How's your stove holding up to the frigid temps?

[Enigma869]

I suspect that I'm going to have to actually turn my furnace on for the next 24 hours. It's been hovering around 8 degrees all day here, so I can't imagine what it's going to be like over night. Right now, I have my P68 maxed out, and it's only 67 degrees on the main floor and 69 degrees on the second floor. It's amazing what temperatures begin to feel "cold", after getting used to a pellet stove. Hopefully, these really cold temperatures tell people to always buy a bigger stove than they think they need. I suspect that if I was still in my old house with my Accentra Insert, I would be lucky to be around 62 degrees.

John

 

[chken]

I suspect that I'm going to have to actually turn my furnace on for the next 24 hours. It's been hovering around 8 degrees all day here, so I can't imagine what it's going to be like over night. Right now, I have my P68 maxed out, and it's only 67 degrees on the main floor and 69 degrees on the second floor. It's amazing what temperatures begin to feel "cold", after getting used to a pellet stove. Hopefully, these really cold temperatures tell people to always buy a bigger stove than they think they need. I suspect that if I was still in my old house with my Accentra Insert, I would be lucky to be around 62 degrees.

John

I just started a poll in another thread to find out what the most bags people will burn in a day on the coldest days of the year. Interestingly, with over 30 responses, only 2 have answered 3 bags or more. To burn 3 bags, or 120lbs, or 5lbs/hr, you only need a stove rated for just over 40k btus. I'm a little surprised so far, but it seems that many folks can get by with a smaller stove than I would have guessed.

 

[bdaoust]

I suspect that I'm going to have to actually turn my furnace on for the next 24 hours. It's been hovering around 8 degrees all day here, so I can't imagine what it's going to be like over night. Right now, I have my P68 maxed out, and it's only 67 degrees on the main floor and 69 degrees on the second floor. It's amazing what temperatures begin to feel "cold", after getting used to a pellet stove. Hopefully, these really cold temperatures tell people to always buy a bigger stove than they think they need. I suspect that if I was still in my old house with my Accentra Insert, I would be lucky to be around 62 degrees.

John

Maxed out? What feed rate and temp are you running? Stove or Room Temp mode? Is your stove in the basement? How many sqft you heating?

Temps here are around 11 at night and my P68 is in the basement. I run it at feed 4, room temp at 68-70. Probe is on second floor in living room and it does a fairly decent job. A thermometer in the living room will say 68-70 - although its a cool 68-70. I'm burning about 2 bags a day.

 

[Enigma869]

I just started a poll in another thread to find out what the most bags people will burn in a day on the coldest days of the year. Interestingly, with over 30 responses, only 2 have answered 3 bags or more. To burn 3 bags, or 120lbs, or 5lbs/hr, you only need a stove rated for just over 40k btus. I'm a little surprised so far, but it seems that many folks can get by with a smaller stove than I would have guessed.

They must live in a much smaller house than I live in. I don't really track pellet usage, beyond what I buy per season. That said, I suspect that the P68 would probably easily chew through at least 3 bags of pellets in a 24 hour period, when it's in the single digits, or colder.

 

[bdaoust]

If I only looked at your avatar pic - I would have answered my question if it's in a basement =)

 

[AndrewChurchill]

I just started a poll in another thread to find out what the most bags people will burn in a day on the coldest days of the year. Interestingly, with over 30 responses, only 2 have answered 3 bags or more. To burn 3 bags, or 120lbs, or 5lbs/hr, you only need a stove rated for just over 40k btus. I'm a little surprised so far, but it seems that many folks can get by with a smaller stove than I would have guessed.

I'm one of the people who burn about 3 bags a say, but I'm not using a stove. I'm using a Pellergy conversion kit on a Buderus boiler. I'm heating a 2200 sq/ft house and a 850 sq/ft apartment and DHW for both.

 

[Enigma869]

Maxed out? What feed rate and temp are you running? Stove or Room Temp mode? Is your stove in the basement? How many sqft you heating?

