New Harman P68 burning 2.5 bags per day?

[rgros]

We just bought a Harman P68 and had it installed on Saturday - - too tired of paying 2.92 per gallon of propane. We love the P68. It heats my 3000 sq foot house very nicely. However, we're burning through 2.5 bags a day. Now, I know the size of the house requires a good bit of pellets but I'm kind of surprised. The dealer said we might burn through 1.5 - 2 bags a day on a really cold day but it hasn't been that cold out AND we've been turning down the pellet stove at night. Still burning 2.5 bags a day. Could it be I"m not adjusting all the settings right? I need to keep it on Stove temp rather than room temp since its also heating my second floor, so it does run 24/7. I currently have the blower on high, the pellet feed rate at 2 and the Stove temp at 65. Would increasing the feed rate cause it to burn more efficiently or will it just burn through more pellets quicker? Thanks in advance for any info/advice. This is our first pellet stove and I don't think we know what we're doing just yet.

- Rosemarie

 

[crausch]

I think the amount of space you are trying to heat will will keep the stove operating with a high consumption. By lowering your feed rate to 2 you are causing it to have to feed at that rate more often then if it was at the properly adjusted rate.

You may want to increase your feed adjustment for this reason:

The feed rate knob sets the maximum time per minute the control will let the feed motor run. The feed rate knob is set to have the stove perform its best depending on the ash content of the pellets you are burning. A feed rate of 4 to 4 ½ works best for most applications. Once you set the feed rate knob, no further adjustment is needed unless you make a change in pellet quality. A common misconception about the feed rate knob is that turning it to a lower setting will cause you to burn less fuel. Since turning the feed rate knob down will lower the maximum time you allow the feed motor to run every minute, the stove will feed at this maximum rate longer to satisfy the temperature setting, resulting in increased fuel consumption.

 

[Steve NH]

Where you lcated?

Does sound like a lot - My house is only about 1800 sq ft but the most I've ever used is 1.25 bags.

Personally I've found Room temp uses less than stove temp.

After the stove has been running a while how much difference is there between the room with the stove and the coldest room.
My house there is only about 2-3 degree difference.
If there is a big difference then you do lose efficiency by having to heat up the room with the stove much higher than your desired temp.

 

[rgros]

I'm located in Delaware and its not too cold here. Its been around 32 in the day and maybe down to 7 on our coldest night. Nothing at all compared to North of here. I'm going to try adjusting the feeder rate. We haven't used the room temp mode yet but I may get an extension for the sensor and give it a try. Thanks.

 

[Sawduster]

I think for the size of the house you are trying to heat 2-3 bags a day is a realistic amount of pellets to burn. You may even use more if it really cold out.

 

[bungalobob]

Heating 2 floors with my P68, just under 2000 sq ft, and averaging a bag and a half on most days. But, when the temps drop down to the the teens and lower it easily eats 2 bags. Like Codebum says, adjust your feedrate for starters, mine is currenty at about 4 and half, room temp at 74 or so, I think, and the blower just past medium. I have the room sensor probe just coiled up behind the stove. I also have the OAK (outside air kit) installed, which I believe helps with keeping the heat inside of the house, and not drawing the cold air inside. There are a lot of opinions on OAK, but I love not having drafts in the house, especially around windows and doors, like I used to. Three floors is alot of area for the stove to cover. I maintain about 72 downstairs and the second floor is maybe 68/70, at the farthest room up there. I have a fan at the top of stairs on low blowing the cold air down so the hot air will flow upstairs more freely. I never expected that this stove would heat the whole house, but it has been no problem. If you're not using fans, get a few going (on low), with the intention of blowing the cold air to the stove. Partially close off doors that do not need the heat as much, the less used ones. With some experimenting you'll get the heat around. But I think with the area your trying to heat, 2-3 bags might not be all that unreal. All homes are different, from the layout, the openess, the age, and the insulation. You might be able to lower your pellet consumption with some tweeking of the stove and the things you can do within your home. Do a search of moving the heat around. Keep us posted, and happy burning.

