Question for Harman Owners - Room Temp Auto/Manual

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jayman81

Member
Dec 20, 2013
33
Canada
Do you change your igniter from auto to manual when the weather becomes consistently colder to prevent cycling? What outdoor temp range triggers this change for you?
 
Yes, when it stays cold I switch to room temp manual ,so that it goes to maint. mode in between calls for heat.
 
I do, there is a debate of burning more pellets , however , I like to save the electricity used during igniter startup vs maintenance mode startup
 
Yes, in fact I run it in manual all the time to save on the igniter.
 
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It depends on the house somewhat, in my house I use manual once the days temps don't get over mid 20's or so. Also in my house it doesn't matter for the igniter, at those temps the stove won't quite make it out before the next call for heat anyway. There is still enough flame for restart, but manual the ramp up will be shorter. Right now I use auto, in the spring too.

Additionally, there are times I like Stove temp mode, be that auto or other times manual. Stove Temp Manual at level 4 is good for when you have company in the living room and you want to visit or have a meeting. We have a bible study in our living room once a month for instance and I use that mode then.
 
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Yes, when it stays cold I switch to room temp manual ,so that it goes to maint. mode in between calls for heat.
What he said.....
 
hi

new to burning in general. having my 52i insert installed in a couple of weeks. I have not yet read the manual, but i figure i'd save myself some reading and just ask you guys.

i'm using my insert to heat mostly the 1st floor (1000 sq. ft, open) of my 2 floor home. someone is generally home 24hr/s day (babysitter with the kids, and then us after work). i'm looking to keep the first floor relatively comfy (maybe 70), not necessarily t-shirt comfy.

seems like there are several considerations to running your stove:
- how much /how fast the pellets burn depending on the setting
- keeping it on manual to avoid the ignitor repeatedly cycling on/off


how should i run my 52i? so that it's pretty much set it and forget it?
thanks
 
hi

new to burning in general. having my 52i insert installed in a couple of weeks. I have not yet read the manual, but i figure i'd save myself some reading and just ask you guys.

i'm using my insert to heat mostly the 1st floor (1000 sq. ft, open) of my 2 floor home. someone is generally home 24hr/s day (babysitter with the kids, and then us after work). i'm looking to keep the first floor relatively comfy (maybe 70), not necessarily t-shirt comfy.

seems like there are several considerations to running your stove:
- how much /how fast the pellets burn depending on the setting
- keeping it on manual to avoid the ignitor repeatedly cycling on/off


how should i run my 52i? so that it's pretty much set it and forget it?
thanks
Room temp in general is pretty much set it and forget it. The key is placing the probe in a decent spot, then just a mental calibration of what setting on the stove maintains the temp you want. If you want 70 out and about beyond the room the stove is in you may need to set it around 72, 74 etc till you get a handle on it. each house is different, depends on insulation, floor plan etc .You will learn quick. Additionally, down the road you can add on to the probe length. Mid winter you may want to go to Room Temp Manual as we have discussed above for a couple of reasons as mentioned. But you can run in auto just fine too.

You can download the manual from Harman directly ( in PDF), read it and get a jump on it before delivery. That's what I did with my P61a in deciding to buy it. I had manuals to 3 different Harman units !

One thing though I should point out, stoves should never truly be forgotten ! People should check on them when they are around. It's not like a gas appliance that you can just pretty much forget for the season. I know you now that, just sayin.
 
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One thing I learned, in manual mode and stove temp, with settings set at 3, my distribution blower doesn't run on high. Reading the manual, the settings have to be at 4 and higher to get a high distribution from the fan. The manual indicates that at 3 in the above settings, the stove is in "flame" mode for astetics.
 
****get a gate****

Pellet stoves dont feel hot like wood stoves. Our dealer has had adults touch the glass thinking it didnt get hot which doing so is a trip to the ER.. the first day we had ours one of our kids tripped in the living room and crashed into the gate. Worth every penny.

As for set and forget we basically do. I fill it up every night before bed and do a quick scrape of the burn pot (mostly to play with the fire lol). Our living room is always 80 and the rest of the house is 70.
 
