[Pete Zahria]

My pellet consumption is now half what it was using normal harman suggested settings.

I wish I wasn't so thick, so I could understand how you get the same heat/temperature,
out of half the pellets..

Dan

 

[Mt Bob]

I wish I wasn't so thick, so I could understand how you get the same heat/temperature,
out of half the pellets..

Dan

Yep,Just read this thread, and am still shaking my head.

 

[jlsracing]

I'm a little confused. I hear room temp mode, stove temp mode and constant mode. I thought there were only 2 modes to run the stove in and that was room temp and constant. What is the stove temp mode? The problem I encountered with room temp was it pushing good pellets out of the burn pot before getting going again.
As far as the pellets go they are a hardwood pellet out of Bolivar, Mo. They were recommended by the dealer I bought the stove from and he said Menards had that brand. Later I found out he also sold them so I bought a pallet of them and he delivered with the stove.

 

[Mt Bob]

I'm a little confused. I hear room temp mode, stove temp mode and constant mode. I thought there were only 2 modes to run the stove in and that was room temp and constant. What is the stove temp mode? The problem I encountered with room temp was it pushing good pellets out of the burn pot before getting going again.
As far as the pellets go they are a hardwood pellet out of Bolivar, Mo. They were recommended by the dealer I bought the stove from and he said Menards had that brand. Later I found out he also sold them so I bought a pallet of them and he delivered with the stove.

How Your Harman Works -what your manual doesn't tell you..

Thanks Mod for correcting the title! Now, let's have some fun and stay warm! How your stove works - The facts are pretty straightforward, but how you get people to properly interpret the facts is the hard part. It's your toy, run it the way you want as long as you understand what's going on...

www.hearth.com

 

[jlsracing]

Thanks for that Mt Bob. So stove temp and constant are essentially just different terminology. I wondered about that. I have also seen auto and manual mentioned and I think that refers to the ignitor only. I'm a newbie and it appears there is plenty to learn.

 

[scajjr2]

I'm a little confused. I hear room temp mode, stove temp mode and constant mode. I thought there were only 2 modes to run the stove in and that was room temp and constant. What is the stove temp mode? The problem I encountered with room temp was it pushing good pellets out of the burn pot before getting going again.
As far as the pellets go they are a hardwood pellet out of Bolivar, Mo. They were recommended by the dealer I bought the stove from and he said Menards had that brand. Later I found out he also sold them so I bought a pallet of them and he delivered with the stove.

Room temp and Stove temp are the 2 I have on my dial on the stove. Constant could be what some call either mode as. Stove temp uses what the ESP probe in the exhaust reads to call for pellets, Room temp uses the either the Temp dial setting and the room probe (cable connected on the back) or an external thermostat. Manual or Auto refers to whether the Igniter toggle switch is On or Off. With On (Auto) the stove will shut down when the desired temp (from ESP or thermostat) is reached then will turn back on to ignite pellets when the stove needs to restart. With the Igniter switch in Off (Manual) the stove goes into a low constant maintenance burn then ramps back up when more heat is called for.

Now I use a wireless remote thermostat on our P43. The past couple weeks when it's been colder I have the SkyTech set to RUN mode (stove will constatntly run) and use my feed rate to adjust for the temp I want. We find this keeps the house at a steady temp.
The Warmer days (daytime is 30-40 degrees) I put the Skytech in Thermo mode which I have programmed to 73 with a swing rate of 2 degrees (stove comes out of maintenance burn at 71, goes back to maintenance at 75). This keeps the house at a pretty constant temp.

Our P43 replaced an old wood/coal stove and is vented to the chimney in the center of the house. Maintenance burn keeps the core of our house warm on the 30-40 degree days and the stove doesn't need to ramp up that often.

Sam

 

[jlsracing]

Mine has room temp and constant burn on the dial. The ignitor switch has auto and disabled so they have changed some of the terminology on the control boards. That in and of itself adds to the confusion in communication.

 

[scajjr2]

Mine has room temp and constant burn on the dial. The ignitor switch has auto and disabled so they have changed some of the terminology on the control boards. That in and of itself adds to the confusion in communication.

I have a complete repair kit I bought a couple months ago (figured the stove is almost 10, wanted spare parts on hand) will have to look at the control board in it to see if the wording has changed.

A couple things to note if you use the maintenance burn mode a lot- glass gets dirtier faster and with a darker color and you need to be more diligent on scraping the burnpot as the low burn causes faster buildup of the carbon (aka speed bumps) in the burnpot.

sam

 

[Tonyray]

I wish I wasn't so thick, so I could understand how you get the same heat/temperature,
out of half the pellets..

Dan

same as what? normal stove mode settings like 3-4 feed rate i would get 80 degrees.
Instead i am at constant 72 degrees at the low feed setting.. temp at #6...doesn't budge 1 degree above or below that..

 

[gfreek]

What kind of a burn time would be considered normal for a bag of pellets? I realize there are variables, but I'm getting around 14 hours out of a bag and that is on the number 2 setting for feed rate. Something seems way out of whack as I was told somewhere around 24 hours out of a bag. This is a brand new Harman p43 and I am using Pur Heat pellets. I am loving the heat, but it's coming at a cost.

Maybe get 24 hours burn time from a full hopper??
I get 15-18 hours burn per bag, room temp mode, feed 4, temp 70, depending on outside temp of course...