Harman P43 or P61? Off Grid Power Consumption and Run Times?

[hmrutherford]

Hi everyone! I've been researching pellet stoves and have a few questions.

Some background: hubby and I are currently living off grid in SW Colorado and using a wood stove. We want to switch to a pellet stove so that we can leave for a weekend in the winter and still keep the place heated. Our kids are in the Denver metro area and we go out there on weekends to see them. The "house" is a single wide mobile home. It's about 1200sf. One bedroom on each end and the entire middle section is open. The stove is in the center of the house. We have to winterize the house if we're gone for too long in the dead of winter, because the wood stove is our only heat source. Again, we're off grid with a solar set up. We have a limited amount of power, through our battery bank, when the sun is not shining.

As I've researched pellet stoves, I've decided to go with Harman. I originally thought that the P61 would be the way to go, but now I'm wondering if the P43 would work. I will definitely be getting the hopper extension.

Questions:
Any major difference in electrical usage between the two models? I watched one youtube video where a guy put a watt meter on his P68 and it used about 8.6KW in a 24 hour period. That's a fairly significant bump in consumption to add to our off grid system. So that's what I'm figuring for on this purchase. If anyone else has additional info on that, I would appreciate it.

What is the conservative amount of time that we could expect to leave the house with the stove still producing enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing? I'm not looking at keeping the temp in the 70s. I'm looking for keeping the house in the mid 50s for an extended period of time. Keeping in mind that I will have the hopper extension on either model.

As much as we LOVE our wood stove, we're looking forward to the minimal amount of "tending to the fire" we will have to do with a pellet stove. It will be nice to be able to consistently wake up to a warm house!

Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated!

 

[SciGuy]

The combustion and distribution blowers as well as igniter on both the P43 and P61 are all the same units. The igniter draws on the order of 300 watts when in use Which is more than double the two blowers combined. If you run the stove in manual mode it will cut power usage a great deal. It’s going to be -20*F here tonight and a P43 heats our not very well insulated cabin easily.

YMMV,

Hugh

 

[Washed-Up]

Mobile home here with a P61A, metered about 40$ Canadian January 1 to May 1, I don’t have the kw usage though. With the stove on auto and set at feed rate of 4 and temp at 3, our place will stay at 65-70f at approx 10f when we go away for the weekend with the hopper extension we still have plenty of pellets when we get back Sunday late afternoon

 

[Tonyray]

you deff will need the hopper exst if you plan to be gone few days..
P61A comes with 72lb capacity. maybe 24-30hrs burn time if set very very low.
I think exst brings it to 120lbs but not 100% sure.

 

[Dataman]

I run our Harmon XXV in manual at 1/2 fan speed when it's on battery backup (200ah Battery/AIMS 1250 Inverter/Charger). It will go about 12 hours. I have posted the specs here on forum. So how big is your Off Grid battery? I posted the specs here. Can't find it right now. But from memory it was 300watts. I wonder if getting small Inverter Generator with fuel tank to run might be way to go? https://www.genxdirect.com/b-e-r-g-...n-fuel-system-tank-included-part-hnd1-2000id/

 

[Mt Bob]

Well, I would recommend LPG in your situation.

 

[Golfeur]

Harman p68 distribution blower minimum stove temperature setting to minimum temperature 200 watts

 

[rickwai]

For a mobile home go with the P43. It will run have longer run times and plenty of btus for the space. If the stove is oversized it is hard to not over heat the space even on low. And not a great idea to run on a real low setting for extended periods of time. I heat a 1600 double wide with a 40k nbtu stove and it rarely runs at over 30% capacity

 

[rickwai]

Well, I would recommend LPG in your situation.

Great point. There are plenty of vented LP stoves that run with no power needed and can be thermostat controlled.

 

[Tonyray]

For a mobile home go with the P43. It will run have longer run times and plenty of btus for the space. If the stove is oversized it is hard to not over heat the space even on low. And not a great idea to run on a real low setting for extended periods of time. I heat a 1600 double wide with a 40k nbtu stove and it rarely runs at over 30% capacity

Agree. Plenty of heat for mobile home single or double wide.

 

[hmrutherford]

Thanks everyone!

Not interested in LP furnaces or heaters. We will eventually have a mini split for long term heating needs when we're away. We have a decent solar setup and just need to beef up our battery bank for that.

The Harman dealers near us have nothing in stock and don't seem to want to call me back to set up an order. I'm really getting annoyed with customer service, but it's their loss. I went to visit my mom in Indiana and ended up coming across a display model Comfortbilt HP61 and got it for $372. I couldn't pass that up. As much as I wanted a Harman, we now have a Comfortbilt.

Thanks again for all your feedback! I'm sure I'll have more questions down the road when we get this Comfortbilt in and going.

Happy heating!

