P68 Install - Beginning to end.

[TheMightyMoe]

Got my Harman P68 last night, and am beginning the ground work, and hopefully finishing the install Sunday night / Monday night. Figured, I learned a lot from here, so I'll post what I did.

Purchased Stove and piping from End of the Alcan in Delta, Alaska.

Stove 3,300$ (By far cheapest locally quality and price)
Venting 400$

Purchased hearth supplies from Lowes
40 6x6 tiles @ .30 cents each (Clearance) 12$
Backerboard 14$
Tile adhesive 20$ (I went with premix, only cost 4$ more)
Grout 14$ (Premixed was 40$)
Spacers 4$
Trim 20$
Liquid nails 7$

I had some fun times trying to fit a pellet stove in by the books. I have a sunken living room, so I can't go straight out and up, and the sides of the room come out, making it hard to fit anything perfectly. I am going with a 30x36 ceramic tile pad on concrete backer board. (Minimum for the P68 is 25x33). Also I will be tucking it right in the corner, using heat shields, to get in tight as possible. I have 4 pieces of felt under the pad, so if I need to perform maintenance, I can unhook venting, and slide it out.

The down side of doing it this way, is if I decide to move the pad from the room, I'll need to support it with a board first.

Also pulled apart a electrical J-box, running a 2x18 gauge wire to the crawl space for future wire run for thermostat.

Day 1:

1. Harman P68 - Woo woo.

2. Let the woman arrange tiles to her liking, then sized it. With 1/8 spacers came to 29 15/16" and 36".

3. Cut board, measure twice, cut once.

4. Fitted board, again measure twice, cut once.

5. Spread adhesive with trowel tile away

6. Slow and steady, do it square, and it will be square.

7. Enjoy the view, wait 6 hours to grout.

8. Angle shot, note the paper template I made before purchasing the stove to ensure it would fit to
code.

9. Recycle.


Will update as work continues.

Feel free to comment / trash talk / give advice.

 

[Northwoodneil]

Looking good. Keep the pics coming. P68 is a power house should take the chill off those long Alaska nights. If you figure out where to mail that boxed cat to let me have the address.

 

[mepellet]

Looks good! You will really enjoy the stove!

What type of venting did you purchase and what is the plan for the vent routing? Up and out? Out & up? The P68 doesn't have a R value requirement for the hearth pad does it? I don't think so but may be worth another look in the install manual. I know that P61A does and my dealer didn't know about it.

Looking forward to the progress photos!

 

[PJPellet]

Looks good. The P68 will heat you and your neighbor

 

[TheMightyMoe]

Duravent - My options were very limited.
Up and out - Stupid sunken living room.

I have read the manual, online manual (which is different), and the back of the unit. Minimum specifications for hearth were 20 gauge metal and 25"x33".

 

[TheMightyMoe]

DAY 2:

1. Mix grout.

2. Wipe down area so tiles are slightly moist

3. Fill it in. After filling get as much extra grout off as possible with tool, without damaging fill.

4. Wipe down with sponge after 10 minutes.

5. Continue wiping down every 5 minutes until haze does not return.


TADA - Grout takes up to 24 hours to dry. Tommorow I will put on the trim and begin venting the stove.

 

[Defiant]

Nice job!

 

[tsmith]

Looks great, you will be toasty warm this winter.

 

[Don2222]

Very nice!

Are you going to add any rope light?

 

[Defiant]

Very nice!

Are you going to add any rope light?

Don disco is not in anymore

 

[Don2222]

T I T - That is why I did not get the 3 wire chaser rope light and the Disco Mirror ball for the basement install. Maybe I will for the shed install! Thanks for the good idea!

These newly designed LED Warm White 2-wire rope light that can be custom cut to 3' 3" increments. I needed 10 feet to go around all 3 sides of my hearth so 9'9" works fine!

So here is the site to order the rope light. > (broken link removed)
I do recommend calling so the proper shipping can be calculated.
The prices and the kind knowledgable technical help was superb! Best I could find on the web!
It does not come with mounting clips which I did not need anyway.

 

[smoke show]

can we get an unlike button???

 

[TheMightyMoe]

Christmas lights are gross, it would take away and distract from the beauty that is... Fire.

