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harman p-68 pellet guzzler?

jjj123
17 years ago

any suggestions how to get max fuel savings with this stove appreciated mine is been burning on average about 1 bag per day to a day and half for last 20 days this seems quite high since weather has not been that cold yet low 50's to low 20's on occasion here in southern wisconsin? any suggestions appreciated, cold weather is yet to come. could there be a setting that may need to be adjusted or is this about what should be expected with this stove? i'm only heating 1000 sq/ft + lower level basement

Comments (4)

  • murf1
    17 years ago

    Did you set the feed rate per the tech. manual ? If not I would start there, some think you will save pellets by turning the feed rate down, but that is not true. An average setting on the Harmans seems to be about 4. Then are you running it on Stove Temp mode or Room Temp mode ? Stove Temp mode uses ALOT more pellets.When it gets cold, I use about 1 1/2 bags a day (20 deg or colder)but if your using that now it seems a bit high.

  • jjj123
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks for reply, for the most part i've been using room temp feed rate of 4 or 5, like you said seems like a lot of pellets since real cold weather has not set in yet,for the last 30 days temps have been only in low 50's to low 20's on a few evenings, I'm now trying stove temp feed rate 1 and temp dial at 2-2.5 and stove temp so far seems to put out more heat according to my thermasat on wall for my furnace it appears also to be using less fuel and i will have to experiment more once the weather gets colder. I guss my average burn time per bag so far is about 32-36 hours which would be about 1.1-1.5 lbs per hour and that's including down time when stove is actually down and house is at a temp of 71-75, 71 during day and 74-75 for evening seems i have to set temp 2-3 degrees higher to feel comfortable compared to oil heat which would be about 69-72. I can't see much cost savings when pellets are at about $4.00 compared to oil at $2.39/gal 1mil btu would be about the same for each

  • richgvt
    17 years ago

    My dealer said to set the feed rate to 3 and leave it there. This is my second year and that seems to be the right setting for me. I have been using about a bag a day to 1 1/2 days. I'm heating about 2,000 sq ft though. I live in southern vermont. A p-68 seems to be quite large for 1,000 sq ft. I think I go through 2 bags a day in the cold weather. Used a little over 4 tons last year. bought five this year. pd 219 a ton plus 100 for deliv.

  • jjj123
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I've been experimenting using feed rate 3,4,5 depending on temp expected for day, wish the manual would specify a more definite answer for this, you would think as big as Harman stoves are they would publish a accurate setting for their stoves from there research and development department they leave everything for you to work out. As far as p-68 for 1000 sq ft. my dealer could not get a p-61 and says that they are discontinuing them and opting for the p-68? Not sure this is true or not just something they told me. I have been able to adjust so far for about 1 bag up to almost 2 days in warmer weather say 40-50, and 2/3 bag for 28-36 hours for slightly cooler temp upper 20's to upper 30's and 1 bag for temps only in the low 20's to mid 30's which i suppose isn't to bad but i don't believe this will be a cost saver over oil heat which would be about the same since price is down this year but may have saved money when price was up. if prices on pellets would drop down to $3.00 or less per bag than a savings would be there; even though i like the stove and the overall performance and ease of maintanance as well as the construction but still wonder if i should have gotten the pc-45?

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