Temps here are around 11 at night and my P68 is in the basement. I run it at feed 4, room temp at 68-70. Probe is on second floor in living room and it does a fairly decent job. A thermometer in the living room will say 68-70 - although its a cool 68-70. I'm burning about 2 bags a day.

Feed rate is at 3.5. I just switched from stove temp to room temp mode (I have the dial jacked up to 80 degrees), and it seems to be getting it a bit warmer in here. My house is about 3200 square feet, and the stove is in the corner of my family room, on the main living level. After living with two pellet stoves, installing one in the basement would simply never be an option for me. I want the stove (and the heat) in the room that my family and I are in, most of the time. It's all of 5 degrees at my house right now, so we're definitely giving the P68 a workout. I suspect that I'm going to go through a whole lot of pellets over the next 48 hours.

 

[CEC2STA18]

Feed rate is at 3.5. I just switched from stove temp to room temp mode (I have the dial jacked up to 80 degrees), and it seems to be getting it a bit warmer in here. My house is about 3200 square feet, and the stove is in the corner of my family room, on the main living level. After living with two pellet stoves, installing one in the basement would simply never be an option for me. I want the stove (and the heat) in the room that my family and I are in, most of the time. It's all of 5 degrees at my house right now, so we're definitely giving the P68 a workout. I suspect that I'm going to go through a whole lot of pellets over the next 48 hours.

I usually burn about 4 bags per day in my PB105. I am having an issue with the boiler heating the water up very slowly. The boiler is basically running constantly and is never reaching max temp. I have had this boiler for many years an never had this issue. I have cleaned everything in the boiler and still the same problem. Any ideas?

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

I suspect that I'm going to have to actually turn my furnace on for the next 24 hours. It's been hovering around 8 degrees all day here, so I can't imagine what it's going to be like over night. Right now, I have my P68 maxed out, and it's only 67 degrees on the main floor and 69 degrees on the second floor. It's amazing what temperatures begin to feel "cold", after getting used to a pellet stove. Hopefully, these really cold temperatures tell people to always buy a bigger stove than they think they need. I suspect that if I was still in my old house with my Accentra Insert, I would be lucky to be around 62 degrees.

John

When you say maxes out is that feed rate 5 temp knob as high as it goes?

Are you using 5 bags a day right now?

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Feed rate is at 3.5. I just switched from stove temp to room temp mode (I have the dial jacked up to 80 degrees), and it seems to be getting it a bit warmer in here. My house is about 3200 square feet, and the stove is in the corner of my family room, on the main living level. After living with two pellet stoves, installing one in the basement would simply never be an option for me. I want the stove (and the heat) in the room that my family and I are in, most of the time. It's all of 5 degrees at my house right now, so we're definitely giving the P68 a workout. I suspect that I'm going to go through a whole lot of pellets over the next 48 hours.

With your feed rate at 3.5 you are no where near maxed out

 

[CEC2STA18]

When you say maxes out is that feed rate 5 temp knob as high as it goes?

Are you using 5 bags a day right now?

No. I usually run feed rate at 3 with max temp 180 min temp 165. the way it stands now the boiler just runs and runs while feeding pellets but the water temp struggles to get to 150. Not sure why this is happening as the boiler has never struggled to heat the water to 180 in the past.

 

[AndrewChurchill]

No. I usually run feed rate at 3 with max temp 180 min temp 165. the way it stands now the boiler just runs and runs while feeding pellets but the water temp struggles to get to 150. Not sure why this is happening as the boiler has never struggled to heat the water to 180 in the past.

Crank up the feed rate. Keep turning it up until the ash starts accumulating 1 inch from the lip of the burn pot. That's how the feed rate is supposed to be set. If unburned pellets start to fall into the ash pan back the fed rate off.

 

[Big E]

How are the barefoots working for you

Awesome

 

[Enigma869]

When you say maxes out is that feed rate 5 temp knob as high as it goes?

Are you using 5 bags a day right now?

