Black soot on side of house--Is this normal???

[investor7952]

On the Accentra when you are in Room temp mode and your stove is set at 75 and your actual room temp is at 70 it doesnt matter where the feedrate is set at the stove will always feed a 4 sec feed till room temp is reached then the feedrate backs down to whatever it needs to be to maintain the temp in room. Just the oposite when the stove is set to stove temp. The feed rate knob doesnt come into play at all. When in STOVE TEMP MODE the feed knb can be on 1 or 6 DOESNT MATTER the stove in STOVE TEMP MODE doesnt feed off of the setting you have set. Again this is for the Harmon Accentra stoves.

 

[Lousyweather]

Actually, the feed rate DOES matter, but not how you think it does. Think of the feed rate as setting the MAXIMUM feed, in a worst-case scenario. The circuitboard and probes actually control how much pellet actually feed, but you can think of the max setting as a timing in a worst case situation. Lets say the stove was installed out in the front lawn, in sub-zero conditions, and set on Room temp mode. if you set the stove on a feed of 2, then the stove would run for about 20 secs per minute......if you set it on 6, the max setting, it would run without stopping. In a room, the stove usually satisfies the thermostat long before that max setting is reached, so it isnt a big issue, unless hte feed is set far too low, in the misguided attempt to minimize pellet consumption.

 

[TomPajak]

Feedrate doesn't matter on ROOM temp mode...on STOVE temp its VERY important...the stove will feed itself what IT thinks it needs..from a few pellets to a handful if it wants...I have my stove on feedrate 1 and it doesn't turn the auger anymore than when its sets any higher..atleast not on my P68...MAYBE different stove have different control boards that acts differently but on the P68 of mine it DOESN"T care what I set my rate at..it will do what it takes to keep me around my set temp

thats why we bought HARMAN because supposedly they will not waste 1 more pellet then needed..(ok I don't believe that either but a helluva sales pitch nonetheless..lol)

 

[pkitfox]

The stove is a Harman XXV.

The dealer actually just came by and recommended that we put up the vertical vent over the roofline. I'll definitely do that in the spring. One question though--with the chimney, will that just mean that the black soot will now be all over my roof???

I also mentioned what you folks suggested, that the air mix was bad. I mentioned the outside air kit, but he said that there's problems with those as well. That creosote can build up on the slide plate and something else, and be more of a pain in the butt. So, he suggested that I stay away from that. So, he turned down the feed rate 2, it had been on 3.5. He said that would help. I'm sort of at a loss for what else to do.

I don't understand why your dealer would say that there is a problem with using outside air. Not using outside air, in a tight house, could cause the stove to burn improperly. If the fire in the stove does not get enough air, there will be smoke!

Turning the feed rate down to 2 will have an effect when the demand for heat, in either stove temperature mode, or room temperature mode, exceeds the amount of fuel that can be fed when limited by the feed rate 2 setting. Lowering the feed rate setting tells me he thinks the stove air/fuel mix is wrong. If lowering the feed rate has an effect on the fuel air mixture, it will only come into play in a limited number of operating conditions (if it matters at all). You would not adjust feed rate to correct a "smoking" problem. Was the stove pushing burning pellets off the burn pot lip into the ash pan when using the higher feed rate? Burning pellets in the ash pan will cause smoke.

Did the dealer set the draft with a magnehelic meter when the stove was test ran after the installation? I could guess the draft was not set, but that would be unfair to the dealer. I could also guess that the draft cannot be set to specification because of the lack of an outside air kit, in your particular installation (maybe your house is very air tight as previously mentioned). Maybe that is an unfair conclusion. At any rate, I would agree with several others who have said that it looks like the stove is not getting enough air to burn properly. The dealer needs to fix this. There is nothing wrong with venting above the roof line. It would be wrong to vent smoke above the roof line, and think the problem has been fixed.

Make sure the stove and vent pipe are clean. There should be no, and I mean zero, visible smoke when your stove is operating, with the exception of some when starting.

 

[Lousyweather]

Feedrate doesn't matter on ROOM temp mode...on STOVE temp its VERY important...the stove will feed itself what IT thinks it needs..from a few pellets to a handful if it wants...I have my stove on feedrate 1 and it doesn't turn the auger anymore than when its sets any higher..atleast not on my P68...MAYBE different stove have different control boards that acts differently but on the P68 of mine it DOESN"T care what I set my rate at..it will do what it takes to keep me around my set temp

thats why we bought HARMAN because supposedly they will not waste 1 more pellet then needed..(ok I don't believe that either but a helluva sales pitch nonetheless..lol)

Even in room temp it does.....stick yer room temp probe out the window and see what happens!

