52I Harman insert

I know there has been talk about difficulty firing up a Harman after cleaning. I have seen the problem a few times, and though I'd post my most recent experience.

cleaned the 52I Saturday afternoon and fired it up. no ignition....... had to propane torch it and watch pellets fall into the ash pan.

Warm this weekend so the stove needs to cycle on and off regularly, which it did without ANY difficulty. All night Sat Night and all day today - no problem starting.

I don't get it.

 

It was TOO clean....lol

 

Or the Hormones are acting up as they get older

 

the feed rate is apparently disabled during start-up as well. it was no help in slowing the feed till I got it going.

 

artc I have experienced the same thing with the p43 never with the p68 but have had it happen twice with the p43 ? Dunno what its about but same circumstances .

 

Art when you clean the stove, are there any charred and partially burned pellets left in the burn pot? If so, leave them there instead of vacuuming them out. They act like kindling the next time you light it.

There have been a few comments lately about this situation where a stove won’t start quickly right after a thorough cleaning. Can’t recall ever seeing this happen on my stoves, but on the P68 I always leave those charred pellets in the pot when I clean it. In the P43 there are never any charred pellets in the pot after it goes out, just ash. Still, it always lights up quickly.

 

I was thinking of preheating the burn pot with the propane torch prior to a start sequence. give it a head start

 

after a cleaning, try throwing a handful of ash in the burnpot, see what happens

 

X2. I've never had a problem with ignition either doing this.

 

Clean it, then throw ash back in....Harman, can burn everything but pellets!! I knew it!! Lol

 

yes, it REBURNS the ash.......talk about efficiency!

 

Thats right, Jay! Harman pellet stoves are the Chuck Norris of stoves!

 

Just a suggestion on this as I've had this happen. If you didn't clean the compartment with the igniter, clean it. If you did clean it, open it back up and be sure the igniter isn't all twisted and crimped.

 

still having issues with relighting after changing out the igniter. doesn't matter if it is a clean stove or just relighting when it's warm out. switched to constant burn mode so i'm not doing a 2:30 AM propane relight at the moment.

thought maybe it might be the LaCretes, cause I started having issues near the time of the switch, but that's not the case. went back to MWP softi's that were fine.... same problem. it will occasionally light, but mostly just pukes pellets and goes 5 blink.

 

which igniter cradle do you have? the old style, which is held in place by two screws into the burnpot, or the integral one with the lever? Is it feeding fine? In other words, when it wont relight and ya get the 5 blink, are there a lot of unburned pellets filling the burnpot? Does the intake damper open about 3/4 of the way in TEST mode?

 

old style igniter cradle, feeding fine, burn pot full and spilling over in 5 blink mode, it's an insert but I can pull the stove out over the weekend and check the intake damper ( was thinking of that, and checking the OAK intake as well)

a cleaning is in order as well, with 20 or so bags through. thanks for the ideas, LW

 

20 bags.......a bit low for a thorough cleaning, but I wont discourage that! My thing: draft reading. If its fine, or high, could be an obstruction on the intake side. If its low, or marginal, say, -.16 to -.20, would be a cleaning or obstruction issue on the outlet side. Also make sure when you clean that igniter that you whap (thats a technical pellet guy term) the igniter cover on the top of the burnpot briskly to get the ash off the top of the igniter....very hard to get this with a vacuum or your finger....

 

How can the igniter become twisted and crimped?

 

Talking about the wiring leading to the igniter; twisted, crimped could cause current issues to the igniter. May also mean that the igniter isn't centered which I can only assume could cause late ignition.