Mine is removable but there is no way that pellets could lift it up. It is on a grooved track. There is nothing the pellets could grab a hold to lift unless the plate possibly have carbon build up and it would have to have a lot. The weight of plate is too heavy. The path of least resistance would be out not up for the pellets. The burn pot would have to have a lot of carbon build up to force the pellets up and not out. The plate is at angle down to the entrance. The weight of the plate alone would make it unreasonable. Clean the plate so it is smooth with a wire brush then the pellets would have to slide by.
As I previously stated I did not believe it possible until I saw it with my own eyes ...
Your reasoning was mine before I saw it.. as far as cleaning
The Harman tech commented that he never saw a stove kept so clean... I clean the burn pot minimum of twice daily...
once in the afternoon and once before going to bed... it definitely has no carbon build up causing any problem... much less a lot of build up... most I ever get off is a very thin spot here or there... As far as the flame guide being cleaned ... I clean it at the same time as the burn pot...I have wire brushes to get the ash off and when it has turned to carbon, then I remove it ( the guide) and clean it to a perfectly smooth state...
So in this case there is no way it is because of any type of build up...
We still have the original ignitor and it was working perfectly (7 years of burning between 4-6 tons of pellets a season...the tech could not believe it ... that is how clean we keep the stove... no ash build up there either...
Mine is also on the same track and grooves... Harman only makes 2 different flame guides for all the different models of pellet stoves (from what I have been told ) and they are both grooved and sit on the burn pot...
I wish it was a cleaning problem that would be a very easy thing to fix...
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