harman P43 pellet stove won't light

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smilkman

New Member
Jan 29, 2012
3
central ma
My Harman P43 won't light but continues to fill up the burner with pellets. I've tried unplugging to reset but still no fire. The stove is only 4 months old am I missing something?
 
Probably your igniter. If you have a propane torch, you can at least light it with that and have the heat. Or you can wait until tomorrow and buy some starting gel to get it going. You would have to run the stove in stove temp mode to keep it running, though.
 
We got it started with the propane torch. It also seems to be feeding way to many pellets way to fast. Even when it's set at 1. Strange how it has run so great since we got it and now decide without warning to act up. The starter should still be under warranty....Let's see how Harman is to deal with when it comes to a problem.

Thanks for your help and Think Spring!
 
Have you cleaned the igniter? Not sure how the P43 is set up, but with my P61 when it does what yours sounds like it is doing I have to clean my igniter. Mine is right under the burnpot and there are 2 wing nuts holding the cover in place. Pull that off, vaccum it out and starts working fine again. If you havent done that yet since getting it, that would be my suggestion. I would say its to soon for your igniter to need to be replaced if you only got if 4 months ago, unless you bought used. But crazier things have happened!


give that a shot and keep us posted!
 
Bigjim13 said:
Have you cleaned the igniter? Not sure how the P43 is set up, but with my P61 when it does what yours sounds like it is doing I have to clean my igniter. Mine is right under the burnpot and there are 2 wing nuts holding the cover in place. Pull that off, vaccum it out and starts working fine again. If you havent done that yet since getting it, that would be my suggestion. I would say its to soon for your igniter to need to be replaced if you only got if 4 months ago, unless you bought used. But crazier things have happened!


give that a shot and keep us posted!

Same set up as the P43 as the P61. I had the same issue at least three times with the igniter getting caked with ash and not allowing the pellets to light. So let stove off because even though the igniter is not lighting the pellets its still hot! take off the plate like explained above and clean out the ash well. Get up under the burn pot all along the igniter but be careful not to damage the igniter. Also use a toothpick to push the burn pot air holes and you will see ash fall out.
 
Pelletfisky said:
Bigjim13 said:
Have you cleaned the igniter? Not sure how the P43 is set up, but with my P61 when it does what yours sounds like it is doing I have to clean my igniter. Mine is right under the burnpot and there are 2 wing nuts holding the cover in place. Pull that off, vaccum it out and starts working fine again. If you havent done that yet since getting it, that would be my suggestion. I would say its to soon for your igniter to need to be replaced if you only got if 4 months ago, unless you bought used. But crazier things have happened!


give that a shot and keep us posted!

Same set up as the P43 as the P61. I had the same issue at least three times with the igniter getting caked with ash and not allowing the pellets to light. So let stove off because even though the igniter is not lighting the pellets its still hot! take off the plate like explained above and clean out the ash well. Get up under the burn pot all along the igniter but be careful not to damage the igniter. Also use a toothpick to push the burn pot air holes and you will see ash fall out.

What they said - mine did it yesterday clean out igniter started fine!
 
Yep, my Advance was taking forever to ignite, and that's exactly what my problem was too - the ash and junk built up in the ignitor area. It's amazing how quickly that ignitor area fills up! Now it's on my regular cleaning routine, once a week I take the ignitor cover plate off and vacuum thoroughly in there.
 
The area around the igniter is critical on all stoves (not just Harmans) that auto ignite, the stoves ignite the pellets via very hot air any crud around it interferes with the air flow, no air flow no fire.
 
I used to clean that area once a month, now I do it every weekend, takes all of an extra 3 minutes in the whole project and well worth the effort.
 
clean the igniter, as said above, and what the heck, clean the ESP too. If you havent done it in 4 months, its pretty overdue. Quite alot of info on how to clean the thing online......also, search function above. The ignitors are usually not "intermittant"....they have either failed or not. I beleive your stove, being only 4 months old, likely has the new 15 fin ignitor, which (so far) have proven to be very reliable in the field. I dont thik we have replaced one yet.
 
I clean the ignitor area once a week too. Another benefit of keeping that area clean is the ignitor will last longer because it will ignite the pellets faster. The faster the pellets light the shorter the ignitor stays on and the longer it will last. Win win!
 
PJPellet said:
I clean the ignitor area once a week too. Another benefit of keeping that area clean is the ignitor will last longer because it will ignite the pellets faster. The faster the pellets light the shorter the ignitor stays on and the longer it will last. Win win!

Very good point, I need to get back into the habit of a good weekly cleaning that includes the igniter. Its easy to get lazy...
 
Happy to say we are back in business and all because of your help!!
We have been heating with pellets since the early 90's but never had the auto lighting. Our first stove was a Whitfield and boy did that keep us warm. The entire front of that stove was made of cast iron and there were some days we had more heat than we cared to have. This Harman is the perfect stove to put in the living areas. Our other stove is a big ugly New Englander that we have had for 5 years in our cellar and I really can't say anything bad about it. It keeps our floors warm like radiant heat would.


What a great resource you all are!

Thanks Again!

Sue
 
We just ran into the same problem. This is our first pellet stove and the information I've gotten from this forum is awesome. I told my husband what "the guys on the boards" said about cleaning under the burn pot. He cleaned it all out and everything is great.

I'm always telling him: the guys on the board said this, or that....he's not computer savvy so I do all the research.

I showed him a video of the leafblower trick, and he just might try it!

I'd be one of those "pellet savvy wives" but he won't let me near his new toy!!

