Talked to my dealer about what settings I should use on my Mt Vernon AE. I told him I use manual mode, flame height -2, hardwood setting if using hardwood, softwood if using softwood, and usually heat setting of 2 or 3 because I like to have the stove burn for longer periods of time rather than reach temp quickly then cycle off. Does anyone else do this? He discouraged that, saying that you get a much cleaner burn using heat output settings of 4 or 5 and that the stove was designed to burn on higher settings and cycle on and off rather than burn for long periods on lower settings. I expressed concern about the frequency of the ignitor coming on but he said it is a fact of life on these auto light stoves that ignitors do go bad and they are around $42. Much less than a combustion blower that goes bad from running 24 hours a day.I would like input from those of you who have a thermostat controlled pellet stove and like to burn for long periods of time rather tha n have your stove cranking out the heat and cycling on and off more often.
Those with auto ignite and thermostat
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I run my AE on "automatic" 90% of the time unless it gets real cold and struggles to hold temperature, then I set it to manual on a mid heat setting. I agree that having it reach temp and shut down probably will wear out the ignitor more quickly in the long term. But, with the AE, it is going to do that every few hours for the "autoclean" cycle anyway. I think you're fine. Run it however you like best.
pellet burner said:
I use Auto/Off in the shoulders and Hi/Lo in the cold. But the Harman is something like room temp then stove temp or the otherway around? Not really sure.
pellet burner said:
Mine hasn't shut off in weeks, no ignitor wear going on. I run mine in room temp mode, high 70's works great, the rest off the house stays in the high 60's.
pellet burner said:
I keep mine in "room temp" mode set at around 70, keeps the living room toasty and the rest of the house a little cooler. I pretty much use room temp, i haven't quite figured out "stove temp" yet.
i run "on off" when its warmer outside so it doesnt cycle very much , in "winter" i revert to hi/low as it holds temps in the house better with a small pilot flame steadily trickling heat
harman advance running on room temp set to 75/77 deg with a feed rate set at 3 i can say the stove has never shut off once it just cycles to a very small flame with little to no heat output until it calls for more heat, then it just feeds more fuel for a bigger fire and the blower kicks on. I only shut it down once a week to do a cleaning.
I was told that setting 3 or 4 are the best, and that on 5 you are not running as efficient. I would run it however you feel it heats your house the best.
There is a mod for the igniter from the MFG. I burnt 4 or 5 out in the first two season and then applied the mod and have not had a probelm since. It is a very simple fix. Just call their support line and they will email you the directions. alls you need it a tap and a drill and about 30 minutes max.
........ I try to run my stove on 'low' as long as it maintains at least 70 F 'ish' without shutting off and starting up again. When running on low, it uses less than 241W (all the blowers on low and auger motor - from stove specs ). When it starts up however, the igniter adds an 'additional 380W' for the duration of the start up.
Therefore, if you can run with minimum number of start ups (without cooking yourself out of house and home from running on low continuously) then your hydro bill will be cheaper in the long run!! In other words, try to run as close to the wire as you can without cycling on and off.
In the shoulder seasons like March, April, May, when low starts cookin you out, then it is time to let the thermostat do its thing but that's OK as the 'off time' of your stove gets longer and longer so you begin to use less hydro for this different reason....cc ;-)
Therefore, if you can run with minimum number of start ups (without cooking yourself out of house and home from running on low continuously) then your hydro bill will be cheaper in the long run!! In other words, try to run as close to the wire as you can without cycling on and off.
In the shoulder seasons like March, April, May, when low starts cookin you out, then it is time to let the thermostat do its thing but that's OK as the 'off time' of your stove gets longer and longer so you begin to use less hydro for this different reason....cc ;-)
i run stove mode....feed rate at 4 and stove mode 5....keeps first floor at 72 and second floor at 69-70......i'll use room temp for the shoulder season (room temp won't heat the whole house)
I run on automatic in the winter. It keeps the house much more evenly heated then to have the unit cycle.
I do revert to manual L or ML in the fall and spring when anything higher would have the unit cycling way too much.
I do revert to manual L or ML in the fall and spring when anything higher would have the unit cycling way too much.
Room temp mode all the way!pellet burner said:
Keeping the 1st floor of a small Cape between 72-75
Upstairs runs between 64-70. Run oil to keep North bedroom at 67. (Does not run much)
350 gals of oil delivered since March 09.
We used to go through 900 gals/year (1st floor at 68 and 2nd at 67)
In our area oil is going up and pellets going down.
Found a place close by that has pellets for $235/ton
Link to our oil prices
http://maineoil.com/zone3.asp?x=0
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