XXV airwash reducer

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chuckster

Burning Hunk
Jan 21, 2012
185
Sussex County NJ
The glass on my Harman XXV seems to cloud up pretty fast. Will removing the airwash reducer help any or just what is the purpose of it.
Chuck :-S
 
Hey Chuck! I have the same situation happening on the glass of my XXV. I actually just had my XXV installed on 10/23/2012, so it isn't even a month old yet. Last night I completely cleaned the whole fire box, as well as the glass inside and out, and had it looking really sharp. After I was done cleaning it, I fired it up and within 20 minutes, a 2-3" wide streak was already forming and getting darker. I get this nasty brown streak that is about 2-3" wide that goes from the lower right hand corner of the glass and proceeds diagonally up the glass to the top center. Then from that point it travel from the top center to the top left corner. Note, this streak does not travel or get longer as it is produced. The whole thing forms at once and just gets darker from a tan color to a dark brown after a few days. Unfortunately, I am not at home to take a picture of it, but I will attach a photo of it tomorrow. But I have attached a doctored up sketch from Harman's web site to show where my streak is and what it looks like. Also, I know junky pellets can cause dirty glass, but I am burning Turmans, and they are suppose to be a top notch pellet. Cleaner burn, and a really low ash content. So after 20 minutes of burning and already getting a tan streak, I don't think it is the brand of pellets. Also, I thought maybe it was the door gasket, I checked it out visually as well as doing the dollar bill test on it, and it all checks out fine. So that is why I started thinking it might be a malfunction in the airwash that is causing it, or maybe the airwash reducer. Did you remove your airwash reducer? Did that help at all with your problem?
 
xxv.jpg
 
Also, all the other areas of the glass remain crystal clear for at least a week if not longer which is what I am pretty sure all of the glass is suppose to do. On Harman's airwash design, does the air come down from the top, in back of the glass, or does it come up from the bottom, in back of the glass? Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. I might be able to figure this out myself if I knew exactly how this airwash system worked.
 
streak1.jpgstreak 2.jpg


Here are 2 pictures of what the actual streak looks like. Sorry the pictures are so poor. Very hard to take a picture of mirrored glass, in the dark, with a fire burning, without getting flash replection as well as a really poor photo. Any help anyone could give me on where to start to resolve this would be greatly appreciated. Like I said before, this streak starts to form within 20 minutes after cleaning the glass.
 
Convert it to gas. :)

A little water on a paper towel once a week...done.

Quality of pellets will have an impact as well, takes about a day and a half with Somersets. Don't, sweat it, enjoy the heat and the savings!
 
Oh we are definitely enjoying the heat, just wish we could see the flames for longer then 20 minutes after a complete cleaning. I have no problem cleaning the glass once a week, but I am finding myself having to shut the stove down and cleaning the glass once a day which is a little too much in my opinion. The main reason we purchased this stove was for the heat, but we also liked the looks of the XXV and the esthetics of having a fire to view while relaxing at night. Its a little hard to enjoy the looks of it with a huge grey check mark across the window. But never the less, we do enjoy the heat at night while kicking back. I would compare it to a brand new car that had a big dent in the front, but runs flawlessly. It still serves its purpose to get you from point "A" to point "B", it just sucks to look at it or show off to your friends.



I also have some friends that have pellet stoves that burn some really cheap and junky pellets, and their glass stays clean for at least a day or 2. I don't even get 25 minutes and I am burning Turmans! So who knows. I will call the dealer here soon and see if he can stop by and check it out. If he can't figure anything out, then I guess I am stuck dealing with it. Might as well replace the glass then with a peice of sheet metal with a fire painted on the front. Lol! ;lol
 
Since the whole glass is not being coated evenly or even around the perimeter like one would normally see, I would almost bet the farm that is has something to do with either air flow within the fire box or the air wash system not functioning properly. With it being such an irregular shaped pattern, it appears to me like something is either clogged and the air is not getting to certain areas across the glass, or that the air is being concentrated on a few points instead of the entire glass with something being miss aligned. But at this point, I still do not know how the air wash system works in the XXV to even try to diagnose this. If it comes down from the top of the glass or up from the bottom of the glass, and then how does the air get from the fan to the glass?? Hmmmm. :confused:









 
My p61 glass get coated on the right side first and then the left. It will then move across the top from the left to the right but this takes a week or so and it is still not as pronounced as your picture. In my owners packet there are different tabs to hold my glass in that say they have an effect on air wash. I have never tried them before but i wonder if this the the same with the XXV or even if they make a difference.
 
