Harman P43 tips?

[TonyVideo]

I have two Harman' 68 in main area and a 43 in the back side of the house. I set them on 72 room temp feed rate 4 and leave the alone. If I dropped the settings at night 5 degrees thinking of saving pellets when asleep they had to work hard to get it back to 72 and ended up using more pellets. My exterior walls are 3 layers of brick. Too much work and pellets to equalize the temp again during the day. I just set it and forget it. Scrape the pots once a day. I will use 3 bags a day at low 30 during the day and low 20's at night. 4 if single digit Temps show up. I have 3,000 Sq ft. 11' ceilings on 2 floors. Teens or below I use stove mode and set my gas furnace to maintain the temp as it will kick on. I have water pipes I don't want to freeze below the house and in the cellar. It may run 25 percent at below 0 Temps.

 

[Tonyray]

I have two Harman' 68 in main area and a 43 in the back side of the house. I set them on 72 room temp feed rate 4 and leave the alone. If I dropped the settings at night 5 degrees thinking of saving pellets when asleep they had to work hard to get it back to 72 and ended up using more pellets. My exterior walls are 3 layers of brick. Too much work and pellets to equalize the temp again during the day. I just set it and forget it. Scrape the pots once a day. I will use 3 bags a day at low 30 during the day and low 20's at night. 4 if single digit Temps show up. I have 3,000 Sq ft. 11' ceilings on 2 floors. Teens or below I use stove mode and set my gas furnace to maintain the temp as it will kick on. I have water pipes I don't want to freeze below the house and in the cellar. It may run 25 percent at below 0 Temps.

wow!!
3 pellet stoves////
how many tons do u go thru each season?

I was going to say in my other post that I think a P43 would have done fine in your house. But many folks over size their stoves here. I actually have myself but it works well, I don't run over 2/3 of full out on the coldest days. If an XXV radiated more heat I might have bought that ( it's 90% convection though or so). A P43 would max out in my house I think, but only a few days a year. And I have more sq ft than you do of what sounds like similar construction...

I guess a 43 might have been ok most times.
I would never sell the P61 and get a 43 based on that..
forgot how smaller the burnpot is on a 43 compared to 61 and 68
since I was in the dealers the other day just to ask if he was going to have a pellet early buy again in the spring and was lookin around at the stoves.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

That there is a true statement... I am deffinitly oversized for my dwelling and prob would never see the full potentiall.
If I had bought the P43 that my dealer claimed was all I needed, I think it would be a different story.
But I wanted to be sure I could push the warm air up to my 2nd floor without having to go full boar with a smaller stove. Not very well insulated here in this 90 yr old house..
we both went back/forth about this issue for a while before I decided on the P61A.
To this day I have never had my blower speed past half way.... would be just too damn warm downstairs...
hey.. I may try #4 soon just to see the results....you'll be the 1st I let know....

That's a good place to be....having the hot rod and never needing to race it!!

 

[TonyVideo]

I only have 2. I will go through 8 tons in a very cold winter. Like I mentioned I will supplement with gas on teens or below just to keep pipes from freezing. When I use gas along with pellets I will only use 2 bags a day for the extreme cold. It has the added benefit of not having my upstairs so cold on those days. On milder days I might turn them down to 70 for a week depending on the forecast but turn the backup a day before it gets cold again.

 

[alternativeheat]

wow!!
3 pellet stoves////
how many tons do u go thru each season?

I guess a 43 might have been ok most times.
I would never sell the P61 and get a 43 based on that..
forgot how smaller the burnpot is on a 43 compared to 61 and 68
since I was in the dealers the other day just to ask if he was going to have a pellet early buy again in the spring and was lookin around at the stoves.

Well hey it's working great for you Tony ! It's fun looking at new stoves too but ya that P43 is quite a lot smaller. I felt the P61 was our best suited unit as well. In your case you never know , we might get one of these winters even worse than last year and need to boost that sucker up a bit. You have the horse power if you need it.

 

[Tonyray]

Well hey it's working great for you Tony ! It's fun looking at new stoves too but ya that P43 is quite a lot smaller. I felt the P61 was our best suited unit as well. In your case you never know , we might get one of these winters even worse than last year and need to boost that sucker up a bit. You have the horse power if you need it.

yep.. just may be.

