What pellets burn best in your Harman P61 or P61-A

[Whimpster]

I'm Curious to what pellets burn and feed best in the Harman P61 or P61-A's.
Also for those people running P61's what setting work best with your stove and what mode burns best, stove mode or room temp mode?
I've only burned a Canadian pellet (Eastern Embers) to date...would like to try a few other brands to compare heat output and ash level.

 

[dpwoods]

It doesn’t seem to make much difference, the P61A2 seems to eat nearly anything with similar results………. My stove dealer had a pre-buy back in September for pellets at $200/ton. They sell mostly ProPellets (Indiana hardwood), but the demand was greater than they anticipated. They couldn’t get enough ProPellets in a timely fashion, so they went shopping for other suppliers. I wound up with two pallets of ProPellets and one pallet of Southernglo (softwood) pellets from northeast Texas. The softwood pellets were bulkier, but they burned well. Whenever I run across a place that carries some other brand I buy a few bags to try them. I’ve sampled several other brands (Somerset, Marth Pennywise, Ozark Hardwood Products, Valley Forest) , but the only brand that seemed to differ much were some pellets Home Depot carried that were made in Missoula, MT. The ash from that brand was much bulkier and had lots of “grit” in it.

Pellet marketing seems rather odd. Valley Forest and BioPellets are both manufactured within 120 miles, but are difficult to find locally. It’s easier to find pellets that are made 300-800 miles away………..Pallet price on pellets is $225-$240 per ton.

I run the P61A2 in room temp mode with a feed rate of about 3½. I’m using an outside air supply with no problems (other than condensation frost on the pipe) in temps below -30°F. The room temp fluctuation is much less with the stove probe thermostat than with the electronic thermostat/oil furnace that is now the backup heat source. Pellet usage in an old house is 2 bags a day when it’s really cold, about 1 bag a day when temps are near freezing.

 

[jeanjo]

We have a Harman P61 and an old farmhouse in Wisconsin. Our stove is located at one end of our house in a mostly closed floor plan, although we have a few large double doorways. Anyway, we are using Marth pellets in Stove Temp. mode. I read something on this forum a couple of weeks ago that we interpreted to mean that when in stove temp. mode the feed rate is not really relevant, that the stove feeds whatever is needed to reach the temp. setting. We had the feed rate set at a little over 3 and we just turn the temp up or down depending on outside temp, house temp, etc. We did just recently notice that we seem to need to turn the temp. up further to achieve the same inside temps. that we were getting early in the winter. My husband thinks that the heating elements located on the top of the stove have some creosote buildup that may be reducing the temp. coming out. We are going to clean them to see if this changes things. Does anyone have any other thoughts as to why our heat output could change? He turned up the feed rate and it did seem to help but it is hard to tell what is really making a difference. We welcome any thoughts on this!

 

[Sawduster]

I have an old farm style home, but it is not drafty, and has a lot of small rooms. The house is not that big only 1500 sq. ft, and the stove is centrally located. When it is really cold I am burning pretty much 3 bags a day. With my hopper extention I have around 135 lbs. of pellets in the hopper, and I can totally burn through that many pellets in 24 hours when it is as cold as it has been. I am burning Boreal Pellets, which are manufactured in Quebec. I am amazed that some of you can get away with burning so few pellets. I burn in room temp mode with the sensor in back of the stove. I keep the room the stove is in about 80 degrees, and that keeps the rest of the house where I want it.

 

[Honda]

I have run a P61-A for 4 years, and have tried a bunch of brands, and have found that they all burn well. I like the Eastern Embers and LG from Quebec the best for softwood pellets, seem to have low ash and good heat output. I can only repeat what everyone else is saying, they will burn just about anything you put through them. You will only notice that depending on the quality, there will be more or less ash, and may go through a bag quicker or slower.