Unburnt pellets in Harman P 61

[tbear853]

............. problem unless it’s pellet difference/quality.

And in 33+ years of life with pellets, I long ago found first hand that it can and often does. Why with very rare exception, I stick with the ones I and my stove like the most. If venturing to buy some just to finish out a last few days of the season, or just to have on hand, if I can't find ours in stock, I limit myself to 10 bags of "whatever". If they prove to be really junky junk, I'll dispose of the remainder other than as stove fuel, even if it means just pouring them out in the woods.

 

[Spaz]

It appears to be acting up again. I was running on 1 and needed some heat. Turned it up to 2 then 3 as it wasn't giving any more. I also topped it up. it's up to 3 now and I've got 1 degree out of it. I can see it's not burning right. So my guess is bad pellets. Although it's again from the same bag I'm going to keep turning it up and see if it clears up. To not too cold here, so I can keep messing with it. The flames are smaller and have a blue tinge to them. Which they don't normally have. I ran it all last night on 3.0 and it was 6 degrees colder outside and the temp in here was 72. I just got it up to 73.

 

[Spaz]

Even If it does clear up, I'm going to let it drain and fill it up with the other pellets. The temp is going up tonight hitting 41, by 7am so that's going to really mess things up. Temp outside is still 30, inside 74. I don't think anything will change by bedtime, I'll probably have to turn it down again when I go to bed and maybe shut it off in the morning.

 

[Spaz]

It appears to be acting up again. I was running on 1 and needed some heat. Turned it up to 2 then 3 as it wasn't giving any more. I also topped it up. it's up to 3 now and I've got 1 degree out of it. I can see it's not burning right. So my guess is bad pellets. Although it's again from the same bag I'm going to keep turning it up and see if it clears up. To not too cold here, so I can keep messing with it. The flames are smaller and have a blue tinge to them. Which they don't normally have. I ran it all last night on 3.0 and it was 6 degrees colder outside and the temp in here was 72. I just got it up to 73.

Not a case of pellets jamming up, just not burning properly. The ash pile is inconsistent, and lumpy. Flames smaller and has blue in it.

 

[bogieb]

It appears to be acting up again. I was running on 1 and needed some heat. Turned it up to 2 then 3 as it wasn't giving any more. I also topped it up. it's up to 3 now and I've got 1 degree out of it. I can see it's not burning right. So my guess is bad pellets. Although it's again from the same bag I'm going to keep turning it up and see if it clears up. To not too cold here, so I can keep messing with it. The flames are smaller and have a blue tinge to them. Which they don't normally have. I ran it all last night on 3.0 and it was 6 degrees colder outside and the temp in here was 72. I just got it up to 73.

The flame color can probably be attributed to a mineral that is in the wood the pellets are made from. Occasionally I'll get some pellets that give blue or green tinged flames.

If using an OAK, the amount of humidity in the air can cause a difference on how pellets burn.

When you are burning at 1, do you occasionally turn it up to get the exhaust nice and hot? If not, that may be a contributor. It needs to be blasted every once in a while, or cleaned more often.

 

[Spaz]

The flame color can probably be attributed to a mineral that is in the wood the pellets are made from. Occasionally I'll get some pellets that give blue or green tinged flames.

If using an OAK, the amount of humidity in the air can cause a difference on how pellets burn.

When you are burning at 1, do you occasionally turn it up to get the exhaust nice and hot? If not, that may be a contributor. It needs to be blasted every once in a while, or cleaned more often.

It's not on 1 for very long maybe a couple of hours. Especially at this time of year. Ran it on 3 all last night and it seems to be okay this morning. I'm not sure I want to switch pellets as Eastern Embers has never given me an issue. And the issues seem to be only on low settings. Also I doubt I'll be on the lower settings much in the near future. Lastly it seems to be able to recover as it did last night.

 

[Spaz]

It's not on 1 for very long maybe a couple of hours. Especially at this time of year. Ran it on 3 all last night and it seems to be okay this morning. I'm not sure I want to switch pellets as Eastern Embers has never given me an issue. And the issues seem to be only on low settings. Also I doubt I'll be on the lower settings much in the near future. Lastly it seems to be able to recover as it did last night.

I've stuffed a bag of different pellets in, which should last a day and I'm going to watch what happens.

 

[Spaz]

I've stuffed a bag of different pellets in, which should last a day and I'm going to watch what happens.

Another observation, it seemed to wake up after I cleaned some ash out of the front of the pot, a usual morning thing . And added that bag. Gained a couple of degrees . It gets a short period of more air.

 

[Spaz]

Another observation, it seemed to wake up after I cleaned some ash out of the front of the pot, a usual morning thing . And added that bag. Gained a couple of degrees . It gets a short period of more air.

I've turned it down to 2 as it gained another degree. It picked up 3 degrees in 2 hours, having done nothing except clearing a half inch of ash out of the front of the pot and pouring a bag of pellets in.

 

[Spaz]

It's back to where it was this morning, except it's on 2 not 3. Doesn't make sense. Especially since the temp outside dropped from 41 to 38.

 

[Spaz]

It's back to where it was this morning, except it's on 2 not 3. Doesn't make sense. Especially since the temp outside dropped from 41 to 38.

It's also burning at the front and back of the pile, were this morning it was just burning at the back. So it's changing the air flow some how. It's interesting that the ESP isn't making up the difference seeing as in stove mode it's just looks for a predetermined temperature at the probe, according to the article posted earlier.

 

[Spaz]

Most interesting, 2 is now giving me the same temps as 3 was after the ash removal and putting the bag of pellets in.

 

[Spaz]

Still getting good heat, now the pile of ash that wasn't burning this morning, is burning, giving me the proper heat, and flame.

 

[Spaz]

Another interesting thing. Set on 2 it's idling away 3 inch wide and high flame, burning a hole in the back of a small pile if ash. I nudged the temp up a hair and a half hour later, the whole pile of ash is burning front and back and the flames side to side and 5 inches tall. Huge change for just a touch. Still doing it. Not complaining. Sort of this morning in reverse.

 

[Spaz]

Any way it's working fine, no noticable difference in pellets.

 

[Spaz]

Had a chat with the technician, and he just fed me garbage, so it's pointless to deal with him any more. He had no explanation for what has been going on. He suggested it's normal. Had this stove 2 years and there's no way it's normal. Has any one else had the heat go up when you turn it down or almost shut off when you haven't touched it in stove mode. I'd like to hear from you.

 

[johneh]

I am not a Harman guy, so maybe My Envrio works differently.
The only thing that is the same is that they are meant to produce heat.
Yes, my room temperature will change every day.
EG. Sunday, my stove was set at 2/3 of its output, and the room was at 21
outside temp. -8 with an east wind. Monday, the outside temperature was -3
With a west wind, the house was 24 , and the stove was set just off a maintenance burn.
It just shows that stoves make heat, and varying conditions dictate how warm the house will get
Only if you are on a thermostat that maintains the inside temp can you set your heat to be the same everyday
otherwise, you have to adjust the stove to what you want
Just this oldman's nickels worth.