I only have 2. I will go through 8 tons in a very cold winter. Like I mentioned I will supplement with gas on teens or below just to keep pipes from freezing. When I use gas along with pellets I will only use 2 bags a day for the extreme cold. It has the added benefit of not having my upstairs so cold on those days. On milder days I might turn them down to 70 for a week depending on the forecast but turn the backup a day before it gets cold again.

Tony,
do u have the room to store 8 tons or do u have to keep buying thruout winter..?

 

[Tonyray]

Well hey it's working great for you Tony ! It's fun looking at new stoves too but ya that P43 is quite a lot smaller. I felt the P61 was our best suited unit as well. In your case you never know , we might get one of these winters even worse than last year and need to boost that sucker up a bit. You have the horse power if you need it.

I did run the oil furnace last winter at night during that Polar vortex cold,, I guess about a week or less since I was concerned about pipe freeze in the basement. Zero degrees at night.
it got down from a normal 55-60 degrees down there to around 38-39... made me a bit nervous....only takes a small draft somewhere blowin on a 90 angle water pipe to make ya sad.
I think I would have been ok but I saved so much oil that I though," what the hell.. 20 gallons or so for 4-5 nights isn't going to be missed.

 

[alternativeheat]

I did run the oil furnace last winter at night during that Polar vortex cold,, I guess about a week or less since I was concerned about pipe freeze in the basement. Zero degrees at night.
it got down from a normal 55-60 degrees down there to around 38-39... made me a bit nervous....only takes a small draft somewhere blowin on a 90 angle water pipe to make ya sad.
I think I would have been ok but I saved so much oil that I though," what the hell.. 20 gallons or so for 4-5 nights isn't going to be missed.

ya I was concerned about water pipes, not the heating pipes cause they have antifreeze in them. But we made it. It's a pretty modern boiler down there and offers no basement heat even running. It was on for our tenants apartment but it was a mighty cold cellar. It;s a bit tighter this year though. Years ago with the coal stove I ran the heat a bit, that old boiler bailed heat off it's cast iron doors. When I did wood working down there I had a kerosene heater for that, now banned in this state.

 

[TonyVideo]

I have room in my garage but everything has to get cleaned up and packed up from my summer adventures. Waiting on dealer to replenish fully at the moment. I can store a half a ton inside which is my wife's limit as they don't go beyond a certain point in the house. The 68/61 is way easier to clean than the 43. On that point alone it would be worth the 61 plus the extra btu's if needed on those sub zero days.

 

[Tonyray]

I have room in my garage but everything has to get cleaned up and packed up from my summer adventures. Waiting on dealer to replenish fully at the moment. I can store a half a ton inside which is my wife's limit as they don't go beyond a certain point in the house. The 68/61 is way easier to clean than the 43. On that point alone it would be worth the 61 plus the extra btu's if needed on those sub zero days.

Agree.
I saw some video on some other well known non-harman stoves and they looked like a pain to clean..
removing couple metal parts just to clean the burnpot etc..and that was the easier part to do..

 

[TonyVideo]

I did have pipes freeze going to a washer last year which is the farthest run and impossible to stream to prevent freezing. I don't mind running it in those conditions for that reason along with the upstairs not below 60. We like it cool when sleeping but not that cold. I love this old house but it will never be efficient like new. I just try to maximize as much as possible. I will turn it down to 65 on the stoves if we are going to be gone for a few days and set the gas at that point as well for when the pellets run out. I then use the gas to bump it back up to 72 and then turn the stoves back on to maintain as to not chew through so many pellets getting it back up to temp. We do save a lot by not heating the whole house to 72, only downstairs. I am slowly trying to do some insulation work as well. I actually also have a 3rd floor with half finished and we use it as attic storage. This year I am closing that off as to not allow the heat to go all the way up. Always something on an old home.

 

[Tonyray]

I did have pipes freeze going to a washer last year which is the farthest run and impossible to stream to prevent freezing. I don't mind running it in those conditions for that reason along with the upstairs not below 60. We like it cool when sleeping but not that cold. I love this old house but it will never be efficient like new. I just try to maximize as much as possible. I will turn it down to 65 on the stoves if we are going to be gone for a few days and set the gas at that point as well for when the pellets run out. I then use the gas to bump it back up to 72 and then turn the stoves back on to maintain as to not chew through so many pellets getting it back up to temp. We do save a lot by not heating the whole house to 72, only downstairs. I am slowly trying to do some insulation work as well. I actually also have a 3rd floor with half finished and we use it as attic storage. This year I am closing that off as to not allow the heat to go all the way up. Always something on an old home.

yes... always something but those old houses have a character for better or worse that modern cookie cutter dwellings don't..
something about these old houses that u can still use a hammer and nails in many parts of it. specially a cellar..