One thing I learned, in manual mode and stove temp, with settings set at 3, my distribution blower doesn't run on high. Reading the manual, the settings have to be at 4 and higher to get a high distribution from the fan. The manual indicates that at 3 in the above settings, the stove is in "flame" mode for astetics.

If you are on stove temp then it wont need manual ignitor mode because it will stay on until it runs out of pellets.
 
No. I just use room temp/auto. I just like to set it and forget it and it's no fuss for my better half. I can't say I have ever noticed huge drift in temperature during the shoulder season but my house is on the small side.
 
If you are on stove temp then it wont need manual ignitor mode because it will stay on until it runs out of pellets.
My point was you won't get the heat on high fan with settings in manual mode for the igniter and settings at 3 or less in stove mode.. I run stove temp when it's cold, cold. I choose stove temp to save on using the igniter.
 
No. I just use room temp/auto. I just like to set it and forget it and it's no fuss for my better half. I can't say I have ever noticed huge drift in temperature during the shoulder season but my house is on the small side.
I use Room temp manual in the mid winter because instead of going into shut down mode it will just go to a maintenance burn, when the probe calls for heat the ramp up is faster. In shoulder season auto works great in my house. It's doesn't make a huge difference anyway in mid winter except for that ramp up time. And in 0 deg weather it really doesn't matter because it wouldn't see either mode, maintenance or shut down, it's too busy heating. This time of year isn't much of a test for any pellet stove LOL !
 
Yes, when it stays cold I switch to room temp manual ,so that it goes to maint. mode in between calls for heat.
same here. The radiant heat given off in maintenance mode is nice, and it's already warmed up when there's a call for heat.
 
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room temp manual when it gets cold enough....these days room temp auto..
 
I use Room temp manual in the mid winter because instead of going into shut down mode it will just go to a maintenance burn, when the probe calls for heat the ramp up is faster. In shoulder season auto works great in my house. It's doesn't make a huge difference anyway in mid winter except for that ramp up time. And in 0 deg weather it really doesn't matter because it wouldn't see either mode, maintenance or shut down, it's too busy heating. This time of year isn't much of a test for any pellet stove LOL !

I tried the room temp manual mode through out the season but in my case the XXV spent too much time in maintenance burn and made the stove all dirty. So Room Temp/Auto works better in my circumstance - 1000 sqft of very well insulated home. My girl even turns down the temp before leaving for work saving us more pellets. This sounds like it may not make sense in your case due to the ramp up time. In my situation the ramp up time is pretty quick so no big deal. In addition I get home before the boss so by the time she gets in- the house is toasty.
 
I tried the room temp manual mode through out the season but in my case the XXV spent too much time in maintenance burn and made the stove all dirty. So Room Temp/Auto works better in my circumstance - 1000 sqft of very well insulated home. My girl even turns down the temp before leaving for work saving us more pellets. This sounds like it may not make sense in your case due to the ramp up time. In my situation the ramp up time is pretty quick so no big deal. In addition I get home before the boss so by the time she gets in- the house is toasty.
Well it depends a lot on the house. Mine is 1800 sq ft and not as tight as it could be, so so insulation. In a perfect house with that Sq Ft a P43 should heat it, or even an Accentra free standing stove. Glad we went with the P61, it has reserve on those 40 MPH NW windy days. However in your situation, your house is tight and the stove sized well over the requirements of the house. In that case I would use auto too !
 
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thanks for all the replies. my hearth gate was delivered today, thanks, i do want to keep the little ones far away from the insert glass.
i'll read the manual and im' sure everyone's response will make more sense to me.
 
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I use stove temp and calibrate to the desired affect in a large open floor plan with temp and blower adjustments. Hope that helps. Also I have a 52i as noted and my in laws just got one. We spoke quickly, but I got the impression they may have changed the nomenclature on the control panel from stove temp to "constant burn" which sounds pretty logical. Anyone else see that?
 
I use stove temp and calibrate to the desired affect in a large open floor plan with temp and blower adjustments. Hope that helps. Also I have a 52i as noted and my in laws just got one. We spoke quickly, but I got the impression they may have changed the nomenclature on the control panel from stove temp to "constant burn" which sounds pretty logical. Anyone else see that?


We just had our 52I installed recently and it says "constant burn" as well. I guess they were trying to avoid any confusion.
 
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