 

[freebird77]

Maybe its the brand of pellets? I know Im not getting the heat with this years pellets as I did with last years. Different brand. And therefore, Im using more. Feed rate sounds pretty low, but there are others here that know way more than I. Experiment with it. Good Luck.

 

[mark d fellows]

Where you lcated?

Does sound like a lot - My house is only about 1800 sq ft but the most I've ever used is 1.25 bags.

Personally I've found Room temp uses less than stove temp.

After the stove has been running a while how much difference is there between the room with the stove and the coldest room.
My house there is only about 2-3 degree difference.
If there is a big difference then you do lose efficiency by having to heat up the room with the stove much higher than your desired temp.

Your house layout aside. Taking the above rate of burn, it looks like over two bags a day is realistic for a 3000 sq ft house. I don't think the salesman really took into account how big your house is. It looks like about a bag a day for 1400 square feet. Of course, that doesn't take into effect, ambient temp, insulation in your home, etc.

So, are there parts of the house you don't use that frequently that you can close up?

Mark

 

[swalz]

Right now I am going through 2 - 2.5 bags a day to keep the house warm, I need to fix some leaks in the pipes so my boiler is not being used to help with the heat. I have a 2400 sq ft ranch w no basement and the house is not to well insulated, the room with the stove is at 74-75 degrees and the living room and kitchen around 70 and the bedrooms staying cold at around 58-60. Not heating the Den around 200 sq ft. When the temps are above 28 degrees or more I will only go through 1.5 - 2 bags a day.

 

[rgros]

Swalz,

I noticed you're from Delaware, too. Where do you get the best deals on pellets? Doesn't seem like there's much choice to shop around in DE...at least not in the winter. Byler's in Dover told me I could order as many tons as I want in April if I get on their buying list. They offer hardwood pellets at approx. 199/ton in April. Unfortunately right now I can't find any under 300 a ton.

- Rosemarie

 

[webbie]

That's a normal rate - every person uses a different amount based on many factors, but look at it this way....

2.5 bags per day=100 lbs.

Folks who have burned wood, which is somewhat similar to pellets, could EASILY burn a cord in a cold month in a house of 3,000 square feet.

A cord of seasoned oak can weigh in at 3600 lbs or more - divided by 30 = 120 lbs per day. Wood has more moisture and may burn a little less efficiently, but you can see how 100 lbs of wood (and pellets are wood) is not a lot to burn over 24 hours.

 

[swalz]

Swalz,

I noticed you're from Delaware, too. Where do you get the best deals on pellets? Doesn't seem like there's much choice to shop around in DE...at least not in the winter. Byler's in Dover told me I could order as many tons as I want in April if I get on their buying list. They offer hardwood pellets at approx. 199/ton in April. Unfortunately right now I can't find any under 300 a ton.

- Rosemarie

I am in Newark, $199 a ton is good if you can get them at that price off season. I paid $239 at Tractor Supply in August and had to haul them myself, they do not deliver. I have been trying to find a place to pre-order at a good price but find it hard to find places close to me. What brand pellets were they selling? I wonder if they would deliver up to my house, would need around 5 tons.

I am waiting to see if Home Depot drops the price on the pellets, my brother said they had a lot and they are not able to move them. When it comes time to put out the spring stuff they will be looking to get rid of them, right now they are $300 a ton. :down:

 

[ORiley]

Your house layout aside. Taking the above rate of burn, it looks like over two bags a day is realistic for a 3000 sq ft house. I don't think the salesman really took into account how big your house is. It looks like about a bag a day for 1400 square feet. Of course, that doesn't take into effect, ambient temp, insulation in your home, etc.

Mark

I would only add that using square footage as the only basis to compare heating costs is silly. I've always thought cubic feet was a better way to compare, assuming all else is equal (insulation, outside air infiltration, ventilation, etc.). Vaulted ceilings can add as much as 30% to the space your stove is heating.