 

[TonyVideo]

It has plenty of character. We do like it as you are right. It is a one of a kind. Front porch with a swing. 3 fireplaces but 2 chimneys have been knocked down below roof line with a new roof installation. 2 big Windows in the major living space. Single pain poured glass. Found a company that will sell a double pain interior industrial clear airtight plastic on a frame to keep heat in. Mounts on the inside in the window sill. These Windows are too unique to replace. Haven't purchased yet. Hopefully by next year. 3/4 of the home windows have been replaced with double pain by previous owner. I have a huge list over time to do if I live that long.

 

[Tonyray]

It has plenty of character. We do like it as you are right. It is a one of a kind. Front porch with a swing. 3 fireplaces but 2 chimneys have been knocked down below roof line with a new roof installation. 2 big Windows in the major living space. Single pain poured glass. Found a company that will sell a double pain interior industrial clear airtight plastic on a frame to keep heat in. Mounts on the inside in the window sill. These Windows are too unique to replace. Haven't purchased yet. Hopefully by next year. 3/4 of the home windows have been replaced with double pain by previous owner. I have a huge list over time to do if I live that long.

sounds like a really kewl place...
here's ours.. Cement porch and fence that could use painting... maybe..
I think it blends with the area.. wife want's me to paint it white.. nah.....

 

[Tonyray]

sounds like a really kewl place...
here's ours.. Cement porch and all.

forgot the neighbors on this dead end street and how quiet they are...
no noisy rednecks.just old cemetery..

 

[smithg]

Thanks for the tips. The advice most are giving is what I told him: keep the blower on high, keep the stove on a set temp, and it will work less to maintain a constant heat.

 

[TonyVideo]

When first bought I was playing around but for this home set it and forget it seems the best on pellets. Every home is different and that is why I like these stoves for the flexibility they offer.

 

[TonyVideo]

forgot the neighbors on this dead end street and how quiet they are...
no noisy rednecks.just old cemetery..

Nice neighbors. No problems. I would take that. Dead silence outside.

 

[BrotherBart]

This used to be 100 yards behind my bedroom window when I was six years old. I was always on the alert for something crawling in the window.

 

[Tonyray]

This used to be 100 yards behind my bedroom window when I was six years old. I was always on the alert for something crawling in the window.

Spooky

 

[BrotherBart]

I couldn't believe when I stumbled across a pic of it on the Internet one day. That was sixty years ago. Dad was the preacher at the church next to the house.

 

[Tonyray]

I couldn't believe when I stumbled across a pic of it on the Internet one day. That was sixty years ago. Dad was the preacher at the church next to the house.

Interesting......

 

[alternativeheat]

Hmmm, snow on the ground and 30 deg out this morning, still 73 in here. Overnight burn went seamlessly as if the Harman P61 was directly connected with the change from 50 deg out yesterday. I don't love snow but that stove works phenomenally well.

Oh and these AWF pellets are pure white pine and Super Premiums. That's a score from a big box store IMO ( HD).

 

[Tonyray]

Hmmm, snow on the ground and 30 deg out this morning, still 73 in here. Overnight burn went seamlessly as if the Harman P61 was directly connected with the change from 50 deg out yesterday. I don't love snow but that stove works phenomenally well.

Oh and these AWF pellets are pure white pine and Super Premiums. That's a score from a big box store IMO ( HD).

wondering how the Presto logs burn... HD here is loaded with them.. saw an ripped bag and they look very dark. like toasted cereal..
May not affect burn but wondering if there is a lot of Bark in the mix..

 

[alternativeheat]

wondering how the Presto logs burn... HD here is loaded with them.. saw an ripped bag and they look very dark. like toasted cereal..
May not affect burn but wondering if there is a lot of Bark in the mix..

My stove dealer got a batch of those in last year. I don't think he was too happy with them and didn't get any more. Based on customer response I guess but he also burns pellets in his stoves in the sales store. He has more working stoves than any place around here I think, so a solid test bed. I've never burned them myself.