All right: my unexplained P61 mysteries

[alternativeheat]

Nothing like good heavy steel or good engineering or both, something that usually costs some money.

Very true !

 

[lbcynya]

Wow, you folks are hardcore... While I tried to demystify what's happening with our Harman's, I didn't intend to bring out the hidden OCD gene in us...

For the record, I've never done the 1" test. This test is really for those that need/want 100% out of their stove. Since I don't, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants keeping the feed rate between 3 and 4 with little regard to exact positioning. This is why setting at 3.5 and forget is a happy medium that would likely work for most. So, sit back, relax and take whichever approach works for you.

 

[chken]

Ok, I'm catching on now, thanks for sticking it out guys ! ! I think my test was a success and that ceramic dish we keep water in has steam coming out of it, so I turned the room temp back down to 76 ( that keeps most of my house at 72). I left the feed at 5. I'll see how it goes from there. I don't get that if most folks find they run between 3.5 and 4.5, why is mine running at 5 ?

Dunno about Harmans, but it might be similar to how my stove works in manual. You set the temp and you choose a feed rate. When the stove reaches the room temp you set, it defaults to its lowest feed rate setting. The point being that if I choose a high feed rate, the stove reaches its set point faster, and idles at its lowest setting longer, than if I choose a lower feed rate, then the stove reaches its set point slower, and thus idles at its lowest setting for less. You can choose which approach you prefer. You might burn a few more pellets with the higher feed rate as you can stay at your set point more often, but I doubt it's much of a difference.

 

[alternativeheat]

Dunno about Harmans, but it might be similar to how my stove works in manual. You set the temp and you choose a feed rate. When the stove reaches the room temp you set, it defaults to its lowest feed rate setting. The point being that if I choose a high feed rate, the stove reaches its set point faster, and idles at its lowest setting longer, than if I choose a lower feed rate, then the stove reaches its set point slower, and thus idles at its lowest setting for less. You can choose which approach you prefer. You might burn a few more pellets with the higher feed rate as you can stay at your set point more often, but I doubt it's much of a difference.

Yes it's a matter of recovery rate. I left the stove on feed rate 5 overnight, the house was more than up to temp when I went to bed and it ate less pellets than the night before because it wasn't quite as cold out ( the previous night was just under level 4 feed rate). This stove could maintain my house house at feed rate 3.5-4 now and probably down into the teens but not sure when the single digits hit. I do believe I could put this on level 6 feed and the ash would be on the cusp of falling off the burn pot but not quite do it. I sure wouldn't want it to run there very long as it would be out of pellets pretty fast ! They didn't put a large hopper on that thing for nothing. So, as I suspected, it seems that my choice in stove is a slight step up in requirements for my house. I bought it for that reserve or with that reserve in mind. A P43 would or a stove of 40,000 to 50,000 BTU could probably heat this place until conditions are severe or I want quick recovery from a cold condition. I would guess that the P61 BTU at level 4 feed rate is probably about 40,000 BTU input, putting it in line with a P43 at max output ? It will work easier then and cycle quickly, which seems to be the case thus far.

As to hard core, that a poster brought up ? I'm nearly 64 YO. As far back as I can remember I have had thirst for, the need to know, how things work. Just when I was younger I probably would have torn down and put back together my stove before ever firing it up, I was a crazy young man ! Or bought an older one that required rebuilding even. So in that regard, I'm improving and will do that only when I need to now. I just have a need to know how things tick I guess. I want to understand it's operation. My wife on the other hand, would set it and walk away, buy the prettiest or most different ( depends on her mood) water pot for the top of the stove and call it a day ! Right now she is on a quest for a pellet container. I told her I'll just dump them in from the bag ! I got "the look" from she who should be obeyed or else she will cook a crappy supper. You guys know the look, like don't ruin my fun !

 

[lessoil]

#1 I've read my manual, I've read forum news articles and forum posts. I get that an inch border to the ash line on the burn pot is cool. My stove hasn't seen that yet. Is that just a test location when run on full out as the article indicates or are you guys striving for this in normal run mode ? I have increased my feed to about 3.75, the flame seems thicker and the house temp seems to rise more quickly than on the lower setting I had it at. Leads me to question 2.

#2 My dealer said that I could run the P61 at feed rate 4. In stove temp I was unsure about that setting and found what I thought was good at 3.5. Then I changed pellets and went to room temp manual mode and down to feed rate 3. Does feed rate directly relate to pellet use differences between these two modes ?

#3 Fan speed. I'm running the stove between low fan and medium. I seem to get the best distribution throughout the house there. However the stove will take off with a high fan regardless of a lower setting sometimes. I assume it's just evacuation of high temps building in the stove. Or should I turn it to low ? This is in room temp manual as well. I'm off stove temp now have been for two full days now.

Thanks for any and all insight ! Yes I read the FAQ above.

#1
I do not worry about the ash line. Varies with pellets. We clean the burn pot as needed.

#2
When we purchased the P61 in 2008, my understanding was the feed rate was an upper limit and not a target.
But, we had the control board replaced about a year ago. Program different on new board??
Still running with dial on 4 since 2008.I work in Process Control and does not make sense to
have the feed rate as target as this would work against your room temperature setpoint.

#3
We run fan on high all the time. Louder but seems to work better in our situation. I do notice a more variable fan speed
with the new board at times. (Startup)

This is where we are at. Based on info that I have found.
Our use of pellets vs drop in oil use is pretty much on track.
1 ton of pellets = 117 gallons of oil
We burn 4 tons and have reduced oil usage by 500 gal.

(broken link removed to http://www.chestnuthillchimney.com/Comparison%20of%20Oil,%20Wood,%20Pellet,%20Gas%20and%20Electricity%20Costs.htm)

 

[alternativeheat]

#1
I do not worry about the ash line. Varies with pellets. We clean the burn pot as needed.

#2
When we purchased the P61 in 2008, my understanding was the feed rate was an upper limit and not a target.
But, we had the control board replaced about a year ago. Program different on new board??
Still running with dial on 4 since 2008.I work in Process Control and does not make sense to
have the feed rate as target as this would work against your room temperature setpoint.

#3
We run fan on high all the time. Louder but seems to work better in our situation. I do notice a more variable fan speed
with the new board at times. (Startup)

This is where we are at. Based on info that I have found.
Our use of pellets vs drop in oil use is pretty much on track.
1 ton of pellets = 117 gallons of oil
We burn 4 tons and have reduced oil usage by 500 gal.

(broken link removed to http://www.chestnuthillchimney.com/Comparison%20of%20Oil,%20Wood,%20Pellet,%20Gas%20and%20Electricity%20Costs.htm)

If your stove ramps up and down and maintains room temp on a fairly quick up ramp then you are probably fine with your setting. You've been running it that way long enough to obviously be satisfied. In my case, I wanted to know what this stuff is all about. If you followed the thread you would probably conclude that if nothing else I learned something from it. But more than that, I discovered that indeed, my stove could actually recover quicker in its hotter cycles with more feed rate. So it was worth a few pellets and 40 minutes of my time to run that rest.

I thank all of you who stuck it out with me to find full potential in my stove. For others, you guys can figure out if the cut feed rate with longer high burn cycles on recovery of room temp offsets a shorter but higher burst. It nay ultimately be the same in the end, I don't know that part yet.