A 20x150 building is 3,000 sq. feet. With 8' ceilings it's 24,000 cubic feet. With 14' vaulted ceilings you're now heating 33,000 cubic feet. Big difference.

 

[Fixedblade]

Greetings: I too have a P68 and am also heating about 3000 square feet of a 200 year old farmhouse. It is pretty well insulated but I am burning about 2.5 to as many as 3 bags a day heating it. Until last week, I hadn't turned on the oil furnace but the minus 25 degree temps last week changed that. I've burned a little over 4 tons so far this season. Since I spent about $2500 for oil last winter, I'm very pleased with the stove. I run mine at 4 feed rate and full speed on the blower and leave the temp at 80 degrees. It never goes out as I use the Stove Temp control. Pellets are now running $275 a ton locally and I've got to buy a couple more tons to get thru till spring. Gotta love it to live in this neck of the woods...
Fixed Blade

 

[mark d fellows]

Your house layout aside. Taking the above rate of burn, it looks like over two bags a day is realistic for a 3000 sq ft house. I don't think the salesman really took into account how big your house is. It looks like about a bag a day for 1400 square feet. Of course, that doesn't take into effect, ambient temp, insulation in your home, etc.

Mark

I would only add that using square footage as the only basis to compare heating costs is silly. I've always thought cubic feet was a better way to compare, assuming all else is equal (insulation, outside air infiltration, ventilation, etc.). Vaulted ceilings can add as much as 30% to the space your stove is heating.

A 20x150 building is 3,000 sq. feet. With 8' ceilings it's 24,000 cubic feet. With 14' vaulted ceilings you're now heating 33,000 cubic feet. Big difference.

Yes of course square footage is silly. That is why I said "house layout aside" I happen to have one of those darned cathedral like ceilings which wastes a lot of heat out of the uninsulated part of the roof.

Something I do find very interesting is when you buy humidifiers, they list them in square foot capacity, which is the exact same issue. They also should take into account room height by listing cubic feet.

However, that is what we were working with.

 

[rgros]

Thank you all for the advice. Yes...square footage is all I could come up with to best describe the house quickly. If my husband had posted he probably would have used more detail than I. And yep...we've got 18 foot ceilings in the foyer and living room, along with more windows in that one room than I had in my previous house. So I know I've got heat loss through the windows and the height of the room. I'll hopefully be putting in a ceiling fan that will circulate the air and draw the heat back down. I'm going to search this site about circulating the heat. The house is so open that there's not really anyplace I can close off except for my laundry room. If I leave the bedroom door closed, they get more than a bit chilly.

Last night got downt to 20 with a wind chill of 10 and the house was about 61 downstairs and 60 upstairs. We didn't have the P68 cranked up to maximum so perhaps it would have done more. I'm thinking that maybe we're asking more out of this pellet stove than what it can do. Later in the week will be a bit warmer so I'll watch the usage and see how a 10 degree difference outside affects our usage.

Many thanks for all the advice

- Rosemarie

 

[richg]

2.5 bags a day is quite reasonable. Prior to installing new insulation, my P61A could eat 3 bags a day with no trouble in Northern NJ (2000 sq ft). My house gets no solar gain, though. Since installing the new insulation, I'm doing 2 bags max.

 

[mark d fellows]

Thank you all for the advice. Yes...square footage is all I could come up with to best describe the house quickly. If my husband had posted he probably would have used more detail than I. And yep...we've got 18 foot ceilings in the foyer and living room, along with more windows in that one room than I had in my previous house. So I know I've got heat loss through the windows and the height of the room. I'll hopefully be putting in a ceiling fan that will circulate the air and draw the heat back down. I'm going to search this site about circulating the heat. The house is so open that there's not really anyplace I can close off except for my laundry room. If I leave the bedroom door closed, they get more than a bit chilly.