 

[zrock]

not sure how old your modular is or how low the temps get their. But never a good idea to leave a fire unattended while you go away their is always a chance of a hopper fire and you could come home to nothing, also most modular homes the pipe are run close to a heat source so when the furnace is on they keep them from freezing I'm assuming you wood stove is putting out enough heat to combat this.. If it were me i would have the furnace jetted for propane and just fire a 100lb tank on it and use that for when you were gone.. Our neighbor does this when they leave and shut down their wood stove. He can't remember the last time he filled the tanks.

 

[mtnbiker727]

I believe when the Harmans are cranking, they can use 3 bags per day. You'd have to really extend the hopper to get 6 bags in it to make sure you could leave for a couple days with no worries.

Good luck with your purchase. Just as long as you recognize the risks and are willing to live with the results...

 

[Mt Bob]

I believe when the Harmans are cranking, they can use 3 bags per day. You'd have to really extend the hopper to get 6 bags in it to make sure you could leave for a couple days with no worries.

Good luck with your purchase. Just as long as you recognize the risks and are willing to live with the results...

Well, the P68, running wide open, will eat slightly less than 5 bags in 24 hours,I do believe.
I trust my stoves to run when I am not home, implicitly. That is why I have quality stoves.
Don't think I could trust a $300 stove.

 

[zrock]

Well, the P68, running wide open, will eat slightly less than 5 bags in 24 hours,I do believe.
I trust my stoves to run when I am not home, implicitly. That is why I have quality stoves.
Don't think I could trust a $300 stove.

that's why its usually called a accident..LOL... i don't mind leaving the stove going for a few hours while im running around but going away for a few days... heck i would not be able to sleep the whole time i was gone

 

[Mt Bob]

that's why its usually called a accident..LOL... i don't mind leaving the stove going for a few hours while im running around but going away for a few days... heck i would not be able to sleep the whole time i was gone

"Quality stove" is a key. Probably just as safe, if not safer than a pilot light water heater. But, even today, there are lower quality stoves that say right in the manuals "do not leave unattended". My Accentra holds 3 bags, and I go away for a week at a time, but I do set temps lower,not being here. It starts and stops, as any furnace or heater will. Just recently saw pictures of a "professionally" installed mini-spit, something shorted, caught fire. Yes, stuff happens.

 

[Tonyray]

Well, the P68, running wide open, will eat slightly less than 5 bags in 24 hours,I do believe.
I trust my stoves to run when I am not home, implicitly. That is why I have quality stoves.
Don't think I could trust a $300 stove.

Same here. 24/7 burner 9 yrs. I trust the harman specially since I maintain it weekly. P61A.

 

[Washed-Up]

Same here, no problems with the extension on my P61A and leaving rarely for 3-4 days…

 

[bogieb]

I trusted my 30 YO boiler and 14 YO water heater to keep their pilot flames going 24/7 and fire at will while not at home, so not sure why I wouldn't trust my pellet stoves that are usually only running when the thermostat is calling for heat.

Regardless of the source of heat, there is something that "could" go wrong (the mini split could have an electrical fire, the gas appliances could get a gas leak and explode, the pellet stove could runaway bypassing the safety mechanisms). But keeping the source well maintained lessens that chance considerably.

 

[zrock]

to each their own but leaving a appliance that is filled with wood running for extended away times is not in my book of good things to do..

 

[johneh]

to each their own but leaving a appliance that is filled with wood running for extended away times is not in my book of good things to do..

So what is the difference between running your stove during the day when you are at work or at night when you sleep
or are you one of the few who only run your stove when you are in that room?
I run my stove 24/7 and we load it up put it on low and go away for weekends
I also have a wood-fired furnace which is loaded twice a day also runs 24/7
it is just as dangerous as a pellet stove they both have a fire contained in a steel box
the pellets are also in a steel box. I have seen 2 stoves that have had hopper fires
in both cases no fire just smouldering pellets. Both fires were caused by a LACK of Maintenance
I have no problem walking away for extended periods

 

[bogieb]

The only appliance I've had try to kill me is a gas range that started leaking propane when it wasn't even being used. If we hadn't been home at the time, the whole house would have filled up and who knows what would have happened when we opened the door and turned on lights? Or if the oil burner started up, or if it had been a basement appliances instead of on the main floor so I wouldn't have smelled it so quickly.

Turned off the bottle, made sure all the burners were off (they were) and tested it several times by cracking the bottle valve. Yep, it was the stove malfunctioning, probably because of age. Replaced that right away.

Point is, any appliance can be dangerous.

 

[gfreek]

Only thing I can suggest is monitor it with a camera while you are away..

 

[Dataman]

How would monitoring it help? Fire starts unless your really close it still goes up in Smoke. Call Fire Dept Earlier? Fire spreads fast. But hey Insurance Company might like the footage to deny coverage.

 

[Mt Bob]

LOL people ride around in "bombs" every day, and let them run, unattended, in cold weather, all the time.
Helping out here, and having to look up stove manuals, there are some, usually,if not all, cheaper stoves, that says right in the manual, "DO not run stove unattended". I would never own such a device!