 

[Don2222]

Christmas lights are gross, it would take away and distract from the beauty that is... Fire.

I do agree, plain simple warm white light to accent the fire is good. No flashy lights to distract from it!

 

[Lousyweather]

oh! they make light for computers that brighten with noise!

http://www.xoxide.com/cocasoackit.html

imagine, as it gets colder, your combustion fan ramps up, and so does the cold cathode lighting you have ingeniously placed around your stove! kinda like you might imagine a small nuclear reactor ramping up.......heh.....

 

[Don2222]

oh! they make light for computers that brighten with noise!

http://www.xoxide.com/cocasoackit.html

imagine, as it gets colder, your combustion fan ramps up, and so does the cold cathode lighting you have ingeniously placed around your stove! kinda like you might imagine a small nuclear reactor ramping up.......heh.....

Cool! ! !

I was thinking of plugging the 120vac rope lights into the same connector as the Auger. So every time the Auger turned the rope lights would go on!
Then when the stove shuts down the light goes out!

Also
You could plug the 120vac rope lights into the same connector as the convection blower so when the stove heats up and the blower turns on you have heat and light at the same time! LOL
Then when the stove shuts down the light goes out!

With 2 rope lights you can do both of the above!

 

[Lousyweather]

Cool! ! !

I was thinking of plugging the 120vac rope lights into the same connector as the Auger. So every time the Auger turned the rope lights would go on!
Then when the stove shuts down the light goes out!

Also
You could plug the 120vac rope lights into the same connector as the convection blower so when the stove heats up and the blower turns on you have heat and light at the same time! LOL
Then when the stove shuts down the light goes out!

With 2 rope lights you can do both of the above!

Brilliant Don! I like the way you think!

yea, those cold cathode lights are pretty amazing....try playing them with the puter speakers on! The possibilities are endless! You could even have a bi*chmeter for the significant other.....as he/she gets louder, so does the light! A quantitative way of telling them to be quiet! (uh....no wonder I am divorced!) Hooking lights to the auger would be pretty cool as well, but thats on/off......MUCH better since cold cathode can vary in intensity...good for something that automaticallly ramps up and down....imagine it hooked to a digital thermostat! wow!

*shiver*

 

[TheMightyMoe]

Do you all sell light bulbs for a living? *_*

 

[Lousyweather]

Do you all sell light bulbs for a living? *_*

actually, no, Moe, I dont! Apologies though for derailing the thread....gadgets are my thing!

 

[jtakeman]

actually, no, Moe, I dont! Apologies though for derailing the thread....gadgets are my thing!

Got that fella fooled dinin ya!

OP, Nice lookin so far.

Don, you bored again?

 

[imacman]

Don, you bored again?

 

[Don2222]

No, just got a job doing my first central air conditioner servicing! The 30 amp breaker kept tripping and the AC stopped cooling the house! I have all the tools just have to figure out what to do!
See > > https://www.hearth.com/talk/forums/diy-and-general-non-hearth-advice.12/

Anyway, I am over the hump now and just have to go back tomorrow and clean the Evaporator!

OP - Nice work, keep the pics coming!@

 

[Eatonpcat]

Looks good...Can't wait to see the final pics!

Measure twice, cut once...PFFFFFTTT! I prefer my method, Measure, cut, drive to store get another sheet of material and cut it right this time!

 

[TheMightyMoe]

Day 3:

1. Assembled stack and painted.


2. Lined up stack (Stood on oven), traced hole, used dry wall saw to form a cross, and used razor to trace the circle.


3. Punch the pie slices, and clean up. Did the same for outside wall but with a hammer/chisel. To line up holes, I cut a starter hole in the center using the thimble as a trace.

4. Put in stack, and clean up! W00T W00T. I did install a OAK (Used a metal dryer vent for outside and a automotive flex tube with a metal hose clamp) No one carried OAK locally.


5. Siliconed around/all over inside thimble.

For termination, you notice how there is a little gap around the duravent, I was wondering if there is a not so red high temp silicone I can use to seal that. The gasket on the inside plate isn't doing the job. It's not that big of deal, but anytime you can stop a little -40 degree air from coming in, thats a good thing.



Today I am borrowing a manometer from work, picking up a black surge protector and will be breaking her in.

 

[Defiant]

Nice work. Looks great