 

[TomPajak]

Actually, the feed rate DOES matter, but not how you think it does. Think of the feed rate as setting the MAXIMUM feed, in a worst-case scenario. The circuitboard and probes actually control how much pellet actually feed, but you can think of the max setting as a timing in a worst case situation. Lets say the stove was installed out in the front lawn, in sub-zero conditions, and set on Room temp mode. if you set the stove on a feed of 2, then the stove would run for about 20 secs per minute......if you set it on 6, the max setting, it would run without stopping. In a room, the stove usually satisfies the thermostat long before that max setting is reached, so it isnt a big issue, unless hte feed is set far too low, in the misguided attempt to minimize pellet consumption.

you put that stove outside in room temp mode and it won't care what feedrate you put on it..it will keep feeding itself till it reaches the desired temp..if that probe never reaches the desired temp it will run full bore till it runs out of pellets....

now if by some miracle it heats up the ouside to the desired temp then it will gradually feed itself less and less pellets irregardless of what feedrate you set it at..afterwards it will just give itself enough pellets to maintain that temp it reached.....
Harman designed this stove to be very easy to use by just setting the temp you want and letting the stove determine what IT THINKS is the best feedrate to give itself..it readjusts the distribution/combustion fan speeds automatically...its a very smart stove
..it could give itself a few pellets to keep it steady at the desired temp or give itself alot of pellets if its starting up OR if someone decided to put it out in say sub-zero weather..OR stick its probe out a window...



that rule about feedrate at 2 =20 secs is hogwash IMO...
i've ran feedrate 6 with temp 4(Stove Temp Mode)and ran Room Temp Mode 70 degrees with feedrate 6 and guess what???
..it didn't run for 60 secs. in either case...
Room Temp Mode it ran for 22secs and ran less and less as temp reached 70(..afterwards it just fed for 5-10 secs then off for 50-55secs. till it was needed again but only in in manual igniter mode) or it turns off completely in auto igniter mode till the temp drops and then it reignites(btw thats alot of wear and tear on the poor little igniter,just set it in auto to start and flip switch after to manual so it idles and doesn't die out)..

Stove Temp Mode it turned for only 3-5 secs when stove reached set temp...but fed itself the max pellets allowed while it fed for those 3 secs...all while on feedrate 6

now I REALLY don't want to get people pissed off at me but Harman designed a great stove with real crappy instruction on what those numbers are suppose to be for...all we have is heresay(like mine)...
SO HARMAN..MAKES US A DAMN CHART SO WE KNOW SOMEWHAT WHAT THESE SETTING WILL RESULT IN..PLZ(yes I know not all pellets are the same)BUT GIMME A ROUNDABOUT FIGURE ....

Let the negative comments commence.........

 

[Lousyweather]

Im thinking we agree, harmanP68........my point is, you have to put the stove in a situation where it CANT heat up the area.....so, a setting of 6, with the probe outside WILL result in that stove never stopping the feeding of pellets.....again, the feed rate is just setting the MAX feedrate, not the minimum, not how much it will actually feed, thats calculated by the probes and circuitboard. You arent seeing any difference with your different settings because the heat DEMAND isnt there.....we also agree that the harman explanation of feed rate stinks......feed rate of 1=MAX feed of 10 secs, etc.....

 

[TomPajak]

my point is that even if you put that probe outside and on feedrate of 1 the stove will run constantly till its either runs out of pellets or it reaches the set temp....the feedrate means NOTHING.. the STOVE WILL override it all the time in Room Temp Mode

 

[timjk69]

As for locating the vent on the side with the prevailing wind. A friend put his vent downwind side of the house. The turbulence on that side or the house kept the exhaust hanging close to the siding and created a simaller mess so that doesn't work either. Given the choice, I'd pick the windy side myself.

Tim

 

[Lousyweather]

my point is that even if you put that probe outside and on feedrate of 1 the stove will run constantly till its either runs out of pellets or it reaches the set temp....the feedrate means NOTHING.. the STOVE WILL override it all the time in Room Temp Mode

heh, just tried it in my P61! Stuck the probe out my window, feed set on room temp and 2.......fed for 22 seconds......then I put it on 6......didnt stop feeding....cold tonight too.....check it on yours.....

