Hello Just found a PP38+ which is a nice little stove that belts out the heat! However it does not feed pellets for many, many reasons!!! Has anyone had all these problems? So I pulled out the test cord and checked the feed motor. It turns fine so that is not the problem. The control panel works and there are no dead spots in the 2 potentiometers! Therefore the control panel is good! The pics below tell the story! Basically 1. Stove was dirty 2. Fines Box was full to the brim! 3. The slide plate was stuck from too much pitch at the end 4. Vacuum switch was bad 5. The air inlet and air wash pipes were so clogged the new vacuum switch would not work! 6. The exhaust blower started with a kick from the screw driver but then died!!!! LOL Pic 0 - PP38+ stove Pic 1 - Control Panel Pic 2 - Full tag Pic 3 - Model & Serial Pic 4 - PP38+ - Clean it first! Pic 5 - Dirty fire box! Pic 6 - Fines box is loaded! Pic 7 - Top of slide plate is dirty
Pic 8 - Back of slide plate is dirty Pic 9 - Cleaning pitch off that made it stick tight! Pic 10 - Lube slide platw with "Dry Moly" Pic 11 - Air wash is choked down and needs air blasting! Pic 12 - New vacuum switch Pic 13 - Old blue vacuum switch Pic 14 - Air blast air intake on back of stove Pic 15 - Original exhaust blower needs kick start with screw driver!
Pic 16 - Cut off old blower Pic 17 - New double paddle blade coated with "Dry Moly" & cleaned behind blade and painted Satin Black Pic 18 - New exhaust blower, stove cleaned and painted Sating Black before mounting Blower Pic 19 - Stove works and auger feeds pellets now! Pic 20 - Nice flame in fire pot!
I see quite the residue, which you noted, on the slide plate. Did you pull the auger and check out the inside of the feeder, to see just how much yuckiness (thats a stove guy technical term) which is inside? Often theres ALOT inside, requiring an attempted cleanout in there, or a bypass tube installed to stop the accumulation of gumminess. If it is accumulating, it will likely crash again......tear em down like you did, do all that work, just automatically put a bypass in....just a suggestion
the original fix for gummy units was to put a tube between the air intake cowl and just below the slide plate...all of the modern Harman units actually have them installed prior to shipping to the dealers- pretty sure you've seen them in units you've serviced. Its a 3/8" silicone tube running above the auger.....runs from the intake cowl (right by the damper) to the feeder, just below the slide plate. Im not saying clean the auger, rather, pull the auger and look inside the feeder to inspect whether or not there is alot of gumminess and stuck pellets in there....this inhibits pellet flow, causing the unit to not feed/operate correctly.