Last night got downt to 20 with a wind chill of 10 and the house was about 61 downstairs and 60 upstairs. We didn't have the P68 cranked up to maximum so perhaps it would have done more. I'm thinking that maybe we're asking more out of this pellet stove than what it can do. Later in the week will be a bit warmer so I'll watch the usage and see how a 10 degree difference outside affects our usage.

Many thanks for all the advice

- Rosemarie

Pellet stoves are really zone heaters. I do and most do use them for the whole house but they also make Pellet Furnaces for whole house heating and large houses.

Good luck!

 

[rgros]

Thanks, Mark. You're right. Last year we did check into the Harman Pellet furnace but it seemed more involved than what we wanted at the time. Main problem was figuring out where a freestanding stove would fit. This year we found out how close it could be mounted in a corner so we went with that. Now I'm wondering if the furnace might have been a better idea. I don't know.....so many things to try - fans, feed rates, etc. We just might get it figured out by summer ) Oh well, I enjoy coming downstairs in the morning to a nice toasty room with the pretty glow of the fire. Just wish the dang thing would use less pellets. I'll still love it though.

- Rosemarie

 

[mark d fellows]

My humble advice would be this if you want to hear.

Set the feed rate between 4 and 5.

Set the stove on Room temp and the room temp setting a little higher than you want it.

Remove the thermocouple from the back of the stove if it still coiled on the back and place it as far as you can from the stove mounted to the wall near the baseboard.

You can get a digital infra red thermometer at Sears or Radio Shack and find a spot on the wall that is the same temp as the room and mount it there.

Better yet, get some thermostat wire and run the thermocouple out 95 feet and place it near the middle of the room.

Then forget about the settings and feed the beast when it needs it.

It is a great stove from what I hear.

 

[investor7952]

Only been burning pellets in my New Accentra insert for 12 days.I had some issues getting the hang of it but so many nice folks here helped me out big time.I too had my feedrate down to 2-3 and room temp at 74.I couldnt get my room that the stove was in past 69.Then the feedback kept coming in.One poster said put the feed to 6 and the room temp to 80 and let er rip.When the room gets to temp back down the room temp.I did this and the room got up to 78.I now use a feed of 4.5-5 and room at 73. My room now stays steady at 72-73 my furthest room at about 38 ft away is 69 my 3 bedrooms upstairs are 69-70.My house is 3,300 square ft.I burn 2 full bags everyday. My oil burner only goes on to heat my hot water.
Just think a week and a half ago I thought I bought a $5,000 pile of junk. Now with the great advice of the posters here my wife and I couldnt be happier !
The only draw back is I must vacume the pot every 3-4 days .If I dont I lose about 3-4 degrees. I am sure its due to the firside ultras I am burning.I just bought a ton of Hammer Hot ones .I hope this will help that small problem.

 

[bungalobob]

Only been burning pellets in my New Accentra insert for 12 days.I had some issues getting the hang of it but so many nice folks here helped me out big time.I too had my feedrate down to 2-3 and room temp at 74.I couldnt get my room that the stove was in past 69.Then the feedback kept coming in.One poster said put the feed to 6 and the room temp to 80 and let er rip.When the room gets to temp back down the room temp.I did this and the room got up to 78.I now use a feed of 4.5-5 and room at 73. My room now stays steady at 72-73 my furthest room at about 38 ft away is 69 my 3 bedrooms upstairs are 69-70.My house is 3,300 square ft.I burn 2 full bags everyday. My oil burner only goes on to heat my hot water.
Just think a week and a half ago I thought I bought a $5,000 pile of junk. Now with the great advice of the posters here my wife and I couldnt be happier !
The only draw back is I must vacume the pot every 3-4 days .If I dont I lose about 3-4 degrees. I am sure its due to the firside ultras I am burning.I just bought a ton of Hammer Hot ones .I hope this will help that small problem.

The Hamer Hot Ones I have, have burned great. Awesome heat, little ash, does not dirty up the glass too fast. You should be happy with them. Amazing what the differences between brands are. Next year/this year I will be hoarding them by the tons!