Thanks! I do not recall seeing any tabs or anything in my owners packet, but there is a good possibility that the installers might have threw them away on me, or took them with them. The only thing that they left for me was the owners manual and 2 hex bolts and the plastic bag. Not sure why I have 2 extra bolts though. Lol! But the other night when I was cleaning the inside of the glass, I saw the metal tabs that are fastened to the door that hold the glass in place, and I thought it was a possibility that they might be impeding within the air wash space. I will have to play with those and see if by loosening the screw, moving those tabs to the left a little or right a little and then tightening them back down fixes the problem at all. If I can't fix it though, I do plan to call the dealer and see what they have to say. Maybe they will bring the extra tabs back with them and put them on the stove. HAHAHAH :cool:
 
Both my P38's have virtually the same signature dirty patterns on the glass. Takes about a week to get fugly looking on the top right corner. Maybe you're on to something with the glass clips.
 
My glass stains in the same pattern but it takes about two days before its very noticeable.
 
Difffernt pellets dirty glass faster than others. I just use a natural bristle paint brush once a day and you can do this w/ stove running
 
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I checked the tabs on my stoves. The older one has very low profile tabs while the newer one has smaller but chunkier tabs. The air comes through the tube on the left (P series anyway) and up from the bottom through the holes. I wonder if plugging some of the center holes would help keep the perimeter cleaner? I'm NOT suggesting doing this as the temperature variation could have a catastrophic affect on the glass.

In the interest of improving/modding the stove it is very tempting. I'll let you guys try it first ;) Remember, fire extinguisher for the fire, fan for the smoke.
 
I've had my XXV since beginning of January 13 & still struggle to get the stove to work efficiently. I clean the glass & within 15 to 20 minutes of starting a fire on auto my glass is sooted up. After a hour or two it has about a 1/3 of the glass sooted up. I try to go by the 1" ash rule but with same results. I smell the stove outside sometimes & it has a different smell than my other stove ( Cumberland 3700). My best fires are at 2 1/2 of the feedrate & 70 on room temp auto. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong? If I run on 4 like manual says I get hot coals being pushed into the ashpan. My pattern on the glass is very similar to the previous posts.
 
I used to own an xxv and experienced the same thing. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. I noticed better pellets led to fainter initial marks, but after a week of non stop use it got to the point where you coodnt enjoy the look. I think what you are noticing is completely normal.
 
Would like to hear HHT's response, although IMO it's just the nature of the beast for the most part.

As far as the clips go, on one hand, I'm thinkin why would Harman sell them if they're not effective? On the other hand, I think if they're effective, why doesn't Harman use them to begin with if it mitigates the problem.
 
Really, why have the glass if it won't stay reasonably clean.. Wow that much soot in that short of time, I also would not be happy.. Has to be a common reason for this... My P series takes at least a week to start at the corners. I think if enough people complain Harman may listen...
 
I have a Harman Advance and since day one the left glass will soot up faster than the other 2 glass windows. After trying all the usual tricks to keep It clean I asked the people I bought the stove from about It and was told It is a very common problem with all Harman stoves. On my stove If you watch what happens on a cold start you will see that the smoke is pulled out of the stove to the left of the fire box hence the left glass is seeing more of the exhaust go by It while running.It will dirty up faster If the stove runs for a long time on lo fire. I find I can reduce the amount of crud on the glass by running the stove for about an hour on high fire (Stove temp ) and can get about a week between glass cleaning P.S. I even tried RainX That is used on automotive windows NO JOY
Jim
 
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My glass never gets any worse than this. I can let it go for a month and its smoky in the same spots. Does your flame touch the glass when its burning high Mikeg?
 