When I said "maxed out", I was referring to the blower cranked all the way up and the temperature dial (running in room temp right now) all the way up. Honestly, I've never touched the feed rate. I've owned two different Harman stoves from two completely different dealers and they both led me to believe that the feed rate was a "Set it and forget it" sort of a deal, and that there wasn't much of a need to ever adjust it, so I've never done anything with it. As for pellet usage, I tend to scoop pellets in from my pellet bucket every couple of hours (it's just easier that way), so I don't know exactly how many bags I'm using. That said, it's all of 1 degree here (which is about as cold as it gets around these parts), and that's not counting the wind whipping around. Because it's so ridiculously cold right now, I suspect I'm probably chewing through 3 full bags (if not slightly more) a day with that P68 being run like I'm being forced to run it. Not a huge deal, beyond the fact that the 5 ton I bought probably aren't going to quite cut it. I'll probably see how the stash looks at the end of January and grab one more ton to ensure that I can get through the entire season.

 

[Caribfan]

With these temps I had to turn the MVAE up to medium-high and it is 69-70 inside and -5 outside.

 

[Hoot23]

Like a champ

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

When I said "maxed out", I was referring to the blower cranked all the way up and the temperature dial (running in room temp right now) all the way up. Honestly, I've never touched the feed rate. I've owned two different Harman stoves from two completely different dealers and they both led me to believe that the feed rate was a "Set it and forget it" sort of a deal, and that there wasn't much of a need to ever adjust it, so I've never done anything with it. As for pellet usage, I tend to scoop pellets in from my pellet bucket every couple of hours (it's just easier that way), so I don't know exactly how many bags I'm using. That said, it's all of 1 degree here (which is about as cold as it gets around these parts), and that's not counting the wind whipping around. Because it's so ridiculously cold right now, I suspect I'm probably chewing through 3 full bags (if not slightly more) a day with that P68 being run like I'm being forced to run it. Not a huge deal, beyond the fact that the 5 ton I bought probably aren't going to quite cut it. I'll probably see how the stash looks at the end of January and grab one more ton to ensure that I can get through the entire season.

The dealers advice is a little off. The Harman feed rate should be set as high as it can to still get the 1" of ash. Usually around 4.

It is a set it and forget it once you have it right and the pellets do not change.

 

[chrisasst]

-7 here now.. I have two stoves. Using North American pellets. Currently 73 degrees in my open, old house. Not too bad.

 

[AndrewChurchill]

This is how I set the feed rate on the PB105 I had in my previous house. I turned the hot water on in one of the tubs and let it run. Then I turned the feed rate up to 6 and I sat by the boiler and watched the burn pot.

Eventually unburned pellets started to fall into the ash pan. I then turned the feed rate down to 5 1/2 and watched again. Unburned pellets stopped falling into the burn pot but they were still pretty close to the lip. I backed it off to 5 1/4 and that turned out to be the perfect setting for those pellets.

Obviously turning the tub on for a pellet stove won't work, but you can crank the thermostat all the way up and follow the same procedure. Once you have determined the proper feed rate for your pellets leave the feed rate alone until you change to a different brand of pellets.

 

[RKS130]

Ours is doing an ok job. It has been well below zero with the wind chills for almost a week.

We are running at about 70-72 degrees on level 4 when home.

The problem we are having is we have to drop the stove to level 3 while we are at work or we will run out of pellets. Those darn hoppers only hold so many pellets. Then it drops to 65 - 68 .

Snug and happy ay 12 degrees outside.

 

[Lumberjack]

It's pretty cold here -42c with wind chill. I just turned Eco-65 stove up to setting 4 of 6. Wondering if its "safe" to run on this setting for an extended period. I'm guessing it must be. Both hot and cold water pipes were frozen this morning even though I left the cupboard doors open.

wow....glad they didn't burst!

 

[VIBErator]

wow....glad they didn't burst!

Me too. We've always had issues with that outside wall and east winds when it dips past -20c. Tearing the kitchen apart in the spring to insulate, vapour barrier and move water to an island.