new to forum with my PC45

[PC45er]

Hello All,

I've been reading the forum frequently most of the heating season. Lots of good information and shared experiences. Thought I'd sign up and share my experience with my PC45.

This is my first season burning anything and love the PC45. I've put 5 tons of Barefoots (and 5 bags of Maine Woods! won't do that again) through the stove and heated my 2400sqft colonial nicely this winter. I keep the area the stove is in at 80, which rises and keeps 2nd floor around 68/70. I've only seen the oil man once for a half tank fill up.

The PC45 is a breeze to use and pretty simple to clean once a week. I am using it with the pellet burn pot with the auger extension/stir rod option. I find this works best to burn the pellets more completely.

We had 1 power outage and thankfully no smoke leakage. I will be looking for a UPS to avoid the smoke filled/sooted up firebox.

I look forward to learning more and hope to enjoy my PC45 for many years to come.

 

[imacman]

Welcome! Enjoy the forum...lots of nice, and very knowledgeable people hang out here.

How about a pic of your stove? ( we love pics...LOL)

 

[tinkabranc]

welcome! Yep, we love pics!

 

[crausch]

Welcome!

It sounds like you have had a pretty positive expereince so far this season.

I hope everything continues well for you the remainder of the season.

 

[freebird77]

Hi and welcome from N.E. Pa.

 

[PC45er]

thanks for the warm welcomes! It's been a (knocking on wood) very pleasant experience this winter.Sorry, no pics of the stove.

It doesn't appear there are too many users of the PC45 here, but, I believe it is the basically the same as the P61 or P68. One thing I am pretty sure I will need to replace are the stir rods/auger extension. They get so red hot it has worn them down a bit. It came with 2 so they could be swapped out between cleanings.

The other thing I need to look in to is, what season ending maintenance entails. I will dig through the forum and see what I find. No doubt I will still have questions.

 

[ugenetoo]

thanks for the warm welcomes! It's been a (knocking on wood) very pleasant experience this winter.Sorry, no pics of the stove.

It doesn't appear there are too many users of the PC45 here, but, I believe it is the basically the same as the P61 or P68. One thing I am pretty sure I will need to replace are the stir rods/auger extension. They get so red hot it has worn them down a bit. It came with 2 so they could be swapped out between cleanings.

The other thing I need to look in to is, what season ending maintenance entails. I will dig through the forum and see what I find. No doubt I will still have questions.

i have been using the pc45s for three years burning barley and rye. if you are only burning pellets in yours, you dont really need the stir rod. harmon came out with a conversion kit to enhance the pellet burning capabilities of the pc45. retails for around $20-$25 and consists of a blower cover with a larger hole and an end grate for the corn pot that allows the pellet ash to fall off the end. ive had a lot of experience with these stoves, so ask away! you dont say where you are so i cant really say what kind of fuels are available in your area, but i know that this stove will burn just about anything that has btus and can be fed to the fire.there are dip switches on the control panel that will also help to customize your stove for whatever fuel you choose.take a look at the other forum at;
http://forum.iburncorn.com/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=1b0c675fd715f9335e8947401590cb8b
also, this company has a wealth of info on the pc45;
http://oatstoves.com/

 

[exoilburner]

Hello All,

We had 1 power outage and thankfully no smoke leakage. I will be looking for a UPS to avoid the smoke filled/sooted up firebox.

I put a DLA1500 UPS on my Harmon pellet furnace. It is made by APC and is 1500VA.

If the pellet furnace duct blower is on low and I do not use the igniter it runs the furnace and duct blower normally for at least 55 minutes until the pellet furnace does a reasonable shut down or I get the back-up generator hooked up in time.

I paid $259.34 on Amazon.com before shipping. It’s output is advertised as “network grade power” for commercial applications. From what I have read it’s equivalent to the SUA1500 ($421.11) except the DLA does not have “external adjustable sensitivity”.

It also corrects low and high line voltages. It automatically switches power on or off dependent on the power line power or backup generator. Protects the pellet stove electrical components from surges, spikes, lightning and other power disturbances which occur during winter storms before the power goes out. Would be the pits if the stove electrical got knocked out when you needed it most.

DLA dimentions: 8.5” x 6.7” x 17.3”

 

[PC45er]

ugene...my stove came with both the corn and pellet burn set ups. I started without the stir rod and experimented with it half way through the season. It seemed to burn more completely using it, so I stayed with it. I haven't tinkered with any other settings. I run on auto with feed rate 4 and room temp 80. Once a week shut down to clean burn pot, stir rod, heat exchanger, combustion fan and esp probe. I use an oak as my stove is installed close to a window.

As for other fuels, I am in SE Mass and am not sure there are too many options. Corn prices I looked at were higher than pellets and I am not crazy about storing corn in my basement due to the rodent attraction. If barley and rye were available, easy to store and affordable I would be willing to give them a go. Do you know if/where alternate fuels for the pc45 are available?

exoil...thanks for the info on the ups. I am still not sold on it being a practical option for me. Unless I am missing something, it appears that if I am not home during a power outage or within an hour then I am in the same situation as I would be if I didn't spend the 250-400 on a UPS. Would the pc45 last longer on the ups than the pf100? Is there an affordable UPS that would give me several hours run time?

 

[exoilburner]

PC45er,

Your situation may be different than mine. Check out this forum thread for more ideas.
http://forum.iburncorn.com/viewtopi...&start=0&sid=013218985ba6903893e8300766bf77ea

I liked the complete protection the UPS provided for the stove from power abnormalities. I've heard from my dealer tech that control boards have been known to die during power line problems.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I have a PC-45 burning in the store and love it. I do get a better burn with pellets in the pellet pot w/o the stir and the grain cap on top. I do stock parts for the stove if you need them.

Eric
330-448-0300

 

[PC45er]

thanks again exoil. I will keep looking this off season or just live with the rare power outage. I read a lot of threads concerning power inverters on this forum and the other. It all sounded great until something was mentioned about needing a pure sine wave. I don't know enough about it and don't want to fry my stoves board, so I chose to take my chances without one.

kinsman, I'll keep you in mind if/when parts are needed. I know, if I continue using stir rod, they will need replacing as they wear down from the intense heat. Have you burned with the pellet burn pot and stir rod? The corn pot holes are way too small(unfortunately when they installed my stove, they had used the corn pot). What settings are you using when burning without the stir rod? are you saying that you use the grain cap? I haven't tried using that.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

thanks again exoil. I will keep looking this off season or just live with the rare power outage. I read a lot of threads concerning power inverters on this forum and the other. It all sounded great until something was mentioned about needing a pure sine wave. I don't know enough about it and don't want to fry my stoves board, so I chose to take my chances without one.

kinsman, I'll keep you in mind if/when parts are needed. I know, if I continue using stir rod, they will need replacing as they wear down from the intense heat. Have you burned with the pellet burn pot and stir rod? The corn pot holes are way too small(unfortunately when they installed my stove, they had used the corn pot). What settings are you using when burning without the stir rod? are you saying that you use the grain cap? I haven't tried using that.

I keep my feed rate a hair below #2. That is with the "World's Best Pellets". Pro pellets.
I think the Grain cap helps keep some more heat in the burn pot for a better burn.
I do not use the stir rod with pellets.

Eric