Using thermostats with Harman Stoves

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

abrucerd

Member
Aug 22, 2007
221
Central MA
After sitting on the shelf for over a month, I finally wired a Honeywell 7-day programmable thermostat to my Harman Advance (thanks to the forum for all the help!).

The main reason I wanted this setup is because we travel a lot during the weekends, and I'm tired of coming home Sunday afternoons to a cold house (plus another 2 hours or so to get the temp back up). So, I'm hoping my thermostat can help with this... and wouldn't you know it, I'm going out of town this weekend for Christmas!

So, I wanted to post this as more of a sanity check... am I going about this the right way?

Friday morning, I'll cycle down the stove until it turns off.
On the thermostat, I'll setup all occupy/unoccupy periods to the lowest setting (40 deg) for Friday and Saturday. In my mind, this should keep the stove from powering on at any point Friday and Saturday (assuming the thermostat temp doesn't go below 40 in the room).
I'll program it to return to it's max setting (90 deg) at least 2 hours before I'm scheduled to come home on Sunday.
Then I'll place it in Room Temp mode, with auto ignite on.

Does this sound like the right way to go about this? The minimum setting for Friday and Saturday is where I'm a little nervous... Since my particular T-stat doesn't have a vacation mode, setting all occupy/unoccupy periods to it's lowest setting for the days I'm away is the only way I can think to do this.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!
 
Sounds good. There is also a blue tooth (wi-fi) thermostat whereby you can check in via the web to turn things on and off.

B001VGMEM4
 
I'm not too sure I would do what you are doing! If you set that low limit at 40*, there is no way the house would come anywhere near 70*, if you set it to come on 2 hours in advance. Not sure what the temperatures have been in your area, but in NH we have got to the single digits. Don't know what the weather is for the weekend, but you would be lucky if turning the stove on 2 hours in advance got you to 50*.

Tom C.
 
Thanks Tom.

I have baseboard oil heat that I'll use to make sure the house doesn't get too cold... this would be the only times during the winter I use oil (away for extended periods). But still a good point... maybe 2 hours is too short... I'll probably set it to kick in early Sunday morning... or even late Saturday night. Hopper will be full, so shouldn't have to worry about pellets.
 
I understand what you are saying, my goal this year is not to turn the oil fed boiler on. With the addition of the second stove, it seems to be working out good. Being away all weekend, you will probably have to burn some oil. If you had a set back thermostat on your boiler, you could keep the setting low on both, and then maybe 4 hours before you come home have the oil and stove come on, to get it nice and toasty. Or, leave it at 60 and get the neighbor to feed your stove. Program to come up to 70 before you arrive home.

Just my 2 cents

Tom C.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.