Well I did it

[AndrewChurchill]

I came home yesterday and as I walked towards the house I noticed I didn't hear the exhaust fan for my PB105. I went downstairs and sure enough I saw the dreaded 5 blink error on the PB.

I can't complain much since it's been about three weeks since I've seen that error. However, based on the forecasted temps in my area, daytime highs in the high 20's to low 30's and night time temps in the teens, I decided to run the PB in manual mode for the week.

I'm guessing at the most I'll burn an extra 1/2 bag per day, but I suspect it will be closer to 1/4 bag.

 

[Wayne64SS]

I haven't gotten that 5 blinker since i figured out how imperative it was to keep it clean.... let me know how that manual mode works out though, cause I was wondering if it would save pellets just by lowering the time it takes to get a fire going and bring the stove back to temp....

 

[AndrewChurchill]

Wayne,

In the manual mode I burned 2 and 3/4 bags of pellets in one day which is up from the 1 and 1/2 that I typically have been burning. Although it was much colder here yesterday than in the past week.

Since today is supposed to be similar to yesterday temperature wise I've switched back to the auto mode so I can do a comparison.

I've created a spread sheet to do a degree day calculation and convert that to pounds of pellets burned per degree day to see what if any difference there is between burning in the auto vs. manual mode.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Wayne64SS]

sweet that's a pretty good idea! I've been going through about 3 bags every 2 days, so I'm right at the 1 1/2 bag a day mark. I don't think thats terrible by any means. With any luck it won't get any worse... I know that here the temps have been around 19deg low and 39deg high. Similar out there?

 

[AndrewChurchill]

Yesterday the high was 24 and the low 8 which was lower than last week. The temps last week similar to what you just posted.

Today is supposed to be about the same as yesterday. I'll be interested to see how many bags I burned today when I get home. I make sure to reload my PB at the same time each day so I get an apples to apples comparison.