I've had my XXV since beginning of January 13 & still struggle to get the stove to work efficiently. I clean the glass & within 15 to 20 minutes of starting a fire on auto my glass is sooted up. After a hour or two it has about a 1/3 of the glass sooted up. I try to go by the 1" ash rule but with same results. I smell the stove outside sometimes & it has a different smell than my other stove ( Cumberland 3700). My best fires are at 2 1/2 of the feedrate & 70 on room temp auto. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong? If I run on 4 like manual says I get hot coals being pushed into the ashpan. My pattern on the glass is very similar to the previous posts.

Turn the feed rate up. 2.5 is to low. What kind of pellets you burning? I started at 4 and dialed it down using the 1 inch rule. It's set at a little over 3.5 with the t-stat at 73.

As far as the glass, I believe it's the brand of pellets you burn. Green teams did a black-out on my glass after 3 bags last year. Why pay 285 for that when I can get Vermonts, Northern, or Spruce Pointe for the same price and I can enjoy my fire.
 
Really, why have the glass if it won't stay reasonably clean.. Wow that much soot in that short of time, I also would not be happy.. Has to be a common reason for this... My P series takes at least a week to start at the corners. I think if enough people complain Harman may listen...
The main problem with Harman is trying to get a hold of them to talk with someone other than the dealer about problems. Very frustrating.
 
Really, why have the glass if it won't stay reasonably clean.. Wow that much soot in that short of time, I also would not be happy.. Has to be a common reason for this... My P series takes at least a week to start at the corners. I think if enough people complain Harman may listen...
I agree! That was one of the main reasons I bought the stove is the large viewing area!
 
the deposits on the glass are usually caused by a few things, most often the pellet quality, cleanliness OF THE WHOLE STOVE INCLUDING VENTING, and the rate of burn. The glass seems to stay cleaner with a higher burn (more airflow?).

As to modifying a UL listed stove, cant support that, as I dont think anyone here is qualified to substantiate this change as to the safety and engineering of the unit. I can tell you it almost certainly void your warranty if its still valid.

From what I have seen from the above pics (they are worth a thousand words!), the deposits arent atypical, and likely dont affect how the stove burns, but certainly have an aesthetic affect for the user. Cant comment on this, as we all have different levels of what we will tolerate.
 
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Hey Chuck! I have the same situation happening on the glass of my XXV. I actually just had my XXV installed on 10/23/2012, so it isn't even a month old yet. Last night I completely cleaned the whole fire box, as well as the glass inside and out, and had it looking really sharp. After I was done cleaning it, I fired it up and within 20 minutes, a 2-3" wide streak was already forming and getting darker. I get this nasty brown streak that is about 2-3" wide that goes from the lower right hand corner of the glass and proceeds diagonally up the glass to the top center. Then from that point it travel from the top center to the top left corner. Note, this streak does not travel or get longer as it is produced. The whole thing forms at once and just gets darker from a tan color to a dark brown after a few days. Unfortunately, I am not at home to take a picture of it, but I will attach a photo of it tomorrow. But I have attached a doctored up sketch from Harman's web site to show where my streak is and what it looks like. Also, I know junky pellets can cause dirty glass, but I am burning Turmans, and they are suppose to be a top notch pellet. Cleaner burn, and a really low ash content. So after 20 minutes of burning and already getting a tan streak, I don't think it is the brand of pellets. Also, I thought maybe it was the door gasket, I checked it out visually as well as doing the dollar bill test on it, and it all checks out fine. So that is why I started thinking it might be a malfunction in the airwash that is causing it, or maybe the airwash reducer. Did you remove your airwash reducer? Did that help at all with your problem?
How are those Turmans burning? I have a Harman XXV this is my second season wit it. I tried the Turmans last year and my stove hated them. I came downstairs one morning & my stove had shut down. It was the pellets. They were way to long and formed a bridge blocking pellets to feed causing it to shut down. The Turmans got great reviews but they don't do well in my stove. The heat was nothing great. I've tried a bunch of brands that supposedly throw a bunch of heat. The only ones that make a difference has been Barefoots. My XXV loves them. As far as your glass my stove does the same thing. It doesn't matter what pellets you burn. Most stoves have a way to mess with the air intake. Harmans don't. Set in factory.
 
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