Ready for Spring Nor'easter - Installed a Harman Pellet Stove Today

My apologies also to don. I somewhat high jacked his thread here. Peace all. Cork

 

Hi Corkman
I really enjoyed seeing your Manometer and DDM readings. Did the low draft change to -10.0 volts help the performance? I just did my Hi & Low Draft measurements for comparison.

How did you get the High Draft reading down?
Should the Low Draft be a positive number or is the manual wrong, I just got the same info from the P61a manual and they have the same range of numbers but all negative.

Norman High Draft
-0.60 to -0.50

Our Advance measured for High Draft
-0.75
After Adjustment
-0.72

Normal Low Draft
-0.45 to -0.35

Our Advance measured for Low Draft
-0.64
After adjustment
-0.37

Advance Manual Page 11
A simple draft test should be performed after completing the
flue pipe installation. To record the results for future reference:
1. Plug unit into a 120 VAC, 60 HZ outlet.
2. Close the hopper lid, front view door, and the ash pan.
Neither pellets nor a fire are required for this test.
3. With the mode selector in the "OFF" position, turn the feed
adjuster to "TEST".
4. Record the high draft_____in W.C. (Normal is -.50 to
-.60) The control will be on the High Draft for a total of 2
minutes.
5. After 1 minute, the combustion motor will go down to low
draft and the distribution blower will go on high. Allow
approximately 15 seconds to pass for the combustion
motor to slow before checking the low draft.
6. If the low draft is between .35 and .45, record the reading
_____ in W.C. If the reading is higher, slowly turn the
set screw counter-clockwise until the draft lowers. If the
reading is lower, very slowly turn the set screw clockwise
until the draft increases.
NOTE: In some cases, the draft may not go as low as .35
even with the set screw completely counter-clockwise.

P61a-2 Manual Page 17
A simple draft test should be performed after
completing the flue pipe installation. To record the results
for future reference:
1. Plug unit into a 120VAC, 60 HZ outlet.
2. Close the hopper lid, front view door, and the ash pan.
Neither pellets or a fire are required for this test.
3. With the mode selector in the "OFF" position, turn
the feed adjuster to "TEST".
4. Record the high draft_____in W.C. (Normal is -.50
to -.60) The control will be on the High Draft for a total
of 2 minutes.
5. After 2 minutes is up, the combustion motor will go
down to low draft and the distribution blower will go
on high. Allow approximately 15 seconds to pass for
the combustion motor to slow before checking the low
draft.
6. If the low draft is between -.35 and -.45, record the
reading _____ in W.C. If the reading is higher, slowly
turn the set screw counter-clockwise until the draft
lowers. If the reading is lower, very slowly turn the set
screw clockwise until the draft increases.
NOTE: The test mode alternates from high to low
draft every 60 seconds. If more time is needed for
draft adjustment, wait until the next low draft
cycle.
NOTE: In some cases, the draft may not go as low
as -.35 to -.45 even with the set screw completely
counter-clockwise.

 

Hi Don. There was a change in the high draft. It went from .88 down to .80 and low draft I could only get down to .47 from .78 as i ran out of adjustment. I havnt refired the stove as we were out all day but once i do I will let you know how she burns.

 

Hi Don. I see you realy do a lot to your stoves wether you keep em or repair to resell. I havnt seen any mention of the cross over tube. Have you considered that for this stove

 

Hi Corkman
The stove was not very gummy, however the PP38+ I am working on was very gummy. May be worse on the smaller BTU stoves like the Accentra FS too. Still not a bad idea, did you put one on your stove?
Also the newer circuit boards have a larger draft adjustment. Would you get a new one sometime?

 

I actually have rev-e board on hand and a spare combustion blower. I giving serious thought to replacing the board,igniter,pot and flame guide and possibly auger motor as well. I will see what the cost is gonna be. I only paid $400 for the stove so I don't mind putting some money into it. And yeah I did the crossover on this one

 

Wow, great price so you have saved a lot of $$$.
Could you post a pic of the crossover hose installed? I would really like to see that.

 

A-1stoves.com show the new pot for $153. Can you confirm for me it's the right one. Some of the reading I saw last night mentioned something about 1-10-00675 only being for direct drive stoves ?

 

Hope these help. Pretty easy to do

 

Thank-you

 

ALL draft readings are negative. If youre seeing positive readings, your stove isnt feeding....the vac switch kills the pwer to the igniter and feeder around -.15 to -.20 inches of water (last time I checked)

 

why would you replace parts that arent broken?

 

It depends upon the part and it is more straight forward on Harman stoves,
On Enviro Stoves like the Empress I have seen a working Ignitor that did not light the pellets and when I put a new one in, the pellets lit up fine.
On My advance I put in a new CB to get the better Low Draft adjustment and the newer burn pot with the air channel.
On the older Enviro Mini and some Breckwells I had to install the upgraded exhaust fan just to get the stoves to burn on heat level one!
On some other stoves, I had to put in a new blower because the noise was driving the customer crazy!

 

I have no idea how old this thing is. No DOM on it just a serial nmbr 012596. As far as I can tell these ard all original parts. All wires still tie wrapped together and don't appear to be messed with. The auger motor I would definately like to have on hand and an igniter too. The pot and other stuff while not necessary are just things in thinking about

 

If I HAD to pick a part, I would go for a combustion motor, and new impeller. I feel there is a higher overall incidence of failure there. The ignitor is readily available, and the unit can be easily run without it. It's too bad these units don't have hour meters.

 

Can't comment on Enviro units. I don't feel it's worth the money to replace a working board for a new one with a greater variability range than the original. Same argument with the burn pot.
As for replacing noisy blowers...yes, when they start making noise, they are USUALLY on their way out. Sure, some guys lube up the sealed bearings, but, typically the thing is on its way out. They tend to get slightly noisier, until you can't stand it much more. It's starting to get noisy? Start looking for a new motor.

 

I like to put a separate 5 amp inline fuse on the Harman igniter yellow wire in the back of the stove. Sometimes when the igniter blows it takes out the CB fuse. This way if the igniter fuse blows, the board will still work. There are pros and cons on this I am sure but a lot of techie people like it and it may not be for everyone.

 

yea, if the igniter grounds out (like, say, the wires weren't pulled back far enough), it will blow the CB fuse. The only con to your idea is if a "tech" doesn't find the new fuse, its mo' headaches!

 

Hi Corkman
After setting the low draft, I find that the flame is a little more lazy on low rate burns than before. I am not sure if I like that but the pellets still burn completely so that cannot be bad. What have you noticed since you set your low draft?