Thanks again for all the great information!
 
My harman p43 is one year old. This year it will intermittently not light. It will run ok in room temp mode for 4-5 days, then the pellets pile up in the burn pot till it overfills but no ignition. If i empty the burn pot of the pellets and restart the stove it will then light.
The dealer came over and got readings of 5-6 on the air pressure gauge which he said were normal. The voltage to the blowers was fine. Ignitor had 47 ohm resistance. He then totally cleaned the stove, cleaned the venting pipes, took off the wire screen of the jet exhaust on the outside, spoke with the harman factory rep and told me the problem should be solved. I paid my $120 bill and stove ran based on the room temp settng of 65 degrees for 5 days. After this the same problem recurred.
On the second visit the rep did all the readings agan which were the same and all were normal, spent one hour online with Harman factorey rep, replaced the circut board even though it did not show any issues. He then told me my voltage comng into the house was 127V and the stove was malfunctionng because of it. He wants me to call my utility and get the voltage adjusted down. I personally feel he has no clue and is BS me. ANY HELP appreciated!!! Thanks.
.....I wish I had stuck wth my trusty old vermont castng woodstove......
 
Is there a lot of ash in the burnpot when the stove is trying to light? That could cause the pellets not to get hot enough for ignition to occur.
 
My harman p43 is one year old. This year it will intermittently not light. It will run ok in room temp mode for 4-5 days, then the pellets pile up in the burn pot till it overfills but no ignition. If i empty the burn pot of the pellets and restart the stove it will then light.
The dealer came over and got readings of 5-6 on the air pressure gauge which he said were normal. The voltage to the blowers was fine. Ignitor had 47 ohm resistance. He then totally cleaned the stove, cleaned the venting pipes, took off the wire screen of the jet exhaust on the outside, spoke with the harman factory rep and told me the problem should be solved. I paid my $120 bill and stove ran based on the room temp settng of 65 degrees for 5 days. After this the same problem recurred.
On the second visit the rep did all the readings agan which were the same and all were normal, spent one hour online with Harman factorey rep, replaced the circut board even though it did not show any issues. He then told me my voltage comng into the house was 127V and the stove was malfunctionng because of it. He wants me to call my utility and get the voltage adjusted down. I personally feel he has no clue and is BS me. ANY HELP appreciated!!! Thanks.
.....I wish I had stuck wth my trusty old vermont castng woodstove......
Well something doesn't sound quite right here. The 15 fin igniter (which replaced the older failure prone 13 fin) has not had many problems. I would definitely check with your utility company so you can rule that issue out. You are definitely still under warranty so that shouldn't be a problem.
 
First of all, once you get the stove running, take it off of automatic and put in on manual. That will keep the stove running until you figure out the problem. It won't be starting and stopping. This time of year it should be run on manual anyways.

Tom C.
 
You would have to run the stove in stove temp mode to keep it running, though.
Actually, you could run it in room temp/manual and it would remain lit until you ran out of pellets as well.
 
My Harman P43 won't light but continues to fill up the burner with pellets. I've tried unplugging to reset but still no fire. The stove is only 4 months old am I missing something?


Scrape the burn pot making sure the combustion holes are open. is the burn pot warming up? When is the last time you opened the front of the burn pot and cleaned the igniter? At the extreme you might need the DIP switche settings adjusted. I did not read the other posts.

Eric
 
Thanks to all for suggestions
Subsailor. Since this happens every 5-7 days only I am not there to see how mucn ash is there in burn pot. Sounds logical though so how do fix this? I do scrape the burnpot after every bag is put in, currently one bag of barefoot pellets is lasting about 1-2 days depending on the outside temperature.

Milkman what is the DIP settng? The store tech ran multiple tests and did not mention this setting.

Silverfox if I keep runnng it in manual mode I am not sure how I can figure out what is going on since it happens intermttently.

Harmon Lover I know it is under warranty but the dealer does not know what to do and neither does the Harman Factory rep. After charging me $120 dollars they seem to be punting the problem. I dont know what other recourse I have? Any suggestions?
 
The DIP switch is on the underside of the control panel. The first three switches control the initial fuel feed. If it is set to fast it will not allow combustion. If set to slow the pellets will not reach the combustion holes. The dealers DDM can detect this without removing the board. If not take a peek but unplug the unit first.
 
Thanks to all for suggestions
Subsailor. Since this happens every 5-7 days only I am not there to see how mucn ash is there in burn pot. Sounds logical though so how do fix this? I do scrape the burnpot after every bag is put in, currently one bag of barefoot pellets is lasting about 1-2 days depending on the outside temperature.

Milkman what is the DIP settng? The store tech ran multiple tests and did not mention this setting.

Silverfox if I keep runnng it in manual mode I am not sure how I can figure out what is going on since it happens intermttently.

Harmon Lover I know it is under warranty but the dealer does not know what to do and neither does the Harman Factory rep. After charging me $120 dollars they seem to be punting the problem. I dont know what other recourse I have? Any suggestions?
They shouldn't be charging you anything!!!! I assume the $120 for for the cleaning??

Oh and by the way...it's HarmAn.....;)
 
They shouldn't be charging you anything!!!! I assume the $120 for for the cleaning??

Oh and by the way...it's HarmAn.....;)


Service calls are not covered under the warranty.
 
Service calls are not covered under the warranty.
Really?? If it turns out to be a warranty issue (not the cleaning) Harman doesn't reimburse the Stove Shop or Tech? Thats not the way it works here.
 
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