 

[TomPajak]

my point is that even if you put that probe outside and on feedrate of 1 the stove will run constantly till its either runs out of pellets or it reaches the set temp....the feedrate means NOTHING.. the STOVE WILL override it all the time in Room Temp Mode

heh, just tried it in my P61! Stuck the probe out my window, feed set on room temp and 2.......fed for 22 seconds......then I put it on 6......didnt stop feeding....cold tonight too.....check it on yours.....

we are getting off topic so Im starting another topic..not fair to this guy if we are bickering on HIS topic..sorry folks...

 

[investor7952]

Feedrate doesn't matter on ROOM temp mode...on STOVE temp its VERY important...the stove will feed itself what IT thinks it needs..from a few pellets to a handful if it wants...I have my stove on feedrate 1 and it doesn't turn the auger anymore than when its sets any higher..atleast not on my P68...MAYBE different stove have different control boards that acts differently but on the P68 of mine it DOESN"T care what I set my rate at..it will do what it takes to keep me around my set temp

thats why we bought HARMAN because supposedly they will not waste 1 more pellet then needed..(ok I don't believe that either but a helluva sales pitch nonetheless..lol)

Even in room temp it does.....stick yer room temp probe out the window and see what happens!

The Harmon will feed at the max rate until room temp that is set is met. On most cold northern NJ nights that never happens so my stove is always feeding Max feed .

 

[investor7952]

Actually, the feed rate DOES matter, but not how you think it does. Think of the feed rate as setting the MAXIMUM feed, in a worst-case scenario. The circuitboard and probes actually control how much pellet actually feed, but you can think of the max setting as a timing in a worst case situation. Lets say the stove was installed out in the front lawn, in sub-zero conditions, and set on Room temp mode. if you set the stove on a feed of 2, then the stove would run for about 20 secs per minute......if you set it on 6, the max setting, it would run without stopping. In a room, the stove usually satisfies the thermostat long before that max setting is reached, so it isnt a big issue, unless hte feed is set far too low, in the misguided attempt to minimize pellet consumption.

you put that stove outside in room temp mode and it won't care what feedrate you put on it..it will keep feeding itself till it reaches the desired temp..if that probe never reaches the desired temp it will run full bore till it runs out of pellets....

now if by some miracle it heats up the ouside to the desired temp then it will gradually feed itself less and less pellets irregardless of what feedrate you set it at..afterwards it will just give itself enough pellets to maintain that temp it reached.....
Harman designed this stove to be very easy to use by just setting the temp you want and letting the stove determine what IT THINKS is the best feedrate to give itself..it readjusts the distribution/combustion fan speeds automatically...its a very smart stove
..it could give itself a few pellets to keep it steady at the desired temp or give itself alot of pellets if its starting up OR if someone decided to put it out in say sub-zero weather..OR stick its probe out a window...



that rule about feedrate at 2 =20 secs is hogwash IMO...
i've ran feedrate 6 with temp 4(Stove Temp Mode)and ran Room Temp Mode 70 degrees with feedrate 6 and guess what???
..it didn't run for 60 secs. in either case...
Room Temp Mode it ran for 22secs and ran less and less as temp reached 70(..afterwards it just fed for 5-10 secs then off for 50-55secs. till it was needed again but only in in manual igniter mode) or it turns off completely in auto igniter mode till the temp drops and then it reignites(btw thats alot of wear and tear on the poor little igniter,just set it in auto to start and flip switch after to manual so it idles and doesn't die out)..

Stove Temp Mode it turned for only 3-5 secs when stove reached set temp...but fed itself the max pellets allowed while it fed for those 3 secs...all while on feedrate 6

now I REALLY don't want to get people pissed off at me but Harman designed a great stove with real crappy instruction on what those numbers are suppose to be for...all we have is heresay(like mine)...
SO HARMAN..MAKES US A DAMN CHART SO WE KNOW SOMEWHAT WHAT THESE SETTING WILL RESULT IN..PLZ(yes I know not all pellets are the same)BUT GIMME A ROUNDABOUT FIGURE ....

Let the negative comments commence.........

Have you ever had your stove feed for more than 40 sec on roomtemp?
You can be on 1 or 6 on 90 degrees and stove will never feed for more that 40 sec for max feed rate.